Happy Halloween

Pumpkin Pals

Sunday, we stopped in at Forneris Farms to visit the pumpkin patch with the cousins.  We got there a little early because Maureen read that parking was a nightmare on site.  It was rather crazy and we had to park at the auxiliary lot next to Alemany.  As we were walking, John started complaining about it being such a long walk.  it was probably about a quarter mile, but to him it was like walking to Timbuktu.  Anywho, Nicholas was a delight and walked with me whilst our crabby little John accompanied Maureen.

When we got to the pumpkin patch, it was crazy.  There was a jug band performing and the emcee just kept on talking and talking.  Apparently, the Forneris Family has been doing this pumpkin patch at this location for over 50 years.  That's odd.  I grew up in Mission Hills and never knew it existed.  Anyway, we headed over to the pumpkins and the boys started to look at them.  Nicholas immediately started climbing up on the pumpkins.  John was a bit cooler and just hung out with them.  He's chill like that.

We didn't pick any pumpkins up because they were just too darned expensive.  I told Maureen to go over to Ralph's and pick one up.  They were cheaper there.  Plus, Uncle Mike said that the pumpkins would get moldy if we were to carve them up in the heat we were experiencing last weekend.

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

We headed out to Mission Hills on Sunday to visit the pumpkin patch at Forneris Farms.  We met up with the Lowthers and Ana to have some grand old fun in the kid's fun zone.  We even took a train ride around the property.  John wanted to go into the big corn maze, but I told him that I was too scared to go in.  Even though it was unseasonably hot for October, everyone had a good time.

John's Calling

He hasn't said that he wants to be a priest or anything; however, he is quite fond of designing churches/cathedrals/chapels.  As you can see, he is quite proud of this particular design and asked me to share it with his fans.  In case you are wondering, those are parking lots around the buildings.  He does think of everything when he designs a building.

Special Treat Saturday

After breakfast on Saturday, we headed over to the Farmer's Market on Fairfax since we only needed a couple of things from the grocery store.  As a special treat, we picked up some ice cream from Bennett's for the boys.  They both liked it.  In my opinion, I wasn't a fan of the texture, but it was good.  Give me a cylindrical scoop of Thrifty Drug Store Ice Cream any day!

As if that weren't enough, we picked up donuts at Bob's as well.  For the record, John had a green dinosaur and Nicholas had a pink kitty.  Neither wanted to share with me.  Nicholas kept saying, "Daddy, don't eat it all." after I took a small bite.

Never Leave This Boy Alone

Maureen left him alone for maybe 5 minutes and look at what he has done to himself.  Yes, he colored on himself with marker.  Actually, he was trying to smell the scented markers and unfortunately he marked himself up.  When Maureen told him to look in the mirror, he walked over and giggled when he saw his work.

He's Got Some Good Moves

Fun at Kidspace Museum

Last Saturday, we headed over to Kidspace to celebrate Little Alexis' birthday.  John was a little confused because she had her party at My Gym in Northridge last year.  He kept asking me why we were driving so far away, but he and Nicholas were excited when we drove through downtown to get onto the 110 Freeway.  And, they decided that John was going to be the DJ with his little I-XL Computer.  Sadly, John decided that it was going to be an All Raffi Kum Ba Yah set for the last 15-minutes of the drive.  It was AWESOME!
As we got to the parking lot next to the Rose Bowl, the boys were perplexed.  They couldn't see a museum like LACMA or the Museum of Natural History.  I told them that we had to walk into the park to see it.  They saw a great play structure, but they really wanted to go into the museum since it was sprinkling a bit and I didn't have jackets for them.  I did have umbrellas, though.  

Anywho, we went in and helped set-up a bit.  They were very excited until they saw all the people coming into the party.  At that point, both of them got just a little bit shy.  They didn't want to interact or do any of the activities until I convinced them to do some coloring and playing with play dough.  They didn't even want cake.  They wanted to go outside and see all of the fun science exhibits.  If you haven't been there, it's a fun place to go.  Although I do have to say that it might be a bit spendy at $10 per person over the age of 1 year old.  Still, I might be inclined to go back there.  The boys can run around and have loads of fun.

As we were enjoying the exhibits, the time just flew.  We made it back to the party in time to sing happy birthday.  Did the boys care?  Not really, they just wanted to run around outside and play with the ropes, pulleys, and levers.  They particularly liked the bottle rocket.  They're favorite exhibit was a track where you would send balls through tubes.  They tried to make the loop de loop work; however, the balls didn't have enough speed to make it through.

The boys were sad to leave, but they asked if we could come back there with Maureen.  i told them that of course they could come back with Mama.  I even said that Grammy would go with them as well.  We picked up some pretty cool robots at the gift shop in blue and oragne, of course.  On the drive home, John played DJ again, but he mixed it up a bit and played The Corrs and Phil Lynott.  Nicholas fell asleep on the drive home, but he was wide awake for our pizza party that we had on our bed.  It was a boys only party since Maureen had to attend a wedding.

The Fall Festival

Can we make french fries?

This morning, we headed over to the Farmer's Market to go to the Fall Festival.  It's an annual event where they have all sorts of different Fall themed activities for children to enjoy.  This year was no different.  They had pumpkins, hay bales, a petting zoo, and games, but I'd say the biggest attraction was the Giant Potato from Idaho.  Yes, it is a giant potato that goes around the country and represents Idaho.  No, it's not real, but it sure does look impressive.

Can I sit on it?

As Nicholas put it, it was another day at The Grove because once we were finished at the Fall Festival, we headed over to The Grove for a little walk.  We were meeting Grammy for lunch since it was Maureen's birthday yesterday.  John asked if we could walk over to the new restaurant that is located where The Farm used to be.   He saw Gordon Ramsay talking about his restaurant on the news and wanted to see what it was all about.  The hostess was quite impressed that he knew it was the Farm before it became The Fat Cow. We didn't eat there because we figured that Cheesecake Factory had a menu that was more suited for the boys.  BTW, our server, Robert, was excellent.  He was on top of things and always ready with a suggestion.  He even knew where to locate any dish on the menu.  If you ever dine there, you will be pleased if Robert serves you.  I guarantee it.

This is called Swagger

So after lunch, we head over to the bookstore because John wanted to do a show for Grammy and me on the stage in the children's section (I'll post the video later).  We spent a good 45 minutes between the toys and books and walked away with a Halloween costume for Nicholas and a couple of books for the boys.  In case you are wondering, Nicholas is going to be a construction worker.  As we are heading back to the Farmer's Market, John says that he's hungry for a doughnut from Bob's.  Grammy said she was hungry for a doughnut from Bob's.  Everyone, except me, enjoyed a yummy doughnut from Bob's.  John ate mine in the car.

We learned one thing today.  NEVER go to The Grove or Farmer's Market after 12 PM on a Sunday.  There are too many tourists and it's just too crazy.  In case you are wondering, we typically go to there early and leave before the madness

These Boys Are Their Grandfather's Grandsons

Grandpa Dick Brady was a GM man.  I think he'd be ever so pleased to see his youngest grand children in a brand new Cadillac.

Chugging Milk

I asked Nicholas if he wanted to drink some milk with his dinner this evening.  I jokingly asked, "Do you want to drink it in the container?"  He said, "Yes." and proceeded to chug the little bit that was left over in the jug.  I can already tell this one is going to be a professional drinker when he grows up.  We're going to have to teach him about fine quality adult beverages once he is of age.

Song for Grammy

As we were heading home from the Glendale Galleria one day, John felt the music in him and asked us to take a video of him and his composition that he made especially for Grammy.  I think he may have a career in music.  What do you think?

Special Scooby Doo Mystery Machine Event at the Grove

Last Friday, Maureen received a call from a neighbor regarding the Mystery Machine Event at the Grove.  Since the boys LOVE Scooby Doo, Maureen, of course, went to the Grove to visit the Mystery Machine.  John and Nicholas joined their friends Annabelle and Tabitha for fun in the Mystery Machine.
When I got home, Nicholas rubbed it in that I didn't get to visit the Mystery Machine Special Event at the Grove.  He kept on saying, "You cannot go to the Mystery Machine Special Event at the Grove because it's going away."  Sadly, it was a one day special event.  I would have liked to have seen it, but that little stinker kept on reminding me that it was a "special event".

Big Boy Story II

Our Little Man has taken a huge step.  For the last couple of months, he's walked around with his boo and wubbie everywhere he'd go.  It got so bad that his wubbie, originally white, was now a permanent gray.  If you tried to wash it, he'd freak out.  He had to go to sleep with his coldie aka dirty wubbie.

Anywho, a couple of weeks ago, he just stopped using either for no apparent reason.  He just stopped, so we rewarded him with his little blue computer that the "Boo Fairy" asked us to buy him at Target when we saw that it was 70% off.  It's been two weeks and he's killing it.

Big Boy Story I

As some of you know, potty training was a rough go for John up until we started to bribe him with Hot Wheels.  As soon as we started offering Hot Wheels, the boy started using his potty on a regular basis.  Lately, we've had some issues with hard stool and John trying to hold it in, but Dr. K told us to give him a softener the next time it happens.

On a better note, John has started to sleep through the night in underwear.   I believe we ran out of night time pull-ups and Maureen decided to test his control out.  It's been 3-nights and he hasn't had an accident.  Our little man is growing up.

Driving Mr. Nicholas

On Sunday, we headed over to the Wiseman residence before going to the LMU Alumni BBQ.  John and Nicholas made a beeline for the backyard because there are all sorts of goodies in the backyard for them to play.  They found the latest addition to the vehicle collection...a Jeep.  Nicholas was content to be the passenger while John and Jack drove him around.  Actually, Nicholas would step on the gas pedal from time to time causing John and Jack to say, "Stop it, Nicholas!"  He's a bit of a troublemaker.

Dancemania

Last night, it was my turn to put the boys to sleep.  Needless to say, I am not very good at that because I answer back when they ask me questions and I sometimes encourage tomfoolery in their bedroom.  John decided that he wanted to have a dance party, so these are the results.