Feeding the birds

I'll have to add a picture sometime as I did not take any today because I suck when it comes to photography, but Benny and I went to this cool park about 2-3 miles from our house. It is in Hercules and there are/is a reg playground and a little kid playground, as well as lots of grass, trails, and a large pond with fountains, ducks and fish (very tiny fish, possibly to feed the ducks).

We took some bread with us, hoping to toss some to the birds in the water. Well they saw us coming and swarms of geese came out and walked around. It was like the movie "The Birds." They were extremely people friendly and waited for the food; I'm guessing this happens a lot. Well the funniest and slightly scary part was when Benny decided that he, too, wanted bread and was eating a large piece. One of the birds was not going to let that piece go and came over and snatched it right out of Benny's hand as he was holding the bread to his mouth. I couldn't believe how brave they are and was just glad they didn't go for his eye or something as they did get a little feisty with each other fighting over pieces of bread.

I really like this area and hope we can find a good place to live. And we will all have to go back to that park and take the camera next time. It was a nice day (until he, of course, threw a fit when it was time to leave).

We're in trouble

This child. He is all boy. This is what we woke up to this morning, minus the pillow and blanket:

If you can't tell what's going on, he is naked and sitting on top of his changing table. Well, not completely naked; he did leave his diaper on. Why he took off his clothes, I am not sure. This situation would have been funny if he was just naked. It would have been funny if he was just stuck on his changing table. But the combination of being naked and stuck was too much and I couldn't stop laughing. Ben stayed home sick today and I made him get out of bed to come see what this little monkey was doing.

Benny got up and was kind of talking and hanging out, so I let him be for awhile and stayed in my cozy bed. Finally he started crying, so I went in to get him. I saw his clothes on the floor and he was sitting "Indain style" on the changing table! He had this look on his face like "oops, I did something and now I am stuck." I picked him up and he just gave me hugs and hugs and hugs. I think he felt kind of dumb and scared and was glad he was ok. I was glad he was ok! He wanted his pillow and blanket, so I did what every normal mom would do: I gave them to him, set him back on the changing table, and ran and got the camera.

This summer

I know my posts aren't exactly in order. I am just trying to keep track of things though and write them down (journaling) so they are recorded somewhere for the time being.
We had a crazy summer with trying to sell the house, packing, working, family get togethers, and weddings. Everything fell into place for everyone though and we had some fun times.
After my niece Jacqui's wedding, Ben and I went up to Willard to spend some time with family as my brother Allan was here from St. Louis. We only see him every few years or so. We went to Willard Bay and spent the afternoon in the water and watching the kids have fun.

Then, of course, we had to eat so we went to my sister Janice's house for some great food as usual. Grandma (my dad's mom) came over and the newlyweds came back from their honeymoon, so we had a nice dinner with quite a few of the family including my mom, brother Allan, sister Janice's family, sister Kimiko's family and brother Frank's family.


Fast forward now to after the move to California. We took Benny to the Oakland zoo our first weekend here. Boy was it not fun. We were having a heat wave and it was soooo HOOOT. I about melted. Benny was super tired and grouchy. He is frowning in all of these pictures, and the one on the ground is the fit he threw in the amphibian house. I finally got one on film as no one believes this sweet little boy throws tantrums.
Well at least we have a memorable experience of our first weekend in California.

Weekend with grandparents

This little boy of mine sure can keep himself busy! The other day he was being awfully quiet, and I found him sitting in this tote with his pillow, reading his "Walter the Farting Dog" book.
He also likes to "dust" which is vacuuming, sweeping or mopping. I sure hope he keeps it up when he gets older.
So anyway, yeah, my parents came up for the weekend to visit. They hadn't been to San Francisco for awhile and hadn't seen their youngest grandson in a few weeks, so we got together. It was nice to have them here and Benny sure enjoyed them.
We went to Fisherman's Wharf and had clam chowder on the bay and watched all the interesting people. We went to Ghirardelli Square and got chocolate and yummy waffle cones. And then we went home and went to Wal Mart he he. I know the Wal Mart part doesn't sound very exciting but it actually kind of is. Our Wal Mart is part of the mall, like JC Penny or Sears, and it has 2 levels. You push your cart around and then either take it in the elevator or send it up the escalator on some sort of pulley thingie. I died laughing the first time I saw it.

