More Birthday Fun on the Beach

We were actually planning on doing something else (surprise Go-Karting trip) for Graham's birthday weekend but somehow Bobby and I talked ourselves out of it.  Well, first off we were thinking that the place would probably be quite busy on a Sunday.  And then, there was also the PGA Golf Championship going on TV.  Hmm... good news was that Graham didn't know what the surprise was and he wasn't too fussy about just staying home and mowing the yard later.  Ha ha!  He's so easy sometimes. 

Before the end of the day, we went to grab take-out from a restaurant and decided to camp out on the beach for dinner:

We're so lucky to be able to hit the beach in 20-30min!  The main feature is the S'mores pizza pie.  YUM!!!

We also ordered some salami and prosciutto with cheese.  Graham LOVES cheese! 

Family we-fie!  We forgot to take one all together with his birthday apple muffin "cake", so this is it:

Can never go wrong with this S'mores pizza - except for taking too long to eat it.  The crust gets a bit hard once it gets cold!

Time for some kite flying:

At least the boys left the last one slice for Mommy.  Notice all the crust that is not eaten.  Ha ha!

Charlie almost got knocked over by the kite when the kite took a violent dive.  So I guess he is staying out of Graham's way:

There's some crazy person up there grunting... or exercising.  I can't tell but rather weird for sure:

Charlie is practicing his swimming on the sand.  LOL!!! He's a land-shark, especially with that face-mask on :-D

Here's the video.  Charlie is so funny:

More kite flying!  Charlie is participating now.  He's so worried that the line will break and the kite will fly away:

I don't think I have ever seen anyone flying a kite while laying down.  Well, now I have:

Graham is such a character.  I really wonder what he will put us through next year!

Or this little monkey here.  Charlie is getting quite rambunctious too.  Why couldn't I have little girls instead?

Ha ha, just kidding.  I'm suppose to show Graham a video on puberty that was provided by the school.  Oh boy, it's definitely going to start getting interesting!

Another fun weekend.  Graham is already asking if we can go back to the beach this weekend.  It's actually Bob's birthday on Sunday.  We are meeting up with some friends on Saturday for a continuation of Graham's birthday celebration (due to Covid, we are celebrating with 1 family at a time).  And then, a surprise outing for Bobby on Sunday. Should be another fun weekend planned.  The weather will be beautiful again :-)

Happy 11th Birthday, Graham!

Our Graham is now 11 years old!  Can't believe it.  I still remember the day I had to push him out in the delivery room.  Ha ha! Now he's about 4.4ft tall and weighs in at around 82lbs. A bit smaller than average on the height and weight percentile  - probably because he is still such a picky eater!

As per usual like all the birthdays, we've started the day with the birthday card from Grandma and Pop-pop.  Yup, $11 for the 11 year old.  And then, straight to opening presents. This year, Grandma and Pop-pop is giving Graham a 3-month subscription to his favorite Kiwico crate.  He is ecstatic!

Graham actually asked for this Lego set - the Ducati.  I want one of these, like the real one :-P

Here's a little guessing game... a black case, but for what?

Graham has been wanting one of these for ages, actually ever since he saw it back in Abu Dhabi - 5 years ago??!

Okay, now that all the presents are open, Mommy better start getting the cake ready.  This year we are doing apple muffins:

Halfway through measuring the dry ingredients, I find out that I'm totally out of ground cinnamon!  It's a good thing the supermarket is just down the street.  While Daddy walks down the street, I start getting the candy apple mix ready.  Yikes... I'm not sure what we're going to get sick from - the 2.5 cups of sugar or the Red 40??!

I guess I should have followed the instructions on greasing some parchment paper.  It's not quite like making chocolate-covered strawberries where you can put it on wax paper.  I was so totally wrong on this one!

In the meantime, Graham is already busy building his motorcycle.  This boy and his Legos:

Okay, muffins are done!  But now, what shape are we going to make with it?

After a few tries, we finally came up with just creating the letter "G" with all the apple muffins.  I bought one container of regular whipped chocolate frosting and one container of dark chocolate frosting.  I didn't plan that very well because now I have a two-toned "cake".  But check out the 11 candied-apples! Thankfully (and coincidentally) I had 11 little apples to take the place of 11 candles:

Still at it...

