Split Rock Waterpark!

Love this place! Ok, it is not the cheapest place to go but it was really fun. It was a kid-friendly space that is fun for adults as well. A big plus is the cleanliness. Maybe it is still a fairly brand new facility but it was worth the trip.

g especially loved the large water slides. I was so surprised that g wasn't freaked. I thought the size of it would scare her but she loved it and kept going up for more. One particular one was almost 3 stories up. It's great though that the place really had families in mind.

From Split Rock Resort

g art series #3

 

We went to Earth Day last weekend and g got her face painted for the first time. She picked a rainbow with a unicorn design that went down the side of her cheek. It was done really well. She loved it so much and was so inspired with it that she decided to do this drawing.

g art work series 2

I am continually amazed at the progress in g's artwork. It's too bad that I won't be able to upload every single one of them or figure out how to take a picture of them.

With the introduction of invisible tape, all her art have taken on 3D quality.

This one is of a cat bed. There is a cat sleeping underneath a bunny blanket. Everything is taped down so I can't photograph it individually. It also features a ladder, a chimney and an attached food bowl.

Earth Day 2009

The first day warm day in the looong time.

We took the girls to the local Earth Day celebration.

My g, the artist

 

AS requested, I am posting some of little g's art work. She is getting really good at it. Her work has become more and more elaborate. She does such volume of work that it has become a little difficult to save all of them as much as I'd like to.

My favorite to date (though I can no longer find it) is a flying ladybug complete with wings. The ladybug is also a vehicle. She cut out an image to represent each and everyone of us as riders and driver of the ladybug car which came with a steering wheel as well.

RAFTING!

 

My bro and family on their first rafting trip.

Now onto the 3

g has moved to the table of 3s. s can't be bothered beyond the first half of the table of 2s.

The Bunk Bed Project - Done!

 

 

 

We are officially a bunk bed family. The kids have been successfully integrated into their bunks.

In the words of little s, "me love it."

let the training begin.

Gmom has started the multiplication table memorization. g has absorbed most of the the table of 2. Now to infinite and beyond.

For those who don't understand what she is saying, she is doing her table of 2s in cantonese. She thinks she is singing a song.

Ringling Brothers - Baby's First Circus program

Too bad it is too late for my babies.

Ringling Brothers offer a free ticket voucher when you sign your baby (has to less than 12 months old) for the Baby's First Circus Program. You will receive a voucher that you can claim anytime at the ticket booth.

10% off coupon for Barnes & Noble

It's only for one item. Enjoy.

Jollibee, baby!

it's official.

Jollibee has made it to the Northeast. Even more impressive, it merited its own feature article on the New York Times.

Now with reports from my very reliable Filipino sources that the lines stretches out the door, I think I will wait until the excitement dies down before I can pull up and order a chicken joy.

City Treehouse

 

 

We tried out an open house at City Treehouse this weekend. Lovely place though kind of small. It was an altogether lovely Saturday spent in bustling New York City. Gawd, I miss the city.

silly face

 

I can't guess what she's thinking.

Love this video

This is a great video. I don't understand how this won 2nd prize in the AARP u@50 contest. The first prize is not all that. Oh well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Skiing at Mount Snow

This is a week behind schedule but here it goes.

Skiing at Mount Snow was great for the kids. We had decided (thanks to K's decision) to not enroll g in ski school. I had a lot of trepidation about this but thought that in the interest of saving money, I will just go along with it. At worst, the kids and I can go to a sleigh ride or shopping.

Things worked out, it seems. Fortuitously after we had rented the equipment and G did a run just to get his ski legs, the kids and I hung out by the ski school. While there, I saw the steps that there teaching the kids. So I started having g mimic everything that the kids on the other side of the fence were doing.

First, show the kids how to put on their skis. One ski first. Then walk around and get comfortable. Second, put on the other ski. Shuffle around and get comfortable. Next it was the pizza wedge. We did quite a few of those. I didn't notice what came next because by then G had returned and g was ready to move on from all that shuffling. She wanted to pick up some speed.

