Getting Ready for the Holidays

Once again we decided to forgo turkey for Thanksgiving and instead did the prime rib and all the trimmings. Two of Ben's buddies from UCLA (Steve and Rafe) came out to Texas to join us for Thanksgiving. We started off Thanksgiving by going to the tree lot and picking out our Christmas tree. It was great....there was no one around and we had the pick of the whole place. I think we may have started a new tradition!! We spent the rest of the day hanging around the house, relaxing, eating, and relaxing some more. Very nice!!

I spent the rest of that long weekend getting the house ready for Christmas. I was on a tight deadline since we were having Ben's lab party the following weekend (we were only going to be in Houston two weekends in December so we had to have the party earlier than later). Riley helped me decorate the tree. He loves to go up to the tree and point out all of the different ornaments and tell me their colors. His favorite is a red and green birdhouse. He keeps looking in the peephole for the bird!!

Ben's lab party was the following weekend and can I just say that our son is not shy at all. He had a blast running around the house and talking to people. At one point during the party everyone was sitting in the living room and chatting and Riley proceeded to jump up onto the couch and commanded everyone's attention. He had everyone saying "shark in the water" for the rest of the night. He is nuts!!

We're off to California tonight for the holidays. Can't wait to see everyone!!

Here are some pictures of Thanksgiving and getting our house ready for the holidays.......

Fun Things to Do Around Texas....

Now that the weather has started to cool down we've started to explore Texas and some of the fun things to do around here. The city is definately kid friendly and there are lots of fun places to go and explore. Hint hint to all of our friends with kids out there or those of you that are kids at heart! Here are a few (click on each of the pictures to see more pictures from our trip to these places):

Breakfast with the Elephants: The Houston Zoo recently had a fundraiser event where you could go and have breakfast with the elephants. Since Riley adores elephants we thought this would be a great chance to see them up close and personal. The thought of eating breakfast around a whole bunch of elephants was not too appealing but in the end we had a great time. We got to watch the trainers have the elephants do some exercise, play around in their sleeping quarters and see all of their toys and things they eat, give one of the elephants a bath, and make new friends with the zoo volunteers.

Natural History Museum: Riley has hit that age where he is fascinated with dinosaurs. We took him to the natural history museum on a Sunday morning and we literally had the whole place to ourselves. We let him run wild and crazy in the dinosaur room and he had a blast stomping and roaring!

Old MacDonald's Farm: I don't remember exactly how I found this place but I'm sure glad we did. You pay a flat rate to go into the farm and that rate includes unlimited pony rides and train rides which is a good thing because Riley ended up going on the pony ride at least 10 times. They had tons of animals that you could get up close and personal with. The only thing we didn't get to see that day were cows (they are usually there but were missing from their pen) which Riley would have loved since he loves cows!

Hermann Park: I've posted pictures of our trips to Hermann Park before but we visited a new area this time. Ben's mom was here for a visit and the weather was beautiful so we decided to head over to our old stomping grounds for a nice walk after breakfast. We took our time and walked by the fountain, played with some geese/ducks, and then headed over to the Japanese Gardens. There were lots of bridges everywhere and Riley loved standing on them and watching the Koi swim around.

Pumpkin Patch at Dewberry Farms: This place was fantastic. It kind of reminded me of the Roloff's farm from the show "Little People Big World". This farm had so much stuff to do and Riley had a blast going from one thing to another. By the time we left all three of us were exhausted!!

Halloween: This was Riley's first year of trick-or-treating and he had a great time! We went with our neighbors and it was a blast watching Riley and Nolan run up to each house. They both kept trying to go into people's houses but they were both very polite and great with their "thank yous"!! They only made it up and back one block but they still made out like bandits! It's hard to tell from these pictures but Riley was supposed to be a dinosaur. Not sure why the dinosaur has frog eyes!!

