The day after Jayden's birthday and today's was the kids' first earthquake. I had already left for work and was on the freeway when the earthquake hit, so I completely missed everything. I didn't feel a single thing! But since I was on my way to work, I wasn't home to see how the kids reacted to the earthquake. To top it off, when I finally found out about the quake, which was almost 10 minutes afterwards, I couldn't call home to find out how Steph and the kids were doing since I couldn't get through.
Anyway, all is well at home. As far as earthquakes go, this was not that bad. When I got to work, I used the work phone to check on the wife and kids, and they sound good. Steph sounded completely together and had a game plan on how to keep the kids occupied. Steph said the boys were a little freaked out. JJ sounded more so than Jayden. Lucy on the other hand was sound asleep when I left home, and would've been still asleep except Steph took the precaution of taking her from the bed which was under a ceiling fan... good move! I don't know if would've had the presence of mind to do that. I haven't been home yet, so I'm having visions of Steph rounding up her chicks. After the quake, it has been nonstop news on TV, so Steph put the kids to watch something else to distract them. After I turned on the TV on my dinner break, I found out why...
It was nothing but quake news. And to a freaked out kid like JJ, it would've been more stuff to worry about seeing the destruction that others had while we only had a few pictures fall off the wals and stuff. Anyway, I am absolutely bummed that I could not be home with them to talk to them about it, to comfort them, educate them, all that stuff. But at least I know that they are ok and that Steph has them distracted.
Jayden's birthday - not that Jayden's birthday is an afterthought, but I thought I better blog about it before I forget what happened this weekend. When I took Monday off to spend with Jayden, it was the highlight of my weekend, much liked the time off I took of for JJ's birthday. I asked him what he wanted, and the first thing he said was he wanted Thai tea. How could I not oblige. We shared a large cup on the way to Toys R Us, which was his 2nd request. He insisted he wanted to buy Prowl the Transformer. How does this kid know about Prowl, when I don't really let them watch the show... and he can't even read yet! Well, that was our 2nd stop. Our 3rd stop was to tray and buy Mario Kart... BIG FLOP! It was sold out so I picked up M&M's Kart Racing which I eventually heard just flat out sucks. So I returned it today. His 3rd request was to have lunch at Burger King for some chicken nuggets... Again I didn't want to say no, but we were across the street from McD's. He was happy with the nuggets from there and a happy meal spy gear toy. Our next stop was to meet up with the rest of the family at Jump N Jammin in Arcadia. That was 2 1/2 hours of just jumping and running and all kinds of stuff that would wear out a parent. But who am I to stop the kids from having fun, and they were having lots of it, including Juicy. JJ was all over the place from the video dance floor, do the foam ball cage. Jayden, our b-day boy was even more so. He was nonstop! He even spent quite a bit of time in the jump house. He was so tired, he barely survived the 20 minute ride home for swim class at 6:30. Needless to say, the kids were just about out of gas when they turned in. We were all exhausted, and it started with Jayden's birthday party the day before his birthday and we'll probably be slowly recovering the rest of this week.
JJ, Jayden, Juicy, I'm sorry I wasn't home during the quake. But I'm glad I was able to spend time with you guys this weekend and on Monday. I look forward to being able to do more stuff with you guys. I love you my CuriousGonzos.
Dad
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
July highlights
Oh man, so much has happened since my last post. I should've posted a long time ago. So here's some catch up on June, then I'll move on to July. On JJ's birthday, I took the day off so that I could spend some quality time with him. I asked him what he wanted to do. The only thing he wanted to do was go to this certain pet shop where he saw some sharks. I said, that's it?! So to get his imagination going, I took him to the mall. I said pick out whatever you want, except toys or video games, and we'll make sure to get it for you. He picked out a cool pair Sideout shorts and a shirt that he thought made him look like a rock star! (Here's where I should put his picture with his new duds, but I'm a dud and I don't have those pics.) The only other thing he wanted was a boba or a slushy or something like that. We took him out for some ice cream, but I don't think he's had it yet. I think it's still in the freezer. When we got home, a nice little bbq at his request with our immediate family, and that was nice. By the way, I think I still owe him that boba.
Well, for the joint birthday party for the 2 boys, they got some cool stuff. Lots of toys we haven't opened yet. Lots of clothes. But I think the highlight is the Wii that we all got. I say we all, because the 2 boys are not the only ones that enjoy it. Steph won't admit it, but I'll confess it here, she and I sometimes wait for the boys to hit the sack so that we can bowl on Wii Sports.
