Snowboard Day

Super fun day.

Sunny weekend (last)

We endured a week long worth's of rain which is a lot! We don't do well in the rain although I do like it when it rains. I try to avoid driving because everyone except me loses their driving ability. Anyway, the rain ended and we were left with gorgeous clear blue skies and snow topped mountains. Hector thought it would be nice to take the kids up to the snow since our local mountains got up to 5 ft of snow. Well, everyone else had that same idea so we didn't get too far. The road to Mt. Baldy started backing up then stopped about 16 miles from the snow. Hector wisely decided to turn around.

We did have a nice pleasant drive and leave it to Hector to take a side trip. Now this is where Hector's knowledge of stuff comes in handy. Time to visit The Donut Hole in La Puente.

Landmark donut place where you enter the massive chocolate donut and then get excreted out the other end!

Their donuts are pretty darn good too and open 24 hrs.

Aren't the mountains beautiful?

Dead Fish Hat

I found this pattern on ravelry.com which is a treasure trove for knitters. As you know I will be travelling to Canada Feb. 13th so I wanted something unique and funny. This Dead Fish Hat totally fits my criteria.

Amber was sweet to model it for me.

She looks cute and adorable in it. I just look silly.

So pay attention when you're watching the 2010 Winter Olympics because you might just see this hat in the crowd.

Josh's Birthday party (part 1)

My little Flip is so handy to film moments, like Josh's bowling party. As usual my camera abilities need loads of improvement but it captures the essence, chaos and noisiness of it all.

The Land Of Cheese

My latest favorite cartoon Making Fiends all about CHEESE! Okay, I found the correct episode but it looks like some people decided to dub in their own voices. I don't get that part but the script is still correct and the people did a decent job on the Charlotte and Vendetta's voices.

It's a Mystery

A weird thing happened last night when we came out of Tyler's karate class. The rain had stopped so I was hustling the kids into the Pilot. I have to park on a busy street (Carson) so usually I wait for the trafiic to go by before getting into the driver's side. I was at the rear of the car when the kids closed the door and I saw glass fall in front of me. It was dark glass and I thought it was a broken beer bottle that a car flung. But when I got into the car and closed my door, I heard a noise from the back of the car. Looking back there is a hole in our rear windshield. Oh no.
So whatever happened while we were in the karate studio, broke our rear glass. Bummer. I called our insurance, managed to drive home and rearrange the cars so I could park the SUV in the garage. Phew.
As far as I can tell, nothing was taken. Our bowling ball bags are still there and the portable DVD player too. I need to inspect it now in the daylight to see if there was any other damage but it's going down as vandalism...Boo!

Hat Frenzy

In anticipation of my buddy vacation to Victoria BC / Vancouver, I knew I would need some warm colorful hats to stand out amongst the millions of people that will be in the area during the Olympics.

1. Alpiner hat with earflaps which is modelled by Tyler. I used a fuzzy angora mohair wool yarn by Kureyon which the colors are gorgeous but the fuzzy fibers shed and caused several sneezing attacks. Topped off with crochet trim and big tassel on top. Still deciding on whether to add braids but I like how it looks.

2. Second alpiner hat. I used a great yarn Manos del Uruguay which is also very lovely with its subtle striping. This one has braids which brings me back to my childhood when I wore braids everyday.

3. Hat number three...the Fake Isle Hat. For the non-knitters, this is a play on the term Fair Isle which is the multi-colored patterns where you 'carry ' the non-working yarns along the back or inside so it creates a double thickness(in a sense). I used the fuzzy leftover yarn from hat #1 to create this hat. I only used 2 yarns but the color changes make it look more complex. Hmmm, I better move on because I hear silence and possible snoring on your end. But you can see the fuzziness of the yarn compared to the black yarn.

4. Another Fake Isle hat with 2 different yarns for a winter wonderland vibe; the black one is much more sophisticated hat for Lupe.

There is another alpiner hat that I made but no photos yet. Another colorway of the Kureyon yarn so use your imagination. I thought I was getting tired of hats because obviously I have plenty to choose from and give away to my fellow travel buddies. But I do need to make a more manly hat for Brandon maybe in Canadian colors. Anyway, I came across a cool funky hat that will stand out in a crowd that I want to wear so I'm knitting another hat. Hector was looking at it blandly (like he does most of my knitting) and surprised me when he said that he would wear it. Shocking, I know! My guy has survived my still ongoing obsession with knitting and never requests anything. I did make a pair of socks for him and that's it. So I'll wear this hat to Canada and then pass it on to him. But I have a feeling that more people are going to request this hat because it is soooo freakin funny and cool.

