Month: February 2013

  • So what happened in the 2nd half of February…

    Three playdates with lots of time at home in between. A backyard picnic playdate with Aubrey and Courtney …

     

     

    A dinner playdate with Cassie:

     

      

     

    And a geo caching + dinner playdate with Alex and Nicole. We’re loving the slower weekends where we enjoy quality time with family and friends!

      

    (Yummy, piping hot homemade cinnimon rolls … better tasting and fewer calories than Cinnabon!)

     

    President’s Day, we went to Crocker Art Museum. We were worried that it might be crowded given it was a free admission day. And it did get crowded, but we got there before they even opened, and the museum was sparse for the first few hours. We did the ‘Story Trail to Tot Land’ activity, which is a cute story that challenges kids to look for art (paintings, ceramics, statues) in the museum. At each stop, there was a short summary of the artwork, followed by a few questions. I’d estimate the target age at 3-5 years old.

     

    At the end of the story, the kids reach ‘Tot Land’ which is a neat play area focused on art. If your kids are good with open ended play, they can last hours there (like mine did, including my 8-year-old), but I can see how some older kids would get bored quickly.

      

     

    Last weekend, we went to Napa Valley. The kids really enjoyed playing with their grandparents, and everyone liked Grandpa’s taco dinner. With the kids occupied, I went out for a much needed pedicure and also splurged on gel nails. The following morning, James and I went on a 2 hour historic downtown Napa Segway tour. It was lots of fun, and I totally want to do the 4 hour ‘extreme’ tour to Mt. St. Helena next time. We got very lucky with the mild, sunny weather, as it can be hit or miss in Februrary. I have a coworker who treated himself to a Tesla. Maybe next promotion, I’ll buy myself a Segway.

     

      

     

    James and I had lunch at Oxbow Public Market (appetizer and pizza at Ca’Momi, dessert at Kara’s Cupcake, and iced jasmine tea from Tillerman Tea) followed by wine tasting at Uncorked across the street. There are so many restaurants I want to try in/near Napa. If I lived in wine country, I’d probably have to exercise full time to support my indulgences.

      

     

    Speaking of food, James and I also fit in two workday lunch dates  … Thai for Valentine’s Day ($6.95 lunch special!) and Steakhouse yesterday using a Groupon. Big spenders. laughing

    I’ve been doing great on my runs, getting in between 2.7 to 10 miles on every non-work day. Only a few weekends left until my first half marathon! ~deep breath~ And I’ve mentioned how there’s never a calorie deficit I can’t eat my way out of, right? Last week, I had 2 full days of meetings which included catered breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Determined to fit in a midweek workout, I convinced 2 of my coworkers to join me for yoga at 5:45am. The crazy early hour was no problem for them since they are from Bangalore and Shanghai, but pretty rough for me!

  • So what did we do in February? A Moroccan food and belly dancing experience to celebrate Dana’s birthday – what a great reason for a girl’s night out! It was a bonus go with a bigger group, as we got to try more dishes

     

    Two weeks ago, my sister Sophia and her husband Eddie came to visit. They treated us to Heat Shabu for dinner. And helped empty our storage of baby stuff. Double win!

     

    The following day, Eddie, Sophie, and I went on a West Coast Falconry “Hawk Walk” with Melissa. Eddie and Melissa are big ‘birds of prey’ fans, but to be honest I’m more of a parrot person. So my expectations were low … I went mostly for social reasons. Plus TravelZoo had the experience on sale for 50% off.  It totally exceeded my expectations. The staff was very knowledgeable and entertained us with facts and the history of these birds. Then we all got to call the hawk, using pieces of raw quail smeared on a leather glove. (Our batch had “a lot of lung”, and Melissa tossed a quail head for the hawk to catch mid-air … ~shudder~)

      

    Alice once called me her ‘favorite wildlife photographer’, so I made sure I took some bird pictures. Afterall, I can’t let her down! (And yes, you did read correctly that Sophie took baby stuff. She’s in her 3rd trimester. Clearly we don’t share all the same genes, as I ballooned up Jessica Simpson style)

      

    It was crazy how close we could get to these birds! REALLY neat experience, highly recommended.

     

    To complete our bird themed day, we went to a Superbowl party at Melissa’s. I was the only one rooting for the Ravens. Mostly because I used to live near Baltimore, and I tend to cheer for the underdogs. It was an exciting game (Raven’s won!), although I have to admit the most exciting part was … no, not the commericlas or the power outage or the halftime show … Sam’s homemade guacamole. I think I ate the whole (super) bowl! ha-ha-ha. I crack myself up.

     

     

    Last Friday, Calie went to Thrivik’s birthday party at Busy Kidz. She always has a great time there, as she is pretty much the queen of pretend-play. Happy 5th Birthday Thrivik!

      

      

    Saturday, Calie met up with her friends Abigail, Khloe, and Maylin at ‘Castle Park’. It was so close to where we live, yet I had no idea it existed. What a fun play area … I feel like I missed out the past few years!

     

    That evening, for Chinese New Year’s eve, we had Melissa’s family and JP over for hot pot. An annual tradition dreaded by both James and Zachary.

     

    This kids made dragons for good luck and strung bracelet/necklaces using wooden beads (with Chinese characters on them – no idea what they say, so probably something inappropriate) We also played games until past the kids’ bedtime. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

     

    On New Year’s day, we went to Adventure Mountain in Tahoe for sledding and playing in the snow. It was lots of fun, and for only $20/car entrance fee, a great deal too. Zach loved sledding, but Calie was afraid, so we spent the majority of the time building forts and snowball fighting with Bev’s kids. There was no traffic (1.5 hr drive each way) and the weather was awesome! Afterwards, we went to Bev’s place for dinner (take-out from China Pearl restaurant.)

      

     

      

    The past few weeks, I’ve added a mid week jog (4 miles) to my weekend runs. I was actually down a few pounds until this weekend … sometimes I think the holidays (which all seem to revolve around food) conspire against me! Zach has been running with me, so essentially he’s training for a half marathon too.  And Calie continues with dance and swim. She’s finally getting used to taking swim lessons by herself. We had both kids in lessons together, but Zachary is good enough for our standards (they were starting to work with him on improving his butterfly stroke and diving head first), so we pulled him out. Calie cried and regressed the last few lessons without her big brother. With 30 minutes lessons running $320/8 classes, I admitted to Bev that I’m bribing her with M&Ms and new socks (which she needs) in exchange for trying her best. Bev’s response? “That’s not a bribe, that’s just an effective reward system.” Gotta love friends that make you feel like a less crappy parent. happy

      

    Ending this post, Zach made it into 2 local newspaper articles this month. One for a charity 5k race, and the other for a reading challenge: