Category: Family (page 11 of 14)

December 31, 2007

Wintuk was great

Wintuk banner from their website

Yesterday Lily and I took the kids to see Wintuk. They were so so about the show until the lights went off and it all started. The girl was mesmerized and could not take her eyes off the stage.

The boy less so. After 15 minutes he started fidgeting and had to shift around. Once the magic started up on stage then he was hooked. They both liked the show a lot and each one says their favorite moment was at the end when the snow fell. The show was a lot of fun and next time Cirque Du Soleil is in town we may take the kids to see them again.

Afterwards we went to eat at that Pongsri Thai restaurant we like and walked over to see the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue. They were a bit of a disappointment; the sidewalk was insanely crowded. We had to wait on a line to get onto the line so walk by the windows.

Grown ups that tried to cut the line were rebuked. One ~~jackass~~ parent brought his two kids to the barrier and then pushed them to the windows. Not surprisingly the two ~~brats~~ kids were all over the place and were very rude.

That’s a lot of crossing out of words… Nice what some folks teach their kids, luckily my kids were too into the windows to notice. It was a good time but man, were we tired from all that walking.

Wintuk banner from the Cirque Du Soleil website.

December 21, 2007

Late Christmas shopping

Last night Lily and I left work early to catch the 5:22 PM train. The plan was to go to Toys R Us and pick up toys for all the kids we know.

It went well except we got charged twice for one of the items. Lily always checks the receipts before we leave the store so we got it fixed immediately. The customer service lady actually refunded the toy twice and we had to correct her so we didn’t walk out with a free toy. It’s the season and we just wanted to be charged for what we bought and not get anything we did not pay for.

Once we got to the car we realized that one of the kids (not ours) was getting an er, really cheap toy. I would have hated to become that kid’s Uncle who he actually wants cash from instead of a toy. We went back and exchanged it for something nicer.

There seems to be some psychological thing with kids and toy shopping. All kids that I know recognize that grown ups buy toys for other kids, but their toys all come from Santa. I used to have the same thing. Birthday toys are from grown ups, but Santa gets 100% credit on Christmas day. Santa can do no wrong and the kids idolize him.

Santa reminds me of a politician running for office. I think December 25th he gets a bounce in the polls.

Shopping took less than 40 minutes and that is just not bad. I suggested to Lily that since we were so early that we go to the mall and do some more shopping for grown ups. She is taking off tomorrow just to shop and I was informed that she enjoys shopping more when I am not around.

I don’t mind but I know I will be carrying what she buys tomorrow.

December 15, 2007

It’s an action figure

G.I. Joe action figure On my son’s birthday I got him a G.I. Joe Sigma 6 Arctic Duke. This one is from Hasbro’s web site.

Its very different from the one’s I had growing up (but still has the kung-fu grip). For starters it looks like it could survive anything I could do to it. I don’t think I could break this and I am sure that a 6 year old would have trouble too.

I want to start getting the kids more appropriate *cough* less expensive *cough* toys. Right now the basement is filled with toys that are wrecked and should be tossed out. Between uncles and cousins, those kids can out stock a toy store.

His grandparents had gotten him a Lionel train and he is nuts about it. I was talking to him and asking him if he likes the G.I. Joe:

Me: Do you like it?

Son: It’s okay. It doesn’t do anything.

Me: Well, I got you this doll so you could play with it. You played with your sisters dolls and I thought you’d like this one better.

Son: (Looking at me like I need pity) Daddy, It’s not a doll. It’s an action figure.

Sigh. He started playing with it some more but he’ll always prefer any Lionel train over an action figure…

December 8, 2007

2007 Christmas tree

Here is a picture of the 2007 Christmas tree just completed today.

This year we purchased a new tree. It’s pre-lit and we added LED lights to add color. It’s also 9 feet tall and narrow at the base so it looks different from the one we had for years.

We all think it looks good. You can compare the new one to the old one at this link. The LED lights are like little colored flashlights. They project colored circles on the walls!

Disco effects… It would have been different but I could have replaced the spire star on top with a mirror ball… 🙂

November 13, 2007

The kids like Pucca

The kids like the show Pucca; it’s really funny in a less than 6 year old sorta way…

It’s good addictive fun. The other show they like is Power Rangers.

