Gobble update

The day before Thanksgiving, I babysat for one of my friends 8 month old daughter for 4 hrs. It was her first time to be away from her Mom so she was very uncertain about everything and did miss her Mom a lot. I felt bad for the sweet little thing and did my best to calm her down, she did cry a bit but not that bad. I was glad when P and J got home from school since it made it easier for me to entertain her. She immediately connected with P and J, turns out she just needed the comfort of seeing other kids. She has two older sisters and I think she missed them as well. My first babysitting experience wasn't that bad afterall.

Here's baby Faith scooting her way with the help of P.








Our Thanksgiving holiday has been very low key but quite relaxing. P prepared and cooked dinner, I made the veggies and pie while J is the entertainer - Tee hee!












The day after Thanksgiving, we initially planned on heading out to Mt. Hood to play in the snow but then my car is having some trouble and so we had to take it in for repair. After dropping off the car at the shop, we headed out to the Audubon Center at Forest Park and did a short 2 mile hike around the area. J and I enjoyed the trip, I think P did enjoy it a bit as well. He would have preferred a more challenging hike, I think. He also mentioned that he didn't like how I was helping J too much during the hike. What can I say, I tend to be over cautious specially when we're at a slippery and narrow slope then I see big drop-off's along the path! I just didn't want a trip to the hospital, I just wanted a little adventure and some fresh air...he he.

This is Julio, a great horned owl one of the birds we met at the Audubon Center. Love the color of his eyes. We also met Hazel, a western spotted owl which are endangered, a turkey vulture, and a peregrine falcon.

House...

My sister and brother in law have finally started building their house with the help of our cousin as their contractor. They have a very tiny lot (80 sqm, ~890 sqf) but then it is better than nothing or than renting at this point. While they are very excited, they of course know that it is not going to be an easy undertaking - hopefully it'll be worth it in the end. They normally send me updates and pictures of their progress out of excitement...which I can understand. So, I thought I'd share some of the photos here. I just find it quite interesting to see the huge difference on how things are done there vs here. Ok, here see it for yourself...









Pix 1 & 2 : Setting up the foundation, notice the working gears or the complete lack of working gears as they work. Taken during the first week on the project.

Pix 3 & 4: Foundation has been poured and now the work on the structure is in progress. Taken on week 3...

Michigan Accent

When I was in San Jose a couple of days ago, I was talking to this sales guy from Philly. We started talking about Hockey when he asked me where I was from. When he and the Chicago sales guy got done taunting me, the guy from Philly says "Yeah, I figured that 'cause youse definitely got a Michigan accent".

I guess I must have shaken off my drunken Minnesotan slur (although it does come back every once in a while). The funny thing is I can't figure out where I might have gotten it back AND, sadly, I do recognize Michigan accents and while difficult to detect it is distinct.

The funny thing is that I tend to identify temperment before accent with folks from the US. As you go east, folks tend to be more direct, aggressive and less veiled in their intentions. Very gritty and loyal. As one moves west, it tends the other way. In any event, it was pretty funny talking to the Philly guy since we have a friend in common who is from Bean town who played on the RPI National Champ team in the mid 80's (The one with Adam Oates and Darren Poooooopa) who is a true Nor-Easter. Everything with this guy boiled down to "If we were in bean town or Philly we'd just "take care of it outside."

I think I'll have to see if I can get relocated to our New England design center :-)

-P

Game on...

Yup, J is back into sports again. Well, he actually wanted to play either soccer or baseball but since it is mid-season right now, we can't get in on any team or class ..so he's doing "floor hockey" instead! So far, he is enjoying it despite of the wide age gap among the students. I guess he is just happy that he gets more time on the court since the rest of his classmates are busy running after each other... Tee Hee!

The outdoorsy turkey...

This is J's family project for school. It was P's idea to use leaves for obvious reasons, J and I just expanded that idea and implemented it. We definitely had tons of fun making it. The yellow powder is actually pollens from the pine cones which is used as part of the tail...now I know where all those yellow dust come from when I clean the house - he he.

It was pretty cool looking at the creations of the families posted at school. The materials they used vary from cereals, pasta, ribbons,buttons and beans. Our favorite so far is the one made out of ribbons.

Fall leaves fall!

Last week, we spent our weekend mostly outside raking leaves,doing some yard work and changing oil in both cars. While we enjoy and love looking at the wonderful colors of the leaves on our trees we also dread the idea of raking heavy and soggy leaves. Knowing that rain is coming soon, P decided to shake the leaves off the branches. Although, the tree almost looked like it hasn't dropped a leaf at least in the process, J had tons of fun trying to catch the falling leaves.

Ah, such simple pleasures of life...

Here comes Bear again...

Bear Grylls

I am quite interested watching his Everest Expedition with their Gyro machine. I've checked their progress online for a little bit this year and I know he did reach the top using the machine so it would be interesting to see it on TV.

Marathon

To Ate J and Kuya M, did you guys witness this incident at the Marathon today?

NYC Olympic Marathon

Olympics push Chinese kids to Max...

I just thought this is interesting. Is it really the kids being pushed to achieve their goals? -or- Is it more of the parents trying to achieve their dreams through their kids?
Extreme



What do you think?

Halloween...

J decided to be a nascar driver, particularly Jeff Gordon this year. He got to wear his costume thrice this month. First on Lola's bday, next is at school during their halloween party and then on halloween itself.












What a lovely weather we had yesterday, it was perfect for trick or treating. It wasn't cold at all so we managed to go around a bit further this time. First stop is the mall strip. The stores open up to trick or treaters from 3-5PM. Most of them give out candies and chocolates but several of them distribute coupons too. J's favorite is Trader Joes since they give out small packets of chips,cookies and pretzels. Then, after dinner we went around the neighborhood with our neighbors and some friends. Needless to say J had tons of fun and tons of candies...