We got our family pictures taken from ChicGeek Photography over the weekend! Click on this link to preview the highlight gallery.
Category Archives: family
PNE
We have attended the PNE every year for as long as I can remember (last year was the only exception though since we had a new baby). I even remember going to the PNE when my first son was about 3 months old and we would carry him around in the baby carrier. We probably would have gone last year if the “free admission” day wasn’t on Sunday.
Anyhow, we went on opening day Saturday and surprisingly it was not too crowded. Still a lot of people but not as busy as it has been in the past (maybe that is because we have usually gone on the free admission days!).
The boys had a good time of just strolling around the fair grounds and of course enjoyed all that food at the fair! When I think of the PNE I usually think of junk food like corn dogs, fish and chips, hot dogs, wiggle chips, fried donuts, cotton candy, candied apples, funnel cakes, whale’s tails, and everything else deep fried. Let me tell you this, the PNE is definitely not a good place to visit if you are on a diet. We ate calamari, fish and chips, garlic fries, cotton candy, a whale’s tail, and a slushy. Way too much deep fried and sugary items. Oh well, you have to indulge at the fair otherwise it just isn’t fun. I guess I will be eating salads for the rest of the week.
Some of the activities that we did (besides eating all the time) were:
- We ate lunch by the water fountain area. The kiddies loved walking in the fountain bare-footed (in fact, both of them didn’t want to leave and we had to drag them away so that we could visit the rest of the fair grounds).
- We visited the barn (children just love the farm animals).
- We watched the Superdogs show. Sometimes I want to train my dog to do tricks like that. Dogs are such amazing animals.
- Big J went on a couple of Playland rides in the Kidzone area. He rode a boat and a car. He said he really enjoyed the rides.
- Big J played a fishing game and won a stuffed penguin. For some reason he picked the bright pink one.
- We walked inside the Marketplace. We always go there to check out the products. Nothing too exciting this year. I did like the Zoku popsicle makers but they were ridiculously expensive at $75 to make 3 pops at a time.
The PNE is definitely a fun day for the family. We definitely plan to make this an annual event. Have you been to the fair yet this summer?
Harrison Hot Springs
We survived our first road trip with the boys this long weekend. We did not initially plan to go away over the BC day long weekend however one of my co-workers had mentioned about his recent trip to Harrison Hot Springs with his 2 kids and that kind of sparked an interest when I brought it up with the husband. The last time we traveled with our 2 kids was when our little j was just 6 months old and we flew to Hawaii without much extra help. I won’t go over that trip again as it was definitely a challenging one with an infant, and therefore thinking about traveling again with my children wasn’t something I was too keen about. However, now that my little one is over 1 years old, it certainly made it easier this time around (and the fact that it was somewhat of a short car ride of 2 hours to get to our destination).
We left Vancouver city for Harrison’s on Saturday morning and arrived about 2 hours later. It would have been sooner if we did not run into traffic but what do you expect over a long weekend when everybody wants to get out of town?
Here is a summary of our activities during this fun little road trip:
Day 1
- Lunch at Lakeview Restaurant. Small little family-owned restaurant. The food is decent (diner food) but the waitress is exceptionally friendly and helpful. We think she’s been working there for years (last time we went 4+ years ago she was already working there).
- Check-in at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort. They have 5 pools there which are filled with mineral water. Our room was pretty decent and clean.
- Hang out at the beach. The boys just enjoyed playing in the sand. My oldest son liked going dipping in the shallow lake.
- Dinner at Black Forest Restaurant. We had meatloaf and Schnitzel. The Schnitzel was good but the meatloaf was salty. The service was mediocre.
- Ice cream at the Green Star Cafe from the Harrison Village Mall. We always seem to go there for ice cream in Harrison’s. They have delicious cherry ice cream.
- Sleepy time for the kids.
Day 2
- Breakfast at Lakeview Restaurant.
- Hangout at the pool. The outdoor family pool is heated to 26 C. So even though it rained this day, we didn’t worry about being cold outside. Just needed to quickly warm up with a dry towel once you got out of the pool though.
