Sick with Cold

All of us are sick with cold at the moment! Sean and the twins are hit the hardest. Poor Noah has a lot of eye mucus and Alyson is barking like she's been smoking for 20 years. Once someone catches cold, it becomes a whole family affair. What can I do.

The picture was taken at Kirk's house and this is a rare shot of everyone looking at the camera!

Sean Dancing

On Fridays, we started to eat out at a local mall. They have a live band performance and they are nice and loud. The babies feel comforted by the buzzing noises and Sean enjoys listening to the music and watching how they use their instruments. Some people usually dance by the stage and Sean thinks that's the coolest thing. He starts dancing in his stroller.

Alyson eating solid

Alyson has been eating rice cereal for about a couple of weeks now. She's still not so sure about the spoon and gooey stuff, but she's able to swallow it fine. Here is a cute shot of her making faces after putting the cereal in her mouth. It's as if she's saying, "Mommy, this is yucky!"

Alyson

Friends

Wanted to post pictures we took with friends while visiting Boise and Wendell. It was great to see my great friends from college. We met up at our old hang out the 'flying M's'. The crowed at the cafe hasn't changed a bit and I felt like I'd never left. A guy sitting across the room from me kept glancing at me and it was quite funny imagining how he may react if he sees three little kids hanging off me. ha! Things have changed for me of course, but it was great to come back to a familiar place. My friends were all looking really good and even though they have moved on to having a career, owning homes etc... they are still friendly and kind people. I have been bad at keeping in touch with them, but I am very motivated to do so from now on!

We visited Mr. and Mrs. Hirai in Wendell on Sunday. The drive to Wendell was so beautiful. All the truck stops were still there looking the same and the hills of Glenns Ferry were just as beautiful as I'd remembered. We said hello to cows and talked about which truck stop had a best milk shake. I actually drove passed their exit and went all the way to Jerome by accident, but we'd eventually got to their house. Mr. and Mrs. Hirai have not changed a bit! They were warm and loving and it was wonderful to see them. The food Mrs. Hirai prepared was excellent and I felt like I'd gone back home. In fact, they were like my parents to me while I was in Idaho. Their sons were like cousins and we just had the best of time together. How do we find a great friend like them? We'd come to the conclusion that we are now someone who can welcome others to our lives and home like they did to me. It was so great t see them and we cannot wait to see them again next year!

Family time - Campbell Style

It was really great to see the family. Being so far away from them, it is extra special to spend the time together. Grandpa and Shasha live about 5 hours east, so we visited them first. It worked out great since we could break the long trip to two. We were of course nervous about the drive, wondering how the kids are going to handle it. They did great! The babies slept most of the way and Sean happily watched Bob the Builder on the new DVD player. We stopped in Othello and had lunch there. We found a nice big park and the twins were able to stretch their legs and Sean was running around chasing birds etc...

Once we got to Grandpa's Sean enjoyed playing in their yard, scooping water with a Tupperware from their doggie's pool and dumping it into a hole in a concrete block. He was doing that for what seems like hours! He'll make a great laborer, we thought. The babies were obviously tired and had napped some, but there were some cranky moments. But that's expected and we handled it well. Grandpa cooked us nice mini hamburgers with buffalo meat and nice marinated chicken. Grandpa and Shasha always serve gourmet meals and we appreciate their hospitality. Food always tastes good over there! Sean and the twins had a good time being the center of the universe. I guess that's what grandkids are! We regret taking no pictures while we were there!

The next day, we left around 9 am to Boise. The trip was ok and there were some stressful moments near McCall. Alyson had a poop explosion and we had to change her clothes and clean the car seat! We stopped at a little parking area off the road right by the Salmon River where some people were fishing. My three lovely children were screaming their lungs out and the serenity and peace of things were shattered and by the time we were done, there were nobody around. After that, the trip was better. I even fell asleep a little and when I opened my eyes we were already in Eagle!

That evening, we went to grandma Marie's house for a dinner. She cooked us a wonderful ham, beans, wheat buns, potato salad and cucumber salad. She also made us a light raspberry dessert which I could not get enough of. Thank you Grandma! Alyson had a melt down and it took for a while for her to calm down, but she did eventually fell asleep in the guest room. Noah was stealing the show, smiling at everyone and being mellow. Sean acted shy toward Aunt Wilma and Kirk, but could not resist uncle Kirk's arms swings. Their daughter Sam, unfortunately, was in Sun Valley and could not see her. We'll see her next time for sure~!

Uncle Kirk hosted a bakyard dinner at his place on Saturday. He cooked us tons of pork ribbs with his special recipe. The weather was gorgeous and enjoyed sitting out on his patio. Sean was busy playing the entire time, he only sat while he ate his dinner. The twins slept most of the time. Alyson has gotten quite a reputation for all the crying she did and uncle Kirk attributed it to being a little girl. Noah DOES cry too, even though he acted like he's an angel! That's what men do... play cool outside and melt down once at home. Mike's friend Mikd joined the dinner, too and we were able to see the Hempkers across the street. They haven't changed a bit and it was nice seeing them again. We have a lovely family and so fortunate to have them in our lives.

