Emma's 1st Birthday

Emma's 1st birthday party was held at the clubhouse of their apartment complex Saturday evening. Tyler's afternoon nap was a little delayed to due Haylie's party earlier that day, so we showed up a bit late.

Luckily we didn't miss the singing of Happy Birthday. Infact, Emma also arrived late herself due to her nap. :)

The clubhouse had a pool, but it wasn't heated ... so most people sat around the jacuzzi with their feet dangling in. Tyler included. Although it wasn't a party geared for kids, he seemed to be having a good time. Haylie was also there, so he did have company.

We had dinner, talked stories, and had cake ... it was a good time.

Haylie's 3rd Birthday

Haylie's Birthday kicked off the weekend of Birthdays on Saturday morning/afternoon. It was held at Apex Gym which is right next to Tyler's Montessori school. The kids did various types of gymnastic activities such as trampoline, bars, balance beam and some other random stuff like parachutes, bouncy house, etc ...

Tyler wasn't too interested in it, but he participated in a good 60% of it. Here are some pictures.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We hope you liked your new "Tyler" mug and enjoyed the circus.

Thanks for being a wonderful hubby and daddy!

We love you!

Tyler had lots of fun at the circus, as long as there were animals, lol. During the other performances he wasn't that interested and even asked to go home. :)

Children's Discovery Museum - August 2010

Our season pass is about to expire, so we took Tyler to the Children's Discovery Museum today. He really seems to like it and doesn't mind if the exhibits are basically the same each time we go. The one exhibit that they do change was still Bob the Builder, which we already saw last time. At least it kills about a good 2 hours of the day and Tyler has lots of fun. :)

Sorry forgot the camera, so no pictures.

Saturday

I am not sure why I am blogging today as it wasn't a very interesting day.

Tyler and daddy went to get a hair cut together this morning. Tyler has finally comes to term with hair cuts and now he sits nicely patiently awaiting for it to be over so he can get a lollipop. I must say, when he gets the "short" hair cut it makes him look more like daddy. :)

Afterward, Tyler and mommy went to a community yard sale with Aunty Vicky and Haylie. As usual, there weren't many things for Tyler and Haylie ended up with a bunch of things. We met Clay for lunch and had pasta, except for Tyler who ate fried rice from Panda Express.

Then there was Tyler's afternoon nap ... and a trip Michael's and Party City in preparation for his upcoming birthday party.

San Jose Giant's Baseball Game take 2

I took Tyler to his 2nd baseball game with the Yee's tonight. It was a much different experience then the 1st game we attend. This one was way more crowded. The line for food was pretty darn long and all the good and semi decent seats were taken by the time we got there. We ended up having to sit on the bleachers (near left field) by a bunch of drunk teenagers who kept heckling the players.

I couldn't tell if Tyler was actually paying attention to the game, but for the most part he did sit nicely. For the first time ever, he ate a hotdog in the BUN! All of it too, I was shocked to say the least.

The kiddos were most excited when the mascot walked around and or danced. Needless to say, we didn't stay for the entire game. It got a bit chilly so we left early ...

Dentist

Today Tyler had a dentist appointment for his first filling. He had no idea what was in store for him and mommy was probably more anxious if anything.

We we first got there he was fine. He remembered being there for his check up last time and he remembered watching Madagascar. Too bad mommy screwed up. The nurse came by with is "relaxing" medicine which Tyler was refusing to take from her. So mommy tried to give it to him instead. He took it from her, however gave it too fast. The medicine even mixed with some apply juice tasted bad, so Tyler was quick to spit it out. We had no idea how much if any he actually took so we weren't allowed to give him anymore. *sigh*

Next mommy had to take him into the examination room ... where should couldn't stay. She lifted him onto the chair, told him he would get to watch Madagascar and then excused herself to go to the potty. But really just sat outside on the bench where she could now hear Tyler crying and asking for her. It was SO hard for mommy herself not to cry. But she had to be strong.

They magically got him to lay down and start watching the movie, while at the same time using a local to numb the site near the filling. The whole thing took maybe 10 - 20 minutes and after first she could hear Tyler still asking for a while, but eventually it got quiet. Turns out, he was a very good patient and opened his mouth well.

We waited at the office for an additional 30 minutes to ensure Tyler had no reaction to the local and then we were off. He could eat soft foods once he got home. Up until now he hadn't had anything to eat or drink all morning long.

Mommy also was advised to keep him home from school ... so she worked from home and watched him.

Good job Tyler! Let's hope for no more cavities!

