Covid Testing & Holiday lights

Since being back from Minnesota, we decided it would be a good idea to get tested for Covid.  We should have set an appointment when we first got back since we couldn't find any same-day appointments. Sheesh! So we decided to drive out to Long Beach and ended up in a line for testing.  I almost feel like we are even more exposed to Covid this way!

But first off, check out all the snow cap mountains in the distance:

There's probably even more snow now as it rained all week this week!  We probably had about 2-3 inches of rain. The sun is finally just out today!

Here's our line for Covid testing. Urgh:

Thank goodness there was a bus stop bench along the line so we could rest our legs from all that standing:

And instead of everyone waiting around in line, we decided to leave Bobby and go look for some food. Thank goodness for the cafe just down the street.  The boys devoured the PB&J sandwich:

What a cool mural along the way:

I'm don't think we will ever stand in line again ever for a Covid test.  I was quite anxious.  And then someone else entered the room while we were testing i.e. had our masks down.  YIKES!!  We probably waited over 1.5 hours in line and then a little bit longer after that - waiting on the results for our Rapid Test.  Still no news on our PCR test yet and that was about 5 days ago now :-(

Phew, now that that is done, we are off to our little surprise for the boys.  We told them we would see some holiday lights.  And hmmm, traffic jam!  We are sending Graham to see what how many cars are ahead of us:

Yup, looks like Bobby decided to take the long way around and the only way to get over now is on a little baby ferry.  Ha!

Who knew this even existed!?  Okay, we're finally next!

Okay, here goes:

The boys and I get out of the car while we are on the ferry:

Daddy is staying put in the car:

It's a pretty quick ferry ride so all of us are back in the car within a few minutes:

We find parking on this side and we are off back towards the pier.  I made everyone wear a Santa hat even though it's already the day after Christmas.  Much easier to spot them this way :-)

We've actually been here a couple of times but never walked this far down.  Who knew all of this play stuff existed.  Ha!

You can barely see Charlie's eyes.  Ha ha, silly fella.  And the two ferries are just on the water in the background:

Huggie time while waiting to get on our boat.  Looks like the boys have figured out what we are doing now:

Ready to get onboard!

Graham was fast to try and get a better view, even if it meant being away from his family.  Hmm...

And he was peeking into the captain's cabin.  That's probably the other reason why he was in that corner by the front:

Woah, quite some houses and boats over here in New Port Beach:

Check out this house for sale that we saw.  Are you kidding me??! YIKES!!  Who are these people that buy properties like these:

Beautiful sunset:

Just one more of the sunset :-)

Looks like this is as far as we go, before getting out there into the Pacific Ocean:

There's a beach down there!

The boys go down to get some snacks and looks like they decided to stay on the bottom deck:

Cool U.S. Coast Guard boat - it's named "Narwhal".  Even cuter!

This must be the "I am cold" look from Bobby:

Pretty lights!

Boys are keeping warm with some hot chocolate.  Brrr... it was a cold night:

OMG, check out this house!

I thought that maybe the boats would be lit up but even so, I'm surprised that not more houses had Christmas lights up:

I'd hate to be that person wrapping up these palm trees with lights.  Looks like it would be a tough job:

Pretty stretch here. Even the piers are all lit up:

Fun night!

One last photo with our masks off.  We waited until almost everyone left the top deck:

We went to look for some dinner and found a tiny sushi restaurant.  Charlie insisted on his soft shell crabs.  This kid, I tell you: 

The first lot had a spicy sauce on it so Mommy was more than happy to take that share off Charlie's plate :-)

As if dinner wasn't enough, the boys spot a crepe place across the street from the restaurant:  Wow, talk about sugar load!

We didn't stick around the store to eat it, but had no troubles finishing it up in the car:                                 

      

No wonder it was so cold today during the boat ride. Woah, 44F tonight!

Looks like this will be my last post for the year of 2021.  Happy New Year everyone!  

Let's hope that 2022 will be a better one - especially with this whole Covid pandemic. The numbers have actually gotten quite bad this past week or so.  The Omicron variant has definitely created quite the havoc with more positive cases, continued hospitalization, and also lots of flight cancellations.  I'm so glad we got our trip to MN when we did.  Might be our last flight for a little bit again.  Urgh! Stay safe everyone!!

Merry Christmas!!

It's finally Christmas!  Graham and Charlie woke us up probably around 8:30am or so.  I guess they couldn't wait any longer, especially when Mommy LOVES to sleep in :-)

Looks like Santa did love all his cookies:

No, I actually had Bobby put them back into the tupperware instead of actually eating them at 10pm.  Ha ha!

Graham and Charlie are ready to dig into their Christmas socks:

The boys even got some present from their English "uncle" Ben and "auntie" Ara:

Ohhh,... an emergency bracelet and also the boys' first Swiss Army knife. Fancy :-D

It never fails to amuse me how Bobby wraps presents.  Definitely from him this one:

Wooo... Mommy likey.  Thank you boys!

Awww, so sweet.  The boys (including Daddy) picked out a new charm that's got a rocket on it.  It's called "A trip to the Galaxy".  They thought it was most appropriate since we just saw the rocket launch in Vandenberg right before Thanksgiving Day:

The number of charms on  my bracelet is slowly adding up.  It's like the gift that keeps on giving :-D And by the way, the hummingbird (on right side) is also a new Christmas present. Love it!