A Trip Back to Cali

After 9 long months away Riley and I made our first trip back to California since moving to Houston. We were so excited to have such a great excuse to go back - Rhys' first birthday party! It's always hard to get the whole gang together but we came close this time - we really missed Ben, Yolanda and Allan and their whole gang. I was a little worried at first making the trip by myself with Riley but he was a real trooper and did fantastic on the plane. We had a little incident when he decided that he wanted to run and play when we were in the security check line but other than that it was smooth sailing. Note to self: it is much easier for a little 2 year old to run around under all of the roping than for a grown person with a giant backpack! We took the last flight out of Houston so I thought he would be exhausted by the time we landed (it was almost 11:30 pm our time) but as soon as he saw his two aunties he was all smiles and full of energy. The rest of the trip was non-stop - we went to visit my grandparents in Stockton, went to dinner with my cousins to celebrate my dad's birthday, went to Rhys' first birthday party, hung out with everyone and had a great time at the playground, went to dinner with my sisters, went to the Oakland Zoo (where one of Riley's shoes now resides with the buffalo since he decided that it would be great fun to kick it off when we were on the sky ride -- warning that ride is a little too long and a little scary with a 2 year old), went to dinner again to celebrate my dad's birthday, and then came home. I swear Riley gained at least 5 pounds on this trip. Riley and my parents have a routine - every morning Riley gets up, goes to play in their bedroom and drinks his milk, then after getting dressed and ready they go to my parents' favorite restaurant for breakfast (a Hong Kong style cafe) and he pigs out. As if that wasn't enough he would then come home, play in the backyard or in the house and have some of the apple pears that my parents grow in the backyard. The boy ate and ate and ate. It was amazing!!

Riley was quite sad when we got back and kept looking for everyone. The morning after we got back he woke up and asked where his paw paw and gong gong were (he was ready for his morning ritual!). And that same day after I picked him up from daycare he kept asking for his Auntie Cindy and Auntie Mimi (this is what he calls Jamie!). To this day when we drive home each day he likes to tell me that Auntie Mimi is at work and Auntie Cindy is at school. He is too funny! We definitely miss California. We can't wait until our trip back during the holidays!! Click on the picture below for some pictures from our trip.

Baking with Mom

I found a recipe for S'more Cupcakes awhile ago that I have been dying to try - graham cracker crust, chocolate, chocolate cake, and a toasted marshmallow cream frosting - but haven't had a chance to make them. We recently went to a BBQ at one of our neighbor's house and I thought this would be a great opportunity to make them. They were a great success!! Riley decided that he didn't want to be left out when I was baking so he jumped up onto a chair to help! Everytime he sees a cupcake he thinks its a "Happy Day"!!

Way Behind....

I am really behind on my postings for the blog. I promise I am working on them but in the meantime here are some pictures from the past couple of months that I kept meaning to post...

Swim Lessons this Summer

A Trip to the Museum of Natural History (he loved all of the dinos)

Teaching his T-Rex how to dance

Yum!

Under the Big Top

We took Riley to his first circus and he had such a great time. Between the animals, clowns, snacks, and all the people he didn't know what to do with himself! The pictures say it all....

Daddy and Riley at the Circus

Snowcone.....very bad idea...Ben and I ended up getting soaked!!

The animals

Enjoying the circus and watching the acrobats

You can't go to the circus and not have popcorn and cotton candy!

A Busy Month

July is always a busy month for us. We've already done so much this month that it seems like July should be over and done with already but we still have two more weeks!

My sisters arrived to visit us at the end of June and we ended the month of June with a trip to San Antonio. We've been saying that we wanted to start exploring Texas and we thought that going with my sisters would be fun. What we should have taken into account is that Texas is HOT HOT HOT. We went to Sea World in San Antonio and we all knew it was going to be really bad when we were all sweating when we got to the front gate (and this was not due to a long walk since we parked in the VIP section and we were in the second row!). We stayed at the park for 3.5 hours and then went back to the hotel so Riley could take a nap (we all ended up falling asleep!). We went back, saw a couple of attractions, baked and sat in what felt like a large sauna to watch the Shamu show and then called it a day. We went back to the hotel and Riley and daddy went swimming to cool off. Never again will we attempt to do something like this!! No more amusement parks (unless they are water related) in the summer. Everyone keeps saying that this summer has been horrible and that the excruciating heat started really early....just our luck, heh?

