Lucas' First Halloween

We celebrated Lucas' first Halloween at my cousin Eric's house. They had a party there for my nephew Jethro's 9th birthday. Lucas came dressed as Tigger, and we went trick-or-treating with Kaelyn around the neighborhood. He came away with a nice stash of candy! He seemed to have enjoyed his first Halloween, even though mom and dad will be eating his treats.

Lucas Enjoying His Bath

Here's a clip of Lucas thoroughly enjoying his bath! We might need to give him swimming lessons sooner than we thought.

Lucas Playing a Real Piano

Here's Lucas having his Beethoven moment on Auntie Nancy's piano. He's so focused! Maybe we need to upgrade his xylophone at home to something better.

Montréal, Canada

In the middle of our New England trip we drove north to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was a very scenic drive through three states: Massachussetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The drive took about six hours total because we had to stop a few times for Lucas. Weather was great driving in, then it rained on Tuesday, and it then cleared up the next day. We were able to see the Biodome de Montreal (four environmentally-controlled areas), Vieux-Montreal (Old Town Montreal), Chinatown, Downtown, the Underground City (a network of underground shopping centers and food courts), Jardin Botanique Montreal (Botanical Gardens), and Parque Mont-Real.

It was interesting to observe the Montrealers speaking a mix of French and English (and other languages as well). It felt like we were in Europe. We stayed at the four-star Hotel Omni in the heart of Downtown so we were able to get around by foot easily.

Montreal is a vibrant town and we were glad we were able to visit it. Lucas also had his passport stamped! Click here for more pictures.

New England

We are at the tail end of our trip to the East Coast to visit Lediya's brother Steve and his wife Nancy. It's been a great vacation, seeing the leaves turn golden yellow in the fall. Totally different from L.A. We also ate well, and got to see three different states (Massachussetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire). Lucas is having a great time as well, he did not seem to mind the driving too much. He also did not mind his first coast to coast plane trip. Here are some pictures from our trip. For more pictures, click here.

Killer Instinct

Just finished reading Joseph Finder's latest corporate thriller Killer Instinct, and it was a fast and entertaining read. From the jacket: Jason Steadman is a thirty-year-old sales executive living in Boston and working for a electronics giant, a competitor to Sony and Panasonic. He's a witty, charismatic guy who's well liked at the office, but he lacks the “ killer instinct” necessary to move up the corporate ladder. To the chagrin of his ambitious wife, it looks as if his career has hit a ceiling. Jason's been sidelined. But all that will change one evening when Jason meets Kurt Semko, a former Special Forces officer just back from Iraq. Looking for a decent pitcher for the company softball team, Jason gets Kurt, who was once drafted by the majors, a job in Corporate Security. Soon, good things start to happen for Jason - and bad things start to happen to Jason's rivals. His career suddenly takes off. He's an overnight success. Only too late does Jason discover that his friend Kurt has been secretly paving his path to the top by the most “ efficient” - and ruthless - means available. After all, Kurt says, “ Business is war, right?” But when Jason tries to put a stop to it, he finds that his new best friend has become the most dangerous enemy imaginable. And now it's far more than just his career that lies in the balance.

Lucas Tearing Up The Sunday Ads

Here's a clip of what Lucas does when he thinks the prices on the Circuit City Sunday ads are not good enough.

Six Months Old

Lucas is half a year old today! Milestones in the past month: he's eating solid food twice a day now, rice cereal and fruits/vegetables. He's eaten applesauce, pear, banana, sweet pea, and he tried carrot today. He's also moved up to size 3 diapers. Oh yeah he can also put his toes in his mouth!

To celebrate, we ate at a Chinese buffet yesterday with his grandma, uncle Lyno, godparents Pam and Ben, and cousin Kaelyn. Afterwards we went to Rancho Los Cerritos and took a guided tour of the nearly 200 year old home. We also used his new lightweight stroller, a Chicco C5.

This Friday he has his six month wellness checkup where he will get more shots and will be weighed and measured. He's probably close to 17 pounds and maybe 27" long. We're going to need new convertible car seats soon!

Picaboo Photo Books

We just received two photo books from Picaboo that Lediya created using their downloadable software, and they turned out great! She chronicled her maternity journey on the first book and created a photo book for Lucas on his first six months. Thanks to FatWallet, we were able to score a great deal, $26 shipped for both books (20 pages, leather-bound)!

Check out the photo books here:
Maternity Journey photo book
Lucas Six Months photo book

Company Man

Wanted to read another corporate thriller, so I just picked up Joseph Finder's Company Man the other day from the library. From the book jacket: Nick Conover is the CEO of a major corporation, a local boy made good, and once the most admired man in a company town. But that was before the layoffs. When a faceless stalker menaces his family, Nick, a single father of two since the recent death of his wife, finds that the gated community they live in is no protection at all. He decides to take action, a tragedy ensues - and immediately his life spirals out of control.At work, Nick begins to uncover a conspiracy against him, involving some of his closest colleagues. He doesn't know who he can trust - including the brilliant, troubled new woman in his life. Meanwhile, his actions are being probed by a homicide detective named Audrey Rhimes, a relentless investigator with a strong sense of morality - and her own, very personal reason for pursuing Nick Conover. With everything he cares about in the balance, Nick discovers strengths he never knew he had. His enemies don't realize how hard he'll fight to save his company. And nobody knows how far he'll go to protect his family.

Lucas Is Sitting Up, Almost

Here is a picture of Lucas sitting up! Well, not quite. He did this by himself for 5 seconds. But we think he will be able to do it for real pretty soon.