WEEKEND RECAP:

Friday: Mia's last day of gymnastics class (for the summer, anyway). She received a really nice certificate for completing all of her tumbling and balancing exercises. She says she wants to sign up again in October - how can we say no to her? Just look at that smile!! I can't believe how big she's getting, and how much we're enjoying watching her develop into a well-rounded little girl. This summer just seems to have flown by - and soon she'll be starting Kindergarten! Next, she'll be driving and then she's off to college!! Okay, so I'm a little ahead of myself... but you turn around, and all of a sudden the little baby we brought home from the hospital is helping us cook, clean, and take care of HER baby brother!!


Saturday: After a lazy morning, we decided to head out to the LA Zoo (we're members so we're able to go as many times as we'd like to during the year - very convenient). We didn't expect it to be as hot as it was there, but good thing they had Icee's to cool us off!! Can you guess what flavor we had?? *hahaha* Oh, and Jacob had his share of the good stuff too - we just couldn't get him to stick out his tongue on command, yet. You can see him scarfing it down though on the kid's page.




Sunday: I had to get up early this morning to play in a reverse co-ed volleyball tournament out in Hollywood. The rules are, 3-guys & 3-girls on a team. We play on a women't net, and the guys can't hit, block, or even hit from the 10 foot line. *grrrrr* Basically the men just pass, set, and play defense. I was asked to play (last minute, mind you) with some friends I met in a class at Pierce College. We were in a 5 team pool and, unfortunately, we did not make it out finishing 3rd. =( Still, it was a good workout, and I was able to leave in time to make it back home for another Concert in the Park with HieRan and the kids! =) I got a massage at one of the booths set up around the park, and we had another relaxing evening outdoors with the community.

Jacob has his 9-month appointment tomorrow... more shots coming, buddy... sorry. =T

NICE AND COOL:

So have I mentioned that I'm a morning person? My wife hates this - always has, especially when we were first married. I'd be up early (sometimes bugging her to get up with me), but by 10:30-11:00 I'd want to take a nap!! HieRan would say she'd rather stay in bed UNTIL 11:00... yeah, I see her point now. Anyway, that's all in the past and I don't DARE try to wake her in the mornings anymore. Besides, the kids keep me busy in the morning - Jacob is up by 6am, and Mia is a constant challenge to wake by 7am. But these mornings have been great. The weather has cooled down considerably, and we're able to sleep comfortably with a couple windows open. Hope it stays this way for a while.

This evening I went to an open gym in Calabasas to play some volleyball - just a little warm up again for another tournament I'm playing in on Sunday. =S Fortunately, Sunday's tournament is reverse co-ed rules where the men can't spike the ball. =D So I'll just be running around setting and playing defense for the most part - I can't hurt myself too badly in this format, right? *knock on wood* The kids who play in this gym are pretty impressive. All of them at least 6'2", and they can play! I did my best to keep from embarrassing myself, but when I dumped a ball into the net (a ball, mind you, that was set perfectly to the outside with NO BLOCKERS) I had to call it a night. I felt like I jumped all of 3 inches high! *whoo-hooo!*

Yeah, I'll be ready for Sunday!! *groans*

WEEKEND RECAP:

Friday:

We were scheduled to depart from LAX and head up to Reno / S.Lake Tahoe for my wife's company retreat. Every year her company allows the district "teams" to gather together with their families for a relaxing social weekend. Unfortunately, with all that's been happening at the airports, our trip was cancelled. =( Naturally I'm pretty bummed about that, but at the same time, why take the risk? They will reschedule the retreat - hopefully someplace where we can drive to instead. ;) So we stayed home and later took Mia to her gymnastics class over at Pierce College. It all worked out for the best - we were able to join some friends at their home for a little get-together. The kids watched a movie outdoors in a huge tent, while we parents sat on the patio and played some poker! *whoo-hoo!* After a couple of hours, the girls were all tired (it was close to 10pm) and I split the last pot of the evening with a nine-high straight. Mia and Jacob pretty much konked out after that - it was a quiet evening...

... oh, and Jacob is doing great sleeping through the night now!!

