We took the kids whale and dolphin watching at Dana Point on Captain Dave's Dolphin Safari. It was something we wanted to do for a while but Taede wasn't old enough. He's still on the young side but what the heck.
Malia was excited and so was Kael. But then he thought about it and changed his mind. He was worried about sharks, pirates and the boat sinking. Or actually, it was pirates causing the boat to sink causing us to be eaten by sharks. I had to reassure him that there were no pirates, and as I reassured him that we weren't going to sink and we wouldn't run into any sharks, the thought did cross my mind that I was playing with Murphy's Law. Something that never works in my favor.
I was solely focused on the kids: I hope we see a whale, I hope there are dolphins, I hope Taede doesn't fall overboard... So I didn't put much thought into myself. Meaning: I wasn't properly drugged up for the trip.
The going out part wasn't so bad. But then we went out over 11 miles to find the gray whale. So it took a while to get there. Then we found the whale so the captain cut the motor. So we drifted along, gently rolling with the waves. Up and down, up and down. Just thinking about it now makes me queasy again. I managed to hold myself together; it's never a good idea to show any kind of weakness in front of the kids. Truong took the older two kids to the front of the boat for a closer look and I planted myself at the back, where there's the least amount of rocking. Luckily Taede was content to hang with me rather than wander the boat. I was so bad off that if my eyes wandered away from the horizon on the left side, I would be in immediate danger of yacking. So to the leftside I stayed. Apparently Lady Luck took pity on me and made sure the whale stayed on the left side of the boat. Because I gotta tell you: if it was on the right side of the boat, I would have been SOL (sh#t out of luck) and would have missed the whale sighting completely. I was. NOT. moving.
Taede was fascinated with the whale. Each time it went under, he'd point and babble to get it to come back up. Interestingly, the dolphins scared him. I thought the dolphins would be cooler because there were more of them and when they leaped out of the water, you could see their whole body, thus identify what they were. The whale was so massive that you could only see the top of it and quite honestly, it could have been the Lochness Monster for all we knew. As I ohh'ed and ahh'ed over the dolphins, I thought Taede fell asleep. But upon closer inspection, he had tucked his head into my neck with his fingers doing the peekaboo screen. I guess the sheer amount of dolphins freaked him out.
After a while I was not able to find the energy to enjoy the sealife. I was too concerned with holding myself together. Truong took the kids to the underwater pod to view the dolphins underwater so I was on deck by myself with Taede. My mouth started watering and I knew the situation suddenly became very dire. I frantically waved Truong over and literally dumped Taede into his arms. I didn't even make it 5 feet, much less the 20 feet it would take to get to the head (bathroom). Luckily for me (and everyone onboard) there was a waste bucket a mere 3 feet away. And I have to tell you: it felt good to let it all go. As luck would have it, everyone was still in front of the boat so no one was there to witness my humiliation. But honestly, it's kind of like giving birth: you don't care who's there to witness, you just want it done. Afterwards, I was still a little shaky but nowhere near the desperation I was at before.
I was never so happy to be back in the car, on solid ground. At least I know one thing for sure: cruises are definitely out in our future vacations.
Enjoy the pictures!
Whale and Dolphin Watching
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Backlog of pictures
I have some new pictures posted. Sure it's a few months late. I've been busy. You keep 3 kids at home all summer and see how much you get done.
Kael's Field Trip - Marine Mammal Center
This was the last big field trip for Kael's class. It took some working and rearranging (grandma took a day off from work) but I finally managed to chaperon one. Kael was so happy. Armed with a couple of ziplock gallon sized barf bags, I was ready to go. Luckily I didn't need it. I did come close on the trip home though as Grace (the other Mom Chaperon) and I spent the entire 40 minutes texting. Sitting on that school bus, wishing for a more supportive bra, brought back some memories. Well... not so much memories of a more supportive bra but certainly of the bouncing around part.
June 20 - Wild Animal Park
We met some cousins at the Wild Animal Park. The weather report stated that it would be cool. Well, it lied. It was HOT. So the kids cooled down at the little water splash park they have in the Heart of Africa. Good news: the kids got to cool down. Bad news: we didn't bring extra clothes. Why - you ask? Well because the weather report said it was going to be cool.
July 19 - Tanaka Farm Watermelon Tour
This is a local farm in Irvine that provides tours of their operations. They stop along various points of the farm and provide farm fresh (literally pulled from the ground) produce for us to eat. The kids had a great time and they sampled a variety of veggies. Kael discovered that he liked raw corn and has been asking to eat it that way. Whether or not corn from the grocery store will taste as good as fresh corn from the farm remains to be seen.
