Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame! from David Chng on Vimeo.

Alex's latest rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.  He has enjoyed this song ever since we went to the Reno Ace's game this summer.  Today, he was prepping for the Giant's game and eating a nice Dungeness Crab snack with Daddy, while singing.

Alex and Sissy

Pumpkin Party!

The peacock at preschool

The peacock and the princesses, monkey and fireman

Chloe and Alex

A parade of Kindergarteners coming through the preschool room

The peacock thoroughly enjoying his pumpkin ice cream at party time

The peacock after the party, still insisting on wearing his garb

Today was Pumpkin Party day at Treehouse and the parents in Alex's class were invited to come to the party.  There was some jack-o-lantern carving, some singing and then of course, treats!  Surprisingly, many of the kids stayed in costume and seemed to enjoy wearing them.  Alex was so proud to be a peacock.  He has been mentioning that he wanted to be a peacock for quite a few weeks now, and today, he finally got his chance.  I must say, seeing him so happy in it, made it all worth any effort. 

I've Been Working on the Railroad (sung with feeling!)

I've Been Working on the Railroad (with feeling!) from David Chng on Vimeo.

Alex loves this song, as you may detect from this rendition.  Sometimes he gets so excited about certain parts that he just finds a way to skip to them, and then often times those parts become a loop, just building up in intensity as he goes along.  He hits the crescendo in the last 15 secs (1:25-1:38). Enjoy!

The Little Singer

Preschool Songs from David Chng on Vimeo.

For the first few weeks, every time I would ask Alex what he did at preschool, I got nothing from him.  I felt as though I had a teenage boy, rather than a preschooler.  The past couple of weeks, however, he has been coming home and giving more information about what he learns at school and I find him singing songs he has learned there too, like these.  I love it!

Baseball!

Sitting on one's pumpkin, eating cake and watching baseball....not a bad Fall evening!

A Cloudy Day Project

Full concentration on the placement of the owls feet

Happily posing with the finished product in his tent

We originally made these owls last week, but this morning Alex wanted a "project" to work on, so I was happy that I had cut out extra pieces last week, so that he could make another one.  He loves those glue sticks and the googly eyes too.  I thought he did a great job putting it together and he had fun while doing it too!

Surprise!

Alex and Johnny checking out the pumpkin selection at G&M Farms

Silly Johnny and silly David riding on the cow train behind Alex and me.

Alex enjoying a sandwich practically as big as him at the park.

Johnny, Jeffrey and Alex showing us their bellies

Alex thoroughly enjoying the balloons after we got home

On Saturday, Alex and I had plans to meet Shirley and Hua and their crews at the pumpkin patch in Livermore.  When we arrived, we met Hua and her family and she said that Shirley was on her way.  While we were talking, I then saw Carrie, Pat and Johnny coming out of the pumpkin patch with some balloons.  I thought that it was quite a coincidence that we all ended up at the same place, especially that far out.  It wasn't until Carrie mentioned that the balloons were for me that I realized that something was up.  It ended up that David had planned for everyone to meet there and then head over to a local park for a picnic.  We spent some time at the pumpkin patch, took a ride on the cow train, picked out a few pumpkins and then went to a nice park to picnic.  

Thanks to everyone for bringing all of the yummy food and drinks and for helping to make it such a fun, surprising event!  We even had a Marjolaine cake from Montclair Baking....super yummy!  The playground had a great play structure so all of the little ones had a fun time running around and checking everything out.  We'll have to plan another picnic sometime soon, because I think everyone had a fun time.  Thanks to all who made it such a nice birthday week!

Pumpkin Patch!

Oooh....so many pumpkins to choose from!

This one is so big, I can sit on it!

Loading more loot into the wagon

Driving the John Deere tractor, of course.

Hide and seek in the corn

More farm fun.