Saturday:

Let's see - we were out a lot today. I made brunch for everyone and then cleaned up the kitchen while the kids ate. It was just a lazy day for us all. We finally got ourselves together and headed out to Costco - time to stock up on some stuff again. Then we agreed we would go to Toys R Us to buy Jacob one of those ball-pits you can inflate (I think Mia had more fun with it than her kid brother). After unloading everything, we decided to head to Zen Buffet, a local buffet of Asian food... like the Asian version of HomeTown Buffet!! =) I think we spend a couple of hours there filling up!!! Then a quick run to Bed Bath & Beyond. In the kids' bathroom, I put up a huge mirror over the double-sink. HieRan thought it would look better if we moved that mirror over by the tub and the replace it with two individual mirrors for the kids. We found the mirrors on sale at BB&B - plus we always seem to have one of their 20%-off-one-item coupon, so even more savings! I'll put the mirrors up on Sunday...

Sunday:

Okay, I knew that the mirrors weren't going to fix themselves, so after breakfast HieRan and I switched them out. As I started to drill the holes in the wall, I could hear my cordless drill struggling... and eventually dying. Good thing I had a spare battery!! Too bad it wasn't charged... *grrrr!!*. I discovered that my 7-year old cordless drill could no longer hold its charge. I rushed over to Home Depot to see if there was a battery I could buy for my drill. Unfortunately they no longer sold them there. Looks like I may be in for a BRAND NEW CORDLESS DRILL!!! *ahem* I mean... darn, I'm going to miss my B&D Drill/Saw/Screwdriver/Sander... (heh). After installing the mirrors (without the benefit of my drill), I went back to BB&B to pick up a couple of mantles for underneath the mirrors. Not bad, actually. Now Mia and Jacob will have their own shelves to put stuff on.
So today we went to our first Concert In the Park - right here in Woodland Hills. Every summer the city sponsors a summer concert program that features some well known (and some not so well known artists). Tonight was Stephen Bishop (remember, he sang that song “It Might Be You” on the soundtrack of 80’s hit movie TOOTSIE, starring Dustin Hoffman). Interestingly, this song was covered by my brother’s group, KAI a few years back. We met with some of our friends, and their kids out at the park around 6pm – the perfect time to be outdoors. We packed a picnic dinner (compliments of McDonald’s drive thru), and really enjoyed the evening with friends. By 8pm, the performance was ending and we headed home. You can almost feel the end of summer coming soon...

... so hopefully we can cram a little bit more fun in before it's over!! =)

A QUICK GLIMPSE:

Okay, getting caught up here. Last week HieRan was out of town, so I donned my cape and became SuperDad!! Jacob didn't really let me sleep that much, although Mia was super helpful all week long.

The heat has gone down (thank goodness), so we've been able to go to the park and play outside without worrying about how badly we're going to cook. Had a couple play-dates for Mia.

On Friday we spent about 3-1/2 hours on the freeway driving a total distance of about 60 miles. This was basically our trip to LAX to pick up HieRan on a Friday afternoon. =) The kids were surprisingly pleasant - I, on the other hand, couldn't BELIEVE how bad the traffic was! *arrrrggghhh!!*

Dad is arriving at the end of the month from the Philippines. I hadn't heard from him in a while and all my worries were confirmed when I discovered he had been in the hospital. He's better now, and will be joining us on the 25th.

A long distant cousin of mine had been trying to reach me. When I finally got hold of him, he said he had some LA Dodger tickets he wanted to unload... sorry man, I'm an A's fan! *hahaha* Okay, I'm not a huge baseball fan... that's the sport where everyone is trying to go Home, right? You get 4 balls *haha - funny* and then you take a walk. It's good to "steal", but bad to be "out". Too many rules to follow...

I'm excited about the final week of Final Fu! I'm addicted to watching Hell's Kitchen. I've also been tuning into TLC's "Flip that House" - a program dedicated to showing how real estate investors buy, fix, and sell properties for some nice profits.

What else have I been doing? Well... as you can see my thoughts (much like my life) is all over the place! =S Still lots to do before dad arrives. But this weekend we're heading up to Squaw Creek Resort in Lake Tahoe for HieRan's company retreat. Hopefully we'll be able to relax a bit with the kids.

I'll get back to it after a few hours of sleep.