Cousin Connor's Birthday Party
Connor turned 2 and we had a great time at his party. His community has an uber-fun splash park just down the street. Wish we lived closer.
Deciding if he should go in or not...
Swiped Malia's bucket and decided to test out the waters.
He was fixated on these cannons and would get so mad whenever someone fired water at him. Which was like shooting a sitting duck as he tried to collect water in his bucket from said cannons.
Kael's Field Trip - Marine Mammal Center
This was the last big field trip for Kael's class. It took some working and rearranging (grandma took a day off from work) but I finally managed to chaperon one. Kael was so happy. Armed with a couple of ziplock gallon sized barf bags, I was ready to go. Luckily I didn't need it. I did come close on the trip home though as Grace (the other Mom Chaperon) and I spent the entire 40 minutes texting. Sitting on that school bus, wishing for a more supportive bra, brought back some memories. Well... not so much memories of a more supportive bra but certainly of the bouncing around part.
June 20 - Wild Animal Park
We met some cousins at the Wild Animal Park. The weather report stated that it would be cool. Well, it lied. It was HOT. So the kids cooled down at the little water splash park they have in the Heart of Africa. Good news: the kids got to cool down. Bad news: we didn't bring extra clothes. Why - you ask? Well because the weather report said it was going to be cool.
July 19 - Tanaka Farm Watermelon Tour
This is a local farm in Irvine that provides tours of their operations. They stop along various points of the farm and provide farm fresh (literally pulled from the ground) produce for us to eat. The kids had a great time and they sampled a variety of veggies. Kael discovered that he liked raw corn and has been asking to eat it that way. Whether or not corn from the grocery store will taste as good as fresh corn from the farm remains to be seen.
Cousin Connor's Birthday Party
Connor turned 2 and we had a great time at his party. His community has an uber-fun splash park just down the street. Wish we lived closer.
Deciding if he should go in or not...
Swiped Malia's bucket and decided to test out the waters.
He was fixated on these cannons and would get so mad whenever someone fired water at him. Which was like shooting a sitting duck as he tried to collect water in his bucket from said cannons.
Money down the toilet
That's what buying Kael's shoes is like: flushing money down the toilet.
His feet grew again. He's now a kid size 1.5. This is huge considering most of his friends are still in toddlers' 11-13 (after 13 is when you move into kid size 1+).
We just bought him a pair of 13's a few months ago. "Few" meaning 3 or 4 months, not 6 or 7 months. Luckily it's summer so he's in crocs 99% of the time anyway. I'm not going to buy anything (shoes, school uniforms, dress clothes) until the very last minute. Meaning: school begins August 31 so I'll start looking for shoes and uniforms a few days before. In fact, I'm not even going to buy him uniform pants until it starts raining.
His feet grew again. He's now a kid size 1.5. This is huge considering most of his friends are still in toddlers' 11-13 (after 13 is when you move into kid size 1+).
We just bought him a pair of 13's a few months ago. "Few" meaning 3 or 4 months, not 6 or 7 months. Luckily it's summer so he's in crocs 99% of the time anyway. I'm not going to buy anything (shoes, school uniforms, dress clothes) until the very last minute. Meaning: school begins August 31 so I'll start looking for shoes and uniforms a few days before. In fact, I'm not even going to buy him uniform pants until it starts raining.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Kael's Experiment
Way back in March, when Kael first lost his tooth, we introduced the Tooth Fairy (TF). She collects teeth (kind of gross if you ask me) and leaves a present behind. Our TF also leaves behind a note, expounding on the importance of good brushing and flossing habits. For gifts, she leaves the gold Sacajawea coins.
The first time TF wasn't ready for the exchange because what kid in their right mind would purposefully yank out their own teeth? I remember as a kid I wouldn't let my parents come near my loose one until the adult tooth was well in place (hence the need for orthodontia work). I figured my kids would be the same way.
But no, Kael yanked out his first one at 9:30pm. I had no money, no note, no toys... nothing. On top of that, Kael went to Dad and Dad didn't tell me until past 10:00pm. A "Oh, and by the way..." kind of thing.
I scrambled around and after digging through the ashtray in my car where loose change is usually kept, I found 3 gold coins. Zipped out a note and the TF was saved.
A couple of days later, I found Kael at my desk writing a note, right before bedtime. I happened to ask him what he was writing, and thank goodness I did. He revealed to me that he was writing a note to the Tooth Fairy, to say thank you for the gifts. He had a couple of other things there as well, gifts for the TF:
The note reads: "Thanks for the money Tooth Fairy. Look I left something." He gave her a sticky frog and a bug card. Very sweet I thought. I was a little concerned that Kael was starting to see TF as a potential pen pal though.
