Visit to Griffin Museum of Science & Industry (Nov 2)

We FINALLY made it to the Science and Industry Museum!  The James Bond exhibit was going on and my sister was in town too, so both good excuses to go check it out! Here's the crew :-)

Charlie is getting even more cheeky these days:

Bobby - thinking he is 007 :-D

So many fancy cars!

I'm surprised they didn't kick Bobby out.  Well, okay - he didn't exactly touch it but it was pretty close!

My sis and I - ha ha, with the big, huge train in the background:

Looks like they are getting ready for Christmas on this other side:

If I didn't say it, I'm going to say it again - that train is HUGE!! It's amazing how they put the airplanes in here too:

This quote is pretty funny.  It's like something Graham would do. LOL!

Charlie is working on a disguise:

Talk about a massive miniature train set:

Like.... really MASSIVE!!

There was a entire floor where the boy could touch anything and everything.  Well, almost everything:

It's too bad this Newton's cradle was in enclosed behind glass:

And all Daddy wanted to do was to see this airplane:

I think he is much happier now :-P

Didn't get a chance to look in this spot. Well, good thing we have a membership now, so we can come back anytime!

This hall of mirrors was pretty cool.  Almost feels like you could totally get lost in it!

And it was definitely advisable to actually walk with your hands in front of you, because you could almost walk straight into a mirror without knowing it.  A couple kids (thankfully not mine!) were running around. Sheesh!

Pretty amazing with the geometric shapes in here:

Here's a quick video:

Phew, now that that is over... it's time to check out that one floor again - where you can touch everything.  

Graham LOVES these free-flowing sand thingys:

You spin the wheel and the entire thing spins and moves the sand along with it.  It is pretty mesmerizing.

And a funnel cloud - who doesn't like a funnel cloud!  It's too bad it was already closed. You can actually go stand right underneath it.  Next time!

And finally, a Tesla coil.  This is the largest one that I've seen.  And super loud too!!

Graham took a slow-motion video.  Click on the link before to check it out. It's super cool!!

https://youtube.com/shorts/kIAy3NHi5q4

What a museum! Definitely going to make an effort to come back at least once or twice more :-)

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween, I was helping out with the pizza party for the neighborhood kids.  In the meantime, Bobby took the boys to a friend's neighborhood instead.  I guess they are venturing out elsewhere this year!

Charlie already has all of his costume prepped the night before. Ha!

We managed to find a mask and a toy chainsaw to go along with his "Michael, Friday the 13th" theme.

I had to man our candy station in the driveway and like the first year (this is our 3rd Halloween in this neighborhood), I've decided to use my truck again as prop.  Kids always love it! :-)

The wind was crazy though!!

Needless to say, I was not hanging around for too long because it was too cold!  In the end, I pulled one of our solar lights out of the ground and had it shining on the candy bowl. Want to make sure the kids can still see the candy!

OMG, the boys are back.  Looks at their pile of candy!

I really should have made Charlie keep his mask on, because at this point - he was already eating too much candy!

Graham is not so enthusiastic. I made him get up from his seat while he was going through all of his candy and this is the look I get. Ha ha!

I think he went as a painter? We bought him a jumpsuit from Home Depot and it was actually a lot more than I wanted to pay! So I made sure he didn't ruin it so we could actually use it for an actual project.  I know, I'm pretty frugal when it comes to things like this :-P

Another successful Halloween!  It's definitely getting more difficult with the whole costume thing with the boys.  I wonder what it's going to be next year!

More random photos

The new townhall is being built and they needed volunteers to water the plants around the building:

Really should have sent the boys but I think they had school that day.  Looks like they got away with a chore!

The foliage is definitely changing colors around here:

One more cut on the mower - I'm so glad Graham is old enough to work the riding mower!

Charlie on the other hand, created a turkey trot logo for our neighborhood.  Love it!

He didn't win the competition but I'm glad he participated. He did need some encouragement though. The wining logo is actually the one below his.  I managed to actually find some sponsors so we could buy some custom embroidered socks - to be sold as our neighbor Youth Committee fundraiser.  They turned out so cute!

The logo turned out so well on the socks!

It was going to cost almost $12 a pair just to order but now with the sponsor money, we were able to sell them at $12 per pair.  And Bobby had the great idea to sell them at 3 for $30.  We managed to sell 41 pairs. Woohoo!!

It's that time of the year again - to bring Nubby our canoe back to the house: It's so heavy!

Our canoe wheel thingy broke so I opted to use the golf trolley.  Ha ha!

It sort of worked.  Almost home!!