Next it was my birthday. Nothing too exciting there - we went to a nice dinner and had cake. Then of course, Fourth of July. You can't set off fireworks within Houston Proper so if you want to see fireworks you have to go to the big celebration downtown. And like everything else in Houston this is a BIG celebration.....Clay Walker gave a free concert right before the fireworks and they had blocks of entertainment starting at 4 pm. Learning our lesson from San Antonio we stayed away from the crowds. We just couldn't imagine sitting around with all of those people in 100+ heat. So instead Riley had a great time playing with his water mat, we barbecued, and then watched the fireworks on TV!! Next, it was our anniversary. Since my sisters were here we were able to go out and have a nice dinner and finally break our 2 year hiatus from the movie theaters. We thought it was only fitting to see Transformers 2 since the last movie we saw two years ago was the first Transformers. I had forgotten how nice it is to sit in a movie theater with a soda and popcorn!

Click on the picture below for some pictures....

My cousins came in the following week and then it was Riley's second birthday. I still can't believe my little bean is 2 years old. It's amazing how much of a little boy he has become. He definitely knows what he wants and isn't afraid to go and get it. He is extremely social and doesn't know the meaning of "stranger". I love the fact that he is speaking more everyday. The Thursday before the fourth of July his daycare had a parade where they marched around with little flags. When I picked him up from school he marched all the way from his room to the door waving his flag and yelling "flag"....the only problem was that his pronunciation of flag comes out more like "f*!*k". Incredibly funny!! He loves animals and thankfully it seems we have moved on from Barney and are now progressing to Sesame Street. He had a great birthday and was once again spoiled to death. Thank you everyone that sent gifts/cards! He loved everything.

This past weekend we went to Schlitterbahn water park in Galveston. It was so hot but we had a great time there. We, of course, all got burnt (except for Riley) and looked like lobsters the next day but we had a really relaxing day playing in the water and floating around on the endless river. Unfortunately we are now all itchy and peeling like crazy! Nothing more attractive than a peeling nose.

Well that's it for now. Next on the agenda is the circus, the start of swim lessons, and Ben's annual trip to see the Angels. More to come! Click the below picture for pictures of Riley's birthday and our trip to Galvaston.

Random Pictures

It's been awhile since I've loaded new pictures and as I was going through all of our pictures I realized that there were a lot of things that I forgot to post about. So here is a link to a whole bunch of random pictures from the shortest trip to Galveston ever to Easter to Memorial Day to Father's Day.

Speaking of Father's Day....we didn't get to go out and do much that day since Riley was not feeling 100% and it was extremely hot outside. We had a nice breakfast, had a leisurely morning, puttered around the house all day, and then grilled up some bratwurst for dinner and had chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. It was a very nice relaxing day. Riley and I are both very lucky to have Ben....he is the most wonderful father. Even though he is starting his lab and is working non-stop he always makes time to spend with Riley even though it is probably killing him. So I can go to work early in the morning, Ben gets Riley ready for daycare every morning and drops him off. He always makes sure that he is home for dinner, then we have family time until Riley goes to bed at 8:00 pm. Ben then heads back to lab and doesn't get home until midnight or even later some nights. Even though this schedule is rough on him he does it so that he can spend as much time with Riley and I as possible and we both really appreciate it. We love him lots and lots and I couldn't imagine raising Riley with anyone except him. He is everything that I think a good father should be - loving, funny, patient, silly, strong (someone needs to be able to tote Riley around!). We love you Ben!

