Blog Catch-up

At the end of November our family spent a week relaxing and enjoying the beaches of Cancun.  I was eager to post some photos on our blog and then I realized that I have neglected to post in over four months!  I wanted to make sure I got caught up, so if you scroll down you will see several new blog posts.  I even took the liberty of post dating them. :)  Hope you enjoy the Blog Ketchup!  Oh, and stay tuned for more posts coming soon. 

Charlotte, NC

At the end of October we took a trip to Charlotte, NC for a wedding.  Charlie has an aunt & uncle that live there and they were kind enough to let us stay with them.  We also flew Charlie's mom Janelle out for the weekend so that she could help watch Isaac.  It was a quick trip but we had a nice visit.  It was Halloween weekend, so you may notice that Isaac is wearing the vest from his Go Diego Go costume in every single picture.  

Aunt Kathy & Uncle Scott have a gorgeous home and were fantastic hosts.  Kathy's boys are all grown up but she still has a lot of their old toys.  Isaac was in heaven!  There were boxes and boxes of Playmobile, train sets, construction vehicles, dinosaurs, Matchbox cars, a garbage truck, a fire engine, etc, etc.  He is still (6 weeks later) asking to go back to Kathy's house!  He also loved staying in such a big house with lots of stairs, a big yard, and best of all - the Halloween decorations.  Isaac was obsessed with all things Halloween this year, especially ghosts.  These ghosts in the front yard were his favorite!  

Isaac also loved their dog, Brooke.

While we were there Kathy took us to a place called Lazy 5 Ranch.  I had never seen anything like this before.  You could either drive through in your own car, or ride in a big wagon.  We purchased three buckets of food and opted to stay in our car.  Immediately as you drive past the gate your car is surrounded by hungry animals.  It was actually pretty hilarious.  There was a sign at the ticket booth warning not to feed the zebras, but apparently Charlie didn't see it.  The zebra grabbed an entire bucket of food and took off!

Isaac's favorites were the pigs and the llamas which he calls "mamas" 

Here's a quick video of Janelle feeding the ostriches.  We could not stop laughing!  It was so funny because these animals would just go crazy really trying to get as much food as they could.  They made a huge mess out of Kathy's car.  Even when you were done feeding them and trying to drive off, they would chase after the car and try to get more.  And then if you had your head turned to one side watching an animal, you better watch out because some other animal would come stick their head in the other side.  Isaac of course loved it, but the adults all had a really fun time too.  

We thought these guys were pretty gutsy to drive through in a convertible!  

On Friday night Charlie had to take one of his customers out to dinner, so I went along with him while Janelle, Kathy, Scott & their son Jeff took care of Isaac.  The next morning we headed over to a local pumpkin patch.  We rode a big wagon out to the barns where they showed us how to milk a cow and let the kids feed the baby animals.  Isaac's favorite part of this activity were all of the old tractors parked out in the field of pumpkins.

The wedding was at 2:00 that afternoon, so Isaac spent the rest of the day with his new entourage.  They played at the house, rode on the neighbors Power Wheels tractor, went to a Trunk or Treat, played at the park, and had dinner at Chik-Fil-A.  Isaac was totally spoiled and had a great day!

Charlie's first job out of college was working for Calphalon.  His position started out in CA but he was eventually transferred to Toledo, OH.  I have never been to Toledo, but from what I hear it was a pretty miserable place.  Charlie became very close friends with some of his co-workers who had also been transferred.  Everyone eventually left Ohio and ended up at various new jobs around the country.  We were in North Carolina that weekend for Kristin's wedding.

I had only ever attended one Catholic mass before, and it was a funeral.  The wedding mass is a little more cheerful.  The church was beautiful and the couple was beaming the entire time.  The ceremony was over an hour and I wasn't feeling that great, but I survived!  Then we had a couple hours before the reception so we headed over to a local pizzeria with some friends.  We stayed for most of the reception, but left a little early.

Charlie with his Calphalon friends Melodie & Kristin (the bride)

We had a nice weekend and were sad that we didn't have more time to visit and had to leave so soon.  We were so grateful to Kathy & Scott for taking such good care of us all weekend, and for everyone making sure that Isaac had such a fantastic weekend.  We hope to get back there again sometime soon!

