A Sunday Spent with my Faves

Not the kind of weather you'd want to see as you drive into San Francisco to do a run. But, it was actually great weather. Not hot, but cold enough to get you motivated to run faster to keep warm. The 5k route was awesome. It began near Cupid's Arrow, passed the Clock Tower, looped back and continued to the entrance to AT&T Park, then looped back again to the Finish. It was a great experience and I was glad to share it with two of my fave people!

I would say that breakfast after the run was the best part. :) We tried to head over to Mama's in North Beach, but it was waaaay crowded and we were ravenous and unwilling to wait. So we walked a block away to Cafe Divine. And breakfast definitely was divine. We figured we had to reward ourselves for our effort and accomplishment. ;)

After breakfast, we trampled along the hilly streets of North Beach and stumbled upon the Coit Tower. Too bad we were all tired from the run, maybe next time we'll climb to the top.

Flexibility Is the Key to FUN!

Talk about doing nothing as planned! Oh well, we had a fun Saturday and that's all that matters. We went about our usual Saturday morning of going to ModCom for the boys' jits classes. Afterwards, we were headed to Gilroy for a BBQ at Shawn's co-worker's house, then to the Garlic Festival, which was a short walk away. But the boys had so much fun swimming at the BBQ that we skipped the festival altogether. It was funny because we forgot it was a pool party, so the boys were completely unprepared for swimming; they dove in wearing their gym clothes. Whatev!

Isaiah chillin' in the pool.

Hanging with Auntie Trace.

Papa and his gang.

Liam enjoying a coconut ice cream bar. yummyumm.

After the Gilroy festivities, we were supposed to head back to Tracy to pick up our running gear for the 5k we were to run the following day. Yeah...that didn't happen. We ended up at the Gilroy outlets where Shawn snagged a new pair of running shoes and both Tracey and I scored two pairs each! Thank goodness we don't go there often.....

My Latest Creation

I sure showed that sewing machine who was boss tonight! I made a few king size pillowcases for our bed. It annoys me how much more expensive king size pillowcases are. So I just buy a flat sheet and make them myself.

I couldn't even wait to blog about the highlight of my exciting night of sewing: a reusable snack sack! While browsing Etsy a while back, I found these adorable sandwich and snack sacks. They seemed fairly easy to make, so I took my first crack at it tonight.

It was a lot easier than I expected! The outer layer is cotton and the inner liner is a rip-stop nylon for easy cleaning. It seals with a velco strip sewn across the top interior. Now I'm going to take myself to Wal-Mart for some $1 fat quarters and go to town with making reusable snack bags!

A Friendly, Yet Unwanted Visitor

While Shawn was harvesting the tomatoes from our garden this morning, he spotted this cute little visitor lurking among the tomato plants.
A tomato caterpillar! It was such a pretty creature, we just left it be. But I'm hoping it doesn't have its entire family in tow, steadily eating away at our plants! :) The season is almost over, so the damage it could cause is minimal anyway.

Our tomato plants having been doing very well this season. Every day there are handfuls to be harvested. This is a shot of what we've collected within about 3 days! We also have a small pepper plant growing, so for the past few nights, we have been making fresh salsa using veggies from our garden. Shawn's mom also has an avocado tree bearing fruit in her front yard. We snagged one of those, let it ripen and had THE MOST DELICIOUS fresh guacamole you could ever imagine.

My Sweet, New Ride

When we went to Arizona in April, we bought a road bike frame from the Fetish Cycles shop in Phoenix and brought it home with us on the airplane (saved on shipping because, between the five of us, we had a ton of luggage allowance). Shawn has been working diligently at piecing my new ride together since then and we can now say it is complete! Well, the front tire needs to be replaced with a yellow one, so they match. lol


For now, it is built as a fixed gear for better training in anticipation of the Bike MS ride in September. But shortly before the ride, we plan on switching everything out so it has gears in the front and back; I'm going to need them to climb those rolling wine country hills! I AM SO EXCITED!

I also can't wait for my company to move to Hayward, so that I can start commuting with this bad boy (err, bad girl!) from the ACE train station in Fremont. No more driving for me! That will be such a relief.

I absolutely love my bike. And it's only sweeter knowing that my awesome hubby built it for me!

San Jose Improv

Shawn and I went for dinner and a show at the San Jose Improv last night with one of his friends from work and his girlfriend. This outing seems to be becoming a regular double date for the four of us; well, it's the second time we've seen a show at the Improv with this couple. They are super funny and great company, so I'm sure that this won't be the last time, either.

Hanging out on a Thursday night, as if we have no children. lol

Enrique and Jamie

The headliner last night was Sheng Wang, a Taiwanese-American comedian who has appeared in Comedy Central's "Live at Gotham". He was a really funny guy and there was also a Filipino-American comedian that appeared before him that was freakin' HILARIOUS! All I remember (I had a number of pomegranate martinis lol) was that his first name was Kevin. haha!

I have to say that dinner at the Improv is absolutely awful. The only reason that we have dinner there is so that we can get in early and snag some great seats. I'm not even going to go into the details of what makes dinner horrible because it will only make me angry. :)

These great seats make up for dinner.

Alameda County Fair

We had a great time on Tuesday at the Alameda County Fair with Auntie Jessie and her family. We were excited to finally meet her sister, Denise, and her children. We see adorable photos of them all the time, but haven't had the chance to meet them since they live in Denver.

With an arrival of 1:30p, I'm pretty sure we had the pleasure of experiencing the reported high of 110 degrees. It was amazing how my boys are so resistant to heat; they had the time of their lives without any complaints, even with sweat dripping down every inch of their little bodies. lol

Baby Liam was having a great time! Probably b/c he didn't have to walk...

Uncle Mike and Isaiah on the carnival rides.

Auntie Jessie and Mikey...umm...at the food stand. That's typically where you can find Mikey. lol

The kids had this strange fascination with the foot massagers. I have no idea.....

Water balloon launching! Jessie, Journey, Mikey, and Brina

VERSUS Mikey, Isaiah and Toby!!!

WICKED WAS CRAZY WICKED!

Phuong and I had a fantastic time on our SF outing last night. She is leaving for France next week, so we decided to squeeze this in asap so that we didn't have to wait until she returned from her trip. We headed to the city after work and had dinner at Soluna Cafe & Lounge, right across from the Civic Center park.
I loved how it felt more like a lounge than a restaurant, with the plush, high-back benches for seating, heavy drapery and beautiful pendant lamps hanging everywhere. The artwork on the walls was also phenomenal; apparently, one of the owners creates all the artwork himself. I'm curious as to whether they are changed every so often...a good reason to keep going back! And Soluna was less than a two block walk to the Orpheum (super convenient as a pre-show dinner destination) AND you get a free dessert if you're there to see a show...can't beat that! Not to mention, the food was fantastic. Phuong and I shared the goat cheese & spinach salad and she had the steak for dinner, while I had the seared ahi tuna. All of it was delish!

Then, off to the show we went! Of course, we couldn't go in without taking a few snapshots outside the theater. :)

Gorgeous entryway to the theater.

Is my excitement obvious? I was clutching that ticket for dear life. There was nothing that would stand between me and the show that night! lol

The show was PHENOMENAL. I got goosebumps a number of times, just from the sheer power of the performances. I really recommend that EVERYONE see this! If you haven't yet, or even if you have, let me know! I'd be happy to go again!!! :)

Tree-Hugging Mikey

The Only Baby Girl! <3

Today was a great day because we got a visit from the only baby girl in our family: my sister's daughter, Siliana. Liam is her "Kuya" by only one short week and both little bundles of joy were wonderful Christmas presents to our family last year. We joke that she will never be able to have a boyfriend because she has two older brothers and three boy cousins that will scare all the boys away!

It is always a treat to see this precious baby girl! <3>

I couldn't believe she was rocking on all fours already! She'll probably have Liam beat with crawling....but, that's ok with me. I don't mind waiting for Liam to become mobile..because when he does there is no turning back! YIKES!

3 Moms, 9 Boys, How is that Possible?!?!

On Thursday, we went to Central Park with my friend, Daniela, and her 3 boys. I also met another friend of hers who also had three boys. So there we were, three women at the park with NINE STINKIN' BOYS in tow!!! It seems almost unreal. And all of the boys were similar in age, so they played together really well and enjoyed themselves.

Isaac and Liam are about 2 months apart.

Isaiah, Ryan and Kaleb playing in the climbing structure.

Ezekiel, Kaleb and Ryan enjoying the climbing structure again.

Cutie Kaleb.Mikey loves playing in the sand.

I wish I could have gotten more pics. The boys really enjoyed themselves. And I love coming to this park; we are here once or twice a week. It has a fantastic water feature that the boys just love playing in and the coolest play structures I've ever seen! You'll definitely be reading about more of our adventures at this park. :)

I guess they ARE still my babies! :)

I walked in on Isaiah and Mikey playing in Liam's crib, acting as if they, too, were babies. It was actually really funny and cute so I made sure to get a few snapshots. I think it was especially fun for Mikey, since he hasn't been sleeping in a crib for a while now. He transitioned early and quickly into sleeping in his own bed. Now, when they argue that they are not babies anymore, I will bust out these pics and tell 'em, 'YES YOU ARE!' :)

The baby talk then quickly turned into a pillow fight in the crib.

Yes, that's right. They will ALWAYS be my babies.

Wicked!!!

The tickets for the Wicked musical have arrived! I am so excited because I've been wanting to see this show for such a long time now. I figured I should catch it before they leave town in September, especially since this summer has been flying by and will have come and gone before we know it.

I am also excited to be seeing it with my good friend, Phuong, who I used to work with when I worked at Bio-Rad Labs. We became close friends while working together and since I left the company, we only see each other occassionally. But when we do get together, we have a fantastic time. She's one of those friends that I might not speak to for some time, but when we do talk again, it's like we just saw each other yesterday! I LOVE HER!

Neither of us are picky about seating, so we decided to go the economical way with tickets and got balcony seating, but it's seating nonetheless! We'd rather splurge on dinner. :) Anyway, I've seen the Mamma Mia musical at the Orpheum Theater also and, since it's such a small venue, any seat is a pretty decent seat. I wish Wednesday could come faster!!!!