dog days of summer

it's been a relatively mild summer so technically, we haven't had those "dog days" typical of july... still waiting for august, though, so we'll see! (because i'm a nerd, i looked up the origins of "dog days") i'm hopeful that el's birthday celebration next month will be only pleasantly warm since it's an outdoor affair.

i expected to blog more but in keeping up with 4 kids, traveling, some new upcoming changes, prepping for el's birthday party, and still trying to manage the administrative end of hubby's business, it's been hard. after our trip to panama, i checked my camera roll and realize i haven't even really been taking as many photos. i'll commit to documenting our fun-filled days more thoroughly, at least through this upcoming week, which is my last week of vacation before returning back to work. =(

here's a hodgepodge of what we've been up to, in no particular order:

1. shenandoah park

this is our new neighborhood park. i love this park! it gets pretty hot here with little shade but there's plenty for the kids to do here and it's so close to my folks' home (and our new home).

shenandoah park, on a lazy afternoon

2. crafts/diy projects

my dad is king of all things "do-it-yourself." he found the kids playing with a shipping box, wearing it as sort of a monster head dress/costume and he decided to take it one step further to cut a jack-o-lantern face into it. this kept them occupied for a good hour.

boo!

3. ice cream!

who doesn't love ice cream, especially in the summer heat? our fave places to go are the rite-aid in benicia or country creamery in american canyon. i'm not gonna lie; i will occasionally use these trips as bribes for good behavior!

we all scream for ice cream!

4. one world, many stories

our local library hosts free weekly family shows on wednesday. this past week was "magic dan." coupled with a trip to the library to return and pick up new books, it's a great way to spend the morning.

magic dan

5. lolo's pool

my dad will do anything to be sure the kids have a great time. at least twice a week, he busts out his wading pool, which is his old in-ground pond shell, cleaned out, and filled with warm water. the kids bring in their goggles, water toys, and make their own floatable toys. it's a hoot to watch them having so much fun.

on this day, my niece "r" was so excited, she forgot to put on her bathing suit. =)

yellow polka dot bikini (notice the new vinyl flooring the kids helped my dad install on his patio. they ripped this up from our house and he didn't want to throw it out! =)

6. play date!

our friend, j, had been wanting some of her mommy friends to get together with our toddlers/babies and we finally found time to get together. obviously, i only brought el. it was a great morning, hanging out in their playroom and just talking parent/baby/woman stuff. =)

a's playroom

7. movie night in the park

american canyon has a weekly kid movie screening on friday nights at dusk. we had been meaning to go but something has always come up. despite the chill, we trekked out in our hoodies, jackets, scarves, beach mat, and blanket. we were surprised to see so many families out (and some teens hanging out with friends), along with free popcorn and $1 drinks/candy. we're surely going to make it to the next one.

"alpha & omega"

8. pool party and bbq

our good friends (recently engaged "bry" and "ire" and have a son, "luk," only one month older than el) have had a couple of pool parties at their condo. the kids love their pool and i love hanging out with their family and friends. they're like our own family and we are godparents to each other's children. =) bry and i have been bff's since college and it was such a fortunate unintentional coincidence that ire and i got pregnant at the same time. it's so awesome that our kids are the same age and even more so, we have very similar parenting styles, so it's easy to bring our kids together.

everyone was surprised to see hubby able to make it out on a saturday event, as he normally has weddings on summer saturdays.

9. sleepovers

when my mom works nights/swing shift, the kids stay at our house, since r would prefer not to sleep alone. we all cram into our living room and watch netflix and on demand movies, while munching on a combo of microwave caramel, kettle, and butter popcorn. the kids end up sleeping close to or even after midnight but that makes for sleeping in so i can get stuff done on those quiet mornings.

r fell asleep while munching on popcorn one night. =)

Prune Juice and Ice Packs to the Rescue!

