Halloween Prep

The pumpkin hunt.  

I thought the duplicate Pikachus was maybe taking the twin thing too far but they were insistent. 

Turned out great, they got lots of attention.

They were super cute.

I did have a hard time getting Kai to accept that he 'had to' say thank you.  I ended up taking his bag away and telling him "no thank you, then no candy".  The visual worked.  

Best time to walk around downtown.

Soooo many adorable kids!

Great to  be able to see them in the day light.

Jia was in SCRATCH camp.  Learning animation and coding.  She liked it.  Only 4 kids in the class (room for 10).  She's looking forward to the next few Saturdays.

She didn't care one wit about missing trick or treating with the boys.

Costume trial.  Such a gorgeous girl.

Took this photo on her phone.  Pretty impressive camera.

Eric and I slept into 9 today.  Very rare.

Boys were up at 7 as usual.

When I came down this is what I found...

Luk giving Kai a bath!

Amazing.  So sweet.  He washed his hair and used a cloth to wash him.  Love it.  

Kai still fights bathing.  Usually cries.

Today he seemed quite happy.

We forgot to get the pumpkins ready for the whole school carving event so got it done right at bedtime.

Phew.

Kai didn't want to touch until Jia made it look interesting and he figured out there would be seeds cooked.  Then he got all in and was very chatty. Luk ate his snack and just watched.

Oga's Cantina

I'm so excited right now that I cried a little.  I've been on the Disney app a LOT trying to figure out the reservation system.  How many days out? What time they switch days?  How quickly the spots fill up?  I've read that getting spots during the busiest time of year is hard.  We're there right over Christmas.  The only days of the year they can hit capacity by noon.  I was trying to ensure a nice sit down Christmas dinner.  Today they are booking Christmas Eve.  I'm worried I won't get a spot on Christmas day and was looking to see if we could secure Christmas Eve instead or book and cancel if we get Christmas.

Then the wildest thing happened.  There was an opening at Oga's Cantina!!  I put in for 7 often and have NEVER seen an opening before.  Figured there was no chance of us ever getting in.  I booked it!!  We're going to Oga's Cantina in Batuu on Christmas Eve afternoon!  OMG.  Life goals being met.  Not sure how much the kids want to be in a loud bar.  Hopefully they see how excited Eric and I are and get into it.  Haha.  I'm such a geek.  I don't even care anymore where we eat dinner on Christmas. 

Not my photo... Batuu Marketplace

Not my photo... inside Oga's

Not my photo... Cantina

Not my photo... ya' not sure we'll eat there.

Likely just there to enjoy the fancy galactic drinks!

Catching Up

Courtenay for Uncle Bob's funeral.

Had lunch at Plates.  Super fun car themed restaurant with license plates galore from around the world.

Cousin Linda keeping the boys amused.

Siblings.

Nelson clan.

The boys meeting cousins Dayton and Cole.

Late dinner at the Rock Cod.  Lili getting some cousin time in.  Fei was working.

Miss tucked in under Jia's pink blankie.  Love finding Sasha pictures on my phone.

Sasha wrapping Daddy around her tiny paws.

Mom's Birthday and Thanksgiving.

We got Thanksgiving #2 the next day with Dawn-Marie, Al and Rosa.

Cards after dinner.

A real stool at work for Sasha instead of the stack of paper packets.

Luk took Sasha in for his show and talent.

Aw.  My kitty boys.  So close it's almost cuddling :)

Fei has started driving lessons with Adrien.  

Aunt Maxine's 90th Birthday party.

Battleship with his sister.  They haven't played a game together since they were kids.  

The baby is Eric's great great great grandmother.  Crazy.

Lili did a polar bear swim with friends.  It didn't go great.. she was shocked by the cold and needed help back up on the dock.  She wasn't going to swim to shore.  

Looking at old family pictures at Maxine's party.

Girls night out to see Maleficent 2.

Awesome movie.  Glad we saw it on the big screen.

We laughed, we cried, we rejoiced.  

An assortment of happenings.

3 in the morning.  It's good to have warm furry friends.

This took a couple weeks.

Now they're afraid to touch.  Haha.

Freaky cold mornings.

Too cold for Sasha!

She likes this little ski coat.

Jia's gotcha yesterday.  She wanted Max to come.

They went to see him ride his horse.  Jia won a couple free lessons at the farm so she's pretty excited to get riding.  Then she wanted Max to hear her play piano at her lesson.  So sweet.

Pretty nice waiting room at piano :)

Oh Walter.

Walter kisses.

Jia's choice for dinner.  Dairy Queen.

She didn't want to sit with us.  

Turned around and they were munched together.  Seriously so sweet.

I told her and Max stories of the day we met and showed them pictures.  She looked at Max and said "if my parents didn't come and get me we wouldn't have met".  To which he replied that he guessed he would have had to make it work with Josie.  Hahaha.  Love them.

Brenda found a picture of baby Eric and sent it to him yesterday.  Awww.

Came home to Walter sitting sentry on the rock.

This guy gets to go swimming on Fridays through the school.  Clearly he loves it!  So happy for him.

DNA

Managed to do up all 7 dna kits during our quiet day yesterday.  Yay.  Have had them since last Christmas.  Lots of talks about expectations.  We're all clear that these are unlikely to lead to birth siblings or birth parents.  At most we'll find out ethnicity.  I personally have no idea what I am.  Canadian of course ;) 

Eric packed the two of us a dinner picnic for after piano.  One on one time is precious.

DNA kits ready to mail.

Mr Walter being extra cute this morning.

Luk helped Kai collect his saliva.  Encouraging him the whole time.  We were unsure how this would go with Kai, he had no clue what we were doing but he always wants to have his turn so that worked in our favor.