Roadtrippin' - Part 2 : Visiting the Cousins

As usually, life became overwhelmingly hectic which stopped the ability to keep this updated... so, I'll try to do some catching up.

Continuing from our summer road trip to NorCa, we made a very brief pitstop to see a few family. It was, as always, short, sweet, and never enough time.

The kiddos and their cousins were like two sets of two peas in a pod. Emilia with cousin K, Liam with cousin E. I loved watching the kids play and interact with each other, esp Liam and cousin E. Last time around, they were still too young to really play together. Now, they had a great time playing with the toys they both like - cars, trains, and anything with wheels.

The big kids got in on the action and had some fun too.

Double twinsies.

All the kiddos with the big kid.

Emilia loved playing with cousin K's toys... luckily cousin K is pretty good at sharing.

Even cousin E got into cousin K's things.

2014 Holiday Edition: The Year's Highlights

2014 was a year of typical daily life, but filled with lots of kiddie shenanigans. The kids are at a great age where it doesn't matter where we are or what we do, they can find fun and laughter in just about anything with their wild imaginations. (Something we can learn from them!) It is good since we didn't really go much anywhere or do much anything! =) The consistency of routine helped make life manageable between juggling our work loads, Connie's intensive PT/rehab, and the kids' schedules. We still have our challenges, especially with time management, but it was a great year where being routine was monumental in slowing down the hectic feel of life with kids and allowed for all of us to have both, individual and family growth.

Liam transitioned from being a toddler to a little boy. He said good-bye to his toddler days, moving out of his crib and into a big-boy bed. Growing up is hard to do at times, and he had to part ways with the binkie. Preschool turned out to be an easy transition, despite his initial hesitation. The hustle and bustle of all the kids at school can be overwhelming, but luckily Liam has an independent nature like his parents, and he does not mind doing his own thing. Just like dad, Liam loves any kind of motorized vehicle as they bonded watching motorcycle races at Laguna Seca and checking out mini-motos.

Emilia has always had a natural big sis tendency towards Liam, but this year, she realized he makes a great partner in crime. The two combined have become the "Double Trouble", scheming up imaginary adventures to share together. They fight as hard and as much as they play wild together. In fact, the parental units are thinking of sending them to jujitsu so they learn to "wrestle out" their arguments. Emilia is a veteran at school now, showing Liam the ropes. She loves going to school and has a group of close girl friends. She loves princesses, as do the rest of her gal pals, but we also project our influences, so she and Liam are fans of Ninja Warrior, especially Kacy Cantazaro. They play obstacle games and run races together, and many times Emilia will do them in her princess dresses.

Connie, 2014 was a year of recovery, with a main focus on ACL rehab with a goal of running the Spartan Beast around the 1 year post-ACL surgery mark. Obsessive personality is a positive attribute in this area as it fueled the discipline needed to consistently do physical therapy rehab on top of strength and endurance training. Life was defined only by 3 aspects - juggling time with kids & Ryan, work, and multitude of gym memberships. Knee has recovered, but the injury left imbalances that indirectly causes other minor injuries. All in all though, improvements are made. Maybe 2015 will be the injury-free year!

Ryan maintains being the rock of the family - helping Liam, Emilia, or Connie with whatever comes up. There is always a list of home improvement projects to do, with priorities that jump up due to circumstances, like setting up obstacles for Connie to practice on pre-race and hopefully not injure anything else, or when the raccoons came to terrorize the backyard... Ryan was set on a mission to deter them (in a safe way) from hanging around - setting up motion sensing automatic sprinkler and metal tree guards to prevent them climbing up. There were nights he would go on stake-outs for raccoons and try to scare them off. Ryan is non-stop in keeping our home organized and our lives organized. This year he manages to fit rock climbing in regularly, and we are slowly making it a new family routine.

2014 was consistent busy-ness that helped to form good foundation of solid habits for all of us. One of the traits of highly successful people is that they develop good habits - make their beds, clean up right away, make lists/plans for their day/week/month/year and work on it regularly, becoming a habit of progress. Working out became like brushing one's teeth... just do it without thinking. The kids naturally gravitate towards organization and clean up.. as much as kids can. =) All in all, we are very grateful for the year we have had in 2014. We sympathize with friends and family that we have seen go through hardships this year and those that will be continuing hardships. Keep pushing forward, one step, one day at a time.

Wishing you happiness and laughter all the days in 2015!

Family Climbing Time : Liam Climbs!

Love the holiday atmosphere while climbing at the gym!

Our 3rd family climbing session and, after 3 hours at the gym, Liam was interested enough to get on the top rope! It took quite a few tries and encouragement, but one he realized that he could climb up, he was okay to being in a harness.

He incrementally went up a little bit higher on the consecutive climb, and finally just hung out.. not climbing up and not wanting to climb down. He was just looking around and soaking in the scene. I had to give the rope a little slack and warn him that I would lower him down if he was not going to climb anymore..and then up he went!

Not too bad for the lil guy on his first time on rope. He took to instruction pretty well too!



And, of course, both Ryan and I got to climb some too. Family climb time so far is working out well.

