After going back through our Denver trip photos, we found we actually didn’t take that many! We did have a blast, though, so maybe just totally forgot in the moments…

E did GREAT on the plane again! We had to wait on the tarmac for some kind of maintenance work for maybe an hour or more but as soon as the plane started moving, he fell asleep and continued sleeping until we landed and everyone emptied out.

He really does get excited about travels and exploration just like we do! :)

Hello, Mile-High Skies!

It was right smack dab in the middle of traffic hour when we landed (due to delay in DFW) so it took longer that expected to get to our hotel and check in. The boys were famished so food was a priority. There was a Singaporean/Malaysian place (“Makan”) we found online that looked interesting and of course, Y jumped on that for our first meal there. According to him, it was pretty “tswoon” (accurate) as far as flavors! We ordered popiah, roti telur, sambal kangkong, achar and char kueh tiao. Then we took a box of kuihs back for dessert.

E loved all the food but was a little iffy on the odd-looking sweets. :)

The next morning, Daddy was off to a full day of play with his team so it was Mommy and Son breakfast date. :) Only on vacation does he get these kind of waffles. Hehe.

Then Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Dan and Auntie Glo met up with us and we walked to a farmer’s market close to our hotel — lots of local yummies and goods! An event called The Denver Flea happened to fall that weekend so we went and checked it out. It’s a neat market showcasing area entrepreneurs, designers, artists and retailers. After that we lunched at Zoe Ma Ma — Taiwanese fare with a Colorado twist in that there’s no MSG and they use organic unbleached wheat flour, all-natural meats, cage-free eggs and wind power. :) After lunch, it was siesta time for Elias!

Post naptime, we couldn’t resist going to Little Man Ice Cream, especially after seeing it was within walking distance. The line, as expected, was sheer madness though they claimed it was “short” at that time of the day. Not for a toddler!!! Thankfully, there was an “express counter” with just a subset of their flavors. As you can tell, it don’t matter to THIS little man. :)

After our walk back, Daddy was home and showered so we went for a stroll in the outdoor 16th street mall, supposedly one of the Denver to-do’s.

The restaurant we had wanted to go for dinner took awhile to find only to discover they were closed for the evening. :( We stumbled across this creperie that Daddy seemed curious about and dined there instead. They even had GF crepes! E didn’t want his “child” one but grabbed for Mommy and Daddy’s.

Daddy left early again the next morning for Day 2 and Mommy and E met up with the rest of the family for a trip to The Children’s Museum of Denver. It did not disappoint! There was so much to do and E enjoyed it more than the children’s museum in Austin when we went last December — maybe also because he’s older? His favorite playscapes were the fire safety exhibit where pretty much they re-created an entire fire station complete with a real engine and the kinetics area where you build structures for balls to roll through. Grandpa helped a lot with that last one. And surprisingly, he sat for quite a long time creating “art”. :)

Ball-hoarder! :P

The day before, we passed by this tea bar called Teatulia near our hotel and after looking it up, saw that it got awesome reviews so we went there for lunch. No regrets! The tea lattes (mmmmm, matcha!) were on point and the food was fresh, delicious and fairly healthy. Daddy came back earlier since there were less games on the second day… with the good news that their team was in for the nationals tournament. :)

His choice for celebration dinner was at this “eatuary” called Linger that was close by. Forecast had called for sunny days all the way through but while walking there, it started raining with some very dark and menacing clouds overhead. And of course when we got there, the resto was packed with at least an hour wait or rooftop seating (which would’ve been okay if not for the rain and now, wind!). We made the decision to order to-go and what do you know, Linger was right next to Little Man Ice Cream so Mommy and E went and sat under the umbrellas for some people-watching. The line was at least double the one from yesterday, despite the weather!

After our food was finally ready and packed up, Daddy decided he just had to try this ice cream “worthy of a queue” so it was off to the express line again.

Dessert before dinner day #2… and that was just fine with E!

The morning of our last day we drove a little bit further out to visit the Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre — a geologically formed, open-air theatre flanked by essentially two towering reddish rocks. It is a sight to see! The panoramic view beyond was also breathtaking.

There were lots of folks doing different workouts on the steps — running, walking, skipping, lunges, jumping, step-ups, box jumps and even planks! This older gentleman held for a loooooooong time. :) We also saw them prepping for an Ed Sheeran concert that evening. Can’t imagine getting to experience a musical event there — would be totally awesome! Apparently, the acoustics are supposed to be perfect. Hey, can’t beat Mother Nature, right? They’ve even held Easter sunrise services here.

E enjoyed the little museum inside and of course had to feed the dinosaur. :)

Our last stop before heading to the airport was the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum. It was a bit bigger than the one in Dallas and according to Daddy had a larger collection of aircraft — he knew the names of all of them and Mommy had no clue. ;-P

E waited patiently in line to get to experience the cockpit! It was button and control heaven for him. There was also a really cool kids area with plane bicycles, books, puzzles, crafts and other interactive things to play with. Weirdly, E got nervous sitting in the kiddie planes?

