Super easy hat

I have my adorable model Joshua wearing my latest project. It is a hat for a little girl. I have a friend that has 2 daughters so I think these will look cute on them when winter rolls around. I know that winter is 6 months away but I have a lot of people on my list so I'm trying to pace myself. Christmas will be here before you know it!

Here is the same hat but with different yarn. The yarn I used is softer, nubbier and lightweight. I like how these hats are quick and easy. I knit the top hat in one day.

Soak Zone

Okay, now for another highlight of our Sea World trip. Last time Tyler was dissapointed that we were not able to sit in the Soak Zone at the Shamu show so I made it a point to arrive early to get the seats he wanted. We bought ponchos to shield us from the chilly 52 degree water that Shamu was going to fling at us. Before the show, Joshua began to cry and freak out so Hector took him to walk around the park while we watched the show. The guy next to Tyler (see pic) bought some cotton candy and then gave it to Tyler so he was thrilled.

Tyler took a picture of me in my poncho and he did a very good job. Anyway, the show started and we were prepared to get soaked but Shamu's splashes in our section didn't reach our row. Our legs got a little wet but that was it. We were kinda bummed so we will plan our seats better next time.

Buddies

Candids

Tyler in the sky ride at Sea World.

Some boats out for a nice jaunt out in Mission Bay.

Hector being his usual goofy self.

Josh trying to smile... not quite there but still looking cute!

Picture Time

See? My kids don't need toys to entertain themselves. All they need is an ottoman & sofa to play "crawl under the bridge".





Tyler is getting a workout holding up the Sky Tower.













Here is a view of the dolphin show from the Sky Tower and it looks like it's a full house.














Tyler posing with Mario (a guy behind us in line won this huge prize). We asked to take a picture with it and he was kind enough to let us.

Part 1

Our weekend in San Diego was filled with fun and excitement. We arrived at Embassy Suites to find the lobby under construction that just finished for the weekend so the guests wouldn't be disturbed. That was the least of our problems there. I think the place was sold out and the majority of the guests were kids that ran free throughout the hotel. We kept running into kids that goofed off in the exercise room, pool and elevator. The hotel managers were busy trying to keep the kids under control since adults were never around. Other than that, our stay was good.

On Saturday, we went to Sea World. The weather was on the cool side with scattered spots of sunshine. The kids made a beeline for Shamu's Happy Harbor where the ran their little legs off.

More details on Sea World later.

Road Trip

Okay, we should be heading out to San Diego soon. The kids & I are packed and ready to go. Hector went to do some last second shopping for a DVD player that can strap on the headrests. Of course, I found his wallet in his jeans when I was picking up so he'll figure it out and come back home.

We will first drop by Hector's mom to wish her a happy birthday which is on Sunday. Hopefully the traffic won't be too horrible but we're looking for to our stay at the Embassy Suites (trying to rack up the reward points). Our plans are to visit Legoland and Sea World because our last trip was kinda cold and I was hoping that the weather would be warmer this time. So far it looks like the low 70's but the kids will enjoy it no matter the temperature.

Park (night and day)

More pics

Here are the kids with Grandma (my mom) on Mother's day. She watched Tyler from the day he was born on the days I had to work. He really loves his Grandma very much.

She watched Josh too for a bit until I decided to stay at home. Josh was a little more difficult to watch all day but Grandma babysits for a few hours when we have our alone time. The kids love to visit Grandma who loves to spoil them.

random pictures from the park...I really love my new flash since the past week has been gray and overcast and this flash really fills in & brightens.

Here is Josh after spinning in the swing several times...he doesn't look too steady.

weekend recap

We had such a busy weekend! I was thinking about it and realized that we squeezed in a lot of activities. On Friday night, Tyler spent the night at grandma's house so I took Josh over to Downtown Disney with Kat to do some damage at Sephora. I LOVE that place! I got bought night moisturizer, a tinted moisturizer with spf 30 (for day) and a pretty Benefit lipstick.
Josh survived the outing with the help of his Gameboy, the tram ride back to the parking lot and the firework display.

