a series of events

While I stopped to take a picture...

...Snow, fully aware of being photographed, went about her business. Maku stopped short to pose and was caught falling off his trike. Dave is somewhere out there preparing to grill our dinner.

just sand

Sometimes we travel a few miles south to experience more interesting sand. Sand that is not too white, sand that is not too powdery, sand flecked with pebbles and shells.




I bet you were expecting Maku's little sandy toes and Snow's cutesy little hands. Yes, we were with them. Those are Snow's beach finds that she sorted as soon as we got home.

after my nap

Six nights in a row of late night reading (yes, i am really taking my time with the seventh and last Harry Potter book) and the hot summer sun finally got to me. We had quite a busy morning that ended with big bowls of vegetable soup and a long-awaited nap.

Snow, who's not a big napper (I doubt she even dozed off), surprised us with a bowl of nuts and some pretend tea.
Aaahh....the best part of napping is the snack you get after waking up.

Jarry the Giraffe and Weeta's birthday

After a quiet morning at the park watching baby frogs, the children spent the rest of the day preparing for Aunt Elaine's birthday party. Some presents we bought, some we made. Snow made her a wolf mask. Jin made her a giraffe softie and a card with some fun facts about giraffes. She sketched the design, made the pattern, cut the fabric, and sewed and stuffed in less than two hours.
We played pin the tail on the giraffe and other fun party games that the children prepared.
A teppanyaki restaurant was the birthday girl's choice, the adults enjoyed their sashimi and sake with no interruptions while the little ones marveled at the onion volcano and shrimp tails flying into the chef's pocket and hat. (^o^)

fairy tale feasts

A surprise package from my friend in California arrived a few weeks ago. Amongst the many cute things in the box was a cookbook for Snow: Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook for Young Readers and Eaters. It's a collection of fairy tales, with coordinating kid-friendly recipes. Snow was never into reading or cooking but this book somehow caught her attention. Ripping out a sheet of my monkey stationery (monkey paper cuteness also from our surprise package) she started compiling her grocery list. A trip to the market later, and my baby was making dinner.

Seaweed Stuffed Shells from the Little Mermaid

Mix all ingredients with an orange spatula and a spoon, then mash and squeeze the mixture with your hands until you hear it squishing through your fingers.

Stuff shells until the excitement wears off, then ask mom to finish the job.

Put in oven and play with your toys while mommy cleans up the mess in the kitchen.

The next day Snow made deviled eggs (minus the mayo) with cousin Jin. We don't have paprika so they sprinkled nanami togarashi (Japanese mixed chili pepper with black sesame seeds, ginger and seaweed) all over the top. Snow tried to eat some but the smell of the yolks made her gag.Deviled Eggs from Little Red Riding Hood's picnic basket (I thought she packed some tea biscuits, scones, berries and pie).

Tomorrow we are having Stone Soup for dinner.

the best week ever... continued

Here we are watching alligators bask in the sun and some crazy man trying to entice them. A big gator started to swim closer to us; as it slowly approached, my niece Amber, proving that we live in a digital world said, "Let's wait, it's loading." :)

This is the seaweed that made my mom's glasses drift into the sea.

Snow was bothered by smells.

Loren was bothered by bug bites. I taught her that neat little trick of marking your bite with an X with your fingernail instead of scratching it. I suppose it worked since I got a shot of her doing just that. ;)

Some of us did yoga.

There was snuggling
and serenading

and the little ones saw their first rainbow.

the best week ever!

Eight days with loved ones. This has been the longest time we've spent together in six years. Every minute was savored and cherished -- pure love, pure bliss!