What to do with all those peanuts?

During one of Sydney's OT sessions, she got to sit in a big box of packaging peanuts. She loved it so much she wouldn't get out. It looked like so much fun that Lauryn found another box of peanuts that we had and climbed in.

One Lazy Afternoon....

Lauryn and I made a rocketship from some cardboard boxes. There's a hole in the bottom for her to stand in. As a girl of the new millenium, she added the flipdown computer screen, paint and decorations. I added some "flames". When John got home, he decided to add the wings and cargo bays. It's become a very versatile play structure in our home. Lauryn takes her dolls on trips to space. And Sydney has taken to climbing in and sitting contentedly surveying and contemplating the world. Some days when I'm too tired to put toys away in their rightful place, I throw everything from the floor into the rocketship.

Bets are on as to which will win out for Lauryn's costume this Halloween: Rocketship or Princess Belle.
She wanted to do a mad face....

Lauryn's latest hobby

Photography is Lauryn's latest passion. She's been taking pictures everywhere we go. She doesn't quite understand the idea of focusing yet. But she has a keen eye for placing objects. Or maybe she just enjoys finding things to take pictures of.

Here are some of her first shots:

She also took these when we went to visit Nathan and Daniel at the hospital:

South Shore

We had a great time in Tahoe with our friends Herbie, Grace, Kaitlyn and Johanna. They invited us to use their timeshare's bonus week and we gladly took them up on their offer! We stayed at the Tahoe Season's Resort many, many years ago when we had attended the CBM Career Retreat there.

The weather was perfect and the girls got to swim everyday. One of our favorite activities was playing in the arcade at Harrah's and Harvey's. The concierge at the timeshare had coupons for free tokens and we made good use of them. The girls played games to win tickets which they got to redeem for prizes. One of our favorite games was Fishin' Time. I almost got addicted to that game. Once I got about 175 tickets from one game! John played a different game and got the bonus for 176 tickets. One afternoon, we went to a small amusement park nearby.

Another day we played at the beach. The girls went swimming and also carved a big hole in the sand.
Other days we just walked downtown and went to the bookstore or to get sandwiches. The girls found lots of bears around town and loved taking pictures with them.

The timeshare had a raffle one morning and we won a free sunset dinner cruise and Herbie and Grace won a free dinner at the seafood buffet as well as a voucher for 2 for 1 horseback riding. So we took turns babysitting for each other so that each couple had a date night.

We had such a relaxing time in Tahoe that we almost bought a timeshare at the Marriott's Timber Lodge! It was gorgeous! But we regained our senses and walked away with our $100 incentive and had a great dinner at Tep's Villa Roma Restaurant.

Then again, John and I both agreed that if we ever DID buy a timeshare, we'd want to do it through a hotel chain like the Marriott, so.......

Summer Activities

I think I broke the bank enrolling Lauryn in classes this summer. I guess I'm all for allowing my daughter to experiment with new things, especially if she's the one who requests it. And often times, I have to admit, I'm the one who signs her up even when she doesn't request it.

When I was growing up, both of my parents worked all day and my brother and I never really had many opportunities to join afterschool activities. We'd walk home afterschool and watch tv all day. It wasn't until junior high that I got to participate in afterschool activities b/c by then I guess I was old enough to do it on my own. I think it helped that we lived in Iowa at the time and I could walk to and from school by myself without my parents worrying about me getting kidnapped. I really enjoyed being in the choir, taking part in our school musical each year, and working on the stage crew as well as participating in student government. It was an enriching experience.

So with that in mind, our schedule the past couple of months has been somewhat busy. I even had to create excel spreadsheets for the girls' activities to help me keep things straight. One for each week and in intervals of 15 minutes. One tuesday after I had picked Lauryn up from preschool, I rushed her home to get dressed for her ballet/tap class and pack a lunch for Sydney. We raced over to Beresford Rec just in time. But when we got there, there was no one in her class, which I thought odd. I looked around a bit more only to remember that her gymnastics class which she takes on wednesdays, is the one we usually have to rush to at 1:30, and ballet's not until 3:10. I took it as a sign that we're trying to do too much. I think in the fall we're going to scale back a bit. =) How in the world did I become a soccer mom yet no one in our family plays any soccer?

