Jet setting to weddings

The past month has been full of quick travels to various cities for weddings of family and friends. We hit Chicago, Seattle, and Boston for three weddings in five weeks. Ellie came with us to Chicago and Boston, but spent a weekend with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Mike while we went to Seattle. She got time with her Aunt SuSu, both sets of grandparents and got to see Aunt Cindy, Uncle Mike, and Cousin Tristan.

Our first trip was a weekend in Chicago. There was great weather. Nick and I got a day and evening downtown at a college friends wedding. It was great to get some real deep dish pizza, but better to see Marching Illini friends and some of Nicks frat brothers and his former roommate. We had a blast catching up with everyone.















But Ellie had just as much fun. She hung out with her Grandparentals Harrer who took her to a farm that had rides and all sorts of fun stuff. There was also time to see Great-Grandma Kost and Cousin Tristan. Tristan has grown so much since we last saw him...he is no longer Baby Cousin Tristan. Ellie had a blast with him...hopefully he didn't pick up any of her silly habits!












The very next Thursday evening Nick and I headed up to Seattle. grandma Pam and Grandpa Mike came down to Pasadena to watch Ellie and make sure she got to school on Friday. She did convince them that Lucky Charms is an everyday food and got it for breakfast...but she behaved well the rest of the weekend (that's what they said). It was a full weekend. They went to a psi pumpkin festival, lots of meals at new restaurants for Ellie, and even took her to her ballet class!









While they were having fun, Nick and I were enjoying the mountains just outside of Seattle for Nicks cousin Steve's wedding. The wedding was at a gorgeous vineyard outside the tiny city of Roslyn. The wedding was a blast, but it was also great to see Nicks cousin and aunts and uncles that we don't get to see very often. Also, Roslyn is the city where Northern Exposure was filmed. So Nick was able to go a little geeky and get excited about that as he is a big Northern Exposure fan. We also had a chance to drive into Seattle and hang out with one of my college engineering buddies and her most adorable daughter.















Then we had a couple weeks off from weddings (but I had a work trip to Phoenix where Ellie got to spend time with Auntie Claire and Uncle Buddy up in Santa Barbara) and then we headed to Boston for a wedding of some of Nicks previous coworkers from WHDH. Ellie got to spend some special quality time with Aunt SuSu. Susie took Ellie to a few parties, including hosting a dinner party at her apartment. There was also quite a bit of playground time. Ellie was over the moon with her time with her aunt that she misses so much. Nick and I had fun touring the old neighborhood and I had a chance to catch up with colleagues from the Boston office. I also got some Dunkin Donuts...mmm.















The wedding was amazing. Nick was a groomsmen and got to look amazing in a tux. The rehearsal dinner and wedding reception took advantage of being in the northeast and there was seafood galore. Nick and I were super happy...never too many lobster rolls for us! We had so much fun at the wedding although I had to check out early (after midnight though) from the festivities as my pregnant body was exhausted...Nick had enough fun for the both of us though.












We are all a little travelled out. Long plane trips (especially ones cross country where the TVs on the plane don't work and we didn't download a movie in time for the trip...) are exhausting.






We are glad to be home and be back to a normal schedule. But we are also happy that we had a great time jet setting across the country for weddings of family and friends and got quality time with people we don't get to see all the time. Each trip was special and full off awesome memories. And we definitely are lucky to have a kid who is well behaved and loves to travel. Good times.

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Pumpkin Picking

This post has been updated.

This weekend we headed up to Santa Barbara and while we were there, we headed to Lane Farms to their pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. Unlike some other pumpkin patches which have lots of bouncy houses and fancy things...Lane Farms is old fashioned. They have a corn maze, hay ride, goats and pigs to visit, a scarecrow, and old tractors to climb up on...and its all free. And on top of it they have a great selection of pumpkins of all sizes and some funny looking gourds as well.

The first thing we ventured into was the corn maze. This maze is tricky and difficult. The corn is very tall, the paths are narrow, and there is no easy way out (unless you find the guy wearing a Lane Farms shirt and decide to follow him after being in the maze for 20 minutes and having a little girl who was about to freak out and he leads you right to the exit...not that we did that).

