Kai and Daila's New Ride.

Kickin' it in the new ride!

Cruising the Irvine Spectrum.

Lunch at the Yard House! Daila helping daddy pick out what to order.

Kai and Daila with Lyle and Becky's girls.

The urgent need for a new stroller came up this week. We knew we eventually would need to get a different one, because the one we have been using only functions with their car seats. Well last Tuesday when Aunt Penny and I were strolling to lunch we had only been out for about 10 minutes when both babies seemed to get so hot they were even getting a little flush. It gets hot where we live in the summer, so I figured we may as well get something now, because it's not going to cool down anytime soon. We love this new one. It gives them so much room to stretch out and they can face each other which they both seem to like a lot. We spent the afternoon strolling around the Irvine Spectrum but you would have thought it was Disneyland by the way the babies LOVED there new ride and checking out all of the shops. We ended the day at a birthday party for our friend Roland. The party was at our friends Ron and Nancy's house. They have a bowl to skate in their back yard and there was a good session going. Kai let out a shriek of excitement every time someone would grind through the deep end. Could be a sign of things to come??!!

Kai's a big boy now!

Kai the accomplished boy!

Holding his own bottle...:)

Daila wiggles away while Kai chases

Kai decided to take advantage of Daila's downtime while she was under the weather and use this time to really try to get ahead of the game. In the last couple of days Kai has perfected holding his bottle all by himself AND has been threatening to start crawling any moment now... He spent all last weekend in the "crawl position" and now rocks back and forth and makes the occasional frog leap! Good thing he's only tried this on something soft, or when we're outside in the grass, because he pretty much does a face plant every time. He doesn't seem to mind though, typical boy...:) We think Daila is on to him though because yesterday while Kai was rocking on his hands and knees Daila was laying on her back next to him. She decided to lift up her leg and give him a little push, much to her delight he tipped over and they both laughed about it!

Don't get me wrong, little Dai Dai is right behind him. She's watched him hold his bottle and try to crawl and is now working on both as well. This morning she almost held her bottle for the whole breakfast. They both are getting pretty good at sitting for a few seconds at a time in the grass by themselves too. They're already growing up too fast!

A visit from Aunt Penny!

Daila already trying to feed herself.

Aunt Penny, Kai and Daila

Playing in the yard.

So the last couple of days have been a little rough, I was sick for the first time in ages and then little Daila came down with some mystery illness that had us rushing her off to the hospital on Sunday night. We don't know if the two are related, but the lasted tests from the hospital have all come back with negative results for any type of virus, so we have no idea what it was. But we do know that little Dai Dai is feeling much better now, and that's all that matters...:)

My Aunt Penny came to visit today. She was going to be coming yesterday, but in lieu of the illnesses she just came for the afternoon. She and my uncle Liberty live in Seattle, Liberty is attending a conference in Palm Springs so Penny drove out to see us. She helped out with the babies lunch feeding and then we all strolled around the neighborhood for a "grown up" lunch at El Torito and then some shopping. We came home and played with the babies and caught up on life. I hadn't seen her since our wedding so it was nice to just relax, enjoy the babies and chat. Penny is a mother of 5 and grandmother of 6 (if you can believe it!) she has always been very involved in my life and I was so thankful to have this afternoon to spend with her and for her to enjoy my newest additions to the family!

Back in the California sunshine.

We've been back now for 5 days and we're starting to get back to normal. We're almost completely unpacked and as of today we're all back on a normal sleeping schedule. The weather today is beautiful so I decided to do the after lunch playtime with Kai and Daila outside. It seems like they grew up so much while on our trip, and it's time for them too start getting outside more. They both loved the feeling of grass between their toes. They are both almost able to sit up on their own too, and they like to use the grass as something to hold on to. I didn't successfully get any photos of this today, but I think in the next couple of days they will have it perfected...:)

Mimi and Papa's house!

Mimi feeding Daila

We spent the rest of our trip at my mom and dads house, a.k.a. Mimi and Papa's. This is also the house I grew up in, my dad built it when I was 1 yrs. old. It was so fun bringing the babies to a place that is so rooted into my life, and to spend time with them in my old bedroom, and to measure them on the same closet door wall that I got measured on when I grew up! All of my nephews and nieces measurements are on this wall as well, but now Kai and Daila are officially the shortest on record!

