Afternoon Fun at Centennial Olympic Park

A fun stop during our visit to downtown Atlanta at the Centennial Olympic Park new playground. This playground has a few unique structures that you won't find them in typical playground. The kids love to slide and climb up on the pseudo rock climbing wall built for little one. They also enjoyed the rocking bench! The shade is a huge plus for a hot day in Atlanta.. The location is ideal for family who visit the Georgia Aquarium or the World of Coca Cola for a quick break.

Mr. Z had a blast climbing up and sliding down the slide. The cool feature is the standing slide that roll down make you feel like you are on the roller skate.. Fun time!

This post is part of Photo Friday hosted at Delicious Baby. Check out other participants here.

The 2008 Review

Ah.. The year end review.. I don't like to look back in the past but rather focus in the future. But there is one thing that I don't mind looking back often. I love to review our travel trips from the past to relive the fun and treasure all the memories we have created with all those trips.

At the beginning of 2008, I have made a list of Top 10 Weekend Trips that we could do from our homebase in Atlanta.. How did I do..

We did take a trip to Helen for our anniversary. It wasn't the romantic getaway that we were planning for but nonetheless it was the fun family trip that my kids are still talking about.

Then in September, we took a day trip to Chattanooga for the fun full day at the Creative Discovery Children Museum and Tennessee Aquarium.

And to celebrate my birthday in October, we went to Destin for a few days.. Oh!! This will be one of my annual trip as long as we can afford it. The beaches are gorgeous.

So we managed to check off 3 out of 10 from our list. Not too bad. In between, we also went to the Carribean on Carnival cruise. It's yet another one of our favorite vacation type. I already start planning for the next cruise.

I can't wait to start planning for 2009 trips.. So far, one is already in progress.. Stay tune for our next adventure.

The American Girl Bistro

This Christmas Miss J got a brand new American Girl doll. Ok.. I know.. I know.. American Girl doll is a bit (maybe a lot) expensive doll. For $90 per doll, it seems kind of excessive for a 7 years old girl. However, I love their concept of the girl with character. I really like how they tie history to a doll character with books. Maybe it's my childhood dream to own one that push to get the American girl doll for Miss J this Christmas. I can't be sure..

So a couple days ago we took her to the American Girl Boutique and Bistro for a night out with her new friend. It was so cute. She got matching outfits from Grandma and Grandpa. Her new friend had her own chair.. The bistro is nicely decorated with the modern style in there. It was very nice atmosphere. The menu is pretty much straight forward. The price is fixed per person.. At $14.50 per person, I think it's way too expensive. But I guess most of the time, it's for special occasion.. With that you gets the choice of one appetizer and one meal. The food is pretty decent but small in size. I guess they don't expect girls to eat much. After the meal, she got to stroll around the store and checked out all other accessories. Now she just has to save up her money for those if she wants any.. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!

I was planning to write up this long post about how proud I am of myself to celebrate my first Blogniversary. But I just don't have it in me today to do so..

So to me, Happy 1st Blog-niversary. I have enjoyed my journey and met several new friends. I hope this year journey will be more fun and greater than last year.

The Nutcracker at the Fox Theatre

Today we took Miss J and Mr. Z to the Fox Theater for the Atlanta Ballet's Nutcracker show...

Ah.. It was such a great experience for both of them and myself. It was the first time for me to visit the Fox theater. What an amazing theater!! I was so in awe for the beauty of the architecture and details of the building. I didn't know about the history of the Fox until to read it from their website. It makes the experience of the show even more magical. The history that has been preserved through time makes me feel like we have been transformed to the different time.

The show is no doubt fun and captivating. This will surely be one of our holiday activity from now on. Maybe next year I might invest in a better seat. :) I wasn't sure how they will do with such a long show.. So I purchased the cheapest seat. To my surprise, we were almost at the front row but to the left of the theater. I guess next year we can try to get a seat on the middle section of the theater.

Miss J and Mr. Z got to enjoy the musician during the intermission on the front row.

It's CHRISTmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

Last night we had a small Christmas eve dinner with friends. Nothing big just us and their family. It's my first Christmas eve dinner that I cooked and prepared everything myself. I'm pretty proud of myself. Bonus for a small gathering is everyone gets to eat at the dining room.. Ah.. What a treat!