I think we've finally found a solution for El's constipation woes! We have been introducing her to more fruit and veggies each day but she can still be a finicky eater. I had heard all the great things about prune juice being an effective laxative but never had a chance to use it. After my first taste of it with our recent jug purchase, I knew El would totally reject it, even cut with water. So I tried about an ounce of it in one of her sippy cups of milk with a small squirt of chocolate syrup. I tasted that concoction and it wasn't the yummiest but was passable. El's reaction was one of slight surprise as she pulled the sippy away to look at it but she continued to drink it up. It has been a couple of weeks and I have started to put up to two oz. of prune juice into each sippy that she drinks and she has been much less upset when #2 time comes around.

8 oz. of organic whole milk + 2 oz. of prune juice + 1 squirt of chocolate syrup = a happy bum!

With the onset of summer and our constant "on-the-go" schedule, I've had to find a way to be sure I can make her sippy cups ahead of time and have them readily available during our car trips. I like to pack at least two sippy cups in a cooler bag and have at least one to leave in the fridge for when we get home. Here's how I pack them to keep them cool:

Take n' Toss Sippy Cups are awesome! They are BPA, PVC, and pthalate free and are spill proof, relatively easy to clean (as long as I use a cut up sponge to get in all the crevices of the spout), and come with a handy removable spout lid.


A Blue Ice Can Cooler keeps the drinks from spilling over. I also add in juice packs for the other kids.

Learned this tip from Hubby: Since heat rises, put an ice pack on top of the items you want cooled for more effective cooling.


All packed up!

Having to pack up like this each day and then wipe/wash everything after makes me long for the days of breastfeeding, for sure! Talk about the most convenient food/drink "to go!" =)

The Beginning of Summer

It's day 7 of my vacation and officially the first week of summer. It's been heating up in the Bay Area the last few days and I've been keeping busy, watching El, my nephew Ev (4 y.o.), and my niece, R (7 y.o.), and nephew, B (10 y.o.), visiting from Oregon (having just emigrated from the Philippines). R & B will be staying with my parents through mid-August so the four will be spending lots of time together. Although taking care of the kiddos wasn't on my summer vacation list of "to-do's," I'm quite grateful to have companions for El and Ev, especially ones who are older and well behaved. They have been quite helpful in watching over the two. As much as I want to spend lots of Q.T. with El over the summer break, I love that she'll also be bonding with her cousins. Hopefully, this fosters greater independence in her and helps her get used to socializing with other kids besides cousin Ev. Seeing how well Ev and El interact with their older cousins makes me realize how much I want El to have a sibling to grow up with.

I've felt like soccer mom and camp counselor this past week, shuffling the kids around to various local events and kid places to keep them entertained. We also have swim lessons this week and next but only for the two younger ones since I didn't think to enroll the older ones before they arrived. My parents' house doesn't have air conditioning so I've tried to find as many things to do in "cooler" places, whether it be a shady park or indoors at the library. I've also made it a personal challenge to do as many kid-friendly, educational things that are free or cost next to nothing. I've been using our local recreation guides, local event calendar, my mommy & me "meet up" calendar, the library, bulletin boards around town, and http://sf.funcheap.com/ as my resources. It's been crazy but fun!

Here are just a few of the activities we've done so far:

Shenandoah Park in American Canyon


Jeremy the Juggler, part of the JFK Library's Summer Program on Wednesdays at 10:30am


In Lolo and Lola's garage. The Plasma Car is the best purchase I've made recently, as it keeps all these kids entertained for hours! Purchased ours at Costco for $25!

Hubby and El during "Parent and Tot" swim lessons


The older kids and Lola, the weiner dog, not to be left out! Lolo rigged their own "swimming pool" and its heated to boot!


$1 kid movies every Tuesday and Wednesday! Kids 2 and under are free. =)

Playdough with Auntie R's kids across the street.


And even I had a chance to have lunch with my two nearest and dearest friends, J and R. Love them to pieces and must hang out more with them this summer!