PreSchool

Now that Tyler is fully potty trained, he has been transitioning to the pre-school class at his school. The unfortunate part is that the lead teacher of that class just decided to move to Sacramento, so now there's a new lead teacher, who Tyler isn't yet use to.

Anyway ... this week was his full transition. I had to drop him off directly at the pre-school class rather then the toddler class where they were bringing him to pre-school. He cries and asks for his other teachers when being dropped off. I have a feeling it is going to be a long first couple of weeks.

Bounce A Rama

Tyler wants his 3rd birthday party to be at a "bouncy house" place. There are several to choose from ... but since his birthday is rather late in the year, we've already been to them recently. So we decided to check out the Bounce A Rama in Milpitas.

It has two bouncy house areas, one more geared for toddler children and one for a bit older children. In addition, they also have an arcade section with a few rides.

We only stayed for about an hour, but Tyler absolutely LOVED it! Now, we just need to send out the invites. :)

Scrapbook Expo

Mommy and aunty Vicky went to check out the Scrapbook Expo on Saturday. The daddy's were in charge of watching the kiddos.

For lunch we met up with a bunch of people we haven't seen in a while for Dim Sum. The Leu's, Wen, Hyun ... good food and good times.

San Jose Giant's Baseball Game

eBay was giving out FREE tickets to the San Jose Giant's game, so mommy decided to take full advantage of this to see if Tyler liked baseball.

At first Tyler wasn't too interested. We don't think he could actually see the ball being thrown or hit, since the sun was going down and made it a bit hard to see. But as the night went on, he seemed to enjoy himself. He especially liked when they played songs in the stands and the Mascot danced. And on the outskirts of the stadium they had a few bouncy houses set up, which is always fun for him. He jumped and slid and even hit baseballs off a tee.

When asked if he had fun, he replied yes and asked if we could go back tomorrow. :)

Home with mommy

Tyler's school had the last 2 days of July off for what they are calling "teacher's work day". Rather than take the days off, mommy was able to work from home ... which was nice.

Tyler is a bit more independent now and can play for a while on his own. But there are times where he will want someone to play with. Needless to say, mommy took a few breaks from work to play with cars and do some painting.

Mommy was also smart enough to plan various art projects for Tyler do to. He LOVES art projects. Whether it be coloring, painting, cutting, gluing, glittering ... you name it ... he's pretty happy doing all of it.

And of course, if he was a good boy ... he got to watch a DVD. Lately it's been Cars, Madagascar or Toy Story 2.

Children's Discovery Museum July 2010

On weekends, we've been trying our best to keep Tyler entertained and occupied. We decided to go to the Children's Discovery Museum to check out the new Bob the Builder exhibit. (they change one of the main exhibits every couple of months, it seems). While 80% of the museum remains the same.

Regardless ... Tyler was very excited! We have been there several times now and he knows exactly what he wants to do and I think has started memorizing where things are.

A couple of his favorites are playing in the water world, bubble land, painting, and playing with sand.

Good job for mommy and daddy who decided to buy the season pass. YAY!

Transitioning to preschool

With Tyler finally potty trained, the next milestone for him was to transition from his "toddler" class to the pre-school classroom at his school.

He just started doing this this past Monday. Mommy still has to drop him off in the toddler room, but now he gets walked over to the new pre-school class in the morning, where he gets to stay for an hour.

Luckily another boy in his class, Ben, is also doing the same, so he doesn't have to go alone. They said he fusses a bit when being dropped off and every once in the awhile will ask for Ms. Valerie (the toddler class teacher), but for the most part ... he's been doing well.

Next week they will extend the amount of time he visits ... till eventually it's a full transition to all day.

What a big boy!

Aunty Cindi's baby shower

Mommy and Aunty Vicky hosted the Murakami's baby shower on July 18th. They are their first, a baby boy on September 1, 2010.

I must say that it went really well. We did a breakfast brunch/pool party. The food was yummy and the games were entertaining. The kids had a blast swimming in the pool.

Definitely good times!

Solo swimming

Woohoo! We are several weeks into swimming lessons and mommy finally managed to get Tyler to go into the water ALL BY HIMSELF. All she had to do was walk down the stairs to get him into the water and viola! He did the rest by himself. He sang songs, got the toys, did back floats (with the help of Mr Alex) and even went on an "adventure" across the pool! Mommy and daddy were so proud. And so were many of the other parent's. They stopped by to tell mommy what great progress Tyler has been making. :)

Dentist

We had a family dentist event this past Friday. Mommy, daddy, and Tyler all had appointments.

This was Tyler's 2nd attempt for a cleaning and I am happy to report that he did VERY WELL. He sat there and let the lady do it, while he watched Scooby Doo on the TV.