Soakin' Up The Sun

One of our favorite songs that Lauryn and I often sing in the car is Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up The Sun". That's what we did last week when it hit 99 degrees in San Mateo. I'm not sure if it was a record, but it was one of those days that makes us glad we installed AC, if only upstairs.

We spent the better part of the afternoon trying to figure out how to turn on daddy's air compressor so mommy wouldn't turn blue in the face trying to blow all the pieces of the pool up herself. Good thing daddy decided to come home early to find us the right hose for the compressor. Then everything came together in a jiffy!

Lauryn's favorite part was jumping and making a splash into the smaller pool. She also liked running through the sprinkler attachment. Sydney loved sitting in the warm water and drinking her juice. We used to think that Sydney was totally fair-skinned, but after a day in the sun, we discovered that she really is a Wang. Boy can she tan!

Legomania

We went to the mall last weekend and there happened to be a Lego building event going on. We contributed our "bricks" to the giant piece they were building. The lady that was building that day put our bricks on the tail part of the giant alligator. I'll post pictures of the finished product next time we stop at the mall.

Spring Gymnastics

Lauryn, Ashlyn and Marissa just finished their gymnastics class from the spring. I think Lauryn had more fun just being in the same class as her friends than getting to jump around and swing from the bars.

1st Ballet/Tap Class

Another new thing that Lauryn's doing this summer is ballet/tap class. I only got pictures from behind, but if you look closely, you'll see Lauryn and my reflections in the mirror.

1st Swim Lesson

Lauryn and her good friend Ashlyn just started swimming lessons a couple of weeks ago at Peninsula Swim School. A bit of background: Lauryn hated getting water in her face during her baths. She'd scream and cry. When we signed up for swimming, she told me that she'd be able to learn to swim without getting her face wet. OK....

So for their 1st lesson, the teacher basically said hi to them and then dunked them in the water! I don't think they even had time to think about it. During lesson #2, Lauryn had a bit of a setback when she got water up her nose.

Lesson #3 was much better with new goggles that fit better and a few times on the "water" slide.

Then an amazing thing happened at Ashlyn's swim party last weekend. They both just decided to swim on their own! Christine and I were in shock!

Lauryn has declared swimming her most favorite thing.

A Heartfelt Thank You

Lauryn loved her teachers so much this year that she wanted to make cards for them for the last day of school. She practiced writing her letters over and over 3 times each night and was finally able to write the entire card herself. (I wrote out the words and she copied it over very diligently. ) She was so proud of herself.

Lauryn's Step-Up

Lauryn "graduated" from her preschool yesterday and every year the kids have a program of songs and poems. Last year if you recall, Lauryn got a little stage fright during her Step Up. We weren't sure how she would do this year. But in fact, she did a great job and looked like she was having fun too, so we were very proud of her!

I really liked this song from Lauryn's Step Up: It's called Tony Chestnut. It's a little over 3 minutes long.
Excuse the blurriness at times. I was using the movie mode on my digital camera and the focus kept going in and out. John actually got the whole program on the camcorder.

Happy Birthday - Kim Style

This is kind of a random post. I was looking through some old pictures and ran across this video. Last year on John's birthday, the Kims stopped by to say happy birthday. I couldn't post it before as video blogging wasn't available then. But now I'm so glad I can!


Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Ariel Has Legs!

Our trip down south wouldn't be complete if we didn't stop at Disneyland at least once. On our most recent trip down at the beginning of May, we decided to go back to Disneyland and actually go on some of the rides. We had visited Disneyland during Spring Break two weeks before and BOY was that a NO NO. There were so many people that we could barely push the stoller around. We got to go on 3 rides the entire day.

