Archive for September, 2008

Bay Area continued (by Ramona)

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

So when we last left off, I was about to head to church to meet up with Nat. I met up with everyone right when the last song for church was being played. Great timing, I know. :P We headed out to eat lunch with some of our friends that are home from their missions field in “East Asia”.

After a quick lunch, we headed up to San Fran to see the Lo’s. :) I got quite the workout just walking down the hill to their very chic condo. :) We had a chance to meet Anders (their new son as of June), and just hang out at their place. Kristen and I had a chance to have some mom talk while she was nursing Anders; Felix and Nat had a great time hanging out. Our friends Tony and Katherine came to see us at the Lo’s and we hung out together. The Lo’s were kind enough to buy sushi for us for dinner. :) It was a great time. We headed home later than we wanted, but it was well worth it.

Monday morning, bright and early, Nat left with Joe to go to the train station before his conference started. I half-heartedly said good-bye (it was around 6:30AM), and went back to sleep. After the guys left, Cindy, the rest of the boys, and I started our morning late. Cindy had to homeschool Ethan, so Lucas, Sean, and I hung out downstairs. Later in the afternoon, we went to the grocery store with all the boys and had a great time. After dinner, Cindy, Joe, and I hung out and watched tv. It was a relaxing day.

Tuesday, Ethan went to a homeschool group at church. I watched Lucas part of the morning while Cindy went to get her haircut. In the afternoon, we picked up Ethan and came home. I cooked dinner for the Garcias and after the boys were put down, we hung out and watched tv. :)

Wednesday, we headed to lunch at In-N-Out. I have to stop by that place anytime I’m in the vicinity of one. :) After lunch, I headed up to Fremont to see my friends Jenny and Charlie and their baby boy Noah. We had a great time hanging out. :) Little Noah just wanted to hangout (well hang on) Sean, while Sean wanted to just play and explore. :) Charlie came home while we were having dinner, and then I gave Sean a bath and headed back to the Garcias. :)

Thursday finally rolled around, and we just had a relaxing morning after we dropped of Ethan and homeschool group. I picked up Nat at noon, and when I came home, Sean was still sleeping. The boy took a 3 hour nap in the morning. He has never done that, and we were quite surprised. It was nice to have Nat back, and I know that Sean missed seeing his daddy. :) In the afternoon, we went to see Steve in Sunnyvale, and then headed back to San Jose right before dinner. We went out with the Garcias for a nice dinner at a sushi place, and went back and just hung out after the boys went to sleep.

We had a great trip to the Bay area, and I think that Sean had a great time with everyone. Towards the end of the trip, I know that Sean really connected with all the Garcias, and I think that he missed all the good times he had with the boys when we got home. Sean really started to walk last week, and I think it’s partly due to watching Ethan and Lucas walk around. It was quite sweet to share this milestone with the Garcias. The only sad part was that Nat was at his conference while all this was happening. :)

We flew back home on Friday, and Sean did pretty well on the flights. He was a little antsy at the end of the San Fran – Chicago leg, so we were walking up and down the aisle for a little bit. I think Sean was pretty tired out from the trip b/c he slept in until 9:30AM on Saturday morning. I didn’t know that Sean knew what “sleeping in” meant. :) Now, we’re pretty much back to our routine, and we’re glad to be home! :)

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Here is a link to the pictures we took while in the Bay Area.

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Our first few days in California (by Ramona)

Sunday, September 14th, 2008

Well, it’s been a crazy, but good 2 days. :) Friday, we left our house around 7:30AM to head to the airport. Our flight out of Champaign was delayed due to traffic issues in Chicago. When we finally landed in Chicago, we made a quick stop at the bathroom and booked it to our next gate. Nat didn’t realize how late it was, but I kept checking the screens to see the time. We made it to our gate around 10:15AM, and our flight departed at 10:20AM. I think we were the last ones on the plane. :P Sean did very well with all the traveling and even slept a bit on the plane from Chicago to San Jose. He got a little fussy after sitting so long, but hey, who wouldn’t? When we landed, Nat took Sean to get the rental car, and I waited for our luggage. To be honest, I expected to talk to the baggage claim representatives because I didn’t think our baggage would have made it on since we barely got on. Some how, our baggage made it on, and I met up with Nat at the rental car place. Nat had already gotten the paperwork by the time I got there; I think that’s the quickest that I’ve seen happen! :)

We headed over to Los Garcias. Sean greeted Cindy and the boys, Ethan and Lucas. Then, Sean went down for a nap. Now, we are very thankful that Sean is a great traveler and adjusts very well to sleeping in different places. With that being said, Sean still goes through an adjustment period when sleeping at a new place; especially with his naps. The poor little guy was very tired and trying to figure out this new place. He cried for about 40 minutes and then finally fell asleep for 30 minutes. Then, we went to Nat’s beloved Burrito Factory for dinner. :) Yum. Sean went to bed, and we hung out with Joe and Cindy for the rest of the evening.

