This summer is flying by. I have so much to share on my humble little blog, yet so little free time to sit and journal as I would like. (Photo above: Newport Beach at Sunset)
Bebe E is still enjoying her swimming lessons and tomorrow marks our last day of soccer-for-tots.
As I write, the Olympic ceremonies are on TV in the background, and there’s less than an hour left before Friday comes to an end. Instead of a recipe I am sharing a few highlights of our summer thus far…
I love the Olympics and I’ve been eagerly awaiting July 27, 2012. I’m excited about the Opening Ceremonies and the games to follow.
My Bebe emulates all that I do. She asks me if it is OK to use my gray board because she needs to take pictures of the “food” she cooked in her (play) kitchen. She usually snags a prop: bottom right corner is an interesting Japanese soup I wanted to share (another time).
An unlikely cute cupcake that we came across at one of Nene’s swim meets. It was garnished with a killer whale and the frosting was dusted with sparkly blue edible glitter. Thanks to Sea World and the library book, “Gilbert the Hero”, our Bebe can easily recognize killer whales.
We went to the OC Fair and Bebe E experienced her first Fair ever. We shared a turkey leg, roast corn and funnel cake. We didn’t eat chocolate covered bacon, fried Snickers, or fried Twinkies. We didn’t go on the giant ferris wheel because, a) I’m afraid of heights; b) the overprotective mother in me wouldn’t allow Bebe E or Nene or even Dada to ride it. Instead we enjoyed the baby pigs, baby chicks and the coin toss where Bebe E won a little stuffed angel fish.
We saw some very large vegetables at the OC Fair.
I will always be a Los Angeleno at heart, and always root for the Dodgers, not the Angels. Earlier this month, I went to my first Dodger game in years. Aya-chan made fun of me for taking a picture of the guy sitting in front of us, but it sums up everything about the game (kind of) – GO L.A.! – and, he maintained his annonymity.
Lovely garlic fries at the Dodger Game. SO stinkin’ good. That’s Aya-chan’s beer if anyone is wondering… you know I hate beer!
We visited the pandas, koalas, lions, gorillas, elephants, giraffes, rhinoceros, monkeys, polar bears, flamingos, birds, zebras, and many other animal friends at the San Diego Zoo. On this trip, the camouflaged sleeping koala bears were Bebe E’s favorite.
I like Hello Kitty, and many of the Sanrio characters that I grew up with. Yes, I’m $% years old and my toddler likes Hello Kitty, but it’s ok for grown-ups too. Found a set of Sanrio Pez at Marukai (Japanese supermarket). It was cute, but I didn’t buy it.
Yogurtland and Sanrio are in cahoots to make us eat more frozen yogurt. Every two weeks they release a new character spoon. Hello Kitty spoon (with head cut-off in picture) – collected at least four of these spoons – CHECK.
Tuxedo Sam spoon (with head cut-off in photo) – collected only two spoons, note to self: go back for a few more – CHECK.
I treated Bebe E to her 1st Starbucks drink: a non-coffee ice blended vanilla, with only half a scoop of vanilla powder. She was allowed to drink about 1/3 of this before I confiscated it and finished it off. She said, “mmm, Momma that’s yummy!” Yet, almost every other day, she asks me if I will treat her to a “pick-me-up” Jamba Juice. Her Nene (big sis) likes to order Pomegranate Pick-Me-Up. As is the usual pattern of wanting to do everything her Nene does, she asks me for a “pick-me-up” Jamba Juice. This request is usually followed with, “please Momma, I’m a good girl.” Love her, she is a good girl, but no Jamba Juice.
To me, summer is obon season. Last weekend we briefly visited the OCBC obon festival but much of the food that we like was sold out. Bebe E wore her little yukata and she and I danced for just a few minutes before we played the “kingyo sukui”, goldfish game and the obon came to a close.
Obon is a time to remember those who have passed and celebrate their life.
Bebe E likes to draw and paint. Recently, she drew a picture of Casie (my doggie that now keeps my parents company) because we talked about how Casie might be lonely, and how I worry about Casie sometimes because she isn’t with me. I told Bebe E that Casie is also my bebe, even though she is a doggie, and that Casie is like my daughter too. When we visit Casie, Bebe E likes to say to me, “there’s your other daughter, Mama, and I’m gonna make sure she is O-K.” Casie, in my Bebe’s eyes…
My parents lost their dog, Stella, which they adopted from a family friend who couldn’t take care of her anymore. Stella passed away the afternoon of July 4th. I didn’t tell Bebe E that Stella passed away, given we lost her beta fish “Cookie Monster” last month. It was hard enough explaining to her why Cookie had to “go away”. When we finally visited my parents and she told me she was going to feed Stella and Casie, I had to tell her that Stella had to go away too. For a few weeks Bebe E would ask me why Stella and Cookie had to go away, but I taught her that we can close our eyes and think of our memories (Dada taught her about our memories) and that she can find them in the sky at night, when she looks up and sees the stars. There is one star, just for Cookie, and another star, just for Stella. I told her that they are happy and we can look up and find them looking over us, anytime. She seems to be OK with this and occasionally asks me if we can look up at the stars. Farewell little Cookie Monster and farewell little Stella. Rest in peace.
Photo credit: Hideki Ueha