This trip was much better. We also decided to take the girls to Ariel's Grotto for lunch. It was our first time there, and probably our last. Lunch was tasty, but sooo expensive! I guess it was worth doing once just to see Ariel with legs. Not to mention getting to see all the princesses in one shot and not having to stand in line and hunt them down throughout the day.

The funny thing was that Lauryn was sooo excited to meet all the princesses that she would not stop talking saying, "Mommy! Look! There's Snow White!" "There's Belle!" "Oh, I hope we're next!" "When are they going to come to our table?!" And then when each of the princesses actually got to our table, she completely clammed up.

Snow White asked her, "Which one of the Seven Dwarfs is your favorite?" Lauryn looked up at her and said, "Cinderella."

And when Belle came over and said, "Hi! What's your name?" She looked up at her and said, "Cinderella." I don't think I've ever seen Lauryn so star struck.

I'm glad to be able to say that finally when Ariel came by, she was able to show her the new Ariel cap she got and tell her that she's going to have a princess birthday party.

I Love It When She's Smiling!

My girls

It's always so hard to get a good shot of both of the girls smiling and looking at the camera, so when I do get one, it becomes my favorite.

Vegas Baby!

The highlight for the kids during this trip to Vegas was going swimming at the Monte Carlo.

They had a Wave Pool that sent waves crashing on to the makeshift beach. Both the girls really enjoyed that one. They also had a Lazy River that you could float down. It was nice and shallow so Lauryn could touch the bottom if she needed to. And although the weather was a nice 90 degrees while we were there, the water in the pools was icy cold! So it makes sense that Lauryn's favorite turned out to be the hot tub.

The highlight for me was going shopping at the outlets - of course. And I think the highlight for John, Jeffy and Sarah was eating at Lotus of Siam twice while we were there.

Happy Birthday Sydney!

This was my favorite shot of Sydney sitting with the cake John got for her.

We celebrated Sydney's 2nd birthday 3 times. 1st with John's side of the family during their early Mother's Day celebration at Todai. The 2nd time was on the day of her birthday. Jeffy and Sarah treated us to one of the kids' favorite places. Lauryn calls it the place with the Big Red Chicken, aka, Red Robin. And 3rd was with my family during our Mother's Day celebration at our house.

Here are the girls with their cousin Jamie at Todai:

Having a good day

Today was pretty good so far. What's a good day?
1) When Lauryn finishes her lunch in 15 minutes without me coercing her. (Chicken Raviolis and Mandarin Oranges - Thank God for Costco!)
2) When Sydney eats fruit. (Well, she had half a cup of OJ. That's good enough for me.)
3) When a friend tells you about a good sale.
4) When you get to tinker with your Blog.
5) When the kids nap at the same time.
6) When your frig is working. (We had it fixed yesterday and I put all the food back from the coolers.)
7) When you resolve to just pay full price for Disney tickets cuz you can't find any good deals, and then finding out you may get to split tickets with someone.
8) When the health examiner comes for your checkup (for your life insurance policy) and brings his own scale that tells you you're 10 lbs lighter than on your own scale.
9) When the same health examiner doesn't need to poke you more than once to take your blood, and your daughter gets to watch you "be brave".
10) When you get to return something you bought on sale 6 months ago for full price.

I'm no sucker!

It's official, I was almost a victim of internet fraud! From EBay no less!

Trying to be a good steward and always trying to save a buck or four, I was looking on EBay recently for tickets to Disneyland and I ran across a listing for the following:
"4 Disneyland Premium Annual Passports for $500". I was soooo excited cuz these are the super duper daddy of all annual passes, normally costing $349 each and includes parking and no blackout dates, etc.... As I read further, the listing said that they're only selling to pre-approved buyers and to email this person directly, so I did. It was a little odd, but I think I was so excited, I didn't want to entertain the idea that this wasn't real. The listing also said, "I'm open to all offers." That was very suspicious, but I initially blocked it out of my mind. The picture showed plastic pass cards that you can buy at any Disney Store that said Pemium Annual Pass. But as I recall, you can take those cards from the Disney Store and not put any value on them. I think Lauryn's had a couple of those to play with in the past. So I briefly mention that fact in my email asking if he'd mind if we met at a Disney Store (the listing said he was from San Jose), and then after verifying the authenticity, I'd pay him.

