Dylan and Cameron are awesome big sibs. They are so gentle with her and so loving. I am especially surprised by Cameron as I was worried she’d have issues with Chloe nursing, but instead, she totally gets it. She refers to Chloe as her baby and is really very gentle with her. She even wanted Chloe to come to her gymnastics last Friday so that she could show Chloe how she can do all these neat big kid tricks!
Last Saturday, Dylan spontaneously requested a date with Tom. It was so sweet! So, while they went to Los Gatos to ride the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, I had my own date with Cameron. Since Dylan doesn’t really do rides at Happy Hollow, I took Cameron there and she had a blast!
Not only did she get to ride a bunch of rides, we also got to see a puppet performance of the “Three Little Pigs” AND we got to shake Danny’s hand as he was handing out fortunes in celebration of the Lunar New Year!!
Both events were nice surprises, especially since Cameron has continued to be obsessed with “The Three Little Pigs” story ever since the kids’ performance in Tahoe!!
We were there for about 4 hours before we hooked up with Dylan and Tom back in Santa Cruz for dinner.
Too bad Tom didn’t get pics. We heard they had a great time–rode the train several times and then played on the playground for hours!!
I think the kids really missed each other, too. Once Cameron woke up (back at home), they were eager to play with one another–absence makes the heart grow fonder!! Also, while we were at Happy Hollow, Cameron wanted to pick out a present for Dylan–it was so nice that she was thinking of him!
One of the best perks of Tom’s CSU job are these bi-annual meetings he has to attend where hosting duties rotate amongst the various CSU campuses. Never before had I a reason to stop, much less, stay in places like Bakersfield and Chico; now, these trips are awesome reasons and amazing opportunities to take a couple of days off from work to just hang in a new place with the kids…with the added bonus that nobody has to miss Tom when it comes to dinner and bed time!! So, yes, last time we went to SLO town; this time, it was Chico….
Because Chico is a whopping 4 hours away, we left late Wednesday night so the kids could sleep the trip away. Unfortunately, Cameron woke up just as we arrived (around midnight) and, for some reason, was totally spooked to be in a different place. She cried and complained that she wanted to put her shoes and jacket back on so we could climb back into our car!!! Then, of course, she woke up at the crack of dawn later that morning! Needless to say, she was a challenge. And, she woke Dylan up (at midnight as well as 7am).
Well, this just meant we got a super early start to our day.
On our way into town, we had to go around Depot Park…had no idea what Depot Park had to offer, but I mentioned to Dylan that I’d seen a train car there (non-operational, but perhaps climb-able) and he opted for going there first thing post-breakfast instead of Children’s Playground.
It was a 6-block walk from the hotel and, boy, was I feeling the baby pressure while I pushed that double-stroller along! It turns out that Depot Park is an Amtrak station with a neat-o coffeeshop located inside a renovated train car!
Dylan was pretty stoked. We ordered a nice soy hot chocolate to share and discussed the coolness of the whole coffeshop-in-a-train-car concept.
The barista made beautiful “latte” art which for which Dylan and I expressed much appreciation.
Then, we got a preview of what Dylan might look like if he ever grows a mustache! Oh, and he praised their fine work on putting up “custom” curtains. Dylan is a boy with an aesthetic, for sure–we passed a lightrail car in SJ the other day that has an ad painted all across it and his response was: “oh, that’s too bad. It looks much better plain!”
Cameron also thought it was pretty fun being there, but she was mostly into snacking on her O’s….
Since Depot Park was in the opposite direction of the playground, we had to double-back to get to it. To make things more interesting, we cut across the campus. School is in session, so we saw plenty of students and hubbub…and, of course, student work, including art.
Cameron always perks up when we’re outdoors.
We made it to the playground at around 10:30am or 11am.
Dylan wanted to push Cameron on the swings…and help her across these tricky swaying stool things…and go down slides with her, etc. He’s a sweet big brother.
Then, he wanted to see how high he could go….
After a pretty light snack-y lunch, we crossed a footbridge to get to the Gateway Science Museum.
This place was small (3 rooms), but awesome. The docents were so friendly and helpful and we pretty much had their undivided attention!
We spent the vast majority of our time in the Discovery Room, reading books, playing with various toys (including these magnet toys!) and talking with the docent.
We took a short break to eat more snacks in the amphiteatre area just outside the musuem. Dylan had lots of tricks he wanted to show me! He recently started going back to gymnastics–this time with more enthusiasm as he is in the same class as T. and K. — so he was particularly keen on practicing cartwheels.
After snack, we went back in and explored the Sound Room and the Toy Room. Dylan liked the Toy Room almost as much as the Discovery Room. We learned about linkages, cams, pulleys and completing circuits (this last topic is now pretty familiar to Dylan now that he has his snap circuits).
