Tether ball House-warming gift

We finally invited our English friends from school over to the house for a playdate.  And they brought over a tether ball!  I didn't realize that I had to actually dig a hole to set the base up.  Ha!

Have to make sure everything is aligned.  Perfect! :-)

Unfortunately, all that concrete mixing gave me a blister on my palm.  And I was even wearing a glove!  I guess it's time to buy a new set of gloves:

Another batch of concrete later...

We put the tether ball pole in there but it was really wobbly.  Oops!  And then, I was trying to figure out how to make it look all pretty.  I managed to find some decorative glass and letter/number stamps.  Who said hoarding doesn't save money.  LOL!!!

In the meantime, there was some extra concrete mix left so I left Graham make another stepping stone:

I wasn't sure how this one would actually turn out because the dish was rather thin.  It looked good for at least just a little moment:

... and unfortunately, I had forgotten that the bottom of the tray had a pattern on it so the entire thing sort of crumbled when I was trying to take it out of the tray.  :-(

But in the meantime, we managed to make our tether ball base really pretty!

I put a few stakes in there and topped it with some extra concrete.  Perhaps it will be a little bit more sturdy??!?  If not, I guess we just have to start all over again!  Although, the boys have been arguing a lot while trying to play tether ball.  Maybe I need to go through the rules with them.  I'm not exactly sure how it all works either!

I just know that if you are not paying attention, the ball can come right at you after you fling it! Ha ha!

Recent happenings

Ahhh... another sleepy photo of Charlie!  I told the boys that instead of watching silly YouTube videos on TV, they should watch some multiplication videos/songs.  Well, it lasted until the 6x multiplications. LOL!

Graham discovered Daddy's old IPod and so I decided to give him his new headphones (before the start of school).  Hopefully he won't break them!  But he goes in such phases... he was listening to so much music that he was even doing it at breakfast :-)

Hopefully he doesn't go in phases with his violin.  So far he has been doing very well, according to his teacher - who tells me he is very smart!  I hope that doesn't get to his head too quickly!

In the meantime, Charlie has already finished his first piano book!

And also continues to be quite the character:

Last week, the boys were so happy being able to be at Parkour camp:

Almost like the American Ninja Warrior show on TV!  Both of them got to "Beat The Wall"!

And then on the other hand, I LOVE quiet moments like this in the library:

Graham and Charlie don't read as much as they should at home but aahhh... this is bliss :-)

Our friends also suggested a bike ride (for the kids) and scooter ride (for the moms) along San Pedro Marina.  That was a lot of fun!  And quite the workout!!!

Another playdate at the house... and guess what all the kids are doing?  Playing on their tablet! Hmmm....  they did jump on the trampoline for a little while prior :-\

A little trip to Vegas recently and I decided to paint my nails.  I thought I would give myself a little challenge and try painting a pattern on my nail.  I didn't have any fancy tools but managed to paint little flowers:

The boys recognized it as a flower and that was good enough for me!  And I had a nice compliment from a lady today as well.  Made my day.  Ha ha!

New robot vacuum

I'm not sure who is more excited about the robot vacuum... me or the boys?!

I think the boys were excited about a new "robot" to play with as it comes with a remote control.  And Mommy was really excited that the boys are participating in cleaning up the floors of their own bedroom and the rest of the house!  Graham even decided to put his favorite stuff-animal "Fluffy" on the robot as it goes around the house.

We'll see how long this excitement will continue.  But in the meantime, I have to say the vacuum robot has been doing a pretty good job!  It does sense the one step down that we have in the living room so it hasn't fallen over (yet).  The only thing that is a bit tricky is the robot does like to grab loose wire so I will need to get as much wire off the floor.  Looks like another trip to the local home improvement store!

Sewing new PJ shorts

I'm not exactly sure how the idea of sewing PJ shorts for Graham and Charlie came about.  Perhaps its because the boys keep running out of PJ shorts for bed (since it's been so warm lately).  And somehow or rather, the PJ sets in the stores are quite pricey!

And since I did have some experience in making family shorts many years ago, I figured I would give it another shot.  Here's the pair of shorts I made for Graham when he was about a 1 year old.  I can still remember him in our backyard of our Broken Arrow (Tulsa) home.  Look at the cutie pie! And I sure miss that big yard:

And I had also forgotten that we had family winter pants too! Here is Bobby modeling monkey-print fleece pants back in January 2011.  That's over 8 years ago!