September 15, 2007

$10 HG Gundam models

Last week we were in Flushing and found HG Saviour Gundam and HG Insurgent Ginn for $10 each. We ended up buying two of each.

I assembled the first one and even put on the stickers for my son. Here is the picture of it put together.

HG Saviour Gundam

My son likes it a lot and is being very careful carrying it around from table to table. I’m sure it will be broken soon (he’s a 5 year old) but for now he’s glad that he has “his model”.

As HG models go this one was pretty good. It’s begging to be painted.

August 30, 2007

Kids and TV

When I was a small kid, I had to worry about being able to change the TV station from channel 4 to channel 2. Or to channel 13. And how to get UHF.

I just overheard my 5 year old son: “Grandma? Can you record that show?”

I had to learn how to turn the TV station dial; he’s worried about working the DVR. I guess the older generations really are different.

August 29, 2007

The Mercedes Experience

Our Mercedes experience is less than perfect. In fact, a lot less than perfect. It is not an experience one wants to have if one can avoid it.

We have the 2000 year model of ML320, the Mercedes SUV. Granted, it is a 7-year old car. But still, it is a Mercedes. It is supposed to be a premium luxury car, not a Honda.

We have issues with this SUV since day one. In the first year, we had trouble with the running board. Then not until when we had to replace the side mirrors did we realized that we did not get the auto dimming feature on the mirrors that we paid for as part of the premium package. Then, there was the recall on the steering wheel fuel connector. Early this year the muffler had a hole and was making such a loud noise that I was embarrassed to be driving in it. Then came the last incident on July 30th.

It was Jan’s first day at work and I volunteered to drive us to the train station. I forgot to turn off the light after I parked the car. The car did beep but I thought it was the seatbelt and ignored it. I thought about it after we got on the train and rationalized that the car will turn off automatically so didn’t bother to ask Jan. When we got back to the train station on the evening, the battery was dead and we needed to jump start the car. At first Jan called his dad but then I came up with a great idea. Why don’t we ask the taxi driver at the station and see if he can help us to jump start the car. Great idea….. only if we can open the hood! We got the taxi to come with us to our car only to find out that the hood of this POS (Piece of Sh*#) wouldn’t open. I called AAA and they promised to send a tow truck in an hour. We waited over an hour and finally the tow truck came. He couldn’t open the hood either so we had to have it put on a flatbed to our house.

The next day my father-in-law came up with an idea by using the cigarette lighter charger port to charge the batter. At least we didn’t have to flatbed the car to the dealer. Jan made an appointment with the dealer for Saturday morning at 7:30.

So we went to the dealer Saturday morning and guess what they told us! There is no secret way to open the hood other than to break the perfectly OK grill, open the hood, replace the mechanism and replace the grill! I have never ever heard of such an absurd way of opening the hood but we had no other option. It would take a couple of days to get the car back because they have to order the parts. Total cost, over $1,100 to open hood. What kind of car the hood won’t open! Well, a Mercedes!

We love the Mercedes experience so much (NOT) that we decided to get a BMW X3 or Lexus for our next car which we are hoping to get in a few months. I want the 2008 model and BMW’s 2008 model year is not out yet.

July 5, 2007

Happy 4th of July

4th of July For the 4th, the family went over to Stefan’s place for a BBQ. It was raining but everyone had a good time. We moved the table into the garage and hung out till it go dark.

The garage had no lights so Janny got us candles. A good time was definitely had by all.

Living in Long Island for a couple of years now has spoiled me for Queens. On the next block they were shooting off fireworks and had some guys informally closing the street. I expected someone to call the cops (I’m paranoid that way) but I guess everyone liked it so it was all cool.

The drive back was fun. Since it was only the four of us I insisted we take the MINI. That’s always a fun car to drive but gets a little scary when it starts raining hard. Because of the rain the barge carrying the Jones Beach fireworks was not able to get there and they had to cancel.

Too bad, a lot of people must have been disappointed.

June 17, 2007

Kids pictures from trip

Saturday we drove to Lancaster County to have a “Day out with Thomas”. We gave the kids a camera each and here are some of the pictures that they took.

First the girl: she’s going to be 4 at the end of the month.