April 3 -Happy Birthday Mr. B

Mr B is a top notch, Gen-yoo-wine, honest to goodness, best of the best, numero uno, Good Guy. He is a Husband, Father, Son (in-Law), Brother, Uncle, Boss, Coach, and Friend. 

One of the hardest working men and best judges of character, Mr B is a difficult man to buy for and even harder to catch off guard. For his 29^th birthday, I surprised him with a Long Beach Staycation. JT was surprised with an overnight trip to Pasadena with GK after his baseball game and HeaBug got an evening with Maga and Tutu.

 We went to King’s Fish House in Downtown Long Beach. Oysters, Sushi, Filets, Lobster, Ahi Steak. We enjoyed the date and I had more up my sleeve. It took some convincing but I told Mr. B we were going to the movies down at the Pike. In the elevator on the way down from the parking structure, I gave Mr B my gift. A small box from Sweet and Saucy. Inside was a lemon filled vanilla cupcake with lemon buttercream frosting. Painted in gold ink on a fondant ribbon was Happy Birthday and inside the box was a room key to the boutique Hotel Avia, located just across from the elevator on Bay at the edge of the Pike.

We enjoyed a night off from listening out for kiddos and midnight potty trips. Views of amazing Long Beach, the ferris wheel was beautifully lit. The hotel is modern and beautiful in design and features a rooftop pool! The next morning, after lounging and watching Nadal and Djokovic play a little tennis we brunched at Johnny Rebs before heading home to our munchkins and Thai food for dinner.

ah, that smile lol

He’s definitely loved beyond measure and we were wonderfully excited to celebrate his special day! Happy Birthday Mr. B!

It is all very beautiful and magical here -Ansel Adams

March was full and busy for us B’s. Then end of the month brought a long weekend due to furlough days for the district. We took advantage of the time and booked a propane heated canvas tent at Camp Curry in the Yosemite Valley. We took our nephew, 11 yr old Bird of the Ontario Imbachs. We took our time going up the 5 and 99 stopping for lunch at Bravo Cheese Farms! What’s  better than cheese?! We stretched our legs and spent an hour exploring this roadside adventure spot. There was a tree/fun house, lots of old and vintage signs, equipment, coke bottles and play things. We fed animals and ate fried chicken and mac n cheese topped off with some ice cream. HeaBug played with her daddy on an old fashioned porch baby swing. We topped it off by picking up some cashews, cheese and jerky.

Thanks to my trusty weather app, we knew to expect cold temps and maybe rain/snow. We got a call the day before we left from the camp to let us know that power was out in the valley and would probably be until Sunday. They offered to let us reschedule if we wanted but ever the adventurers, we knew that we’d be great with tarp covered luggage and four wheel drive on the truck. The road in to the valley was slow due to the snowfall (that I didn’t expect because I lost iphoneness just before we went through the great tunnel). Only one side of the road was open at times and groups of cars were being led by rangers.

 We finally made it to camp and had to hurry to get our stuff to the tent before the sun completely went down since the valley was running on generators, the normal lights that are on throughout Curry Village were down. Then they told us at the front desk that we couldn’t even leave the car seats in the car because of BEARS! I didn’t know that we wouldn’t be able to cook our own food in camp so after a shared dinner of lunchables with trash carefully thrown away in the bear proofed trash cans we put any and all food, toiletries and car seats in the lockers. As we were doing that, Mr B left the locker unlatched since it was literally 12” away from our door. He came out with the next load to find an intruder! Of course while never once losing his composure, we deduced that it was NOT a bear (my first thought) or a raccoon but a ringtail squirrel. We shooed that sucker outta there and did not walk away from an unlatched bear locker  the rest of the time we were there. 

The dark night in a new and strange place made going to be a little difficult but traveling is tiring and it had been a long exciting day so with a small flash light hung as a night light, the tent was knocked out by 9pm.

