Major Blackout

We just had a major blackout that took out all of San Diego, parts of Orange County and Arizona all because one little man didn't follow protocol. Of course no names were given as to who it was, since we're sure he is on someone's hit list. We were out of power yesterday from 3:45 pm to about 2 am this morning.

Jen and Kalista had just came home from running errands and while Kalista in the middle of watching "Finding Nemo" and being fed, the power went out. We thought we blew a circuit since we have been having a heat wave and the fans were on, the TV was on. But no....there was no circuit blown. All of San Diego was at an energy stand still.

Luckily we had an emergency earthquake kit in the making and we grabbed all the flashlights, candles and radio and prepared for the evening. Kalista got to experience her first "blackout". It really didn't phase her at all. She was determined to play with the wind up flashlight and that seemed to be the highlight of the evening. We are so grateful to have smartphones, since that was the only way to communicate with each other because we don't own a corded phone. Mistake number one...everyone who has a land line needs a corded phone. Our cordless was useless, since it of course relies on power...doh!

Bad news bears...cell phones also run out of juice. Matt didn't get home until almost 4 am since he had to make sure the hotel was fine in the event that the back up generators stopped working. On a positive note, Kalista's Joey/Kangaroo pump was well charged the night before, so she was still able to be fed via pump last night.

Better go finish packing that emergency kit...

Out and About

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day Weekend! 

Here's our latest life snippets:

School is back in session and Kalista's teacher came to visit today.  Our goals for the school year are to have Kalista say a few more words and phrases and of course, feed herself more.  She'll get there...we know it.  She has already kicked butt in the walking, smiling, hair modeling and looking cute skill set.

Jen and Matt celebrated their four year wedding anniversary today and celebrated with a nice sushi dinner at Sushi Deli 3.  Yum yum tuna and salmon! 

Because it has been so a muggy sauna here, we hit the pool this week/weekend.  It's all a blur when we went since the heat has melted away some of our brain cells.  All we know is that we had a refreshing time.

 Kali knows that she's gotta protect those precious eyes

Come join us for a swim!

Auntie Jeanette and Mike came to visit this past weekend.  We celebrated her belated birthday with a few tickets to a good 'ol game of baseball...yes....Giants vs Padres.  We're sure you all know who we rooted for.

With Jeanette's help, Jen ironed out all the wrinkles in how to make cake pops look more beautiful and tasty.  This batch was pretty good.  Yay Jeanette!

 Jeanette and Mike waiting to catch some foul balls.
There were a lot of them flying everywhere.

 Watching the Giants kick butt! Go Kung-Fu Panda!!!

Kalista knew it was going to rain on us while we were at Petco Park. 

Her little hand caught a few raindrops.

Kalista picked out her Halloween costume this past weekend as well, so she is ready to go trick-or-treating.  We have decided to all be monsters of some sort this year.  Roar!!!!  Argh!!!! (whatever sound a monster makes)

Last but not least...HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE BILL!  Woo Hoo!!!

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?