- Lunch at Harrison Pizza. Small little shop with homemade pizza and pasta. We tried the Harrison pizza and it was very tasty. The kids liked it. The owner of the shop is really friendly and this is a good place for families.
- Nap for little j and more pool time for big j.
- We rode a 4-person bicycle from Jamie’s Quadracycle Rentals. We strapped the kids to the front and the husband and I pedaled the bike from the back. Big j enjoyed the ride, and little j got a bit overwhelmed when the sun and the wind started getting into his eyes. We only rode for 30 minutes but it was fun. Worth a try if you haven’t tried this before. (I wish I had taken a picture of all of us in that quadracycle. But the husband did take a video with his iPhone while we rode with the kids.)
- Dinner at Morgan’s restaurant. Food is pretty tasty but is somewhat pricey ($25-30 per entree).
- Ice cream from Chantilly’s. We tried Aloha surprise (reminds me of Hawaii!), black forest, and blueberry sorbet. All were very yummy.
- Sleepy time for the kids.
Day 3
- Breakfast from the coffee shop inside the hotel. We ate our food in the hotel lobby. I think little j made a mess there (whoops).
- Hangout at the pool. More pool time at the family pool. Might as well take advantage of that mineral water.
- Hangout at the beach. One last time before we head home.
- Quick lunch. We ate a wrap, a calzone, and chicken noodle soup.
- Drive home to Vancouver.
What I really enjoyed about the trip was just the time spent with my 2 little boys and my husband. Sometimes it is hard to believe that we have our own little family now. It was nice to see my boys have such a good time hanging out with each other and just enjoying the beach and the pool. Also, it was just nice to get away from the city. Even though the town of Harrison’s isn’t too big it was a delightful short road trip. As mentioned before, I didn’t know what to expect traveling with my 2 boys again but this time around it was much more enjoyable. Probably due to the fact that my little one isn’t so little anymore (they grow so fast!).
Well, now I am looking forward to more family trips again. It is still a challenge packing and traveling with children (you have to plan so much!) but hopefully we get better at it each time we try it.
P.S. Check out my Flickr set to see the rest of the pictures from the trip.
Summer is Here
Well, we officially have summer weather here in Vancouver. It’s about time.
Last weekend was Canada Day long weekend for us folks in Canada. It was so nice spending time with the kids (and husband of course). Now that I am back at work full time, I really do appreciate my weekends. The hardest thing about being at work full time is that I get to see so little of my kids during the weekdays. I see them briefly in the morning and then I am in a mad rush to get to work. Then I rush home to see them for about an hour or two and then they go to sleep. I do appreciate my “down” time at home when the kids are asleep but I do miss spending time with them during days. They change and grow so much every day!
So back to the topic of the weekend, we spent Canada Day at Canada Place. We usually head out to Granville Island on Canada Day but this year we decided to head out to Canada Place since we read on the internet there would be events there. It was definitely worth the trip. We took the skytrain downtown (the kiddies enjoy the skytrain anyway) and it was fun checking out the festivities. It reminded me of the Olympic period back in February 2010. We definitely plan to go again next year!
Then on Saturday we decided to head down to Jericho beach. My oldest son loves the beach so we knew it’d be a hit with him. What we weren’t so sure of was how our youngest son would react. When we took him to the beach when he was a baby, he didn’t really enjoy it but now that he’s older he seems to enjoy playing in the sand and getting his feet wet from the water. I think we were relieved to discover that he does indeed like the beach because we (my husband, oldest son, and I) are definitely beach lovers! It was such beautiful weather. We also were able to enjoy low tide that day (the kids liked waddling in the shallow water by the shore). It did take a lot of planning when you bring along 2 kids to the beach. Everything from food, snacks, beach chairs, beach tent, spare clothes, sunscreen, sand toys, umbrella, etc. Anyhow, we’ll definitely be heading out to the beach more often this summer. So grateful that we live in a city where the beach is such a short drive away from home. It isn’t as breathtaking as Hawaii, but still pretty darn good.
I am hoping the good weather will stick around for a while.
Posted in family
A Safari Birthday Party
Both of my sons are born in the month of May. Since their birthdays are fairly close, we decided on a joint birthday party this year (my oldest one turned 4 and my youngest one turned 1). And of course, we always need a theme for a birthday party! We decided on a Safari animal theme since it was appropriate for both a baby and also a preschooler.
