A Burger-Burger Birthday for Ben

To start off Ben's birthday celebration, he had a cream filled chocolate donut.  Though there are three donuts pictured... I assure you he only had time this morning for one.  Since we missed parent-teacher conference week, we met with Ben's teacher before school today and got a great report on Ben's progress at school.

When asked what he wanted for his special birthday lunch, Ben asked for a Big Mac.  Done.

Ben's friends were happy to come and hang out with Ben after their own lunch... since Ben was sweet enough to sit and have lunch with his parents!

Ben's only request was to go to Color Me Mine after school.  

And after painting, he wanted... another burger.  No one complained though; we all love Five Guys.

And no birthday is complete without something sweet... and Ben's birthday wouldn't be Ben's without some kind of Star Wars element.  

And Legos.

It's been quite a day... I think we covered it all and as you can see, Ben was all smiles all day.

Yay for Independent

We have never done this before... but we decided to take the kids out of school and go to Kauai to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa being condo-owners. 

Because the cheap airfare coincided with an already planned trip to Northern California, the kids ended up being on Independent Study for two weeks.

We flew into Lihue and it was the beginning of a great trip.

While on Kauai, we have fun doing simple things... going to the beach, looking for good food and we are always on the lookout for KBJs on the island.

For the first time, we visited the Lawai International Center, where we silently walked the path of the 88 shrines, which replicate the 88 temples in Shikoku, Japan. 

We drove up to Waimea Canyon to see the view...

We still enjoy shave ice in Hawaii, but we definitely are much more discerning!  I don't know Grandma and Grandpa managed to keep their white shirts clean.

We were at the beach every day... snorkeling, making sand "malasadas", building forts and just enjoying the perfect weather.  Uncle Todd was always game for playtime at the beach.

In between beach trips and food excursions, everyone had work to do.  Grandma helped Jason with his sight word flash cards.  He has quite a few of them down and he's doing a great job with his reading.  Jason said his favorite part of the trip was snorkeling.

Kara has always loved the water and has never been afraid to snorkel with all of the fish.  She loved all of the beaches... on our last full day, we managed to go to all three of our favorites - Poipu Beach to snorkel, Glass Beach to search for colored glass in the sand and Baby Beach for lounging and building sand castles.

Kauai has tons of roosters and chickens roaming around and Ben brought his own stuffed animal version home.  His new friend is named Happy Fatty.

On our last snorkel, Ben was able to swim with a sea turtle.  As we were swimming together, holding hands and watching the sea turtle, Ben squeezed my hands several times in a row, which is our non-verbal way of saying I love you... It is a moment that I will always cherish.

As part of Ben's Independent Study, he had to write about a topic each day using spelling and vocabulary words.  Here are a few of his journal entries...

We had such a great time in Kauai... Ben asked if he can be "Independent" every year.

We came home in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with both sides of our family.

And on our last day before the kids head back to school (after being out of school for 3 weeks!) we decided to enjoy a little bit more of the island magic.  

Ben is right... Yay for Independent!

Back to... Halloween

It just so happens that Picture Day at preschool followed Halloween.  So our (Mc) Fly guy decided to wear one of his favorite outfits for picture day.

Jason was told he could bring one item to be photographed with... and he decided to go to with the guitar 'cause that's the Power of Love.

So he didn't have the suspenders or white tennis shoes... but our Marty knows this character (and movie) inside and out and we couldn't pass up the chance to have him photographed in his outfit.  Fortunately it was a cool day... I don't know how Marty wore all of those layers!

Happy Halloween!

This year we went all different directions for Halloween...

Jason decided on a costume first.  He saw Batman at Costco and decided instantly and early that he would be the dark night this year.  He plays the part well... but when you see that smile underneath that mask, there is nothing dark about him!

Since we had a duet at the Halloween piano recital, I decided to go ahead and be Batman's sidekick.

Grandma found the vintage pirate costume she made way back when for Uncle Todd and Jason had fun wearing it around the house today.

Ben and Kara had more difficulty figuring out costumes this year, especially when I told Ben that he should consider something outside of the Star Wars family.  He and Sho talked about making a knight costume, but what Ben wanted was way too difficult and the costume Sho had as a kid would not allow Ben to sit down... but luckily we found a knight costume just in time for the recital and Halloween.

Though I still call her my princess, Kara's days of dressing up like a princess are long gone.  I have to say, I like her hair with these streaks of red.  I know I will regret saying this when she gets older and wants to dye her beautiful hair some crazy color.

