Sunday, April 20, 2014

One of the best things in life is waking up next to this beautiful girl every morning.

Iris opening her Easter present at breakfast time.

“Hmm… what is inside?”

“Oh, a bunny sippy cup!”

“What else is there?”

“Why can’t I take it out?”

“Wow, a plush giraffe that goes ‘boing!’ when I drop it”

Simon enjoyed opening his Easter presents too. He liked his boingy zebra.

After breakfast, we headed out to the Berkeley Marina to fly kites. There was a group there that were flying fish and jellyfish kites.

Simon and Ron setting up a box-style kite.

Kite flying high!

Me with the kiddos.

Ron tied the box-style kite to a tree and had this other kite that Simon helped to launch into the air.

Simon so happy.

After flying kites, we went for lunch at Sea Breeze Market & Deli. We’ve driven by so many times but never stopped to try it until today.

They have a variety of seafood like clams, crab, prawns, oysters, fish, etc. We ended up getting fried seafood items. Ron with the fried prawn sandwich, Simon with fried fish, and mine is the fried oyster sandwich (picture below).

Simon ate all his fried cod fish (and of course, french fries).

Overall pretty yummy. I liked the oyster sandwich except that the bread was a little tough. Next time I want to try the clam strips. I read on Yelp that those were really yummy too. Iris really liked the bread though so I guess if I don’t like it, at least she will eat it for me.

After lunch, we headed out to check out a few open houses in Berkeley to see what type of homes are available in our area and at what price. We are not quite ready to buy yet so we will keep looking for now. The housing market in Berkeley is tough though, the really nice homes get multiple offers and at way over asking price. Last month, I saw a house was listed for $817,000 and was sold for over $1.1 million. It all depends on location of course so I think we’ll be looking at “growing” areas versus staying in the Berkeley Hills.

Although, the Berkeley Hills are good for exercise. After we got home, I went for a walk with Iris to a nearby park. She fell asleep and I ended up walking a total of 1.5 miles carrying her in the Baby Ergo carrier. It was warm and sunny too. I was exhausted after our walk and I am sure my legs will hurt in the next few days. But, Iris had a nice, long nap and was very happy the rest of the evening.

I hope everyone had a happy Easter!

Saturday, April 18, 2014

After Simon’s swim class, we headed over to UC Berkeley campus for their annual Eggster Easter egg hunt. We missed it last year because we already had plans on that date and were very disappointed with the egg hunt in Walnut Creek. All the eggs were gone within 10 minutes so we left empty handed. At this egg hunt, they split it into different age groups and continually replenish the eggs throughout the day plus they have entertainment and arts & crafts. Upon entering campus, we came upon this Welcome sign.

Simon excitedly running toward the campanile while Ron pushed Iris in the stroller.

We just had to sign some liability forms at the start booth and get the tickets for the egg hunts. Each child gets two tickets so you can go hunting two times. This year they limited it to 5 eggs per child whereas, I think the year we went, there was no limit.

I took Iris to the 0-3 years area which had tons of babies. One kid kept on walking up to Iris and taking away Iris’ eggs from her hands and the mom didn’t stop him. I’m glad that Iris did not mind but I wish some parents would teach their child some manners. So no meltdowns and Iris sat quietly playing with the few eggs surrounding her and put some in her basket… and took them out of her basket… and put them back in again. My favorite pictures from her first egg hunt.

Simon came to join us after his egg hunt.

Simon and Daddy went to check out the arts & crafts while I tried to go take some cute pictures of Iris on the beautiful green lawn. She hates wearing things on her head but I tried taking pictures with a sun hat and bunny ears.

Simon made this mask at one of the craft tables.

We went to sit down and listen to some of the entertainment and saw the CAL band. Simon and Iris really enjoyed their performance. Iris was reaching her hand out to them as they were playing. We weren’t able to video it completely but you can see Iris putting her hand out, signaling to us that she wants to go where the music is coming from.

After the egg hunt, both kids were super tired. Simon was tired and didn’t want to take a picture in front of the campanile.

Iris fell asleep as we walked back to our car.

Spring has sprung!

Little girl is full of energy. She didn’t nap long and wanted to play, play, and play. So I changed her into a more comfortable outfit for home.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Busy body Iris loves digging in her box of toys that are supposed to be stored away.

I was hugging Simon and when Iris saw, she immediately crawled toward us and tried to climb into my lap as well. Just a little jealous?

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Iris is possibly on the verge of walking but she’s still not ready yet. She is able to get herself up to standing pretty well and will occasionally let go when she’s not thinking too much about it. For example, she uses this activity table to get up to standing and she will lean on it while she reaches for objects with both her hands. She will sometimes pull away from leaning against the table and balance on both feet. When she realizes she’s standing without support, she usually puts her hands down to hold on to something again.

Iris has this little red birthmark on the back of her head which is covered now by her hair. It’s much lighter now and the doctor said it should fade away with time. It’s unique to her so I hope it doesn’t really go away completely.

I can’t believe how big she is getting. I love her chubby like this.

Simon built this complicated rail way this evening. He’s super proud.

Simon loves bubble baths.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

This evening we celebrated Annie’s birthday at Great China restaurant in Downtown Berkeley. I made a reservation online for 7pm. We arrived at 6:45pm and had to wait. Iris enjoyed watching the cars drive by.

Dinner overall was delicious. I was too busy watching the kids that I didn’t get to take photos but I highly recommend the double skin noodles, peking duck, walnut prawns, and mei cai ko ro. Iris ate bits and pieces but was very distracted by the noise inside the restaurant.

We ended the dinner with a cake from Ruby King Bakery. One of my coworkers recommended this bakery as their cake was very moist and not too sweet. Annie and Simon enjoying cake.

Iris enjoyed the cake too.

Iris has learned how to “hi-five” from Daddy. She is super happy.

Also, just wanted to mention, the restaurant says they usually charge a cake cutting fee per person (like the corkage fee when you bring your own wine) but they ended up not adding it to our bill. But, just wanted to mention it, in case anyone goes there to eat and brings a cake, I wouldn’t want anyone to be surprised like we were.