Below are some of the pictures from the party.
It was fun but also a lot of effort to plan for this party. Mostly because I am an ambitious mother and had this grand vision of the kids doing all these fun activities, however during the course of the event the children just entertained themselves and I really should not have spent so much time thinking and planning activities for them (because little kids don’t follow rules you know?).
I had this vision of the kids coming into our house and they would be welcomed with a greeter which would take an instant picture of the kids (with my Fujifilm Instax camera that I purchased online) with the backdrop of our plants in our annex. Then the kids would pick out a Safari booklet that they could keep and place their instant picture inside – like a real passport. And then, the kids could fill out their info inside the booklets and also collect stamps by going around the stations that were set up. We had some games set up, but the kids weren’t really interested in them. We also had a craft area setup and luckily that was pretty popular with mostly the girls. The crafts were of course safari animal related. The instant pictures were kind of fun and I wish I had taken some pictures with the instant pictures installed inside the passport booklet (oh well!).
Here are some of my resources:
- The animal scrapbooking decorations were custom made by Cute Cards (thanks Gloria!). That would be the paper birthday banner and the Safari Passport covers. I also had some cupcake toppers made, but I ended up not using them (we had small cupcakes which didn’t really work with the cupcake toppers – I’ll save them for something else).
- Custom stamp for the passport booklets from Etsy.
- I made the goodie bags with fabrics from the Alexander Henry 2D Zoo collection and I used this online tutorial.
- Safari-themed balloons were purchased from Splash Toys.
- Animal cake toppers are from Wilton.
Some of the items inside the goodie bags:
- Animalz wooden toys
- Safari animal temporary tattoos
- Animal finger puppets (for the young kids)
- Small Play-Doh tubs (for the bigger kids)
- Candy!
Well, I hope you all enjoyed this post. Thanks for reading!
P.S. I am officially back at work now. My boys and I are slowly adjusting but I am glad to announce that it is good to be working again. Yay for mental stimulation and for more income! 
P.P.S. Today is my 8 year wedding anniversary. Crazy how much has happened within the last 8 years. 1 dog, 2 kids, 1 house, 1 car… 3 jobs for the hubby and the same job for me!
Posted in crafts, decorating, family, sewing, son
Spring is Here
Looks like spring is finally kicking in over here. The weather has been still kind of wacky (we even had snow last week!) but at least things are starting to look green around here and once in a while we get some warm sunshine when it is not raining.
I love living in Vancouver because one of the most beautiful things about this city are the cherry blossoms during spring time. It is just so magnificent seeing pretty pink blossoms all over town. How I wish to someday live in a house with a cherry blossom tree (or maybe I should one day plant one)!
A few weeks ago, my oldest son and I planted some grass seeds inside egg shells (see this post from last year). This is such a gratifying thing to do with a young child as you can see the results pretty fast! The grass started growing about a 2-3 of days after we planted them.
Once the “hair” of our eggheads got pretty long, my son then gave them a hair trim. Such a fun and inexpensive activity for the kids. I think this is an activity we might try to do every year as it teaches children how to care for plants and how to wait patiently for them to grow.
Speaking of hair, I finally got my haircut today. I really should get my hair cut more frequently but the difficult thing about going to the hair stylist is trying to make the time to go without the kids. Now my youngest son cannot pull on my hair anymore (well at least not as easy as before)! I also think my oldest son kind of preferred my longer hair, but I am just not the type of person who can do “long” hair.
This will be my last month of maternity leave with the boys. Kind of sad but kind of glad to be going back to work. I am trying to enjoy every last moment of it these days. I hope I don’t cry when I am at work thinking about my boys! Thinking about it makes me emotional already.
I also have a big birthday party to plan for in May. Both of my boys are born in May. We decided on a joint party this year and so my oldest son will be turning 4 and my youngest boy will be turning 1. It is going to be a safari themed party. I have been busy planning it already… buying and ordering supplies. Stay tuned for pictures in a future post.
I have also been busy sewing a few items here and there. Perhaps I will also post about my projects in another post sometime later… Anyhow, I should finish one of my many unfinished sewing projects. Bye for now.