Santa has arrived in Atlanta at 11pm. Look what he brought with him to the Q house!


I was so touched this morning as we woke up to Christmas day. Miss J and Mr. Z saw what Santa brought for them and the first thing Miss J said was.. 'We have to pray to God and thanks him for Jesus'. That's what Christmas is all about!!!!

Someone was asking for American Girls and guessed she has been good!


A bit OCD??? Mr. Z lined up his toy in a perfect line. That's just how he likes it.

Fun day at I.N.K

After a whole day of doing nothing yesterday, I felt horribly guilty so I decided to take the kids out on the cold day. We headed North to I.N.K. - it's the kid's hand-on museum that kids get a chance to pretend to live like us adults. There are multiple rooms to recreate the real world ranging from grocery store, bank, doctor office, restaurant, salon and many more. It's not too far from our house and we have our reciprocal membership that we got from Chattanooga so we got in for free.

It is a small museum but is packed full of things for kids to do and run around. It was actually my first time but Miss J has been there a couple times with her school field trip and Mr. Z had been there once as well. So they actually showed me where things are.

Mr. Z didn't waste anytime and ran straight to the train section. If I didn't force him to come with us to other rooms or station, he would probably spend his whole afternoon there.

Then we backtracked to the mail room. We stopped to send mail to Santa. Hopefully it's not too late. :) After that, we headed to the back room that has the airplane. What a cool room!!! I love it as much as the kid. How often do I get to sit on the small plane like that..


Miss J couldn't get enough of the ATM machine. That's the girl after my own heart! She knows where the money is. :) They gave us the real ATM card that works with Suntrust machine. She got to enter the code, select language, select transaction type.. The only exception is it doesn't give out any money.

After a while, I just let them play on their own.. They didn't seem to want to leave so I had to round them up and promise a return trip with daddy. After all, we don't have to pay for the fee so we can go back as often as we would like. What a fun day we had!!

Holiday Parties

Ah.. Till the season.. This year it seems we have been busier than usual. Maybe because we stay in town instead of heading South to the land of Mickey and Minnie.

Last week we had Miss J's holiday party at school. It was nice to get to see other parents and see how she is in the class. Her teacher is amazing. We were on the mad dash to finish 3 crafting project and 1 snack. It was quite accomplishments for us to make 2 ornaments and one goodie bag home.

Then the next night we had Mr. Z's holiday party at his Pre-K school. His class performed 3 songs.. It was so adorable. They sang, danced and enjoyed the party. Mr. Z, however, didn't really like to sing in front of a large audiences. He did dance when they sang Rudolph though.. Here is my little Rudolph..


We also attended our first playdate with my local mom group. Typically, I had to work so I hardly join in the playdate. But I was able to clear my schedule to take them to Ginger Bread cookie decorating playdate. My friend is an amazing baker!! She can do the kind of cookies that you don't want to eat but just to look at. We had fun on our sugar binge and decorating.


Then last night, we planned to take them to see Magical Night of Light at Lake Lanier. However, the traffic was so bad we had to improvise. Instead, we headed to McD for a fun dinner out and went to see the light at John Creeks area (which is free). So we will probably try the Magical Night of Light later and plan our trip better to avoid the traffic.


Whew.. It has been a really busy week so I'm sure y'all can relate and forgive me for not updating my blog more often.

Wordless Wednesday: Just Follow Us

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A Day in The City

I would like to think that we are the 'City' people living in the suburb of Atlanta. But the reaction of my kids when we drove to midtown made me realized that we are far from city people.


Mr. Z: "Mommy, look at that tall building!!"

Miss J: "Daddy, look at that sign!!"

Mr. Z: "Mommy! Daddy! Look!!!"


This conversation went on and on almost as soon as we approached midtown. I guess we haven't been to downtown often enough.


This past weekend we had a little adventure to midtown. I wanted to get the Nutcracker tickets. I have learned from my friend and just noticed how expensive Ticket Master charged for the "Convenient Fee" I decided to make a day trip and went down to the Fox Theatre ourselves and buy our tickets in person.


We parked our car at IKEA and took a free shuttle bus to the Marta station. Then we got on the Marta to the North Avenue station. This was probably one of the highlighted for Mr. Z. We could have driven down there and park somewhere but then where is the fun. The Marta station isn't that far from the theatre just a short walk. It wouldn't be so bad. After we got our tickets, we headed back to IKEA and had lunch.


