After Eric’s 100 mile bike ride in Utah, I think he was hyped up and so signed up for another bike ride, this time a 50 mile one. Haha. Well, it was going to be in San Luis Obispo, only a 3 hour drive away, and a very nice town, so I’m all for it! Another little vacation for me! I love SLO!

We left on the Friday afternoon before the race. I was all prepared to sit in the back seat with EJ, but the silly boy insisted I sit in the front! That’s just one of his “particularness”. He’s used to having me in the front seat, so no choice for me. 3 hours is quite long for a 2yo, especially since he’d already had his nap. He wasn’t tired and probably wouldn’t like being strapped down for so long! He was fine most of the way. He was snacking and checking out cars and trucks on the road and looking out for airplanes and helicopters in the sky. But soon, we had to whip out the iPad. Seriously, as much as I don’t him being on the iPad so much, it is a lifesaver on road trips!

We didn’t stop for dinner, but got KFC to go instead. I haven’t had the finger lickin’ good chicken in a while, and the line for Macdonalds was so long, so we went for KFC. Yeah, eating chicken in the car and in the dark, not a good idea. Lol! But EJ really liked the chicken. He had a whole piece to himself! He didn’t quite like the potato wedges, though. He’s more of a French fry guy, must be because the French fries at Macdonalds are crunchier.

Anyway, we got to Santa Maria by about 9pm. Hotel in Santa Maria was cheaper, and it’s about a 30 minute drive from downtown SLO where Eric’s race was gonna be. Whenever we stay at a hotel, I get excited to see what’s on tv cos we don’t have cable at home. Sad to say, tv really isn’t that exciting. Well, at least the big king size bed was nice. And we get free breakfast!

Eric left early and EJ and I slept in. Breakfast was ending at 10am, so I had to wake the sleepy head up, who was still sleeping at 9:30. He was a little excited about being in a new place and was just running around the room while we went to bed. I think he finally came to bed around midnight! We went down to the breakfast buffet and EJ was still in his pjs. That kid gets lots of attention almost everywhere he goes. He was talking to the people in the elevator and in the breakfast area. It’s cute, it’s like he thinks people totally understand his baby mumbo jumbo.

We got our breakfast and went back up to our room to eat. Saturday morning cartoons were disappointing too.

Anyway, EJ found a comfy seat (the coffee table) and ate his breakfast. We lounged around the room until checkout time. And as we were leaving the room, Eric called to say he was done! Lol. We weren’t there to cheer him in! I didn’t think he’d get done so fast!

EJ and I made our way down to SLO and met up with Eric at our favorite place to eat, Firestone Grill. They have the best tri-tip sandwiches!

After lunch, we walked around downtown a little. I love the little quaint town feel of downtown SLO. We went and saw where the race was and took some photos.

This was Eric before the race.

And after the race.

We drove back after that. I drove all the way back! Eric was out. EJ and I spent about half an hour calling out trucks and “honking” at them every time we saw one. Poor kid had the sun in his face, but he eventually fell asleep. Nice short vacation for me. And good job to Eric for completing another race!

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I’d made a fleece-tie blanket for EJ, but he never really bonded with it. He doesn’t really like blankets or covering up with a blanket. So, his blanket mostly is just sitting in the corner of the crib, untouched.

I hope meimei will like hers! I decided to make it before she’s born so she’ll bond with it right when she’s still little. It’s such an easy blanket to make, and my skill level for making blankets is probably only limited to fleece-tie cos there’s no sewing involved. Maybe I’ll be more adventurous and try a quilt next time.

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I was debating whether or not to host a birthday party for EJ. I mean, he’s two, he’s not gonna remember it. And being 8 months pregnant, I didn’t really want to do all the work! Well, Eric decided we should have one anyway. So we did.

