It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Tada! And the winner is... Charlie Brown! Here I am debuting my costume. Mommy bought me my costume a couple of weeks ago from Amazon.com. Ummm, apparently I've grown a little since then. The shirt was a little tight, not big and lose and boxy like the real Charlie Brown's shirt. Daddy tried to stretch is out but it's still quite form-fitting.

My costume wouldn't be complete without my sidekick Snoopy - man's best friend. He's such a funny little dog. He makes me laugh and I like to kiss his nose.

Or else carry him around the house like a football.

Auntie Alison came over to visit in the afternoon. She helped me work on my brain power with a new chunky puzzle. Gotta exercise my brain muscle, no?

Later, we all went downstairs into our courtyard for a Halloween party for all the families in our condo. It was neat to see everyone dressed up.

I got to eat pizza for dinner and drink a juice box! 100% pure apple juice! Not the diluted juice that Mommy gives me every day. It was heavenly. Hee Hee. Let's just see them try to make me go to sleep tonight.

I tried to get at the Halloween candy too but Mommy was too quick for me. All I was able to grab was a bag of Goldfish. Here I am making my scary face or is it my "Ha Ha I got away with something" face.

All the kids posed for a group picture. Can you find me? I'm not one for group pictures. I like the camera all to myself so I was trying to hide in the corner (or maybe I was just a little intimidated by all the big kids).

After the party, we walked up to Seventh Avenue for the annual Halloween parade. There were so many people out and kids trick-or-treating. Happy Halloween everyone!

Trick or Treat?

*****BREAKING NEWS*****
Here's a news update on my Bui Mui.
Name: Juno Adelyn Yu
New picture below. Isn't she cute?


*****NEWS FLASH*****
There's been an early arrival! Last night, Yee-Ma gave birth to my new cousin. She was 3 weeks early, just like me. Just means that we're both advanced babies and maybe a little impatient too. She was born at 8:38 PM PST, weighing 7 pounds and measuring 19.5 inches long. Name has not yet been released to the press. More information and pictures to come. So what do you think, is she a trick or treat?

Preparing for Halloween

It's just two days until Halloween and I'm so very excited! I can't wait to debut my costume. I've been busy preparing for all the festivities. Aside from choosing a costume (thanks for all the suggestions and for voting!), I got to pick my very own pumpkin.

How should I carve it? Look at some of the cool carvings we saw at Chelsea Market. PS - my head is almost as big as the pumpkins!

Pumpkins have also been on my mind at daycare. Mommy was so excited when she opened my "daycare" backpack this afternoon to find my art work. We got to make and paint our own pumpkins! Here's mine.

In addition to my pumpkin, I also brought home two of my original paintings - one in regular paint and one in watercolor. Not bad, huh?


Myriam also packed each of us a little trick-or-treat bag filled with a lollipop, candy corn, rice krispy treats and a pencil. Can I eat the rice krispy treats? I don't know. Mommy has to check the ingredients. Sigh. So much for plunging right into my Halloween bag. So, instead, I decided to just eat cantaloupe for dinner tonight. After all, it's orange!

Ghouls and Gourds II

Today was the annual Ghouls and Gourds festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful late fall day - balmy almost in the sun. If you remember, we also went last year and it was there that I had my first taste of grass. This year, I was more aware of my surroundings and everything that was going on. Let's just say that I wasn't so sure about it all. Why was everyone all dressed up? It's a little weird, if you ask me. Regardless, isn't this the best costume ever? This boy is a samurai!

I was a little scared of all the costumes, especially the big ones. I held on pretty tightly to Daddy because I didn't want the dragon to come get me! (Note tight grip on Daddy's shirt collar.)

At the end of the festival, there was a big costume parade. I was a little scared of that too. There were so many people and they all looked funny and the music was so loud.

The nice thing was that 5 Yee-Pau came with us and she helped keep my mind off of all the scary things. We played silly games and I chased her around the grounds.

Good thing 5 Yee-Pau came along. Otherwise, can you imagine the nightmares that I would have tonight?

TGIF

This is Sofie. This afternoon, when we were out for a walk in Cobble Hill, we ran into Sofie and her Mommy Kelly and her brother James. We all went to the playground together to burn off some excess energy. Sofie is exactly 6 months younger than I am. The last time that I saw her she wasn't walking yet so we had a lot to catch up on. And here's me on the slide. While I was in California, I learned to slide down a slide by myself in Yee-Ma's backyard. I mean, I could always slide down by myself but now I'm not afraid to push off by myself.

Student Driver

Oh, I forgot to tell you! I learned to drive while we were in California. Check me out cruising the aisles of Lucky's supermarket.

