Exposition Park, Part 2

Right outside the Science Center is an extensive Rose Garden, can you tell the girls were enjoying this part of our trip immensely?


Here are Steve, Sam and Anna in "our" gazebo overlooking "our grounds", if only for a little while, hee hee...


Anna liked smelling every rose she could.


Sam got in on the action as well.


After lunch we walked over to the Natural History Museum. I remember going here often as a child, and many of the exhibits including what I like to call the "huge animal dioramas", are still the same and brought back a lot of memories.


Wow, check out the T-Rex and Triceratops!


Anna and I also loved the gems and fine jewels exhibit.


Wow, how often do you get to touch an authentic dinosaur bone?


That sure wiped Sammy out. I wonder what new place we'll explore next time.

Thanksgiving

Our plans this vacation were thwarted due to Anna's illness so here are some photos from my class celebration. I know the hats are not PC but these students wanted to make holiday hats and I adore these kids, so I honored their request. Here are the first graders...


And the second graders.


Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving day!

November Quick Shots

Posing as a sticker-faced glamour girl...


Following Mr. Legoman...


Standing solemnly at Crystal Court...


Reciting a Thanksgiving poem...


And chowing down on Japanese noodles.


(Here's a bowl of the shoyu ramen at Santouka, Mitsuwa food court.)

Disneyland, Two Trips

This past month I've gone to Disneyland two different days, the first time with Anna and Steve. We checked out the Haunted Mansion... decorated for the holidays.


The castle is also adorned with snow and icicles, waaay behind us.


I also had time for a bite before picking up Sam from school, while Steve and Anna hung out at the park a bit longer. We like eating at the Jazz Kitchen Express, the happy face potatoes are a favorite of Anna's.


I took Sam to Disneyland another day, as you can see he was blown away by the tree.


Here's a close-up of the castle. Beautiful!

Legoland, 4 girls + 1 boy

A couple of weekends ago Mama, Yumi and I took the kids to Legoland while Steve worked on organizing the garage. We each had a type of workout (I think). Sam and I are having fun in the helicopters here.


It's interesting to see what catches each child's eye. A payphone is almost a thing of the past, yet a novelty to Anna and Sam.


Sam has to make sure his map and lunch bag are in order before he handles the phone.


We all enjoyed Miniland the most, Yumi is snapping away at the sights.


Here we are in New York City...


The Venetian in Las Vegas...


And the Capitol Building in D.C.


Here's Sam checking out a Lego diver...


And Mama checking out Elvis.


Like I said, Steve and I each got a workout. While Sam walked a bit, he was carried quite a bit as well.


Lots of activity this day... zzzzz...
(Great photos mom!)

He is adored

This is a photo from a couple months ago... There's never been a doubt that these kids are crazy about their dad.
I have a lot of blogging catch-up to do with photos to upload, but didn't want more than a week to pass without a posting!

Summer playdate with Dion and Lucy

Dion and Lucy's mom Thao graciously watched Anna for a summer day while Steve and I went to a workshop and Sam went to preschool. Thao took the kids to Fashion Island and took lots of great photos which I recently obtained.


Thao gave Anna cute pigtails, I need to get some hairstyling lessons from her!


A spin on the merry-go-round is always fun!


I love how Anna is getting every last drop from her Haagen Dazs ice cream cup.


A trip to the park... wow, I hope Thao wasn't as exhausted as these kids look here! Thanks so much, Thao! Anna called this one of the best days of her life!

Science Night at OCC

We attended the science fair at our local community college a little while ago, here's the conversation of the night, between Steve and Sam.

(Upon arrival)
Sam: Dad, where are we?
Steve: We're at a college.
Sam: What's a college?
Steve: It's where big people go to school.
Sam (pauses): Dad, I don't want to go to college.





Still, as you can see, Sam liked being at college. The kids enjoyed the exhibits. Skeletons, preserved animals, live ones, microscopes, experiments, and so on.

Anna bumped into some classmates, it's unsettling yet fun for a child seeing someone outside of school. And Sam was so intrigued by what was shown here, I think (hope) he may one day attend college and become a scientist.