We woke up bright and early to Sean’s crying on Saturday. I thought he’d go back to sleep, but he was pretty upset and he wouldn’t sleep. After an hour of crying, I got him up. We had a lovely breakfast that Joe made, and then Cindy and I headed to a women’s get together for their church. The boys–Joe, Nat, Ethan, Lucas, and Sean–hung out at home and fixed a car. Ararar…. (Home Improvement reference) :P We had a lovely lunch of fajitas, and then Sean took a nap before we headed to Sparky and Sam’s wedding. We went to the wedding and got to see a lot of Nat’s old church friends, and that was a blessing. :) We headed home after a short stop at the reception. Sean was a trooper, staying up way past his bedtime (8PM, but really it might still feel like 10PM to him), and went down super fast. Nat and I watched Enchanted as we waited for Joe and Cindy to come home. We hung out with Joe and Cindy and then some of our friends (who were at the wedding) stopped by. You would be so impressed with our witty and intelligent conversations last night–creating family mascots, family gang signs, reliving SNL skits, and so much more. I bet you wish you were there!

Now, I’m typing this post as Sean is taking his morning nap. I’m going to meet Nat and everyone at church as soon as he wakes up. We’re having a quick lunch with friends, and then heading up to San Fran to see our friends. :) Hopefully, we’ll be back early so that Sean can get to bed at a decent hour! :) Tomorrow, Nat starts his first day at the conference, and I’ll start my week hanging out with the Garcias. :)

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Some new videos

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Ramona put up some videos on Sean’s blog. I thought I would put up the link here until I get the videos on our site as well:
New Videos

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California, Here We Come! (by Ramona)

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

This Friday, we’re heading to the Bay Area for a week! :)   Nat is going for a conference, and I’m just tagging along.  Earlier this year, Nat went to the Bay Area for a conference, and I opted not to go; it would have been too hectic for us.  This time, it won’t be quite as hectic.  We get in on Friday, go over to Los Garcias (Nat’s best friend & his family).  We head to a wedding on Saturday, go to San Fran on Sunday, and then head back to Los Garcias in San Jose Sunday night.  :P   Nat will be heading back up to San Fran for his conference Monday – Thursday.  I’m just going to hang out at Los Garcias with Sean.  :)   We had thought about tagging along for the conference, but Nat will be busy all day and we’d just be stuck at the hotel.  We figure, we might as well hang out with people we like! :)

This will be longest flight that Sean has been on with the biggest time difference.  I hope that he copes well and adjusts well to everything. :)

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Labor Day (by Ramona)

Monday, September 1st, 2008

We had a very busy Labor Day, but in a good way!  I think this has been the first day in a long time where we spent the whole day as a family without having to worry about work or other planned activities. :)

This morning, Nat went to go play soccer.  He came home; we had breakfast; and then we went to run some errands.  After we got home, Sean took a nap.  He woke up and we had lunch.

We headed to the pool this afternoon.  It was the first time we’d been to the pool here in Champaign.  It’s not that we didn’t have the time or the facilities to go to, but we didn’t really make a huge effort into going.  Well, I’m glad that we finally made the effort to go–on the last day this outdoor pool was opened.  :)   It was a nice big pool area.  There was a “Puddle Pool” that just had 6 inches of water, a few water spouts, and a small slide.  There was another area for bigger kids with some water toys and a pretty shallow end (3 ft).  There was also a huge slide and lazy river that we didn’t get to go to because of Sean.  Maybe next year?  :)   Anyways, Sean had a blast in the water.  He’d just crawl around, play with some water spouts.  He’d laugh and giggle.  It was funny b/c when we were in the “Puddle Pool”, he spent just as much time climbing around on the cement as he did in the water.  :)   When we took him to the bigger kids pool, we’d hold him and help him float around.  He really liked seeing all the other people.  I thought that our 2 hours wouldn’t be enough time, but after an hour, we were ready to go home.  Sean was getting darker, and it’s hard to watch him! :)   I think it would have been easier if he was walking and he would have more control in getting up if he got too much water in his face.  But, since he was crawling, we were constantly watching him so that he wouldn’t face plant and get lots of water on his face like he did at the beach.  :)

After his nap, we went over the Smiths for dinner.  Actually, I accidentally invited myself over.  Nat had soccer practice with a team he is playing with this fall, so I just called to see what they were doing this evening while Nat was at practice.  We have a habit of just walking over to the Smiths house after dinner just to hangout, but I just wanted to make sure they were there while Nat was at practice.  Well, Mrs. Smith was gracious enough to invite us over when her whole family was coming over! :)   We had a great time over there.  Nat had to leave in the middle for practice, but Sean and I had a fabulous time there.  Sean from the get go has always been comfortable at the Smiths.  He loves just crawling around there, and he loves the Smiths.  He loved walking around (well being helped while walking), playing, and being held by Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  It was so sweet.  The Smiths are like our adoptive parents, so for Sean, they are like his adoptive grandparents.  They sure do treat him like one too! :)

Now, it’s 8:30PM, and I’m pooped from such a busy day! :)

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