Halloween fun!

We had a fun Halloween this year, I cant believe it is already November--in 2.5 months we should have another little one around here...wow!

Anyhow, Ethan this year requested to be superman.  His Aunt Marcy got him the costume, and i have to say, it looked pretty cute--fake muscles and all!

At school , they had the usual halloween parade.  This year was a sports theme, and Ethan's class was 49ers.  They each painted their own jerseys.  Ethan was, apparently, Jerry Rice. The sports theme was fitting as it was also the big parade/celebration downtown for the SF Giants who won the world series last Sunday!

For trick or treating, Jason dressed up as superman's dad (I seriously had no idea that superman had a dad!)

Unfortunately, we had BAD weather, and Ethan got quite wet.  His friend from school, Shelby, came up to join us for trick or treating, which was so much fun for them.   Guess what Shelby was.....yep, superman.  Seems to be a theme this year, as we saw several others while we were out!

Hawaii

We just got back from our summer vacation!  Just a few months late....Jason couldnt get time off this summer, so we travelled in fall instead.  I was eager to travel before #2 arrives, since I remember how challenging it is to travel with an infant.  Plus, Ethan is getting to the age where he is fun to travel with (and we dont need to bring bibs/diapers/sippy cups etc..)!  We decided to head to Hawaii....we are do lucky it is so close, about the same flight time as to Chicago.

We picked the big island, since neither of us had been there before.   We spent about half of our trip on the dry, beachy side of the island, and the other half near volcano national park, where it is cooler and more rainforesty.

Highlights of the trip included ocean kayaking, taking a 3.5 mile hike into an old volcano crater (which Ethan did all by himself!), and watching the volcano at nighttime.

 

 You can see Maui in the background of this picture

 Mauna Lani Beach

 The first hotel that we stayed in had several waterslides, one was this kiddie one, which Ethan LOVED!

Kilauea Iki trail--3.5 mi trail into old volcanic crater--Ethan did great!  And napped well that day..... 

 Kilauea volcano by day--steam and sulfur dioxide is seen coming out

Kilauea volcano at night--the Lava level is within 100 ft of the crater rim--the highest in a long time, and really glows at night.

We got some great R and R!

How to answer?

As Ethan is growing up, he is asking more poignant, challenging, and sometimes funny questions.  I don't know where he comes us with these things...but they sure show that he is thinking!  A few examples:

1. After I am a child, and then a teenager, and then an adult, and then an old person, then do I go back to being a baby again?

2. If the baby in your tummy has to go pee where does it go?

3. What happens if your head falls off?

4. (While eating chicken for dinner) "Daddy is this chicken the same as the chicken that is the animal?"  (Jason says, yes, it is) "Daddy, dont the chickens get scared that we eat them?"

He certainly keeps up on our toes!

Girls Getaway Weekend

Last weekend I headed back to my alma mater, University of Illinois for a reunion weekend with 10 of my gal pals from college!  Though it was a quick trip, we had a blast....so fun to catch up with everyone.

We try to get together every fall for a football game, but living on the west coast, I have not been able to make it for the past few years....too bad our football team didn't win the game.

One of my friends is also pregnant, so we had a little baby shower too.  Check out this cute cake:

Also, I flew into Chicago on friday, so I got to spend the night with mom and dad, and extra bonus!

Jason and Ethan had a nice boys weekend, visiting great-grandma and great-grandpa in San Francisco.  check out great grandma in her 80s and on the teeter totter!

What we've been up to!

September certainly is flying by!  Here are a few highlights of our month so far:


1. Ethan gets promoted to the "cow room" at preschool.  He has loved his new classroom, and especially the new train set that they have.  Recently everything has been all about trains around here.  We've learned about steam locomotives, freight trains, and high speed trains like the TGVs and Bullet trains.  Anyhow, we are very happy with the preschool and he continues to ride into the city with us each day to attend.

2. Grandpa Greenberg's Birthday
Last weekend, we celebrated with him in Sonoma.  Ethan really enjoyed the party!  We also celebrated an early Rosh Hashanah which was fun.

3.Adventures downtown
This weekend, I had a conference downtown.  Ethan and Jason tagged along, and Ethan got to ride the subway, cable car and street car, which given the recent train obsession, was a big hit.  He also loved people watching from the high floor of the hotel, and got to ride the carousel in Yerba Buena gardens.

So as you can see, we have been filling our weekends.  Next weekend, I am headed for a girls weekend with college friends, so it will be just the boys holding down the fort.  

Happy 5th Anniversary!

Last weekend, Jason and I celebrated our 5th anniversary!  Hard to believe it has been 5 years....time really flies.  Jason's parents agreed to watch Ethan for the weekend, and Jason and I headed down to Arizona for a weekend get away.  Funny enough, we also went there for our 1 year anniversary (when I was also pregnant!).  We had a very relaxing time, basically sitting and reading by the pool all day (it was HOT!) and having late, quite dinners in the evenings (no pre-screen of the kids menu required).

Chicago visit

We just got back from 5 days in Chicago, visiting family.  We had a nice time, but boy it was HOT!  I certainly am not used to such humidity anymore.
We spent one day in Wisconsin, seeing Uncle Jim, Aunt Cathy, Aunt Judith and Great Grandma.
Got to check out uncle Jeff's new house, which is really nice!
Also, Dad's cousin's and great aunt came down on monday for lunch, which was a lot of fun too.  And caught up with Chicago friends Mark and Janet and their families.
Forgot to take pictures...oops!
The highlight of the trip for Ethan was taking the Metra train from Park Ridge to downtown with dad and grandpa.  And, apparently, unlike the Thomas the train experience he didn't get too scared before boarding.  Wish we could have stayed longer!