Author Archives: Vale

Ginger Bread Houses

22 Dec 2011

What a fun playdate we had! But first: the final results.

I didn’t take too many photos – my fingers were too covered in frosting.
The kits were from Trader Joe’s, and the moms brought extra candies to decorate.
I LOVE the A-frame architecture – not only is it a cute rendition, but the roof rests on the ground, making it structurally sound. Genius.

(After, we walked down to Ragazza and had the yummiest pizza dinner I think I’ve ever had!)

Flat Tire On Clement Street

16 Dec 2011

Let me start by saying It could have been waaaayyyy worse!

The day’s errands involved a trip to Clement, primarily to shop for live dungeness crab at Seafood Center. Parking in front of my favorite housewares and supply store was just a bonus (more on Kamei later.)

Oscar was at school, and Lucy and I had a little over an hour to spend shopping on Clement. We ducked into See’s candy, but the line was 9 people long. We left empty handed. Next we hit a Walgreen’s for some medicine for Lucy (she has athletes foot I think! poor girl). We also got some Christmas goodies, and some instant-gratification goldfish-crackers for a very peeved Lu Lu, who had seen ‘the light’ inside See’s.

Next up was the crabs, -seven of them,- for Kiera’s birthday party. They would eventually look like this:

But we weren’t there yet. The crabs were bagged up for us, (all 15 lbs. of them!), and Lucy and I headed back for the car.

To find this:

Specifically this:

I looked at my watch, iPhone, and saw it was 3:12.
My window to pick up Oscar at school is 3:25 until 3:40. Maaaaby 3:45. Shoot.
I call a taxi, my iHusband.

Mark arranges the plan – he calls Triple A and asks for a grace period on our expired service. Then he calls Omi & Opi, who come to our rescue in the form of Picking Oscar Up On Time!! Yay! So all I had to do was hang out, and watch Lucy play with the Kamei plastic stools. (She’s obsessed with stools – it was ideal.)

They’re so cheap, I almost went in and bought a stack to bring home with us – but I didn’t want to miss my man. My knight in Yellow armor..

Lucy and I watched the dude fix us all up.

I had to move the car seats to get at the tire tool, and BONUS! found my missing notebook! So Relieved!

With four Round wheels, we swung over to Omi and Opi’s house, who were just getting back home with Oscar.
Hooray! My heroes!

(For more birthday photos later that evening, head over here.)

Visiting Nana and Jane

12 Dec 2011

And the horses and “cowses” :)
Jane’s horses are the bay, named Marcus, and the grey, Ringo. They’re adorable.
This is Shingle Springs, in the El Dorado foothills. It’s beautiful country! We watched the Niner game, and fed the horses some carrots. We went for a little walk to see the sights. It was great to get out and see the place. I hope to visit again soon.

Ps. the picture below of the grey horse running in the afternoon sun is Nana’s favorite, named Luke. She walks down the road to see him every day. He’s running to come see us and have a carrot!