Dine About Town

One great thing about living in the SF Bay Area is the bi-annual "Dine About Town" promo where you can partake in a pre-fixe 3 course dinner at some fine establishments for less than $35. Hubby and I used to take advantage of this deal at least once each year during January. I didn't realize the promotion runs in June, as well, until my BFF, R, invited us to join her, her hubby, D, and her older bro, J.

We headed to B44, a Spanish restaurant near Union Square. Our reservation was scheduled for 7pm but after we hopped on I-80 at almost quarter past 6, we realized that all the commuters were heading towards the city on Sunday night. Whoops! R changed the reservation to 7:30pm and J advised us to take an alternate route onto 680, which we hadn't done before. Although longer, this was a wise move that shaved about 20 minutes off the original route, highlighted in red in the traffic alerts. (Gotta love the iPhone and all the awesome apps!)

B44

We found rockstar parking right in front of the alley that leads to the restaurant. It was pretty busy, especially for a Sunday evening, and we relaxed at the bar to wait a few minutes for our reservation. This gave us time to start on some drinks.

My cocktail - Lorca: Pear vodka, pear puree, St. Germaine elder flower, lemon juice, and pomegranate seeds. Served straight up! I loved it but Hubby hated it. I'm all about pears!

Cheers! Me with BFF R

After less than 10 minutes at the bar, we were directed to our table for 5. We sat close to the kitchen where we could see a display of Jamon Serrano, a type of cured "raw" ham. One of the servers saw us eyeing the ham and offered us a few slices to sample. It was delicious!

But we were there for the "Dine About Town" promo and didn't want to veer from the special menu. There were about 3-4 selections each for the first two courses. Hubby let me order for both of us since he says I always order better food than he. J decided we should order a couple more "tapas" to enjoy which was a good call as we were all starving and ended up clearing the dishes. The shrimp was so yummy we kept shoo-ing any servers who tried to take the skillet away as we continued to dip our bread in the yummy sauce.

Ceviche B44: white shrimp, octopus, scallop, tomato

Gambas Al A Jillo: white gulf of mexico shrimp sauteed with garlic and adobo

My first course: Fire Roasted Piquillo Peppers stuffed with dungeness crab meat. Probably my fave dish of the evening!

Hubby's First Course - Soup of the Day: Tomato & Basil Soup. Lycopene!

I must have eaten too much bread because by the time the main entree arrived, I was already feeling somewhat full. Of course, my eyes are way more eager than my stomach so I continued to indulge...

My Main Course - Paella B44: saffron rice, chorizo, chicken, shrimp, squid, mussels clams, vegetables. A little on the dry side but still pretty good.

Hubby's Main Course - Pork tenderloin with sauteed apple slices and potatoes. This was delicious and ended up being better than my own dish.

As stuffed as we were, we still had our choice of two desserts. We ordered both! It seems like many of the surrounding tables had finished dinner at the same time so dessert service was a little slow. That was okay by us as this gave our tummies some time to digest and allow us to chat some more.

Cream puffs. The ice cream filling had this delicate lemony flavor and paired well with the chocolate sauce. The puff itself was on the dry side.

CREMA CATALANA *2005 Dulce Cristal-li Moscatell

Toasted cinnamon and lemon infused custard

with caramelized crust. This dessert was SUPERB!!! Only one of the three that arrived on our table was this beautiful caramel color as the other two seemed to not have been torched long and evenly enough.

It was a great dinner with great friends, whom I consider our family. BFF R and I don't always get a chance to hang out for some "adult time" as if we are together, our activities center around the kids. As much as we'd like to be able to "dine about town" more, we actually decided to hunker down and make plans to work out together again and eat more healthy while she stays in town for the summer with her family. We'll trade in those cream puffs for salads, I suppose...

Kite Flying

Yesterday, Hubby had no prior commitments. That's pretty rare for a Sunday in June, as free weekends become a "hot commodity" during wedding season. We took the opportunity to spend the day together as a family, especially with the nice weather. It might have been the first day this year in which we all wore shorts finally!