The email came back telling me that he was selling the tickets for his boss who's in London and won't be able to make it in time. OK, "in time" from unused annual passes? It gets better. Actually, I think I'll post a copy of the entire email to serve as a warning to others out there. Here it is:

Capcoada@aol.com
Hi,
The total price for all 4 Disneyland Premium Annual Passport Pass - Tickets is $ 500 .
I sell them for my boss. He is from USA. Right now we are located in LONDON, UKwith some business problems and my boss will not arrive in time that's why I'm sellingthe tickets for him. He bought them trough his company so don't worry the tickets aregenuine. Beside this we will use a safe scheme.
We will use Square Trade to handle this. They will act like a 3rd party in this deal likeEscrow.We will use Western Union as a method of payment and Fed Ex as a shipping method.
Here are in few words the deal steps:Buyer and seller agree on the transaction terms and a selling price. Seller contacts eBay'sSquare Trade Center with the transaction details; eBay's Square Trade Center accepts thetransaction and offers purchase protection to the buyer (if the transaction is declined, no further action is required from either the buyer or the seller); The buyer deposit the payment at a Western Union office.After the payment is deposited, the eBay's Square Trade Center will instruct the seller tostart the shipping process. The seller has one business day to send the buyer and eBay'sSquare Trade Center the tracking number of the shipment. Buyer receives the merchandiseand has five days to inspect it.
If it is complete and as described, the buyer should accept the merchandise. If he refuses the merchandise, the buyer must ship the merchandise back to the seller within three business days. After the inspection period is over, the buyer must contact eBay's Square Trade Center with the result of the inspection. If the buyer refuses the merchandise, the money from Western Union is retired after the tracking number for the returned shipment is verified.
If you decide to keep the merchandise you will provide the transfer details to the seller in order to pick his money.
Attention: Sending the payment by any other method will void this transaction and your right to refund. The payment details are confidential and will not be released under any circumstances.Square Trade security measures are constantly reviewed and modified given involving circumstances globally, drawing on both internal assessments and the support of government agencies. Their constant priority is for the safety of their people, their customers, and public. Square Trade always tries to fulfill its customers' need.
If you agree with my terms please drop me your full name and address so we can start the deal. Shipping will be done trough Fed Ex overnight delivery and the tracking number will be provided as soon as shipping is made. It will take about 24 hours to reach your location.
IF YOU WANT TO PURCHASE THEM EMAIL ME BACK WITH:
YOUR FULL NAME:.......YOUR ADRESS:...CITY:...STATE:...ZIP CODE:....EMAIL ADDRESS:....
I WILL NEED THESE DETAILS FOR SQUARE TRADE SO THEY CAN CONTACT YOU
THANK YOU

So, here's the deal: I looked up Square Trade and they only provide Post-Purchase Buyer Protection in case something goes wrong. They are not an "Escrow" service. They don't hold funds for you or help you complete a transaction. I also called Western Union and asked them what kind of ID or information a person would need to provide in order to pick up the cash. She told me they only have to show a picture ID. I told the rep about the email I received and she transferred me over to their fraud department. The fraud rep told me that they've had tons of fraud cases from overseas, especially from the UK and that this is definitely a fraud case. Western Union should never be used for purchases as the funds are not held and the person on the receiving side only has to show ID and then picks up the cash and you'll never hear from them again.

I considered reporting this to EBay, but as I looked for the saved listing on My EBay, it was completed gone! So someone there must have caught it and deleted it.

So anyways, BEWARE of those darn UK'ers looking to pilfer cash out of unsuspecting moms looking for cheap Disneyland tickets!

Alright....back to my EBay search....