Harvest Festival

We returned home to Brooklyn last night. Just in time for the Harvest Festival today at JJ Byrne Park (soon to be known as Washington Park once they finish the renovations). The park was packed with kids and families - it seemed like everyone in Park Slope came out to have a little bit of Fall fun. While all the other kids waited in line to get their face painted, I went straight for the pony rides.

At first, I wasn't so sure that this was going to be fun but then I warmed up. The pony looked like a miniature version of Poppy - Ciocia Olga and Wujek Chris' horse - so I wasn't too scared. Do you think that I'll be a future equestrian?

After the pony ride, we paid a visit to the mini petting zoo they had set up. There were goats, llamas, bunnies, chickens and another miniature pony. All the kids were clammering to pet and to feed the animals. It's not everyday that you get to see a llama in Park Slope.

The only thing that the festival was missing was pick-your-own-apples and cider donuts. I guess I'll have to wait until next year. Oh, one last thing. I will say that it's nice to be home. I was so comfortable sleeping in my own crib that I did not want to wake up this morning. Don't you just love sleeping in your own bed?

California Academy of Sciences

We were off on another adventure today. This time to go see the new California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The new museum was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano and just reopened in Golden Gate Park in September. (For you New Yorkers, Renzo Piano designed the new New York Times building in Times Square.) But, since we were driving with Yee-Ma, we didn't know exactly how to get to Golden Gate Park so I had to navigate.

When we finally arrived, we met up with Biu Couma Sandy and Cousin Audrey. I haven't seen Audrey since last year when we were both much younger and immobile. Here we are peering into the waters representative of the Philippine coastline.

We also walked around the aquarium. Aren't the fishies pretty? So colorful.

My favorite part was the African Hall where the South African penguins live! We all sat quietly to wait for the marine biologist to feed the penguins and to answer our questions.

They are so much fun to watch - swimming around and putting on a show for all the spectators. I just wanted to touch them and to climb into the tank with them. Cousin Audrey waved hello to all the penguins as they swam by. I think that she's also trying to rub my belly. I also think that the penguin was trying to bite my tushie.



The Academy also houses a planetarium and a 4-story rainforest. The coolest part is the building's floating green roof which is planeted with indigenous vegetation and has undulating hills that are supposed to be representative of the hills of San Francisco. We would have actually seen the rest of the exhibits if I hadn't taken a nearly 4-hour nap at Coufou's house. Cousin Keira's crib is sooooo comfortable. When I did finally wake up, we went for a walk along the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building for milkshakes at Taylors. YUM. I can't believe how quickly the week has gone by. I think that I'm going to miss San Francisco. But I'll be back in December. Until then...

Santa Cruz

Today Mommy and Daddy took me on a day trip to Santa Cruz, California - the world famous surfing mecca. We started off with a nice walk through town -


And once I got tired, I even got Daddy to carry me around on his shoulders:


Then we hit the beach - while I'm still a little too young to surf, we still had lots of fun dipping my toes in the water and dodging the waves...

A big wave almost got me, but Daddy saved me at the last second - getting his own feet soaked in the process. Thanks Daddy!

But the best part of the day was our visit to Natural Bridges State Beach which is known for its yearly migration of Monarch butterflies. The butterflies all come here from the North for the winter since it's much warmer here. See the happy butterfly catching a ray of sunshine?

I loved frolicking around this cool nature preserve!

A Day at the Beach

Since the weather has been so beautiful this week, we decided to take an impromptu trip to the beach in Emeryville. I know. Who knew that there was a beach in Emeryville? I was overjoyed when I saw the sand - I felt like I was home.

Yee-Ma, Ah-Boo and I built sand castles together. Actually, they built the castles and I squashed them.

Later, cousin Keira, Coufou and Couma came over to play and have dinner. Look! Keira is already copying me. She wants to be a doctor now too!

But isn't she cute? I especially like her hairdo.

And here's my new best friend. Hello Puppy.

Adventures in San Francisco and Oakland

Phew. Yee-Ma finally has her internet connection set up in her house. That means I can blog and keep you all informed about all my adventures in the Bay Area this week! Since I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, yesterday morning, Yee-Ma examined me before leaving for work. Instead, I decided that I wanted to be the doctor. Like my glasses? I'm trying to look "doctorly."

I tried to give her a shot to feel better.


After my nap, we all went for a drive into San Francisco to see my cousin Keira. I was very excited to see her in her own element. She let me play with her cool exersaucer and showed me how she likes to ride around in it. Do you think that we look alike? She's still a little shrimp though. She has some growing to do.

Then we had dinner together. I tried to be on my best behavior to set a good example for my younger cousin. That didn't last long.

This morning, while we waited for the contractors to arrive at Yee-Ma's house, I decided to help her clean up. There's a lot of dust bunnies in her house because of the new rugs.

Then we went to a cool playspace called Tumble & Tea. This was my favorite part - a giant Halloween snow globe! Boo! Those ghosts sure are scary.