Hallowe'en 2007

This year, Ethan dressed up as a giraffe, thanks to Auntie Shar who provided the costume. Noomz looked so cute.

Here in Blue Ridge, the two main streets of "downtown" are closed to create a "safe zone" for kids and adults to trick-or-treat and to enjoy the festivities of Hallowe'en. It kinda makes sense, with most homes so far from each other and in the mountains and trees (would be hard to go "door-to-door").

And so as a family, we headed down to Main Street. The crowds were already there in the hundreds, forming lines along both sides of the road, collecting candies from the various shop owners who closed their stores early for this yearly event. Other booths were also set up around the downtown strip, advertising their organization, or simply supporting this community event. Our clinic, Riverstone MD, PC was present and doing their part.

There were costume competitions going on while we were walking the street, for categories: (1) child, (2) adult, (3) pet, (4) family, etc.. And some folks went down right all out on their looks. My favourites being the Shrek Family and also the family of vampires. I wish we got there earlier to enroll Ethan in the child competition. He surely would have won with his charming good looks alone (ahem, proud papa what can I say?).

And so I post some pictures - finally! - and also include more in My Picasa album (see right panel).

BOO! (Noomie Coming Through!)

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!!

Ethan dressed up as a baby tiger... for all of five minutes while mom and dad helped me take pictures of him. Ethan was much happier out of the costume than in, but he was a good sport through it all. Afterwards, he was rewarded with some play time in his floor gym.



Tonight, we went out for dinner at Red Lobster - Endless Shrimp was still on the menu and so you know dad and I just had to partake. We just kept the plates coming, neither of us backing down, both holding our own, until, agreed by us both, we concluded with a final plate of fried shrimp, and the feasting came to an end.

I must say, had dad gone on to another plate, I probably would have weakened. Phew! The man can eat! (but I offered him pretty stiff competition too). :-p



And to finer palates. The ladies (mom and Kelly) wanted none of the all-you-can-eat nonsense. Instead, mom decided on Grilled Salmon and Jumbo-Shrimp-On-Skewer in a sweet and spicy pineapple glaze, and Kelly went for the no-fail Fish-n-Chips (aka Flounder with a bit of broccoli and tartar sauce) - oh how my many British friends would cry. But Kelly has this ability of making anything she eats, seem better than yours, and quite honestly, my popcorn shrimp seemed less and less appealing compared to Dr. K's Flounder over there.



Back at home, we managed to get a couple brave little trick-or-treaters. We didn't really plan Hallowe'en all that well this year, and so we really missed all the young children in the neighborhood in their costumes asking for candy. Now, we are left with about 5 pounds of candy, which will likely remain untouched until next year.

Transporter 2 (the movie) from Netflix arrived. Perhaps dad and I will wind down the night watching this movie, while Kelly (actually already fast asleep) and mom will prepare for a quiet evening with some much needed sleep.

Jack-o-Lantern Fun

Krishelle came over. She changed into scrubs after she heard what we had in store for the afternoon - pumpkin carving! :-)



I am glad Krishelle knew what she was doing. I think we did a pretty good job - minus one tooth on ol' Jacko. Krishelle took the inside bits and washed the seeds and baked them with butter and coarse salt. Yum! The seeds actually tasted like popcorn with the butter and salt. Mmmmmm...

Mom, Kelly and I cooked late lunch - Chinese food, naturally. Mom cooked some stirfry veggies with bell peppers, onions and mushrooms. Kelly cooked rice and prep'ed some Chinese eggplants and chicken for me to cook. I cooked a spicy eggplant dish.

Jessica joined us later in the evening. We are going to watch 7th Heaven and then Curious George...

Jessica and Krishelle then prepared dinner - barbeque pork (aka Char Siew) and Bok Choy (aka Green Veggies) :-p
We finished off Mom's birthday cake for dessert... oh Jessica also brought over baked chocolate-chip cookies. Thanks!

Of Pumpkins And Poses

Kelly is back to work today - but only for a short meeting. But still. Her "maternity leave" is not really without work duties. She is on an "home elective" called History of Medicine. Her homework for the past week has been to read two books (each one at least 300 pages!) and to write two essays (one for each book). Not sure if this will be the weekly workload for this course. Kelly can read through books in hours, commonly finishing off novels 300 pages or more in a matter of hours on trips we take. Thank goodness for this, or else with all the breast-feeding and/or pumping, she would not be able to do this course at all.

Well, yesterday, I got a haircut, and then I went and bought a few pumpkins - 5 to be exact. One for Kelly's Mom and Dad, Kelly, Ethan and myself. In the next few days, I hope to have everyone (except Ethan) carve a pumpkin - or just draw a face with a marker. Regardless, we will also try and bake something pumpkin this Hallowe'en.

Any suggestions on good recipes??



Also, yesterday after Ethan's bath, I took this picture which I thought was quite cute. Well, all of Ethan's pictures are cute, but this one particularly makes him look like he is "posing" for the camera! :-p Yeah, get the little man a shirt that says "I'm too sexy" :-)

More soon...

Rain Rain Go Away

Here are some more recent pics of Ethan - including his I-love-being-burped face :-p I have also included a couple pics of the nursery, as Kelly and I are trying to figure out a way to organize Ethan's clothes and other items.

Other than that, today seems a little bit more subdued, attributed to the weather I am sure. Being a Vancouverite myself (can I still call myself that?) I don't seem to mind the rain at all - in fact I kinda like rainy days (when I am at home). You can get all cozy dozy with a hot cup of something. My flavour of the month these days is a rich blend of Ethannoomieness - full of aroma if you know what I mean :-)











Well, Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian peeps!










Hallowe'en is slowly approaching also, and although Kelly refuses to buy candy to be handed out to children, I can't help but look forward to dressing up little noomie in a costume - surely customary for newborns. So, fam and friends, any suggestions? Little Casper the friendly ghost perhaps? Or how about a noomie noo pumpkin?? Or a giant (all relative) Jelly Bean! :-) Well, I look forward to suggestions and comments on this one. And Mom and Dad may dress up with Ethan too this year.

OK, so more in a bit...