Making Fiends

My current favorite cartoon.  Yipppeeeee!

White Point

Earlier in the month Veronica and I went to White Point tidepools and had some girl time.

Not so prime real estate.

Little hermit crab.

It was nice to relax and chat without the kids. Those rocks can be pretty slippery. We saw one mom reminding her little girl to be careful and ended up falling on her butt herself.

I was planning to take the boys here on Monday but I heard it might rain so I might have to come up with a plan B.

List

Not resolutions but things I want to improve on or try...

1. I'm still on a yarn "diet" which is not buying yarn with my own money. Gift cards and other people's money I have no problems with. :) I did okay last year with 1 or 2 relapses but the end result is that my friends and family benefit from it eventually.
2. Cooking. Hector gives himself credit for teaching me. I did take Home Ec in high school but really never was interested in it until marriage. You can't eat out all the time so Hector showed me how to use the broiler and there it took off. I learned how to make his favorite dishes although it's not quite as good as his mom's. I stuck mostly with stuff I knew but lately I'm trying different recipes because I now I enjoy cooking. So more new recipes to try....
3. Photography. I would like to take some days out of the month to really try taking better pictures. Easy said than done but I can't learn if I don't try. I do end up deleting a lot of pictures but taking them is half the fun.
4. Declutter everything and organize. Yep, nuf said.

This list could be much much longer but this is a good start. Oh and blog more....

Budapest video

Sorry it's been so long since I posted more about out trip to Budapest but here is a portion. Excuse my poor awful video camera skills. Bah. :)

New Knits

Finished some items that I've been working on...the holiday season was pretty hectic so I took a short 2-3 day knitting break.

Another dodecahedron finished which will be for a little girl...we still need to exchange Christmas gifts with this family. Someone who will remain nameless that insists we all need to gather in one spot before any of our gifts are opened. So maybe this weekend?

another view which is actually in a bathroom with different lighting.

Victoria BC is coming upon us quickly and I just realized this. So that means another hat and handwarmers for me and some hats for my fellow travel buddies. I picked a bright multi color yarn for my hat since I thought everyone will be packed into this city and I need a recognizable hat in case I get separated from my friends.

That reminds me that a certain someone who is supposed to go to Canada with hasn't applied for his passport yet as of last week! He better get on the ball quickly or we will be minus one person.

Have a good weekend!!

Activities of the New Year

Happy New Year! I've been saying it so much and we're only 5 days in. Today the kids began school again and it's time. We had a great time hanging out etc but they need to go back to school.
Here are some of the things we did...

1. Hector and I went to the Kings vs. Capitals game. Alex Ovechkin is probably one of the top star players and scorers in the NHL so it's exciting and nerve-wracking to play against them. In the end, the Kings won 2-1. Yeah! Lots of people gathered to watch the warm-ups to see Ovechkin because we don't play many East Coast teams and to see him in action is pretty neat. Watch some of his incredible goals on Youtube.




2. Later that night we took the kids to Go Kart World. Hector and the boys have been there many times but this my first introduction to that "world". We received a few Go Kart World passes so this time I thought I would join in and see what the boys were raving about. My wrists were aching after the first track and that was the mini track which was too small with lots of left turns. On to the next event...the bumper cars. That I liked. The four of us ramming into each other...good times. Super Track was next so Josh and I rode together. Yikes! After getting strapped in and ready, I floored it and nearly took out the employee's leg off. Whoops, sorry my bad! These little go karts aren't the best at precision steering and wow, that track is a 2 level figure 8 track.  I had my fill by that point so I sat out at the Turbo Track which is pretty narrow and tricky. This is where I managed to take my bad pictures of the boys. I don't think I will go back since it's loud, stinky and don't see the appeal. Must be a guy thing!
3. Oh, I forgot! After the Kings game I was starving but didn't want to eat at the overpriced restaurants and as we were crossing the street, Hector saw a Mexican fast food place. I ordered a torta and horchata. Yum. And under $8.  I call it LA Live adjacent. And they named a burrito after Carlos...

4. I also squeezed some girl time with my friend Veronica. We hit White Point in San Pedro for some good ol picture taking. I'll post pictures for next time.