best day

Yesterday was the Thanksgiving feast at Little Miss J's school. I signed up to help in the kitchen to work off my indentured servitude parent hours - so I slung mashed potatoes for a little less than an hour before I went to get Little Miss J from the classroom and have lunch with her. She was so excited to have mom at school with her. 

Since school closed at 2:00, I decided to take the remainder of the day off. I was thinking I would have time to run some errands, but instead decided to take Little Miss J to the movies. Before the movie we, however, managed to pick out a Christmas present for Appah. When I asked what we should get him, she said, "Something blue that is good for adults." Ummm ... a bottle of Sky Vodka? We ended up narrowing it down to a "blue play shirt," also known as a blue shirt that isn't for work. I let her pick it out and boy, does that kid have expensive taste. Thankfully, I managed to talk her down from the $90 Ralph Lauren polo shirt. IT'S JUST A POLO SHIRT, PEOPLE! During the movie, I managed to make some good headway on one of the scarves I'm knitting as a Christmas gift for a special someone, who sometimes reads this blog, so shall remain nameless - and no, it's not Gus.

After the movie, since I wasn't sure on the proper etiquette of bringing your 5 year old to happy hour, we settled on a snack at Ambrosia. Then we headed back to the office for about an hour until Gus was done working. I put my little assistant to work!

It was the best day just spending it with my little girl. She is always asking why I don't come help out at school, and the real answer is because I'M WORKING! My boss is so good about letting me sneak out to do stuff with the kids though. He's a real family man himself. 

At no point during the remainder of my lifetime on this earth, will I ever look back and wished I spent more time chained to the desk in my office (at least I got a stand up desk). Little Miss J and I had the best day together, and I wouldn't have traded it for a larger bonus, more recognition at work, a promotion, or pretty much anything else (except maybe winning Mega Millions?).

san diego

Chunglunds descended upon San Diego for a long weekend! The last time I was in San Diego was spring break of my senior year in college, when I took the cash that my dad gave me to buy myself something nice and got my belly button pierced. Nothing quite that exotic happened on this trip, but we had some good clean family fun.

We went to Seaworld. Yes, yes, I know. I have read the book and watched the movie - but I still wanted to go. Having that knowledge definitely changes your perspective though. The kids loved the dolphin show. The killer whale show was meh. It was mostly a PR move to combat the bad press from the book/movie. 

The San Diego Zoo was awesome. We saw tons of animals and got some serious walking mileage in. J2 napped for the first part and I was feeling badly because he was missing the animals, but he woke up just in time for the elephants - so all he really missed were giraffes and koalas.

After our experience at Seaworld, we made a stop at Target to pick up a harness for J2. Judge away, if you must, but it kept him safe and gave me peace of mind that I wasn't going to lose him while I was looking at signs, maps, or elephants. 

My favorite thing we did on the trip was head to La Jolla for some beach time. It was J2's first time at the ocean and Facebook reminded me that on that same day three years ago, we were in Palm Beach and it had been Little Miss J's first time at the ocean. I think we shall henceforth celebrate Chunglund Beach Day on November 9th. Unfortunately, we unprepared for how much the kids would want to go in the water. I started by pushing up the cuffs on J2's pants and by the end I had him stripped down to the diaper. Hearing him yell, "it's coming, it's coming. BIG ONE" as the waves rolled in was the best.

love this photo where J2 is standing in Gus's shadow

sand angels

Gus's favorite part was probably finally getting to see his hometown team play football, and he even got club level seats.

While Gus was at the football game, the kids and I went sunset chasing.

On our last day we headed to the U.S.S. Midway. Very cool.

J2's favorite part of the trip was the bus ride from Enterprise back to the airport. When the bus stopped at the terminal, he flung himself across the seat crying, "NOOOO!" because he didn't want to get off. 

Such a fun trip with these two munchkins!

Halloween 2015

Halloween was so much fun that my kids are still watching videos of Halloween songs on YouTube. J2 can be found yelling, "Halloween trick or treat" at iPad Siri, who mysteriously responds in Korean. Little Miss J has declared that Halloween is her favorite day and she wishes every day was Halloween.

Like my kids Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Not because of all the candy or the creepy decorations but because our little neighborhood get together is one of my most cherished traditions, even though I've only been partaking for four years. Out little block is simply the best for Halloween. My neighbor, the hostess with the mostess, puts on a fabulous dinner spread complete with much needed cocktails and wine. It is truly the perfect trifecta - good friends, good food, and good drinks. G Street Rocks!

This is by no means meant to imply that it is not chaotic. Trying to get kids who are amped up to start roaming the neighborhood to sit down and eat is no easy feat. Scrambling around for to go cups and making sure there are enough adult provisions in J2's wagon, perfecting costumes, herding toddlers, opening glow sticks, it's not even really controlled chaos - but it's so much fun. 

This year, I had Daniel Tiger and the Incredible Hulk. 

Little Miss J had so much fun with our neighbor girl, Karly, that she barely even noticed we were there. Karly was so sweet taking her around trick or treating and making sure she didn't stray too far.

J2 insisted on being carried up to people's doorsteps, and once there wouldn't say trick or treat. He did, however, say thank you when he was given candy. Small victory. After about three houses, he was content to sit in the wagon and play with glow sticks. He got quite the neighborhood tour that night. 

He probably would have been happier at home with Halmoni and Harabogee handing out candy. Because this is what happened when we left their house ... the kid loves his grandma and grandpa.

Little Miss J got so much candy, she dumped her bag twice during our tour. This year, inspired by Nikki, we instituted the great candy trade. Little Miss J filled a snack sized bag with her favorites in exchange for a new toy and we donated the rest of the candy to my office.

Halloween is over and this supermom is on to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thank you for another wonderful Halloween, East Sac and G Street!