No, He is NOT Barney the Dinosaur

Happy Halloween! To kick off the day Nikos and I barted into the city to visit my work and then Taki at work. Here's little Puff the Magic Dragon before our walk to bart.

Apparently, visiting and charming all of our coworkers is exhausting. Nikos passed out while we were walking around the city. Sleeping Dragon. No word on where the Crouching Tiger was.

After a quick catnap in the city we headed back to Berkeley and crashed the daycare Halloween party. Here's a pic of Niko and his friend Kloe.

Tired Dragon chills at the party. He was busy keeping a hawkeye on me in case another child crawled into my lap. If said event happened, Cranky Dragon let out such a screech that I was glad he wasn't the fire-breathing version.

A costume change and we find ourselves back at home, doing some last minute carving of pumpkins. Nikos watched me spooning the seeds out of the pumpkin and wanted to try it himself. Here's a photo and a quick video.




Ahh, one of the (many) perks of living across from a fire station - several of the firefighters training at the station today came by to wish us a Happy Halloween and one of them came bearing gifts for the kids. While big Nico concentrates on his super powers, Niko inspects the loot from the fireman.

And we're off...Nikos' first time trick or treating! Every year we usually leave a bucket of candy outside our door and head across the street to Guillaume and Lorraine's for a bit of an adult party mixed in with the Halloween fun. We joined a bunch of the neighborhood kids for trick or treating around the block. Well, we actually didn't collect any candy for him (okay okay, I did go to the door of the fire station...details, details) but we basically just showed off how cute he was in his costume.

Here's me, Nikos, Lorraine and Nico getting ready to trick or treat. Taki claimed I had the camera on the wrong setting but I think he had already started drinking wine with Gui. Shady.

I know you are all shocked that the Boo shirt made an appearance on Halloween.

Nikos takes a break to loot through the candy we are giving out - busted!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Fielding Election Calls

We've Got Friends in Cold Places

Uncle Ray from PA and Kristin (aka Nikos' NYC babysitter) reporting live from the Phillies game! Apparently, it is freezing there. Uncle Ray is reportedly wearing his snowmobile suit, ski hat and ski gloves. No word on Kristin's outfit. URfPA refused to send me any photos as he didn't want me to bloglift them from him before he got the chance to post on his own blog. So I am forced to recycle this PA photo to show our support.

Wahoo - one of my ex-Giants favorites (Pedro Feliz) just hut a run in. Go Phillies!

Update - URfPA is planning on streaking the field! Keep your eyes peeled!

Lake Tahoe or Bust

Last weekend we headed up to Tahoe for a few days to get away. My parents generously offered us their timeshare for the weekend and of course we gladly accepted. The whole weekend was a lot of fun, great weather during the day and it really cooled down at night which was fun. Nikos was fabulous - the first night he slept from 7:30pm-9:00am. Love it!

One of the great things about timeshares is that they supply high chairs and pak-n-plays so it makes it a lot easier to travel! Nikos enjoys Friday night dinner in a big cushy high chair with wheels - he loved being belly up to the kitchen bar, watching me cook dinner.

On our evening stroll before dinner we stopped by one of the chocolate shops and bought a few tasty treats for dessert. Truffles for Taki, a chocolate drizzled caramel apple for me and a Frankenstein marshmallow for Nikos.

Bizarrely, Niko was not a fan of the marshmallow pop, he seemed to just want to bang it against the granite countertops. Luckily I took one for the team and gobbled it up before I finished my caramel apple.

Before bed Nikos enjoys some milk - please note that Taki and Niko are both rocking their Halloween sleepwear. Admittedly, Taki rocks his all year long but Nikos stays loyal to the season.

Saturday morning Nikos spent some time quality time with the mirror. Ahh, just like his father.

Saturday morning Nikos shows off his latest purchase, sunglasses that fit. He wore them all around the store and for a few minutes outside but then promptly tossed them on the ground. Doh!

Checking out the fountain.

After our walk we decided to hit up the pool. This pool was the first one Nikos had ever been in (last November when we celebrated Thanksgiving in Tahoe.)

Nikos poses in one of Grammy and Pop-Pop's favorite spots - the secret hallway chairs with the great view!

Taki and Nikos get ready to brave the water that is definitely not the 98 degree water of swim class.

Huh, I sure look skinny when 3/4 of me is under water. Wahoo!

Family picture in the pool...followed by a comparison shot from last November.

After Nikos got up from his long nap (Taki and I spent the downtime playing Risk. And by playing Risk I mean Taki teaching me the game and then me basically taking over the world. Uh huh.) we headed down to the Lake.

Taki 's latest entry into the amateur photo contest.

Niko's latest obsession - climbing up and down any stairs. Poor kid must be miserable that we live in a one story house.