Typically, we don't have much luck in checking them in at IKEA playland. They have very limited space but that day we were lucky. So we were able to walk around with no kids and .. well, I don't know if it's good or bad because we were able to pick up a few stuffs for our house.


I have found one of my favorite thing this season - Non Breakable Christmas Ornaments!!! I love it. When you have kids, I think it's a must in every household. It looks just like glass ornaments but it doesn't break when they drop it on the floor.

Saturday Fun

Oh.. It has been a while since I have updated my blog. No excuse here. Just plain busy and laziness.

We had a great Thanksgiving with our friends from our small group bible study. They cooked up a great turkey every year. This year I was rather disappointed in the Black Friday deals. We didn't wake up in the early morning to get anything in particular. I found a couple deals that I was able to get after we slowly moved our behind out of the house..

This past weekend had been busy but it will get even busier next weekend.

We started off with Mr. Z's classmate's birthday party at the Stars & Strikes - our local bowling alley. It was fun to see Mr. Z attempting to throw the bowling ball. In the beginning, he got it stuck on the lane a couple times but after a while he was able to manage to get a couple strikes. Not bad for a 4 years old boy! I also had fun talking to other moms. We had a couple families who live in the same neighborhood. After we got talking we found out that our hubbies are more alike than we would like to admit.. One thing leads to another and now we are planning LoTR party! Gotta get on Google to do some research now. I have to prepare myself for the trivia game.

Sunday was our usual routine - church, lunch, bible study and dinner. We went to the mall at lunch today. It was busy.. So I guess we all try our best to help with our economy. We gave in and let them ride the carrousel. I love the carrousel at this mall. Since the upgrade at the foodcourt, it makes it even more family-friendly with several small tables for little kids.

So how was your weekend?

A Day at the Amicalola Falls

Recently, we just took a quick trip to visit Amicalola Falls in Dawsonville. It was about 45 minutes from our house. The trip was a really pleasant drive in the mountain with blue sky and colorful trees along side of the road. I was glad Mr. Rojo did the driving so I could enjoy the scenary. We went there with a couple of families friends. At first we stopped by at the pumpkin patch. After that, we headed to the Falls. We planned to picnic there and do a little hike to enjoy the leaves color in the mountain.

It was a really busy weekend. There were so many cars there but the rangers were very good at helping us parking and answering any questions. We parked and headed to the playground area. The kids were off to the playground and the adults digged in on the food. I love the Fall weather.. the cool, crisp air...

After a while, we packed up and decided to check out the Falls. We drove up to the West Ridge Falls access trail.. Ok.. We cheated, ok? We had 4 kids and 1 baby so we needed a little bit of an easy trail. This trail is perfect for any family as the trail is built with recycled tire. It was very easy to walk. There was pretty much no elevation at all.. We could even push the stroller on this trail. The trail was pretty manageable for small kids as well. I think it took us about 10-15 minutes to get from the parking lot to the viewing point of the Falls. Maybe next year we can try to hike from the base.. hehe..

Then we went up to the top of the Falls to check out the Lodge. It was a great place to stay in the park. It has an amazing view and a great restaurant with reasonable price buffet. We didn't plan to eat there but it was too good to pass up. But before dinner, we found out that the park had the Hayride every 15 minutes for free.. Did I hear someone mention 'Free'? Without hesitation, we all headed out to wait in line for the hayride. It was pretty neat ride. The ranger took us on the trail off road. The kids got a kick out of the bouncing up and down on the tractor and the fallen leaves.

Back from the hayride we headed down to check out the amazing view from the Lodge. Then off to dinner.. Food was great, friendship was even better.. We truly enjoyed our day out with our friends. It was one of the fun weekend trip we have had this year.

The park has different kinds of accomodation. There are hike-in Inn (as the name you can't drive there), the cabin, the hotel.. We really liked it there that we were thinking about vacationing there together. Now we just have to find the time that will work for everyone.

Wordless Wednesday: Help! I'm stuck!

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Pumpkin..pumpkin.. pumpkin everywhere...

