Local park...

Denny and I took the kids out and stopped by the local park on the way back. We txt'ed Florence to see if Charlie was available to play. Funny thing is they were already on their way back home from the same park. Their house happen to be across the street, but they took the long way home and got my msg just in time. So they stopped by and we all hung out a bit to let the kids play. Denny took a few photos of the kids at play.

I like how Charlie and Jason had coordinated camo on.

The each took a turn down the slide.

I like this moment Denny caught of Jason. He took Charlie's hat and put it on his head, and prepared to slide down.

Terrence was busy going around in circles with Charlie's tricycle.

He wanted to push Charlie. I am there to ensure no obstacle gets in their way. You know how those pesky bushes likes to jump out at you.

The two boys...

Just sharing a couple of snaps of the boys. They are growing up way too fast. Terrence has been attending preschool twice a week for a 3hrs each day. Julie volunteers every other week. I think it's a cool experience to be able to watch your kid in class. This year, there is an imbalance in that there are 12 boys and only 3 girls.

Terrence is towards the bigger end of the scale among the boys. The kids who aren't quite 3yrs old yet are accompanied by a parent while attending class until they are 3 yrs of age. This past Thursday, Julie said it was a rough start to the morning. It's been three weeks and there is one kid who still isn't quite used to going to school. He cries every time and the poor parents don't know what to do. That's ok, it isn't gonna always be this way.

Then there is another kid who just turned three, so it'll be her first day without the parent. She too cried once she realized her parent wasn't coming with her to class. Julie said that all the commotion made some of the other kids look like they wanted to cry too. The teacher with each crying kid in each hand had to walk them to class. But to make the morning even better, the teacher forgot the gate keys. So they all had to trot through the main office, with crying kids and not crying kids in tow. What a scene. Julie said Terrence had a look on his face of not quite sure what to do. From what Julie has witness, Terrence is ever helpful in class. During snack time, as the kids finish up their food...he picks up after them and make sure the trash goes into the right place. When other children are crying, he tries to give them something to calm them down. I think this is because he is the bigger brother to a little one at home. The standing rule is, Terrence is suppose to watch out for Jason. And if Jason cries, then he's can get into trouble too. LOL

Speaking of which...Jason is growing slowly...but surely. In recent days, he's been eating much more and isn't as picky. That helps lift a heavy burden on us and I hope it continues. Sleep wise, he has settled into a routine so that's nice. Before that, sleep time was difficult. So we're glad that phase is far behind us. If we can put some more meat on his bones, we would be happy.

Jason is at the stage where he mimics everything. Sounds, gesture, etc. So sometimes Terrence does things 3yr olds can do and gets in trouble for it because Jason isn't quite able to perform those feats yet. i.e. jumping off a couple steps isn't that big a deal. However, doing it in front of Jason who will likely mimic it is a problem. Oh well, boys will be boys and I try to maintain the fine line of parenting and giving them the independence we had when we were kids. It was definitely a different world back then. Nowadays, us parents are so overbearing. :)

My little super boys...

Heading out the door for some tacos but too funny not to share. Terrence has been going around the house with his blanket claiming to be superman. Not sure where he got that from.

So I found a cape for each of them. This is what we boys do at home. We run around with a cape in our underwear. :) I especially like his mom's reaction when they greeted her at the door.

Local adventure....

Sometimes a little adventure doesn't take us very far or have to be very long. Denny dropped by and wanted to visit the pond by the house. Since Terrence was in school, I grab Jason, a camera and off we went to show Denny where the pond is.

A short hike later, we were at the dam and Denny baited up his hook with earthworms to see if anything is home. I left the walkie talkie with him so we can test it's range and communicate. I took Jason with me and we return home so Julie can head out to work. Along the way, we stopped for a minute or two for some photos.

Photo of the dam from a little trail over the hill. That's Denny on the dam.

Jason on that trail. The little hike up had him huffing and puffing. I did the same once I had to carry him the rest of the way.

He likes to pick up rocks and weeds a long the way. Everything is new and interesting at this age. He saw dragonflies and grasshopper and wanted to chase them.

Enjoying a cold drink with the feet hanging over the edge. Life is good.

Finally at the car and only a few minutes to spare. We quickly took a few photos...because photos are always a good thing to look back upon.

He's not always smiling. Most of the time I get looks like these.

The walkie talkie worked and I was able to talk to Denny from home. Denny ask I wanted to keep a bluegill he just caught. This is the first fish I have seen out of this pond. At least we know they are there. Back he goes to grow.

Denny later reported in, saying he caught a smaller Largemouth Bass before calling to ask about lunch with this just legal size Largemouth. 12.25"

Just the perfect size for soup...which fed both of us, my little man J with left over for Julie. Lunch was soooo good and we BTF are crazy like that about fresh fish.

Anyways, that little adventure and change of pace must have stirred up an appetite in Jason. Usually the difficultly slow eater, he was woofing down his lunch. Ate at least 3x the amount he normally eats. It's so fun to be able to just visit the local hiking trails like these in our own backyard.

Fun sunday...

Last sunday, my family came down to visit. After having an early Pho lunch courtesy of Julie, the kids napped. After the each woke up we took them to work off their energy at the local splash park.

Afterwards, we headed to La Jolla Shores just before sunset. Unfortunately, the marine layer made it less than steller. But we got to see some kayaks return through the surf. One of the kayak fisherman had a nice Yellowtail. I asked Terrence if he wants to hold the fish and he did. So here's the photo with Nancy helping out because the fish is too big for him to lift himself.

Susan telling Calvin he should sit on the water spout.

Funny sequence...

Bonito frenzy...

Moving photos around and came across this photo taken on a trip to the Coronado Islands in years past. We weren't at our destination yet when we saw bait boiling. Always a good sign as the predator fish herds the bait fish into a ball. And with nowhere to go except up, you see fantastic explosion of big fish and small fish like these.

The Bonito was feeding so fanatically, they were often out of the water. Sights like these are definitely a good sign at the beginning of a fishing trip. That's for sure! It gets us all pump up and we had to leave the feeding frenzy to go chase down the targeted game fish, hoping for a fantastic day.

Make sure to click to get a bigger view of the chasing bonito. I wish I had a longer lens with me during these times.

Remember back when...

Remember the fun we used to have on the boat that is no more? Recently, Lee decided to trade our 20' Center Console boat for a car that they much needed. I rather we held on to the boat because it's worth infinitely more to me than it's monetary value on the market. But I also understand their present need for a land vehicle. However, I like to think that I work hard to free up the time to be able to enjoy boat rides in La Jolla like Memorial Day of '06.

This was Julie's first trip on the boat. Looking back at the photos, it's crazy how much we forget without images like these to remind us.

Remember back when Julie drove the boat while we fished?

(Not sure how Denny could be in the photo taken from the previous angle and also insert himself in this photo taken from a totally different angle.) Guess Denny must really like to see himself in photos. LOL

Remember when Julie went bendo?

And what her resulting catch on the boat was? A beautiful bonito.

Remember Julie taking her turn at gaffing a fish?

Remember her first swing and the missed gaff? The fish is fast when it's at the surface. Even experience fisherman miss gaff all the time.

But Denny still got the fish in the end. A bigger grade La Jolla Bonito. Looks like a headshot judging by the blood.

Remember how we did on that trip? Who said having a women on board a boat is bad luck?

Photos like these definitely bring back memories and help us to remember that day. That's why it's so important to document our life as much as possible. Cheers!