Playdate at Douglas Park

I was able to find one of Lydia's classmates to switch off playdate days so that I don't have to rush out of Sophie's Mommy and Me class. So every Tuesday I pick Ava up and we go to Douglas Park and every Wednesday, Ava's mom takes Lydia to their house. It's a great set-up and I'm glad that it is working out so far.

Josie and her mom, Area, joined us at the park this week

Ava and Lydia feeding the ducks

Sophie found a comfy place to eat her chips...

while the older girls played together.

A nice shady spot to play in the sand

Ava and Lydia's secret stash of "pinecones" that they hid under the see-saw.

Hermosa Beach

Trung has been saying that he can bike a little further on "the Strand", so we met at Hermosa Beach this morning for brunch. We waited for about 30 minutes at Martha's 22nd Street Grill, but it was worth, I think, since I couldn't actually taste my Eggs Benedict. The girls were first to get sick last week, then Trung, and finally me, so I right now, I have lost my sense of taste. After brunch, we drove closer to the pier and walked around a bit. The girls played in the sand and I got a great deal on a summer dress at one of the little shops. A great day!

Sophie putting her sunglasses in her shirt like Daddy

Notice the rainbow on the back on the waves

A reflection of Sophie and I

Fun in the sand, next time I'm going to go play sand volleyball

Enjoying the sand hill

Chocolate & Manny

Trung's bike ride and our brunch at Manhattan Beach has become our new weekly thing. Trung's enjoys the oceanside trek and the girls love pancakes! This week we tried Uncle Bill's Pancake House, which is right next door to the restaurant we went to last week. Yelp was right, the food there was great!

Lydia was all over her chocolate chip pancakes

After the girls took their afternoon naps and Trung and I watched the Steelers win their game, we took an hour drive to Glendale to attend Trung's co-worker Manny's 40th surprise birthday party. Boy, was he pleasantly surprised! We had delicious Filipino food and a chocolate mousse cake from Portos!

Surprise!

Evelyn & Manny

The fam

The big 4-0!

Bike ride & brunch at Manhattan Beach

This morning Trung biked down "The Strand" from Playa Vista to Manhattan Beach. He said it was a nice ride, with great paths and, of course, views of the ocean. The girls and I met him at "Oceanview Cafe" for brunch and walked around for a bit; Manhattan Beach is nice little place.

Lydia biked around a bit while we waited for our table

After brunch we walked/biked down to the beach

The home of sand volleyball

Even our parking spot had a view of the ocean!

Hip-Hop Dance & Tumbling demo class

The Playa Vista Mom's Club hosted a hip-hop dance and tumbling demo class in the community. The girls learned to stretch and do all sorts of fun stuff. I may have to consider enrolling them because the 4-5 o'clock hour is usually pretty tough to get through.

Criss cross applesauce with teacher Ty

Stretch it, stretch it

Making a big circle

Walking like crabs

Sophie attempting to do a roll

Lydia showing Sophie how it's done

A New Year at Lake Arrowhead

Thursday morning we drove to Lake Arrowhead to spend the holiday weekend at my Aunt Monica's mountain home. We encountered many small obstacles (my copy of the house key didn't work, the sleeping floor of the house wouldn't go past 48 degrees the first night, and beeping ovens in the middle of the night), but we had a great time skiing while the kids sled. It even snowed the moment we got into our cars on our drive home from the mountain to bid us farewell. :)

Staying warm in the garage while we waited for the locksmith to fix our key problem.

Playing with buckets intended on catching leaking water

The view of the lake from the summit of Snow Summit. Trung and I had to take turns watching the kids, so we skied alone, but it was still nice to enjoy the snow.

Bounty Bay Park for some sledding fun

Sophie trying to nap while Trung gets hit by Lydia's snowball

Trung's sun-setting view while skiing at Snow Valley

Farewell to Lake Arrowhead, we had so much fun!

Rose Bowl Parade Float Decorating

Though the weather wasn't so great, we ventured out to Pasadena with my junior high friend Sarah and viewed the mad float decorating. Sophie's Mommy & Me teacher had encouraged the class to go to the event and the adults ended up enjoying it more; Sophie actually slept for the most part. It was awesome seeing the decorating up close and being educated on all the "green"ness of everything.

New York gal Sarah with the 9/11 memorial float

We're still trying to figure out what the brown fuzzy bear with the green hat is made out of.

A salad time machine of sorts

For my dad :)

An "Orange" Christmas

We left Friday morning for Orange, CA to spend the Christmas weekend at Mike's house. We got to meet Minji's sister, Sarah, during lunch, and played board games with my cousins and friends while the kids took naps. It has been ages since Trung and I have played any games, so it was lots of fun! Then the girls got to make a gingerbread village; they mainly ate the candy though. We then went to Star BBQ for all-you-can-eat Korean barbeque with my cousins...good stuff!

The kids opening their first Christmas presents

All ready to go biking!

The girls with Uncle Mike and Aunt Minji

Ly Family Christmas 2010

Mike got to open his first present too!

All Lydia wants for Christmas is her Daddy

BILs

Gingerbread fun!

My cousin Christine with the girls just before bedtime

Saturday we went to my Aunt Monica's house for Christmas lunch. My cousins' kids and our kids had a blast opening presents while the adults exchanged all sorts of gift cards. After lunch, Christine and I went to watch "The Fighter", which was a feel good movie. Did you know Conan O'Brien's sister was in it? I ate a quick dinner when I got back to Mike's place and then watched
"Robin Hood" with Trung after the kids went to sleep.

Gift unwrapping bonanza

My contributions to lunch

The girls sitting on their new pillow pals and watching "Toy Story 3"

Everyone having popcorn made fresh from the new popcorn maker

Sunday morning we got dim sum and shaved snow. Then we put the kids to sleep and left Mike in charge so that Trung and I could watch "Tron". Needless to say, we watched tons of movies this weekend.

There's just something about Sophie

The snow-capped mountain view to Rowland Heights

Mango Madness Shaved Snow

The Grove

Sophie's Mommy and Me class had scheduled some events for the Wednesdays that we don't have class; today's meet-up was supposed to be at The Grove. With the crazy rain the last few days, I figured most people wouldn't show, but we did run into Teacher Nancy and got some great deals on some clothes. The Grove was nicely decorated with a enormous Christmas tree and a gigantic gingerbread house housing Santa. The kids really enjoyed the dancing fountains and clapped after each "dance".

Kind of like the fountain at Bellagio

So festive

Santa's house