My Birthday, Parts I and II

Being that my birthday falls at the tail end of the holiday season, no one really feels like celebrating anymore...but that doesn't stop us from having another excuse to go out to eat and have dessert!

On Saturday, my Mom and I celebrated our birthdays together by going to Burke Williams for some massages and girl time. Jay and Justin were left to their own devices...I understand they spent their quality boy time at REI and Home Depot. We all had dinner at Mizu in San Jose (yum!) and then went back to my parents' house for cake (of course!). Justin was so excited to help blow out the candles on yet another cake:

And then on Sunday, we went out with Jay's parents and Po-po to Sam's Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. We hardly ever get pictures with Jay's side of the family because our get togethers are always such EVENTS. There's never any time to sit and pose for a picture! So we made an effort to get some nice photos...even though it was COLD outside!

Good food and family...can't ask for much more on a birthday! Here's hoping I'm at least another year wiser this year ;)

A Present for Me!

Some of you know that I have been looking for a new car since the summer. I haven't been in too much of a rush only because darn Honda has made their cars to be way too reliable. But I've been ready to move on from my 12 year old Accord for a while now and get a car that has more features on it than a sunglasses holder and power locks.

So we finally bit the bullet the day after Christmas and bought a 2011 Acura RDX SH-AWD in Polished Metal Metallic/Ebony! We went to Hopkins Acura in Redwood City who brought the car over from Concord. I'd been searching for months for this particular model and color so I was excited to finally get it!

Here's a pic of my new toy:

Justin's first words when he saw the car in the garage this morning was "Car! Big Car!" (okay, it actually sounded like "Cah! Beeg cah!")

So excited! It's so weird to sit behind the wheel of such a nice car and know that it's all mine and I earned it! :) Okay, enough gushing from me...when you only buy a car every 12 years, it's cause for a little excitement :)

Merry Holidays!

Well this year was Justin's first Christmas where he understood the concept of presents. We decided not to introduce Santa this year...we probably would have had more luck if we told him that Elmo brings presents to good little boys. Anyways, we thought for sure he wouldn't know what the heck was going on because we spent all of December telling him not to touch the presents under the tree and then finally on Christmas we let him have at it.

Actually, true to toddler form, once he opened a toy he liked, he lost interest in everything else and just wanted to play with the one toy. It took us several days to open up all his gifts and in fact, he still has a few ones left right now.

We had Jay's family over to our house on Christmas Eve and then went to my parents' house on Christmas Day. Justin had a great time playing with all his cousins on both sides. The poor was tuckered out since we kept him up late both days...but fun has a price :)

One of Justin's favorite gifts were little figurines from the PBS cartoon, "Dinosaur Train" or as Justin says, "Di-saur Choo Choo-EE!" He loves to sit and watch the cartoon while holding onto all the figurines. It's probably all downhill from here with him wanting toys from TV, but for now, it's SO cute to watch him clutch the little toys while he watches. He even tried to share his carrot stick snack with the toy Brontosaurus - too cute!

Overall a wonderful Christmas - good times with family with with lots of food and laughs - what more can you ask for? We got to watch Justin enjoy ripping open presents, without the pressure of him expecting certain toys. Next year will be fun when we can finally tell him about Santa. :)

Cookie Day

Every year, on the Saturday before Christmas, I take on the role of sous chef and trot on down to my mom's house for her Annual Cookie Day. It's actually more of a Cookie Week, but as the sous chef, I'm called upon on the last day to help with the tasks Chef Mom doesn't like to do by herself - unwrapping Hershey Kisses, rolling balls of dough, decorating cookies, packaging, etc.

There's a certain order to the day - I arrive, wash my hands, and get my instructions from Chef Mom. Around lunchtime, my Dad and Kevin are allowed back into the kitchen for a few minutes to make their sandwiches, grab some chips, and get the heck out of Dodge. Chef Mom lets me have a few minutes to eat as well and then we nibble on some cookies while she figures out if she needs to adjust baking times, oven heat, etc. By the afternoon, we're ready to package everything up. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to pack all the cookies right so nothing gets crushed and everyone gets a nice sampler.

In recent years, I've enjoyed Cookie Day even more because it means a day of just chatting with my mom (no husband or active toddler in sight!) and usually my best friend Akiko (who unfortunately was not able to come out this year for the event). Sometimes my aunt and cousin from Sonoma come as well, so it's a nice Girl's Day all around. Good gossip and yummy cookies - what more could a girl asked for??

There's also usually the added benefit of getting one's car washed during Cookie Day. Usually my Dad gets bored and then can't stand seeing the dirty cars parked in the driveway, so out he goes with his bucket and sponge. Unfortunately this year, it was raining, but I did finagle getting my car interior vacuumed out. It's amazing how many Cheerios can hide in a car...

Here's some shots of the 2010 Cookie Day as chronicled by my brother Kevin (who we had to enlist to help unwrap candy...by his expression, you'd have thought we asked him to put on a pink apron too!) :)

Disneyland

We took Justin to Disneyland for the first time this weekend and we had a great time! I was a little nervous at first because I figured that he was either going to love it or be totally freaked out. Luckily it was the former, because I really wanted to go to Disneyland myself. We haven't been there in a long time and I've never seen the park decorated for the holidays. So we made the long trek down to SoCal on Friday night. Luckily Justin slept most of the way. He woke up when we arrived at the hotel and was quite tickled to see that we got a kids' suite. It was a regular hotel room with a separate kid's bedroom attached to it, completed with a kid sized table, and bunk beds with a ladder. Of course, he slept in the playpen, but he loved climbing up and down the ladder!

