Trick or Treat!

We started off our Halloween celebration at Disneyland so that our little conductor could sport his costume and ride on the Disneyland train. He looked so good as a train conductor, and he knew it too! He was so proud to wear his costume, much like last year when he dressed up as Tigger. =) After our train ride, we stopped at Autopia to see if Michael was tall enough to ride, and yep, he finally made the height limit! Now, we have another ride to add to his list of rides at Disneyland. My boy is growing up.

I have an idea! Let's go to Disneyland!

Waiting to eat some pommes frites and a Monte Cristo sandwich!

All aboard!

The festivities continued in Nana's neighborhood where some of our friends met us up to go trick or treating. I think we had about 21 people in our group alone! Each kid walked at their own pace so we kind of got separated amongst the huge crowds. Michael did a fantastic job walking up to each door, holding out his bucket for candy, smiling (because he can't saying thank you yet) and walking away to the next house. He hasn't had a piece of candy in his life, and he still won't get to taste this year's candy. All he's entitled to eat from his bag of goodies are pretzels, popcorn and graham crackers. Everyone had a great time, and we can't wait to do it again. We're gonna try to dress up as a family next year!

Adelyn as Jessie, Kyle the Bear, Michael the Train Conductor
...and of course nobody is looking
(Charlotte and Ethan were MIA for this photo op)

One house gave out popcorn, and Michael loved it
I didn't notice it was jalapeno & cheese popcorn!

Still eating that popcorn. There's Ethan the OU football player

Pumpkin Carving

We couldn't wait to carve Michael's pumpkin this year! We wanted to do something a little more intricate than the regular toothless smiley pumpkin so we bought a carving kit. Since Michael has been a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland lately, we decided to carve his pumpkin into a pirate ship. It was a little difficult to carve the skull and so it ended up looking like an alien.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...

Outside Fun & Halloween Mail

In our efforts to post a layered-denim look in the Gap Casting Contest, this was the best I could do being the photographer. We didn't post a second entry though because we had already spread the word to vote. I wonder how actual photographers get kids to smile in the studios. I couldn't get Michael to look into the camera even with all the crazy noises I was making. Go figure. After playing with the soccer ball (that matches his outfit), the mailman came with a special delivery...a Halloween card from Nana. Michael was so happy to receive mail!

Lolo and Lola got me this ball from the Hershey Factory

I got mail!

Opening the Mail

Toot Toot...Make Way for the Train Engineer

Lolo and Lola came over for dinner on such a rainy day. We decided to give them a sneak peak at Michael's halloween costume, a train engineer. Michael has a love-hate relationship with trains. He gets excited everytime he sees big trains go by, but gets frightened when he hears it roll by our house and can't see it. (We live close to train tracks) He looks so adorable in hats or caps and actually leaves them on, so this costume suits him perfectly. We got him a train whistle to complete the look. Toot toot! Here comes Michael, the train engineer!

Ducks Opening Night

We went to the Ducks first home game of the season, thanks to Auntie Karen who gave us a pair of tickets. Michael had a great time playing in the row of empty seats behind us, making it difficult for us to watch the game. We got to see the Ducks tie the game at 2 all, but left before the final score where the Ducks won 4-3. It wasn't much of a picture night, but here's Michael clapping after the Ducks scored!

Tanaka Farms Pumpkin Patch

Christmas or wedding season? Neither! It's pumpkin season!! On this beautiful October day, we spent a few hours at the Tanaka Farms Pumpkin Patch in Irvine with the Wheelers. We took a wagon ride to the petting zoo/games/food area, and spent a good amount of time under the tent to cool off from the hot hot sun. Michael ran towards the golf and basketball booths, and helped himself to some free games before we even bought tickets to play. They didn't seem to mind though because it wasn't too busy. So he got a few free games and prizes. Lately, he's been very fond of playing golf; he can swing his driver and make contact with the golf ball.

After having lunch, we hunted for our pumpkins. To Michael and Ethan, the field was filled with a bunch of orange balls, except they were too heavy to pick up and throw! We took home one large pumpkin for $12. Tanaka Farms had more activities for us to enjoy but it was getting too hot and it was almost naptime. I wish they had some pumpkin pie to sample. That would've made my day.