Halloween

We've had a lot of fun dressing Isaac & Cracker up for past Halloween's.  This year Isaac had an opinion.  A very strong opinion.  He wanted to be Diego from Go Diego Go.  And when we asked him what Cracker should be, he knew right away.  Baby Jaguar of course!  Unfortunately there are no baby jaguar dog costumes out there, so I ended up making this one.  Isaac was super excited and even let us spray his hair brown (too bad it was not quite the right color).  Here are the pictures.  A few good ones and a few funny out takes.  Enjoy! 

The real Diego & Baby Jaguar

Baby Jaguar taking a potty break

Potty trained!

Isaac's school is a year round program and in October he had a three week break.  We decided to take that time to focus on potty training.  Fun, right?  The first few days were anything but fun.  We had lots and lots of accidents and I was totally stressed out.  A few days into it, he finally started to catch on with the pee and was doing really well.  Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that the poop took a little more time and patience on our part.  He finally figured it out though and is doing really well.  We are so proud of him and so relieved that he has been so successful with it.  Yay Isaac!  

Summer 2010

One of the highlights of summer time for the Wood family is going to the pool.  I learned early on while dating Charlie that all of the Woods LOVE the water.  Isaac is no exception!  We spend most of our Saturdays during the summer months enjoying the Woodbridge pools.  We also signed Isaac up for swimming lessons through our neighborhood association.  It's kind of a silly little class because it only lasts for two weeks and they mostly focus on having the kids jump in the pool, putting their face in the water, and kicking their legs (all things that Isaac does on his own anyway).  I think next summer we will start him in more regular lessons that move up with his skill level.  Anyway, at least he had fun!  

 Isaac & his friend Hudson - Singing the "Little Speckled Frogs" song

Earlier in the summer a friend of mine gave Charlie & I her box seats for an Angel's game.  We enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back a month or so later and take Isaac.  This time we were up in the nose bleed seats instead of the box, so we didn't enjoy the game quite as much, but Isaac had a blast and it was perfect to let him run around a bit.  Isaac is still talking about the baseball game, and whenever we drive anywhere near the stadium he always points out the big "A" and get's so excited.  We will definitely have to go back!

Last but not least, I have to post a few pictures from Disneyland.  Our passes were actually blacked out for most of the summer, but we were able to go back in August and September until they expired.  It was fun to see Isaac finally start to have an opinion about which rides he wanted to go on.  And he discovered a new favorite: the Autopia cars.  He's a terrible driver but the more he crashed, the more he laughed and loved it.  I could only hold out so long before taking the wheel!  

Another favorite - the Tea Cups

Both of us really like the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.  I probably need to chill out a bit,  but I get pretty competitive with this ride.  I get really annoyed when Isaac turns our car all around and throws off my aim. He used to just sit and watch in awe, or use the controller to turn us around and around, but eventually he figured out how to use the gun too.  As you can see in the second picture, he began to take this ride very seriously - just like his mother.  Love the concentration here!  

Isaac's Birthday

This was the first year Isaac understood what a birthday was.  I made the mistake of thinking he would forget about the toy I put in our shopping cart a few weeks ahead of time.  Was I ever wrong!  Not a day went by where I did not hear about the much anticipated "Diego Train." 

First things first, assisted me in baking his birthday cake.  I took the easy way out and stuck with a box mix.  He was probably much more excited about the rainbow sprinkles than he would have been about something from scratch.  Right?  

For lunch we headed over to Chik-Fil-A.  Isaac loves this place.  I'm not sure if it is because of the food, or the play structure... or maybe both.  He loves their criss-cut fries and fresh squeezed lemonade.

Once Charlie got home from work we took some time to open presents.  Of course the Diego train was Isaac's favorite.  I shouldn't have even bothered with anything else!  (I know this looks like an enormous pile of presents but it really wasn't that much.)  

That evening we headed to Disneyland for a couple of hours.  Charlie is really not a fan of Disneyland, but he did have a season pass, and for Isaac - he was willing to use it.  Here's Isaac riding the Tea Cups. 

