Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Brave Boy, Proud Parents

Recently, at the YMCA Casey has been asking to climb the rock climbing wall. He hasn't been on it since his initial attempt, back in Sept. 2012. This past weekend, we had some extra time after his basketball game, so we let him have at it. On his first try, he climbed about half way up... then looked down. And promptly asked to be let down. You could hear it in his voice, he was a little scared. Then, no sooner did his feet touch the ground, he said he wanted to try again. This time, he went all the way to the top, and got to honk the horn! It was the first time he ever made it to the top. We are so proud of him, for wanting to try the rock wall, for making it all the way to the top... but most of all, SO PROUD of the fact that he came down from his aborted attempt, and immediately conquered his fear and jumped right back on that wall and sailed right past his sticking point and ascended to the very top!

rockwall from p wang on Vimeo.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Santa Barbara

I recently heard about the Goleta Monarch Butterfly Grove where there are supposed to be tons of butterflies to view. Come to find out, it is located about 100 yards from my old grad school condo. I used to go running in the very same location. And no, I wasn't 'floating like a butterfly' while I was running back then. Anyhow, we took a family day trip up the coast and visited the butterfly grove. We parked in the paved parking lot, and hiked for 10-15 minutes on a dirt path until we came to the tree all the butterflies were hanging around. Da Boys wanted to continue hiking, so we went exploring the area. They found multiple trees to climb and multiple paths to hike. After lunch, we hit the South Coast Railroad Museum. Da Boys are really into trains these days, so they enjoyed the old train exhibits, the model trains, and of course riding the mini train!


Sunday, January 5, 2014

Custom Candy- Eat Me

There is this candy company that offers (for a STEEP price) custom candy. Since the little hard-shelled chocolates are one of Da Boys favorites, I thought it would be a great stocking stuffer. There are a few options, which include words or photos on the candy. I had Da Boys names printed on some; I figure they can hand them to each other and say, 'eat me'... The pictures below show evolution of the photo candy, from the original photo, to the cropped version, and finally, the product.

Original Photo
Cropped Photo
Candy with names and photo
Candy with names and photo

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Now I'm cruising...

Until recently, Sydney was content sitting on his bike seat.. and waiting for someone to push/ tow him. Apparently, he has now discovered the link between pedaling and the bike moving. He is still learning about turning the handlebars and how that affects the steering of the bicycle. A few times, he has attempted a VERY tight radius turn, only to tip over and crash the bike. The concept of the coaster brake; where you 'pedal backwards' activating the brake to stop the bike, has not sunk in at all. This is a cause for concern, as a few times we have witnessed him heading towards a potentially dangerous situation and we yelled 'brake'... Only to see him continue to pedal and/or coast.

All in all, he is doing very well. He can pedal on his own, and chase his big bro. All this steering and braking nonsense... that's just details...

Check out Sydney (and his trademark BIG SMILE) riding his bike!

Sydney Bike from p wang on Vimeo.