Halloween Playdate with Friends

Didn't realize we had a packed schedule this Halloween.  Mike drove down to Tukwila to pick up the kids' much anticipated bunk bed in the morning and worked on assembling the bed.  I woke up, took care of the kids and baked gluten free apple cupcakes to take to the Halloween playdate at Tom and Liz's house.  By the time the cupcakes were cooling off, it was time to make some lunch!  I quickly made miso soup and stir-fried veggie beef dish and prepared kids lunches.  After lunch, I helped kids get dressed in their costumes and realized I am still wearing my pj and robe.  I showered quickly and on the spur of the moment, decided to dress up as a 80s lady for the playdate.  I had about three minutes to pick the outfit and what I chose were my black running tights, slouchy white socks, black undershirt, black and white striped over-sized off shoulder T-shirt and a wide bright pink hair band to complete the look.  The hair band is actually from 80s.  My Mom sent me all my hair accessories from my childhood out of blue a couple of years ago.  And of course, I had to wear heavy shadows and cheek make-up.  Flash Dance tune playing in my head, I almost forgot we had to leave in 10 minutes. 

We had a lot of fun at the playdate.  Ruby's family was there and so was big Noah's.  Andy was EMT, Charlie was a police officer, Finn was a shark, big Noah was Ninja, Karina was a princess and their friend Emery was a snow white.  We had a good variety of costumes out there.  I had to make sure people knew I am wearing a "costume" in case they are wondering about my fashion sense.  They thought mine was pretty good so they said. Tina and Eric were ketchup and mustard.  Maybe Mike and I will actually put more planning and thought into wearing something fun together next year.

The playdate was success and kids were officially exhausted by the time we got home.  I picked up our favorite take out of the moment, dumplings and shao long bao at Yang's  Dumpling House.  We are so lucky to have such good friends who are not only nice but someone to look up to.  I feel blessed!

Halloween Zoo Trip

Waiting for pizza to arrive. 

Aly at trick or treating event.  We forgot to take a bag so we all shoved the harvest in Mommy's purse!

Aly posing for the camera.  She was the only one willing to be in the picture.

So... where is the bear?

Aly said, Komodo Dragon is cute!  Really?!

Kaoru and the kids.  Kaoru is six month pregnant with her second child. 

At the penguin exhibit. 

The girls having their supper.  Their home was beautiful like the homes in magazines!  A completely renovated 1902 gem!

On Saturday, Aly, Saya and I went to the Woodland Zoo Park with Kai, Aly's little friend from school and his Mom, Kaoru.  It was Aly's second time and Saya's first time at the zoo.  We had a quick lunch first at the food court and ventured out to see the animals afterwards.  They had a Halloween trick or treating event and the kids had fun collecting candies.  They fed pumpkins to the animals and some were devouring the treat where as others left it on the ground.   It was hard to keep up with Aly and Saya as they dash towards anything shiny (anything interesting to their eyes).   Kai was Handy Manny.  He looked cute in an over-sized cap carrying a tool box. 

After the zoo, Kaoru invited us to their beautiful home in Queen Ann.  I met her husband, Tom, whose primary language is Japanese.  He is an American citizen, but he was born and raised in Japan.   Interesting upbringing!   They are both very nice people and fed us dinner and desert as well!  The girls were super happy (a little too happy) and didn't want to leave Kai's house.  The only hiccup was getting lost on the way home, but we had a perfect Saturday. 

The boys played hard at the new rock climbing gym and they were as equally tired as the girl team.

A fun day!

Building Downtowns

I am not sure which city this was.

This must have been downtown Osaka. 

If you meet Sean now, his current obsession is "downtown".  He is fascinated by its tall buildings and towers like Space Needle.  Honestly, I am sick of answering his questions like "Is downtown Bellevue bigger than downtown Redmond?", "How come downtown Issaquah doesn't have tall buildings?", "Where is downtown Japan" (he knows very well there is no "downtown Japan") etc...  He knows answers to most of the questions he asks and that is why it gets old on my part. 

He expresses his interest in "downtown" by building one every day with foam blocks.   He has built, downtown Bellevue, Osaka and Seattle so far.  His creations are extremely unstable and when he or the other children often knocks some down, he throws a big tantrum.  I was being careful not to let the other kids touch his blocks, but then realized this is a very good opportunity for him to get used to accepting when something doesn't go his way and problem solve calmly.  He still gets very upset every time someone knocks the stacked blocks down, but he is also seeing how easy it is to putting it back up again.  Baby steps...

Enjoying Fall

Poor Noah was exhausted from a long day at school and theapies.

Sean likes to ride bike at the park.  I think he is ready for the training wheel to come off.  Maybe next time.

Aly looks too big for her bike already.  Santa might buy her a bigger one!?