On Saturday morning, I had to register Tyler for soccer in the fall. I'm not sure why we still have to show up in person to register since you can do the pre-register forms online. Last year I waited an hour but this time I was actually very lucky to get a good parking space and the wait was only 40 minutes. So after that, we were free to go to Mulligan's, a local family fun center. As we entered the driveway, a person was sitting next to a sign that Mulligan's was closed for a private event until 4 pm! What? So Hector had to think of another mini golf place because he promised the kids. We ended up at Golfland in El Monte about 25 miles from our house and had a great time playing. The kids had a great time playing and Josh always picked up his ball to place it closer to the hole. We would have stayed longer but our friend Dan called to say his son locked the car keys inside the car and they were stuck in Echo Park. Could we go to Longo Lexus in El Monte to get another key? What luck we had we were already in El Monte! The only problem is that dealers don't let just anyone come pick up a key and the newer cars have a chip in them to start the car otherwise. Dan had to call his home dealer to communicate with the Longo dealer to release the key to Hector which took about an hour. The key they give out is only the key with the top part cut off which opens only the door and not the car. At least the Longo dealer has a VERY nice service center...a nice seating area with big screen TV, 2 refrigerators with cold drinks and water, a coffee machine, a computer center and a kid's play area with Xbox and cartoons. Our kids enjoyed their wait while we watched The Preakness.
Then we were off to Echo Park to deliver the key to Dan and his kids. We couldn't visit or stay too long because we had to head home so Hector could go to work. Phew...

Lupe had driven out to visit on Saturday so we spent most of our time trying to work on a slide show for her son's graduation. I didn't really do anything but we spent a lot of time just trying to find pictures and files that I won't get into but it was exhausting. Next time I want to do a slide show, I know I can ask Lupe since she's the "expert". :)

Sunday was our day for rest and relaxation. The kids went to Sunday school and we had dim sum for lunch. I took a nap and then we went to Korean BBQ for dinner. A very nice end to our busy weekend.

Monster Slide Fun

I forgot that a few weekends ago, our neighbors had a birthday party for their son who turned 1 year old. Of course, the birthday boy really had no idea what was going on but everyone else had a great time. The neighbors' house is the exactly same floorplan as ours but their yard is huge. They can fit their RV in the backyard plus patio and big grassy area where they rented a HUGE inflatable water slide! Tyler was in kiddie heaven and he must have slid down that thing a hundred times or whatever times he could fit in about 2 hours. Joshua didn't know any better at first and went down it. I think he just thought it was a regular slide but he refused to ride it after that one time. It was a big slide for little kids but there was a much tamer slide/wading pool.

Fire Day

Last Saturday was Fire Day in Torrance where the fire stations have open house and have various booths and demonstrations. The past years we have gone to see the demonstrations etc. but never made it to the fire stations so we made it a point to go this time.

The kids enjoyed the demonstration where a car is on fire and a person needs to be rescued. The car is left burning for a bit to get the dramatic black smoke and flames then the fire is put out while firefighters use the "jaws of life" to remove the car door.

We ran into some friends and their kids so we went back to the firehouse for another visit. Some of the halls and doorways were blocked off but Hector found a door marked Pole that wasn't blocked so down he went! That stinker. Tyler likes the girls especially A (they were in the same kindergarten class) and he knows how to pose with them.

Night Out

Last night was Date night... we rode out on the motorcycle to Long Beach and had dinner at the Rockbottom Brewery. I had the Great White Wheat (wheat beer) and Hector had a red ale (can't remember the name). Hector missed lunch so he ordered the appetizer sampler which had buffalo wings, taquitos, onion rings and small pizza. Boy, we ordered too much...I had the Mac n' chicken that I couldn't finish and Hector ordered the New York strip steak. He is such an optimist when it comes to ordering steak because most of the time his steaks arrive either undercooked or wrong (except at Morton's where each steak is perfect). This time his steak was charred on one side so he couldn't eat it. The waitress was very nice and the restaurant made him another steak which was much better. Also our waitress brought another round of beers for our trouble! Ugh...we were so stuffed and brought home half a pizza and my meal.

We had a nice ride back home over the Vincent Thomas bridge where I saw the Coral Princess cruise ship and the docks. Then we zipped over to Palos Verdes where the smells change from ocean to horses. As usual our date time flew by and it was cool to have some quality time with my cheeseboy.

Hat 2

Wow, another hat made in just a couple of hours. I had this beautiful bulky claret yarn left over from another project and I couldn't figure out how to use it. Well, I decided to knit another baby hat and I had enough for the hat and the pom-pom. How cool is that?

Hat

I finished another project! This one was very easy to knit. My first attempt is an adult hat for my nephew's girlfriend (they're graduating from high school in June). She will be heading to Oregon for college so I figured she could use a cute hat and scarf. I finished her hat last week and am about halfway through the scarf. I made the hat a little bigger than the pattern since I'm learning how to adjust for gauge (see, it even fits my large noggin). I chose a nubby yarn which turned out great (you can't see any noticeable mistakes). Oh and I got new glasses...I decided to be daring and get the nerdy/cool rectangular frames.

The hat came out really cute so I decided to try and make a baby version. A friend is due next month and expecting a little girl so I made a little hat with purple and green yarn. The hat is very stretchy so hopefully she can wear it for a while. I had to find Joshua's Monkey to model the hat (too cute). Ha, Tyler saw that Monkey got to wear a hat so now he is requesting a hat for his Torchic!