Visiting Grandparents

We took a quick day trip to visit grandparents because it has been way too long. The kids seriously look like grandma and grandpa. Check out the smiles between Liam and grandpa and the smile of Emilia and grandma. Emilia looks like a mini version of grandma here!

Short but sweet quality time. The kids love the extra attention and fun they get from their grandparents!

Family Climbing

These two are extremely close. They play together (and fight together) from the moment they wake up to the time they go to sleep, and when the other one is not around, they think of the other one. If Liam isn't around, Emilia will ask to bring back something for Liam. And Liam, if he doesn't see Emilia around, will ask where she is.

Kids playing around in the meditation/yoga area of the gym:

They play for hours on end fueling each other's creative imagination. Ryan thinks I'm over idealizing a siblings relationship, but seriously, I love the closeness they share! The fighting is nothing compared to all the mischievous laughter that comes out of them.

We spent 5+ hours at a local boulder/climbing gym with the kids on another family climbing session. It was the first time trying out bouldering with them. We had the luxury of time that day, and another plus was that Roger was visiting and climbing with us.

Roger climbing with kiddos running around:



Kids playing while Ryan climbs:

Liam climbing:

I wasn't sure how this session was going to go, but the kids loved it. They would climb a little, eat a lot of snacks, run around and play on their own, come back and climb, etc. Ryan and I would alternative checking on them to make sure they weren't causing too many problems, but all in all, 5+ hours! We were able to stay there for 5 hours with no temper tantrums, all of us getting some climbing in, socializing with Roger, and having play time.

Kids running around the gym..



Liam and Ryan playing with the rings in their own style. =)

Emilia's version of the rings (though swinging on the rings is not allowed):



The kids were very comfortable at the gym and the people there. They did get into some mischief. At one point when I checked on the kids, I found them besides the slack line, A guy was practicing a one-legged squat balance on the line and Liam went up to the side of climber, then proceeded to make funny faces at the guy, who was really trying hard to keep his balance. I couldn't help but laugh as I lectured Liam to move away. Obviously the climber lost his balance laughing and fell off.

By the end of the evening, Emilia was climbing like a pro. She would put on her climbing shoes and pick her own climb and go up and down without any of us prompting her.



Compare the above video with one of her first climbs of the session...



We may just be able to pull off incorporating regular family climbing sessions to our routine... hopefully!

Family Climbing Time

Proud parent moment! Watching my kiddo scale the walls of the climbing gym on her own with no fear! She climbed 5x on the face of the kiddie wall with ease.



Then we moved her to the general wall which was a bit harder. E managed to make it half-way up before tiring out.



Liam did not want to climb, but both kids had fun being in the climbing gym. All in all, I think it was a good experience and exposure. The adults can't really climb yet when the kids are there, but hopefully we'll get to a point where the whole family can climb together.

Christmas Madness

Holidays always seem to descend on us way too fast and pass by even faster! Mad rush to get holiday shopping done, Xmas cards out, work wrapped up to some stoppable point, and packing for a trip - clothes, necessities (such as Elmo and binkie), high chairs, kiddie tent/crib, snacks, toys for the road, etc. Regardless of how early or how organized we are, we are ALWAYS ALWAYS forgetting something. We made it finally.. to see friends and family, after a 4 hour start delay from last minute present wrapping, snack packing, kid tending and diaper changing, and other miscellaneous things to do.. oh and, of course an emergency potty-stop right when we get on the freeway. A portable potty chair in the car is a definite MUST for all traveling kids!

Anyhow, I foresee it will take a week to decompress and catch up on sleep and transition back to normal routine. In the meantime, it is really cute to see the kiddies asking if we can drive over to visit grandma/grandpa and their cousins. =) The kiddies miss the family so much already!

Christmas Recap:

Kiddies had quality time with their cousins...

.. and the iPad.

Back in the day, pinky swearing or spit-handshake was a form of defining friendship. Now it is crayola markering that forms the bond.

Side by side dolly play with cousin K.

Opening presents!



Tons of toys to play with, and yet, the best fun always are the non-toys!



All the kiddies on Christmas day.

Christmas Day was mainly the kiddies and the cousins, though Christmas Eve fun was with the whole family - cousins, aunts, uncles, grandaunts, granduncles, etc. Quite chaotic in a good way.

Emilia was the first kid to dive into the mass of presents to look for her name on the label.

Christmas Eve present opening...

And the closest we've had to getting the whole family together. This is almost the whole family.. only missing 2, an uncle and great-grandma.

Summer Weekend Get-Away

A couple months back, we did a quick road trip up north. A notable highlight for the kids was... the hotel room! They LOVED being in a hotel room. Somehow that hotel room triggered a 2nd/3rd wind of energy into the wee hours pass their bed time.



And we saw this on the drive back home! Neato.

Family Fiesta!

Ryan's family was in town a few weeks ago for some family fiesta time.

E's not amused.

The cousins...

Handstand Push-Ups... Not Quite

(Note: This is an old post that I never got a chance to finish. So here it is.)

What we do (rare occasionally) in our not-so-spare-time... You know, we do what we can to help influence our kiddies to have fun and maintain an active life. Doesn't every family have family time with wall climbs and handstand push-ups?

Emilia


Connie


Ryan


Well... at least we have one in the family that can represent if we ever needed to do handstand push-ups.