And finally we headed home for cake and ice cream.  I put these plastic cars & trucks on top of the cake earlier in the day, and Isaac about went nuts waiting to pull them off of there!  

The biggest change we faced with Isaac's third birthday was the change in schools.  Isaac had to transfer from his services through Regional Center and ICEC to the Irvine School District and his new school, ECLC.  We had a great experience with ICEC and were very sad to move on, but the transition went pretty smoothly and we have seen a lot of great progress from Isaac since he started at his new school.

On his last day at ICEC everyone sang Happy Birthday to Isaac and he got to open a present.

The kids ate mini cupcakes and mini popsicles to celebrate.  

Here is Isaac with his birthday gift from ICEC: a new little backpack that is just his size.  He absolutely loves it.  Of course that made the really cute Pottery Barn backpack with his name embroidered on it that I got him for his birthday much less exciting, and he was kind of mad when I made him wear the one I bought to his new school.  

But he got over it.  Here he is on his first day of school at ECLC.  We were able to go visit the classroom ahead of time and meet his new teachers.  He had also been to the school several times for evaluations and since he got to play with lots of new toys there, he was pretty excited about his first day.

It's still a little hard for me to drop him off every morning.  ICEC is a parent/student program so I was there with him a lot and very involved.  ECLC is more like actual school.  I drop him off in the morning and pick him up three hours later.  I could even send him on the school bus if I wanted to but I'm not quite ready for that.  Isaac would absolutely love it though.  Maybe next year.

Weekend with Amy

A few weeks ago I boarded plane all by myself for the first time in over three years.  Charlie had suggested several times that I go away for a weekend, and I finally did it.  Amy & I have been friends since we were 11 years old, but it had been a couple years since we'd seen each other.  She and her husband Paul were gracious enough to host me for my little weekend get-away.

As soon as Amy picked me up on Friday night, we started talking and catching up, and never stopped until they dropped me back off at the airport!  We had so much fun and really packed in a lot in just a couple of days.  

Saturday morning Amy & I went out for a run on the Los Gatos trail that runs right by their apartment, then we showered, stopped for donuts, and went to the local farmers market.  Next they took me on a little tour of San Jose and showed me their new neighborhood and their new home that they just bought!

After dropping Paul off at home, Amy & I headed over to the Winchester Mystery House for a tour.  It is this crazy mansion that was under construction for 38 years!  Sarah Winchester was the heir to the Winchester rifle fortune and she believed that the spirits of all those killed by the rifles were haunting her.  She kept building and building in order to confuse the spirits and ended up with a 160 room mansion with doors that open into nothing, staircases that lead to the ceiling, and all sorts of other crazy stuff.  It was fascinating to see.

Next we drove out to Santa Cruz, stopped to get ice cream, and headed to the boardwalk.  It was fun to walk around and watch all of the carnival type rides.  I didn't realize how brave I was being when I agreed to ride the Giant Dipper!  It is one of those huge old wooden roller coasters, and for some reason I was thinking it would be no big deal.  Wrong!  It was a total thrill ride, but so much fun.  Paul somehow managed to keep his hands in the air the entire time, while Amy and I didn't last past the first drop and let out continuous screams for the duration of the ride.

We walked along the coast and out to the cliffs to watch the surfers and the seals, and to check out the lighthouse.  I think this may be the only lighthouse I've actually seen in person.  It was a beautiful setting, with the sunset and the ocean behind us.

Sunday morning Amy baked us some yummy banana nut muffins, and then we headed off to church.  Afterwards we drove up to Big Basin Sate Park to see the Redwood trees.  It is kind of surreal to be surrounded by these enormous trees that seem to go up and up forever into the sky.  It was also really cool to see some of the trees that had been damaged by fires or other things - some of them becoming totally hollowed out - but still continued to grow.

We had a non-stop fun weekend.  Thanks again Amy & Paul for being such fantastic hosts!  I felt so carefree not having to worry about anyone but myself for awhile, but at the end of the day there is nothing that makes me happier than being a wife and a mother and I was so happy to come back home to Charlie, Isaac & Cracker.