Kate and Mom Shakin' Their Bacon

Kate's latest favorite CD is the one Chris made me for my birthday a few years ago -- a compilation of hit songs from 1970.

Kate's favorite tracks are Joe Cocker's "The Letter," Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie," Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" (aka "Mama and Appa's wedding song" and "Barack Obama's song"), and of course, The Jackson Five's "A-B-C."

For the past couple of weeks, Kate's been playing these tracks all day, every day.

Here's a video of Kate and Mom getting down to The Diamond:

And one of Kate groovin' to Joe Cocker. With Mom trying to upstage her:

Apparently, Kate's big dream is to sit in as Joe Cocker's keyboardist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9ijzm45EyA

Kate in "disguise":

Trying out for the naked rodeo:

Cowgirl Kate looking for a horse to ride:

The things we do for love:

Happy 7th Anniversary!

Last week, Chris and I finally got away for some quality couple time to celebrate seven years of wedded bliss and fourteen years of love and friendship. The first time in 3.5 years! Nana generously offered to watch Kate, take her to summer school, and be her best playmate while we were gone.

A beautiful new resort in Palos Verdes was offering a grand-opening rate, so we jumped at the chance to soak in the stunning views, slumber in 500-count sheets, enjoy free HBO and Showtime, and dip in the heated, salt-water swimming pools.

Our room with a view.

Kate's handsome Appa.

The resort even had a private hiking trails overlooking the ocean and a sandy cove with cabanas.

Chris looking for a cool rock to give Kate.

A few minutes away was a "tree chapel" that Frank Lloyd Wright's son designed in 1951. A lovely example of organic architecture where the trees are the form, and the space within is sacred.

A brick path was commemorated with the names of couples who had gotten married at the chapel. Chris and I loved that Mr. Hockberger found the perfect mate in a woman named Pickles.

Relaxed and rejuvenated, we returned home to Kate and Nana, who had a great time having tea parties, baking clay, swimming, riding the carousel, and dancing. Hopefully, we won't wait another 3.5 years to do it again.

Happy Anniversary!

Thirteen More Weeks to Go...

It's been 5 weeks since my last belly update, and it's definitely ballooned, as have my feet. Kate has been busy preparing for her baby sister ("Lily" -- new name she's decided on) by taking care of her doll, Jin-Ah, and bringing her everywhere. Kate Unni. Cutie pie. "There's a baby in there!"

Kang-Weyant 3.0 has been kicking up a storm and even hiccuping. Unfortunately, she's usually awake at midnight, rockin' and rollin', just like her big sister. Which means Chris and I will probably be awake at midnight post-October. Oy.

Kate, the Mermaid!

Yesterday during her penultimate swim lesson, Kate actually swam! I was so proud and thrilled, I nearly cried. Kate, Appa, and I celebrated with a 3-scoop ice cream sundae at Fosselman's. "It's Friday, but we're eating a sundae, Momma!" Here's a video of Kate re-enacting it this afternoon:

Her teacher taught her to try to come up for air and say, "peekaboo," mid-swim.

The more Kate swam, the more confident she became. This is Kate pretending to swim "all the way to Pop-Pop's house" in New Jersey:

And finally, a video of Kate swimming towards Appa while he watched underwater.

I eventually put the camera down and watched Kate underwater myself. It was wonderful seeing Kate gliding towards me and grinning, just like the baby on the Nirvana album cover.

"Hooray for me!" Over the past two weeks, Kate was nervous about the swim lessons and didn't want to go, but she never quit. Hooray for Kate!

Malibu Katie

Last weekend, we went to visit our dear friends, Elias and Gail, at their fabulous house in Malibu for lunch and a little beach time.

Elias was a writer on "M*A*S*H," "Frasier," "Mary Tyler Moore" and countless other shows and has the battle scars to prove it. I was lucky to have him as my TV writing professor during my last semester. He, Gail, Chris, and I instantly hit it off, and have been friends ever since.

Kate really liked practicing her ballet moves on their giant deck.

After lunch, Elias drove us down to Westward Beach, giving us a tour of his street (aka "celebrity drive") on the way down. We passed by the houses of Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen, Howie Mandel, and Bob Dylan. We even saw the infamous porta-potty on Dylan's front lawn. The neighbors across the way had placed several huge fans on their deck to blow the stink out to sea.

Westward Beach is where the final scene of "Planet of the Apes" was filmed in which Charlton Heston sees the head of the Statue of Liberty in the water. "You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

You can see the famous bluff behind Chris.

Watching the surfers go out.

The tide was too strong for swimming, so Kate splashed around and dunked her feet (fun), and occasionally got sucked into the ocean (not fun).

This was Kate's "seaweed garden."

The lifeguards don't really look like Pamela Anderson or David Hasselhoff.

The waves were big.

The longer we were there, the more Kate started to look like "Gidget."

Oof. Belly full o' baby.

Elias is running for WGA President against the mighty John Wells (creator of "ER") in September, and I hope for the writers' sake, Elias wins. He has always been a writer, first and foremost, and played an integral role in getting us a fair contract from those greedy producers last year. Go Elias!

Happy Birthday, USA!

To celebrate the 4th, the Kang-Weyants went to the parade in Sierra Madre. Kate loved the free flags they handed out. She liked the free candy even more. Nothing like celebrating the 4th with your first box of Nerds. Mom-Kate totem pole. Kate thought the fire engines were too loud.

"Why do they have to keep honking their horns, Momma?" Good question.

After a healthy lunch of hot dogs, popcorn, and pizza, Kate wanted to revisit the park she frequented as a toddler.

Later on, Lucy and her Moms came over for a BBQ and fireworks.

The artist-in-residence painted the girls' faces. "Take a picture of me, Kate's Mom!"

Lucy was a cat with patriotic whiskers -- "Don't paint in my nostrils, Chris!" And Kate got a couple of red cherries on her cheek.

Hilary made her annual flag cake. Yum.

After dinner we headed to a small bridge in Pasadena so we could watch the Rose Bowl fireworks for free.

Chris set up the camera on the tripod in the middle of the street to take this shot. Just as the shutter was about to click, Kate shouted, "Appa! There's a car coming!" Chris saved the camera from being killed.

Waiting for the fireworks show to begin.

Kate and Lucy dancing with their glow stick bracelets on.

Chris took a lot of lovely shots of the fireworks.

Hmm... how an egg is fertilized?

Everyone loved the smiley face fireworks.

We got home very late, waaaay past Kate's bedtime, as you can see from her sleepy eyes. It was a lovely 4th of July.