Luck

Everyone could use some good luck! I guess I should consider myself lucky because I found out today that all the Santa Monica public school have waiting lists for kindergarten next year. So if we hadn't moved, there was no way Lydia would have gotten into a Santa Monica school. Whew, what a relief! By the way, I didn't find the four leaf clover, my friend Tom did, but it's been years since I've seen one much less looked for one.

Santa Monica to Manhattan Beach

I took my first bike ride this morning and it happened to be a 13 mile trek from Santa Monica to Manhattan Beach. We started at 10:15, had brunch in Manhattan Beach around noon, and got back home at 3:45. It was a very long, but fun morning.

Trung pulled the kids in a trailer

Somewhere near the airport; you can see an airplane above

Pit stop to give Sophie her sunglasses

Nearing Manhattan Beach, you can tell from all the surfers

Pit stop at a library in Marina Del Rey on our bike ride home

Sophie was completely exhausted from the weekend fun

Disney Land: Let the memories begin!

We took the girls to Disney Land to celebrate Sophie's third birthday. We arrived bright and early around 9 AM and spent the entire day taking pictures, riding rides, and well, just being a kid. The cloudy weather didn't stop the crowds, but we still managed to do pretty much everything that we wanted to do. We left at 9:45 PM and everyone was happily exhausted!

Walt, Mickey, Sophie and Trung in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle

Princess Sophie

The princess who started it all...Snow White

Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty; Lydia wasn't so princess-friendly in the morning

Trying on mouse ears

We waited 45 minutes just for this picture of Tinkerbell and Vidia

Mad Hatter's Tea Party teacups, one of the few rides I remember as a child when I went to Disney Land almost 20 years ago

Flying Dumbo ride; Lydia was two elephants behind us because she wanted to ride by herself, but the worker said she had to be seven to ride alone, so I joined her

Cinderella and her stepsisters

Pocahontas

Tiana, who wasn't very nice

It's A Small World...one of the kids' favorite rides, and another ride I remembered from my childhood

The effect carousels have on Trung

The fastest, highest flying ride I have ever been on

Such anger

It sure was fun!

Now time to sleep

Tea & Testimony and Sophie's Big #3

This morning at MOPS we had a "Tea and Testimony" session when we had tea time and listened to two moms' testimonies. It was quite lovely having tea sandwiches and scones with fellow moms.

The "Orange" table: Guro, me, Robin Ann, Christine, and Karen

After MOPS, Guro, the kids, and I went to Marianne's place for a little lunch and to celebrate Sophie's birthday.

Kiddos watching TV

Sophie and her favorite flavored cake...chaquit aka chocolate

My baby's growing up! Happy 3rd birthday, my sweet little girl!

Laguna Beach Getaway

My long awaited getaway had finally arrived! Cora, my sister-in-law, flew into LAX Thursday afternoon and we hit Third Street Promenade for some window shopping. After dinner, we went back to actually shop, but realized that I had looked at the hours for the weekend, so all the store were closed. We enjoyed a crepe and alcoholic beverages instead.

Thursday morning we drove to Laguna Beach and enjoyed the Flavors of Laguna tour. Our guide had called earlier to try and cancel due to rain, but we couldn't reschedule, so we went anyway. Cora and I were the only ones, but we still enjoyed exploring Laguna and filling up on delicious food AND it turned out to be a gorgeous day! After the tour, we shopped at South Coast Plaza and found purses and a dress for Cora to wear to my brother's wedding. We ate a light dinner at Nordstrom's Cafe to save room for shaved ice at Mochilato. We totally crashed when we reached Mike's house!

The end of the tour at Wyland's gallery

Shaved ice goodness


Bright and early the next morning, we met future sister-in-law Minji at Beachcomber Cafe for breakfast. So this is how it feels like to have TWO sisters...so much fun! :) Then off to Spa Montage, a five star hotel in Laguna Beach to meet Cora's cousin, Jean. I enjoyed a clay wrap and a facial and just not having any worries for the day. After the treatments, Cora and I took a mini hike to the beach and then took our first ever yoga class. Then a simple dinner of soups and appetizers and we were already home from our getaway. It sure was fun while it lasted!

With the sisters at Beachcomber Cafe

The Montage

Spa buddies

Mini hike

Cora and the rock

Point Dume

The day was overcast and not "beach" weather, so we decided to have brunch and check out Malibu. Trung drove us to "Point Dume" where we hiked to the top with the kids and enjoyed some nice views.

Happy Hour at Hara Sushi

Lydia's classmates' mommies and I had our first happy hour at Hara Sushi and had a grand old time. We have gotten to know each other quite well over the last few months during our Thursday Joslyn Park playdate, but it was nice to actually sit down and talk without having to keep a constant eye on a kid or be interrupted. I'm already thinking about where to go next!


me, Dawn (Coral's mom), Jo Ann (Ava's mom), Marianne (Tuesday's mom), and Virginia (Verena's mom)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We ran across some leprechauns on the way to the post office, so of course, I had get a picture. Sophie was fascinated with the green while Lydia didn't care to take the picture. Oh well, it was amusing to me at least.

Preschool pandemonium

In the past, I have limited playdates to about 4 kids, but today I decided to try seeing how many kids I could manage at our place. All but one female classmate came over after school today, so I had eight preschoolers and an almost three year old Sophie. The girls watched some Disney Princess as I prepared chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and veggie sticks. Then we painted fingernails, snacked on popcorn, and played in the girls' room. It was crazy at times, but lots of fun!

Tuesday, Coral, Isabelle, Lydia, Amani, Josie, Natasha, and Ava

Lunchtime

Party on the Pier

Lydia and I attended her first birthday party at the Santa Monica Pier today. Though the party was from 11-12:30, the wristbands were valid for the entire day, so we literally spent the entire day there. Exhausting, but so much fun!

Lydia and Josie having oh so much fun!

Bumper cars, where many tears were shed for the right color car

Sophie and Trung joined the fun later in the day

The Scrambler, a nauseating ride that Lydia loved


After eight fun hours, we finally headed home