New York City 2012

Just got back from the most memorable trip to date!  I knew it was going to be challenging to start off, since this was our first long vacation with the kids alone.  The airport was definitely a challenge, with 7 pieces of luggage and 2 strollers to lug across the airport.  We managed through security and everything without too much trouble.

It was a red eye flight to NY, so it was approximately 9pm when our plane departed.  We were scheduled to arrive in NYC at 5am.  I booked the red-eye thinking the kids would sleep on the plane.  Boy was I wrong!  Alex cried for an hour straight before he fell asleep.  Alana was hyped up!  She was so excited to be on the plane and it was a new experience for her.  Jeff and I didn't sleep much.  We arrived in the City as planned, and caught a cab ride to the hotel.  Good to know, it is a flat rate to take the taxi from the airport to the City.  $52 plus tolls turned out to be $57.

We checked in to our hotel, but there were no rooms available.  So we dropped off our bags and took the kids for a walk.  We walked up Times Square on 7th Ave all the way up to Central Park. It was a nice morning, not too cold.  Alex fell asleep on the way up there, but Alana was wide awake.  So, we stopped by a playground and let her play.  She had so much fun!  We walked all over the park, looking for Central Park Zoo but couldn't find the entrance!  Google maps was not helpful, and there were no signs!  We later found out the entrance is on the east side.  Our legs were so tired, so after Alana fell asleep, we decided to sit for a while.  Our check in time for the hotel was 3pm.. we had a long way to go.  We were both so tired, but couldn't think of a safe place to sleep with the kids.  Finally around 11, we walked back to our hotel and asked for a room.  Thankfully, we were able to get one.  We stayed at the Belvedere Hotel on 48th and 8th.  It was a rough and tiring day. 

Friday morning, we went to Patzeria's Family and Friends for breakfast.  A cute little restaurant next to the hotel.  This is the first time we would hear about the "storm".  Well, the storm turned out the be a hurricane in Miami that was heading straight towards New York!  Weather was pretty sure about the path.  When we called the airline to possibly change our flights, we were denied because they said there was no official weather advisory.  We spent the day going Downtown, visited the Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial, Wall Street/financial district.  Took the subway downtown, it was a challenge with the kids and the strollers.  TIP: travel light, with a very light umbrella stroller.  There are a lot of steps and not all entrances/exits have an elevator. 

Saturday, we walked Times Square and later, we met up with Karisa & Jimmy at the Children's Museum of Manhattan.  Alana bonded with her new friends, Marisa & Elise. It was so cute how they would hold her hand and Alana called them her friends.

Sunday, Karisa's baby shower and a surprise cake for me and other guests.  Storm is getting closer!  We got our last minute food items and water.  Not really sure what was coming.  Finally an official weather advisory cancels our flights.  Stayed on the phone for over an hour and a half to change our flights.  The next available was Friday morning.

Monday, the storm hits.  We were lucky to be in Manhattan.  There was very little wind, and very little rain.  But the City was pretty much closed due to the subways being closed and all mass transportation was at a halt.  There were still taxi cabs driving around, but the City was pretty quiet.   We didn't lose power or anything at our hotel.  The poor kids pretty much stayed in doors all day except for a short walk to Patzeria's for lunch/dinner.

Tuesday, the tail end of the storm.  It was a lot cooler and sprikling a little bit.  We spent the day walking 5th avenue- but all the stores were still closed.  We walked up to Central Park again and back down.  Not much to do because everything was closed.  Subways were still shut down.  Downtown financial district was flooded and lost all power.  Poor Alana wanted to go home but we couldn't.  We had to check out of our hotel but checked in to a nicer one in Times Square - The Doubletree.  All the rooms are suites and it was nice to have a living room area for Alex to walk around and Alana to jump around. 

Wednesday, things start to get back to normal.  Stores open up.  We went shopping.  Walked to Macy's at Herald Square and back up to Times Square. 

