The Chef Family: May 2010

5/31/10

A Wii Addition

Yes, the Chef family now owns a Wii. Let's be honest, it's not for our 2-year-old daughter either. I'm sure the Iron Chef and myself will be found many a nights in the future playing wii games until our eyeballs are about ready to pop out!

The Iron Chef opted to purchase the black wii because it blends with his PS3 and all of our other electronic equipment we already own. Great thinking, hubby!

We figured this would be a fun and entertaining thing to do together as a couple in the evenings when the littlest Chef is in bed sleeping. Usually we are busy prepping for the following day, cleaning, laundry, etc ... but I guess that stuff will just have to wait until the initial "fun" period is over with this game.

Wii is definitely a fun filled, action packed video game and I actually feel like I am burning a few extra calories instead of just watching a screen. Wishful thinking, right?

5/25/10

Justin Bieber - Baby Song

Apparently even toddlers get Bieber Fever.

Ms. A downloaded the song, Baby, on my cell phone. I "made" her listen to it, now she's learning the words. Go figure!

This one is a little slow in the beginning. She starts "singing" at about 38 seconds.

5/20/10

Dancing Machine

A little bit of Ms. A and her dancing. These little toddlers are definitely the cutest when they are "dancing" and man oh man, is it organized chaos or what!?

If you go to our family youtube sight, you'll be able to see a better video. Blogger cut off part of the video and it's hard to see our little sunshine in her black shoes. :)

If you look closely in the videos, you can see Ms. A's hair cut. I still haven't gotten around to posting hair cut pictures. Stay tuned for photos!

5/18/10

Mr. Sun

We've been spending a lot of time w/ Mr. Sunshine these days. I'm not going to lie, living in California is pretty darn nice. Actually, I'm really starting to love it. Hot summer weather in May? I think I'll take it. At this rate I think I'll be buying stock in suntan lotion and swimming diapers because we are definitely going through those like the speed of light.

And yes, of course, another swimsuit. I must thank one of Ms. A's friend, "K", for passing down this ladybug hat. It's adorable and matches one of the suits Ava already had. Now, she has the entire gymboree ladybug ensemble as one of her pool suits.

After I posted this picture I realized how LARGE Ms. A's feet look. I don't think they are big. She's in a size 5 shoe. Is that big for a 2 year old toddler? I have no clue. I guess the croc type shoes she have on are a little big for her feet ...

5/16/10

Pippi?

Pippi Longstocking is coming into your town! Or, apparently to a town near Sacramento for the time being. Ms. A has been really wanting to dress herself, choose her clothes and accesorize.

This is what she ended up looking like the other day.

Yikes! I couldn't help but to think she looked like Pippi Longstocking in her hodge podge ensemble.

5/15/10

A-ism

I decided I'm going to start blogging A-isms. From here on out, an A-ism refers to something Ms. A says. Since she's starting to really talk, the words that come out of her mouth are completely hilarious (sometimes) and othertimes make absolutely no sense at all. Like today, for example.

It goes like this ...

Me (the Sous Chef): Ms. A, what are you eating! (it looked like she was chewing on her tongue, but I had to make sure that's what it really was).

Ms. A: Looking at me with her tongue rolling she replies, "SALSA!"

Oh my goodness. At least she has a good imagination and putting her new vocabulary words to good use.

She also jumped off the couch for the first time tonight, too. We've tried to hinder "playing" on furniture and have kept her quite contained (as much as you can for a toddler) around furniture, but apparently she decided tonight was the night to try it. She landed, thankfully, and in one piece.

Toothbrush Queen

If there was a contest for the most toothbrushes, I think Ms. A would have won! I think this girl has a toothbrush fetish. :) I was cleaning out a bathroom drawer and found all of these ...

Many of them ended up getting tossed because they were so worn, but I had to laugh and chuckle to myself. How on earth does a 2-year-old toddler end up with so many toothbrushes in her bathroom?

This is only one drawer and doesn't include those downstairs or in the master bathroom.

Time to do a little spring cleaning here at the Chef household.

