4/16 At Gilroy Gardens

Wow - so now it takes about 6 weeks to stay current on the blog. Life is good, job is not, but children are wonderful!

In April, we went down to Gillroy Gardens with Mamma & Poppa and had a wonderful time. Miles loved the cars, the train, the rides and running around. Amelia needed a little bit of warming up (she went straight from a nap in the car to a merry-go-round), but took to it after that. We'll certainly go back soon.

Dance!

Miles has always loved music, but Amelia is coming along on the same trajectory and loves to dance. She'll actually say "Dance" and then clap her hands and move her body back and forth. 2 days ago, we actually motivated the kids into the bath and up to bed by a parade. Amelia loved the whole process.

Happy Easter

This was a jammed packed Easter. Miles must now believe Easter as well as birthdays last days. Easter "started" on Thursday, with an egg hunt and party at Momma Sues. Followed by Momma and Pappa coming to visit that evening and staying through until Sat. mid-morning.

This video of Amelia pretty much sums up the party at Momma Sues.

Friday, we all went to Happy Hollow, had pizza for lunch, naps, then egg painting followed by Chinese take-out.

Miles giving the Frog Hopper at Happy Hollow a second chance.

The first attempt (months ago) ended with stopping the ride so he could get off.


Mia looking fab, checking out the scene.

Saturday was the Easter egg hunt for Miles and Amelia in our yard. The Easter Bunny laid some massive amounts of eggs. After Momma and Pappa left, we took Miles and Amelia, via CalTrain, to the San Mateo Park for their egg hunt, which included live music, magic show, Easter Bunny, miniature train rides, a lady on stilts.... We had about 30 mins to spare before the train home would arrive, so we popped in to a movie theater along the way to get Miles and Amelia some pop-corn. $5.50 for a small - OUCH! I took Lina paying for the pop corn as an opportunity to take Miles into one of the theaters to see the big screen. "Too dark" he said, but was impressed with the magnitude of the screen. After naps we chilled at home, finished off the pop corn and played together.

"Sit next to Mia and smile."

Sunday we washed and dressed for Easter Sunday at Aunt Patsy's. Miles and Amelia couldn't have been better dressed or behaved. Third egg hunt and some running and bouncing later, we had a great lunch then headed home.

Peter Pan Explained

"Miles, eat your dinner."

"Why?"

"So you can grow up to be big and strong."

"I don't want to get big."

"Why?"

"Because then Daddy can't carry me anymore."

Howling at the Moon

Brennan came to visit Miles and brought his Mom to BBQ with us. Brennan and Miles used the bouncy castle (a birthday gift from Daddo and Beebles) to its fullest. It was a great day, which quicly turned into evening. Both stayed up past their bedtimes, eating snacks and watching "Cars" from their sleeping bags.

Miles and his BFF, Brennan - Howling at the Moon.

The week previous, we opened the bouncy castle and test drove it on the driveway. We had a bout 30mins before it would rain. We were surprised at how fast it inflates, how rigid it is (sturdy) and how fast it packs back up.

Miles testing out his Bouncy Castle.

Miles is 3 (and then some)

We're a little late in posting about Miles' 3rd Birthday. It was a great party. Many of his friends and family were able to make it. Miles had a "Cars" themed bouncy house, which (as expected) kids of all ages loved playing in. In order to maintain some semblance of order, we separated the party goers into "Big Kids" and "Little Kids". Only one group in at a time. My role (all day and into the night) was traffic cop and referee. Lina was host and kept the food and drinks going for our third group "Adult Kids".

Karen, our former Nanny (no reflection on her):) was there, painting the faces of all the kids. We had the iPad out to look up images of various animals requested by the kids. She was a big hit and really added to the experience.

The party raged until about 10pm, when the last of the kids stumbled out and Miles stumbled to bed - exhausted. The only casualty was a school project due Monday morning; abandoned in favor of an epic evening. :)

We still need to get our photos in order. Basically, Mommy and Daddy were so preoccupied with the party and making sure the kids and guests had fun, that we didn't take a whole lot of photos (ie. any).

Miles waking from nap to discover cousins and bouncy house.

I was going to call this post "InvenTOYry" as the toys Miles received was generous and rather unexpected. We didn't think to ask that people not bring anything but themselves. So we have a long list of thank yous and "we'll getcha back." To give some perspective, Miles was still opening 2-3 gifts per night and this lasted for 4 days after the party. We thank you all for the gifts and for celebrating with us.

InstaFun

Had some fun with the kids, our iPhone and the Instagram app. Thought we'd share these with the rest of you.