The one unfortunate thing is, Tyler looks to have a cavity. And since this is mommy and daddy's dentist, we were referred to a pediatric dentist for Tyler to take care of this.

Wednesday - Day 5

Today was our last day in Vegas. We chilled at the house and went shopping at the mall. Ate lunch at the Aloha Kitchen.

It's hard to tell whether or not Tyler actually had fun. Almost everyday he said he wanted to go home. Mommy couldn't figure out if it was the heat, the new surrounding, the fact that daddy wasn't with us ...

Oh well ... this just might be the last trip mommy takes with Tyler alone. :)

Random Pictures from Vegas

Tuesday - Day 4

Tuesday everyone had to go back to work, so it was just Grandma Jenny, Tyler and mommy. In the morning we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the cafe place down stairs in the hotel. Pastries and milk ... yum! And then we headed out pool side. It was barely 9am, but there were already quite a lot of people there. We found the "tanning" pool where the water was only 1 and half feet deep with lawn chairs in them. Perfect for Tyler!

Afterwards, we got some more food and headed over the Ceasar's Palace for some indoor (AC) shopping.

That night we were suppose to stay at the Venetian again, but Tyler was very cranky and kept wanting to go home ... so we ended back up at Aunty Annie's. Aunty Kristy, Aunty Kim and mommy went to see Criss Angel's Believe that night and Tyler stayed with Grandma Jenny.

Pool time!


Random pictures from the Venetian

Monday - Day 3

We hung out at the hotel and on the strip for most of Monday. Went on the Gondola ride at the Venetian, swam at the pool, and stopped by the Wax Museum.

We did room hopping and checked into another suite at the Venetian. Tonight was just Grandma, Tyler and mommy. We got to see the volcano show from the Mirage and did some light gambling.


Gondola Ride


Wax Museum

Sunday - Day 2

On Sunday, Kristy and Kim came over to pick us up for a Hoover Dam raft tour. Tyler was very excited to ride the "boat". Too bad it was too hot for him to enjoy. He was unhappy the entire time and wanted to go home, lol.

Mommy got a manicure and pedicure while Tyler napped and we had BBQ for dinner at Aunty Annie's that night. That night we checked into the Venetian Hotel with a full house. (Grandma, mommy, Tyler, aunty Annie, aunty Roxanne, aunty Cheryl, Shea Shea and Matthew)

Saturday - Day 1

We flew into Vegas in the morning and pretty much had the entire day ahead of us. Grandma Jenny, Aunty Cheryl, and cousin Matthew came to pick us up at the airport. Tyler of course acted very shy when he saw them. I am not sure he remembered Cheryl and Matthew ... but he did recognize Grandma.

We stopped at Mc Donalds for some food and headed to Henderson to my Auntie Annie's house. Back at the house, Tyler slowly started opening up. We were in the middle of eating when Shea Shea them came to visit. No more eating for Tyler ... he was now occupied with Shea Shea.

We had nothing major planned for the day and ended up going shopping at the Outlets. Grandma bought a bunch of stuff for Tyler at the Disney store. We had some drinks and went for a late lunch at Dim Sum.

Later that day we went to Shea Shea's house to play in her swimming pool. Tyler had more fun blowing bubbles, lol.

For dinner we went to the Brazillian Grill and ate lots and lots of meat. And that night we crashed at Aunty Annie's.

Las Vegas

Grandma Jenny planned a short trip to Las Vegas during her summer vacation and requested mommy to bring Tyler. We went from June 26 - June 30th and boy was it HOT.

Not sure if it was the heat, but Tyler acted grouchy for a lot of the trip. He kept saying he wanted to go home and he wouldn't open up to our family there. *sigh*

The next couple of posts will be of pictures from Las Vegas. :)

Toy Story 3

For the past couple of weeks, the media has been pumping up the new Toy Story 3 movie. Tyler has been seeing the commercials on TV and has told us many times that he wants to see the movie.

So on Father's Day, we took him to watch it. He actually sat in his own chair on a booster and did really well, except during a few parts in which he got scared and asked to sit on mommy or daddy. During those times, he even asked to go home ... but we kept redirecting his attention back to the other aspects of the movie and he would forget about what had scared him. He almost lasted the entire movie, but ended up having to go potty with about 5 minutes left.

Not too shabby!

Jack's 3rd Birthday Party

One of Tyler's good friend at school, Jack had his birthday party at a neighborhood park. Several other friends came from school and the kids had a blast running around together and playing on the playground.

There was also a balloon artist and a face painter. Tyler got his first face painting ... but requested for it to be on his arm, lol.

