Finn is Cooking!

Finn has always shown interest in cooking and even said before that he wants to be a chef when he grows up (one of his many ambitions). Today he decided he wanted hot dogs for dinner and so he cooked it himself (^_^) He even cooked the rice to go with it (but I forgot to take pictures of that). I can't wait till he's old enough to do the cooking for all of us (~_^)

A Busy Day + A Snow Day

Yesterday was the Year-End Thanksgiving Worship Service in Church. We were there the whole morning up until before 3pm. Jojo's an officer so he had to do stuff after the service and that's what took so long. Anyway, doesn't Finn look so grown-up already?

Right after that we went straight to a friend's son's birthday party. We were late but everybody was still there which was great. We were able to spend time with them (^_^) It started to snow too but not much. I think the snow really got heavy around 8pm. The first snow storm of the season and this is what it looked like the following day.

Jojo did most of the shoveling in the morning. Then the 3 of us played in the afternoon (^_^). For some reason, we had more snow in the back than in the front of the house. Which was ok since we don't really need to shovel the back, and we had more snow to play with! Couldn't make a snowman coz the snow is still powdery. Maybe we'll try that in a few days.

Imagine That

The first play by Bramblebush Theater opened last Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. We had 3 shows last weekend and there will be 3 more this coming weekend so if you weren't able to come, please see us on Dec. 5 and 6 (^_^) Tickets are only $10!
On this picture is the cast of Imagine That: Percy, Murgatroid, Darkishly, Lorna, Princess Osgoo and Azmeena. It's a fun musical for kids so make sure you bring the little ones. See you there!

Thanksgiving

It's been a tradition of ours to have Thanksgiving dinner with friends. This year, there were quite a few who couldn't make it. There were only 4 families and 2 singles. But we still had a nice dinner with lots of yummy food (^_^)

Yay!

Finally, I was able to get a copy of the newspaper "The Leader" from the library. It was supposed to be delivered today but for some reason, we didn't get any. So here's how it looks like:





Isn't it cool! (^_^)

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Here's an article about our play "Imagine That" in The Leader, a local newspaper.




If you're in the area, come and watch the show! It's only $10. Show dates are:

Nov. 28, Saturday: 10am and 3pm
Nov. 29, Sunday : 3pm
Dec. 05, Saturday: 10am and 3pm
Dec. 06, Sunday : 3pm

See ya there!

Just Because

Jojo surprised me with these roses last night. No particular reason ... just because (^_^)

Monster Golf Party

Finn went to a Monster MiniGolf Party last night. That place is so cool! We'll probably go back :)

Apple Picking

We went apple picking yesterday at Stuart's Farm in NY since it was a holiday (Columbus Day). We brought along Finn's best friend (^_^) The boys had a lot of fun!

After filling our bags with apples, we went to lunch at Friendly's, and then spent time at a state park nearby. It was a bit chilly but the kids didn't mind. The park had a huge playground so they had a blast, especially with the curvy "rock wall".

Too bad there wasn't much in terms of fall foliage, only a little bit of color. I hope we'll get a chance to see more color before the season is over.

On Terrors and Teeth

Last Saturday night we went to a haunted attraction in Belleville right by the State Fair Superstore. It's my first time going in a walk-through haunting and Finn's as well. It's supposed to be a factory and you are the newly hired employees. The ghouls and zombies will jump at you to surprise you and tell you to go to work =P I'm not a jumper or a screamer so surprising me won't work but Finn got scared! He would sometimes stay rooted at a spot and didn't want to move ... hehehe. Too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. Here's two of the zombies outside. It's blurred but I kinda like the effect (^_^)


Here is Finn's last picture with all his baby teeth at the dentist's office. Yesterday we had his 2 bottom front teeth pulled out because the permanent tooth behind them was getting big already, and the baby teeth just didn't want to come out on it's own. Finn was a very good patient, no worries at all. He didn't even flinch at the needle and was just looking at it. His dentist was very impressed and the assistant even said that he was a better patient than she is (^_^) When it was both out, he asked for it so they put the baby teeth in a tooth shaped container. He said that when all his baby teeth come out, he'd make a necklace out of them ... hahahahahaha. Now this is what he looks like.

