Memorial Weekend Small Getaway

We spent a weekend in Livermore, CA. The weather was nice, more importantly, the adults and the kids all had fun. 

On Sunday, we went to Oakland Zoo. It was busier than usual, but we still got to see our animals and take our pictures.

Kids loved the cable car ride. I guess both of them are not afraid of heights then.

Back to the hotel. Sophie picked chocolate flavored ice cream to share with Brandon. Look how excited Brandon looked. ^^

The next day, we were happy to have the grandparents joining in on our fun. We took a stroll along downtown Livermore in the morning and found some neat spots along the way.

Sophie was gathering sticks to make alphabets. =)

Next, we went to Retzlaff Vineyards and Winery for some wine tasting.

This is the only winery in all of Alameda County that brews organic wine from their own organic grapes.

The owner's father apparently loved kids, so he picked up many of these cute kid-sized tractors from some farm supply place that he used to go to. You can't buy these anywhere now, according to the owner's wife. So while the adults tasted wine, the kids kept themselves busy too.

Afterward, we headed over to lunch at the Wente. Both kids were fast asleep in their carseats behind my dad and Tim throughout our meal.

In the afternoon, we stopped by Del Valle Regional Park for some boating fun.

At last, we had Mongolian hotpot to wrap up our long weekend in Livermore.  Um...um...

Letters and Numbers Construction Toys

Here are two new toys that I recently purchased that I feel are quite fun and educational for my 3 year old. They're by Learning Resources, a well reputable toy company that makes good products for the modern day children. 

Well, for my 3 year old, she has just gotten used to holding her pencil the correct way, so tracing the alphabets on a sheet of paper repeatedly is not something she would do with super enthusiasm. She would often mistaken a "b" with a "d", or "p" with a "q" during writing, even though she knows the differences by merely reading them. So to enforce her mental conception of the letters and numbers, these two sets of toys come in handy.  

The boxes came with these colored plastic sticks and dots. There's also instructions on how to put together each letter, both in capital form and lower case form.

The little buttons on the sticks make them easy to snap together and lock into position.

Sophie played it for a whole afternoon when we first got the toys, as if this were her long lost friend. She actually didn't really need the instructions to figure out how to build the letters. It was pretty natural for her.

Yes, Sophie also sometimes wears the letters like fashion accessories. ^^ "You like my new necklace?" She actually tried to let grandpa wear her "necklace", but grandpa's head was much bigger than little Sophie's, and so the ring fitted on him like a halo instead. =)

There's also the number construction box. This set came with these yellow rubber dots that help with counting.

The yellow dots can be snapped directly onto the numbers.

So very fun!

Since we got these toys a few days ago, Sophie actually plays with them everyday right after she wakes up in the morning and right after her afternoon nap. I hope she is learning at the same time as having fun. I think so. Thanks for tuning in, I hope you all have a good Memorial Day weekend!

Monster Themed Painting Session

This entry is featuring Brandon! (the newly 2 year old boy)

Ever since the kids watched Monsters Inc. at a friends' house. Brandon has been fascinated with anything that has monster prints on it, whether it be t-shirts, sippy cups, you name it. Today we're focusing on Brandon for using watercolor to paint monster characters, because he did such a great job!

I simply outlined the monsters with black crayons and I just let them go wild with color choices and how much to paint and where to paint, giving zero instructions.

As I have mentioned earlier on another post, kids at this age do not need to be taught how to draw or paint. They should be let free to explore and enjoy the process of creative arts.

Mike Wazowski definitely has to make his appearance when we're painting monsters, right?

"Um-hum!" Says, Brandon.

And of course, his buddy, James P. Sullivan.

Here are the final products: 3 by Brandon, and 1 by Sophie (She was painting other animals besides monsters, so maybe we'll feature her on another post later). ^^