Okay, time to get to the pool!  We invited one family to join us for the pool party.  Graham was quick to open up his present from the Forresters. Can't go wrong with a RC car!

It has been over a year and a half since we've seen them all, basically since the Covid lockdown.  Graham is starting out the party with a flip off the diving board :-)

I think I remember taking these photos by the pool side too when I was a kid:

I think this sums up Graham's birthday party.  Ha ha!  Coincidentally, there was another birthday party going on and they had a lot of inflatables to go around: 

After about 1.5 hours in the pool, it was time to have cake.  We made sure to separate one little muffin for Graham so he could blow out his candles:

And the candied-apples were a hit!

I'm so glad this worked out.  Everyone enjoyed the take-out pizza and meatballs from one of our favorite restaurant too.  All the kids wanted to hang out in the sun as it was getting cooler in the evening:

We spent 4 good hours at the pool!  The only thing we forgot were the sprinkles that we had bought for the muffins.  Graham doesn't like sprinkles so I bought some for the other kids.  I suppose these are going back into the kitchen cabinet until Charlie's birthday: 

Can't believe Graham is going to Middle School next year.  It's going to be a whole new ballgame for this kid.  I hope he knows what is expected of him.  This kid... oh geez!

Maybe he can fake his way through Middle school like he did in the video above.  Ha ha! I wonder what we will have to put up with next year.  If anything, at least the school district is already planning on sending all the kids back to a regular schedule and physically back in school.  I have some quiet time to look forward to at home :-)

Oh, one last birthday gift (we're so lucky with 1-day shipping!).  He loves these books!

Charlie just figured out that Runny Babbit actually means Bunny Rabbit.  And that's basically how the poems in this book is written.  Just shows you what sort of humor/kid Graham is.  We officially have a "Tweenager" in the house!

Toilet issues

Our toilet has been clogged since last Friday.  I tried all sorts of stuff - from soap and hot water, to baking soda and vinegar, a couple of new plungers, and a new auger.  I even "snaked" down the kitchen sink - just to be sure as I know that sometimes when the garbage disposer is clogged up, the toilet clogs up too:

I thought it was finally fixed on Wednesday when the toilet actually did flush.  But while flushing, it was making gurgling sounds.  Hmm... that can't be so good, can it?  I thought that maybe plunging again might help... NOPE!  We are still clogged and it was finally time to call the plumber.  Thankfully the company I called had a technician in the area.  He arrived within the hour and first thing he tried was the auger as well.  Eventhough the auger he used was quite a bit longer than the one we used... nope! Talk about a stubborn problem!  Well, he finally brought in some muscle:

The plumber finally had to remove the toilet.  He attached some blades to this cable (of this machine) and put it down into this drain line.  It basically cuts up whatever that is in the way, and it seems that we may have some roots.  Oh boy...

Well, a few hundred dollars here and then a few more as we decided to clean out the main line as well... phew, I need to destress!  Nothing like some "Me time" at the end of the night.  Ha ha!

Figured some polka dots would be cute for the pool side tomorrow for Graham's birthday!  Can't believe my little stinker is going to be 11 years old!!!

By the way, we are still one toilet down.  We didn't have the plumber reset the toilet as we have just ordered a new one.  Although technically, there is really nothing wrong with this one.  Or is there??? We've had several clogs now since we've moved in and I think we will just get rid of it.  Plus the new one will have a dual flush.  Trying to save some water especially with these two monkeys! Or is it three??! :-P

How to Put on a Swim Cap

 I'll just let Graham demonstrate:

Graham has actually gotten even better at this now.  Too funny!  And loves the way he laughs. Charlie on the other hand, puts his swim cap on while his hair is still dry.  I think Graham's way is the way to go :-)

Butterfly in Resin

Remember that dead Monarch butterfly that we found a few weeks ago?  Somehow I had noticed it under some flowers by the front wall when I was getting out of the car.  Anyhow, I finally decided to just put it in resin to preserve it.  I've never worked with resin before, so here goes!