A couple weekends ago we took the kids to our favorite activity of the Fall - Pumpkin patch farm. We headed North to Burt's Farm. I think this is one of the most popular pumpkin patch farm in Atlanta area. I went there with Miss J once a couple years ago on her field trip. It was very nice and very cold. So this time I came prepared. But what I didn't prepare for was how busy this would be. We had to park in the adjacent parking lot. I mean there were a lot.. a lot of families there. But surprisingly, the farm is big enough for everyone and they have a lot of pumpkins for everyone to have their own spot for the perfect Fall picture.

We first stopped at the giant pumpkins rows. I don't know how many pumpkins were there but there were a lot. And each one was as big as Mr. Z's head. It was fun for them to just try to move them around. Mr. Z had fun just hopping from one row to the next trying to see which one he could move. Poor kid, he didn't know that this was our plan to wear him out. hehe.. Oh! how I wish I could be a better photographer or know more about taking great picture. It was such a great place to take Fall pictures. The whole place was blazed in orange.

After a while, we moved on to the next section - the non-traditional pumpkin rows. Here we found white pumpkins, greenish pumpkins, pumpkins with bad acnes.. I mean seriously.. These pumpkins need to go see the dermatologists - STAT! And being as strange as he is, Mr. Z first choice of the pumpkin was the white pumpkin. That's my boy! Before we got there, we had talked to them about how many pumpkins they could pick. At first I said, one each.. then I caved and gave them two each. So what was Mr. Z next choice? The acne pumpkin!! It took quite a few words from Mr. Rojo to convince him to change to a more traditional looking pumpkin.. Nothing against those pumpkins, I just wouldn't know what to do with them.

Miss J on the other hand had some problem picking just the perfect one. She is my little shopper in training. She is really good at math so I now can tell her how much she can spend. So she was just looking for the one that perfect and was at the right price. Well, it wasn't easy but she did find the one. Then for the second one, she wanted to make sure that it was the same size. So she would pick it up and brought it to compare.. Imagine how long would that take.. Yup.. Forever...

There are other things to do there as well like a hayride. But man.. a line was long so we just didn't go on that. In the end, we ended up with a big family of pumpkins to come home with. I think it was Mr. Z who started to pick more pumpkins and said 'This one is for mommy and this one is for daddy'... Kid!

Wordless Wednesday: Look I'm underwater!

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Six Flags Over Georgia

A couple weekend ago we took Miss J and Mr. Z to Six Flags Over Georgia. It was our and their first time there. Fortunately, Mr. Rojo's friend has a season pass so he was able to get us the discount tickets. We met them up at McD nearby to grap lunch and carpooled to the park. It helped to save the parking fee which costs $15.

Once we got there, the kids quickly took out the map to check out where they wanted to go. But we already knew where we would end up. Our main purpose to go there was to check out the new Thomas Town. So we started head toward the back of the park for Thomas Town. It was during the Halloween weeks so it was nice and spooky to see all the decoration with bones and skeletons. A quick detour to the kiddie free-fall ride was in order. I think Mr. Z wasn't sure at first. I was worried that he would cry. But.. Nope.. He was a dare devil and giggled about it the whole time.

Once we got to Thomas Town, I had to say I was quite disappointed. I was glad we didn't have to pay for the full price to get in. I would be really upset. It was just a big playground with Thomas Theme and a small train ride. I mean that's it!!! So here is my warning to all parents with Thomas obsession kids, don't waste your money there. Six Flags is for bigger kids or even adult. Thomas Town isn't worth it if you want to bring your little kids there. However, we managed to spend a good hour there just for them to run around and ride on the train. I guess for them it was enough with a train ride with Thomas. I still couldn't get the Thomas theme song out of my head.

Surprisingly, Mr. Z loved the go-karts race which was right next to Thomas. He was too young to drive by himself of course. But he could ride with Mr. Rojo. Man.. He hung on to his dear life during the race. :) After Thomas and go-karts, we started to walk around the park with no particular plan. Mr. Rojo did get on the Ninja ride with his friend. I was too chicken to go on any ride. hehe.. Then we went to the Dodge City Bumper cars. It was a downer for Mr. Z as he was only a couple inches too short to ride. I felt so bad for him.. He was crying and very upset.