10 Months
My baby officially turned 10 months today. This means I have about 2 more months left of my maternity leave.
Sometimes when I look at my youngest son I find it hard to believe that he’s almost 1 year’s old! I still think of him very much as a baby and not so much as a little boy. It is hard not to compare him to my first son but my boys are unique in their own ways.
Some of the milestones or facts about my little J as of today are:
- He is a very noisy kid. I used to think that big J talked a lot but now I am starting to think that perhaps little J is going to be the chatty one! He makes a lot of noises and says a lot of “ma ma” and “ba ba” which I think is probably not meaningful at the moment yet. It is quite humourous hearing him chatter. He also does this funny laugh that sounds like a sheep.
- He is finally starting to like his solids. Compared to big J, he never ate and nursed as much (maybe that is why he is in the lower 25th percentile in weight), and when we started solids for him he did not seem too excited about food quite yet. The only foods that he really liked was chicken congee (that is Chinese rice porridge) and I had the hardest time thinking about what to feed him for meals. Nowadays, he seems to enjoy the variety of beef stew, lamb stew, chicken congee, pears & oatmeal, cheese bread, Cheerios, etc. He especially likes cheese.
- He only has 2 teeth. Big J got his first tooth at 4 months and little J didn’t get his first tooth until about 7 months. Big J also had a lot of teeth by 10 months and was eating a variety of finger foods, whereas little J doesn’t have many teeth so I have not been very adventurous in giving him finger foods until recently. So he basically just “gums” his finger foods by chewing with his gums.
- He does not sleep well. At first we thought he would be the good sleeper compared to big J, however after quite a few spells of being sick he hasn’t really slept well for a long long time. I think his longest stretch ever was 7 hours at around 4 months and he only did that once. Ever since then, his longest stretch is usually around 5 hours. Big J started sleeping through the night (8+ hours) at around 9 months of age and little J is nowhere close to sleeping more than 6 continuous hours. *sigh* His naps don’t seem to be so great either. Big J was also never a good napper (however he seems to be fairly OK as a preschooler now – yes he still takes naps!). He generally sleeps in his crib for the first 30 minutes (which big J never did) and then needs to be held for the rest of his naps (big J needed to be held for the entire duration of his naps when he was a baby). I have tried “nap training” a few times but have often failed since he always seems to get sick right after I start the process and then when he is sick I just don’t have the heart to have him cry for his naps. So I am definitely a sleep deprived mother still at 10 months, however I am super thankful for my mom who comes by to help me during the weekdays and holds little J for naps so that I can take a nap during the day too (since I get so much broken up sleep at night). Thank goodness for mothers!
- He is not crawling yet. I think most babies are crawling at around 8 or 9 months of age and little J just does not crawl. He is definitely eager to stand but when we place him on his tummy, he will move his arms and legs but just does not go anywhere! Big J used to be a very proficient crawler by the age of 9 months so I find it very different with little J who isn’t quite mobile yet. Perhaps this a good thing so that I do not have to chase after him. Maybe he will be the type of kid that walks and just skips the crawling stage. We shall see.
- He likes to sit and observe. As mentioned above, he is not really mobile but he does sit very well and is very good at people watching. He especially gets excited watching his older brother. Little J enjoys watching television (not that we let him watch it that often, just mostly Treehouse in the afternoon after his nap) unlike big J who did not care too much about TV until much later. He must get that from my husband who enjoys TV.
- He generally a very happy baby. Besides the sleeping thing, he is always a happy camper. Big J was always such a serious and intense baby but little J loves to smile at people and is super happy when we aren’t trying to get him to take a nap!
I was also just thinking today about the many things that I will miss once my maternity leave is over and I am back at work.
- Walking big J to preschool and seeing him wave goodbye to me from the window.
- Picking up big J from preschool and chatting with the other parents.
- Going for walks along Dunbar after we eat lunch.
- Cupcakes and cookies from Butter Baked Goods. Oh, how I am going to miss all that yumminess!
- Taking naps with big J in our bed (even though he usually takes forever to fall asleep and sleeps a wee bit too close to me).