Click on the picture to see all of the pictures!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I love being a mom and my boys made me feel extra special today. Riley woke me up this morning with giggles and a balloon.....what a great way to wake up in the morning! Ben was really sweet and surprised me this morning with spice muffins from Mimi's Cafe....I love these muffins and since he knew that I loved them so much he made a special trip to another city 15 miles away the night before. He called the restaurant on Friday to make sure that they would have some for him to pick up Saturday night. When he got there they told him that they had sold out during the day but since they knew that he was coming that night to pick some up they made a batch just for him......how nice is that?? After a nice relaxing breakfast we headed to the Downtown Aquarium. It's a pretty small aquarium but we had a nice time seeing the different animals, riding a train through a shark tank, going on the merry-go-round, and taking a trip in the ferris wheel. It was a really warm day (in the 90s) and humid (I don't even want to think about summer) and it was only 11:30. Since Riley was so hot we decided to let him play in the water area and he had a blast. While he was playing in the water area he was also drinking an icee so by the time we were ready to head home he was not only dripping wet but he was sticky and blue. It was hilarous. We headed home, had a bath, had lunch, and then took a nap. After he woke up we did a little shopping and then tried a new ice cream spot (I'm determined to find something like Leatherby's out here - this place wasn't it!). We wrapped up the day with Frenchy's Fried Chicken (yum yum). I had such a great day. Ben and Riley really spoiled me - I have a spa day and a gift card to Lot 8 to enjoy another day - and we had a great time together. Father's Day is right around the corner so I'm going to have to start thinking of ideas! Click on the picture below to see pictures of today.

Our New House

I am so behind on my posts that I'm going to have to split these up into multiple posts otherwise I'll never post anything. Since this is the easiest one I'm going to start off with our new house. After much debate, we decided that we wanted to stay within the city limits of Houston, or within the "loop". We picked the area we choose because of the great school system and the family-oriented neighborhood. The elementary school that Riley will go to is just a couple of blocks away from our house and there is a big park within walking distance also. Since Meyerland is an established neighborhood and much older than the suburbs (the houses were built in the late 60's) it took us awhile to find the perfect house. We knew we definately wanted a one story house (no more climbing up and down stairs for awhile!) and that we wanted an open floor plan. I think we ended up looking at every house that was on the market in this neighborhood but once we saw this house we knew it was the right one for us. It's on a nice big corner lot and is a kid-friendly house with lots of upgrades.

We planned our move to coincide with a trip my sisters were making out here so that they could help us with Riley and the moving. Of course the weekend we chose to move there was a huge thunderstorm and it rained like crazy. Thankfully, Ben and his lab tech moved most of the big things before the big downpour so we only had to make a few more trips back and forth to get the small items. There are still boxes all around the house waiting to be unpacked but we are finally settling in. Click on the picture below to see more pictures of the house!

Pictorial Update

A quick pictorial update as to what we have been up to......

A day at the park

Daddy getting Riley started early on his workout regimen

Wrestling Daddy's hat from him

Helping Daddy bring in the groceries

Riley's stage

Opening his Valentine's Day presents from Auntie Jamie

Going for a walk and a train ride at the park (can you tell we love to go to the park?)

Watching Chinese movies with Paw Paw

The Past Couple of Months

I know I know, it's about time there's a new post. The past couple of months have been crazy with the holidays and moving thus the lack of a new post. This is going to be a doozy of a blog entry since I've got to pack everything from the past couple of months into one blog entry! Since there are so many pictures I decided to upload them all into Kodak Gallery and just write here in the blog. The slideshow goes along with the blog.

Click here for the link to the pictures.

So here goes....

November: Riley got some tickets to Legoland for his birthday so we wanted to make use of them before we left LA. He was a little young for most of the rides but he had a great time walking around the miniature cities and riding on the choo choo train with daddy. Thank you Laura and Charlene....we had a great time and wish we could have arranged it so we could have all gone together!

We finally had a chance to get together with Christian, Joana, and Kierstin. We've been trying to plan something for awhile now but with their schedule and our schedule it has been difficult. Their house is a child's dream....we thought Riley had a lot of toys but there is no comparison......Riley had such a great time there and loved playing with Kierstin.

Before we left LA I wanted to do one last big baking event to say "thank you" to everyone at City of Hope and in Ben's lab. So I spent a weekend making a whole bunch of yummy things. I usually only do this large scale of baking during Christmas and since I was going to miss out on that this year I was happy I got to do it for this! I really do love baking and find that it's a great way to relax. Plus there is nothing more that I love than to make cute, pretty, little desserts!!!