We awoke to some serious snow that had been falling all night and bravely made out way to the bathroom/shower house. There was a work light lighting the facility but the water was warm. Showering a two year old when it’s 30 degrees outside is an hour long task. 

We made our way around the valley floor via the free shuttle bus all day long. In fact, the whole time we were there, aside from walking, that was our only transportation and even in the snow they operate a great system. We took the kids to the Ahwahnee hotel and went to Yosemite Village, Visitors Center and Museums. Grabbed soup and sandwiches from Denagans deli and were glad we made the choice to rock the camelback as opposed to lugging water bottles around. 

We played some uno and read books and scored some dinner at the pizza patio. Heard rumors that the power was going to be on again soon. Again, we were wiped from a full day and slept a lot more soundly.

Sunday we made our way back to the Awahnee for the infamous Grand Brunch only to find that they weren’t serving it because the power outage. It had come back on in the middle of the night but I guess that wasn’t enough time still. We settled on the regular delicious breakfast buffet and filled our tummies. The snow had stopped and we had an amazing view of the approaching blue skies and sunshine from our seats in the dining hall at the Awahnee. That was that, we spent the morning going to Yosemite Falls and then after a nap, reading and journal writing time, spend the afternoon hiking up to Mirror Lake. It was amazing and the upper portion had frozen over. We ate some astronaut ice cream before heading back down wait for the shuttle.

We spent the evening playing dominos and the kiddos got to watch Despicable Me on the iPad. We packed quickly in the morning and hit the food court at the Yosemite Lodge before making the trek up out of the Valley. I don’t know if the curves on the mountain were more noticeable but HeaBug was fussy and I felt carsick. She finally fell asleep but we had to pull over so I could donate my huevos rancheros back to the park. A few miles more and Bird was rudely awoken with the same carsickness. BOO. Once we were out though, everyone felt much better. 

The ride home was smooth and we can’t wait to get back to Yosemite. Although a little less snow might mean a little more bear...

Our little cat in the little red hen

JT's kindergarten class put on a musical production of The Little Red Hen. Mr B was glad to help by donating and setting up the lighting and focusing the school's existing equipment. JT was offered the role of the sneaky sly fox but his shyness (SHY?! JT?! I know, you don't believe me) over took and he happily supported in the storyteller's chorus as a cat reciting the finishing line to the play.

He had LOTS of support present and luckily I got a front and center seat since I filmed for his teacher! Nice!

Play Ball!

Take Me out to the ballgame...

JT is playing for the Rookie Twins this year. Mr B is helping Coach and Mrs B is somehow Team Mom. One of these days, I'm gonna learn about that word "No"... I seem to do fine when it comes to my 6 and 2 year olds haha.






We've got a great team. Rookie Division plays non competitively, hitting off a pitching machine and learning about getting out and getting others out. Even though we don't keep score yet we still want them to learn. That running the bases is left in T-ball. Run fast and through first base or take your seat and cheer for the rest of your team.
There was an official pancake breakfast opening ceremony and a parade. Our Twins walked behind their AWESOME CUSTOM banner designed by the ever talented Frosties and printed by out great business associates and friends at Sew What? Inc. We're SO glad to have such amazing people in our lives that are willing to donate their time, talents and resources. BIG THANK YOU!

With the ceremony at 9 and our first game not until 3, we all took a break and came back for our first game agains the White Sox. The boys hit hard and played SO well, we were incredibly impressed and proud. They did a great job cheering for each other and I kept our bench very neat! I even got the boys to put all of their empty bottles and trash in a basket that I bring so we don't "leave our junk on the earth" lol. They're such a great bunch. JT was amazing. He and all the other Twins kept sliding at home. Whoever decided that white was a great color for baseball pants was obviously not a Mom. Hello OxyClean!

Needless to say, we're proud to be Twins Fans (This Season Anyway) and Super Proud fans of JT!

Gracie Academy, his 2nd stripe.