Happy Father's Day! (at school)

Tyler's school held their annual Father's Day celebration today. According to daddy, they had some snacks and drinks. The children sang songs for daddy and gave the daddy's their special gift, which was a card and a painted wooden bird house. Tyler had painted his purple and pink and was very proud of it.

Back to swimming lessons

After about a year break, we decided to sign Tyler up for swimming lessons again. He is just at the age for the transition class, where they are expected to go into the water without their parents.

Sadly, on the first day ... daddy took him onto the pool deck (mommy waited inside) and Tyler wouldn't go past the 2nd step of the pool. He was most interested in playing with the many water toys they had. *sigh* I hope we aren't going to be wasting money for these "lessons", lol.

All of his classmates are pretty advanced. They will walk down the steps and walk on the floor the pool. The 2 girls can float and will put their face into the water and kick their feet holding their breath for a good 5 - 8 seconds.

Till next class ... when will be mommy's turn to try.

Ortega park and Dim Sum with Ms Cristina

We met Ms Cristina and the Yee's at Ortega park in Sunnyvale. It's a pretty awesome place. Nice play ground equipment, a BBQ area, decent amount of trees for shade, bathrooms, water fountains, and even a little water play area!

Tyler was SO happy to see Ms Cristina. It was just like old times at school. They talked and laughed. He even managed to get her to carry him a few times, lol. After the kids played for a while we headed over to Dynasty for some Dim Sum. The food was tastey and the kids were pretty well behaved.

After a fun filled afternoon, Tyler was sad to see Ms Cristina go. He even tried to invite her to "Tyler's house" as he calls it. LOL. Funny guy! We'll have to do it again sometime.

Bookfair

We went with Aunty Vicky and Haylie to a bookfair in Fremont. Tyler was putting all sorts of books in the cart, lol. He even surprised mommy by pointing out books and shouting out their titles! It was almost as if he could read. Mommy's best guess is that they read those books at school, hehe.

We probably stayed for a little more than an house and spent well over $50.00. Dang books are expensive even if most of them were on sale. Hopefully Tyler enjoys reading them ... he did pick out most of them.

Brayden's 3rd Birthday

Brayden's 3rd birthday was today. We went for his party at the Jungle in San Jose. Tyler was very excited while going to the party, but when we got there he didn't want to do anything. We finally got him into the ball pit, where he ended up spending most of his time. He was not at all interested in the maze of tubes that were overhead or the kiddie rides. He did want to ride on the bumper cars, but is/was too little.

As usual, pizza and cake were served. Tyler only had cake. He is still a very picky eater and pizza is not something he eats (yet). *sigh*

School without Ms Cristina

Tyler's first and original teacher from AppleSeed, Ms. Cristina has decided to move to a school closer to her home. Her last day was last week Thursday.

He still looks for her car in the parking lot when I drop him off. But I remind him that she is at the new school. I am not sure Tyler actually understands fully, but he will repeat Ms Cristina is at a new school.

His class has 2 teachers, so Ms. Valerie is still there (thank goodness!) So far he is taking nicely to new teacher Ms Jeanie, which is surprising for him. He usually takes a while to warm up to someone new. But Ms Valerie was happy to report that he actually let Ms Jeanie change his diaper. Seems silly, but it's a big step for Tyler. :)

Cherry and Strawberry Picking

We went cherry and strawberry picking with the Yee's. Took the haul up to Brentwood and spent most of the morning picking fruit. The weather was nice with a slight breeze in the morning. It got quite hot towards the afternoon.

Stopped at good ole McDonalds for lunch and head back to San Jose. Both kids knocked out on the way home.

Andrew's 5th B-day! Pump It Up

Went to Union City Pump it up for Andrew's 5th birthday! Tyler usually LOVES bouncy houses, but for some reason he was scared this time. He mostly played with the balls and the cars. Finally towards the end, he went into one of the houses. Silly boy! He didn't even want to ride the slides, which is usually his favorite!

Happy Hallow Park and Zoo

Went to Happy Hallow Park and Zoo with the Yee's. The kiddies had a blast! They rode on rides, played in this HUGE play structure, and fed the petted the goats at the petting zoo.

The park is geared towards younger children, but Tyler still has a few more inches to grow before he can ride all of the rides. Mommy is very interested in getting him on the roller coaster.

Gilroy Gardens

Headed down south to Gilroy this weekend for an exciting day at Gilroy Gardens. We invited the Yee's to come along and enjoyed a wonderful day in the hot sun.

This park is actually bigger than I thought. We didn't make it all the way around. Kiddies got tired ... LOL.

