bonnie & jason

Preschool summer program activities

Alissa’s preschool program does a lot of field trips during the summer months. All of the parents are pretty involved so there’s typically a healthy mix of kids and adults. That plus the fact that two of our friends have kids who go to the same school means that Bonnie has had at least a little help in those instances when she has had to bring all three kids along.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to participate much since I just started the new job, but I have been able to follow along at least through pictures Bonnie sends from her iphone. Here are some of the highlights:

Serra Bowl:

Apparently, the kids were only really interested for the first few frames:

Happiness is The Sticker Factory:

Bay Area Discovery Museum:

Carnival Day:

Also, here are a few other random shots from the last couple weeks.

Amanda with a very mature looking smile:

Not sure why we’re all lying down on the floor:

Amanda’s favorite spot:

Staycation video

I forgot to post this short video of a few parts of our staycation.

2010 06 06 staycation from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Staycation Part 3

Staycation is almost over… so sad. We finished up the non-trip by going to the beach and going to a friend’s birthday party.

The beach was supposed to be a typical water and sand affair, but the tide was in and the surf was kinda scary at the section of beach we arrived at so we went above the dunes instead and made it a sand only trip. It worked out well actually since we found a spot sheltered from the wind in a valley of sorts.

It was Amanda and Ashley’s first time to the beach and they seemed to love it. Amanda freaked out for a few seconds when I first put her on the sand. I think the warmth and texture scared her and she didn’t want to touch it. That lasted all of three seconds though. Ashley got acclimated quickly as well. You can see she even got sand stuck to her cheek along the way. Needless to say, we went home and immediately got them in the bath.

Today, we finally got rid of the infant carriers and put Ashley and Amanda’s car seats in the Pilot. They were just getting too heavy to carry up and down the stairs while in the infant carriers. So now we have three Recaros across the Pilot. They barely fit.

It’s kinda comical if you ask me.

Staycation part 2

The second half of the week had us going to the Exploratorium and Fairyland.

We got free passes to the Exploratorium through the Check Out SF Family Pass. It’s a little complicated, but the short of it is you go to the library and “check out” a family pass for various attractions throughout the city. We were originally going to go to Zeum, but that was already checked out but I got lucky and the Exploratorium was available so we ended up there. (By the way, this makes the third free activity as the Randall museum is always free and the zoo was free since it was the first Wednesday of the month.)

The Exploratorium was a little too advanced for Alissa but she seemed to enjoy some of the hands on stuff. I’m sure we’ll be back many times in the future when I’ll be able to forcibly imprint my dorkiness on all three of my offspring. Even that sentence sounded uber dorky. (“Uber” inserted for dork-effect.) (Parenthetical comment inserted for dork-effect.) (Call out of parenthetical comment… you get the point.) We didn’t take many pictures, but here are a few random ones:

Yesterday, we tried out Fairyland, which is a small, quaint, somewhat run down amusement park for toddlers.


Basically, they have rides and displays that are all based on traditional fairy tales. Furthermore, scattered throughout the park are these little boxes that tell a short story if you insert and turn a “magic key.” (Available for just $2.)

In total, I think there are only four “rides.” Alissa didn’t want to go on the jolly trolly or the little 15 foot tall ferris wheel. And she was too short for the normal carousel. (I love the expression on her face.)

But we were able to talk her into the little carousel for which she was just barely tall enough. (Much happier in this picture.)

After lunch, we sprung the twins loose and let them walk around the Western Town a little bit.

And by then, we had pretty much seen the entire park. Besides what I already mentioned, there were a couple slides and live animals integrated into some of the attractions. And I think they had some puppet show type stuff that we had missed.

I think we were there for about 2 hours total including a bit of lunch. It felt like just about the right amount of time given the size of the place and the logistics of three kids, nap times, etc. All in all, a worthwhile trip considering tickets were only $7. And although I said it was run down, it’s not really like things are falling apart. But there were things that could use a fresh coat of paint and other sections that probably could use a little modernizing. On one hand, it was nice to have something small and less overwhelming than something like Disney or one of the other major parks. On the other hand, the top of the little carousel was practically rusted through. It’s all good… as long as you have the right expectations.

Staycation part 1

I took this week off for a little staycation after the long weekend. Over the last couple days, we’ve gone to the Randall Museum (always free) and the SF Zoo (free to SF residents the first Wednesday of the month). Here are a few pics:

I had never heard of the Randall Museum but Bonnie found it while looking for activities for the week. It’s tucked near Buena Vista park nearly dead center of the city and is actually run by the Park and Rec department. It’s not a big facility, but it was big enough to occupy us for about 90 minutes or so which is about as long as we like to stay out given both Alissa’s attention span and the twins’ patience.

Downstairs, there’s a section dedicated to trains. Here’s a model caboose:

They also have a little Thomas the Train-like track setup where you can rent battery operated trains to play with. If you have a little boy into trains, this would be a good thing to do.

Afterward, we went to Polly Ann’s for ice cream.

I wonder if this is something that Alissa will remember when she’s older.

The zoo was fun as well since we finally made it to the Children’s Zoo section for the first time. The prairie dogs and meerkats were a big hit.

And the birds of prey were pretty cool too.

