First ER Visit

Every child has a long list of firsts and this last weekend Aliyah was able to check off "first trip to the ER". She had gotten a pretty bad cut on her finger and we spoke to her pediatrician and they recommended we go to the ER because of fear of infection. The ER staff kept commenting on what a cute patient she was and I couldn't help but agree! We were in and out in a little over an hour with careful instructions on avoiding infection. So although it wasn't how we anticipated kicking off our weekend, all told it was a fairly benign way to check of that first.

Our Weekends

With both boys playing soccer and dad coaching both teams, our Saturdays are pretty much spent at the sports fields. Nick and Noah are both really enjoying their seasons and have scored several goals each. And little Miss Aliyah has been busy making friends with siblings and parents on the sidelines.

And starting in a few weeks Nick will begin flag football and then you will know where we are spending our Sundays also!

42 inches

Growing to be 42 inches tall is a pretty great thing. It means you can finally go on the cool roller coaster at the zoo, ride on the log ride at the Boardwalk AND go down the big waterslides! It also apparently does not stop you from making silly faces at the camera. Yep, life is good when you are 42 inches tall.

Ethiopian Vietnamese Americans

Last weekend we went to an Ethiopian restaurant in Oakland. When the food came I asked Aliyah if she remember how to eat the food. She said "Uhuh" and then grabbed some injera and dug in.

She ate everything and nothing was too spicy for her. She was one happy little girl!

We knew that the food might be too spicy for the boys so we told them that if they tried some of the food that mom and dad determined wasn't spicy, and otherwise sat at the table quietly, that they could have hotdogs at the A's game afterwards.

It was a great day enjoying an Ethiopian meal and the all American past time. We are trying to talk to all three kids about all of the cultures that our family celebrates. I think it would be pretty great if they all grew up thinking of themselves at Ethiopian Vietnamese Americans :)

Waiting....

We had some brown bananas so Aliyah and I decided to make some banana bread. She was a great helper with smashing the bananas and stirring but the waiting for them to bake part was a little hard from an inpatient (and hungry!) two year old.

Boardwalk

Last weekend we took the kids to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for the first time. Pete insists that I've been there before but I don't remember it so it was like my first time too :) Nick was big enough to go on most of the rides and Noah was tall enough to go on the log ride as long as an adult went with him.

Aliyah was sad to sit out on the big kid rides but had a blast on the Whale Ride. She pointed and said "I want 7!" and she was pointing at the whale with the number 7 on it. She never ceases to amaze us.

After the Boardwalk and lunch we played at the beach for awhile. You can see Nick digging in the sand by the water. Nick loves the ocean and can play in the sand for hours.

And finally kisses in the tent before we packed up and headed home. It may have been a bit too much for one day though because Noah fell asleep on the car ride and didn't wake up when we got home. He slept through dinner time and bathtime so we finally just put him to bed still covered in sand and he slept straight through until morning!

Soccer

Last weekend was the start of a new soccer season. It's Nick's fourth year playing and Noah's first. They are on different teams in different age divisions but both ended up with team Germany. It's a fool proof way to make sure Dad always wears the right coaching shirt to each game!