San Diego Zoo

To complete our vacation we went to San Diego Zoo. It's a huge place and we did a lot of walking. I wish I had a stroller to ride in!

Legoland

After 3 days in LA, we headed down to San Diego for the remainder of the trip. Our first stop was Legoland California. There were a lot of amazing things to see here. I can't believe they were all made of legos!

Tyler was a bit short for most of the rides, but did get to ride a few. We may have to come back and visit again once he's taller. :)

Goofy's Kitchen

Brad and Scott went to Magic Mountain one day without us. That theme park doesn't cater much to Tyler's age. Instead, we stayed back and had breakfast with the characters at Goofy's Kitchen!

We also tried to take Tyler to the movie theater for the first time ... but he got scared half way through and we had to leave. :(

California Adventures

We had a park hopper pass our first day, so we also got to check out California Adventures. Tyler napped throughout half our time here ... but still got to enjoy a lot once he woke up. Woody and Jessie were there in Costume along with Lightening and Mater! All of Tyler's favorites!

Disneyland

For Tyler's spring break we went down south for some Disney action. This was Tyler' first trip to Disneyland and he LOVED it.

Tyler's favorite ride by far was the Buzz Light Year ride in Frontier Land. I think we rode it 8+ times. The other ones he enjoyed and had to ride multiple times were Pirates of the Caribbean and Dumbo, lol.

He also really enjoyed seeing all of the characters. He wasn't scared at all and would run up and hug them very excitedly. He got their autographs and took pictures. It was very very cute!

We spent 2 days here, so there are TONS of pictures. Enjoy!


Disneyland Hotel and Downtown Disney



Disneyland



Professional pictures @ Disneyland

Holy Moly

Holy Moly Macaroni ....

Have not realized how long it's been. So very sorry!

I have been trying to get Brad to do his share, but have been unsuccessful. :P

More catch up videos

How does Gma laugh?



Singing Jingle Bells


Itsy Bitsy Spider


Elmo's World

Playing catch up as always

Mommy as usually hasn't had time to write in the blog.

Tyler is at such a cute age too!

For now ... here are some old videos I finally got put up.

Random pics - Feb 2010

Here are some random pictures of Tyler. The girl is one of his closest friends, Haylie. He calls her his "girl friend", lol!

Disney On Ice

Tyler loved it! Well, the first half. It featured 4 Disney movies: Cars, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, and Tinkerbell. He got a bit bored at the end, which was Tinkerbell ... I don't blame him. hehe

Mommy's new ride

Mommy's new ride (B-day Gift)... 2010 Mazda CX-9 AWD

The lease on our Chevy Tahoe ends in March and we decided we did not want to purchase it. Daddy got to choose the last car (Subaru STI), so now it was mommy's turn! She wanted something easy to drive and room to grow ... so here is what she chose. :)

Rachael's 3rd Birthday Party

Whoa, February came and went just like that.

I'm sure we did a lot of things, but I will only post what I have pictures of. Here goes.

We attended Rachael's 3rd Birthday Party at the Jungle. Tyler loved it and for the first time every ate PIZZA!

Blog Migration

Blogger is no longer supporting FTP to custom domains, so I had to move Tyler's blog onto their page. Here is the new address.

http://lehua77.blogspot.com/

January happenings

January came and flew by faster than expected. Mommy had her final week of Sabbatical before the dreadful day back to work. Tyler had a much better transition back to school than expected. In addition, we transitioned him into a "big boy" bed and retired his crib, by telling him he was too big for it. That seemed to work and he loves his new bed, however ... he will only fall asleep in it while we are in the room with him.

We also attended a UH Volleyball game. Tyler did much better than last time. He didn't get scared when the whistles blew or people cheered. He actually clapped and screamed along! It was great.

Here are some random pictures.

Academy of Sciences

We also went to the Academy of Sciences with Grandma Jenny. Didn't get very many pictures, but here is what we do have. It will proabaly be a repeat of past pictures since the exhibits here don't seem to change very often.

Children's Discovery Museum

We took Grandma Jenny to the Children's Discovery Museum. I think she had just as much fun as Tyler. :)

Singing Jingle Bells and dancing @ school

Forget to upload these earlier ... Tyler's Christmas @ school.

Singing Jingle Bells



Dancing


Chicken Dance

Christmas 2009

Tyler still doesn't get Christmas and as far as he was concern it was a typical morning for him. It wasn't until mommy told him he could open the presents that he started getting excited. Videos to come.

Christmas Eve Dinner

We went to the Phan's for Christmas Eve Dinner. Tyler had fun playing with Andrew and we all enjoyed some yummy food.