On Saturday we headed off to Disneyland. Justin was generally unimpressed until we took him over to Autopia and he figured out he could get into the cars...oh boy! He was so excited to drive the cars - he could hardly wait in line and then once the ride was over, he wanted to get right back on!

He also loved the Buzz Lightyear ride - we went on that one twice on Saturday! Jay and I really had to reset our expectations about what we could accomplish at Disneyland with a toddler. He and I are both used to waiting in long lines and going on as many rides as possible...not the case with a toddler. We made it to about three rides before it was time for lunch and a nap. But that was okay - we didn't mind taking it easy :)

We also saw the Christmas parade - Justin was mesmerized by it! He really liked watching the floats and characters go by. He even waved at a couple of them! I think this is when it hit me how magical this all was for him. As a parent, it was touching to see how much fun he was having.

The next day we went back on Autopia and then on Dumbo since the line was short. This was another of Justin's favorites - he liked keeping Dumbo high in the air and feeling the wind rush by.

Next was Small World. I liked it because it was all decorated for the holidays. Justin was not as impressed since it didn't go fast or anything. 

Same with the kiddie bumper cars at California Adventure...just not fast enough! Jay and I are already making deals with each other as to who is going to have to go on roller coasters with the kid when he gets older...

Justin also was not really interested in any of the characters, but he did make a beeline for the Cars...of course!

We even got a chance to see World of Color. Justin was pretty tired by then and mainly interested in the light-up necklace I got him :)

 Overall, it was a great trip! We had a lot of fun and made a lot of great memories. I believe we'll be regular visitors at Disneyland for the forseeable future :)

Kauai

In October we took a much anticipated trip to Kauai with our friends Sean and Esther. We gave them fair warning that vacationing with a toddler was going to be very different, but amazingly enough, they still agreed to take us along to their family's timeshare at the Westin Princeville.

Here are a bunch of pictures that pretty much sum up our week:

Justin loved the airport - wide open spaces to run around in, people movers to ride on, people to wave at!

The kitchen in our condo - very necessary when traveling with a toddler who is ALWAYS hungry!

Our living area - As you can see, Jay and Justin found the TV right away

The view from our lanai

A little bit of an ocean view

We discovered a starfruit tree and let Justin pick some...he LOVED the starfruit. Too bad we can't get any on the mainland for cheap!

Digging into my acai bowl for breakfast

The lookout at Waimea Canyon. Justin was smiling at the guy behind Jay who had a beard like Santa Claus.

Eating...again!

Justin found a new friend at the canyon. This rooster followed him everywhere hoping for a bite to eat. Honestly it kind of creeped me out, but Justin was oblivious.

What's a trip to Hawaii without shave ice? Weirdly enough, Justin wasn't a big fan. Probably too cold in his mouth.

The Wong boys asleep after a long day.

Justin loved the beach - it was like a giant sandbox! He wasn't afraid of the ocean either this time. He would put on his inner tube and walk right in!

We celebrated Justin's second birthday while we were there. Really I just wanted an excuse to put him in a Hawaiian shirt and eat cake!

Feeding the koi at the hotel

Justin loved the kiddie water slide at the hotel. We tried letting him go down by himself, but he didn't know to sit up and he bonked his head. Oops!

All in all, we had a great time (Sean and Esther are even still speaking to us!). It was a fun trip, but it wasn't very relaxing - Justin had a hard time with the time change and woke up before the crack of dawn every morning. Although Jay said he did like sitting out on the lanai with Justin in his high chair watching the sunrise while Justin ate breakfast and Jay read a book.

A nice side benefit of the trip was that, all of a sudden, Justin started talking more! Ever since then, he's been learning new words and actually using them to tell us what he wants. Maybe we need to go to Hawaii more often...? :)

The Month of Birthdays

Justin turned two on October 22 and in true Wong fashion, we celebrated four times! One party for my side of the family, one for Jay's side of the family, one for his actual birthday while we were in Hawaii, and one with all our friends - whew! Jay says next year we need to just have one big party at a rec center or something. Our kitchen was working overtime with all the cooking. And of course, four parties meant four cakes. And so, our little boy who was worrying us with his lack of talking, can now ask for "cake", "cookie", and "pie." Oops...well, he may look like Jay, but he's still MY son too :)


Since Justin was turning two and becoming a big boy, we thought it was high time to get him a real haircut. So we trotted off to Jay's barber. It was a tearful event (for Justin!), but nothing a few Hello Panda cookies couldn't solve afterwards.

At Justin's first birthday party, he finally figured out unwrapping presents. He had a great time discovering all his new toys!

The next day, he finally figured out how to blow out candles. Well, he tried at least...

We were in Hawaii for Justin's actual birthday, so of course I wanted to get a cake for him. By now he was really excited to blow out the candles (That's Uncle Sean in the mirror).

And then...we Justin thought we weren't looking, he went in for the kill. He was so methodical about it too :)
 

He was quite proud of himself after that.
 

Can you believe Justin is two now?? He's an actual little boy now...not a baby anymore :( So far the terrible two's have been manageable. There's a definite increase in whining, but we're working hard to nip that in the bud! But with a smile like that, how can you resist him? (Watch out ladies!)