Ben's mom came down for a visit the weekend before Thanksgiving. We ate, relaxed, took a walk at the Arboretum, ate some more, and had a nice visit.

Since we had a lot of packing to do and there were going to be a couple of days at the end when we would have an empty place, we decided to leave Riley at my parents starting after Thanksgiving. Before we left for Fremont, we had a farewell party for Riley at Chuck E Cheese with all of our friends. We had a great time munching on pizza and beer and watching the kids play. Riley has really come to love my co-workers at City of Hope (he visited there often and loved always having a pair of arms to go to) and he is really going to miss everyone. We'll see all of you this summer when we come to visit and are expecting you guys to do a roadtrip to see us in Houston.

We packed everything Riley would need for the next month and drove up north on Thanksgiving. We went to Dre and Suzy's first to meet Langdon for the first time. He is such a good baby and too adorable. Zen was taking a nap so we didn't get a chance to play but we'll make up for it this summer! Next, we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house for Thanksgiving with my family. It was a typical holiday....lots of people, lots of food, and lots of attention for Riley. Riley adored it! I don't think he ever stopped eating all day.

We also got to meet Rhys (Whit and Joyce's little boy) for the first time that weekend. He is the cutest baby and holding him brought back so many memories of Riley as a baby. Leah, Dan, and Gabe met us at Joyce's house and we had a nice little reunion....too bad Michelle and Yolanda and their families couldn't be there too. It's sad that we've all moved so far away from each other (now that we've left CA we are all in different states for the first time) and now that we all have kids it is even harder for us to arrange a time when we can all get together.

Ben and I left on Saturday back to LA for our last week in Alhambra. Although the movers were going to pack up everything in our house we had to sort through everything and decide what was trash (we ended up filling all of the dumpsters in the complex) and what was going with us to the apartment and what was going in storage. I hate moving, and to know that we're going to have to move again in a couple of months is torture.

December: I have always been really lucky and I have loved everywhere I have worked. I was really sad to have to leave City of Hope. I had a great job there and I loved the people I worked with. I made so many good friends that I know I will keep in touch with no matter where I am. I promised myself I wouldn't cry when I left but they all made it impossible not to. The department threw me a farewell party at Caffe Opera and made me a great scrapbook with notes and pictures of everyone! I know how busy everyone is and for everyone (especially all of the surgeons!) to take time out of their busy schedules to go to dinner was incrediable! I'll miss everyone there.

That Friday we left Alhambra and LA for good and drove up North to my parents' house and back to Riley. I always hate leaving him but I know how much he loves being with my parents and sisters so that always makes it easier. Not to mention that my sisters are great about sending us pictures and videos of him so we know what he's doing! For the next couple of weeks we hung out, did a lot of Xmas shopping, and tried to see all the people we wanted to see before we left.

Before Ben left for Texas, we went to visit Scott, Barbara, Matteo, and Sophia in Menlo Park. We had a great time at the park and they made us a wonderful dinner of homemade pizza...yum yum!

After Ben got back from Texas, we had dinner with Matthew and Rebecca in Berkeley. I'm so glad that we got a chance to see them before we left. I still can't believe that Matt has graduated college and Rebecca is in college and leaving for a semester abroad in Rome.....I still remember picking up Matt and Rebecca from karate class and going to all of Rebecca's elementary school recitals. Man, we're getting old!

We then made a trip to Santa Rosa. We saw Ben's dad's new place and had a great visit. It unfortunately rained all day but Riley had a blast running all over the house and we had a nice cozy dinner at home. The next day we went to visit Ben's mom and saw her new place which is coming along really nicely. We took a walk in a really cool neighborhood with lots of old houses and then went for a nice lunch. Riley loved the giant bear statue in front of the restaurant that he could sit on!

We went to Sacramento for a weekend and had brunch with Bubba and Ray and then headed over to see Dan, Leah, and Gabe. Of course the weekend we choose to go it was raining so we ended up staying in the house all day (well, except for our little trip to Leatherby's....I couldn't be in the same area as Leatherby's and not go!). We had a great time and Riley had so much fun playing with Gabe. Leah made us a yummy dinner and we had a great time just hanging out and talking.......it was like college all over again except we had two extra "little" roommates!! The next morning before we left we went to breakfast and had a nice trip down a one-way street before we left for home.