Since we had some color/dye from previous projects, I thought some green color might be nice in the resin:

So, first layer of resin and then put the butterfly in.  The wings are just a bit wide, but we're going to make it fit somehow:

I had Graham and Charlie put a flower each into resin:

Now, pouring in the second layer of resin.  Although I'm not sure if I should have poured it directly on the wings.  Seems like I might have removed the "scales" that creates that vibrant color.  The wings somehow seem more dull now or semi-translucent:

Obviously can't do anything about it now!  But we finally poured 2 more portions of resin and here is it!

I accidentally broke one of the butterfly's antenna so it's a bit off in the resin.  And when we took the resin out of the tupperware/plastic mold, it was a bit sticky along the edges.  But thankfully all of it dried up nicely.  Bobby noticed this butterfly on the bookshelf the other day.  I'm glad he didn't tell us to throw it out :-P

Recent happenings

Seems like quite a few things going on after seeing all these photos on my phone :-)

I was having breakfast the other day and the milk that has collected on the top of the blueberry here totally reminded me of the logo of a very expensive pen! Although the Montblanc's logo has 6 points and it actually represents the snow-covered peak of the highest European mountain - hence, Mont Blanc. Who knew!

It's electronic recycling day!  And I dug up one of my old laptop.  It's so big compared to the current one I have now (to the right):

Unfortunately, the line for the recycling was so long at City Hall we brought everything back home. Ha! More stuff to leave inside the garage.  Urgh.

We went to the mall to buy Graham some fabric for his mortarboard cap (graduation hat) and of course, we always somehow find food. Better eat the chuuuurrrrrrros at the car before they go soggy! Definitely not getting all that sugar and cinnamon inside the car:

Charlie and his cheese crisps!  I'm teaching him how to make them now, preferably with Parmesan cheese:

We were around the Malaga Cove area, so I made the boys take a photo by the fountain:

I still chuckle when I see this part of the water spout.  I never did ask the boys what they thought of it.  Ha ha!

I wonder what part of "Please put it in the compost bin" that Charlie did not understand.  Hmm...

Still debating what to do about the dark cabinets in our dark kitchen.  The lights are always on.  Definitely an on-going project until I find the perfect backsplash as well!

Trying to also figure out how to tie in the tile that we had used on the front steps:

Yeah, definitely have to think about this one some more.

Woah... biggest bag of chocolate chips ever!!!  Bobby uses so much of it when he makes pancakes for the boys on the weekend.  I think this should tie him over for a bit :-)

Forgot to post about the earrings Bobby bought for me for Mother's Day!  I had already put one on before thinking about taking a photo.  Sort of like the berry bowl, I was also in the store when we picked these up.  He he...

Looks like the boys' trampoline mat only lasted 1 year.  It was literally falling apart, spreading all sorts of flakes with the tiniest crumple:

Ahh... much better.  I had to take the poles off but thankfully it wasn't too tricky while leaving the net on:

What an awesome surprise last week when I saw these flowers popping out of our cacti in the front yard.  So pretty!!!

Can't wait for these flowers to bloom too:

I was suppose to bake this during Mother's Day but somehow that didn't happy.  I thought about having Bobby and the boys make it for me while I was out, but figured I better not waste the batter.  Ha ha!  Anyway, the big bag of chocolate chips came in handy here:

Looks like there was no real rum in the rum sauce but that didn't stop anyone from eating the entire batch that same afternoon.  LOL!!!

Okay, maybe I got a little carried away with these ceiling fan pull chains, but aren't they pretty???

Blue for Charlie and red for Graham, since those are their favorite colors:

I bought these for our fan in our bedroom.  I was expecting to be smaller, but I do like the amber on them so we're keeping them for now :-)

As you can see, I've been busy with this shopping spree. Also splurged on this new dish rack.  I love how there's a drainage hole in the middle and it flows towards the sink!

I can finally ditch these mats that are designed to soak up the water, but those stains do not look so promising:

Last but not least, another splurge on a portable clothes line!  It's making hanging Graham and Charlie's swim gear a lot easier:

Phew! Always something going on in this household!!!