So here we go again... first step - cutting up the template:

I had to watch several videos to figure out how to actually put the shorts together.  And then, I also had to watch another one to figure out how to thread the sewing machine :-P

Graham wouldn't put his hands on the fabric but both boys helped step on the pedal to run the machine.  Here's the first try!

The shorts are HUGE!  We all had a good laugh.  The shorts was suppose to be for Charlie but looks like these will actually fit Graham better.  After some minor alteration and then sewing in the elastic band, we have our first pair of PJ shorts!

It's been almost a week now since this first pair.  Looks like I have to refresh my memory again on how to sew the 2nd pair for Charlie :-)

LA Natural History Museum

I have been slacking again with updating the blog - perhaps it's because of the heat!  I haven't been very productive as by the time the weather gets cooler, it is pretty much movie time for the boys after dinner and then, it's time to tuck them to bed after.  By then, I would stay up late watching golf, catching up on my HGTV shows, or just watching "nonsense" TV as I call it.  Ha ha!

Anyhow, this trip to the Natural History Museum was about 2 weeks ago.  And this time, I made Bobby drive as I didn't want to get our minivan towed away again!  The museum did have a designated parking garage so thankfully that was quite convenient and a lot cheaper than getting impounded.  And speaking of which, Bobby was paying for the my parking violation/ticket and supposedly we have another ticket as well - with the same date/time stamp. I am guessing it's a mistake but now we have to go to court to fix it??!  Guess I will let Bobby worry about that now since the car is registered under his name :-P

It's our first trip to this museum and already impressed with this big whale in the main entrance!

The architecture in the building is amazing:

And of course, the dinosaur bones are just as impressive!

This preserved eel was quite the sight!!!  Check out the boys' expressions.  LOL!!!  Graham has actually been to this museum once on a field trip in 3rd Grade.

Somehow, I am gravitating toward the amazing architecture in this building.  Check out this elevator!

But then again, check out this display.  Spectacular!

There was a special gems section.   Look at this blue topaz at 4,644 carats!!!

And this quartz crystal ball was like a bowling ball!  Loved how the reflection of Graham and Charlie turned out in this photo :-)

Another preserved sea creature called the Megamouth.  It was caught off Catalina island (as per that previous eel).  Remind me not to go snorkeling in Catalina island!

More dinosaurs on display.  Really impressive!

Charlie is pretending to be a fossil buried in the dirt.  Ha ha!!!

Comparing bone sizes...

What strange looking creatures!  It's crazy to think these used to roam the Earth:

And of course, the this T-Rex looks just like the one in the movie Jurassic Park/World!

I LOVE this photo of all of us :-)

Again, pretty architecture on the ceiling:

I think even Charlie was impressed:

I couldn't quite get a good photo of the stained glass:

We head over to another section of the museum and here is an old gas pump.  I can't imagine having to pump gas into the car using one of these hand cranks!

There is also a small butterfly aviary outside the museum:

 Oddly enough, the boys spent a lot of time here - asking questions:

Graham and Charlie were busy trying to spot butterflies by themselves and comparing them to the butterfly chart.  It was really cute seeing both of them like this - the few rare moments that they are not bickering at each other!

The museum closed at 5pm so we didn't get a chance to check out the other 2 floors of the museum.  Saving those for another day before school starts perhaps.

We try and find a place to have dinner before going to the Griffith Observatory.  There are Public Star Parties about twice a week at the observatory where you can check out the night sky using their telescopes.  I call out a few restaurants that I find on my phone while Bobby is driving and of course, he totally ignores me.  We eventually find a row of restaurants and when we finally makes a few turns around the block and find a parking spot, one of the restaurants which I previously called out is walking distance on the same side of the street!

The patio had a great ambiance but unfortunately, with no reservations we ended up sitting inside.  Nonetheless, the food was fantastic!  We devoured everything!!! :-D

With a full belly, we were ready to tackle the Griffith observatory.  Unfortunately, there was also an event going on at the Greek Theatre next door, so parking was horrendous!!!

Needless to say, we didn't find any parking and decided to just drive home.  Oh well, another night for sky viewing!  Successful day no less as we continue to find new things to do in LA :-)