A Preview: Joshua Tree 2013

Joshua Tree 2013 was a much needed get away for the whole family. Ryan had reserved camp sites right next to climbing areas a long, long time ago; So long that our schedules were unknown, but it didn't matter. It turned out to be perfect timing - perfect weather, nobody sick, a break in work schedule, and a much needed change in routine to relieve the built-up of everyday stress. The kiddies loved the dirty and rocks... and for the duration of the trip, I held back my TypeA personality and allowed them to be as dirty and messy as they wanted...almost. =P

A few preview photos (we finally picked up a replacement point'n'shoot so, yeah! more kiddie photos!):

Kiddies chillin' at the campsite.

Kiddies chillin' at the climbing spot.

Ryan teaching Emilia a thing or two about harnessing up and knots.

Yup! That's my lil' 3-year-old climbing with her daddy!

That's them again in the far upper right corner of the photo.

I put in more climbing this time than in the past 3 years. (Still doesn't say much..)

Friends and more kiddies chillin' at the campsite.

And more photos & videos to upload soon... stay posted!

The Start of It All... The Warm Up

Life's a big balancing act, as Dr. Seuss puts in in his books. I think we've been working hard for a while now. A little fun and play is to be had.. at least on occasion.

Fun is more fun with others - friends, neighbors, obstacles, and costumes! The Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge 5K!



This is my first (hopefully first of several) obstacle/race this year with the neighborhood team of mamas and one dada (nope that's not Ryan). This race is an easy 5K/3 miles with fun obstacles; a good one as a warm-up, starter race to kick off my year of planned races. Last year, I aimed for one race, the Zombie apocalypse. This year, I am targeting 2-3 obstacle type races and 2 running only races with one of them being a trail half-marathon. So.. upping the ante a little more this year. I'm also very excited for the second race (well, more like a challenge since I'm not aiming for time), which is full-on, hard core, don't-tell-my-physical-therapist obstacle course coming up about a month after this ROC race. That one is so awesome it deserves a post on its own! so... more later. =)

The end goal is the ultimate race I've been wanting to do for the past 3 years, but not in good enough shape. I want to not just finish it, but to have competitive results (50% or better in my age group) ... the Spartan Race. Ryan and I will get our first taste of the 3mi Spartan in early 2014. If all goes well, I plan to train to, hopefully excel, at the ultimate races of Spartan Beast and the Tougher Mudder, which are 12+ miles. Granted, none of these come even close to what Ryan used to do with the 24-hour adventure races. But..hey all in due time.. one race, one year at a time. =) I'm soloing these as far as I know, so if anybody wants to join me??!!

I'm excited to be getting back into the game! An older version of my younger self, eh...

Backtrack Recap: Emilia's 3rd BDay

So Emilia's 3rd birthday was a while ago and I never got around to finish up the recap. So here it is. A day with the usual routine but with goodies. I spent extra time working on her hair for school. Was quite proud that her hair wasn't all over the place for once. hehe. She has not had a haircut yet in her 3 years (excluding trimming of the bangs).

Okay.. it's still a bit crooked, but hey, this is pretty good compared to how I usually style her hair.

She had an extra chocolate-y cake, by request.

And Ryan had to hold Liam back since both kiddies were excited about Emilia's bday present.

She did share with him under careful supervision...



though it didn't last too long. I think they played with the car for 1 day before it was confiscated from them since there was too much fighting over it.

But this gift from grandma and grandpa has been a big hit with both kiddies. They love hearing the grandparents' voices read to them and the music.

Liam's Antics

My little boy is a full-fledge toddler. He knows how to be so cute for the camera.

And then mischievous crosses his mind... "Hm... I wonder how this foam handle bar tastes?"

No. No.

And then he does it again.. sigh.

Bad Photo Scavenger Game

If you haven't heard from me in a while, I hope you'd accept my apology for missing my friends birthdays, phone calls, messages.. etc. I am naturally a lazy slacker when it comes to keeping in touch, and even more so when combined with singular focus on trying to win the "Crying Photo Scavenger Game". What is this new game, you ask?

Ryan had a great idea that we should take a photo of Emilia every time she had a fit of rage. It is sort of like musical chairs combined with a photo scavenger hunt. You never know when the music stops and you have to sit in a chair.. or in this case, when the crying starts and you have to grab a camera! This game didn't last long. I think I got tired of running for the camera each time, but for the duration it lasted... we got a lot of photos!


And to top it off with one of Liam's tantrums. =)


Drats.. this guy beat me to it!

Way toooo long....

It has been wayyyyy too long from updating this blog and keeping in touch with friends/family. We have, as you probably figured, been overly swamped with lots of work and never enough time to fully balance and get as much done as we'd like. Balancing life has not been happening and it's been frustration, lots of compromising, crying and tears, and sacrificing certain aspects to find an equilibrium medium point for Ryan, the kiddies, and I. Are we there yet? Nope, but I think we're starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Ryan's been very very busy dual managing his work work and trying to progress with the deck, while picking up slack for my work schedule. While my work is not demanding of an 80-hour work week anymore, the workload and project schedules are aggressive and high-profiled. Definitely stress in getting things done under a finite amount of time that I can be at work, and also exciting to see the ultimate end result of what I work on.



Yup. The world's fastest microprocessor. It's great to see the Sun logo on Oracle's new announcement and the look ahead to hardware development and growth.

So while work is super busy in a good kind of way, the work toll definitely has taken an effect on the kiddies the past 1-2 months as well as been much more difficult in managing and compromising Ryan's and my schedule. Remember a post back when I was talking about the difficulties of disciplining in a constructive way? While there has been a few occurrences of successful disciple, there has been more failures than not. For a while, Emilia and I were spiraling down a not so good path. The kids (and parents) with tantrums that you see on the TV show, Nanny 911 or SuperNanny...kicking, screaming, hitting, biting, a danger to themselves while in fits of rage... the parents completely exhausted and cannot re-gain control... yup. That was us. February and March were tough months. I feel very very fortunate that our nanny is really Mary Poppins in disguise, and that Ryan is the most patient husband/dad.

Long story short, we have had a breakthrough with understanding what was going on and working towards better relationship and discipline with Emilia and Liam. At first I thought it was bad influences from other kids at school. Ryan thought maybe it was jealousy toward Liam for the more attention Liam gets from me. Or that the two kids are playing off of each other's tantrums. Those may play a little factor, by the main thing is that Emilia is a 3-year old that is figuring out the world she lives in, and regardless of what goes on, she needs us to stop the busy and provide her quality attention and a sense of her own security of where she fits and belongs. Quality time with just mom or dad have been key, and extra time spent in re-enforcing positive behaviors, even in exaggerated praises, have also helped. Also, I had to recognize that it was not just the kids. It was me too. I needed to find a way so that I can maintain strict and patient disciplining... which is hard to do when you're stressed, tired, and frustrated. Eating healthy, getting sleep, and getting daily exercise ends up being more crucial when I have no time for those. So, regardless of how crazy it is, I try to get those in every day. And if I skip a day, then I make sure I do extra the next day. It may come in the form of doing a quick set of max burpees in the women's shower room at work, or a power "rest" at my desk.

Disciplining is slowly, but surely not so violent now and a sense of well-being is slowly coming around. =P For Liam, he is learning through observation and developing his own sense of independence. So it is also key that he sees positive and consistent disciplining with Emilia. Yup. Slowly, but surely.

Oh, and here's a good article about Kiddies and their tantrums.

So.... it's been way too long.. but I have a back long of the good (and some bad and ugly) of happenings these past two months to post up on the blog. Hopefully I can get to a consistent roll again on here. =)