2nd Stripe Test

This is the Bo Black Belt 2nd Stripe Test. Only one more test and Finn will have earned his Black Belt. He did an excellent job last night and he's the only one who knew the answers to the questions! I'm so proud of him (*_*)

Board Breaking

Finn was asked to demonstrate Form no. 8 and then broke 10 boards at yesterday's Board Breaking Class.

New Tank

We got our first fish tank 3 years ago and it was only a 1 gallon tank since it was our first time having fishies. Last week we decided to buy a bigger tank (^_^) This one is 5.5 gallons. We have 4 danios and one goldfish so this morning we bought 2 sharks and a bottom feeder (forgot what it was called) as companions, plus a background and some more "plants". We also bought that castle with a movable drawbridge.

Here are the newbies:

That shark by the castle was shy at first, he was just there by the drawbridge. He only moved when the goldfish nudged him. And the striped bottom feeder I find very pretty! Although he looks like he was panicking for a while. I finally caught him resting here. Let's hope they all play nice and live a long life (^_^)

2nd Grade

Corelle

Corelle is the original manufacturer of Corelle® break and chip-resistant dinnerware ... or so they say. I have 16-pc set which I bought last December. I've been wanting them coz they're light and of course, break and chip-resistant. They even have this ad to prove it.



So how come when my bread and butter plate fell, this happened?



Mind you, I didn't throw it over my head like that model did in the ad, it just slipped and fell and yet it broke. This is the first time it fell, I don't go around dropping dinnerware all the time. That is the largest piece, the rest broke into tiny pieces. My set is still within the 1-year warranty and I called to ask how I can have it replaced. They asked how it broke and I told them. According to them, accidental breakage is not covered in the warranty, only chips or breaks from normal use. What? How else is it going to break if not from an accident? And they claim to be break and chip resistant! Yeah right!

Permanent!

I have been waiting and waiting for Finn's baby teeth to fall out coz my 1st one fell out when I was 7. His teeth aren't even wiggling yet ... except for one bottom one that's kinda wiggling. Then this afternoon he said that he can feel it moving so I was gonna check it and lo and behold ... I find this big tooth coming out inside! I'm happy that it's finally showing but kinda worried too coz his baby teeth doesn't seem to want to go yet. And not sure about the placement of the permanent one either. So I made an appointment with our dentist for Wednesday. Good thing it's only a 4-hr session in school that day since it's their first day. Oh boy, Finn is in 2nd grade already! But that's for a different post. Let's hope Finn's teeth will cooperate and won't cause any problems. Cross your fingers!

CA Friends

Last Saturday, our friends from CA came to visit us. The other boy, N, was Finn's first best friend and they were both very sad when they had to move to CA. It's been 2 years since they last saw each other and they're still good friends (^_^) The kids swam in the afternoon while Jojo started grilling pork barbecue and ribs for dinner. We ate by the pool. When we were done, it was dark already and mosquitos started annoying us so we moved indoors. They left before 10pm and as expected, the kids didn't want the day to be over. A playdate was set for Tuesday so they'd have all day to play with each other. Here's a few silly shots from Saturday:

Mario and Luigi

The boys

GHIII

I've been meaning to make our own personalized skin for our Les Paul wireless Wii guitar for some time now. It's only today that I finally made it and look ... it's us! I like it (^_^) Finn thinks it's cool. The guitar came with 2 sticker sheets but I didn't want to put them in front, that'd be boring and unimaginative. So we put them at the back of the guitar and some on the neck and head stock. That way you see something interesting on both sides. What do you think?

Hershey Park

Woke up very early on Saturday to prepare for our drive to Hershey PA. Last time we were here, Finn was 2 I think so he didn't really appreciate it then. This time he was excited.

Hershey Park doesn't open until 10 and we were there before 9am. Good thing Chocolate World opens at 9 so we went there first and took the Great American Chocolate Tour where they show how they make their chocolates (^_^) After the tour and the gift shop, we walked to Hershey Park. Finn rode on a real rollercoaster for the 1st time! The kiddie coasters are boring for him so he was really glad he can ride a real one now. We rode on the Comet first. It's rated as a 4 which is a high thrill ride and I guess it shocked him. He got scared after the first drop but he was still smiling ... clinging tightly on to me but he didn't panic. After the ride he said he thinks he doesn't want to ride rollercoasters anymore or he might puke =P. So we walked around first and found another rollercoaster that's only rated 3, moderate thrill ride. We said he should try riding again coz it's usually just the first time that gets you. So he did and he loved the Trailblazer! We rode it again right after we got off (^_^) He said he'd like to try the one with the loop next time since that one is rated 5.

