The Aquarium and a Birthday

We went to the aquarium on Saturday to celebrate my nephew's birthday. The kids had fun seeing all the fish, sharks, and penguins. They both really liked the giant sea turtle, and P1 enjoyed the jellyfish room.

The kids saw their first 3D/4D movie. It was about penguins and I found it fascinating. It is amazing how much a male and female penguin have to work together to raise a chick. They depend 100% on each other for their survival. If mom penguin doesn't come back from her fishing trip, dad penguin and baby penguin will both starve. And the same is true when dad penguin takes his fishing trip. At some point, the chick's appetite become so great that both mom and dad have to go fish at the same time. The chick was greatly agitated when it realized that its parents were gone, and was running around flapping its wings and squawking. It reminded me a lot of P1 when he gets lost in the store. While all the moms and dads are gone, the penguins who didn't mate that season stay behind and watch over all the chicks. It really does take a village to raise children, and if we all had children at the same time I think we would all be in trouble. So maybe if having children is not happening in the time table you want, maybe it is because you are desperately needed in the village. Because just like the penguins, mom and dad can't do it all on our own.

P1 really liked the giant boat that they had in the aquarium. It really wasn't much, but he just kept wanting to go back to the boat.

Penguin watching:

After the aquarium, we had dinner together and then did cake and ice cream. While the adults were finishing dinner, the 3 boys gathered around the dinosaur cake. They were having so much fun playing with all the little dinosaurs on the cake. It warmed my heart to see them laughing and playing together.

P2 also thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate cake, yum!

Truck Adventures Continued

The truck started to die on me in the middle of the road while driving. I would be driving, and suddenly lose all power. I would have to stop the truck, often still in the middle of the road, and restart it. Thankfully, it always restarted. However, this is when I started to get nervous driving the truck around. I stopped driving it on the freeway, and we stayed home a lot more often.

PE was sure that it was another short in the wiring. He ended up replacing the ignition wiring, and we think that fixed it. We're not 100% sure, because then we started having another issue. The truck was sputtering, and the engine block would shake sometimes. The truck has had a history of getting water in the fuel tank when it's really wet outside. Usually we use some Heet, and then the truck is fine. This sputtering was different though, and wouldn't go away. I ended up getting stuck at Lowes with the kids. I called my dad for help and he came, and then suddenly my in-laws pulled up too. They went to Lowes to buy a snow shovel. We managed to get the truck home, but it was still a bit shaky.

PE ended up replacing the fuel filter and pump. And that seemed to help the truck drive better. I drove it around one day, and felt like it was running really well. We made a few stops, and then came back home. We were in the driveway, and the garage opener wouldn't work. I tried the keypad on the garage, and that didn't work either. So, I turned the truck off and grabbed my keys to unlock the house. I opened the garage, climbed back into the truck to drive it into the garage. I turned the key, and heard that lovely clicking sound (which I haven't heard for a long time actually). In the 30 seconds it took to open the garage, the truck battery had completely died! I found that whole incident rather humorous, and was just grateful we had made it back home.

We got the battery recharged, so we felt like the truck was in working condition. A few days later, P1 had a doctor's appointment at 1 pm. I went out earlier to shovel and make sure the truck would start. Everything seemed fine. At 12:50 pm, I loaded the kids up and backed out of the driveway. We drove a few feet and then the sputtering and shaking started. We made it a few more feet before it completely died on me, in the middle of the road. I tried several times, but could not get it to start again.

Once again, my dad came to the rescue. I'm glad his office is 5 minutes away from where we live. He helped me push the truck to the side of the road, and he drove us to the doctor's office. After PE got home from work, he was able to get it started and drive it back into our garage.

So, on Saturday, PE and his dad worked on the truck some more. They noticed that the carburetor would get stuck, either in the open or closed position. So they lubricated that, and fixed a connection with the fuel pump. They drove it around, and they felt like it was driving well.

So, fingers crossed! The real test is to find out whether or not it will work for me!

Truck Adventures

Our truck is practically one of our family members. PE drove it while we were dating and it holds a lot of special memories for us. We used it as our wedding get-away vehicle. It is an 1979 Dodge pick-up truck with a lot of character. Because it is an old vehicle, it is fairly easy to fix when it breaks down. Fancy, new cars are a lot more complicated to try and fix yourself. But PE has done a great job at fixing the truck through the years.