Ellie enjoyed climbing on the tractor and pretending to drive it. Then she enjoyed a little running, jumping, and throwing around of hay. She actually watched some big girls (college age kids) throwing hay and trying to get a perfect picture. And she wanted to try. She did a great job being patient and waiting her turn to play with the hay.

Ellie and I went on the tractor ride around the farm. Nick had to stay and guard the pumpkins. The ride was short and sweet and fun. I tried to make a joke and ask Ellie if she was excited to get to see the backside of corn on the tractor ride...she just looked at me like I was crazy. If she knew how, I'm sure she would have rolled her eyes at my lame joke (but hey, Disney invented the backside of water joke first!).

Then it was time to pick out the perfect pumpkin. There were lots of choices, and Nick (our resident pumpkin carver) was a little particular about what types of pumpkins he wanted to get. So Ellie grabbed a wagon and we headed out into the patch to find 3 perfect pumpkins (one for each of us). We found a short and stout one, a tall and skinny one, and then the most perfect little round one.

Before leaving Ellie requested that we wash the pumpkins at the pump and trough that they had set up.

While we were waiting in line to check out, Ellie saw some adorable mini-pumpkins. Ellie picked through them and found the "cutest baby pumpkin" and said that we had to get it for the baby in mommy's tummy. So we did...and Ellie posed with the scarecrow with the baby pumpkin.

 

We all had a great time at the Lane Farms pumpkin patch with all the traditional fun including the difficult corn maze. This is the second year in a row we have headed to Lane Farms around Halloween and it has been a great experience. But of course, Lane Farms has been around since I was a kid!

The above photo is me, in 1982 getting my pumpkin at Lane Farms.

Anyway, Lane Farms is a great Santa Barbara tradition that has been around for as long as I can remember! Besides the fun pumpkin patch they have GREAT strawberries when they are in season. So, I'm sure additional visits to Lane Farms will be in our near future.

We interrupt this blog...

Ellen is going to be a big sister! We are expecting our second child in mid-March 2014.

Ellie was the first person we told. At first she didn't believe us as, "mommy's tummy isn't big enough for a baby!". But we talked about how the baby has to grow and mommy's tummy will grow and get bigger as the baby grows and gets bigger. We also explained that the baby will arrive after her 5th birthday.

She has been fascinated by the baby growing and we have spent quite a bit of time looking at pictures of fetuses or illustrations in baby/pregnancy books. She has drawn a few pictures of the baby in my tummy as well. She has asked some really interesting questions also like, "what does the baby see?" or "can the baby hear me talking, what does the baby hear?" Her curiosity and interest is really interesting. She also has been preparing for when the baby arrives. She has cleaned up some of her small figurines and given them to me and told me, "these are too small for the baby, they might choke, can you put them away?" And she has asked me to teach her how to change a diaper and asked how she can help with the baby.

She is very excited...as we figured she would be since she has been asking for a "baby sister" since she started talking. The first two words she put together were "baby sister" which was the name of her coveted baby doll as well as often phrased as a question, "baby sister?" because she wanted a real baby so much. She told so many teachers and friend's parents that I was pregnant when I wasn't (starting rumors that kid since she was 2...) that when she did tell the exciting news to her teachers this time and her friends (who told their parents) nobody believed her. But after I confirmed that it was true, they were so excited for Ellie and us.

Answers to some questions people have asked:
Due date? - Mid-March, currently I am 18 weeks along
How are you feeling? - I'm doing well. I had more nausea in the 1st trimester than I did with Ellie, but I still didn't ever actually throw up.
Are you going to find out the sex? - Yes, we will. But not for another couple of weeks. Once we know, we'll let you know.
Still working? - Yes, I'm planning on working up until I go into labor (just like with Ellie). I will return to work, full-time, after my 12-week maternity leave. We have already looked into daycare and have a couple options.
Fetal Nickname? - Of course! Just like Ellie was nicknamed Barca in utero, this child has been nicknamed Numero Due (Italian for number two, clever huh?)
Name? - As with Ellie, we won't finalize the name choice till after birth, but we have a few names already short-listed for both boys and girls.
Is this pregnancy different? - Yes! This really feels different from the more nausea to the heartburn starting super early. Also this Numero Due seems to move around a lot more than Barca did at this age...kid never stops moving.
Did you keep Ellie's baby stuff? - Yep we did. We anticipate reusing whatever we can of Ellie's from clothes, to the crib, stroller, and highchair. However, we do know that we have to get a new infant car seat, as Ellie's car seat (and most infant seats) have a expiration date 5 years after the get sold...so we are out of luck there. 

