I know I’m a little late but I hope all the moms (to kids and/or pets alike) had a nice day yesterday!
Mike’s mom was visiting this weekend so it didn’t really feel much like a special day for me but oh well. Mike did surprise me with something I’ve been wanting…
A Nintendo DS XL. I love the larger screen (than regular DS). I think it’s the best handheld game machine (especially since it has Mario Brothers). It also has Internet access through Wi-Fi and a camera. If only it was a phone as well - it would be perfect. Mike hogs our Wii and Xbox so this is a way I can get some gaming in as well…I mean practice my hand-eye coordination.
Mike’s mom playing with Peter in the backyard over the weekend:
Mike’s mom was visiting us this weekend. She comes to stay with us once a month. It’s a 3hr drive from where she lives so she always arrives Saturday and leaves Monday. While she was here, we celebrated (Mike’s brother) Shawn’s 33rd birthday.
I also took Peter to a birthday party for one of our playgroup friends who has already started Kindergarten. Unfortunately no one else from our playgroup showed up so Peter didn’t know any of the Kindergarten kids at the party. Peter ended up not participating in any of the party games because he was scared - or shy of the other kids. So it truly ended up being the worst birthday party ever for him. I’ve never seen him act so shy around kids so now I’m a little worried about him starting elementary school.
Speaking of shyness… there is a kid at Peter’s preschool who is extremely shy but he took a liking to Peter. So now the mom is trying to get the two of them together as much as possible. We recently had a playdate at their house for 2 hrs, then they took us to a pizza buffet for lunch. Peter had a fun time and we left after lunch. The mom told me later she didn’t think the playdate was long enough. Seemed long enough to me! The mom also enrolled her kid in all the same summer programs as Peter even though they won’t be attending the same Kindergarten in the Fall… unless she transfers him. I just hope Peter continues to like this kid because it could become really awkward.
I finally forced myself to finish my pictures from our vacation. It was so overwhelming going through the 600 or so photos I took. Sometimes I miss the restrictions of film cameras. I need to remind myself that just because I can fit hundreds of photos on one digital card, it doesn’t mean I have to. Anyway, we had a great vacation and I could see us visiting Florida every year. Especially with the new non-stop flights JetBlue offers us. I can get roundtrip airfare for $200, whereas it’s about $160 to the Los Angeles area. Florida offers nicer hotels for cheaper prices and warm beach water so it’s a winner to me.
I’m still working on the slideshow but I thought I would go ahead and share our videos from the trip. All 21 of them. A few of my favs are below. The rest can be viewed on Flickr : Click Here
We’re still recovering from our Florida trip. We had a fabulous time! We were on the go the entire time so we saw lots of places. I’m still reviewing all the pictures I took. Hope to have them up by this weekend.
Peter was super excited about Christmas this year. He kept asking us quirky questions like how Santa would make it down our chimney with all the spider webs (cause we never use it). Also what type of wrapping paper would he use. Of course on Christmas eve he wanted to stay up all night so he could see Santa but we told him Santa will only drop off his presents if he is asleep otherwise he’ll skip our house. So when we tucked him in last night he told us he was going straight to sleep - which he did.
I do feel guilty lying to him about Santa. It just seems wrong. I know most parents do the milk and cookies thing (we don’t) and get really into it but I feel bad enough tricking him about the presents. Well I can’t say I wasn’t glad he went to bed right away (for once). Mike and I had time to finish all our Christmas stuff and watch a movie.
Here is Peter seeing his presents for the …second time I guess:
Later in the morning after taking inventory of all the presents Peter said “There are SO many presents and they ALL have MY name!” I guess this is one of those times it must be great to be an only child. We waited for Mike’s family (mom, aunt, brother) to arrive before opening presents. We didn’t start opening until about 10:30.
Books from Aunt Kerri:
Games from Nana and Grandpa Fred:
Crazy car from Grandpa Bill and Grandma Dot:
Video of crazy cool car:
Present madness:
Cooking stuff from Nana and Grandpa Fred:
Stocking gifts:
Mike did well this year - fancy wireless headphones from me (or is that really a present for myself so I don’t have to hear him play his video games):
After presents I served my fruit kabobs as an appetizer while I cooked lunch:
The only real homemade dish I made was mashed potatoes. I ended up ordering a turkey (sliced) from the Honey Baked Ham store (yes they sell Turkey too). It was so tasty! I might do that every year. The meat is the one dish I wouldn’t want to mess up. Especially when I can easily mess up just warming rolls. I had them in the oven for just a minute and they ended up burning.
Lunch with Mike’s family:
No food was left except the extra turkey and my burnt rolls so I guess I did okay.
My mom just left after visiting us for 1 1/2 weeks. Peter had a blast hanging out with her especially when she took him to the park every day after school. We also went to a children’s museum located near the Golden Gate bridge. It was my first visit to the museum. It’s a cute place but probably not best when it’s raining since everything is spread out across various abandoned Army buildings. I’d love to go more often but it’s a long annoying drive.
We delayed Peter’s party until the 31st when the grandparents could make it - my mom and Mike’s mom. So we made it Halloween themed. It was just a small party with the neighbor twins. Peter didn’t seem to mind. He had a blast.
Mike, me, and my mom dressed up:
The kids played Halloween games - sticking their hands in gooey stuff to find toys:
I turned 34 today. Although Peter proudly told everyone that I turned 54. Thanks Peter!
So since I’m not getting my own birthday party, I scheduled an outing instead. One that I never thought I would ever want to do. It’s my biggest fear in life… SPIDERS!
We went on a Tarantula Trek. The hills near our area are breeding grounds for tarantulas. So gross! So anyway we meet with a ranger that led us around the hills looking for spiders. It was a free 1 1/2hr event/tour.
What we might see. Yikes! Whose idea was this…
A tarantula found here a few weeks ago. Apparently they are everywhere here during breeding season - late Sept thru Oct. He’s about 7-10 years old:
Everyone on the lookout for hairy spiders:
These are the holes they usually live in. We found a ton of holes but no spiders:
Mike’s dad also took the hike with us so he could wish Peter and I a happy birthday:
Soon, the kids got bored since we couldn’t find any spiders, so they just ran around on the hills:
After the disappointing hike, it was time to release the captured tarantula:
Wow so exciting…not really:
The tarantula in action:
DID YOU KNOW…
The male tarantula spends up to 7-10 years in his hole, eating only what passes. Then when he finally does comes out, he mates, then dies. Nice! The female tarantula though will live around 20 years. The ranger also said the big rain storm we had a few weeks back probably washed them all away. So maybe we’ll try to see them again next year.
…to grandma’s house Peter goes. For the last 2 weekends, Peter has been spending a day with Mike’s stepmom. She keeps him for about 6 hrs. They hang out at her house, run errands and go to kid places. She spoils him as he always comes back with armfuls of stuff, mostly from her own house.
It’s been great for Mike and I. We got to see the new Harry Potter movie and enjoy spending some alone time at home. It does feel a little weird. This is the longest amount of time Peter has spent away from us. I guess he’s really growing up.
Speaking of which, for his upcoming 5th birthday, Peter made his first wish list for Transformers:
