Santa's Secret Adventure

As I mentioned in an earlier post, many of these are going to come out of order. These photos are from our visit to Santa's Secret Adventure with Nene, Dani and Claudia. Above, we're waiting for our turn with Santa.

Nate leading Claudia on a tour of the Santa's Secret Adventure grounds. We were about to head home and Nate was so cute helping Claudia.

Nate getting one of his many included Pony rides. It was great that there was no lines, the kids were able to do what they wanted, when they wanted.

Nate was more into horses this time. The first time he rode the one at the Pumpkin patch he was quickly bored, but we couldn't get Claudia off.
Here we all are on one of the carriage rides.
Nate having a great time, he was all smiles.

Don't they look cute together. Only problem was Nate wanted to lean on the bear behind him and kept knocking it over.
This would have been a really great photo, but Nate decided he had to do his Incredible Hulk pose.
The people were great. Santa made a list and wrote down what all the kids wanted. For Nate it was a remote control airplane, blue. It was nice, they didn't rush us and we were able to take as long as we wanted for photos and stuff. Then they even posted teh photos up on the web for us to download for free.
It may be hard to see, but the elf had Vulcan ears. Another great Xmas for our family. Can't wait to do it a gain next year.

Back in Hawaii

Ready, set go!!! We made it to Hawaii with the Cottle's. Nate is trying his best to keep up with Shayne and Chloe. Poor little guy, having so much fun but is so tired.

As usual, we are hanging out in front of the Pink Palace.

Waves weren't too big, for most, but were more than Nate could really handle.

Hi everyone!!!
Nate now says he likes Hawaii better than the snow.

Good day or bad day?

Ski Lessons

Had a great time up in Heavenly the last few days. Nate loved the snow. Told us he wanted to stay there forever. He was really sad when we finally came home. Two days of lessons. Mid-way through the first day they moved him up a levelas he was better than most of the beginners. Although by the end of the second day he was still having trouble paying attention. He just wants to go up the big hill.


It snowed overnight and left our car buried. Nate thought it was great. Loved seeing the icicles and throwing snowballs.

Patiently waiting...

Following the instructor at ski school. Parents aren't allowed as they are too much of a distraction. We did sneak in a few photos at lunch time.

Ready, Aim, Fire!!! Snowball's away.

Still doesn't quite know how to make a proper snow ball, they disintegrate after tehy leave his hand. Sort of like a shotgun burst.



Mom and dad had fun too. It was cold and breezy most of the time. Our first day, most of the lifts were closed, which limited the different runs we could do. The second day we were able to ski the whole mountain. Maria got tired around 2:30 and went to the Gondola to pick p Nate at 3:45. In the 90 minutes from 2:30 to 4:00 before the lifts closed, I was able to get in 9 runs. No lift lines, fresh powder, it was a great time. Can't wait to bring Nate back again.

Driving Range

So I haven't posted in awhile, again. Have a backlog of things I want to post, wanted to keep it in chronological order. However, now I'm not sure when I'll get to his Birthday and Turkey day things. Therefore I'm going to post a few things now, then we can try and circle back to those other moments later.

Had some time to kill, trying to keep Nate out of the house and out of Maria's way. Decided to take him to the driving range.
While Nate was not the only kid at the course, in fact I was surprised at how many there were, he did get a lot of looks and smiles or laughs seeing him carrying the clubs. Of course this only lasted about halfway, before he was too tired and asked me to carry for him.



We'll need to work on that form, he's a little too far bent over here.
The ball's a bit forward in his stance.

At least his follow through isn't too bad, assuming he finishes standing up, which he didn't a number of times.

School Photos

These are the photos we got from Nate's Pre-school. Not a big fan of the first one, but love the next two. The one below looks like he is a model. He always has loved the camera.



More entries to come, I know it's been almost a month since my last entry, but been busy. As usual, things seem quite, a flurry of activity then quiet again. We just got through Birthday party, Turkey Day and our first Xmas event of the season, so look for a few more interesting coming this week.

Sugar high

The day after Halloween was warm and beautiful. All the neighborhood kids gathered in the street to ride bikes and burn off the sugar they had been eating from their triumphs the night before.

We had all kinds of bikes, scooters, motorized vehicles to keep the kids moving.

What's important to note here is what's NOT in the photo? Can you tell?

On Nate's little bike, I took the training wheels off. He's been looking at Jake's bike which has no training wheels and begging to get his taken off. On his bike that's a little bigger, I was debating on what to do. One of the neighbors suggested that we take off 1 wheel and someone else suggested to take them both off his smaller bike. Since he can stand on the smaller bike a little easier, I thought it was a good compromise. Nate picked it up right away. Only thing he really had trouble with was starting, but once he was going, he had no problems at all.

Well, almost no problems. He still doesn't stop well, but that happened with or without the training wheels.

Halloween

We didn't get any good pictures of this, but the eyes that Maria bought for our garage windows were a big hit. We got lots of comments from our neighbors about how cool they looked. With the light on in the garage they glowed and made a really neat effect.

We had to wait until the last minute to add this decoration to our garage door. Once attached we couldn't open the door without ruining it, so we were set for the rest of the day. Good thing we had a lot of work to do, finishing the decorations, carving pumpkins, parties and of course some trick or treating.


This is the patter Nate picked for his big pumpkin. After cleaning out the inside, it was time to trace the pattern onto the pumpkin.

Carving these patters seems to take forever.

But it's neat to see it come together.
I could never carve this on my own.
I started this one, but Pamela finished the carving here. I was busy helping Nate do his pumpkin. Video of Nate carving is at the bottom of the post.


Nene, Dani and Claudia arrived early to help with the decorations, carving and to eat some Pastel De Choclo

Claudia helping to point he way to the party down the street.

Our neighbor, Barbara hosted a pre-trick or treat party for the kids and adults.

Quite the spread for an early afternoon party.

Barbara's daughter Emily was helping Claudia do crafts at the craft table. I suggested to Barbara that next year Emily should go as Martha Stewart.


Nate was on the teeter totter with his buddy for the night a local power ranger. emily jumped in the middle to have some fun.

In the foreground is Logan, who went as Batman. In the back is Barbara's other child Jimmy. Nate and Jimmy are close in age and could wind up in kindergarden together next year.

This is Logan's younger brother Jake. So if your keeping track, Superman is the younger brother to Batman, and friends with GI Joe and the Hulk.

Jimmy and Logan playing with the Handy Manny truck.
Maria's cousin Pamela was meeting up with her friends later in the evening and heading to San Francisco. She's dressed up as Alex from A Clockwork Orange.

Superman and Snow White are now dating.

Ever try and get 15 kids together for a group shot at night?

A whole cast of characters, getting close to turn them lose on the neighborhood.

Almost there, before they head out, got to get some candy from Barbara.

Ready, set, log jam. Just as all the kids start to race outside, another group of kids knock on the door wanting candy.

And they're off. Not many shots because the lighting is horrible. either that, ot Nate never slowed down long enough for me to get a good shot. He was following several of the slightly older kids, racing from door to door. Only time he came back to me was to tell me when he got TWO pieces of candy.

Maria had gone home to hand out candy and Nate and I got separated from Claudia because she couldn't run fast in high heels. Pamela, Nene and Dani went their own way around the block.

Ding Dong, trick or treat.

Nate carving his pumpkin