Monday, August 29, 2011

Hurricane Irene / Calvin's Birthday

The day after Calvin's 1st birthday hurricane Irene hit the NJ/NY area. First the shockwaves of the first earthquake to hit the east coast in over a century and then a hurricane - Calvin definitely knows how to celebrate his birthday...Luckily our area of NJ didn't really have any serious flooding, just some uprooted trees and power outages. There was a tree across the street from us that got uprooted from someone's lawn. I'm surprised (but grateful) that with all of the trees across the street from our house from the park none of them fell on our house.


Since we lost power we headed over to my sister's house in Bridgewater since they still had power. We were there for about 3 days. Calvin spent most of that time playing with his cousin Maddy.

Or, I guess in their case, playing around each other.

One afteroon we even took the 2 of them out to the little playground in my sister's complex. They had little baby swings we were able to put them in. Although Maddy seemed to enjoy it much more than Calvin.





On Tuesday, Calvin's birthday, we started out the day at my sister's. Maddy was sent off to her other grandma and grandpa's house. So it was just me and Calvin together in the empty house.

By the evening time, power was restored to the area around our house, so we headed back. There was another brief power outage after we arrived home, but thankfully that only lasted for about an hour before power was restored for good. Even with all of the power outages, we still managed to celebrate Calvin's birthday with a little ice cream cake.


Let's hope that not all of Calvin's birthdays bring natural disasters...

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Calvin's 1st Birthday Party

We had a small birthday party for Calvin's 1st birthday the weekend before his actual birthday (Aug 30). We dressed him up in his new Rocky shirt from cousin Kevin.


Grandma was feeding Calvin some watermelon while we waited for Calvin's friend Van to arrive.


Instead of cooking we decided to order in from Famous Dave's, an American barbeque place. We ordered ribs, brisket, chicken, biscuits, and a bunch of sides. It was definitely a lot of food. And the whole house smelled like barbeque for a whlie.

While all of the grown ups ate the babies were busy playing. This time they almost seemed like they were actually playing with each other for a change, instead of just playing around each other.

At one point Phil was carrying both Calvin and Van around. He said he wanted more kids, so this is good practice for him. ^__~

Then it was time for Calvin's birthday cupcake, which he wasn't allowed to eat T__T. Poor Calvin. Maybe next year.



After all of the eating and playing there was a little napping. Maddy was so tired she fell asleep in her mom's arms.



Finally it was present opening time.

Calvin seemed more interested in the tissue paper and the boxes than the actual gifts themselves, but they did have fun trying to get the rolling dinosaur my mom bought out of the box.

Once all of the gifts were unwrapped the kids had fun playing with all of the toys. Maddy seemed to be having a blast.

A very low key party for his 1st birthday, but I think it turned out well. Besides, he wouldn't have remembered even if we did end up throwing him a big party, and I think he had just as much fun just hanging out with his cousin Maddy and his buddy Van. Maybe we'll have a bigger party for his 2nd birthday. ^__^

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Uncle Ringo's BBQ

It's towards the end of the summer, which can only mean one thing - time for Phil's Uncle Ringo's barbeque. Last year was rainy, and it was rainy again this year, so no volleyball in the backyard. There was still a lot of food though - kabobs, corn, ribs, sausages, hot dogs, lots of fruit (including durian, the stinky sewage smelling fruit), and tons of other food I can't remember. They happened to redo their kitchen recently too, so it looked really nice.



Phil's cousin, Kevin, bought Calvin a Rocky shirt for his birthday. I think Phil was more excited about the shirt than Calvin was.


Calvin spent most of the time there going up and down all of their stairs...





He looks like such a big boy sitting on the chair at the big people table.

There was a slight incident with Calvin's archnemesis, Kevin. Some insults were exchanged, resulting in a punch to the face by Calvin, in true Rocky fashion. (with some assistance from Lucia of course)

After a lot of talking and eating it was time for dessert. They had bought a birthday cake for Calvin since his birthday is coming up, and they made a cake for Kevin whose birthday is in early September.

Happy Birthday Kevin and Calvin!




Saturday, August 20, 2011

Hong Kong Noodle

We had a short trip into NYC and had a quick lunch with cousin Lucia. Since it was just the 3 of us plus Calvin we headed to the Hong Kong noodle place. It's a chain restaurant where you get to customize your noodles. Calvin seemed interested with them putting together the noodle bowls. Probably wondering which one he gets to eat.


Lucia with her noodle soup and chicken wings.




It was pretty hot outside, so instead of noodle soup I opted for their sticky rice, which was actually pretty good.



Phil's noodle soup with beef, fish balls, and I think that's an egg...



They charge you per item that you add to the bowl aside from the noodle. As long as you don't add too many things it's not too expensive.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Babysitting

Over the weekend our friends Thanh and Michael needed some time to move, so we offered to help babysit their son, Van. Maddy came over to join the fun. Calvin and Maddy were both anxiously waiting for Van's arrival at the stairs.




We had to do a simultaneous 3 baby changing, so Maddy and Van had to wait their turn for their diaper changing in Calvin's crib. Looks like a party to me!

The 3 babies played fairly well together, when they weren't ignoring each other. We even caught them in a group clapping session. It seems like clapping catches on quickly - as soon as one baby starts to clap, they all want to clap.




Calvin and Van didn't play too well in the basement though. They kept fighting over the workout ball...




Eventually Van decided to play with the rocking horse instead.



Later in the afternoon all of the babies got sleepy. Fortunately for us they got tired around the same time, so we were able to put them down for their naps one at a time, and get some grown-up rest time. Maddy got to nap in the guest bedroom (sporting her awesome "I Love Wesley Crusher" onesie.

Van got to nap on the floor in our bedroom.


The lesson is that 3 babies at once is no easy task. It's good practice though if we plan on having more kids ^__^


Thursday, August 11, 2011

Playtime in the Park

We had a playdate scheduled for Calvin to hang out with his buddy, Van. Before Van even arrived he was already getting into trouble. Just look at that face - that is the face of someone who is up to no good!
We took the boys to the park across the street from our house. Calvin was feeling anti-social, as usual...

He did attempt to practice some walking on his own, but I think the sandals still give him a bit of trouble with his balance.

Van has been walking for months now (ever since he was 9 months old), so he is a walking pro by now. He was all the way across the field in a matter of minutes. I feel bad for his mom since she's the one that has to keep up with him.


We ran into another baby who was out on the field having some fun.





Calvin ignored her for the most part, but her and Van seemed ready to play.



After letting the babies run around on the field for a while we took them over to the swings.


Next it was onto the slides. Apparently Van loves slides.




Calvin had never been on the slides before, so I think he was a little scared, especially of the covered one.



But we managed to get him to go down the slide together with Van. I guess daddy didn't realize there was a bump in the middle of the slide...



Once we got back home to wind down for the afternoon, the boys went back to fighting over toys. I guess boys will be boys...