5/13/10

Backyard Fun

I snapped a few of these photos a couple days before Ms. A had her hair chop! I say chop because it's short. Really short. With the summer months full of pool dates and lots of suntan lotion, the longer hair was getting a little too stringy for my liking. Thus, a haircut. It's a cute summer 'do and will keep her cool in the hot California sun. (Picture to come later w/ haircut). For now, enjoy the free spirited Ms. A in our backyard.

5/11/10

San Fran & Baseball Game

Another one of our mini excursions recently was to San Francisco. We did a few of the touristy things (as usual since we're still newbies in the city) but also managed to see a baseball game as well.

AT&T Park was beautiful. I must admit, even better than Safeco Field in Seattle. The ball park is nicely tucked into the bay, with water views along the back side. There's a perfect view of one of the marinas.

And, on the opposite side, is a cove like bay where kayakers, boaters, and people on rafts sit in hopes of catching a home run ball. I was amazed to see how many people were floating out there for the entire game. The stadium is on the right hand side of the picture. You can just see the sidewalk/edge of the stadium.

The baseball game.

One of the new stops we made in San Fran this time was China Town. It definitely worth the stop,too! I found a few $5 pashminas and a few other finds as well.

As for the touristy things, yes, we drove over the Golden Gate bridge and saw the city from afar.

As usual, San Francisco was a treat and we'll be back again soon!

She Knows Her "Name"

She FINALLY knows her name ... This video of her saying her "name" is incredibly late on being posted, but too cute to not capture on video. Ms. A's dance teacher thinks her new name will end up sticking with her for a long time. Instead of her real name, people are now referring to her as Yaya!

5/10/10

Balloon Fun

Balloons for a birthday party take home favor were a definite treat for this little girl. She played with them nonstop the entire afternoon.

5/8/10

Happy Mom's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to our favorite moms ~ Mimi and Nana ~ and all the other moms out there, too! Hugs and kisses and lots of love from the littlest Chef (and the rest of us, too)!!!

Belated Cinco de Mayo

Ms. A enjoying a little sal-sa.

5/7/10

Bucket 'o Fun

Another day at the pool ... another new suit. :)

5/6/10

Muir Woods National Forest

Another one of the beauties in life - Redwoods and Sequoias. Although we haven't made the actual trek up to the Redwood National Forest yet (the Chef family wants to drive through a tree) we did make a pit stop to Muir National Forest. A redwood is a redwood is a redwood and man are they HUGE!

The trees overpower the land, the shrubs and the little ferns growing underneath.

5/5/10

Yes, we went to Napa

Napa Valley was absolutely amazing. Words cannot simply describe the beauty and the "feeling" described by visiting this beautiful place. I've always heard about Napa and all the wineries, and during our Dec visit to Napa, we only experienced the drive in the middle of the winter, so nothing can quite compare.

In fact, I had a hard time picking a few pictures for the blog post because so many of them were my favorites. I did limit it to just a handful, however.

What I did not realize, was how large of an area Napa Valley consists of. Our favorite wineries were actually not even located in Napa, but the surrounding towns of St. Helena, Calistoga, and the list goes on and on. We visited Napa Valley, and a few other locations, recently when the Iron Chef's brother was in town.

Robert Mondavi Winery.

Beringer Winery.

Turnbull

Francisco

Freemarket Abby

Sterling

Chateau Montelena

Some winery that had only Ports available.

And in case you're wondering what a 2-year-old does at a winery? She plays with her jewelry, prances around in the vineyards and receives "vintage h20" for her tastings. It's hard to believe how many places this little girl has already traveled to and experienced, and at such a young age.

Probably the picture that describes it all, is seen below.

Nothing like realizing that several people on the road are driving and 'tasting' as they go along. Towards the end of the day, most cars were parked like this.

Apparently everyone was having fun. Fun indeed we did have.

And the best part? We're going back there again in a few weekends. :)

5/3/10

Another Suit

Swim season is in full effect. The water heater is on full blast, the weather has been consistently in the 80's, and Ms. A is becoming quite a swim fashionista with all of her suits.