So we looked for some other kid friendly rides for him. We headed to the Riverview Carousel. There we found the perfect ride for them, the Hanson Cars. It was so neat for them as they could ride the car by themselves. I think it was one of their favorite ride. Mr. Z and Miss J still talked about it from time to time. Then we went to the Wile E. Coyote Canyon Blaster. The ride would be a fun ride if we didn't have to wait in line for almost an hour for a 45 seconds ride. I had to admit.. I could barely handle this ride. I think I scream as loud or louder than Miss J. hehe.. We noticed that there seemed to be busier than this morning. You would think that as the day passed, it would be less people. But I guess since it was the Halloween weeks and some people just came for the night time it made it busier.

Now it was dinner break. We dined at DeeJay's Diner. Nothing food couldn't cure. After a full tummy, we headed to the Railroad station for a nice, relaxing train ride. This was a great way to get to see the park without using your energy. It was getting dark and I knew that we would probably need to wrap up soon. We headed to the USA Games Area and played some games. Mr. Rojo won a basket ball! Before we headed out, we stopped by for the Dipping Dots for the kids and I was so looking forward to the Funnel Cake. But I wasn't going to wait in line for another hour for a funnel cake. I guess I will just have to find it somewhere else.

At the end of the day, I asked Miss J what was her favorite part. She loved the Hanson Car because she got to drive it herself. As for Mr. Z, he loved the go-karts. Guess he has the need for speed. Farewell Six Flags, we probably won't see you anytime soon until they both are at least 52" tall. :)

Wordless Wednesday: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

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Fair, Festival and Ferris Wheel

A couple weekends ago we headed out to soon to be our annual activity for Fall, the Cumming Country Fair and Festivals. It was a great small town fair. We headed out late on Sunday evening. I don't like heat so I purposely chose to go after the sunset. Well, what happened next show how competent as a parent we are!

After we parked, we found out that Miss J didn't have her shoes on. I mean.. we trust her to be able to take care of herself to a certain extent. I haven't dressed her since she entered Kindergarten. I don't have to tell her to wear her shoes way before that.. Is it because of the excitement that she forgot her shoes? We will never know. But what would you do at that point. For us, Mr. Rojo had become her personal stroller. He carried her almost the whole trip. I said almost because at certain point we just let her walk barefeet. If you went to the fair and saw a girl with no shoes, that's probably her!

We got to walk right to the fair without paying for any admission fees since it was about an hour before closing. This was perfect for us. I don't know how much we will spend if we stayed more than an hour. The rides there were the same as last year. Mr. Z's favorite was the worm roller coaster. This year I guess Miss J felt like she is bigger. She didn't get on that ride with him. After Mr. Z first ride we walked around a bit just to check out everything. We didn't do the petting zoo. I wasn't gonna let Miss J go in there without shoes.

We stopped for a game for Miss J and Mr. Z to pop the balloon. They were very kid-friendly because eventhough they didn't pop any ballon when they threw the dart, the gentleman there gave them a big stick to pop the balloon. They each got a small toy to bring home. After that, Mr. Rojo and Miss J got on the Ferris Wheel. Mr. Z was too short to get on the ride. Plus if we all go, we would use up all our tickets!! No one warns me that it can be very expensive at this fair. Each ride costed at least $3 each. That can add up pretty fast!

After a couple more rides, we took a little break. We sat down and watched the Xtreme Power sculptor. A bag of cotton candy did the trick to settle them down. By that time, the Sun already set so it was our signal to head home. I didn't get to have my funnel cake though.. Bummer. Maybe next year!

Wordless Wednesday: Mr. Pretzel

Mr. Pretzel at the Braves VS the Phillies game last year.

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My Favorite Things

Last week, I just received the item from Pamper Chef that I ordered from my friend's Pamper Chef party. I have to say that it has quickly become one of my favorite thing to use in the kitchen. It's not the tool that can do it all like Kitchen Aid. It's just a small little tool that make sandwich prettier. It's the Cut-N-Seal. Kellie was talking about it at Busy Mamas blog on how great it will help prepare lunch for your kid.

The verdict is... drum roll please... It's amazing. I like that it seals the sandwich so there is no mess and no falling cheese or jelly from the sandwich. Miss J now loves to bring PB&J to school. It will make my lunch packing routine much easier. I can just prepare it all in bulk and freeze it in the freezer. The best part is I can do a lot more than just PB&J. I can make Ham and Cheese sandwich, Sausage and Egg sandwich, Turkey sandwich or anything your kiddies love to eat.