- Hanging out with little J and just watching him grow every day. It makes me sad to think that I could be missing some of his milestones like walking.
- Hanging out with my mom. It has been a real blessing having her help out with my family during my mat leave. It has also been great being able to see her more often and just talking to her more.
- Our weekly trips to the library.
- Going to Swiss Chalet for lunch.
- Going to Oakridge for Dim Sum.
- Just being at home more with the boys.
So even though I have to admit that sometimes not working is a bit mundane for me, I am surely going to miss those moments with my family! I get a little weepy every time I think about how I won’t see them for most of the day when I am back at work. I am however also very much looking forward to going back to work again because A) I need the income and B) I need the mental stimulation (not that being with my kids is not challenging enough). I can totally understand why a lot of women are torn when they have kids and decide to do the stay home mom thing. And it is not like I do not want to be with my kids, but I know that I am a very social person that needs to be with more people. I do miss those conversations that I have with my co-workers. And I totally miss interacting with adults.
I think mothers will always feel guilty for whatever decision they make for their kids. Who said having children would be easy? As mothers we just want to do what’s best for our children but I am also of the belief that in order to take care of other people you also have to take good care of yourself. And for me, I need that separate identity of working in order to be happy. If I sacrificed that and decided to work from home and stay home with the kids I think I will end up blaming them for “giving up opportunities”. And I just don’t want to do that to them. So even though big J often says, “Mommy, don’t go back to work.” (and trust me it totally breaks my heart when he says that) I know I have to go back.
Well, before I know it these next 2 months will soon be over…
My boys at Dim Sum today
I’m Still Here
Well hello again. It looks like my resolution to blog more has not really made much progress since I haven’t posted yet in 2011 until now! Cannot believe that it is the last month of February and that tomorrow will be another new month. I officially have less than 3 months left of my maternity leave before I go back to work.
Speaking of work, I am kind of excited to go back and yet I am also kind of sad to be leaving my boys during the day. I hold my 9 month old these days thinking about how much I am going to miss holding my baby when I am at work. I think this time around, I might actually tear up more when I am back at work. I told the kidlet that mommy will be going back to work soon and he said, “Mommy, don’t go to work.” That made me a bit sad as I know he probably enjoys having me at home more often. I asked if he would miss me and of course he said yes. But also know the type of person that I am and that I am the type that needs to work to be content. I need the mental stimulation and also the social aspect of being with adults again. (I bet the next time I update I will be back at work already!)
So I do not know why I am so unmotivated to update this blog. Perhaps because I feel like nobody reads this (although I know from my Google Analytics data that there is some traffic here). But then again I also know that without any frequent updates then people don’t read it so perhaps I should just try to update more often. I also got an email this week about some guy who wants to advertise on my site. I wonder if he is for real or just some spammer. I think my dilemma sometimes is whether to write about my family or just keep this blog about my crafting/sewing activities. What do people what to read anyway?…
I have been sewing again lately. Made some dresses, a stuffed toy, and some baby stuff (for gifts). I also quickly made a lampshade cover for the kidlet. He seems to really enjoy the things that I make him. It is kind of sweet. I wonder how long until he thinks it is “uncool” to like homemade things from mom? Hopefully he will appreciate having a mom that can make things for him when he is older too!
My boys are going to be turning 4 and 1 soon. Wow, crazy how time flies. I am going to have to start planning their birthday parties soon. My oldest is constantly talking about birthdays and asking when is his birthday and if there is a birthday today, this week, etc. I think he shows me almost every day the calendar to point out when his birthday is going to be. On another note, his learning has really progressed in the last few months! He loves to draw and is able to write his own name now. He knows the days of the week and can understand how a calendar works now. Pretty impressive for a 3 year-old! I sometimes wonder if he is gifted, but then again doesn’t every mother think that their kids are smart? Well, anyhow it is just really amazing witnessing the growth of children. I cannot help but get a little weepy when I think about how fast my children are growing and how they are no longer going to be babies anymore…
Anyhow, I should go soon as I have to pick up the kidlet from preschool. Thanks for reading and hopefully I will update more often! I leave you with a picture of my boys taken during the morning last week. Bye!
