It’s been a crazy-busy-fun week! Last weekend, we drove down to LA for my Grandmother’s 80th birthday. It was great to see relatives I haven’t seen in a long time. It was Aunt Amy and Uncle Ed’s first time meeting Zachary – and the funny thing is, Zachary was immediately comfortable with my aunt, letting her carry him around and resting his head on her shoulder. I think he might have mistaken her for my mom!

There were a few speeches and some singing – and then some great Chinese food. For party favors, we received mugs and handmade scarves. Zachary also received a toy remote control helicopter and a red envelope! And the cake was amazing – it came from a famous local Cuban bakery. Yum!

 HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA CHEN!!!

The next day, we headed to Disneyland. I met up with my friend Craig, who I haven’t seen Paolo and Elisabeth’s wedding, over 3 years ago. He lives 20 minutes from Disneyland and spent the day with us … and even treated us to dinner afterwards!

We last visited Disneyland ~2 years ago, and Zachary only liked Toon Town and the Dumbo ride. This year (at 3.5 yrs old) he was scared of many rides since he’s much more aware of his surroundings. For example, he desperately tried to climb out of a boat when it went into a whale’s mouth. And he panicked in the Finding Nemo ride because there was a slight backup, and the intercom stated that we were stuck for a few seconds. My friend Jenny (who works for Disney) later told me that in her experience, the best time to take kids is 5+ because they have a better grip on reality vs fantasy. I guess we’ll be back in another 2 years!  

Zachary’s favorite ride was Small World – it was decked out for the holidays, and Zachary knew all the songs. Craig and I also checked out the haunted mansion, which was modified to the Nightmare Before Christmas theme … very neat!

While we were down in LA, we stayed at James’ sister’s new house in Manhattan Beach. We had never seen their new place before. She was a set designer for E! before becoming a stay-at-home-mom to 2 boys. Their house looked beautiful. The playroom was done in a school theme and each boy’s bedroom has its own theme too. It was the first time we met our nephew Christian. He is a really cute baby, and quite pleasant, inspite of having an ear infection. For a moment, I almost wanted a second.

Before we left, we met up with my friend Jenny for lunch. I haven’t seen her since my wedding in 2003! Big news – she is engaged to be married Memorial Day weekend 2008.  Congratulations Jenny and Brian!   And then, on the way home from LA, James received a phone call from his friend Rad – who also got engaged. Congratulations to Rad and Danielle!

After 2 days of work, it was Thanksgiving weekend … and we drove down to the Bay Area to spend it with James’ family. His parents hosted. Zachary and Brandon loved watching “Grandpa’s trains.” They also have a playhouse and caboose outside for the kids to play with.

Brandon caught a gecko under the patio chair cushions. I was pretty impressed – those lizards are fast!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Speaking of things to be grateful for, my good friend (Dana) and my cousin (Patt) are recent recovering cancer survivors. Both have documented their experience/journey on their blog. Please keep them in your thoughts! They are both very young and otherwise in good health, so I’m hoping that it translates to a speedier and less painful recovery. (I can hope, right?)

The next day, after getting back from the Bay Area, I met up with Bryant and Lan-chih (coworker and mentor) for lunch at an Italian restaurant. And for dinner, we went to Sam and Melissa’s house to celebrate her birthday. Happy uh … 29th Birthday Melissa!   Roasted pork loin and a potato casserole – I have no will power and ate at least a full serving despite not even being hungry after my big lunch! It was delicious!

On Sunday, we finally bought Zachary a bedroom set. We went with a Capretti set in dark cherry: a full size bed with a twin trundle, a desk, a 6-drawer dresser, and an end table. All to be delivered early next year. We figured we should move him out of his “cage” before his 4th birthday (Yep, he calls it a cage!) And to end the long weekend, we went to the twin’s house for pizza making and gingerbread cookie decorating. The pizza was good, but the homemade eggplant rice dish was really awesome. I love how flavorful Indian food is.

We’re so lucky to have friends and family to spend the holidays with!

To kick off the holiday season, 3 weekends ago,  we went to our first Diwali party It was great! Everyone was festively dressed, my friend Bhavana made homemade Indian food for dinner, and we set off fireworks (sparklers) after sunset. It was the first year Zachary actually liked fireworks – and he liked them almost too much. He’d wave them around and laugh maniacally, making adults back away.

Also that weekend, I finally got my hair cut! I’m trying to wear it down; my hair was falling out due to being in a ponytail all the time. I decided to try a different salon (Hoshall’s) and asked for an new hair stylist because they were the less expensive ($37.) The receptionist said I could pay $37 for first available appointment… and I ended up with a senior stylist! He was great! I’ve never had a male hairstylist, but there’s something about a slender guy dressed in all black that gives me confidence in his artistic abilities. I basically told him to do whatever he wanted to my hair as long as it was low maintenance, and I could still put it in a ponytail when I really wanted to. LOVED it. Now the bad news … since I like him so much, my next haircut will be in the $70-something range. (Which I know is cheap for all of you in big cities, but it’s more than I’m used to!) And since my hair was styled, James, Zachary, and I went out for fondue and ice cream! Oh – and after debating the merits of Trek vs Specialized, we ended up getting Zachary a $29 bike from Walmart. Gotta pay for that haircut somehow!  It was actually a good move because Zachary refuses to wear a helmet, and my rule is no riding bikes without helmets. So that bike is just sitting in our garage. (Stubborn kid, stubborn mom)

The next weekend, we had Jackie and Uyen over for crockpot barbecue ribs, corn, and baked potato. I’m getting braver with the slow cooker, although throughout the work day, I did have a few visions of my house burning down. Afterward dinner, we played Wii. The next day, we went to the twin’s 4th birthday party. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and rainy, but the party was still fun. They catered Indian food from one of my favorite restaurants. I knew this in advance, and shamelessly ate only a salad for lunch. They had a bounce house right outside the garage and made a play area for kids inside the garage with art supplies.

Happy 4th Birthday Vaibhav and Gaurav!

Happy Halloween!

School Halloween Party:

Carving a pumpkin (plus a bonus picture of our mall trip with Dana.)

School field trip to a pumpkin patch …

Trick-or-treating …

This was the first year I could convince Zachary to talk to neighbors. Which led to an embarrassing conversation.

Zachary “Trick or treat!”

Neighbor “Here you go.”

Me: “Zachary, what do you say?”

Zachary: “M&Ms! Not again!”

At the end of the evening, he was so tired, he stopped walking. I walked away, trying to motivate him to follow me and waited at the end of the block. Instead of following, he lay down on his back until a family surrounded him. I head him saying,”I can’t get up. I can’t get up.”  and had to go back for him.

And yes, I know his costume is way too short. He has a small waist and typically fits into 18-24 month shorts – and I assumed Halloween costumes would be ‘cut big’ to accommodate bulky clothes for kids who live in cooler climates.