Benny enjoyed reading books with his Grandpa and eating LOTS of junk. I don't know how much chocolate my dad and Benny ate this weekend. In this pic of him eating ice cream at the table, he got all excited when he saw my dad eating some and ran and sat down and exclaimed, as clear as anything, "I like chocolate!" It was too funny. He busts out with some pretty amazing language and we have to be careful now what we say because his talking has really taken off.
The last picture is a bay front walk not too far from our apartment. We don't live on the open ocean, it's more of a marshy bay, but there are some really nice walking trails and parks.

We had a fun time and hope to do it again soon! We will have Ben's mom out here next month, so we'll probably have some more clam chowder and sour dough. Yum

Accident prone Ben

Anyone that knows Ben knows he is always getting injured or sick
with something weird. He just has bad luck this way.
The two latest injuries:
Shaving his head, he sliced off a chunk of ear.
It was a small piece, but it bled all day and reopened
a few times days later. Nice.


The day after we arrived in California, we were sleeping on the floor. Ben awoke to something on his face which didn't feel too pleasant. Benny had found his dad's razor and decided to shave him. Thankfully there's just a small spot on the right cheek. No great injury but I thought it was hilarious. That kid cracks me up

And I promise I will get around to an update with the the goings on of the move and how things are going.

Happy Grandparents' Day

Grandparents are great. I'm so glad Benny has 3 sets, plus one living great-grandma.
I've been thinking about them a lot lately and have been wanting to write about them and let them know how much they are appreciated. As I write this now, I realize Grandparents' Day is this weekend! What a coincidence.

Grandpa Tom and Grammy (Ben's dad and stepmom) live in Bakersfield and Cambria, CA. This was actually taken last Christmas, the last time we saw them! So it has been awhile. Definitely time for a new visit! We are looking forward to seeing them soon now that we live a little closer:

This is Grandpa and Grandma Christensen who live in Lompoc, CA. I think this was taken around New Year's. They go to Utah to visit several times a year, which was nice. We now live about 5 hours away and plan to have a visit within the next few weeks:

Grandma Sue and Uncle Jon (Ben's mom and brother) live in Lehi, UT, which was about 20 min from where we were. It was nice having them so close. They helped out with so many things, especially taking care of Benny. This was a farewell dinner at Outback right before we moved:



And this is great-Grandma Christensen, Kari's dad's mom. I don't remember my great-grandparents, so it is nice that Benny has one right now. He also loves this huge Care Bear at Auntie Kimiko and Uncle Dan's house. This was at his cousin Mayumi's 1st bday:



Thank you to the grandparents who do so much by supporting us in all we do, babysitting, feeding us, and thinking and praying for us! We know we are in your thoughts, and you are in ours.

Zero wait time, ha!

2.5 hours at the DMV! I looked online at where to go, and it said the El Cerrito station had no wait time for appointments or walk-ns. Woo-hoo! So off Benny and I went.
Two and a half hours later I almost had one of the cars registered. I have to get a signature and then I also have to go back to do the drivers license part! If I had done the written test and gotten licensed today it would have easily been over 3 hours.
Benny was a trooper through it all. He didn't have any screaming fits but he did lie down in the middle of the cold hard floor for a bit.

I had decided the reason I don't get anything done is I usually decide to take a nap when Benny does :) So today I was going to be super productive during naptime instead. But after a morning like that, I think I need a nap too!

Do they all look the same?

Or we. Asians, that is.
I ask because Benny sure seems to think they do.
We weren't sure if he knew who his Grandparents Christensen were, but after yesterday we are pretty sure he does.
Before leaving for California, my parents came to Utah for my niece's wedding. My mom was able to stay and help me clean the house before we left and sold it. We were able to do some fun things, like going to Willard Bay and feeding the birds:

So we have been in California for about 2 weeks now. We had to get rid of a lot of stuff before we moved, so after we got here we've been getting a few small things again. We found a TV stand on Craigsist and as we arrived at the house where it was located, Benny said "Grandma." We had no idea if he was recognizing something from the neighborhood that reminded him of his Grandma Sue's house, or if he thought the Asian man in the driveway reminded him of Grandma Christensen.
We purchased the TV stand from the Asian man, and his wife also joined him outside. As we drove away Benny excitedly kept chanting "Grandma, Grandma, Grandma" from the backseat.
We thought it was pretty funny the Asian couple reminded Benny of his Grandma Christensen. Well at least he does know who his grandparents are!