I'm still trying to figure out what activities Tyler will do this summer. I had to write a list to make sure none of the dates interfere or overlap. So far he will have soccer camp (5 days) , church camp (5 days) and hopefully summer baseball. I think that will keep him busy and entertained.

Mom's Day

Yesterday was fun but busy as we went to see both of our moms. We brought lunch and flowers for my mom. She is finally looking more like her usual self and in good spirits. My mom raised me by herself and even though we butt heads a lot, I love and appreciate what she has done for me. We had to rely on each other and I like to think she did a great job of raising me. My mom has always been there for me and I can't thank her enough.

Then we were off to Cucamonga to spend time with Hector's mom. L made some red chile and it tasted very good even though she hadn't made it in a really long time. We'll give you 2 thumbs up for the great dinner, L!! I have lots of fun with Hector's family since there is a totally different dynamic going on with his sisters, nephews and our kids. It can get very noisy and crazy with all the stories and antics. Hector's mom is amazing in that she had 7 kids and remained sane. I can say that I am her favorite daughter-in-law which was a piece of cake since the other one is MIA (long story). :) And there is L, Hector's sister is a great mom too. Her sons are growing up fast and hopefully she will devote time to herself soon. Las Vegas, maybe?

Success

Tonight I finished giving the boys their bath and straightening up when Josh comes back in and lifts the toilet seat. I asked him what he was doing and he said, " All wet." He usually says that after he wets his pants so I lift his bathrobe and Josh starts peeing into the toilet. After he finished, I hugged him so hard and Josh gave me a great big smile. This is the major breakthrough we were hoping for and hopefully we can continue down this road. We were so excited that I called grandma to tell her the good news. To celebrate this momentous event, we had bowls of ice cream! I think this is the best present that Josh could give me for Mother's Day.

Gentle or Hard?

A couple of years ago, I had Hector put in a rain-type shower head in the master bathroom. He is very handy with stuff like that but after it was installed, the water pressure was weak. I just got used to it and never questioned it. I figured it was like rain although a light rain. Then a few weeks ago, Hector used my shower to rinse Tyler off and was surprised by how weak the water came out (he uses the downstairs shower). So a few days ago, Hector took off the shower head, removed the flow restrictor then put it back on. Yikes! The water pressure from the shower pelted me so hard, it was painful. Before I had the water on full blast to get my light trickle of water out and now I have to push the knob in about 2/3 to get a comfortable spray which is still a lot stronger than before. Everytime I turn on my shower I laugh at my pressure washer shower while Hector wonders how I could live with the previous one!

I received some movies from Netflix that I've been wanting to watch. I'm usually too busy to see them in the theatres but then that's what DVDs are for. I have The Holiday and Stranger than Fiction sitting here so maybe I can find some free time to watch them. I watched most of American Dreamz meaning that it was on and I saw most of it. Not much to comment on the movie; it was okay.

Pinkberry

I'm a little slow on some trends but the Pinkberry craze is still going on. People in SoCal and New York get to satisfy their addictions to some refreshing frozen yogurt. I know it sounds extremely boring but once you taste it, you're hooked. Hector mentioned that a Pinkberry is now in the South Bay (Rolling Hills) so yesterday Kat and I headed over after lunch. We timed it that way so we can avoid crowds because this location is near a high school. I got an original medium with strawberries, mango and Capn Crunch. At first I was looking at this big bowl wondering how I would finish it but the yogurt is so light and refreshing, I soon was scraping the bottom thinking about more. It's offical...I am hooked! Oh did I mention, Pinkberry is non-fat...only 20 calories per ounce. Tasty and good for you!
I've already looked up other locations and there is one in Rancho Cucamonga so I can get my fix while visiting Hector's family! Woot.

I Spy...

with my little eye and a lot of help from my zoom lens. On Monday afternoon Hector and I took a nice motorcycle ride in Palos Verdes. It is hillside community which overlooks the Pacific ocean depending what side of the "hill" you live on. The road goes past magnificent views and gorgeous homes so it's hard to decide what to look at.

Our first stop had a view of the Queen's Necklace which includes Redondo Beach all the way up to Santa Monica and Malibu. There was a little bit of haze but it didn't obscure the view of downtown Los Angeles. Hector decided to sit near the edge but I stayed back!