After a snack, Finn wanted to go to the Boardwalk already. So we rented a locker, got changed, and headed for the Shore first. Since my camera isn't waterproof, no photos the whole time we were getting wet (-_-) We wanted to go on the lazy river after but the line was long so we skipped that and headed for the Roller Soaker. This ride is cool! The line was long here too but you can't ride this anywhere else so we waited. Below the coaster there's a lot of "water guns" that others can shoot the coaster with. The riders also have their own water they can dump to people below (^_^) Fun!!! There are 4 seats arranged 2x2, back to back. Finn wanted to ride alone so he faced the back, Jojo and I faced the front (which gets wet more since you get hit with water first).

We had a late lunch and then headed for the East Coast Waterworks which is a huge water park in itself. Had lots of fun here too and this is where we stayed the longest. After all that, we decided it was time to dry off, get changed and see other parts of the park.

We went to the Kissing Tower and saw the park from above, then to the SkyView. Finn wanted to create his own slushie flavor by mixing cherry, blue raspberry, green apple, pepsi, strawberry, and orange .... o-kay. Had dinner at this Texas BBQ stand after that. It was getting late by this time so we headed for the gift shop but not before buying a smore (very messy and sticky but oh so good!). It started drizzling too but we were leaving already since our drive takes about 3 hrs.

Next time we plan on staying overnight so that we can ride all we want one day and stay in the boardwalk the next. But that's for next year (^_^)

NY weekend

A college friend of mine, Issa, stayed with us for the weekend. She arrived noon of Saturday and since she's only here for a few days, we had to maximize her stay. After I picked her up from the airport, we took the bus to NY. Had lunch at Port Authority and took the subway going to Coney Island. She said she didn't really want touristy stuff so taking her to the beach in NY counts right? This is also my first time at Coney Island so I wasn't really sure what to expect. Needless to say, we were overdressed. When we got there, we strolled on the boardwalk, played fashion police on the beachgoers, had ice cream and sat on the sand. We walked to the fair which Issa commented was "stuck in the 80s" and got duped by this side show. Trust me, don't waste your money on side shows (-_-). So anyway, we just walked around and when we were on our way back to the station, there were these breakers. They were dancing on bare asphalt! I can only imagine how painful it must be. So after watching them, we went back to Manhattan, went to Toys R Us, M&Ms World and then had a light dinner at Jamba Juice. Took the 9.30 bus home.

The next day we went back to Manhattan, had lunch at Chipotle and walked to the Brooks Atkinson Theater to see Rock of Ages. It was awesome!!! Like watching a concert, only better (^_^) Too bad it wasn't Constantine but Jeremy Jordan was great too! Had so much fun watching it. We even had a free drink. After the show we went to Central Park, strolled along while singing "That's how you know" .... not! As we got to the east side, it started drizzling. We didn't have any umbrellas with us so we just thought of going to the Met to avoid the rain. It got stronger and thankfully, we reached the doors of the museum ... which was already closed since it was 6pm already. There were a few others taking shelter from the rain there as well. There were a few guards inside the museum and I was mouthing to one guard to open the door for us since the rain really starting pouring hard. He said he can't do anything about it coz the doors are already locked. I even made puppy dog eyes at him but he did the same to me (-_-). By now we were getting packed in the tiny alcove in front of the doors. Good thing Issa and I were at the doors and therefore somehow shielded from the rain by the others in front of us. But we still got wet since the rain would once in a while spray us with these weird gusts of wind and water. The freak storm lasted for more than 10 mins. When it finally let up, we saw a rainbow and there were blue skies once again. We walked back to the subway station and got off at Times Square. Had our dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and took the 9.30 bus home again.

Monday is Issa's last full day and we spent it at Jersey Gardens to shop of course! We finished off her list of to-buys and went home before 5pm. Jojo made reservations for dinner at Matsushima but before we were seated, we stopped by Mitsuwa first to do some Jap grocery shopping. Dinner was great! We also had a great view of the city. A very nice ending to a hectic 3 days.

Early the next morning, I took her back to the airport. I hope next time she'll be able to come back on a much more leisurely visit (^_^) Thanks for coming Issa!