I love all the toys that Aunty Denise gave me...

Like my puppy dog - now ever time I see a puppy dog I assume that it's mine and point and scream at it so that mom will know that it should be in my sticky hands.

I also love my drum kit and xylophone and shakers, I make lots of music and am in a band with the girls next door.

...Oh yeah

I forgot to mention - Bronson plays lego's now! (Well, Megablocks)

AND..... earlier this week we were at the DMV in Glendale, and who did we see, none other than Slater from Saved by the bell! Star sighting, star sighting. He looked all smug an plastic-y.

Goofy Goober and a trip to the beach

This past week Bronson has really taken off in his walking abilities - he's getting faster and more fearless everyday.

(That's right, L&W, we're still squeezing him into his Chile shirt :)

On Friday night Matthew and I went out on a date - we'd gotten Neko Case tickets for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A. Here's a picture of the famous Frank Gehry landmark. Neko was great - in general I try not to like her because Matthew has a huge cruch on her and she's really beautiful, but seriously, her voice is the most amazing voice ever and she played the concert barefoot, so I couldn't help but be won over. Even if it is technically country. The sound quality in the hall is wonderful and we had orchestra view seats, so we were right behind and above her (3rd row up). The hall is big but felt small and intimate - I look forward to attending more concerts there. Class, all the way.



On saturday we went to Hermosa beach with Aimee's friend Dan for a JPL volleyball tournament. Dad dug a big hole, Bronson practiced sand walking and climbing out of big holes, mom played 3 awesome hours of beach volleyball (in November!) and Aimee emersed herself in the beachiness of it all.







On Sunday Aimee and I took Bronson to the mall in Arcadia - which is all decorated for Christmas, and forced him to shop with us. He got his first pair of crocs and he LOVES them. When he's not wearing them he brings them to me and holds out his foot. He also likes to chew on them and wear them on his hands. We got his feet measured and he's size 5 (extra-wide), but his crocs are size 4 with room to spare.







Well, Thanksgiving is Thursday so I have a nice 4 day weekend. Next monday I start working full time through the holiday season, so that'll be a big change in our household, but we've plotted out our meals and I hope to be finished my Christmas shopping before then. I know it's early but when you have no time after work and must send things out to Canada, you've really got to work in advance.







Bronson is such a funny kid. He loves the quilted potholders my grandma made me, he won't let me use them to carry hot items, instead he thinks they're little blanket pillows for him and lays his head down on them on the floor. He has a big blue sand bucket named Thomas and he likes to put it over his head. We had the girls next door over for an afternoon last week and they were coloring - so now he likes to color with crayons on paper. Even when we go to restaurants he's coloring on paper. He also is obsessed with airplanes, when he hears one, he looks up and points at it, then makes you look too, by nudging you. If he can hear it but not see it, he gets confused. Last week he looked up and saw the stars for the first time (that I've noticed), he pointed and said "Oooh oooh ooh". Dad is so proud :)

Let's play - baby!

The Look

Bronson has this new look that he's giving. At first it was for Aunty Aimee, then he gave it to dad and I, then we started noticing that he'd glare at us when we weren't looking at him, and smile when we looked over, and lately he's even been giving it away to strangers. (But they still say - Oh he's so cute!)

Batman and Robin, Universal Studios, Zoo day and Harvesting Olives

Well, Let's start at the beginning;

Friday the 26th of October - Caltech family picnic, Free food and helium balloons kept us all happy. Oh, and of course the Disney Princesses were in attendance!!!

Later this night we head to the Astronomy dept Halloween party dressed as Batman Characters in the costumes I made (I'm especially proud of Aimee's which I sewed from scrtch without a pattern- Batman, Robin, Cat woman and Poison Ivy (we won 1st place in the halloween costume contest, too :)

Laura and Walter (aka "The Chileans") came as Dora and Diego.

We all had a good night in our own respective ways. The next morning Matthew awakes to discover that his hand is, well, paralyzed. I google the condition and find he has 'Saturday Night palsy', he passed out with his arm over the back of a chair and has damaged the nerves in his arm. He will have to wait while they repair themselves before he regains use of his right hand. 5 hours later, the doctor at the clinic hands us a print out of THE EXACT web article I'd read about Saturday Night palsy and declares his diagnosis. Ahhh, good times at the clinic. Actually, it was pretty fun because our friends Laura and Walter were there - Laura fell off her bike on the way home from the party last night and has fractured her foot. So maybe she didn't enjoy the clinic wait as we did, but it was nice to laugh at Matthew. This was a Pasadena clinic, not even a Caltech clinic, so meeting them there was pretty odd.




Matthew's hand is doing better everyday, but not nearly completely functional yet. He wears a splint and has sworn off drinking. He can do (and does) 1/2 a thumbs up. He's in no pain at all, just can't really type or write, or do the dishes or bathe Bronson.

But seriously, he's taking this well and laughing it off. We expect a full recovery in a week or two.









On Sunday we went to Universal Studios for the day - all 4 of us. Bronson thought it was strange but as long as he was cuddling with mom on the rides and during the shows, he was happy enough to be there. It was alot of fun - we did the tram tour which showed us where the geniuses from Reveille write scripts for the 2nd best show ever "The Office" (2nd to 'Arrested Development') and we saw King Kong and lots of special effects and filming areas. Aimee and I did the Jurassic Park ride (yay!), we saw a couple shows and Matthew and Aimee experienced "The intense heat" of Backdraft. We also met many characters, all of whom Bronson was afraid of.









Last Friday (the 2nd) we had the First Annual Olive Harvest at Caltech! It was great, we spent a few hours picking olives and then we went to a really yummy (free) Harvest Dinner and ate our fill. When you pick olives off a tree they are not edible, however they were constantly serving prepared olives and olive oil in all it's various forms (i.e. dessert was Citrus Olive Oil cake with Olive Oil sorbet - which pretty much tastes as it sounds - I came home and got myself some good old fashioned chocolate).




Aimee did alot of picking (oooh, look how high she was mom!) and Bronson did alot of goofing off with our friends Thomas and Elizabeth (and their mom) who were also there.









AND THEN, yesterday Matthew had his first Glee Club performance for Caltech parent's day - I snuck in to watch him, they were pretty good. We then took the kid and the sister to the LA Zoo where we saw assorted wildlife doing wild things. Bronson reacted much differently this time than the last - he really noticed the animals this time and pointed and hooted at them all. After the zoo we invited the astro board game group (which Matthew started) over for a few games. Played some board games and then went crashed after a busy day.