I have been the primary driver of the truck for probably the last 5 years. Once PE had to start commuting to work, we let him use the car that has much better gas mileage and is a bit more reliable. I drive the truck around town. Fortunately, if it breaks down, we have family nearby that can come to the rescue. My dad in particular has saved the day many times.

At one point, we had a lot of problems with the truck battery. It was always dying on me. A few times I had to ask strangers to help me jump-start it. We tried a new battery, had the alternator tested, and replaced the voltage regulator. But it continued to die on me.

One day, I had a visiting teaching appointment. I loaded the kids in the truck, and when I started the truck, I heard the dreaded clicking sound. A dead battery. Now, the truck can be tricky to start, but I have never been able to get it started after hearing that clicking noise. Well, the kids and I said a little prayer, and I tried starting it one more time. It worked! I was so grateful! We were able to make it to the visiting teaching appointment and back home.

Well, the next day we loaded up to go get groceries. Once again, I heard the dreaded clicking noise. After another prayer, the truck did not start. But suddenly my eyes were drawn to something in the garage. We were house sitting for my in-laws at that point, and so I wasn't aware of everything they had in their garage. But when I got out to look at it, I saw that it was a car battery charger! Hallelujah! We ended up using it quite a lot over the next few months. So sometimes, the Lord gives you the instant answer to your prayers, and sometimes He provides the way for you to take care of it.

Eventually, PE replaced some of the wiring in the truck, and that seemed to fix that issue. There was a short somewhere, and the battery was never getting fully charged. We also had issues with the headlights dimming when you had your foot off the gas pedal. Replacing the wiring also fixed that issue! It was nice to drive around with more confidence that I wouldn't get stuck somewhere.

That is, until the next adventure began...

January Fun

  The kids enjoy playing with their cousins at Grandma's house. This time they had fun playing with Dad's old dinosaur toys.

My sister sent P1 and P2 letters that also had a coloring page for each of them. They were very excited to get some mail, and they got straight to work coloring.

 

 This girl is one messy eater! She has picked up the mostly good habit of wanting to wash her hands after every meal. She demands that her brother should help her wash her hands. P1 was super helpful at first, and it was pretty adorable. But now he is sick of it and says he is tired of helping her all the time. I remind him of how often I help him, day after day after day. I guess he is getting a little taste of parenthood.

Just chilling in the hammock: 

Buried in Snow

The snow just keeps coming and coming this winter! We have definitely been getting in our exercise by shoveling all this snow! The kids have been pretty good helpers, except for the one time P2 started bringing the snow back onto the driveway after we had finished shoveling. I guess she just had so much fun, she wanted to do it again!

Yesterday was a fun snow day. Dad did the heavy lifting while we started building a snowman!

 

We made a little toboggan out of a cardboard box and rope. I pulled them around in the yard, and the kids liked that a lot more than sledding down a hill.

P1 volunteered to pull P2 when I needed a break. It was slow going, but he pulled her across the yard all by himself.

Dad dug a snow cave out of the mountain of snow by our driveway.

 

This snowman actually got a carrot nose and some nice arms, but we never did finish him. 

Happy Children

I sure love these two children of mine! And I absolutely LOVE how well they play together! There are the occasional tears, but they can play together for hours and hours. Mom and Dad can even sleep in on the weekends! Although one morning, I heard P1 crying and trying to tell P2 that she needed to come back to bed because it wasn't morning yet. It was almost 8 am, so I called P1 over and told him that it was morning and they could be up. Normally, they get up around 7 and just start playing with each other. They have also been really good helpers lately. Each night before bed, they put away all their toys in the right places! It's a miracle! All I had to do was suggest that any toys left out would be put in Mom's box and be gone for the next day.

 Many of P2's naps don't happen in her bed. If she's tired, she just grabs her blanket and goes to sleep. It's nice to not have to force the naps. She can sleep through just about anything too. And she's super adorable while sleeping!

Chopsticks

Grandpa took us out to eat to celebrate his birthday. We went to Kyoto and ate yummy Japanese food! P1 rocked it with the chopsticks! They had some "chopstick helpers", which we brought home for the kids since they worked so well!

Both kids loved the miso soup! P2 ate Grandma's soup and P1 ate Dad's soup. (Dad was late, and didn't show up until after the main course had arrived). P1 loved the "cheese" in the soup. I decided to just roll with it, and Dad told P1 it was "tofu cheese".

P2 loved the tempura carrots, but didn't care for much else. She spit up her gyoza, which I thought she would like because P1 really likes them. P1 was a good eater and tried almost everything. He thought it was a very fun restaurant with lots of yummy new food to eat.