Mysteries & Jam Sessions

Miles is always inspired by Scooby Doo cartoons. He has been helping his "forgetful" parents find things we've seemed to misplace. He wanted to jot down all the mysteries he's helped us solve.

"1. Ring 2. Record 3. Camera

The other night, Justin was strumming on the guitar, Miles was hitting the keys on his rainbow colored keyboard and I asked him, "what about me? what can I jam with?" So he disappears and then I hear the scraping of the large toy box against the floor as he pushes it towards me with a stick he found in the house, "here, you drum." Next thing you know, he's cuffing the mic on his keyboard and beatboxing. I ask him, "how do you do that?" and i tried my best to beatbox but failed. He tried to show me how to move my mouth and push air out through my lips but he gave up, after realizing that I still couldn't make those noises--no matter what he showed me. Instead, he suggested, "maybe you should just make more beats on the MPC, you need to learn how to make beats first. Me & dad do and we know how to beatbox."

In other news, while Justin and I will be busy with these weekend gigs, Miles is going on a road trip with his secondary parents, Jen & Eric and his BFF Dengs to...Disneyland! I can't believe I will be missing this milestone (yes! it is one to me!) of an experience for Miles & Dengs. But, we can't deprive him of the happiest place in Anaheim! And he also gets to see Lucy & Ben again.

It's Official, It's Spring!

I love me some warm weather, sunny blue skies, blossoming cherry trees, the whole nine! It literally went from rainy, gray, and cold to sunny and warm as soon as it turned Spring. We've been busy hanging out doors, with our two sons (Dengs is our honorary son!) and enjoying as much of Spring as we can.

Hanging out in our neighborhood...









Blowing bubbles with Ayana & Darius:







Catch Miles' pops and I this weekend...


I'm teaching the DJ workshop & Jus will be DJing for the Hip Hop History workshop w/ Zulu Gremz.


And Wednesday at...


Followed by Pro-Am SF weekend!

Earrings

Yesterday, Justin and Miles sneaked away to buy me a birthday gift. I was a sore loser, complaining about why I couldn't join in but Justin insisted "boy time." Anyway, I had no idea that they were up to something. So while I stayed home, irritated that I was home, cleaning away Miles and Jus walk in later baring gifts. It was thoughtful and sweet. But the cutest was Miles, showing me a pair of earrings (already taking notes on what ladies love, haha) and said, "I picked these for you mommy so you can wear them to Skratchpad."

Field Trip to Alldayplay.fm

On the walk over to the station, Miles found a nook between buildings.


Wasn't sure if Miles would be interested in the station room or if he would be bored. Before we left, he was practicing what he would say on air but when we got there he decided to hold off on the talking. Good thing I packed his Scooby Doo dvd & player!


Yep, he wasn't having as much fun as I thought.

At this point, he just wanted to go already.
If you missed the livestream, Accepted Eclectic's episode #2 will be up today:
http://www.alldayplay.fm/shows/accepted-eclectic

Jelly Belly Factory

A trip to this candy factory was long overdue. We live about 10 minutes away from it. Miles enjoys eating these beans every time he goes to Hawaii (as my candy bribe to get him thru the airport gates smoothly :P). And one night last week, we were watching Unwrapped on Food Network and they did this whole special on the Jelly Belly factory. So the next day, we made a trip out of it. Miles was so excited! Can't beat a free fun thing to do in this side of the bay. On our way out, he made a loud mental note, "Next time Gramma and Papa are here, I'm going to take them there!"

Alldayplay.fm

You might just hear Miles on Bay Area's online radio station, Alldayplay.fm sometime soon! His dad and I, along with Miles' Funky Aunties Erica, Xtina, Diane and Uncle Arjuna are starting our weekly Wednesday show, 6-7pm PST so tune in tomorrow for our first show! We are super excited. Miles' Uncle Rube and his crew, have been doing their show for almost as long as Miles' lifespan (I remember Rube getting records together when we use to live at Presidio). Anyway, spread the word!

Also, this Saturday, Queendom, an all women Hiphop show is happening in Berkeley. I'm excited to DJ for this one cause it's all ages and some of the dopest ladies of the bay are on the bill, including Slide from TMC graff crew, painting live!




In a couple weeks, Jus and I are doing workshops and DJing at Rock The School Bells 3rd Year Hip Hop conference.



Beginning of April starts off good with this heavy hittin' line up of DJs with xx chromosomes...



That same night and the following day, Jus and I are DJing for SF's Pro-AM B-boy/B-girl battle. A real honor to do this one, being organized by Zulu Gremlin!

Black Mountain Road

Our intent was to find mushrooms in the surrounding forest but instead we found creeks, waterfalls, and deer! It was a beautiful day in the bay! We walked for 2 miles and he enjoyed it for the most part, up until we read a sign warning us about rattlesnakes! After that, we decided to turn back around and not go off onto the trails.


"A daddy deer!"

"A Miles deer!"

We listened to the creek for a good 10 minutes.

He wanted to watch water travel under the bridge.

He was just happy to be under the sunshine after some rainy days indoors.

"Look mommy, two little bird friends!"





While we didn't find any cool mushrooms we were pretty content to just be surrounded by nature, period.

Oatmeal Raisin & Chocolate Chip Cookies

When Nanay gives us a Costo sized bag of oatmeal, what do we do?
...bake cookies!

Add the ingredients.

Mix it up.

Grease the pan.

Spoon it onto the pan.

Wait very patiently for the cookies to bake. "They take sooo long mom!"-Miles