The boys bought something special for Daddy too.  Don't you just love the way we've been wrapping present? Any present that are NOT from Santa will be in some sort of recyclable form i.e. paper bag or cardboard box:

Looks like Daddy loves his new pancake pan!

He also got this "Lucky Tiger" after-shave from Santa, which he absolutely loves.  He discovered that at the Swim Club this year.  The first time he used it, he was so excited and made everyone smell him. Ha ha!

I guess new clothing just doesn't excite the boys as much anymore:

This is probably more like it for the boys - a cup stacking game.  We'll have to practice so we can have a little competition:

So okay, I don't think this is actually how the game works:

But now that Charlie has started, he just can't stop!

New record!!

Awww... this gift card also has an ornament attached to it:

Thank you Grandma and Pop-pop for the lovely gift cards (and the new Crocs too!):

Charlie wanted a new night light from Santa.  Ta da!!

I really wonder if Charlie actually still believes in Santa.  Graham is really good about faking it, I think for Charlie's sake.  

Graham got a 3D paper panda.  Let's hope he can start and finish this project!

Mommy decided that these boys needed to learn how to cook (and learn the science behind it) so here's a cook book for Graham and Charlie.  Hopefully the boys will cook us a dish someday:

Ohhh, a lovely digital photo frame from a lovely friend/family.  We have so many photos to upload!

Charlie is busy using his knife to cut into one of Graham's presents:

When Graham first saw this box arrive at the house a few weeks before Christmas, he already knew what was in it.  He was already saying "Snowy" is in this one.  Smart little stinker:

Bobby bought the boys a kids' version of crossword puzzles.  Looks like this box is going to live another day from the recycling bin:

Looks like we are almost done opening presents and Graham is immediately playing with the microscope again.  He says he needs to make a scientific discovery.  Ha ha!

Daddy is appreciative of his new book from Momma :-D

Charlie is still playing with the box. Oh, I did make him put on some gloves since everyone knows Mommy's records with tools around this house :-P

Oh my goodness, look at our little crystal tree!

Time for Daddy to make his yummy pancakes with the new pan:

Oooh, these emoji pancakes are too cute!

Another good friend of mine brought some yummy popcorn, which is immediately getting Charlie's attention. This kid LOVES popcorn:

Such a lovely gift basket from my friend! I can't wait to try those new pajamas.  I've been wanting to buy a new one and here it is now :-)

Family we-fie in front of our tree.  It's a good Christmas:

And on top of breakfast, Daddy cooks up some breakfast sausages and also some eggs. He keeps saying it's the BEST eggs and I keep telling him I DON'T LIKE MUSHY eggs.  Maybe he will get the message eventually :-P

In the meantime, Charlie has made a "Book Car".  I'm guessing it's a box car that you can read in. Love it! Except it's so big and where is it going to go in this tiny home???

After a quick meal, we finally get the boys into the garage to bust out the "big" presents from Santa:

Here's the video: https://youtu.be/Wx7WZVKc2-g

Graham is obviously very very happy with his new surfboard:

I thought that maybe his collarbone would have healed by now, but we'll have to wait another month.  Probably best anyway because it's been raining like crazy these past few days and the water is probably choppy and super cold.

And here's Charlie's reaction when he opens up his last present from Santa:

Looks like Charlie is super excited too!  He just couldn't believe how Santa knew almost all the things on his wish-list:

After all the excitement, Graham is back at the microscope:

And Charlie is busy building his Lego:

Looks like Mommy will be busy with some of her own projects/presents too:

Not too long later... Ta da!! Charlie's Lego is all done! 

And our kefir has fermented too.  Ready for some strawberry and banana kefir/smoothie. Yuuummm....

And I told the boys we are doing a dance-off this Christmas.  Daddy is first with Charlie:

This is too cute!

I'm glad Graham's shoulder is feeling better too so he could join in as well:

These videos are precious:

Okay, Mommy's turn.  No laughing! 

I just couldn't stop laughing.  This cat video was just too funny. LOL!! Needless to say, we all had a good time and burned some calories doing it!

Well, now that the dancing is over, it's time to start making dinner.  We did start this new tradition of making our own pasta for Christmas dinner. Looks like Graham and Charlie are having a good time:

Charlie is breaking up the dough into little balls and putting it into the machine, while Graham is in charge of cutting the pasta once it is formed: 

I love that they are participating:

All hands on deck! Looks like Daddy is charge of the camera :-P

Oh boy, looks like we will be eating different lengths of bucatini.  Ha ha!  By the way, Charlie was the one that picked the type of pasta for this year:

Merry Christmas!!

I swear these taste better than they look:

I made some cheesy sauce and it normally turns out much better than this. Not exactly sure what happened.  And this is even my 2nd attempt!  The boys didn't complain though, thankfully:

Oops, we forgot our Christmas crackers, so here's another photo.  Looks like Bobby blocked out part of Charlie, again!

A little bit of after-dinner fun with some filters on my phone:

So cute.  Ha ha ha!

Graham and Charlie obviously decided to have some more fun with Daddy :-D

These photos are definitely keepers.  Yup! ;-)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!