April 2011 – Baby Wong (Caleb Wong & Caris Wong & Chloe Wong)

April 24, 2011

Church Easter Hike

Almost every Easter, our church organizes a hike. But dragging along three kids 3 years and under, you tend not to make it to an 8am meet-up time. We went up to Eaton Canyon Park anyways.

We decide to get some McDonalds for breakfast and eat there.

And no, I donâ€™t know why Caris is eating like that.

In the visitorâ€™s center, there were some animals in glass cases. There were two animals that had food in their cages; the tarantula and the garter snake. Although I hate spiders and snakes, I had to keep my open in case one decided to go after some food, a cricket for the tarantula and some fish for the snake.

The tarantula got my hopes up, but I guess it wasnâ€™t hungry.

The best part about the visitorâ€™s center was the glass case with the stuffed animals and their fake poop.

Now on to the hike.

Thereâ€™s a stream crossing at Eaton Canyon Park. Last time we were here, the creek was dry. This time, not so much.

I have a bad history with stream crossings. The first backpacking trip Yvonne took me on (this was before kids) was suppose to be an easy one. It was only suppose to be a three mile (6 miles round-trip) hike. Three miles to the campground, weâ€™ll stay one night, and then go back home. Easy, right? Well it would have been easy if they didnâ€™t lie about the distance and didnâ€™t have the 26 stream crossings we had to cross. So after that, I havenâ€™t been very fond of stream crossings.

Of course Caleb wants to cross the stream, and Mommy was readily willing to go. So off we go crossing the water. I wish I could have taken a picture or video of us crossing. I was carrying Caris. Yvonne had Chloe in the Ergo, and was holding Calebâ€™s hand behind her as they crossed together. Caleb almost made it unscathed until she lost her balance a little at the end. While Yvonne was trying to steady herself, Caleb took a little step in the water. He didnâ€™t seem to mind.

Daddy and Caris, amazingly enough, made it dry.

Hereâ€™s us on the other side.

We decided that it would have been easier to carry Caleb across, but itâ€™s kind of hard when the kids outnumber the adults. This friendly man offered to take Caleb.

After some hard work this morning hiking, the kids need to use the potty. Caleb left this present.

April 22, 2011April 23, 2011

Mini-Flood of 2011

Before I moved into this house, there was the great flood of 2004. The washing machine is located on the second floor of our house. And when the pipes busted on that fateful night, there was chaos in the Wang household. Water soaked through the floor into the kitchen and into the garage. Lights came crashing down, walls developed mold. Never I have though what such a bad idea it was to have a washing machine on the second floor.

7 years later, and the mini-flood of 2011 is upon us. This wasnâ€™t close to as bad as the great flood of 2004. It wasnâ€™t a downpour; just a light rain that lasted too long. Our water heater pipes start leaking in the middle of the night Wednesday-Thursday. At least they were smart enough to keep the water heater on the ground floor and in the garage where the damage can be contained.

I turned off the water as tight as I could going into the tank, but it still kept leaking. This leak would persist for some 36 hours.

Not only was our garage becoming messy from the water, we had no hot water. No hot water to wash dishes. No hot water for showers. No hot water to bathe the kids. I opted for not showering. The kids endured the cold water, and they seemed to enjoy the bath anyways.

Thereâ€™s our bad pipe.

And hereâ€™s our new pipes!

April 15, 2011April 15, 2011

Life

Last Christmas Caleb got a live butterfly garden for a gift. The idea with this garden is that you request some caterpillars from the company, and they mail them to you. You watch the little caterpillars grow in size and become butterflies just like the Hungry Caterpillar. Since Easter is coming soon, Yvonne thought it would be fun to teach the kids about life through the life cycle of a caterpillar/butterfly.

We didnâ€™t get any pictures of the caterpillars in caterpillar form. Somehow during the week, we just never took a picture. But itâ€™s awesome watching them grow from itty bitty caterpillars to big fat caterpillars. The pictures will have to start at the chrysalis stage.

Here are the caterpillars starting to come out!

April 6, 2011

It’s a Small World After All

We have not been to Disneyland in over two years. The last time that any of us went to Disneyland was for our anniversary in 2008. Not much has changed at Disneyland except for the price. When we first bought our annual passes from Disneyland 7 years ago, it cost $99. Now it costs $239. Now I remember why we stopped going to Disneyland.

Well, now we have passes again. And believe us, we are going to put them to good use, even if it means our kids are messed up from lack of sleep. Last time we went to Disneyland, Caris wasnâ€™t even born yet. So itâ€™ll be the first time at Disneyland for both Caris and Chloe.

Chloeâ€™s in an Eeyore outfit.

Driving down the I-5 to get to Disneyland. Since thereâ€™s no traffic now, weâ€™re not in Orange County.

Caleb & Caris sitting in a single seat together.

Tram ride.

They are looking forward to Disneyland.

When we were going to Disneyland regularly years ago, Sunday was usually a good day to go. Not too many people usually, and not many long lines for rides. But for some reason, on this Sunday, everyone and their mom decided to go to Disneyland. We first went to Autopia, but the wait for the ride was 55 minutes. What are all these people doing here? We pick up the fastpass at Autopia for 7:05.

Caris & Chloeâ€™s first ride will have to be Itâ€™s a Small World. The wait is only 30 minutes. Still too long for our kids, but manageable.

Here are some ducks just chilling on the grass. They remind me of my cats.

All Done!

We decided to let our kids run around in toon town for a bit.

We were able to eat dinner here and then attempted to go to Autopia once again with our fastpasses in hand before we headed home. However, we were to be denied. When we arrived at the entrance of Autopia, they told us they had shut down the ride and it was unknown how long it was going to be shut down. We had been hyping this up for Caleb the whole time. Caleb took it well. I think we were more disappointed than he was.

So we decided to take the train next to Autopia and start to go home. As weâ€™re waiting at the train station, not more than 10 minutes pass, and Autopia reopens. We see a flood of people going through the line. I hate you, Disneyland.

At least we can go back to try to get on Autopia. Caleb has his own pass too.