Shamu and You Walk

We officially signed up to do the SeaWorld Shamu and You Walk to benefit and raise money for Rady Children's Hospital. The walk is not until October 1st...so we have plenty of time.

Our team name is Team K.I.N.D. (Kids In New Directions).

Please visit our personal page.

If you are in town, please join us in the walk!

It's Truly Summer

"Welcome to my summer home!"

The heat wave has come upon us here in San Diego. This is what we have been waiting for all summer. We have been spending more of our days outside, enjoying nature. (Can't complain since all those poor folks on the east coast are getting hit with Hurricane Irene. We really hope all our friends and family in the east are doing fine in the midst of the storm.)

We have been taking weekly trips to the zoo, but Kalista has also taken a liking to the playground at her school (Alcott Elementary). Her teacher, Jodi, told us about it before summer break started, so we checked it out. It was designed for the little kids in mind by the occupational and physical therapists at the school. Kali loves every inch of the playground.

Practicing her game of Tic-Tac-Toe

Getting over her fear of the tunnel

Swinging like a monkey again?

When we're not outside, we have been working on other fun projects. Jen attempted to join the world in the cake pop sensation. Let's just say it was an EPIC FAIL. Evidently, the secret to awesome looking cake pops is to add a scoop or bar of Crisco. (It was a surprise to even find out that Crisco came in bars.) Here are the results of the "epic fail":

Not bad for the first time! We'll call them Mummy Pigs

Oh..found this picture while we were pruning our albums. We went to Souplantation sometime last week or the week before and there was a balloon magician. We watched Balloon Wizard create balloon sculptures in minutes...boom...boom...boom, a Mickey Mouse Hat, a monkey on a vine and a whole lot more. Since Kali loves dogs, he made one for her. We all watched in amazement. Kali loved it so much that she decided to wear it.

I love it!!!

Vegas Again!!!!

We made it to Vegas and back once again. Kalista is getting used to the desert getaway and enjoys all the sparkling lights of the mega hotels.

We decided to venture to Vegas for some culinary masterpieces. We decided to check out the Wicked Spoon at The Cosmopolitan, one of the new hotels in City Centre. Let's just say...any place that has a mac n' cheese bar has a dear spot in our hearts. Oh my goodness...it was a delight to our taste buds! We can say that all the dishes are presented in its own portioned plate, bowl, large spoon. Their dessert selection ranged from mini fruit tarts to eight different flavored gelatos. The salted peanut flavored gelato won our table over.

The kids enjoyed the variety of tasty treats

Kalista took home a mini loaf of bread as a souvenir. It's as hard a a rock now, but still super cute. The desserts were also presented in their own portioned mini cups. Kalista has taken on the sport of "stacking" and loves playing with the mini cups we saved from our food adventure.


Here are some more pictures from our trip:

Smiles of fulfillment

Kalista wanted to join the Martinez family

Kali with her grandparents

This monster aquarium was even equipped with a live mermaid

Hanging out at the Bass Pro shop.
Are you jealous Gung Gung (G-pa Greg)???

Gotta love Vegas art! A mega platform stiletto.

I Love My Cousins

Our three mousekateers hanging out in front of the house

(Oh boy...been watching too much Disney Channel)

Full House

Whew...this week is dragging.

On the bright side, we have guests in town....again. Yes....Hotel Lam is in full service! The Lam and Martinez clan have graced us with their presence. It is definitely a full house at the moment.

Kalista is super thrilled to have guests her size to hang out with and play for hours on end.

Wonder what the main event is tomorrow while everyone is in town?

Stunner Shades

Peer pressure has positive influences sometimes. Miss Kalista decided that sunglasses are now "super cool" after watching her friend wear them last weekend. And yes...Jen being an optometrist, she scrutinized over the quality of the UV protection since it came from Gymboree. She gave it the thumbs up and a seal of approval!



As we were walking around the shopping outlets, Kalista veered toward this train and climbed on in. Needless to say, she had her conductor outfit already planned for this occasion.

She Did It!!!

KALISTA FINALLY DRANK FROM A STRAW!!!

It is one of the proudest days as parents of a child who has had issues in the feeding department since the day she was born.

Within the past week or so, we have been working with a medicine dropper and a cup of water. We were giving Kalista little droplets of water in her mouth since it has been so hot here. Only within the past few days did she open her mouth willingly to accept the droplets of water.....then we noticed her start to suck on the dropper...and then...

TA DA...light bulbs went off!!!

Here's how we knew she figured it all out (in a nutshell):

Since it is Wednesday Zoo Day for Kali and Jen, they took to the park with only the zoo cup (since you can get beverage refills) with them. We suppose Kali got parched at the tortoise exhibit because she pointed at the cup (which was filled with water and ice cubes). So Jen gave it to her and then the sky parted....Kali started sucking and drinking the water from the straw.

We have been so worried that she never really got the hang of the suck, breath, swallow sequence because she has been deprived of the feeding experience for so long. Well....we were proven wrong today!

Oooh...side note: The sky must have parted for the tortoise too because he almost escaped from the exhibit by hopping on one of friends to scale over the wall. It was a funny sight to see.

Another Party?

Kalista and Jen made it to Avery's first birthday this weekend. The park was well decorated with Paul Frank's awesome monkey pal, Julius. We (as in Jen) are big fans of Paul Frank and his retro animal pals.

Kalista met up with her group of friends for an afternoon of fun and social mixing. She charmed everyone with her chubby cheeks and cute underbite smile.





The cutest cake pops were handed out and were made by Avery's neighbor. Such a talented lady! Here is what it looked like:


Too cute...dont'cha think?