We ate lunch at Yo Sushi, our fave sushi spot in town. Afterwards, we decided to go the "Big Slide" park in the next town over. Since this park tends to be pretty windy, Hubby had the idea of kite flying there. The Safeway across the parking lot from the restaurant happened to sell them for $6 and I was pleased they were a nylon material rather than the cheap plastic ones I'm used to.

Upon sight, El quickly grew excited and signed the word "kite." It amazes me that she learned the sign when we were in Hawaii in January when we were at a very windy beach and hadn't used the sign since. It reminds me how much kid are really "sponges" at this age.

Our colorful kite from Safeway

It was only mildly windy but enough so that we were able to get the kite flying for a few minutes at a time. Other folks had the same idea and we saw 2-3 other families flying kites. When my kite flew higher than the rest of the kites, I couldn't help but yell "I'm the winner!," thinking I couldn't be heard over the wind. I was wrong. Hubby heard me and was slightly embarassed. Ha!

I had an advantage of height since I sat atop a slope when it was my turn to fly the kite.

El learning how to fly a kite for the first time, starting to show signs of her "sleepy face."

It was well into naptime after a few runs of the kite and El began making her sleepy face. She drank a sippy of milk and seemed drowsy enough to fall asleep. Boy would it have been nice to fall asleep on the grass together but she still was still too engaged in the park's activities.

Getting ready to nap, maybe

Resting with Daddy but not sleepy enough for a nap!

Eventually, we headed across the field to the playground where there were a couple of parties in the nearby picnic areas. She played for just a few minutes before become quite fussy. By the time we left, she was on the verge of a meltdown so we were quick to buckle her into her car seat. Just like magic, she was out once we had driven out of the parking lot. =)

Pista sa Nayon (Filipino "Town Festival")

Yesterday was the annual "Pista sa Nayon" ("Town Festival" in the Filipino language) in our town, which my family and I look forward to every year. Normally, it's warm at this time of the year and some years have been almost unbearably hot. You'll always find a couple of wise vendors at this waterfront event that sell parasols to those patrons avoiding the sun. (Call it SPF-consciousness, if you will, but my culture is still primarily colonial-conscious and "white skin" is still highly prized). This year, someone made a huge profit selling UMBRELLAS and not for shade but for cover from the downpour we experienced.

Brief patches of sun

Seriously, on our way there, I almost had to pull over as I could barely see through the storm. We hadn't planned to attend but when I checked the hourly forecast, it was predicted to be only cloudy in the last couple hours of the event. LIES! My dad suggested we pass by just to see the event from our car, with El and cousin Ev riding in the back. By the time we got to the Ferry Building parking lot, the skies had parted for a bit. But man, the field was like a marsh! Our feet were immediately drenched. Some folks wore rain boots while some innovative ones improvised with the resources they had.

Plastic baggy shoe covers and plastic bag-lined boots!

Most of the tents were unoccupied but there were still quite a few people out at the event. The main attraction had yet to perform-- some big stars of the Philippines. My dad was quick to get to the front when Imelda Papin performed and of course, when TFC shirts were being thrown out into the crowd.

We were happily surprised to meet up with my Uncle's family. It's always great to see my little cousins who aren't so little anymore, except for Ash, the teeniest one who is only a year older than El. (Odd it is that she is Ev's "auntie" by relation but is one year younger than him). While the toddlers ran around the wet field and the older cousins chased after them, Uncle E, Auntie N, and Dad watched the show. There was only a 10-minute period when a contestant from the audience came on stage to sing and then it began to rain. We joked that it was due to his bad signing. =)

El with Uncle B and Auntie C (my little cousins)

After the last performance, we all headed to Chevy's for dinner. Our families rarely go out to eat, especially together, so it was really a nice treat for all of us. We split some yummy fajita platters and the kids enjoyed coloring in their kid menus. It was a great way to end a wonderful but very wet day! =)