By this time, we’d been at the museum for a whopping 3+ hours! Cameron was definitely tuckering out. While Dylan was exploring pulleys, she sat down to leaf through a book, then played with some toys before finally climbing up on to this chair and putting her head down! When I asked her how she was doing, she said she wanted to take a nap in the stroller, so she climbed back in and did just that!
Once she was out cold, I was free to play and explore with Dylan. After hitting all of the exhibits in the Toy Room, he still had some steam and wanted to return to the Discovery Room where we built more stuff out of the magnetic toys!
This first day in Chico was Tom’s full day, so we only hooked up with him after 5pm for dinner and a little art time back in the room.
The next day, Cameron “slept in” until 7:30am and so our day started a little on the later side–meaning, we finally headed to breakfast at about 9am!
I’d read that the Yo Yo musuem was free and it sounded kind of interesting, so we went there as soon as it opened.
It was TINY, but attached to an awesome toy store. I had more fun looking at the yo yo’s than the kids did. It turns out Filipinos were pretty involved in yo yo marketing from the very beginning.
I guess it’s just another thing we Filipinos can be proud of (heh heh!).
Oh, yes. Dylan wanted to buy the giant yo yo. And, of course, Cameron was willing to try to help him move it! The lady at the museum/store told me, by the way, that they were actually able to work this yo yo with a big ol’ crane!
The Yo Yo Museum held such little interest for the kids, I began to wonder what I’d do with them until Tom got off from work….
Dylan had so much fun the day before, though, he told me he wanted to do everything we did yesterday. So, we headed back to the park–there’s never anything wrong with a little sunshine and activity!
Cameron loves to spin…and do happy dances…and sing….
Dylan was pretty stoked on this new toy he picked up at the toy store/yo yo museum, he wanted to share the joy with Cameron. She was busy spinning, but you can see that she tried her best to express an interest in Dylan’s new toy!
Again, we took snack breaks! We also fed a couple of other kids at the park…one little girl in particular was especially hungry. After confirming with her dad that it was ok to share something with her, she kept coming back like a hungry pigeon!! Then, her little brother decided to try to help himself to things in our stroller while we were playing on the play structure. I was a bit surprised that the dad didn’t try to stop the boy; he only got him after he started pushing our stroller away!!
Dylan made another little “friend” at the park as well–another 5-year old little boy who invited Dylan to play with him. Being the great big bro that he is, though, he still made time to hang out with Cameron.
It was a short day for Tom, so we stayed at the playground until he got off from work. We ate lunch with Dylan’s park friend before heading across the footbridge to Bidwell Mansion. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts, the house wasn’t open! I’d read some of the info on Bidwell to Dylan (he founded Chico, got rich from the Gold Rush, ran for president, donated land to CSU, etc)., so he was really interested in doing a tour and was so disappointed we couldn’t! We just peeked in all of the windows instead….It’s too bad the mansion is slated for complete closure later this year! We’ll probably never get to see it (unless something changes with the state’s park budget and it reopens to the public again).
Before journeying home, we took Tom to Empire Coffee and Tea (Dylan wanted to show it to Tom) where we played some more games of CandyLand and hung out for a little while more. Then, after dinner, we started the long drive home!
On our way out of town, Dylan asked us if we’d be driving all night and when we said we’d get home way past his bedtime, he asked, “oh…so no bedtime stories?” It was so sweet that he wanted to hear one. We ended up downloading Magic Treehouse 1-8 from Audible.com and he enjoyed listening to three stories before he finally decided he was tired enough to sleep!! All in all, another great trip….
It was gorgeous this past weekend and even though we had really nothing planned, we still managed to exhaust ourselves! How does this happen???
In any case, on Friday night, we had dinner at HAT’s house and then there was a spontaneous decision for Dylan to sleep over at their house! Well, sure, why not?
The next morning, we obviously had to go and pick him up. It was beautiful outside so the kids decided to hang out in the backyard.
Cameron decided to mix a couple of sports into one new game–Soccer Baseball.
Being the bright girl that she is, when I told her she was supposed to kick the ball, she did just that!
It wasn’t long before we put the kids to work. Luckily, they think that watering plants is just fun, fun, fun!
Then they discovered a wooden dollhouse that had blown down and broke apart during a windstorm. They collected the pieces to try to build something new.
Everyone had their own ideas for how it should be built, but they did a pretty good job of working out their differences and compromising!
Then, today, we decided to take the kids to Children’s Discovery Museum since we haven’t been back in a while. They briefly passed through the new Mammoth Discovery exhibit….
…moved on to drawing circles on a giant etch-a-sketch….
…of course, we couldn’t skip the water play area…
…or the Wonder Cabinet…Dylan is already “too old” for that area, but he remembers it as a place of fun, so he still wanted to go in.
Cameron, by the way, was amazing with those block shapes. She gets the shape and orientation right pretty much immediately. Seems she’s pretty good at puzzles (just like Dylan)!
They also had to serve us pizza and drinks. Cameron even served us pizza with “a side of vegetables” (she really did say this).
They sat in a truck.
