Thanksgiving and A-Ma Ding's Birthday

By MAGGIE WANG

This Thanksgiving we opted for something unique: a sleepover party at the Ding-Chang residence in Pacific Palisades. We spent the night Wednesday. The girls were supposed to sleep on the floor in the boys' room, but they decided that having us four Dings sleeping on a pullout-couch bed was better. Great. They seemed to sleep well (unlike Kevin and me)!

A morning game of Twister. So fun!

A-Go Kristen bonding with the girls at the Bel-Air Bay Club down the street from their house, pointing out a butterfly.

Maven taking Skyler's small baseball and throwing it to Kevin.

We mixed baseball with some modeling on the grass.



A-Ma prepared a feast!



By the time dinner was done and the cake came out, our girls were back in their pajamas (actually Atticus and Skyler's hand-me-downs) for the drive back home. Happy 70th birthday to A-Ma Ding! We are thankful for her!

Sedona, Montessori and the Lakers

By MAGGIE WANG

Today when I picked Sedona up from school, she went to hug Miss Traci, then walked to her Miss Valerie and then back to circle area for Miss Marisa, too. It was so cute how she went out of her way to hug them all before coming to me to go home. She has done this same thing another time. It makes me happy to see her loving her teachers. 

As Sedona was going to Miss Marisa, Miss Valerie and I talked about how much they love Sedona and what a great, sweet and independent girl she is. Miss Valerie mentioned to me that she is a huge Lakers fan, and she and Sedona talk about the games. Sedona even told her that she knows Kobe -- which Miss Valerie blew off, causing me to say: "Well, she doesn't know Kobe, but Kobe did meet her a Lakers event two years ago. ... Do you know what Kevin does for a living?"

As expected, a huge reaction! I'm not sure if it is because Kevin has the coolest job on earth or if she was stunned that Sedona really did know what she was talking about. Either way, it was cute and sort of funny, because Sedona had earlier in the month told me that a child's mom went to visit her classroom to talk about bones ... but Kevin and I couldn't go to speak at her classroom because we weren't doctors. I guess she'll learn soon enough that her dad has a cool job too (even if it doesn't pay like a doctor's job!).

Miss Valerie then told me two Lakers have children at Montessori: Steve Blake and Theo Ratliff -- and Miss Valerie noted that Blake drops his child off when he isn't at a game or practice.

What good daddies!

Hello Kitty Extravaganza

By MAGGIE WANG

While Kevin was out of town, the girls and I went on an adventure to Sanrio's Small Gift Los Angeles -- otherwise known as a ridiculous Hello Kitty extravaganza -- at the Santa Monica Barker Hangar. We had a good time without buying anything but did a couple activities.

Afterwards, we met up with Alice Tu to meet her new doggie! Sedona loved Wolfie!

Savoring Hermosa and Its Pier

By MAGGIE WANG

The City of Hermosa Beach renovated Pier Avenue and in an effort to get more people out there, and as part of the promotion there was a sidewalk sale, so we walked on down. We had a great time spending the morning together as a family.

Kevin and I conducted our own fun photo shoot of the girls outside a new restaurant on the Pier, using the surfboard-bench outside.

 We also headed down to the beach, where the girls played in the sand and climbed everything, including the surfer statue.

After playing, we doubled back to the Pier and had a nice lunch at Sangria's: yummy omelets and waffles!

 On the way home, we passed Millie Velasco and decided to stop for the usual Disneyland artist to do her thing with the girls (Tinkerbell theme for Maven, Ariel theme for Sedona)... and it was well worth it!

What a fun family day! We are so fortunate to live in our down-to-earth, sweet and small (2.3 square miles) city of Hermosa Beach.

Photographer Dad at the Park

By KEVIN DING

Here are some photos from a day at the park with the girls. On the second one of Maven, she is patting the bigger stool as a gesture for me to come sit down next to her. I love my girls (including Maggie, who was off making the big bucks this day while I entertained the kids)!

Candid Family Photos 2010

By MAGGIE WANG

Each year, I try to get family pictures professionally done. The first year, we visited Natalie Young in her studio; I think she did a great job, but she doesn't shoot families regularly, so we can't hire her whenever we please.

The second year, we hired Goofyfoot through the Hermosa Mom's Club. Big mistake! She stunk! This year, we hired Kaui from Makame Photography, and she was great! She lives in Hawaii, so we can only get her when she is in town. But hopefully she'll be in town at least enough for us to get pictures with her on occasion.

We chose Kaui because we thought she had a natural eye for meaningful candid moments -- the same reason we chose our wedding photographer and wedding videographer way back when -- and she came through ...

The one on the right is one of my very favorites! It completely captures Maven's personality. Outgoing yet shy and sweet.

I love how artsy both the pictures on the left are (above and below).

And Sedona hanging from the tree is just priceless!

And what a small world, I just Facebooked her, and Kaui is friends with Tricia (a fellow bridesmaid in Jennie's wedding). Weird!

Sedona as Kobe

By KEVIN DING

Maven and Maggie went to Disneyland today, and Sedona and I had a great time going to get boba drinks and fried rice, making significant advancements in her scootering and balance-bike-riding hobbies, talking about whom she hangs out with at school and what she should do about being "bored" during her second school playground time, taking a bath without another little person taking up half the tub, soft-toss pitching for her to hit baseball-style in the living room as she loves and finally ...

... entertaining Sedona by playing with Kobe's protective finger sleeve, which I was given to help me write my column tonight.

Disneyland 2010: Visit No. 3

By MAGGIE WANG

Kevin and I have committed to spending one-on-one time with each girl so they know they are independently special and have quality time with each parent.

On Sept. 2nd, I brought Sedona for one-on-one time at Disneyland. I picked her up from school early. She was super excited and talkative. As a big girl, she didn't even need a stroller. We walked our way into the "happiest place on earth," excited to meet the princesses that we have never met. Right as we were approaching the princesses, Sedona said her tummy hurt.

We headed for the bathroom and as we were in the stall, Sedona vomits! I thought that maybe we'll just rest, get a Sprite and she'll be better later. So we rest. After she is feeling a little bit better, I had her take a sip of Sprite ... and she vomited again! We washed up and rested again. After she is feeling better, we hit "It's a Small World," where Sedona laid her head on me and fell asleep halfway through.

We sat on the bench while I people-watched and she napped. Sedona woke up feeling better and asked for water, which I eventually gave her and then we started heading toward the carousel. She said her tummy was starting to hurt again, but the carousel was doable ... until right after the carousel, she vomited again! This time, out came the remnants of a cheese stick that I have concluded is the culprit!!! We washed up and headed home. Impressed I could even handle staying there after four vomits?

Sedona napped in the car and then by the time we got home, she asked for a bath -- because she feels dirty (makes sense!) and voila, she was happy and perfect (sans cheese)! Happy! Healthy! Running around!

I have to say that I'm glad I was with her and she wasn't at school, but yikes, not quite the Disneyland adventure I had planned.

I could only hope for a better day for my one-on-one with Maven. We met up with Rosana and Ronin and ... had a great, relaxing time!

Ronin and Maven, both barely tall enough, went on their first roller coaster ride. It was cute!

Maven watched in awe as the Pixar Parade went by, and then we hit up the carousel with her new Minnie Mouse hat with her name embroidered on the back. We also had one made for Sedona, who was at home having her own enjoyable day with Kevin.