JT has been learning JiuJitsu at the Gracie Academy in Torrance for a while. He loves it so much. It's kind of his Dad and Unk thing. He goes twice a week and comes home wiped out every time. He just received his second stripe, marking 40 classes. He's recognized in front of the class and then gets to help kick the dodge balls that they play with at the end.

JT loves coming home and practicing his moves on his Unk and Dad. I love the emphasis on character that they teach. Every six weeks they host a game day and in order to attend, you have to accumulate points. Depending on the attribute they are focusing on, you can earn points by doing different good deeds, completing tasks without being told and so on. This last section was on RESPONSIBILITY, JT earned the most points of all the students! He was the responsibility champ and got a big patch for the back of his Gi. He was so excited and we are really proud!

Happy Birthday Heabug... You're totally AWESOME!

February 4, 2009... during the "hour of Sawyer" (aka LOST... it was 9:24pm on a Wednesday) our family was completed with the birth of Ms Nohea Maraea Kapuaililani Booth. She is sunshine. She is opinionated. She is headstrong. She is sweet as pie. She is sharp as a tack. She knows exactly what she wants. She makes us feel loved. She basks in our love. And now... she is TWO!

We wanted to do something special for her on her big day. Birthdays are QUITE the GINORMOUS deal around the Booth Ohana Hale (hawaiian word for house so it sounds like ha-leh not hail). Mrs B and Maga trade off the pre wake up decorating in honor of the birthdayee... hmm, this doesn't seem like a word but i shall use it anyway. Balloons, streamers, signs. I know, you're wishing you woke up here on your birthday. Favorite breakfast (HeaBug says Cream of Wheat is "perfect". seriously, she says that), and a whole day of candles in everything you eat. After changing THREE times, she was satisfied in her "party dress" (she was a little disappointed that we weren't having cake and friends with breakfast). We took JT to school so that she could swing by and tell his teacher Mrs. S. that it was her special day. Afterward we went to Jamba Juice and got a birthday smoothie before heading off to our "ladies date". Via Yelp (yay!) I found Kreme de la Kreme nail lounge in downtown LB. I called ahead and let them know that HeaBug (not your average two year old) would we coming in with her momma and getting manicures... cuz that's what ladies do. (just for the record, i JUST now saw that i wrote "lady's" instead of "ladies" oh goodness)

 

 We arrived and the whole shoppe is completely adorable. A very french chic look, the decor is so lovely. HeaBug picked out our colors (pink for her, gray for me) and we each sat down at a table and got our nails did. HeaBug just chatted away and REALLY enjoyed the special tiny cupcake they brought her. So attentive and patient, if your looking for a little pampering, I highly recommend it. You pay a little more but it's the epitome of "you get what you pay for". We left and she waved, "Good Bye Ladies!" I had big plans for us to meet up with Mr. B and head to the Aquarium of the Pacific for the afternoon so we headed to the Rock Steady Shop to pick him up. He'd been working on her present that morning and she was so surprised and excited for her BALANCE BEAM! After lunch at 5 Guys, she wanted a hot dog, we were ready to set off on the second part of the birthday adventure when she stated she was tired and wanted to go to "our house" and then promptly fell asleep. That was the end of that.

 

these adorable pdf cutouts were thanks to RyCreation on Etsy

The next day, we celebrated HeaBug's birthday in Gabba Gabba Style. Thanks to the wonderful talents of the people we are blessed to have a part of our lives, it was a smashing success! Custom invitations, cuppie cake wrappers, and treat bag tags were done by the amazing Mrs Frostie, check how CUTE these other creations are here!

 

 Our cutie SUPER cute fondant cupcake toppers were hand crafted by the ever stinkin talented and wonderful friend to crazy me, Mrs M. Look at THESE amazing cakes she's whipped up!

Needless to say, Baby Girl was loved and celebrated by family and friends. She fell right asleep after a "clean off the party shower". Definitely good times with good people adding to our much more than good life. So grateful to be HeaBug's momma and daddy!