Our first big trip to Boise

We've made it!

Our first big trip to Boise was loud and colorful but let's do it annually type of experience. We were able to see Grandpa Bob and Shasha, Grandma Marie, Uncle Kirk, Aunt Wilma, their funny neighbor Hempkers, Mike's friend Mike, my dear friends Rumi, Kerrick, Ayako and Hazuki, Mr. & Mrs. Hirai, and my sweet fellow twin Mommy, Kimberley and her babies, Bodie and Annelise. A trip like this makes one realize how lucky you are to have them in your life. Boise was as beautiful as we'd remembered and even better. Some may say the city has grown too big but to me, it is still small but then it has all the amenities a big city can offer.

Instead of posting all the pictures at once, I will post some of them at a time so they can easily be explained and seen.

The first picture is with Kimberley and her twins Bodie and Annelise. Kim and I met online through a wonderful message board. She has such a positive vibe and is an inspiration for one tired mother of three here. It was taken in my hotel room and Bodie was exploring the area crawling and Annelise was happy observing the new surrounding. Alyson sat in the bumbo seat the entire time and she was as happy as a clam. Noah was napping on the bed but woke up and joined the party later. Sean was in a good mood and busy jumping around the room. He must have thought,' look, another two babies! my family isn't as crazy as it appears.' We had a nice visit and glad we were able to meet up. Thanks Kimberley for taking time out of your busy schedule to come and see us!

Our hotel was quite nice and we were able to relax as much as you can at a hotel. We were in a two bedroom suite so Mike and Sean slept in one room, twins slept in their cots in the living room and I was able to take one room all to myself! It worked out pretty well. They had a decent free breakfast bar at the lobby so we were able to pick out whatever Sean was in the mood for. He had his first donut there. They had an international scale bike race going on that weekend and some cyclists were staying at our hotel. They looked pretty fit (even more so in their tight clothing) and I looked like a different species, shoving left over donut in my mouth. Mike overheard them saying "Good luck in Beijing", so they must be participating the Olympics. How cool is that. I wish I had gotten their names so that I can root for them.

The second photo was also taken at the hotel and Mike and Aly just hanging on the couch. I will write more later along with more photos.

Twins 5 months!

Last Friday, the twins turned 5 months old! They are not as sleepy now and definitely up for more play. They might be starting the stranger anxiety alreay because sometimes they cry if being held by others. They are growing up so fast!! We are preparing for the first big trip as a family of five to Boise. We booked a suite hotel near Downtown and BSU, our old turf. We are making plans with family and friends and it should be a lot of fun. I am also meeting up with a twin mommy I met online and super excited to meet her in person! This trip is proven to be very expensive as we had to buy a number of things such as Cargo Box, bike rack, portable DVD player etc... They are something which will get a lot of use anyway, so let's not feel guilty here! We'll have quite a busy schedule while in Boise (and Lewiston), but we want to see as many people as possible! So excited!!

Aren't Alyson's cheeks just adorablly pinchable? Noah's hair is starting to come out but his hair is a very soft fuzz!

Sean at Redmond Town Center

Cute clip of Sean exploring the play area toy in Redmond.

Happy 4th of July

Daddy was gone on a business trip to Ireland from 6/27 until 7/3. He had a really good time going out to pubs and having fine Irish food, however missed his family a lot. The kids were good, but then the darn heat wave came and the house was like an oven. We were all miserable from lack of sleep because it was above 80 degrees inside the house. We are thinking of ordering AC... We go through this every year and then end up not getting it because it gets hot only a few days out of summer. But based on how miserable we were, it might be worth it. I mean, we have five people living in this house!

Sean's talking more and whenever we ask him something and if he wants it, he says "yep, please". Not yes, but yep. It's really cute. His favorite word is still 'no' but we are excited that he's starting to communicate more. He's been very happy since Daddy came home. Daddy called us when he arrived at the airport and Sean just could not believe that Daddy was on the phone. He leaned against the phone so much that he became off balance and fell. I told him Daddy will be coming back on a taxi and we just waited by the window for him. Sean just laughed so hard when Daddy popped out from the cab. He was really excited to see Daddy.

Noah is making a lot of noises and just loves being tickled. He is still very chubby and enjoys jumping in the jumping activity toy. Maybe he can start to work off the rolls he's collecting all over his body. Alyson is a very alert and straight-talk kind of a gal and she's loud like her big bro. She also enjoys jumping and she probably bounces more since she's lighter than Noah. She has longer patch of hair on the left side above her ear and it curls when it's wet. I think she is going to have a wavy hair.

Everyone's doing well and we had a good 4th of July. We were planning to go see the fireworks in the evening but since it's so late, I went to see it by myself. I really wanted to see it since in Japan, firework show is a big deal during summer. I over calculated the viewing spot and it ended up being not so good. I chose to see it from the parking lot of Home Depot since I'd remembered that it has a nice view of the downtown Bellevue. It turns out, the fireworks were shot behind a tall building and I was able to see half of them. Oh well, at least I had a quiet alone time!