SNOW!

It does not snow in Seattle.
When it does, the whole city is thrown into chaos.

Lon was not amused when Daddy put him barefoot in the snow. He enjoyed it more the next morning when he was dressed a little warmer
The car still fascinates.
The amount of snow is small. There is a thin sheet of ice underneath, but schools were closed for so far, two days. Tuesday and Wednesday. No word yet if they are going to close tomorrow. Right now, it is 32 degrees and we are having freezing rain. The sound outside is strange, sort of like a sizzle.

Lon had some fun in the snow, we went for a walk up to the grocery store today. We wanted out of the house for a while. It was a nice walk.

Celebrating with Cigars

The boys each got a cigar from Uncle Chong. Lon's was from See's Candies and Mark's was tobacco.
Lon is still working on finishing up his cigar. Mmm, it is yummy chocolate!

Welcome to the World, Brian!

Auntie Michelle and Uncle Chong's Baby Boy was born on Monday, the 20th at 11:05pm! His name is Brian. He weighs 6 pounds, 2 ounces. He is 19 3/4 inches long. Mark went over to visit today. Lon and I had to stay home. I have a rotten cold and Lon has the sniffles. It is better for us to wait till we are very healthy! Lon is looking forward meeting his new friend Brian!

Christmas Lights and Big Boy Jammies

We had our lights put up by the neighbor again this year. It is so nice to have good neighbors. We turned them on tonight, the Friday after Thanksgiving. I have pulled out the music too. The first CD is always the Statler Brother's Christmas Card. This year we not only had the colored C-9 lights edging the house, we added white icicle lights. I think it looks good. Mark is not so sure about it.

Tonight Lon picked out his jammies, like he always does. Tonight he picked out a two piece set. Big Boy jammies!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The boys hanging out waiting for dinner! Mommy made everyone wait a little longer than planned, because to actually cook a turkey you should turn on the oven. Dinner was 2 hours later than I planned. I am glad I caught it only 2 hours into the cooking.
Lon then fell asleep in his dinner. Those turkey-dorfins kicked in quick!
We had a great dinner, once it was on the table. The best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers. We will enjoy those all weekend. Turkey, gravy, pumpkin pie, chutney, sweet potatoes, and stuffing! All the best stuff! Lon likes pumpkin pie. With whipped cream. He had some on Friday, since Thursday he was all tuckered out by pie time.

Crossroads Afternoon

We went to Crossroads for the afternoon. We had a good lunch, did a little shopping and found great entertainment!

They have restored moving toys. The kind that used to be in front of every store, and for a quarter or a dime you could have a really super fun ride! They have a car, which rocks back and forth. It even plays music!

The next one we found was a train, that goes back and forth. SUPER fun!

Now we have options on where we can take Lon for a good lunch and some fun!!

Holy Family Fall Festival

Lon and Mark and I went to the annual Holy Family Church Fall Festival. They had games for the kids, and the lunchroom was transformed into a world of food!

We had fun looking at the games, and Lon found the food yummy. He had some lumpia and pancit. Then he had some fries too. He had to eat those with a fork. It is good practice.

The table decor made for fine entertainment.

Mmm the reward for taking the cap off is a wonderful drink of cool water.

It was a good day!

Deluge

It rained. Then it rained some more. The rain was not the usual drizzle. No fine mist, no intermittent drops. These were big, fat, heavy rain drops that came down from the sky as fast as they could. We fortunately were not in any danger, the closest thing we have is a little creek. Lon has played Pooh Sticks on the foot bridge, the water is usually about 5 feet down from the bridge, slow moving, and you are able to see the bottom of the creek. Not that day. Lon stayed in the car. I was not about to let him out near the super fast moving stream.
The rain eventually stopped. For a few days, enough to dry out. Lon is looking forward to playing Pooh Sticks again soon.

A Cultural Weekend

On Saturday we went to the Polish Home Annual Bazaar. Very fun. We got lunch there. They had a choice of Sausage, stuffed cabbage or Peirogi. Each choice came with a side of cabbage, hot or cold, and a choice of soup. Red Borscht or Dill Pickle. Mark had the stuffed cabbage and dill pickle soup. The soup is a taste I think I would learn to like, but the red borscht I had was very good. I had the peirogi. It was a meat peirogi. I had never had them filled with meat before. My mother said that her Grandfather called them Russian peirogi, since poor Poles never had meat filled anything!

