Year of the rabbit

I volunteered to teach Lydia's preschool class about Chinese New Year today. I was a bit nervous teaching 17 four-year-olds, but with the help of the three teachers, everything went pretty smoothly. Happy Chinese New Year!

Isabelle wearing her Malaysian traditional dress and Lydia in her Chinese one

Dragon dance/parade

Picture time; the kids are a bit squinty from the sunlight

Teaching the kids how to make almond cookies...they helped roll, squash, and paint on egg.

While the cookies baked, I read the kids a book (I look like a rabbit in this pic)

Snack time! The kids had an almond cookie, homemade Chinese New Year sticky cake (nian gao), and a tangerine.

Teaching the kids how to make an origami rabbit head.

Poor Lydia cried most of my stay since I couldn't give her special attention, which I've heard is a normal thing when parents volunteer. She helped hand out red envelopes and fortune cookies (I replaced the fortunes) to her friends when they left, so she got happy real fast.

The best day

The girls and I are always busy doing something, but this day was so much fun! First off, Trung drove Lydia to school, so I got to sleep in a little after getting Lydia ready. After Sophie got up and I packed sack lunches, we picked Lydia and her classmate Ava up from school. Off to Douglas Park for their play date, where other classmates Jessica, Coral, and Amani met us with their moms. I am truly enjoying these play dates and getting to know the moms!

After the park, we drove to Pasadena; the girls slept during the 45 minute drive and a little bit longer in the parking garage of Glendale Galleria. I dropped in the mall to check out Clark's shoe sale and did some damage with the excuse that my birthday is coming up. :P Then we had a late lunch at La Grande Orange Cafe. I got the LA Restaurant Week fixed lunch of shrimp ceviche, ahi tuna tacos, and a slice of red velvet cake; the girls got the $3 macaroni and cheese kid's meal. We had a feast! The food was sooooo good! Then we went to the Kidspace Museum for a couple hours of fun and discovery. The girls were happily exhausted when we finally got home.

Lydia, Ava, and Sophie lunching

Check out the kid's meal! What a great deal!

My delicious ahi tuna tacos

Tandem-like bikes, where Lydia does all the work

Probably since Sophie can't ride quite yet

Truly Californian

Redondo Beach

Trung biked even further south this morning and we had brunch with Trond and Norah at Wildflower Cafe. There was no wait and the food was good and healthy; who knew tofu bread could be so tasty. Afterwards, we visited the pier, which wasn't that great, but at least it wasn't smelly. The kids were easy to please, riding the mini-carousels for 25 cents a ride, which beats the dollar ones at the mall.

The kids had happy face pancakes for breakfast.

Everyone walking the pier

A cute kite/wind-catcher shop

The horse carousel

Then the mouse one, where the kids had to hold on to the ears.

Water Garden

We decided to go to Cafe Bizou as our first restaurant for LA Restaurant Week because it is located right across the street from where Trung works. Trond, Guro, and Norah joined us for dinner; Trond also works across the street at a different company. The girls and I arrived early to see the water features and ducks, which was nice, but definitely not kid-friendly.

Walking precariously along the "lake"

Checking out the fountain out front

Norah and Sophie, almost the same in size though Sophie is a full year older.

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!