After all of our traveling and visiting it was time for Christmas Eve and Christmas. Every Christmas Eve our cousins Shirley and Linda come over and my mom makes yummy eggrolls, ribs, crab, and other assorted dishes. Ben and Jamie have decided that next year they are going to forgo eating anything else and will instead have an eggroll eating contest to see who can eat the most eggrolls. Should be interesting. We always do our family gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve but since Riley had to go to bed at a decent hour we decided to bump things up a little earlier. As you can see by the pictures we were once again spoiled.....especially Riley! We had to buy another piece of luggage just so we could bring all of his gifts home.

For Christmas we headed over to Elk Grove to Diana's house and had Christmas with all of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a food and present fest and we all had a great time.

Shirley and Linda took us out for a farewell dinner the day after Christmas, and since we weren't going to be in California for Chinese New Year this year (at the end of January), my grandma wanted to have a big family dinner with EVERYONE before we left. So they all headed out to our house that Saturday and we had a big family dinner at Uncle Chong's.

Our final trip to see people was to Stockton to see Dre and Suzy. Unfortunately Riley and I got sick and since we didn't want to get Zen or Langdon sick only Ben was able to go. We would have really liked to be able to go and see them and hang out but we just didn't want to risk it.

After all of our visiting and eating we spent all of Monday packing and getting ready for our trip to Houston. My parents and Cindy dropped us off at the airport and after a few tears and hugs it was just Ben, Riley, and I. Riley was great on the plane. We had plenty of toys, snacks, and distractions (thanks Leah for all those toys they came in handy!). The only thing that sucked that whole plane ride was that Riley had been sleeping for about 45 minutes when the person sitting in the row with us had to go to the bathroom. We didn't want to tell him, "sorry buddy but he's sleeping you'll just have to hold it" so we attempted to get up without waking Riley.......didn't work! Thankfully we only had 30 more minutes before we landed. Our first night was pretty uneventful. The next day was stock up day.....with a long list we headed out to Costco and then to Super Target. We made it through Costco without a hitch and after Riley's nap we headed for Target. As we were going to Target we were stopped at a really busy intersection. The light turned green so Ben started to go. Luckily, Ben noticed a biker running a red light and stopped in time to avoid hitting him. Unluckily, the car next to us was already going and couldn't see the biker and hit him. We stopped, called 911, talked to the driver of the car, and waited until the police arrive before we left. We felt so bad for the driver of the car. We're still not quite sure what the biker was thinking. It wasn't even like he was hurrying and trying to make a yellow light. He looked like he was out on a leisurely stroll on his bike on a park trail......very weird. What a way to welcome us to Houston!

Our first visitor in Houston: Ben's dad had a 8 hour layover in Houston on his way to Antartica and Peru so we were able to visit with him and have dinner at the House of Pies before the next leg of his trip.

We're all settled now, although we still have some boxes to go through. While Ben works all day, Riley and I have been getting to know the city. We spend a lot of time at Hermann Park across the street from our apartment. It's a huge park and has a zoo, golf course, japanese garden, another garden center, museum of natural science, playground, mini train, lake, and so forth. There is a reflection pool that goes from a statue of Sam Houston to the lake that Riley loves to walk up and down. What a normal person can walk in less than 5 minutes can take us up to 45 minutes. Riley loves to stop, pick up some rocks or leaves, throw some things in the pool, play around in the dirt, stop and dance a little, quack at the ducks, and so on. There's also a great playground that has several different playgrounds for different ages and they have a great area for toddlers. We've also visited the Children's Museum and can't wait until March when they unveal the new Toddler Zone! We've become members of both Children's Museum and the Zoo so we'll be visiting both places quite often in the future.

Sorry for such a long blog but I wanted to get everything down so we wouldn't forget what we did for the past couple of months!!! More to come later........