The haystack was a little itchy for the boys

Michael's lolo taught him how to play golf

Searching for the perfect pumpkin

It's tough working in the field

A Fun and Painful Night

It feels like months since we've seen the gang, so we decided to reunite and have a dinner date at Chuck E Cheese, instead of the normal lunch dates since the mommies are back at work. Bad idea. All of Brea decided to be there too on a Wednesday night, a school night may I add. The entry line was out the door and people were waiting at least 30 minutes to get in; can you believe that? It was pure chaos, but it was fun to see everyone again. The kids had fun going down the slide, putting "pennies" in the game slots and "sharing" other kids' balls at skeeball. When it was time to leave, Michael had a little bloody accident, and had to be rushed to the ER.

Michael and his friend "Ad"

Right before we left, we decided it would be a good idea to go down the slide one more time, except we didn't quite make it down the slide. Michael ran towards the stairs but on his way there, he tripped over another kid's shoes that were scattered on the floor. He fell down, bit his lip and bumped his chin on the step. The cut on his chin was pretty deep that you could see tissue or flesh if you stretched it open. So we rushed him to the ER. Poor Michael. He's been to the emergency room 4 times in the 18 months of his life. Daddy met us at the hospital after having such a long day; he did a turn around trip to Seattle and back.

Michael does this when asked to smile.

Like father like son. Jason has a scar on his chin too.

After waiting 2 hours, Michael was glued up with this skin adhesive instead of stitches. The doctor played dressup with him, wrapping him up as a little burrito! He loved being a burrito, up until he was taped down to the bed. His chin should heal in about 10 days, and the adhesive will fall off on its own when the skin is healed.

The wiggle worm was so strong that he busted the tape off the bed

Happy again with my new wrapped chin

Dave & Busters

After years of papers and team assignments, Jason finally completed his degree in Business Management! And to celebrate, we decided to go out for dinner and some indoor fun at Dave and Buster's. We were stuck with an indoor celebration because the weather wasn't permitting outdoor fun, but we still had a great time. Michael liked sporting his new hat and shoes while playing games and collecting tickets. Congratulations daddy! We are so proud of you and can't wait to throw you a party!

More more games please

I earned 100 tickets but everything I wanted was 400+ tickets. =(

18 month update

Michael is now 18 months old and of course, he went to see Dr. Rawal for his well-baby checkup that included a few shots. The doctor said that her most difficult appointments are the 18-24 month old babies because they don't cooperate, but she was very happy that Michael listened and was a very good patient. She told us that we need to wean him off the bottle cold turkey though. As for his stats, he's growing very proportionately in the 25th percentile! My little man is really a little man. He was measured at 31.5inches and weighed 24 lbs 2oz, but I don't think his height is very accurate. The nurse had him stand up against the wall; his legs were bent and his back wasn't even straight.

A few fun things about Michael:

• Words - He's still a quiet guy, but a few words he says clearly are ball, bat, dada, mama, lolo (grandpa in filipino), nana, duck, moo (moon), cahck (clock), har (heart), golf and uhhno. When you ask him what animal this is, he will tell you the sound it makes rather than its name.
• Teeth - He has 15 big teeth, sharp and straight. Why sharp? Because we get bitten almost daily.
• Body Parts - He knows all his body parts. In addition to the last update, he knows eyebrows, shoulders, knees, toes, elbows, armpits and kneepits.
  
• TV - Move over Yo Gabba Gabba, it's all about Sid the Science Kid, Super Why!, Caillou, and Oobi.
• Food - He loves Korean food (tofu, bulgogi), Filipino and Mexican food, pretty much anything with rice, and prefers the Filipino spaghetti to the Italian style. He loves sweets like banana cream pie, cupcakes, and ice cream. He can use a spoon to eat cereal and milk and yogurt!
  
• He will not share his snacks with you if you don't share yours. Right daddy?
• He likes things closed like the doors and shutters so our house is always dark during the day.
  
• His bedtime is back to 11pm and refuses to go to sleep. We have to excite him for the next day but in order for all that to happen, he must sleep first. It works everynight!
• He loves to count the number of vents in the house.