Fast forward to July and he pulled out another tooth. While at the water park. What the heck am I supposed to do with it?! So I put it in my wallet for safe keeping. And there it sat for a few days because I (I mean -- the Tooth Fairy) couldn't find the time to get to the bank (alone) to get some Sacajawea coins.
We finally found a little mountain of those coins when Truong decided to cash in our 10 gallon jug of coins. In fact, we have enough for all of my kids' teeth!
Anyway, TF did the exchange and all was well. Or at least I thought it was.
This morning Truong mentioned something about Kael waiting to hear from the Tooth Fairy. I thought he meant Kael was missing his note from the TF, the one I saw Taede playing with. Truong said no, that's not the one. It's something else. Kael's waiting for a response to something. I was still in a morning stupor and didn't know what he was talking about so we dropped it.
Later, I got a tickle in my brain and decided to investigate. This is what I found under Kael's pillow:
He had written a note and stuck it under his pillow without telling me. Further, he even told Dad to NOT tell me! Like it was some kind of Tooth Fairy test!!!
Can you believe that?! So of course the Tooth Fairy failed. But I covered her ass by pretending ignorance: "Daddy didn't tell me anything. What are you talking about? I got a weird email from the TF this morning about how sorry she was she couldn't come over last night because a lot of children lost their teeth yesterday. Why was she coming over? Did you lose another tooth?"
I could tell he wasn't as sure of himself. I played dumb really well. I could see the wheels churning around, tossing about this new bit of information.
So my next step is to set up a Tooth Fairy email account, send myself an email from her and let Kael check it out. Maybe this way he can start emailing her instead of hiding messages under his pillow.
Jeez.
The first time TF wasn't ready for the exchange because what kid in their right mind would purposefully yank out their own teeth? I remember as a kid I wouldn't let my parents come near my loose one until the adult tooth was well in place (hence the need for orthodontia work). I figured my kids would be the same way.
But no, Kael yanked out his first one at 9:30pm. I had no money, no note, no toys... nothing. On top of that, Kael went to Dad and Dad didn't tell me until past 10:00pm. A "Oh, and by the way..." kind of thing.
I scrambled around and after digging through the ashtray in my car where loose change is usually kept, I found 3 gold coins. Zipped out a note and the TF was saved.
A couple of days later, I found Kael at my desk writing a note, right before bedtime. I happened to ask him what he was writing, and thank goodness I did. He revealed to me that he was writing a note to the Tooth Fairy, to say thank you for the gifts. He had a couple of other things there as well, gifts for the TF:
The note reads: "Thanks for the money Tooth Fairy. Look I left something." He gave her a sticky frog and a bug card. Very sweet I thought. I was a little concerned that Kael was starting to see TF as a potential pen pal though.
Fast forward to July and he pulled out another tooth. While at the water park. What the heck am I supposed to do with it?! So I put it in my wallet for safe keeping. And there it sat for a few days because I (I mean -- the Tooth Fairy) couldn't find the time to get to the bank (alone) to get some Sacajawea coins.
We finally found a little mountain of those coins when Truong decided to cash in our 10 gallon jug of coins. In fact, we have enough for all of my kids' teeth!
Anyway, TF did the exchange and all was well. Or at least I thought it was.
This morning Truong mentioned something about Kael waiting to hear from the Tooth Fairy. I thought he meant Kael was missing his note from the TF, the one I saw Taede playing with. Truong said no, that's not the one. It's something else. Kael's waiting for a response to something. I was still in a morning stupor and didn't know what he was talking about so we dropped it.
Later, I got a tickle in my brain and decided to investigate. This is what I found under Kael's pillow:
He had written a note and stuck it under his pillow without telling me. Further, he even told Dad to NOT tell me! Like it was some kind of Tooth Fairy test!!!
Can you believe that?! So of course the Tooth Fairy failed. But I covered her ass by pretending ignorance: "Daddy didn't tell me anything. What are you talking about? I got a weird email from the TF this morning about how sorry she was she couldn't come over last night because a lot of children lost their teeth yesterday. Why was she coming over? Did you lose another tooth?"
I could tell he wasn't as sure of himself. I played dumb really well. I could see the wheels churning around, tossing about this new bit of information.
So my next step is to set up a Tooth Fairy email account, send myself an email from her and let Kael check it out. Maybe this way he can start emailing her instead of hiding messages under his pillow.
Jeez.
Embarrassing picture #3062
When he's hot, he's really hot.
He loves wearing Malia's princess shoes. Both he and his sister clack around the house all day.
He loves wearing Malia's princess shoes. Both he and his sister clack around the house all day.
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