Happy Year of the Pig!

E had the unique opportunity to perform at the iconic Balboa Park for CNY w/ a few of his classmates.

It involved a good few weeks of intense practice but it was worth it.

Game face!

The school performance the day before was a good dry run.

Then Uncle Cliff, Auntie Anna and Caleb came over while on their first visit to SD (from the Bay Area). We’ve been meeting up every December in Dallas for awhile and every year, they tell us it’s time to move to CA. It was funny to finally come full circle and have our (a bit delayed) annual meet-up finally in Cali! We had a CNY hot pot feast… and consumed leftovers for dayyyssss, haha.

The V-Day haul. So we found out that it’s actually not allowed to give candy/sweets to other students… YES!

School was out for 4 days over President’s Day so we decided to do a short snowboarding trip to Big Bear — gotta get max usage out of our Ikon passes!

Stopped in the small town of Redlands so Daddy could take a work call. Mommy and son explored downtown: found a neat little toy store, good drinks, 24 hour donuts, an amazing chocolatier, cute shops. E also got his rental gear here which turned out much cheaper than on the mountain and even better: NO LINES!

The snow was really coming down which closed two of the major highways to Bear Mountain. We had to take a roundabout route to get to the resort so we arrived in the late afternoon and did just a few runs. They did have night skiing ’til 8pm but it sure was getting chilly! Mommy’s becoming a fair weather snowboarder — will only go out when the conditions are peachy. ;)

Spotted him getting on the lift by himself w/ a fellow ski school mate? OMG!

Practicing on the bunny slopes w/ his class. Mommy and Daddy then whisked off for a belated V-day “date” on the mountain. ;)

LOTS of snow on the second day which meant sweet, sweet POWDER!

After a full day of riding, we left Big Bear and found a pretty good Chinese resto that turned out to be super close to Y’s Uncle’s place in Loma Linda. We were all crazy thirsty and famished! The jellyfish was stellar. :)

Still had 1 more day of the long weekend to enjoy… Legoland. It was kinda crowded since it was President’s Day so we just did a few rides and enjoyed The Lego Movie 2 promo that was going on throughout the park. They had an area displaying actual sets that were used in the movie.

Another jaunt through SeaLife as he wanted to collect the stamps he didn’t get to last time.

Been a few years since our last pose in front of the sign, eh? :D (BTW, that hat was his “prize” for collecting all the SeaLife stamps).

And since we had time, we went inside the Lego hotel just for grins.

Perhaps a staycation another time?

We literally missed the memo that E was getting an award one Monday morning assembly. He needed to go to the bathroom when we got there, which has never happened before, and while still occupied, they called his name! A bit unprepared but still made it just in time for the pic with Principal H. (Found the notice a week later @ the bottom of his backpack, hehe).

Recognition for perseverance! Always biased, but we’d really have to agree on this one, especially the last few weeks/month… :)

Outdoor Lego build.

Perfecting the closed smile look. :|

Grander earth has quaked before
Moved by the sound of His voice
Seas that are shaken and stirred
Can be calmed and broken for my regard

And through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And through it all, through it all
It is well

And far be it from me to not believe
Even when my eyes can’t see
…
And this mountain that’s in front of me
Will be thrown into the midst of the sea
…
So let go my soul and trust in Him
The waves and wind still know His name
…
And through it all, through it all
My eyes are on You
And it is well with me

{ Blessed by the rawness and authenticity of the songwriter’s story (side note: spotted the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood we rented bikes from in SF) and the inspiration for the song. }

It was a rough start to the year when E ran into some stairs @ home and severely bruised his mouth/gums and knocked several of his teeth. Lots of blood and lots of tears were shed but always lessons to be learned. Indeed, however difficult any circumstance can be, “grander earth has quaked before.” Our eyes are on you. On our daily drives from the mountains to the bay, we believe that he can throw those mountains in front of us into the ocean if He so chose. But sometimes… those mountains are there for a reason.

In the end, E had to get both front teeth extracted but thankfully, they were baby teeth and will be replaced — in nature’s time.