Thursday, Museum finally re-opens.  The American Museum of Natural History.  What a cool place!  We saw all the dinosaur bones and the cavemen bones.  It was really cool.  I never imagined dinosaurs were that big...

We flew home on Friday at 10am and arrived in SFO at 2pm.  I have never seen the kids so happy to be home and to see their bedroom!

Overall, I think the trip was fun.  Alex had a blast.  He didn't even notice anything was wrong.  He never complained and he always had a smile for everyone.  He would make even the grumpiest New Yorker on the subway smile.   Alana had some trouble eating at first, but adjusted in the end.  PS.. New York was amazingly beautiful at this time of year! 

Alex 14 months, Alana 2.5

Alex started walking around 11 months.  At his birthday party, he was walking with very little support.  He used to fall and bump his head so many times.  But he just gets back up.  We had a nice birthday party for him at Almaden Lake park.  The weather was nice, not too hot. 

Alex has a problem with biting and pulling hair.  It has gotten to the point where Alana will not let him near her because he pulls her hair very hard.  I hope that he gets over it soon, and that Alana will learn to love him again.  As for now, he is just a nuisance to her. 

Alex is a very easy-going personality so far.  He doesn't complain much, and he eats everything so far.  He's a little more affectionate than Alana.  He loves to run up to people and give hugs.  He is a socialite so far. 

Alana is changing so much!  She is a little more picky with food lately.  She won't try anything she doesn't recognize.  If it looks displeasing, some foods even make her gag.  We think she might get car sick.  She has thrown up in Jeff's car over 6 times in the last 2 months.  At least now, she can tell us when she doesn't feel "doog" (good).  She is really into the princess phase right now.  She loves to dress up in a dress, and do spins.  She likes to pretend she is dancing with the prince. 

She's definitely becoming more particular about things.  She doesn't like to get her hands dirty or wet, but she will wash them.  She doesn't really like soap anymore.  We are having issues with potty training.  She asks for her diaper.  I think everything else is on target.  She is talking so much and we can pretty much understand 95% of what she is saying. 

Alex 10 Months, Alana 27 Months

Alex is 10 months old.  He is one determined boy.  He can pull himself up and walk along while holding things.  He loves doors.  Any door he can find, he will sit there for hours opening and closing it.  This includes cabinet doors.  So all of our kitchen cabinets are always open.  He has also been crawling for the last month, and he is quick!  He likes to eat food off the floor.  We give it to him in a bowl, he dumps it out and eats off the floor.  Alex loves to play with the markers and pretend to draw on the easel.

Alana is finally coming out of her shell at school.  We were a little worried for a while, because she wasn’t as happy in her new classroom.  I think she is making friends and adjusting a little now.  She still plays by herself, and refuses to share anything.  we are trying to teach her to share with Alex.  Sometimes she shares, but mostly not.  She has recently started screaming at the top of her lungs when she doesn’t get her way.  I hope this phase passes.  Her little brother is starting to take after her, and Alex can really scream.  Alana has been going through Disney movies lately.  She went from Yo Gabba Gabba to Bubble Guppies, then Spiderman, Incredibles, Cars, Tangled, and now her favorite every day movie is Up.

So far, it seems that Alex really looks up to his sister.  He follows her around, and even if he hears her voice in the other room, he drops what he is doing and crawls towards her.  It’s really cute.  Alana doesn’t want anything to do with Alex.  But if he’s not around, she talks about him and asks for him.  But she won’t give him hugs, and won’t let him touch any of her stuff.  Also, if anything goes wrong, she blames him.  Like the other day, when she was playing with something and it broke.  Alex was way across the room, and she blamed him.

Alana turns 2

Alana is now 2 years old.  We had a very fun party for her at her favorite place - Bounce-a-Rama.  She had so much fun bouncing and sliding with all of her friends.