After we got back Nikos made some bear friends. He stuck his hand in the big one's mouth and said "Raaar" and then he gave the cub a hug (which I missed in the shot - darn!)

Did I mention it dropped into the 30s at night? Brrr! We enjoyed the outdoor campfire at Heavenly Village - a few steps from our timeshare.

Sunday morning we enjoyed a leisurely walk over to Starbucks , followed by a visit to the little museum in the Village.

Nikos had a blast building the block towers and then knocking them down again.

Knocking down small buildings is apparently tiring, after we got back to the room Nikos grabbed his blanket and laid down to cheer against the Cowboys.

After Grammy and Pop-Pop arrived we visited for a little while and then Nikos posed for a picture with them (last November's photo below.)

Last, but certainly not least, we stopped for lunch on the way home at Islands. Here's a shot of Nikos waiting for Kelli to show up with his lion costume. Apparently we got our signals mixed and I was at the wrong Islands - Marina del Rey not Folsom. Blast!

It's Great to be 21 Again!

21 weeks!  This photo was shot on location at my parents' timeshare in Lake Tahoe. As you will notice from the comparison pic below, although I have gained less weight so far this pregnancy (thanks to to first and second trimester nausea and a month of bronchitis!) my belly seems to be bigger! Ha - go figure! Hopefully this little girl is planning to beat out her older brother's 5lb 4oz birth weight!

We've Got Friends in High Places...

Check it out, our friend Edgar has an article written about him on SFGate!

Boo!

To continue the Halloween tradition, we again met up with Mel and family at Smith Family Farm in Brentwood. This year Pop-Pop got to go with us (my mom was in PA) so we had an extra pumpkin carrier. Hee hee! (And I know there are too many pics, you know how I have a problem with that - see Aruba post.)

Here's the requisite group shot. Per usual, Mel's trained kids are all staring at the camera and smiling and Nikos is acting like we are making him sit on a bed of nails.

This is where he started to cry and try to scramble off the haystack but Mel says he was merely trying to show us the top of his costume. That sounds less bratty so we will go with that explanation.

And a flashback to 2007...

This is where we practice the dragon roar. To be specific, I actually ask "what does a lion say?" because the past 3+ months or so we have been working on that in anticipation that Nikos was going to be a lion. Of course, slacker that I am, by the time I tried to order the costume (October 1st!) it was out of stock EVERYWHERE and I wasn't willing to risk divorce to buy it on eBay for the cost of a flight to LA. Thus - purple dragon! This is Mason's costume from '06. I will try to find a picture of him in it and scan it for comparison.

Flashback to 2007...funny that I ended up sticking him in a purple costume two years in a row. No purple next year, I promise!

So, after realizing that it was practically 80 degrees out and the poor kids (and Taki too...but I digress) were roasting we took off their costumes. This caused a few of them (Nikos and Maile specifically) to become a little bit white trash (some more than others.) Oh well, at least they weren't hot and we dodged the bullet of Taki taking his shirt off and scaring the kids with his hairy back. (I would say hairy chest too but we all know, he's no Nego.)

Nikos checks out the baby goats. I feel like he should have a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his little onesie sleeve.

Climbing hay bails.

I finally get Mason and Maile to stop hay bail leaping and stand still for a picture. I am amazed Mason didn't reinjure his clavicle (see Mel's blog) with the athletic feats he was demonstrating.

Heather (practicing for a baby girl) and Kira and Pop-Pop and Nikos. My dad is actually having to actively restrain Nikos who just wanted to go back to crawling around in the dirt. Dad says his new nickname is Pigpen. I think he must have been crawling and rolling around in the dirt for 20 minutes. I was just pretending he was someone else's child. Parents these days have no control!

This is actually Kira's scary face when you she gets too close to a tree.

Watching cousin Maile to see if she is going to get anything in the country store. (I put his Halloween shirt on him so he wouldn't look so WT.)

Chubby prego face Heather makes a blog appearance. Prepare to see more of her in the coming weeks.

In the corn maze...like father like son.

Waiting for the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Pumpkins!

Mason shows off his acrobatic skills.

Nikos attempts to imitate Mason...with a slightly different result.

Family Pumpkin Patch picture. Note the long sleeve orange shirt that I asked Taki to wear, contrary to the fact that I am wearing a tank top, I didn't realize it would be so hot! Taki wanted to wear his Boo shirt but I said since he wears it all year it didn't make quite the same statement he was going for.

Family Pumpkin Patch pic 2007. Apparently I was less b*tchy a year ago because I relented on the Boo shirt.

Finally at home with our pumpkins! If you are counting, this is wardrobe change #4 for Nikos. We had to change lil' Pigpen's clothes after we left the patch and before we went to lunch with everyone. Oh yeah, you are making a statement when you are too dirty to go to lunch at a family pizza place in Antioch! Go Nikos!