Tuesday, December 31, 2013

We spent the day at home relaxing and just had plans in the evening for dinner. Iris gave us some more smiles.

Simon practiced writing his own name, “mom”, “dad”, “Iris”, and “yipo”. “Mom” is written twice because he did not like it the first time he wrote it.

We had dinner reservations at Skates on the Bay next to the Berkeley Pier. Reservations were for 5pm, in hopes that we would catch the sunset. By the time we were seated, the sun had pretty much gone down but we still had a nice view.

Iris can sit in high chairs pretty well now.

But tries to touch everything around her and put it in her mouth, including the menu!

But she knows she is super cute and can get away with it.

Simon is a big boy now and can sit in his own chair, most of the time without a booster chair. The tables at Skates were great because they had butcher paper on them so that Simon could draw to his heart’s content.

For dinner appetizers we had the crab cakes and half a dozen oysters on the half shell.


For dinner, I had a cioppino. The broth was delicious and tasted really good soaked up in the garlic bread on the side.

Dinnertime photos.

Simon’s dinner came with a sundae. He loved the chocolate syrup and ice cream but, surprisingly, does not like whipped cream.

I tried the gingerbread bread pudding.

Lovely dinner for the last day of 2013.

On the drive home, Iris fell asleep in her carseat. She looks so comfortable.

But woke up soon after arriving home. I won’t be staying up until midnight to watch fireworks and neither will the kids so wishing everyone a safe celebration and Happy New Year!

Monday, December 30, 2013

Today we went back to Costco to buy our regular food supply since our refrigerator was pretty empty. Simon loves to go to Costco. I think it may be the free samples and they have so many types of fruits and snacks.

We also had to go to Ranch 99 because we were completely out of rice but after circling the parking lot a few times, Simon fell asleep. The parking lot was packed so we got lucky to get a space when someone was leaving but I didn’t want to wake Simon so Annie went to shop inside while I waited in the car with him while he slept.

And entertained Iris while Simon snored away. She is so easygoing sometimes. I feel very lucky.

I must admit, girls’ clothes are so much cuter than boys’ clothes. Simon had cute outfits when he was little but they just don’t compare to how cute little girls’ clothes are.

At Costco, we bought an activity book for Simon. He learned how to match shapes with shadows, to figure out which two pictures were EXACTLY the same, to play a game where you have to complete a box (one player draws one line, the next player draws another line, and so on until you make a box), he colored, he did mazes, he counted and wrote numbers… turned out to be a great activity book that he enjoyed.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Today Iris and I had a date with Auntie Vicki. Actually, she was treating me to a belated birthday brunch. I decided to try taking the BART into San Francisco to save on parking and to not have to deal with any traffic. Tip for those who start at North Berkeley BART station and have a stroller or need to use the elevator… the elevator is NOT inside the station! I found out after I already parked my car next to the station. The elevator is across the crosswalk in another parking lot. There are signs but I wasn’t looking since most elevators are inside the station. Once you take the elevator down to the platform, there’s a ticket taker where you can use your Clipper Card or a regular BART card. It was supposed to be Iris’ nap time but she didn’t sleep.

Even inside the train she did not want to sleep and wanted to look out the window.

She finally fell asleep once we reached San Francisco. Unluckily for us, the elevator at Powell St station was out of order so I had to lug everything up the escalator. She fell asleep as I pushed her in the stroller to Nordstrom. We made it just in time to meet Auntie Vicki. While Iris napped, we ordered our lunch and had cocktails.

Crab mac n cheese and steak sandwich. Yummy!

Iris woke up part way through the meal and joined us at the table for her lunch.

After lunch we did some shopping. Selfie in the dressing room.

We had an afternoon snack and coffee before we parted ways. A napoleon and berry galette.

Thank you Vicki for a wonderful day!

We even brought home a surprise for big brother Simon, a belated Christmas gift from Auntie Vicki and Uncle David. Simon loves it!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Iris’ best smiles are in the morning. This is how she can get away with waking up so early.

But she has some pretty good smiles during the daytime too. You can see her two front teeth here.

In order for her to get into crawling position, Iris almost does the splits.

Simon and Ron checked out the park nearest to us which has a tot area, an older kids area, and a baseball field. The tot area is fenced in and has a bunch of random toys. Simon seemed to enjoy himself.

After a day of play, Simon did some “work” in the evening. He practiced writing his name multiple times.

Then also practiced letters “A” through “G”.

I’m just a little bit impressed since I don’t know where he picked up writing from. They don’t teach writing in school yet since they are focused on speech but he seems to enjoy writing except when he gets a little frustrated with more difficult letters. Not sure if you can see that he writes the letter “E” with many horizontal lines so he’s definitely still learning.

Friday, December 27, 2013

When I arrived home from work, I could hear loud laughter through the door. When I open the door, I found Simon and Iris in a “box car”…

It’s so fun to see them having fun together.