On June 28th, I went to the ALA Convention in Anaheim. Yes, I got a lot of ribbing from my brother about me going to a librarian's convention, on my birthday nonetheless. He even harassed me while I was in the convention. Well, that was the funny part. But the really cool part was that I volunteered at ALA. Again another geeky moment, but bare with me. I volunteered for two 2-hour shifts. My first 2-hour shift got me into the convention for free and paid for my parking. My second 2-hour shift got me into Disneyland for free. Not bad if I do say so myself. The absolute best part is that the wife and kids actually carpooled with me to Anaheim in the morning. They spent the day in Disneyland while I did the ALA thing. Then after my pm shift, I met up with themm at Disneyland. Now here's the kicker... I wouldn't consider Star Tours a real roller coaster ride, but for a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old, that's pretty big. JJ had been on it before and he didn't like it, but it was Jayden's first time. I'm glad I was able to join both of them the first time they both enjoyed it! They were all smiles afterwards. They we hit up Buzz Lightyear for what has become a Disneyland ritual of a ride then emailing our picture. By the way, the Disneyland food, souvenirs, and treats were all covered by Rosemary's friend Liz (who got the wife and kids in for free for the day) and mom and pop's generosity of a Disney gift card which paid for a bunch of meals and souvenirs.
That was June... now here's a brief update for July. I hope to add more later with pics. JJ's lost another tooth and is finally getting his 2 front teeth back. Jayden's birthday is coming up and I plan on spending the day with him as well. His highlight is that he got bumped up to level 2 in his swim classes. Good job Jayden! Daddy's really proud of you. Even if you didn't make it, you know that no matter what, Daddy still loves you! Juice is officially walking! Usually she takes 2-3 steps at a time. But today, she walked back and forth between pops and myself on the dining table. Again, another moment where I need to put up pics, but I appear to be failing at having my camera handy. I do hope to post pics soon. I don't want to forget to mention that Juicy is turning 1 on August 1st. I'm so excited to spend time with the kids. I love you guys.
I love my CuriousGonzos
Well, for the joint birthday party for the 2 boys, they got some cool stuff. Lots of toys we haven't opened yet. Lots of clothes. But I think the highlight is the Wii that we all got. I say we all, because the 2 boys are not the only ones that enjoy it. Steph won't admit it, but I'll confess it here, she and I sometimes wait for the boys to hit the sack so that we can bowl on Wii Sports.
On June 28th, I went to the ALA Convention in Anaheim. Yes, I got a lot of ribbing from my brother about me going to a librarian's convention, on my birthday nonetheless. He even harassed me while I was in the convention. Well, that was the funny part. But the really cool part was that I volunteered at ALA. Again another geeky moment, but bare with me. I volunteered for two 2-hour shifts. My first 2-hour shift got me into the convention for free and paid for my parking. My second 2-hour shift got me into Disneyland for free. Not bad if I do say so myself. The absolute best part is that the wife and kids actually carpooled with me to Anaheim in the morning. They spent the day in Disneyland while I did the ALA thing. Then after my pm shift, I met up with themm at Disneyland. Now here's the kicker... I wouldn't consider Star Tours a real roller coaster ride, but for a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old, that's pretty big. JJ had been on it before and he didn't like it, but it was Jayden's first time. I'm glad I was able to join both of them the first time they both enjoyed it! They were all smiles afterwards. They we hit up Buzz Lightyear for what has become a Disneyland ritual of a ride then emailing our picture. By the way, the Disneyland food, souvenirs, and treats were all covered by Rosemary's friend Liz (who got the wife and kids in for free for the day) and mom and pop's generosity of a Disney gift card which paid for a bunch of meals and souvenirs.
That was June... now here's a brief update for July. I hope to add more later with pics. JJ's lost another tooth and is finally getting his 2 front teeth back. Jayden's birthday is coming up and I plan on spending the day with him as well. His highlight is that he got bumped up to level 2 in his swim classes. Good job Jayden! Daddy's really proud of you. Even if you didn't make it, you know that no matter what, Daddy still loves you! Juice is officially walking! Usually she takes 2-3 steps at a time. But today, she walked back and forth between pops and myself on the dining table. Again, another moment where I need to put up pics, but I appear to be failing at having my camera handy. I do hope to post pics soon. I don't want to forget to mention that Juicy is turning 1 on August 1st. I'm so excited to spend time with the kids. I love you guys.
I love my CuriousGonzos
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