New beds and a new farmer’s market

Alissa has been sleeping in her big girl bed the last few days. She actually made the transition with no fuss at all. As a matter of fact, she was quite excited to sleep in it. Funny thing was that she decided she wanted a new stuffed animal to go with her new bed. So Monkey has been cast aside in favor of Blueberry. Unfortunately, Blueberry has a rattle inside which is kinda annoying at 6:00 am when Alissa makes her own way out of her bed and into ours. Oh well… maybe we’ll be able to convince her to “upgrade.”

Ashley and Amanda will eventually end up in the cribs.

We also checked out farmer’s market #3 today. (#1 is the one off I-280 at Alemany and #2 is the one behind Target at Serramonte.) This one is behind Macy’s at Stonestown Mall and is probably our favorite due to the proximity and the variety of stuff. Alemany is still the king, but it’s harder to get to and too hard to park. In any case, we were happy with a lot of the food vendors at this new one. We tried some hard cheeses and ended up buying their vanilla bean cream cheese. I also tried some goat cheese from Healdsburg which was tasty but Bonnie wasn’t a big fan. There was also an olive guy who had some interesting stuff. I ended up with a small container of olives stuffed with cream cheese marinated in balsamic vinegar and fig reduction. Super tasty! We got Alissa kettle corn as we always do (she calls it copcorn) which she ate while walking around listening to the guitarist that was there. He even played her the rubber ducky song. And lastly, I ended up with a $1 Samosa (I thought it was fresh… it wasn’t, but for $1, can’t go wrong) while Bonnie got a really tasty Belgian waffle. Anyway, we were there for less than an hour, bought no produce, and yet somehow ended up spending nearly $20.

San Francisco Giants Picnic in the Park

Cousin Eddy took a bunch of people including Alissa and myself to the Giants Picnic in the Park yesterday. It was a great event actually. The weather was perfect. Free hot dogs, beer, soda, popcorn, tacos, ice cream sandwiches, etc. They had an inflatable jumper and obstacle course for the kids and even a petting zoo. And, of course, they had a bunch of players signing autographs and helping distribute beer and food as well. The coolest part was just the perspective of being on the field. Here are a couple things I noticed:

1. The grass is amazing! It’s so dense, you can’t see the dirt even if you try to look between the blades of grass.
2. The warning track is much longer than it looks on TV. Probably about 20 feet long.
3. The outfield wall is taller than it looks on TV. It’s about eight feet tall I guess.

Here’s the photo diary of the trip:
Sami and Shauna helping Alissa cross the busy streets:

Killing some time at Borders before the event started:

Enjoying a hot dog with Megan in left field:

Hanging out with pops:

Enjoying cup #2 of popcorn:

In the jumper:

Looking for something fun to do with Uncle Alan:

Enjoying some organic chocolate milk:

On the way back to the car:

California Academy of Sciences – trip #2

I took Alissa to the CAS again today. This time around, we went through the four story rainforest. There were lots of cool geckos and butterflies as well as fish and birds. Also, since I’m too cheap to pay for parking in the garage, Alissa got a good workout walking to and from the museum from 10th and Irving. Recently, she’s grown weary of my “Come on, hurry ups” but instead responds to “faster, faster.” She also says “two, three, GO!” Sometimes she says “one,” but more often not. (However, she does remember 8 and 12 now.)

Walking through the park:

Insisting on holding her jacket:

Raisin break underneath the rainforest pool:

One of the many cool frogs:

Time to go home:

Two, three, Go!

Running by Ebisu (which is closed for renovations by the way.)

California Academy of Sciences

We decided to try the California Academy of Sciences again today after our failed attempt on opening day. There were still tons of people there and traffic was a mess when we left. Still, we had a good if brief time there. We spent the bulk of our time in the aquarium as we figured Alissa would like that section the most. After about 30 minutes of “Look Alissa… fish!” I think she got a little bored. So we made our way up to the ground floor to check out the Planetarium but were told that little kids can’t go. Instead, we got tickets for the 3D bug show which was supposed to be kid friendly. It was borderline kid friendly, and in my opinion, not really toddler friendly. First of all, there was no way Alissa was going to wear the 3D glasses. Secondly, they had bug mating and killing going on. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was quite a high quality production. But kid friendly, it is not.

Anyway, by the time the bug show was done, Bonnie was starving and Alissa’s nap time was looming. So we figured we’d take off and save the rest for another day. After all, we did get the annual membership so we’ll want to take advantage of that.

Here are a few crappy pictures… I should have brought a faster lens and Bonnie’s dad’s 5D. Oh well, next time!

We visit the Pumpkin Patch on 19th Ave at Sloat

We had originally planned on making a trip to the Half Moon Bay pumpkin patch but it seemed like a big production for just a pumpkin. There’s the cost of gas, having to deal with traffic, twisty roads (with a nauseous pregnant wife), and finally, the time commitment. So instead, we thought we’d check out the corner of 19th and Sloat which is the “seasonal” corner. You know what I mean… in October, it’s pumpkins. In December, it’s Christmas trees. In February, it’s roses. Anyway, it turned out to be perfect. They had everything decorated all nice and Alissa had a fun time picking out the perfect pumpkin. With the exception of some traffic in the background, you would practically think we were in Half Moon Bay. Here are some of the pictures.

So many to choose from!

This pumpkin is too big!

This pumpkin is too small!

This one looks about right…

I’m ready to go pay now.

I wonder how far I can throw it.

It didn’t break… must be a keeper. I guess we’ll bring it home then.