First Day of Preschool!

Gah. This kid is officially a preschooler. I didn't cry when I dropped him off but I worried about him all day. Would he listen to instructions? Would he make friends? Would he nap? Turns out my worrying was for nothing because he absolutely loved school and Ms. M said he did great all day. Hooray! Cheers to the start of a great school year.

[I love how the apple balloon turned out! Click HERE for the DIY instructions.]

Apple Balloon School Photo Prop

For Parker's first day of preschool photos I wanted to do something a little different than the chalkboard signs I've been seeing on everyone's social media feeds. What better way to celebrate the start of a school year than with a balloon! Spoiler alert: I love balloons. For this project I drew inspiration from these fab balloon projects from Design Improvised and Studio DIY. Ready to get crafting? 

First Day of School Apple Balloon

Materials needed

-Thickers Letterman sticker letters in black (also available in blue and red)

-18" round red foil balloon

-Straw

-Green card stock

-Brown card stock

-Clear tape or zots

*I bought balloon sticks thinking they would be strong enough to support my foil balloon. I was wrong! I also cut two leaves thinking that would look cute but I ended up just using one.

Instructions

-Cut a leaf shape from your green cardstock and a stem from your brown cardstock.

-Insert a straw into the hole of your balloon and inflate. No helium needed!

-Decide what you want you balloon to say. I played around with Preschool 2016 and First Day of School 2016. Cut out the letters you need and line up the words. Make sure you spelled everything right because nothing is worse than misspelled words on a back to school balloon. Nothing.

-Find the center of your balloon and start sticking your letters on. 

-Attach stem and leaf on with clear tape.

-Tape back the tag at the bottom on the balloon so everything is perfectly round. 

TADA! You now have a fab back to school photo prop. Click HERE to see P's first day of preschool photos.

[Can you see me in the reflection on the balloon? Hi!]

5 Days in NYC with a Toddler

Sorry, we can't come to the phone right now. We're busy in NYC working, eating delicious food and exploring the city. Following me on Instagram @parkerproject to see what we will be doing for the next few days. 

On the agenda are stops to Chelsea Market, Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer, Prospect Park, Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles, Brooklyn Bridge Park, ChikaLicious, Statue of Liberty, Central Park & Katz's Deli...and wherever else our legs and noses lead us. Tania says we are going to split everything so we don't get fat [insert eye rolling emoji here]. I'm truly looking forward to experiencing all the sights and sounds of the city with my sisters and Parker. This is his last hurrah before starting preschool so we have to do it up BIG!

[Illustration by the amazing Jamey Christoph]

Happy Mid Autumn Festival 2016

Growing up, I remember excitedly marching around holding lanterns with my sisters while my parents sang traditional songs every Tet Trung Thu (Mid Autumn Festival). We would fight over who would get to eat the yolks from the moon cakes and have family and friends over for a big dinner. 

[via Thousand Skies]

Tomorrow night the harvest moon will be shining in it's full glory and we are planning to celebrate with a family dinner, paper lanterns and moon cakes! Passing these cultural traditions on to Parker makes my heart happy. Here are some ways you can celebrate with your kids.

*Watch this reading of the book Mooncakes by Loretta Seto which tells of the legend of Chang-E.

*Purchase mooncakes from your local Asian grocery store or bakery. If you're in San Diego, Ranch 99, 85 Degrees, Paris Baguette or Thuan Phat all carry mooncakes. Serve your mooncakes with a pot of hot green tea.

*Make your own paper lanterns using this easy tutorial from Handmade Charlotte.

[Photo credit Handmade Charlotte]

Outpost Summer Camp Recap

It seems fitting that I am posting pictures from Parker's time at Outpost Summer Camp on the last day of August. Summer is OVAH and I am ecstatic. Summer is great and all but I love Fall with all it's pumpkin-everything goodness and sweater weather. Let's give summer on last hurrah by enjoying these pictures of Parker from his first summer camp experience.

I'm not going to lie, summer camp caused a little anxiety for me. This was the first time Parker would be eating on his own and I was really worried. Turns out I had nothing to worry about and he had THE BEST time running around with his little camp friends and his counselor Miss Kelsey. 

One of my favorite things about Outpost is that they have an app where they post pictures of what the kids did throughout the day. All of the photos in this post are from the app. I loved being able to see the pictures and then hearing stories from Parker about the crafts projects that he worked on, looking for lizard eggs and making mud pies. The app also sent reminders about special events like sports day and tie dye day. It was very convenient!

[Parker and Kaden in their Soccer Shots jerseys for Sports Day]

[Superhero day!]

Parker had a great time at camp and the Merrell sandal tan to prove it. We will definitely be signing him up for camp again next summer!

Happy 33rd Birthday, Tuan!!

On this day 33 years ago my soulmate was born. Pretty major right? Happy birthday to my husband, partner in crime and best friend. I love you always. 

xoxo,

M

Follow me on Instagram @parkerproject if you want to see all the birthday shenanigans I have planned for Tuan!

Tide Park Beach

A couple of weeks ago, while my hubby was downtown enjoying Comic Con, my friend Giao and I took Parker to Tide Park Beach in Solana Beach to beat the heat. I found Tide Park Beach listed on Red Tricycle's list of family-friendly beaches in San Diego. This beach is a true gem. There was ample free parking in the cute neighborhood by the beach entrance, most of the patrons were surfers and locals walking their dogs and there are tide pools at the north end of the beach to explore. It's a great spot to visit...at low tide. We were lucky that we happened to time our visit right because two hours after being at the beach, the tide started coming in and we had to migrate to the stretch of the beach that is right by the stairs! 

[Be prepared for a glute workout! The stairs are steep.]

[Parker is so lucky to have an auntie who is as loving and patient as Giao! I have the best friends.]

[Exploring tide pools. There isn't much sea life but it was still fun to touch small anemones and collect rocks.]

[Styling King Neptune.]