Deep thinking in the pumpkin patch

Cool tractor windmill

Well, it is that time of year again....yay Fall!  To celebrate the season, we visited Farmer John's Pumpkin Patch in Half Moon Bay to check out the pumpkins, and again this year, they did not disappoint.  So many cool varieties of pumpkins and squash, the John Deere tractor, rows of corn to play in, a teepee, and haystacks.  All in all, plenty of fun activities, without being crazy and corny or expensive.  Alex definitely has a penchant for the unique pumpkins as evidenced by what he was picking out yesterday.  We found some nice ones to bring home and he also picked out a nice carving pumpkin to bring to school for the class to carve/decorate.  

It was a bit foggy when we first arrived in Half Moon Bay, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day and the pumpkin patch was definitely busier than last year when we went.  Afterwards, we went downtown for lunch, where unfortunately Alex was stung by a bee.  He was a little trooper though, and was quite easily distracted by a trip to the Half Moon Bay Feed and Fuel, which is always a hit.  Every time we are in town, we go over to the Feed and Fuel to check out the chicks and the rabbits in the back of the store.  Alex loves to watch them and the guys who work there are always nice enough to bring one or two out so that you can pet them.  

As we were getting in the car to go home, Alex said, "let's go to the beach."  Quite appropriate, since almost every time we are there, we do go to the beach.  We stopped by the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve on the way home, but unfortunately, it was nowhere near to low tide, so we couldn't go down to the tide pools, so we just took a little cruise around one of the trails and looked out on the ocean from above.  Quite the fun day, despite the fact that we missed having our Lee family friends with us this year.  Maybe next year, right?

The Trainer

Last night we were up in Redwood Park taking a nice evening walk when Alex exclaimed, "let's run everyone!  I'm the trainer!"  As you can see, it worked.

Boy, are we in trouble...........

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

Alex near the Japanese pool, pointing out some pond skimmers and newts

Some shots of the pretty flowers, courtesy of David

We had a low key Sunday, with lunch at The Egg Shop in Montclair, followed by a visit to the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden.  Alex enjoyed all of the little trails around the garden complex and especially liked the Japanese pool with a little waterfall and lily pads, as well as pond skimmers and newts.  There are plants from around the world, which are sorted according to geographic regions.  The New World Desert was full of cool cacti and succulents and the Crops of the World Garden was interesting, with all sorts of crops, some of which we'd never seen before, including the lentil and garbanzo plants.  A good way to spend a couple of hours enjoying the Fall weather.



Birds, Burgers and Bikes!

Willet on the shoreline

Happy boy singing and riding his bike

Thoroughly enjoying his In N' Out cheeseburger

(It's blurry, but I couldn't resist showing the enjoyment)

Watching the airplanes on Bay Farm Island

Biker boy

Cruising along

Our Friday outing was a trip to the Arrowhead Marsh at the Martin Luther King Shoreline Park in Oakland.  I took Alex to ride bike and hopefully see some birds as well, and we were in luck.  We saw some egrets, terns, willets, cormorants, pelicans and grebes while we were there.  At one point there was a whole flock of grebes swimming and catching fish and above them were a flock of terns diving to catch fish as well.  It was fun to watch, but unfortunately, I didn't have the correct lens to capture any good pictures of it.  Maybe next time.  We also saw some bat rays in the water, along the shore, which was unexpected and really cool!

After that little expedition, I thought that Alex (and Mommy) might enjoy a treat of In 'N Out, so we went there for lunch.  We rarely go there, except for when we go on roadtrips, so Alex was quite excited.  As you can see from the picture, he thoroughly enjoyed that cheeseburger, just like Uncle Ming does when he goes there! 

All fueled up and ready to go, and with a sunny sky, we decided to go to Bay Farm Island to do some more bike riding and plane watching.  The bike path is very near to the end of the runway at the Oakland airport, so you have a great vantage point for watching the planes take off.  The day turned out to be a fabulous one and after all of that activity, Alex zonked out in the car before we got home.  Mission accomplished!