He had a Jogathon on the calendar just a few days after the accident and we are so proud of this boy for his commitment and resilience in deciding to still run — on behalf of his school and the friends/family that had decided to donate and support him. Mommy had to squirt water directly down his throat as he couldn’t even drink out of a cup or through a straw because of the pain… and then had to be fed piece by piece @ lunch. Never will we take for granted even simple daily things.

Right past the water station ‘cuz Mama’s got my bottle. Like an elite, haha.

BFF mimicking his can’t open my mouth look. :D

Yay, second highest number of laps in his class and he raised the most amount. Um, so who are we going to hit up next year, lol.

Indeed, life is full of seas and waves that are shaken and stirred but it is He that calms and breaks them. These kind of lyrics really become to alive to us in places and moments like this.

Back in the day… when he had front teeth. :D

Always thumbs up for farmer’s market local fare.

A hike near dusk around the boulders accessible from our neighborhood.

If we knew about this view, we would’ve come sooner!

Some parts were pretty steep.

Saw quite a number of folks with their pads and climbing shoes doing actual bouldering.

Of course he wanted to try! Um, in a few years?

“From the rising to the setting of the sun, the name of the LORD is praised.” – Psalm 113:3

A common occurrence after school — learnin’ hard, playin’ hard?

… is Mammoth’s cute trunked mascot. We caught him a few times on the mountain but didn’t get to catch a pic.

Back up a little, we planned our snow trip cushioned with a stop in L.A. Daddy got some seats in his co.’s suite at the Staples Center for a Lakers game so we decided why not (though def not big b-ball fans).

We left SD after lunch so had enough time to stop at the La Habra Children’s Museum (yep, in the ASTC program).

Look beyond. :)

All in all, it wasn’t huge but had some nice local/regional touches and good use of their space.

Historical caboose outside the museum. The museum actually used to be a train station and depot.

Sweet Veggie, we meet again! And oh, what a delight. We stumbled upon this place (during their grand opening) last year when Mommy was headed to TW and the boys had to drop her off @ LAX before going to Big Bear. AYCE Taiwanese vegetarian goodness, mmmm-mmmm. This boy had ??? many bowls of shaved ice, haha.

With our bellies full, it was off to Staples Center.

Saw this line on the walk there and asked security what it was for. We were assuming some kind of concert or celebrity. Um, no. It was the queue for ice skating???

They gave out Lakers fedoras.

He enjoyed the experience and it turned out to be a close and exciting game.

The other side of the crazy ice skating line. We peeked in the rink and it was seriously like shoulder to shoulder skating.

A quick Chinese bakery run afterwards and then we drove to our overnight in Victorville before going up the mountain the next day.

We stopped at Fossil Falls for a short hike to stretch out our legs. Can’t really tell from the pic but it was super cold and windy.

All volcanic rock in unique formations…

Another one of those in the middle of nowhere jerky places.

We then took a drive around the Alabama Hills, the gateway to Mt. Whitney (tall mountain in the background) — Daddy’s dream hike that will likely soon come true. :) This area is also known to be the backdrop for quite a few shows and movies.

E was excited for Nightmare Rock — painted by local artists. It was getting dark and even colder so we decided to make a beeline for our condo and then spend some more time exploring here on the way back.

Geared up and ready to go.

We spotted him on the mountain with his snowboard group and tailed them for a bit.

Ladies and gents, we are all on a lift together as a family. :))

Mommy and son riding. Mama’s dreamed of this day since you were born, hehe.

A mighty fine mountain…

Our high altitude date. :)

But gah, it was snowing on the day we were leaving. No powder this trip but still some great runs.

Daddy likes seeing the SUV in all these new and adventurous places.

Found Convict Lake while coming down the mountain.

In search of snow for his snowballer. (Remember when we picked this up in Utah?)

Back at Alabama Hills for a hike to see the arches.

A nook of warmth.

A couple hours later, grabbed some comfort Chinese food in LA w/ some to-go hot desserts and rolled into home sweet home in the late eve.

Annnnnnd, yo, it’s another new year!