February 11, 2013
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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.
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:
