Kindergarten Graduation

Memorial Day Weekend 2013

We were still recovering from our Hawaii adventure, but we decided to take another short one down to San Diego. This time your papa decided to upgrade the room we would stay in from our normal Super8. This could be an after effect from our lavish condo with full kitchen that we had in Hawaii. We stayed at the Hyatt which had a bed plus a pull out sofa as well as a small kitchen. Very nice place and very roomy for our one night that we would be staying.


We got down there Saturday early afternoon and dropped our stuff in the room. We then went to a few music stores so that I could scour the shelves in search of rare rap music. I tend to do this whenever we go places. Next, we went to some small restaurant that your mom found to eat. You should have seen the sushi plate she got! The food was decent and it wasn’t something that “we usually eat” as your mom likes to put it. Although, I did end up eating chicken tacos so take that space coyote!! After that, we took you down to Mission Bay Park. Right away your face lights up when you hear the word park. You shot straight for the swings and then went on to play on the slides. We then surprised you when we brought out your scooter! You have a blast riding it along the water. The whole park stretches out for miles so there was no shortage of space for you to ride. You even found this little downhill part that allowed you to pick up speed and cruise along very quickly. Next, we decided to be cool people and rent one of those tandem bikes so that we could all ride together. We had the bike for an hour. It’s a lot harder than it looks, but we had fun. We probably looked like dorks, but we were all together so that’s all that mattered. We closed the night by trying to go to Old Town San Diego, but we couldn’t find parking so we decided to call it a night. We hung out in our nice room and you played with you Ipad and we also played with your toy cars and a little catch. Finally it was bed time. The bed was really comfortable and for the most part we got a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, I woke up and went down to the gym. It only had two machines and some free weights, but I was able to get a workout in. I was in a bit of rush because I wanted your mom to go down right after me. So I headed back up to the room in a heap of sweat only to find your mom comfortably asleep. You had just woken up yourself and were ready to start your day. Mom decided to skip the workout (surprise) and so we went for an early buffet breakfast. This was included in our stay and let me tell you Vlad, your dad took full advantage of it. I had scrambled eggs, ham, toast, an omelet, pancakes, and anything else I could get my hands on. You had pancakes and got full. Your mom had a fulfilling breakfast as well. We were all stuffed. We got ready and headed out for our day. First stop was Old Town and this time we found adequate parking. We looked around and took pictures while your mom had to deal with buffet remorse along the way. We stayed there for a bit and then headed down to the Gas Lamp district in downtown San Diego. We looked around, went to the mall, and then eventually headed down to Seaport Village. There, we got to see the water, lots of big ships and boats and you enjoyed it. We got a quick and small bite to eat before we decided to head home. I drove, but then I was over overwhelmed by the Sandman. I normally can handle a drive like that, but I was just really sleepy. Your mom put on some of her music that was very monotone and couple that with the fact that she wasn’t really speaking to me led to my eventual demise. I had to switch out with her around Camp Pendleton and she would take over the driving from there. I caught my second wind and so did you because you had fallen asleep. We then headed to our familiar spot, Gondolas, for some pizza and spaghetti. That was the end of our trip. Another great weekend and another great adventure to add to the books!

dpgmarine

Maui 2013

Our Departure & Arrival


4-22-13
Leading up to this vacation, I was pretty nervous about your first time aboard an airplane. I wasn’t sure how you would react once we were upon in the air. The pressure in your ears can be a bit overwhelming and I was afraid that if your ears began to hurt, you wouldn’t know how to handle it or express yourself other than crying relentlessly. The common things people use to combat ear pain is to chew gum, however you do not even know what gum is at this time. We ended up bringing a big bag of chewy fruit candy aka “vitamins” to help you if needed. Our plane was to take off at 530pm. We were there early and the anticipation continued to build. While we were sitting at LAX, we even saw the great Reverend Jesse Jackson. Finally, it was time to board and the moment of truth. You were very excited to see the big airplane and to have a window seat. We would soon embark on our five and a half hour journey to Maui. The view from the window seemed to entertain you and once we were up in the air, a sense of relief came over us as there were no indications of any ear pressure problems so far. Of course, we still had the descent in Maui to worry about, but that wasn’t for a few more hours. You played on your Ipad for most of the trip and then settle in for a short nap. We arrived around 800pm Sunday night. Again, there were no issues with your ears so that was a welcomed outcome. We found our way to our luggage and then it was off to locate our rental car. While at the rental place, I was told that the cost of insurance for the week was almost two hundred dollars. Tired and just wanting to leave, I reluctantly accepted it just in case. Little did I know the importance of that decision! Now, we were on our way trying to locate our home for the next week. We arrived and finally made our way into our townhome. Wow! It was actually bigger than the home we live in here in Downey. You immediately began to run around the place seeing as you had much more space to do. We were all very excited and glad to have made it safely. We did a little unpacking, but we were tired and decided to call it a night. Our adventures would kick off the next morning.
















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Halloween 2013

Today we went over to your friend Camilla's house. There was a small Halloween get together which included a jumper. You started off as a scarecrow. That quickly changed after you saw the jumper. The weather was unseasonably warm so we had to strip your scarecrow outfit down a bit. You ended up looking like a clown. A few of your other friends were there as well. There was Ryan, Jacqueline, and Mercedes. You had a blast!




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Duck and Scoot

We took you to the famous duck park after we picked you up from school today. We brought along your scooter since you haven't really had a chance to ride it in a while. You looked like you've been riding it everyday. You really enjoyed it, but as always you also wanted to do some of your favorite other things. This included riding on the swing and play on the slide.

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Motorcycle

You have become quite the expert at this motorcycle game on your Ipad. I tried it a couple of times and crashed over and over. You take over and completely wipe the floor with me. I am once again amazed at how fast you can pick up certain things. This was shot with the intention of sending it to your mom while she was away for a couple of days, but it never happened. She can check you out here though.

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Pin Pals

Today was quite the day for you Vladimir. We took you to the bowling alley for the very first time. We went down to the Keystone Lanes on Florence. You had never tried bowling before so we weren't sure how you would react. We got there really early because it was only $1 per game and you know your papa is real smart about his money! Well, after we got our shoes and lane it was off to see who had their "A" game. It became clear that you liked what you saw once the various bowling balls started striking down the pins throughout the bowling alley. We finally got our game set up which consisted of you, your mom, and myself (V-Dude, M Bear, and P Bear). We had the bumpers come up when it was your time to bowl and off you went. The ball was a bit heavy, but you were able to manage it with two hands. You had a slow start, but then you got the hang of it. You even managed to roll the ball down the wrong lane at one point. Another thing that became apparent was that your mom must have left her "A" back at the house because she wasn't doing so well. Now, that's not to say that I was lighting the world on fire, but I was doing a lot better than your mom. Let's just say that there were enough gutter balls coming from your mom that I even considered putting up the bumpers for her. I was able to finally get the first strike between the three of us and not to be outdone you were sly enough to actually get your own strike. Your mom came close, but left one pin stand on a couple of occasions. All and all, we had a great time. We ended up being there for about two hours and you were really happy. I think you'd actually enjoy going back for another few rounds with us. Maybe your mom can secretly go back without us and practice her game. : ) Shortly thereafter, we took you down to the La Mirada pool so you could swim your booty off which you thoroughly enjoy doing. You had a blast as always and we ate at our favorite pizza place Gondolas to top off the day. Another awesome adventure in the books!

dpgmarine

Secret Shopper

You love going with me to pick up groceries at our local supermarkets. Here you are at Stater Bros. where you always like to grab a basket and take charge of collecting our items. You already know where all the stuff is within the store.

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South Gate return

Well, we decided to take you to the revamped South Gate park which looks a lot different than when we used to peruse the area in the past. However, some stuff stayed the same. I won't get into that right here. Here we are at the hand ball courts tossing around your blue ball. It was a rather windy day which explains why the ball was flying all over the place. You had so much fun!

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Me against you and mama

Here we are playing air hockey against each other. You did pretty well!

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