fireworks on the 4th, youtube style

malia was sick all weekend so we didn't go out for independence day. we watched movies and played with toys. when 9pm came around, we could hear some fireworks close to us. but the big hill by our house was in the way. from upstairs, the kids saw one or two fireworks in the distance. then they complained that we weren't out watching fireworks. so i turned on the tv and we watched the fireworks show in DC. then micah said he wanted disneyland fireworks instead. (disneyland started showing their 4th of july fireworks on the 1st and someone had already uploaded it to youtube.) so there we were, the 4 of us, watching the disneyland fireworks on youtube. the kids were happy.

sd fair

happy birthday to my sister and happy heaven birthday to my mom! as always, it's hard to get a good kids photo.

after visiting my mom, we all headed to the sd county fair. theme this year: race to the fair. the kids wanted to go see the livestock first. then we watched baby pigs race. it smelled great.

after that, it was off to eating fried food and sweets.

then we enjoyed watching our good friends' daughters' performance. (picture taken by micah.)

in the kiddie area, the kids got to choose 2 rides each. malia chose an obstacle course for her first ride. then they both rode a roller coaster with jonah. micah chose the bumper cars for his second ride.

then it was off to the skyride with daddy. they loved it.

micah took a nap while we went through bing crosby hall. malia searched and searched for something to buy. she ended up buying an angry birds lanyard. we bought one for micah too.

we were hot, tired, and sunburned, but it was fun. the kids saw a monster truck in action before we left. and micah ate most of our mini donuts. we love the fair.

barona buffet

it's been ages since i've been to barona casino. we went to the buffet there to celebrate roel's uncle's birthday yesterday. they are VIPs, so 9 of us got in for free. how cool is that! micah ate tofu with noodles. malia ate shrimp, which she peeled herself. wow, i won't even do that. but the highlight was the desserts. the kids had 2 ice cream cones each. well, micah licked his ice cream a couple times then had me take it off the cone because he just wanted the cone. i had creme brulee and lots of cookies (my weakness).

in the casino area, micah thought he could play video games. but after i explained to him that they were only for adults, he said," you're an adult, you go play mom, you like those." and then he tried to push me to the games. he stuck with his angry birds.

angry birds water party

m&m's friend, ben, had a birthday party this past weekend. he chose angry birds as his party theme. of course, the kids were super excited for his party. it was held at a park with a water playscape. they got so soaked.

here are some cool details of the party:

ben and his family made a pig pinata that turned out so good. my sister, jos, created centerpieces w/ jenga. my other sister, jen, made cool angry bird cake pops. and i made some decorated sugar cookies.

as always, the kids "helped" make the cookies with me. i let them decorate some themselves to keep at home. malia did a really good job all on her own.

m&m loved getting soaked and boy did they get tanned. as we left and drove away, malia said, "goodbye glorious water park with pine cones." (she found some pine cones by the playground.) they are already begging to go back to that park.

homemade angry birds game

we saw an angry birds game on amazon and the kids wanted one. i told them it was too expensive and they could just make one themselves. i figured it was a good way to pass the time since malia is on vacation. plus she loves arts and crafts. so i bought clay for $5, and she made some birds and a pig. micah got in on the fun too. but his way of making it was by telling me, "make a pig," while he just rolled clay around.

i baked the clay and they were ready to play. we even made a slingshot, which i regretted later when micah just kept playing with it and pretending to shoot us. some of the beaks broke off after several launches. so next time i'll make sure it's attached better before baking.


it was great to see how excited they were about it, especially because they made it. we'll make more another day.

father's day

we went to dinner at chili's on the day before father's day. couldn't really do anything but that since micah was sick the whole week. we gave daddy some lotto scratchers and won a whopping $2! father's day was spent with family, eating and eating. it was a pretty relaxing day.

micah's baptism birthday

happy baptism birthday to micah and happy birthday to my dad!

micah begged me for an angry birds cake for his baptism birthday. i knew he would be happy with something simple. so while he was taking a nap, i quickly made 2 figures out of fondant and threw it on a little cake from hans & harry's. he loved it.

it's hard to tell by the picture that this little boy has been sick with an ear infection since friday. and this morning i picked him up from school because he had a fever. but he's still smiling.

obsessions

just like everyone else, m&m are obsessed with angry birds. mostly malia though. she makes drawings and cut outs. above is her latest painting and their plush toys. malia counted out all her coins so she could buy the red plush toy. they make sounds and i swear that in one of the sounds the birds are saying 'hallelujah.' i have to admit that the game is very addicting. but the main reason i like the game is because it's the only game m&m don't fight over when they are at the computer. they will nicely take turns and support each other in getting those darn pigs!

words of wisdom from micah

you don't think bad thoughts, only good thoughts. bad thoughts are fighting and not being good. good thoughts are being good and going to disneyland.

my boy in beverly hills

took a last minute day trip to beverly hills to see some family friends from the philippines. i think the last time i was in beverly hills was with my parents when i was in high school. of course micah had no idea where he was. but it was a fun trip with jos, arnold, and joelle. we stopped by some shops. i saw an $58 pair of mickey mouse flip flops. that was the sale price! malia would have loved beverly hills since she likes fancy things, but she had to go to school. i'll take her there one day.