I spent most time on the birthday cake. EJ loves chocolate and one of my favorite chocolate cake recipe is my friend, Rie’s. So, I made that cake for EJ (also for myself, hehe), and decided to make it Thomas the tank engine themed. Funny kid. Most kids like Thomas, the main character, but EJ likes Percy, Thomas’s best friend. Donno why. So, instead of a blue train, I made a green one. I started making the fondant face and funnel of the train on Wednesday. Thursday I made the chocolate mousse ganache filling and buttercream frosting. And Friday I made the cake, colored the frosting and put everything together. Stayed up until 3am to finish the cake! It’s a personal achievement. Last year, I was still scrambling to finish his birthday cake on the morning of the party, so this year, I made sure the cake was done the night before. It turned out pretty good! Proud of myself. 🙂

I knew I didn’t want to do much cooking, so really the only thing I made was the BBQ pulled pork and coleslaw. We also had cheese pizza, chicken nuggets, chow mien from Ranch 99, grapes, and Hawaiian sweet rolls. All of EJ’s favorite food.

The pulled pork.

We had about 35 people, including kids show up to the party. We opened up the backyard and people had blankets on the back lawn, having a little picnic. I’m so glad the weather held up! It had been rainy and cloudy and cold all week, but it totally cleared up and warmed up on Saturday! Thank goodness!!

The chocolate cake was so yummy. Such a simple recipe, too! There was enough leftover scraps that had been trimmed off to bring to church the next day. I fed my RS class and EJ’s nursery class too. Good thing we got rid of the leftovers, it would’ve been too tempting for me to just eat it all! I could too, even though I shouldn’t.

It is definitely tiring to host a birthday party and cook and clean everything up. (Where was Eric?!?! Taking care of the drinks, I guess. Lol) But it’s EJ’s last birthday as an only child! So, it was worth it, of course.

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I can’t believe how fast these two years have gone by. I still remember delivering him in the hospital. Now he’s a two-year-old! And he’s gonna be a big brother next month. Next month!!! They really do grow up so fast! As the saying goes, the days are long but the years are short. So true, so true.

EJ’s birthday was on a Thursday and we were having a party for him on the Saturday. So, we went out for dinner on Thursday night as a family. Well, his birthday is technically also my birthday since I gave BIRTH to him on that day. Haha. So I got to pick where we went for dinner. Cheesecake Factory it is! I love that place. There’s a huge menu and everything is just so yummy! I try to get something new every time I go. Otherwise, I’ll never be able to try everything on their super long menu!

I got the fish special of the day, which was a pecan crusted fillet of fish (Erm, can’t remember what fish it was) and Eric got their shepherd’s pie. We also got avocado rolls as starters – so good! And a side of sweet potato fries.

Avocado Rolls

My pecan crusted fish. I love their mash potatoes. They have chunks of roasted garlic mixed in. Yummy!

Eric’s shepherd’s pie and sweet potato fries. The fries were hot so EJ was blowing on them to cool them down. I taught him that. Haha. He’s very good at mimicking you now. Eric calls me “Sharn” and EJ will echo him. Lol.

EJ really likes bread. Eric put some butter on the bread for him and EJ discovered how yummy the buttered bread was! I hardly let him eat buttered bread. If we eat bread, it’s mostly with peanut butter. So, EJ really liked the butter. Naturally the next thing he did was to eat the butter. Yep, EAT the butter. Using a spoon and just scooping up chunks of butter into his mouth. We let him do it long enough for a photo, then took it away. Eating butter is gross!!

Because it was his birthday, he got a free ice cream sundae. Yeah, so sad. Just ice cream and not a slice of cheesecake. And worse of all, it was mostly whipped cream and maybe two tiny spoonfuls of ice cream at the bottom of the cup. That’s kinda lame. EJ, who loves ice cream, wasn’t even that interested in his free birthday ice cream. He ate Eric’s strawberries (which were for his cheesecake) instead.

I got the chocolate chip and cookie dough cheesecake. I love chocolate!!!! So sad I couldn’t just eat it all!

It was a nice family dinner out. It’s nice not to cook or clean up 🙂 Happy Birthday to my sweet little darling boy. Mommy loves you sooooo much! I’m really so blessed to be a mother of such a happy, loving, sweet little boy. He’s the light of my life. It wouldn’t be the same without him.

