Mothers and fathers

I missed blogging about Mother's Day so I'll just combine that with Father's Day.

Two years ago, for my first Mother's Day as a mom, Ed asked me how I wanted to celebrate it.  My response - just let me sleep in.  I didn't want to celebrate anything.  I just wanted to rest.  I didn't want to be taking care of a baby that day.  I wanted to be left alone.

I suppose it is a good sign that, two years later, I wanted to go out for brunch and celebrate together.  We celebrated this year's Mother's Day in Portland, where we were visiting Ed's mom for a few days.  I googled brunch places in Portland and decided to reserve a table at The Country Cat.  I'm glad we had reservations because the line up that morning was long.  I felt bad for the moms whose families left because the wait was too long.  But really now, why would you not make reservations for brunch on Mother's Day???

I felt happy that there was a long line up, primarily because I had picked the restaurant and I didn't want to disappoint my mom-in-law.  The food must be good if this was such a popular place, I was thinking.
Gladly, the food was fantastic and my mom-in-law liked her dish.  Whew!

A few photos from our brunch:

I think Ed looks like his mom

Mom  

Happy Mother's Day to me

Sophia didn't want to be in the photo and let us know it

 For Father's Day, Ed was feeling under the weather so he spent most of the day in bed.  I had bought tickets to a dance show for Sunday evening and had reservations at Indochine Kitchen for dinner.  In late afternoon, Ed put his game face on and told me he was up for going.

This was Sophia's first time going to see a dance show and she was enthralled.  She seemed to really enjoy the performances and didn't want to leave when I said it was time to go for dinner.  The food at Indochine Kitchen was really delicious.  Unfortunately, Sophia was not in a good dinner mood  and dinner did not pass as pleasantly as I had hoped.  Oh well, that is life with kids.

For Father's Day, I asked Sophia to pick out a card for Ed and, of course, she picked a princess card.  I also asked her to write a greeting and her name on it.  She also gave him a rock that she had painted in daycare (I think it's supposed to be a paper weight).  Here is Sophia's Father's Day card for Ed:

The princess card.  I translated Sophia's "writing" for Ed.

My Spartan

Ed signed up for the Spartan Race held in North Vancouver earlier this month.  Here are a few photos that show him all smiley and clean at the beginning of the race and then all serious and dirty toward the end of the race.  Go, Ed, go!

Camping at Whidbey Island, WA

We went to South Whidbey State Park in WA for our first camping trip in 2013. We fared better than our camping trip last summer (our first ever with Sophia), mainly because we kept the menu much simpler this time around. Plus, Sophia is more flexible when it comes to meal times and nap times now that she is a little bit older. I, too, am more relaxed (or less neurotic!) about meals, naps, and bedtime. Lunch not yet ready? Here, have Clif bar for lunch, Sophia. We'll balance it out with some fruit. haha

Three families came out and it was a lot of fun hanging out at the campsite, the beach, and around the campfire. Sophia was ecstatic to have her friends with her, and hiked to and from the beach while holding hands with Gabi. Super cute!

There is so much to explore around the campground and the beach nearby. We also visited a quaint little town called Langley, about a 20 min drive away. Definitely would like to go back to South Whidbey for future camping trips.

Lessons learned from this trip:

• simple menu definitely works better 
• we need a tent that doesn't require three people for the set up 
• always bring lots of warm clothing; it just might be chillier than you expected 
• Sophia is ready for her own sleeping bag 

Some photos from South Whidbey:

Whidbey Island, WA June 2013, a set on Flickr.

Our little ballerina

Sophia loves wearing her ballet dress. After we get home from daycare, she would ask to change into her ballet dress and she would wear it while eating dinner. She prances around the house with a big smile on her face, being so delighted with her ballet dress.

A week ago, we were able to complete the ensemble with a pair of leotards and ballet slippers. She put on the whole outfit the moment we got home. She smiled from ear to ear and bounced happily around the house. It made my heart melt to see how happy she was. I still remember how envious I was of the girls in my class in elementary who took ballet classes. I really, really wanted to be in ballet class, too, but my parents didn’t have money or time for extracurricular activities, not with five kids to send to private school. At some point, I begged my mom for ballet slippers but she said it would be a waste of money since I was not going to ballet class anyway. I remember feeling so dejected.

Now, I can give something to Sophia that I couldn’t have myself. She’s signed up for ballet class beginning in July. She has the ballet slippers I couldn’t have when I was a kid. It makes me so happy that I can make it possible for her to do stuff like ballet. To see that smile of her face gives me such joy. I love it!

Doing the tree pose!