It was a wonderful week. Billy was a champ as he hung out all day everyday with my mom, dad and the babies while I went out to train for my new "career path" everyday. Billy did manage to get work done though, thanks to his laptop and blackberry. We did make it down to the lake a couple of times for some fishing. So now it goes down on record as the only thing I've successfully reeled in from the lake is a bullfrog...:) Billy had much more luck as he caught a 5 lb. bass the same day, and a bunch of croppies the following day. Ohio life is not as bad as everyone tries to make it sound. Especially coming from the craziness of California, a week of silence out in the country with a beautiful lake and rolling hills is just what the doctor ordered! Kai and Daila seemed to love it there too. They were so relaxed the whole time, and in the good hands of Mimi every night. We got spoiled a little as we got to sleep in uninterrupted for 6 nights in a row. Thanks Mimi!

The last full day we were there my mom and dad threw a party for some family and old friends to get to meet the babies. We had a great day of catching up, sharing stories, taking golf cart rides down to the lake and Billy made his famous Hawaiian BBQ for everyone in attendance . Regretfully I feel like I was so busy the whole time I barely got the camera out! It was wonderful that so many people came to see us, some people I hadn't seen in over 20 years! It was a perfect way to end an awesome trip. We can't wait to got back to Ohio again!

Uncle Don and Traci's house

We spent the first couple of days with my brother Don and his fiance Traci and my nephews and nieces. Kai and Daila finally got to meet their other cousins, as Max is the only one who lives in California. We spent 2 days with all of the kids as they played and bonded with everybody. Joey is the youngest who is almost 2, and Sid, Clay, Amber, Alex and Taylor range from 8-17, and they all LOVE holding the babies. So between all of them it's pretty safe to say the babies were being adored at all times. I think Clay (my 8 yr. old nephew) may have had the closest bond with them. He just talk to and cuddled with them every chance he got. And the babies loved all of the interaction.

The next 2 days we spent going on a little road trip to Pittsburgh PA. Our oldest nephew Sidney is on a traveling all state baseball team. Their team had some games in Pittsburgh and Mark Wilkins, their coach, use to be a pitcher for the Pirates. He arranged for their whole team and families to also go to the Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds game Saturday night. To top it off he also arranged for all the boys on the team to sit in the dug out during batting practice before the game. It was so great to be able to finally see some of Sidney's baseball games and to be there for such a special moment for him. We had a blast the whole time. It was also the first time Billy and I have left the babies overnight with anyone. My mom and dad were in their babysitting glory as we ventured out for the first time. We always have a great time with my brother Don and Traci, and this was no exception. Now we just look forward to the days we can take the babies with us and all of the kids can have these memories together!

The big journey east.

Well, it's official, we've been blessed with awesome babies. I know, you're not suppose to say things like that for fear of jinxing yourself (if you're superstitious). It seems to me people are more into sharing stories of "challenge" i.e. negative situations, and keeping the positive ones to themselves whether it's for this reason or trying not to boast too much etc. Well, I've decided to throw this caution to the wayside and go ahead and say it. Kai and Daila are amazing. May as well celebrate in the greatness...:)

The flight both ways was "pretty much" as smooth as we could have hoped for. Mind you I called the airline 3 times before departure (once to add Kai and Daila as infants, once to confirm seating and baggage allowance, and once to make sure none of our planes would be coming from Mexico for fear of the swine flu... we'll chalk that up to a combo of new mom anxiety and the damn news channels) Well, like always you try and prepare only to have a random wrench thrown it at the last moment. The wrench this time was that apparently each row on an airplane only has one extra oxygen mask, so it is against the rules for 2 lap infants to be seated in the same row. You'd think they would have mentioned this when I called to get our seat assignments, thanks United. So, Billy and I were not able to sit in the same row together. So there we were, each our own 2 separate "teams" as we coined it, trying to keep it together enough to not upset a plane full of passengers. Well, the babies prevailed once again. Daila slept the whole time on Billy's lap, and Kai stood on mine pretty much the whole time looking out the window. So even though he chose not to sleep, he didn't make peep the whole time. He's just so much the type to stare wide eyed at every new thing and take in as much as possible. His "curious george" look when something new is happening is just priceless. I got to show him the top of the Rocky Mountains as we flew over Colorado and tell him stories of the days when I use to live there. He kept looking at me in amazement as he was hanging on every word...:)

The cutest thing about it was once we got back to my brothers house late that night when we put the babies to bed I have never seen them so happy to be next to each other. It was clear that they missed each other. They clung onto each other and fell asleep holding hands. It melted my heart to see how much they already care about each other!

Lots to blog about!

Before we went on our trip to Ohio Sallie and Pamela came over for a visit. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and we all sat out on the patio and had lunch. I know they wanted to get as much baby time in as possible before Kai and Daila's big journey. Sallie brought cute little sun hats for the babies. Summer is upon us!!