babies – Page 9 – beakatude

Beach Weekend

By beakatude
on Mar 23, 2014
in babies, friends, go beak go, kumquat, outta here

Teresa and I signed up for a 5K and we entered the stroller division. The race was on Sunday so I made it a mini vacation for the family. On Saturday afternoon, we drove down to Santa Cruz, which is only about an 80 minutes from SF. I booked a motel located near the beach and the race start and it was good enough for the night. After we checked in and unpacked, we walked down to the beach. I knew it was close to the beach but we were still surprised at how close it really was.

It was fortuitous that Isla’s party favor was a beach set complete with bucket and three tools. So, we put on Kumquat’s swim diaper and rash guard and headed out. I was curious to see how she would respond to the waves this time and I was so proud of how calm she was this time around! She happily walked down toward the water with me and sat down to play in the sand. She loves sand but usually once she sees or hears the ocean waves, she becomes a hot mess of tears and crying. She was even willing to walk down to the water with me until she saw the water roll in toward her. She never made it to the water but she was able to just say “no” or call out to me without crying. It sounds silly but I was so proud.

After playing in the sand, we walked down to the famous boardwalk and it was super cheesy. So, we walked back to the nearest bar and sat down for a couple drinks and a snack.

Ah…it was a nice little getaway moment.

For dinner, we picked up Mexican food from the taco stand on the way back to the motel and we spent the rest of the evening in the room. We watched cable tv and just hung out. Unfortunately, Kumquat was not in the mood to sleep and once she fell asleep, it didn’t last long. She woke up coughing and coughing to the point of almost throwing up. Poor thing had a hard time falling back asleep and I ended up having to put her in the stroller. At 3am, she woke up again and luckily it didn’t last as long as the first time. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much sleep and I almost overslept this morning. I thought I set my alarm but it didn’t go off and the only reason I woke up was because Kumquat started to cry again at 7am.

Well, we both got ready and let Jes sleep in. It was chilly outside but the view was so nice on the walk up!

We met up with Teresa and her family at the lighthouse and then headed up to the start. The race started out really slow because they didn’t separate the walkers from the runners.

Pushing the stroller was harder than usual because I was busy weaving, braking, speeding up, and fighting for space to run for the first 2 miles. In fact, my arms are pretty sore from all the maneuvering. T-Rex got a pretty big workout today. Kumquat did a good job behaving throughout the race and afterward.

She even warmed up to Teresa’s dad pretty quickly. Henry slept through the whole thing and he looked so content in the stroller. What a cutie.

This was such a fun event and hanging out with T is always fun.

Rawr! Yay Team Tiger!

We had brunch before heading home and lucked out on a smooth drive back. Unfortunately I was feeling pretty crappy and I spent the rest of the afternoon drinking lots of fluids. Jes also made some Italian wedding soup, which really hit the spot. I guess I caught Kumquat’s cold. Bummer.

Isla’s 1st Bday

By beakatude
on Mar 23, 2014
in babies, holidays, outings

Isla’s birthday is this week and we celebrated on Saturday. There were lots of kids and Vyl did a great job with the decorations. Isla stayed awake just long enough for the birthday cake and certainly didn’t wait for the candle and singing.

Big Brother Rowan helped blow out the candle.

She hesitated at first but eventually got handfuls of cake in her mouth by the end.

Family Weekend – Part 2

By beakatude
on Feb 25, 2014
in babies, family, holidays, outings, yum

On Sunday, we took it easy in the morning. Brother came over around 10 while I was getting ready to leave for a baby shower and Alice was in a really good mood.

We also sang “Happy Birthday” to Joy and had a candle in a pork bun for her. Funny.

While I was away, Kumquat took a nap and the family went shopping. I got home just in time to swing by the hotel to pick up the family from the hotel and head back home to meet up with Jason and Jia.

For brunch, we took a walk down to Mission Rock Resort.

They were really busy so we ended up having an hour-long wait. Luckily, they had a deck in the sun and we had drinks outside in the sunshine. Here is their bacon bloody mary complete with olives, a slice of bacon, and shrimp.

Once seated, we had a seafood feast including this tower of raw goodness.

Kumquat sat at the head of the table and took some photos for me while we ate. She actually took this picture with my phone. I’m so proud.

Back at the house, it was time for Brother and Joy to head out for a dinner date they made with a friend. So we said our goodbyes. It’s always so fun having them in town. See you in March!!

Family Weekend – Part 1

By beakatude
on Feb 23, 2014
in babies, family, holidays, kumquat, outings, yum

Brother, Joy, Alice, and my mom came up this weekend to visit. It’s to celebrate Joy’s birthday and as a last-hurrah trip before she goes back to work full-time. My mom arrived on Thursday night and Brother arrived with the gang on Friday around noon.