Sho thought he had things figured out... get the afro wig, find the crazy jacket that was in storage and he'd say he was someone from the 70s.  But the jacket didn't fit quite right, so he thought maybe Jules from Pulp Fiction.  But he doesn't have the facial hair.  So then he thought Men in Black, to which Ben said, "So they were just businessmen?"

Happy Halloween!

Doesn't get much better...

After soccer, we drove down to LA for a quick weekend anniversary trip. Rather than leave the kids at home, we decided to include them in our celebratory weekend.

We made reservations for the kids' first trip to Lawry's!  Lawry's does not disappoint.  Jason kept repeating, "Mmmm... this is really good."

 
On Sunday morning, we met our favorite photographer, Holly, at UCLA for family pictures.  On our previous trip to LA, we gave the kids the UCLA tour and we quickly remembered the beauty of this campus.  Since Holly is also a UCLA grad, she was happy to meet us on campus for our photo shoot.

We were fortunate to get some sneak peaks sent to us... cannot wait to see the rest!

I don't know what it is about Coffee Bean, but we all love it!  After our photos, it was Ice Blendeds for everyone.  Happy times!

And then lunch at my all time favorite Vietnamese restaurant.  Now this is a good day.  Sho is so lucky... no flowers or jewelry, just some eggrolls with peanut sauce and I am a happy camper.

We even got a chance to visit the Gordon family, which is always fantastic, but always way too short.  The kids could not wait to see Maya and Cy and it was so hard for them so say good-bye.

I don't think it gets much better... the food, the photos and the fun.  It definitely doesn't get better than Sho.  Twelve years... I am thankful every day.

Opening Day

Today was the start of soccer Saturdays.  We had to be out of the house earlier than a school day, but it was no problem for the kids, who were excited to get into their uniforms and get to the field!

Jason kept his promise to not do what he did last year... which was run around like he was chasing butterflies.  He did a great job following the ball and he especially did a good job with defense, since there is no official goalie in U6 soccer.  

He's got some power behind that kick!

There was a change in how the age breakdown is for soccer now, so even though most of Ben's friends are playing in an under 8 division, Ben is up in the U10 division playing against kids who are older, some of whom are in Kara's class at school.  He told friends that Sho described this as an opportunity (insert Ben's air quotes).  Despite his age, he held is own today and did well as goalie and as a defender.

Kara had two games on opening day and she was fierce!  I told her with those orange shoes, she's gotta be tough out there.  And she was.  I missed her first game because it was at the same time as Jason's game... but when I got to the field, parents told me that Kara was a "stopper" and that she was doing a great job out there.  One mom described her as Superwoman.  A brother of one of Kara's teammates said, "they have a great back line" and the mother replied, "we have a great Kara".  We could not agree more.

A Day in LA

On Saturday afternoon, we realized that we had a free Sunday and that once soccer season is in full swing, we won't have any free weekends for quite a long time.

So we spontaneously (which is a word not usually part of my vocabulary) decided to head to LA for a very quick trip.

The kids were excited to see the "Hot Now" sign on at Krispy Kreme and no matter your age, you have to love the conveyor belt of donuts, the sheet of icing and the free samples as you stand watching the yummy-ness happen!

Jason thought he had his career path figured out.  He was going to follow in Ben's footsteps and work at Legoland.  After the Krispy Kreme experience, he's now thinking of a second career.  On the drive back home he asked if kids could volunteer to help at Krispy Kreme.  Now he's thinking!

We stopped at the Lego store to see what new things they might have... everyone came home with a little something.  I think one of the coolest parts of the store was the city that someone had built and was on display.  In addition to incorporating Marvel, Transformers and Star Wars into the city, the kids were excited to see homage paid to Back to the Future!

We went to Porto's for Sunday breakfast and could not believe how many people were up and out before 9am in LA!  It's a mystery why they don't have Porto's in other cities.

We spent some time at the Natural History Museum, which we haven't been to in quite awhile!  Everyone has their favorite part, whether it be the gems or the dinosaurs...

But my favorite part was going to Pho 87 in downtown.  I love this place.

For me, this is heaven on a plate and in a bowl...

 
Since the kids have never been to UCLA, we felt like it was time to give them a tour.  It's been a long time since Sho and I have been on campus... it was great to reminisce and also see what's new.

 Feels like we did a lot (of eating) in 24 hours... I guess there's something to be said for spontaneity!