We went up the observation tower that overlooks the front of the museum and the historic B-52 bomber.

They let us sit in the Frontier Room near the tower which opens to the patio and we had breakfast “leftovers” for lunch before heading to the airport.

Bye bye for now, Colorado. We’ll be back the end of this month. :)

PS: Milestone (only to be remembered by a kid’s own parents, ha!) on this trip — he suddenly started singing entire songs on his own.

We got back from Denver and sailed right into July 4th weekend! It was plenty packed — a couple of parties, crafting, some jumping, pool time and of course, fireworks. Last year, we tried to see a fireworks show and the minute the first one went off, E started crying! It wasn’t fun leaving right away after staking a nice spot on the lawn and waiting for a long time. :( Then at our 5K race in May, there were fireworks at the end and E immediately wanted to leave. Thankfully, he was already in the car. This time, we went to an offsite “watching party” at Whole Foods for Kaboom Town and watched the fireworks from afar. E was hesitant at first but then grew more comfortable and actually enjoyed the show. Yay!!! Incremental improvements. :)

Who is causing a ruckus at the head of the table? :)

This weekend we also FINALLY found a good green tea latte around here (and worthy of comparison to those of Portland, Seattle, Boston, Europe, etc) — at this homey local farm-to-fork market called Frisco Farm Stop. It’s nice that DFW seems to be “healthifying” itself, with more emphasis on locally-grown/organic. We picked up some fresh veggies and artisanal goodies at the little shop and E gobbled up one of their handmade sandwiches. It was a nice, chill place to just rest and sit for awhile.

Colorado trip photos & recap coming soon. :) We will be heading back to the mile high state (but a different city) later this month as Daddy’s team made NATIONALS!!!

It’s just been rain, rain, and more rain! Not sure which is worse — the intense humidity and flooding or our usual dry heat around this time. But regardless, that hasn’t deterred Elias from being his active self. There’s the usual Gymboree-ing, play dates and playground/mall-hopping… throw in some reading, puppeteering and random horseplay. Summer kiddie events have been a-plenty, along with outings, gatherings, and get-togethers with friends, family, community group. Swim lessons are baaaack. And then E ran his first TWO races! :)) We also got to see all the service vehicles in our city. Up close, they were larger than life and E was a little taken back by the “hugeness” of them but he still had fun!

Oh no, already lounging around the pool with an older gal? :D

He was sad when all the animals had to go back in the trailer and were tied up. Guess it does seem kind of cruel to see that for the first time.

Before E’s first race, he “warmed up” on these bleachers. Haha. And then he cooled down several rounds afterwards! The race was supposed to be 1-mile but not quite sure if it was really that long. But it was some distance for E’s little legs… He fell once but got right back up. Towards the end, he got pretty winded so Mommy carried him to the finish. He loved high-fiving the cops at the turnaround. :) Mommy did the 5k afterwards and ran a PR for 1st overall female. E also enjoyed the bounce houses there with a friend.

Then we did the Katy Trail .5K (yes, point five) Kids Dash — just the right length for him. Since it was short, we got to all the food at the after-picnic first. Woohoo! :) It was an awesome spread as always… Our first time doing this race was years ago when we were still dating. We actually MISSED the run portion. Hehe. Last year, Uncles Dan and Jong came along and we pushed E for the 5K. So cool he RAN it this year! One thing hasn’t changed — the traffic is horrible and we tell ourselves we’ll never run this race again. It might just be our last time.

The police bike was prob the fave. :)

All this moving about works up quite an appetite for this growing lad!

For Father’s Day, we mostly laid low — just went to dinner with Dad Kao and family and then took them to SNO: the most amazing snow cone place EVER!!!

Uncle Jonathan, Daddy’s childhood friend, came from S’pore for a visit — good to see you!

We’re off to Denver for a few days for Daddy’s big regionals tourney. It’ll be E’s first time and our upteenth but all of our first time to explore the city itself… Usually we land and head straight for the mountains. ;-) E has been into airplanes lately so he’s really looking forward to the trip.

When Uncle Jonathan (who also loves planes) was in town, we took him to Frontiers of Flight Museum — where we had our engagement photos shot… so verrrrry long ago. :)

PS: Interesting factoid about Elias we don’t want to forget: he makes a point to recognize logos even when they are standalone and not seen anywhere near their places of association — the Starbucks mermaid is “Daddy’s coffee”, Costco receipt he’ll point to and say “chocolate” (because that’s the only time he’ll get to sample the sweet — hehe), FFRun phoenix is “Uncle’s Party”, Whole Foods stamp is where he “drives cars” (the shopping carts), the Boston Marathon unicorn/horse is “Mommy’s run”, the Apple logo is simply “Daddy!” (as he knows Daddy loves his electronics), the Watermark logo on our phone app is “church”… He also remembers car logos and points to “Daddy/Mommy/Uncle/Ah-gong’s (G-pa) car” or “rental car” of the same make. Future designer? :)