It's fun to think, we may be able to have a dodge ball game together.

Noah enjoys swinging.  That is the first thing he wants to do when we go to a park.

Saya loves to swing, too!

While our half decade-old Japanese maple tree is holding onto the greens, many trees around town are changing their color to pretty red and yellow. The girls like to point out the colors of the leaves when we go for a drive in the minivan. The fall weather in the Pacific Northwest is unpredictable and changes drastically through out the day. Picking the right jacket in the morning is like a placing a bet and requires a little time studying the weather map in the morning!

Last weekend, we took the kids on the bike ride at Marymoor park again since it was dry. I pushed Noah and Saya in the double stroller and Aly, Sean and Mike rode their bikes. There was a bike race going on at the park and model airplane enthusiasts were flying their prized, surprisingly large remote controlled airplanes, too. Saya and Noah enjoyed looking at them as we walked by. We played at the playground afterwards and the kids were running around having a good time.

Mike joined a new local rock climbing gym, so he has been taking the kids there to climb. Sean, Aly and Noah enjoy climbing at the kiddy section. It's one place they can climb their heats out without being in trouble. I have a feeling, Noah will be a good climber since he likes to climb anything climbable in the house. I am not much into climbing, but I will go check it out one of these days.

Sean is excited for Halloween and the excitement is making him a little jittery. He has been having harder time falling asleep at night and I am not sure if it is because he is a little scared of monsters. Our neighbor up the street has a very realistic zombie, skeletons laying around near fake grave yards, and a mannequin hanged from their roof, which may be a little too scary for little children. Everyone near our house has to pass their house in order to get to school. Sean is OK, but Alyson is a little afraid of the zombies. She is only 3 after all.

Kokoro Chan, the green caterpillar

Whenever I take Aly's picture, Saya marches right in and demand to have her photo taken!  Funny girl!

Aly was very excited to take care of a little caterpillar!

As I was cleaning up my garden, Aly spotted a green caterpillar on my kale plant.  I thought she was going to scream and run away, but she was admiring him (we decided it's a boy) as if he is a fluffy bunny.  Since I cut the leaf the caterpillar was resting on, I asked Aly if she wants to take him home and watch him grow.  Aly was so excited and helped me build his new home.  She said his name is "Kokoro Chan" meaning something like "good caring nature of a person".  I don't know where she heard it, but I thought it's a nice name.  I washed a glass jar that had salsa in it and Aly helped me put the additional leaves of kale in there.  She was excited to have her own pet and carried him everywhere, although I told her not to disturb him so much.  However, her enthusiasm had done him harm and I think Kokoro-chan died.  I haven't told her yet, but his skin is changing its color to blackish green...  Hmmm or maybe it's something to do with the jar had spicy salsa in it even though I wash it with soap?  Who knows...  I feel bad for the little caterpillar, but a little girl really liked you... 

Mushroom Season

The other day, Aly said to me "Mommy, look I found mushrooms!!" as I drove into our drive way.  I didn't think she could spot small mushrooms from the car, so assumed she saw something else.  One day, I walked out with Aly to see them since she kept insisting she saw some.  Sure enough, there were huge mushrooms on the front lawn.   They were so huge to the point they looked grotesque.  I explained to the kids that we shouldn't touch them since we don't know if they carry poison or not.  At first we saw two large ones but soon enough realized that there are colonies of mushrooms everywhere around.  I felt like we are being invaded by alien mushrooms.  The children like them, even though I don't.  I've never seen mushrooms like them before in our yard.  I've spotted several on the nearby trails, but never on my own turf.  When Jason mowed the lawn the other day, he pulled them out and left them on the side.  Sean was upset at first since he thought Jason had bulldozed the poor mushrooms.  He was delighted to see them laying on the side instead of torn to pieces.  I looked them up on the web, but not sure which kind they are.  They look innocent enough but never know.  We go out on sunny days to find more mushrooms and I have a feeling it's going to make it to the top five fun things to do in fall!

iPad2!!

Saya was playing a matching game.  She actually completed a challenge and I was impressed!!

My broken laptop was the cause of my lack of blogging action and iPad2 joined our ever growing electronic family.  I wasn't sure at first if we made the right decision to splurge $500 plus on an equipment before Christmas.  However, I am so glad I did.  I can email and do surfing on my iPhone, however it is a bit small to do what I want efficiently.  iPad is big enough to see and small enough to fit in my purse.  Mike got me a keyboard which I can type just like a laptop and I am getting used to the size issue as well.  Best of all, my kids like using iPad and they are getting so good at it.  They can play matching game, read books, make a movie and more.  It is my best helper when we are at the doctor's office waiting.  Some of my friends thought it's a waste of money, but not in my house.  Thank you Steve Jobs!  It's making my life much easier for sure.