We are all super excited to have a new addition to the family, especially Ellie. Although we think we remember having a newborn...five years ago...I'm sure this will be an entirely new and different adventure.

Exploring L.A. :: Pacific Asia Museum

About a month ago (yeah, we are really behind with updating this blog) Ellie and I went to the Pacific Asia Museum here in Pasadena. It was a Sunday and a family day, which meant that admission was free and there were several activities for the kids as well as shows and presentations. All the shows and activities were centered around Korean culture.

The building itself is beautiful and unique. You definitely know it is the Pacific Asia Museum right away. The middle courtyard is gorgeous. There is a large koi pond and lots of benches for sitting and reflection as well as several statues and some beautiful trees. Ellie was intrigued by the koi pond. She had brought her own camera and took several photos of the fish. Honestly, the koi pond was probably the most interesting thing for her at the museum. 

The museum is unique and has lots of interesting pieces from all the Asian cultures around the world. They are typically organized and arranged by country/culture, but there are rooms dedicated to ceramics and textiles. The descriptions for each piece and collection are well done but typically aimed at an older crowd (not the kids). However, there was a display case with several ivory pieces, including a full elephant tusk. This display lead to an interesting conversation with Ellie about ivory and where it comes from and poachers. She was pretty upset that people actually killed elephants so that they could have trinkets and decorations. This lead to talking about extinct animals and why animals become extinct and what the difference between extinct and endangered meant. It was a pretty heavy conversation for a Sunday afternoon and I wasn't mentally prepared. But it was stimulating and that is what museums are for, to learn, engage, and be stimulated. 

After browsing through the galleries, which Ellie wasn't that interested in to be honest, we found an interactive exhibit about the silk road. This was the only room where there were things for Ellie to touch, explore, and play with. They had different textiles and clothes to touch and try on from various locations around the silk road. There were bowls and utensils to play with. They even had a replica "hut" that a trader would have set up. We spent quite a bit of time in here. Although she didn't understand what the silk road was, or maybe even the importance of all the pieces she was touching and playing with, she did get to try on different hats and clothes from another part of the world. 

We then went to try some of the activities that were set out. For the most part they were pretty crowded and the teenagers who were manning the activities weren't really prepared for the swarm of kids and parents. Also, some of the activities weren't obvious how they tied into the exhibition or Korean culture. However, we did sit down and try our hand at origami. The teen manning this booth was stressed and not that patient, however, by watching him and the people around us, Ellie and I completed our origami pieces. We weren't told what the name of the piece was or its significance other than it was relatively easy to do. And by we, I mean I mostly did the origami and Ellie watched. She did some of the first folds, but then it got a little too small for her fingers. 

After origami we headed up for a show/presentation. Supposedly they were doing several shows/presentations throughout the day focused on Korean culture. They started with modern Korean culture and were going to work back to ancient culture. Ellie and I caught only the modern themed one. It was interesting, but there was breakdancing, a beat-boxer, and Tae Kwon Do demonstrations. The Tae Kwon Do was the most interesting for Ellie. Overall, I with there had been more music or at least, un-Americanized Korean culture up on the stage. It was also a pretty long show...too long for most of the kids in the audience. 

All in all it was a good experience. I think the crowds were overwhelming on the family day and the activities and shows weren't well planned, organized, or laid out. However the museum was really interesting and I wish that I didn't have a 4-year-old with me to have had more time to explore and read all the descriptions. Ellie was too young to really enjoy the museum and I do look forward to a time when we can go back when she's older and understands what she is looking at.