I was lucky enough to get the afternoon off so when I got home, we headed out to Downtown to meet up with them for a bit.

For dinner, we went to Hillstone per my mother’s request. It was a beefalicious meal and we took advantage of the free corkage there.

Both Alice and Kumquat did pretty well that evening. On Saturday morning, we got up early and met up at the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market.

First meal of the day was a Belgian waffle the size of my hand and a cup of Blue Bottle Coffee – I felt like such a hipster.

Then after shopping for produce, we headed over to Pier 39 to see what else we could do, see, and eat. We stopped at the mini-playground to let Kumquat burn some energy and Alice got to ride on Joy’s lap on the slide. As Joy and I were in the restroom doing diaper changes, my mom picked up a bag of these scrumptious mini donuts from Trish’s.

Then we went over to pay the sealions a visit. There didn’t seem to be as many of them today.

While we were there, my mom and I reminisced about the first time we brought Kumquat to this same spot. It was right around Alice’s age so that made it even more special for us.

By 11, both kids were pooped out so we stopped for some clam chowder.

The grown-ups grubbed while the kids napped. Aaaah…it was nice to have a little peace and quiet.

Next stop was the Aquarium of the Bay. The kids were rested and I got 50% off everyone’s admission with my SF Zoo membership. Awesome!!!

It was Alice’s first time at an aquarium and she couldn’t keep her eyes off all the activity.

For dinner, my mom was on babysitting duty with BOTH Kumquat and Alice. Jes, Brother, Joy, and I went to Bouche, which is a little French bistro in the space that Bar Crudo used to occupy. I had a tasty sole with risotto balls and lobster sauce.

Their crab mashed potatoes were also pretty tasty.

After dinner, we went next door to Tunnel Top Bar for one more drink before heading home. It was nice to go without Kumquat for a change. This place was definitely not kid-friendly so it was the perfect choice for the evening. Thanks for babysitting, Mommy!!

Lunar New Year Super Bowl Weekend

By beakatude
on Feb 03, 2014
in aw..., babies, chuckle, friends, holidays, kumquat, life, outings, yum

Boy, we had quite a weekend! It started a little early when Mirian asked if I could come home early on Friday because Karla had a fever. I managed to get home by noon to relieve her and I had an unexpected half-day to hang out with my little girl. It was sunny outside so I took her down to the courtyard for some water fun with her tea set. She LOVED it and I got some free time to pay bills and balance our finances.

That evening, we went to SOMA Streat Food Park for their version of Lunar New Year. All the food trucks had special dishes for the night, they played Bruce Lee movies on the big screens, Tsing tao was $3 all night, and they had a DJ playing Asian Hip-Hop music. They also had Chinese acrobats performing at 8pm but we left before that started.

On Saturday morning, we took a trip to the zoo for a quick 1-hour walk around the Savanna area. The giraffes and zebras were all so active that morning and Kumquat was so pleased to see her “GG” pals.That same evening, we all gathered at Ryan and Michelle’s house in Orinda to welcome the Year of the Horse. We celebrate together every year and I was impressed at how civilized our dinner was this year considering we had 5 kids present.

At one point everyone was seated, eating, and enjoying each other’s company. We’ve come a long way from the year we had Jack, Reese, and Rowan together for the first time.

We had a potluck of “bring something from your homeland” so we pretty much had two dinners: my dish (chicken gravy over rice) first and then Michelle’s kalbi, spicy pork, and chap chae. For dessert, we had Vyl’s red bean pancakes and pecan pie. Yum.

The kids received red envelopes and I loved Reese’s expression when she discovered there was actual money inside for her.

Kumquat had a fun time playing with all of Reese and Jack’s toys and at one point Isla joined her. By the end of the night, she was falling asleep in Bang’s comfy lap.

After we got home and put Kumquat to bed, I mustered some energy to change my clothes and put on some heels(!) for Mai’s Bachelorette Party. Jes stayed home and I hailed a cab to Asia SF where the party had started since 5. I didn’t get there until 10 but I got there with enough to celebrate with the girls and get a good laugh. Amazingly, I was home by midnight. Thanks for the ride home, R!

On Sunday morning it was raining! Finally. We opted to stay in our PJs for as long as we could and it was great. I spent the morning archiving a bunch of our old bank and health insurance statements while reorganizing our files too. Victor and Susie were hosting Super Bowl so we joined them in the afternoon for all the tasty food that Susie prepared.

The game was not very exciting but Bruno Mars had a good half-time performance. And of course, the commercials were fun. These were my favorites:

Overall, this was a fun and productive weekend. Unfortunately, Karla is still sick so I’m going to have to stay home tomorrow. Yippee! Er, I meant Aw shucks. These unexpected long weekends are going to spoil me!!