Lon had some of everything. The Borscht he would not even try. Nothing doing with that. But the kruschiki, he ate. I have a feeling I am going to make those at Christmas. Kruschiki are the fried cookies. Mark enjoyed his dinner but he did tell me that my stuffed cabbage was much better. What a nice guy.
Upstairs, they had a market. Polish pottery, which I love, amber, which I wish I had more of. They also had food. I got some sauerkraut, horseradish with beets and a jar of dill pickles. The sauerkraut and beets with horseradish I got for Christmas Eve. Mark has never participated in a real Polish Christmas Eve. We are going to have one this year. I have been to one. Since GiGi will be here, we are going to do it! I remember one dish of barley and prunes and eating a whole clove of garlic at the end. It will be fun and good to do every so often. Keep the old traditions alive.
The next day Miss Sarah had to get some pictures of a cultural event for her photography class. I read in the paper that Crossroads Mall was having a Cultural Crossroads event. Sounded fun. So we, Miss Sarah, Lon and I went. There were dancing groups from all over the world, Brasil, Ireland, Germany, Hungary, Africa. When we were there they had a series of Middle Eastern dancing groups. We saw Daughters of the Wind and Shahrazad. Lon enjoyed them. When the dancers clapped he did too. He got very into watching the dancing girls.


Shahrazad

Happy Halloween

We set up our giganto pumpkin in the front yard. Miss Sarah looks forward to our pumpkin. I put it up Halloween day and take it down that night after the trick or treaters are done. We have people that stop by just to take their trick or treaters picture in front of giganto. Lon is definitely bigger than he was last Halloween!
When we were in Virginia, we got the super fun pumpkin decorating kit. They turned out so cute!

The cat is Lon's favorite. We used sugar pie pumpkins for the cat and the bat, the face we used a regular pumpkin (mmm, pumpkin seeds!)

Lon rests up, and gets a snack before getting ready to go out. Yes, I have a Halloween quilt. I made it two years ago. It is silly, but Lon seems to like it. I like it.
The pirate returns! He is ready to gather booty and treasure!

Lon and Daddy, opps, the dread pirate Lon and Daddy....

Lon and I went out, we knocked on our neighbor's doors and we ventured into the cul de sac across the street. Lon did quite well in his treasure hunt! One lady gave out bags of Fritos and someone else gave him mini rice krispie treats. Cool. Lon does not like Fritos, but somehow they did not go to waste.

Uncle Vasu came by, in his pirate outfit and was telling Lon all about being a pirate!

The proper use of the inflatable sword. It was good to see Uncle Vasu again. We are glad whenever he comes by.

We had a wonderful Halloween. Lon had the best costume. I let him eat the some of his candy. He gets the reeses and the M&Ms. Grandma Phis taught him to say M&Ms. He gets very insistent when he wants an MM. They are M AND Ms no use in giving him just one. He is too cute!

Boy in Leaves

Lon gets to play in the leaves! He had so much fun. Leaves were everywhere.
Lon learned that in order to play in the pile, he had to make them into a pile! That was fun! He loved raking! Daddy showed him how, and then he was on his own.



I think Santa is going to bring him a Lon sized rake. He enjoyed raking. It was hard work, but worth the effort.

A Pirate in DC

We had the opportunity to go to a Halloween Party on the very last morning we were back east. Very fun. Lon got a wonderful costume from his Aunt Karen. He looked amazing.

He wants to go to the party NOW

There should be something to amuse me in here!

Look at this face, I am completely innocent of what ever you think it is I am doing.

He was so worn out from writing checks, he fell asleep on the way to the party!

Lon had a great time at the party, after he woke up. He got to do a little pre-Halloween trick or treating. He was getting it down!

After the party we went back, got Lon out of his costume and ready to fly!

Since Lon had his own seat, he learned how to work the seat belt. He did not really use it, once the airplane took off, he was fast asleep almost the entire flight!

Bye Bye! We already miss you!