October stuff

I know that picture quality is not so good (thank you, cell phone), but I was just tickled pink I actually got the boy smiling on camera! He HATES having his picture taken, just like his mom and dad. What a photogenic family we are. I used to be sad my mom and dad didn't have more pictures from my childhood; now I understand why. It is hard to capture every moment, especially when your child doesn't want you to.

We had a fun visit from Ben's mom and brother a couple weeks ago. They flew into Oakland from Salt Lake because they missed the boy. I'm sure they wanted to see us too, but it was definitely some quality Grandma/Benny time that week. Unfortunately, Ben had to work, so he missed out on a lot of the things we did. But we went to Sausalito on a rainy day and had some good seafood lunch along the waterfront. We went to Fisherman's Wharf and had more yummy seafood along the waterfront. It was a nice, warm day, so there were extra sea lions out on the wharf, more than I've ever seen. They were just basking in the sun, being fat, and smelling bad. On Saturday, we all, including Ben, got to go to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. It is an awesome museum and we didn't get finished with everything, but some highlights are an aquarium and rainforest. We ended the week by having to speak in church on Sunday. Whew, glad that's over with for awhile! (The speaking, that is)
We appreciate them and are glad they could make the trip!


For Halloween, Ben's class dressed up yesterday. One of his coworkers made a Cat in the Hat hat, so that's what Ben was. He even let me put a nose and whiskers on his face and wore a tail. I was so proud of him for putting aside his manliness for the day.
Benny was supposed to be Homer Simpson, but that did not work out so well. He kept fiddling with the pillow we stuffed in his shirt and pants, and hated the latex bald cap we had on his head. So at the last minute we dressed him in his Chinese pajamas and painted on a little mustache. Too bad we didn't have a little Asian hat. So off he and I went to Berkeley to have dinner and trick-or-treating with some families from the ward.
I already felt frazzled as he was hyper (no candy yet either) and we had been rushing around to get out the door, but then as we started walking around UC Berkeley's housing and everyone was Asian, I felt completely stupid with my quarter Japanese boy who looks white wearing a supposed Chinese outfit. But he had fun getting candy door to door and eating loads of desserts. The funniest was everytime he got something in his basket, he took it out and wanted to eat it. I had to explain we were not going to eat all the candy along the way.
And yes, he was even more hyper by the time we forced him to go to bed way past his bedtime.


We are still plugging along with nothing too exciting going on. Ben is still really enjoying his job, and I am enjoying the mama's boy Benny has become. We are still trying to figure out where we're going to live. House hunting/condo hunting is pretty frustrating out here, a lot different than in Utah. But as long as I don't have to walk up tons of stairs and get to use my washer dryer that's sitting uselessly on the patio, I think that is all I will need! My how my tastes have changed;) I may become humble yet