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I LOVE General Conference! You stay home for two days in your pjs and watch tv all day. Haha. That’s one way to put it. Of course, we hear the words of our dear prophet and leaders. 🙂

How exciting is the news about the new age for missionaries! I can’t wait to see the difference it’ll make. I’m thinking more sister missionaries since they’ll still be too young to think about marriage (or are they? 🙂 )

Eric made us breakfast. I love it when he cooks. It means I don’t have to! It was a very hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, country potatoes, and baked beans. The baked beans were from Singapore. You can’t get it here! The baked beans here aren’t like the ones I grew up with. It’s tomato based and so much yummier!!

We also managed to update or 72hr kits. EJ’s kit had clothes that were 3-6 months and size 3 diapers. Haha. And canned puréed foods. Clothes and diapers that he can’t wear anymore and food that he probably won’t eat and won’t fill him anyway. Kids’ kits really have to be updated more often!

For dinner on Sunday, we even ate some emergency food that we bought at the army supply store. It’s not the MRIs, but it’s a similar idea. It was baby back ribs flavor. There was also clam chowder, toast, and pop tarts in the package. To help the food taste better, the package came with salt and pepper and even grape jelly jam for the toast. There was also coffee powder and creamer. It was a total of 1000 calories and we spilt it between the three us. We had to make sure we actually like the taste before buying anymore for our 72hr kit.

Cooking the baby back ribs and clam chowder. In an emergency, we’ll have to eat it cold.

Our scrumptious dinner!

EJ ate all the clam chowder! He really liked it. The food wasn’t so bad actually. Although I don’t know how I’ll feel about eating it cold. I guess in an emergency, you won’t be that picky. I think we’ll probably buy some more for our 72hr kits.

I had to supplement dinner with a crunchy butter croissant with chicken salad. And of course it tasted much better than those baby back ribs! Which, btw, didn’t really taste like meat.

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We took EJ to his first Pumpkin Patch! They also had bouncy castles and kids 18mos to 12 years were allowed in. Except no adults allowed. We figured EJ’s a go-getter. He’ll have fun by himself, so we paid the $9 for half an hour of fun for him. At first, he was a little intimidated by the huge bouncy castles and wanted Eric to go with him, but obviously we couldn’t. We tried encouraging him and for a moment, I thought we’d just wasted our $9! But EJ warmed up soon enough when he saw other kids playing too. He dived right in!

Photos are kinda blurry cos he was running around. Towards the end, he wanted to go to the big bouncy castle, but we didn’t let him cos the slide down was way too steep. I’m glad our $9 wasn’t wasted!

After the bouncy castle, we went and picked out our pumpkins. EJ wasn’t too enthusiastic about the pumpkin patch. He was wearing his crocs and twigs from the ground kept going into his shoe. Should’ve worn proper shoes! But we manage to pick out a pumpkin, and EJ got one for himself, too!

The sweet tooth that I have was craving for dessert. This sweet tooth will be the death of me! Yes, despite this diabetes, I had a little something sweet to end of the night.

EJ picked the one with the most chocolate on top, it was chocolate banana mousse. It was really sweet! I got the pistachio mousse and Eric got the lemon fancy mousse (more mousse, less cake). Bijan bakery doesn’t fail me! I love their cakes!

EJ staring at all the yummy cakes.

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I have no idea why the restaurant is called Elephant Bar. There’s a bar, but no elephant there. Haha…..

Anyway, I was craving burgers!! I’ve never been to the Elephant Bar, so we decided to give it a try. There was another place I really wanted to go called Park Place where they have their house special burger made with pork belly, cheddar, fried egg, roasted garlic aioli, tomato jam and truffled fries. Too bad! Yelp said it wasn’t suitable for children, and it was on the pricey side. Elephant Bar it was then! Sacrifices we make for our children! Next time, next time.