And posed in the fire truck.
CDM was hosting a Lunar New Year celebration today, too, so we actually got to see a bunch of really sweet dance performances by several local Chinese dance schools. We got home much later than expected, but managed to get the kids fed and bathed before bed time! Luckily, they were both pretty pooped out and got to sleep pretty quickly.
Aren’t they so sweet when they’re getting along? Just don’t ask me what’s on Dylan’s shirt. I have no idea. And, yes, we always provide napkins and encourage their use!
Last weekend, we went to a couple of bday celebrations — one for my former co-worker’s 3-year old son and the other for my now 24-year old nephew, Chris!
Ayan had an awesome playroom at his house which had a great playhouse that Cameron (of course) wanted to play 3 Little Pigs in….
They also had a couple of ride-in and ride-on vehicles in there that Dylan (and Cameron) either argued over or put to good use….
We thought we’d actually have more time between parties than we did!! I honestly don’t know how time gets away from us like this…but anyway, the big upside was another no-nap day for Cameron.
Once at Cindy’s house, though, you can see she’s just as perky as can be, even sans nap!
It turns out, she’s also pretty good at throwing/aiming and catching!
As usual, the kids had a blast with their cousins (even after Cameron took a tumble down the stairs!).
My nephews are naturals at so many things one of which is drums. No joke. Tyler is seriously good…no lessons or anything. He just jams with his dad and it sounds great (check out this video of him–that’s my bro-in-law Jeff on electric guitar). I have to say, Tyler is better than our neighbor’s teen (adult??) son whose own practice drumming we’ve had to endure!
Tyler was soo patient teaching Dylan, too. He gave him a pretty easy rhythm to try out…and then when Dylan was able to get that one down, he made it a little more complex.
Tyler even let Cameron bang around for a while.
Then there was pie and Pictionary — boys versus girls.
Of course, the girls won!
And, of course, no visit would be complete without Jason thoroughly cracking Cameron up. She seriously loves this guy.
Anyway, here’s my humble nephew. It’s amazing to think he’s 24 already. I still remember him clinging like a monkey to whoever was carrying him, seeing him sticking his tongue out for every picture, having him and Rob over for sleep-overs at my place and watching his soccer games (one of the most memorable games was when he wore two different shoes and scored a goal for his team!) !!
This year, we decided to throw a party for MLK, Jr., inspired by one of our Boom Boom cards! Really, if you’re going to throw a party for an historical figure, this is the guy to throw it for, right?
Since it was a school night, dinner was pretty simple, followed by a quickie dessert of chocolate cake. Each kid got to blow out 1 candle…and, we got to talk about MLK’s significance in greater detail than we otherwise would have. We talked about how not everyone is/was treated fairly and how MLK fought for the equal treatment of everyone; how he believed in peace and non-violence; how he was kind, loving, and a “good friend” to people he didn’t even know and who were different from him.
The kids had a great time! Also, I imagine the celebration will be a lasting memory for all of them which will, hopefully, also further cement in their consciences, the teachings and perspectives that MLK, Jr. embraced. Hopefully, we’ll have time to celebrate again next year…!
I think I’d mentioned Dylan and I picked up a new cork board for him on our “date” last week or so…here it is! He did a great job and it was so sweet watching him pick out photos for it! Of course, he took all MY photos (which I was planning on putting up for myself), but I s’pose that’s ok. Another photo order is in order!
Cameron and I have coffee shop dates pretty regularly! We’re still in-between Music Together sessions so, last week, we went to Coffeetopia before heading to a gymnastics drop-in class.
In gymnastics, she was easily the loudest (like Dylan, she doesn’t stop talking!) and the bounciest in the small bunch of kids! I’m just glad she’s willing to do it. Getting Dylan to do any organized activity is like pulling teeth!
Dylan is such a great big brother–so patient, so loving, and generally so good at playing with Cameron, but it’s also often clear that he still gets sad that she gets so much attention. He’s been asking for a date day with me for a while now, but what with all of the traveling, etc., we haven’t had much time. Finally, today, we got a chance to hang out together, just the two of us!
While Tom and Cameron had their own “date” (shopping for new pants for Dylan), Dylan and I went downtown and got a new bulletin board for his room (he’s currently posting pictures on it!!) and went to Verve to read and do puzzles and games in some of his magazines. We had such a great time!!
After a couple of hours, we strolled the length of downtown to meet Tom and Cameron for a late lunch at Saturn.
Dylan was really impressed with the “latte art”…he thought it made the hot cocoa even “more delicious!”
Dylan is so much fun to talk to…I’m so glad we could find some time to just have some good ol’ one-on-one time. Even he recognizes that date days will be more difficult once baby girl is born, so we made plans to have at least one more before she’s born. Also, I’m hoping to volunteer in his classroom once I go on maternity leave–something else he has requested. I’ll take these requests when I can still get them, although I hope he’ll never stop wanting “dates” with me once he’s all big and grown up!