I can't believe that I didn't get out to the water once this year. Not even once!! I have to make a better effort next year.  And I told myself I was going to bring the surf board out there too - to do some stand-up paddling.  Yeeaaaah... didn't happen!

More leaves to take care of in the back deck!

Was suppose to stain the back deck too and nope, that didn't happen either!

The Dodgers did win the Series again.  At least that happened!!

Had to bust out my Dodgers socks :-)

And it's rained so much at the end of October.  View from inside at X-Golf, with my kokedama plants on the window sill:

Went to an indoor mall with the boys and found a store with some interesting Lay's chips. This one is Roasted Lamb cumin skewer flavor:

And this one is Spicy Crayfish. Hmm.... I'm not so sure. LOL!!

Last but not least, I tried to re-create the boys photo from a Fall photo from when we lived in Oklahoma.  Look how cute these boys are!

Here's Charlie - awww, look at that smile :-)

 

And here's Graham:

Graham is growing up so fast. He's as tall as I am now! Another few more months and he is going to have that joy of sitting shot-gun in the car.  I think he just wants to feel that thrill of throwing me in the backseat! Little stinker!

And all he can talk about now is taking Driver's Ed when he turns 15 next year. Yikes!! 

Colonoscopy (Oct 22）

Urgh, it's that time again!  This would be my 2nd time getting the colonoscopy procedure done. So far, it's been one in every 5 years.  This one would be a tad longer - closer to 6 years, as I was having a really tough time looking for a doctor with our insurance plan.  And when I finally did, the first available appointment was like 6 months later!

The prep this time was a bit different.  I had to drink this entire jug of solution!! It was a little cup every few minutes - like every 20 minutes or so, maybe? For some reason, I can't remember those details now, but I just remember that by the 4th or 5th cup, I started to feel so full of fluids.  And it got pretty difficult to drink any more! But there was like 4 liters to drink!!

And of course, after a little while, the effect of the solution started to kick in. And it was trips and trips to the bathroom!  

The next day, Bobby drove me to the hospital for the procedure and it was really quick and simple! Unfortunately, after when it was said and done, the doctor said that my colon was not as clean and clear as it should have been.  Looks like I did not start my solution early enought?! Noooo...!!  So I need to go back in another 6 months as a follow-up.  AAAHHH...!!  But other than that, he did remove a polyp and thankfully, all good with the results.

So, I guess, until the next 6 months, I have to do this prep again.  I better pay better attention to those instructions!!

Halloween Golf Fest (Oct 27)

For whatever crazy reason, I decided to propose to my boss at work that we should have a kids' Halloween event.  And part of the event would include mini-golf and that I wanted to have the kids putt into pumpkins??!  So yeeaaah.... LOL!

Well, here we go with test pumpkin #1!

Actually need some sort of fabric to make the transition into the mouth a little bit easier:

Here goes...

And it worked!! Ha ha!!

Okay, more carving to see what other obstacles I can create for the kids :-)

I think this little one looks better with a hat on??! I actually gave him a couple of googly eyes after too. I couldn't resist. Ha!

Having Charlie test another pumpkin "hole" for me:

Not to brag, but I think these are starting to look pretty creative :-)

The eye balls for the pumpkin (below) were suppose to be golf balls but I accidentally carved one of the eyes too wide, so I just had to use toothpicks to keep those eyeballs floating, so to speak:

This one might not be the best one, but it works as a golf hole!

So glad I had Bobby and the boys help me out with setting up the mini-golf course.  There was so much that needed to be done!

Actually used some of the training aid rope to create some of the holes, the 2x4 dividers that we use for practice to create borders,... my boss was quite impressed to say the least! :-)

I dressed up as a painter, in my overalls and completed with some paint brushes in my chest pocket.  And also got a chance to wear my Doc Martin!

I guess I was so much into my character that one of the instructors didn't even recognize me.  Ha ha!  Although, I told him that my costume isn't too far from how I actually dress when I do need to paint. He had a good chuckle :-D

Apart from the mini-golf, the kids also got to paint (or draw with markers) on golf balls. Printed some samples for the kids:

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go through and look who had a good looking one.

I got to bring a few of the carved pumpkins home, but so much for displaying them in the front yard.  The squirrels were having a feast!

I think we broke even with the event.  Probably could have charged the parents a bit more, but it was a good experience and good start.  Maybe we'll do it again next year?! I'm so glad the nursery across the street was able to donate all those pumpkins. That really reduced our cost! And can't thank my 3 boys enough - so glad they were able to help out because I don't think me and the other instructor would have been able to set everything up in time!