We continued our ride past Trump's golf course on toward San Pedro and Point Fermin park. This park is really lovely with huge trees and views of Catalina island. It is set on a cliff where every so often people jump the wall and try to walk to a path that leads to the ocean which results in someone falling to their death. I was taking pictures with my zoom lens of the cliffside path and noticed a man making his way down. A few minutes later, I looked for him and he was in the water but now, he was naked! Of course I had to take some pictures of him. It seemed that this guy is homeless because he was washing himself in the surf. He thought he was out of sight tucked behind the rocks but my zoom found him. Gotcha!

Kinky night

No, it's not what you're thinking. Kinky is the name of a band that T and I saw Friday night at the El Rey. We had never heard of this band but it was my cousin Hannah's birthday and she wanted to celebrate it Kinky style! It sounded like lots of fun so we headed on out to Hollywood to check it out.

The opening act was a DJ that played his turntable and Mac to the crowd. He was all right but over played his set by about 30 minutes. T and I took a break and hung out by the bar while he finished his set. Naturally we decided to goof around and take pics of some chick showing off her butt cleavage. Then we acted out emotions for the camera and as you can see, we are really awful at it. But hey, when you're drinking a few cosmos, everything seems cool.

Surprised: Heh, you can't blame us for trying! It's actually lots of fun when you have a digital camera.

Curry

For several years, Hector and I enjoy eating Japanese curry. We discovered curry when we lived in Brentwood during the OJ Simpson hoopla and found Hurry Curry of Japan on Sawtelle. There was a small Japanese area of 2-3 blocks that offered different Japanese food and markets.

When we moved to Torrance, we went through the process of finding our favorites and it took a while for us to search for a curry place. Finally we found Curry House which is great! Then I discovered curry ramen at Kiraku, our favorite noodle house. A generous helping of curry is placed on top of ramen noodles and the soup takes on the curry flavor that is wonderful on a cold day.

Then one day when shopping at Mitsuwa, we should try to make our own curry. There are many brands of curry available in mild, medium and hot. So I tried making curry and it turned out yummy. I cook chicken or beef with some carrots and potatoes, follow the directions on the package and the curry comes out. Plus it doesn't take long to make (about 30 minutes) so it's a snap. Spoon some curry over rice and instant meal!

Blooms

The gloomy overcast days are gone (for now) so I've been bringing my camera with me pretty much whenever I go out. A lot of neighbors have beautiful flowers so I've been snapping pics along my walks.

The Good, the bad and the ugly...

UGLY: This morning started off with Joshua barfing all over me as he was getting dressed. Nothing like some vomit to wake me out of my semi-sleepiness. He had a slight fever and didn't want to eat anything but drank a little juice. Josh fell asleep in the car later in the morning and seemed to feel better after that.

BAD: Hector's motorcycle still was not ready this morning at 10am. and he dropped it off on Monday. Grrr...last night when he called to check on it, it was in the shop almost finished around closing. So this morning's excuse was that it was ready but it needed to be test-ridden and cleaned. Annoying to have to come back but that leads us to...

GOOD: We decided to drive and get something to eat. After a few minutes of discussion, we settled on Alfredo's, a Mexican drive-thru. Great choice. I had the 3 rolled tacos (taquitos) with guacamole and it was so delicious. That alone improved my mood for the rest of the day.

*Hector has his motorcycle again so he is a happy cheeseboy and Josh is his normal active self so we'll see how he does tonight.

Diamond Scarf

I finished this diamond scarf a week ago but held off posting about it since I wanted to give it as a birthday present to Kat. It might be difficult to see well but there is a pattern. This is one of my first attempts at following a pattern and I like the result. I plan on making several more for Christmas presents so if you get one, please act surprised.

Lately my neck and shoulder have been feeling stiff and achy which I thought was caused by my pillow. I have a feather pillow that seems much too flat and has lost its fluff. Hector thinks my pains are caused by all the knitting I've been doing. But I haven't knitted in a week and my pain started. I'm starting to think it's a combo of old age and a flat pillow so yesterday I bought a new pillow at Target. There are pillows for side sleepers, back sleepers and all positions, then there are options for feather, down alternative etc. The possibilities are endless. I decided to choose a memory foam combo pillow that has memory foam on one side and a regular pillow on the other. Last night I used it and this morning my neck and shoulder feel better. Coincidence? I think NOT.

Ooops, my bad!

Over the weekend, we stopped some friends to see their little baby. M is a former roomate of Hector that we've known for over 10 years. I was busy holding the baby while Hector showed M and his mother-in-law pictures of our updated kitchen. Later I walked over and casually slapped the Levi's butt in front of me just as this thought popped into my head, "Hector is sitting down in front of the computer." Oops, I just grabbed M's butt!! M turned around but it didn't faze him. He must be used to butt-grabbing from women who are not his wife. :) I thought it was funny and of course, M grabbed my butt when we left. Next time I'll have to make sure to check whose butt I grab before I grab it.