When A Child Is Born

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Change Notice

It's finally the time to start a new blog! Two days ago just when I was ready to work on the update for November, I was told that I ran out of the storage space on Blogger.com. So I couldn't upload anything unless I upgrade the storage. I have heard some friends had this problem and opted for wordpress.com. Since I'm already familiar with Blogger and the current blog title "When A Child Is Born" is obslete anyway, I decided to start a new blog. If you are interested in reading it, please update the link. I'll publish our monthly update on that blog from now on.

http://woodwardbuzz.blogspot.com/

See you there!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Vacation, State Fair, Pumpkin patch and new School

Did I say last year that October is my favorite month? It only got better this year! First of all, we took a great family vacation in San Antonio. It was the first time for the kids to visit the Sea World. I'm sure it's not going to be the last time. Emily kept talking about the swimmers, divers, dolphins to everyone she saw for weeks. It was cute to see a shy little girl like her walked right up to the front desk to tell the hotel stuff what she experienced at the Sea World. Besides the shows, Emily and Andy took their first ride; They got a couple of pictures with the Sesame Street friends - I was surprised that they ran right up to them and were picture-ready.

To keep the kids occupied, we draw a map from home to the hotel. Every time we hit a landmark on the map, the kids can draw a new toy from their toy bag. They had fun with their toys.

The shows were definitely the kids' favorite part. We wished we went back to see the Azul show again as Emily requested. That was her No.1 favorite of the whole trip.

Andy was ready to swim like the whale

Sesame Street friends

We stayed at a hotel that was a couple of minutes walk from River Walk and the Children's Museum. So we spent quite some time at the River Walk and one afternoon at the Children's Museum. We enjoyed every minute of it!

The kids had a blast feeding the ducks with the tortilla chips while we ate at the river bank. The people on the boat kept taking pictures of it from their angle.

Emily was watching the pigeons eating free meals from people's leftovers

We took a boat tour and saw some amazing buildings. The mosaic below was made of all the natural stones from the seven continents. The center image was the picture of Adam and Eve.

We bumped into a unique proposal while we strolled along the outdoor theater. We couldn't help joining many others to sit and watch.

Bed time stories in the hotel room

The last couple of days got cold. Luckily we had some jackets.

The next highlight of the month was the State Fair. We went there on a Wednesday (they had $2 ticket each person if you bring in 3 cans of food for the food bank). We watched the Chinese acrobat, the dog show, and participated in the Little Hands on the Farm before having our favorite fair food. Afterwards we visited the petting barns and got on the Farris' Wheel. We had a wonderful time!

The third highlight was the pumpkin patch. We took a hay ride, played at the jumping house, ran around the cutouts, and tried to move many many pumpkins.

The fourth highlight was Halloween! Emily had family festival at school. She dressed up as a ballerina. At our neighborhood trick or treat, the kids dressed up as Jack N Jill again. At church fall festival, Emily won some delicious cupcakes during the cake walk. As a result, we got an excuse to share the cupcakes and meet our new neighbors.

Emily wanted a dolphin on her face

Emily won cupcakes

Sharing with our new neighbors

We carved a jack-o-lantern as usual. Emily and Andy helped taking the seeds out.

We had about 60 trick or treaters this year. A big difference from last year. I'm sure there will be more next year.

The last highlight was that Emily changed school! She is a primrose school girl now. It made a big difference for her and we really like her new school. Last week, she got two "Happy Gram"s from her teachers. We are very proud of her!