Girl Scout Cookies Are Here!

Sunday was the official start of Girl Scout cookie season.  I was not sure how enthusiastic k would be about the whole thing.  Turns out that n is a natural born salesperson!  He actually enjoys asking people if they would like to buy Girl Scout cookies.  k is still working on her sales pitch, but she loves handling the money, giving the boxes to people, and re-stocking inventory.  The play cash register that my parents gave to k for her birthday is perfect for the little store that we have been setting up on our driveway.  D has also done his part in hawking boxes at work.  It truly is a family effort and actually kind of fun!

Travel with Kids

L and I have been trying to plan out our future vacations with our children in mind. It is crazy to think that we probably only have about 10 big vacations left before k heads off to college. To generate ideas, I started out reading "Frommer's California with Kids," a book we had been given. Then L mentioned that there was a "Frommer's 500 Places to Take you Kids Before They Grow Up". A book with a list always piques my interest. Then I decided to consult New York Times Best Seller Patricia Schultz. She wrote the book "1,000 Places to Visit Before you Die." L had this book in her library, so I started flipping through it and my mind raced. Oh the list possibilities! During my research I found out that Patricia had a "1,000 Places to See in the United States and Canada Before you Die" book. I thought, "Oh, no you didn't!" L was kind enough to borrow it from the library. So I decided to use both of Patricia's books to help me with my travel list. My travel list not only shows the places I have visited, but also lists the places that I would like to take the kids (highlighted in red). The list helped me figure out great places to visit that are close by, and also increased my wanderlust. D's 1,000 Places to Visit

MLK Weekend

Last week, seemingly out of the blue, k asked, “Did you know that before I was born, life was unfair?”  Puzzled, I asked her what she meant.  She said that in school she learned that some kids could not go to the schools that they wanted to go to.  I put two and two together, and asked if she also learned about certain people having to sit in the back of the bus and using separate drinking fountains.  She said “yes”, so I guess Kindergarten is when lessons about social injustice are first introduced.  I don’t think we had really talked about it as a family before, so it was a good jumping off point.  I chose not to go into how, in many ways, life still is not fair.  She will learn soon enough, I am sure.  On Monday, D showed k the “I have a dream” speech on the internet.  How nice to have such resources at our fingertips.

On Saturday k went to a Girl Scout Cookie Rally at UCI.  (She will officially begin selling cookies on Sunday.  We are supposed to sell 135 boxes!)  On Sunday we went to Huntington State beach after church.  We made a picnic out of food we picked up from a Super Mex Groupon.  The fish tacos were surprisingly good—a nice sized piece of grilled fish.  D thought they were better than Wahoo’s.

 

These seagulls were exceptionally smart.  They, along with a huge flock of friends, waited patiently while we ate and followed D to the trashcan.

Both D and k had Monday off so we went to Knott’s or “KBF” as we have started calling it. It was crowded and a tad too warm, so we weren’t able to go on too many rides. 

We stood in a long line for the stage coach.  Unfortunately, we were assigned the inside of the coach, so a lot of the “thrill” was lost.  One of our fellow passengers, a young girl, spent 90% of the time looking at her dad’s iphone, which I thought was sad. 

It is hard to believe this was a major mode of transportation back in the day.  I guess we take our cars for granted. 

Knights and Ladies of the King Party

Last weekend we went to a joint brother-sister party for a 3 year old and 6 year old.  There were certainly a lot of activities to keep the kids occupied.  k really liked the star wand that she received.  There was also a pinata, which I guess the kids don’t remember ever doing before.

They took turns hitting the pinata by age group.  Since n was one of the youngest, he was one of the first kids to take a whack.

Free-for-all!

A Year of Knott’s Berry Farm

At the end of last year we decided to buy annual passes to Knott’s Berry Farm.  The pass is good for every day in 2013 plus one free day in 2012 (although you have to pay for parking in 2012, even if you buy the parking pass, which I thought was sneaky).  So far we have gone two times and it has been lots of fun.  The kids are at a good age to thoroughly enjoy Camp Snoopy, and n is tall enough for all of the rides there.  D and I are planning to go on our own for a few date nights to experience all of the roller coasters.  n was traumatized by his first go on the Log Ride, I think because we didn’t adequately prepare him for it.  The look of sheer terror on his face as captured by the log cam was hilarious.  Now it’s closed for refurbishment until May, so maybe by then he will be recovered!  The following are pictures combined from both of our visits so far.

I think we’ll make it our goal to have pictures taken with all of the Peanuts gang.  We’re off to a good start.  D even referred to Peppermint Paddy as “Sir”. 

The first time we went, all of the Christmas decorations were up.

We watched someone make maple lollipops on a bed of ice (didn’t try it, though).

Watched an impressive production of Snoopy on Ice.

And watched a “Winter Wonderland” production at Camp Snoopy.

It was a little drizzly, which was great at keeping the crowds away.  We hardly waited in any lines.

 

It was a lot more crowded this past weekend.  However, we didn’t get there until the afternoon, which may explain some of the difference.

New show at Camp Snoopy: Country Hoedown.

The Huff n Puff: Great workout for the kiddos.

Like father, like son. 

The first time we went, we were planning to go to Portillo’s.  However, since it was well past our normal lunchtime, we heeded the call of Pink’s, which is just outside the gates.  We’ve never been to the LA location, so I’m not sure how it compares.  They are spendy for hot dogs, but they do not skimp on the portions. 

New Year Ramblings

Per our New Year’s Eve tradition, we all managed to sleep on the couch again.  I think we were all asleep by 9:30.

Uncle D giving nephew j the dreaded “tickle finger” on New Year’s Eve.  Most of our celebrating revolved around eating.  Here are just a couple of highlights:

Red Velvet Cake Pie from Marie Callender’s. 

Bloomin’ Cheesy Bread—need to get the recipe. 

We also had a joint celebration of k’s birthday and my youngest sister last weekend.  Both k and n really love playing with their Auntie!

Finally, I wanted to document the fact that n can pretty much sleep anywhere.  Sometimes he prefers to sleep on the ground as opposed to his bed, even in his bedroom.  On New Year’s Day, he kept insisting he did not want to take a nap.  However, while my dad and D were watching a football game, n finally decided he was tired and slept in front of the tv:

Then, last weekend he decided to take a nap on our non-carpeted floor.  I urged him to at least move to the rug, but he refused:

San Diego Getaway: Phil’s BBQ

On our way home we stopped for lunch at Phil’s BBQ.  It’s in a large strip mall, so there is plenty of parking.  Again, we were led there by Yelp reviews, 4,646 of them, to be exact!  We ordered baby back ribs, an El Toro sandwich (tri-tip) and a side of onion rings.  We probably ended up taking about 2/3 of the sandwich home, since breakfast had not been too long before.

The ribs were quite saucy, as you can see.  They were nice and meaty.

The batter on the onion rings was a little thick for my liking.  Also, I think I prefer a cornmeal batter.  I liked the onion rings at Firestone Grill in SLO better.

 

I don’t believe I’ve ever had deli sliced tri-tip before.  It was reminiscent of pastrami, in a way.  The smoky flavor was quite strong, much stronger than the ribs. 

We had fun in San Diego.  It was a very last-minute planned trip, but we ended up with all good picks.