My first suggestion was for G to carry g up a few paces on the side of bunny slope and have her come down. They did that a few times before G was about the pass out from the effort of trying to walk her up with all her gear and his gear.

Next we moved onto the tow line. As G was lining up with g, I noticed another parent coming down the slope with his kid using the ski poles as a sort of harness. I told G to do the same. So with poles under each arm, G and g skied down. g giggled all the way down. She loved it.

We found out later on that all the "magic carpets" (a flat escalator to the top of a small slope) in the facility are open for anyone to use. We thought that it was exclusively for ski school students. Thanks again to K for the info.

The next day we got a little bold. We decided to strap some ski equipment on little s to see who she would fare. We followed the same basic steps of instruction. This time we went directly to the magic carpet. shuffling on skis took a lot out of little s since the equipment was probably almost half her body weight. After much prodding, she finally went down the slope. Once she did it, that was it. The little snow bunny was telling me, "no hold, no hold!!" She wanted to do it herself. By the end of the day, she was getting on and off the magic carpet by herself.

g and s had the time of their lives. I think the family C will be skiing again very soon.

Ski!

 

 

 

Just pics for now. I'll follow up with the stories later.

she Crazy!

The more I hear about the Octo-mom, the more I am coming to the conclusion that "she crazy". I know that my judgment is based on new media stories that can be purposely inflamed to keep me watching. I won't comment on the possible plastic surgery rumor.

The burning questions in my mind are:
How did she afford in-vitro? These treatments are not cheap.
Why would anyone seek fertility treatments when one can barely support a brood of six?
(if I were a taxpayer in California) How can I "not" support this woman's lifestyle?

Octo-mom (or her overt hyper-birthing behavior) drives me insane. I love children as evidenced by the two that I have. However I find it unconscionable to have kids that you cannot support in every way. It is a sad start to their lives. I watch those little babies (and they are truly little) and pray. For what else can I do?

What I won't do is DONATE to their crazy mother.

Here we go.

This is how it started. I thought it would be really great for g to learn how to ski, so I recruited her best bud, a (and his parents, of course) to go skiing. The hope was that with her friend in tow, she would more likely get on the slope without whining. a's mom decided that it was best that she breaks a into skiing herself rather than signing him up for ski school. Upon hearing this, G decided that he will do the same (note....my eyes were rolling when he im'ed me.) Let's just say that G is not the most patient of teachers. He almost expects the kids to learn anything from their colors to square roots with a minimum of explanation. He never seems to understand why they don't "get" concepts within minutes. I predicted that the whole "learning-to-ski" experience would last about 35 minutes. The first 20 minutes would be getting the gear on. The next 10 minutes will be getting on the slope. G's explanation of the concept of skiing about 1 minutes. g falling on her first attempt would be take about 30 seconds. The rest of the time will be whining and crying until G and g would just give up and call it a day.

So I thought it best to give G a trial run at being a teacher. We took the kids ice skating. The first few minutes was slightly foreboding as the skates were hurting G's foot. I rented g a larger size so she seemed fine. The first round looked painful as G supported g's full weight under her arms. She looked like wheelbarrow. The second round was better as G and g started holding hands instead. Despite falls, g took it and kept on going.

The two of them passed the test. Now on to the slopes. Hopefully it will last longer than 35 minutes.

What defines a cheap vacation?

cheap vacation for single people requires space enough for a sleeping bag or a smallish blanket, the dollar menu or dominos hot wings and a warm shower.

cheap vacation for families with kids - oxymoron. Seriously.

Now that everything has to be multiplied by 4, everything we do and everywhere we go is exponentially more expensive. We have planned a nice simple little ski trip. We got a good deal on a house and are sharing expenses with other people. However even with that, I am staring at almost $1000. Yikes!

Makes me wonder how the Duggars do it?