Lately, she has been going to a "superhero" phase.  For a while, her most favorite movie and hero was Shrek.  She just couldn't get enough of Shrek and made us watch Shrek 1, 2, and 3 a million times.  We got her a rocking horse and she named it Donkey.

Right now though, her main man is Spiderman.  She loves Spiderman.  She pretends like she is falling and calls Spiderman for help. 

She is pretty much talking now.  There are still some phrases we don't understand, but we can understand about 75% of what she is saying.

She is going through her "I don't like Addy" phase also.  She just gets so mad when he touches her stuff.  Sometimes, when she is mad at him, she goes over and pushes him over and makes him fall.  But then there are times that she is really sweet to him like sharing cheerios and helping him with drinks.

Alex is 9 months now.  He is full on crawling.  He has been crawling for about 2 weeks.  He is also starting to walk on his walker.  He loves pushing it around but we still have to supervise him.  I think walking is just right around the corner for him!  He just had is 9 month check up and is 29.5 inches tall - 70th Percentile for height and weight.

Alex's Baptism & Maui

I spent the last few months preparing for Alex's Baptism, which occurred on Saturday, May 12, 2012 and our family trip to Maui departing on Wednesday May 15, 2012.

It took a very long time for us to finally get the house in order for the Baptism party.  Alex behaved a lot better than we expected at church.  He did not scream or cry.  In fact, he fell asleep in Jeff's arms during the whole mass except for when Father Jerry poured the holy water on his forehead and woke him up.  But shortly after fell asleep.   After he was baptized, Father carried him to the front of the church and held him for a long time. 

The after party was a huge success thanks to Jeff's mom, who really helped us put it together.  Every body was happy with the catering from Bruno's BBQ.

We spent the rest of the weekend packing, and a couple of days later we were on our way to Maui!  The whole trip to Maui and the vacation itself was one big adventure.  It started off with Alex had an ear infection the day before our departure.  He did fine on the airplane and slept most of the way there.  When we landed, he was happy as can be and we even took him and Alana out to the kiddie pool at the Fairmont Kea Lani.  They had so much fun!  Alex loved splashing in the water and Alana was having fun pouring water in cups.  But she refused to get her hair wet, or anything wet if she could help it.  She enjoyed wading in the water, and even went into the big pool with me a couple of times.

Our 2nd day in Maui, Alex woke up with a bad fever.  It went up to 101 and did not go down past 99 even with Motrin.  We were so worried about him, and he was not his happy self.  He ended up being sick for 3 days with fever.  We almost took him to the doctor to get checked out, but his fever finally broke on the 4th day.  Thank you Tylenol!  So with Alex sick, we didn't venture too far away from the hotel.  The farthest we went was to Lahaina, about 2o miles away from Wailea.  Maui was so beautiful, and I think we would go there again when the kids are older.

I have to mention Russ & Grace's wedding we attended on Saturday.  The wedding was at the Makena Beach House, a private house that is rented out for wedding.  The wedding was in the backyard of the house, which included a private beach with sea turtles swimming in the ocean.  It was the best wedding that I have ever been to, and was just so beautiful.  They timed it perfectly so that we would have the reception on the beach as the sun was setting.  It was simply amazing.  

The adventure continues... On the last day, Jeff decided to go paddle boarding and got into an accident with his board.  Needless to say, the board won and he ended up with 9 stitches on his head.  Lesson learned: check urgent care and insurance before you travel.  None of the urgent cares in Wailea accepted Healthnet, and the one we ended up going to didn't accept any insurance at all.

On our last night in Maui, we decided to go to a really nice restaurant in the Grand Wailea called the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a.  Try to say that 10 times fast =p.  The dinner was amazing and we even got to see the sunset as we dined.  It was beautiful.. until Alana got sick all over the dinner table.  Luckily, it was at the very end of dinner and we had already had our dessert and were getting ready to leave.  We were so worried she would be sick on the plane the next day, but she ended up being fine on the plane.  She got sick again a couple of days after we got home though.