We got the coconut shrimp and some noodle soup as starters. EJ loved the coconut shrimp. He ate over half the entire platter. He probably likes the fried crunchiness of it. The noodle soup was yummy! Can’t remember what it was called, but with my GDM, noodle soup is always good cos I’m always deprived of carbs!

Then I had the Santa Barbara burger with sweet potato fries. Oh the juiciness!! EJ ate almost all my fries. Haha. He knows the good stuff. And Eric got the NY steak sandwich. I can’t wait until after pregnancy to delve into a nice, juicy piece of med RARE steak! We didn’t take pictures cos I was starving!! I didn’t really eat much that day. I only had some scrambled eggs, a handful of dried apple chips, half a hot dog and a few strands of spaghetti. I was putting all my day’s calories into this burger!! (over 1000 calories, hur hur hur)

To top it off: dessert!

Apple, blueberry, walnut crumble. EJ ate most of the ice cream. I wish there was two scoops of ice cream instead of only one. It was very sweet!

We haven’t ate out as a family in a while. And this time EJ sat nicely in his high chair and ate his food. It was a nice dinner out!

Oooh, the ice cream is cold!!

Hey! Don’t take my photo! I have blueberry in my teeth!

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Yeah, EJ and his super hyperactive personality. We had music class again today. We’re supposed to sit in a circle and sing songs, clap our hands, etc. But when the music comes on and we’re not up on our feet dancing, EJ will just run around us sitting in the circle. He just kept running and running and running. I tried to stop him, but he just got mad, broke away from me, and continued running. He was the only kid running around the room. Embarrassing much? A little, I guess, but in retrospect, can also be quite cute. This kid. I wonder how he’ll be like when he actually starts school. Oh the horror….

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Yeah, Labor Day was a few weeks ago, but I still have to post this one! We went to the beach twice. Eric had the Friday before off, so we decided to beat the Labor Day crowd and head down to the beach at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. The last time we were there was almost a year ago and EJ was still in his stroller. He wasn’t walking yet. This time, EJ was walking around the beach by himself, while we laid lazily on the beach. Hehe, of course all the time keeping a keen eye on him. We went a little early, so the skies were still overcast and it was a little chilly. EJ brought his sand toys. The first time these toys were to see real sand at the beach! EJ had fun digging in the sand. And when Eric tried building sandcastles, EJ had fun knocking them over!

For some reason, maybe true for all boys, EJ decided he wanted to try what sand tastes like. So, he did. Couldn’t stop him.

We went closer to the water and I taught EJ how to run in when the waves came in. It was so adorable hearing him squeal in excitement as the waves were trying to get him. A little while later, he decided that he would let the waves get him. So he got completely soaked. Drenched!

It was cold, so we packed up and dried off after that and headed to the boardwalk.

On the boardwalk, EJ had his first taste of cotton candy.

I much preferred it when we used to eat it on a stick. Now it’s all pre-made and pre-packed. Ah well. It was also EJ’s first time on these rides! He went a few times on the same ones. He wasn’t tall enough to go alone, so the choices were limited anyway.

EJ had fun going on them many times, but Eric had enough. He was getting dizzy. Haha. Anyway, that was part 1 of our Labor Day weekend.

On Monday, our neighbors were going to Moss Landing for Phil’s famous Cioppino. So, of course we had to tag along. There were four families in total.

Luckily we went early and beat the crowd. It was as good as I remembered. Well worth the drive. I think we come here about once a year. After lunch at Phil’s, we headed to the beach again! It wasn’t as chilly as Friday, but the water was cold! We went to the Municipal beach in Monterey.

This time EJ went straight for the water. But we only played for a little while in the water cos it was freezing! We quickly dried off and he was content playing in the sand.

As well as helping to bury Carissa. Hehe

It was a great weekend! So nice to spend simple fun with the people you love. 🙂

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Today was EJ’s first day of music class! There are only four students in the class, and EJ is the only boy and the oldest one. Surrounded by girls again! He did so well! The teacher was very engaging and EJ was very involved in all the different songs and activities we did in a short 45 mins. He was singing, dancing, and following along. It was quite cute to watch. Can’t wait for the next class!

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