Hardhat Award

Jayden received the Hardhat award for "hardest working player of the game"! So proud and appreciative that all his hard work is paying off and being recognized!

 Honored to wear the Hardhat (discreetly, when no one was looking)

Our hard working player deserves [imaginary] spin around the block!

Tongue-Tied Fruit

Jayden gets all tongue tied over one of his favorite fruit - per-synonyms, per-cinnamons, persimmons! 

Halloween

Happy All Hallows' Eve! This time of the year fills my husband with terror and dread. It is not the scary movies, ghastly decorations, or the hordes of trick-or-treating ghouls and ghosts. You see, Chris is haunted by the horrors of costume making! Perhaps rightfully so. After 3 weeks of cutting, shaping, glueing, painting - it all comes down to one day! This year it came down to one drizzly wet day with a costume made of cardboard!

Design Stages (lots of movie watching):

First Fitting:

Worked to the final minute. And finally the reveal: ta-da!

Soundwave (Decepticon Transformer) - a throwback to our childhood!

Jayden received a lot of fanfare and attention that day. Jay was so excited to parade around in his one-of-a-kind costume that dad made. Chris said that this would be the last year of  elaborate home-made costumes. But once he saw how happy Jayden was, I saw that glimmer of a smile on Chris's face and in that moment, it was all worth it. Now this starts the countdown of dread for next Halloween! 

Lucky 13

Mr. Marriott and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary.  Chris took the day off and so we thought we would spend a "tacky tourist" day in San Francisco.

Our first stop, the ruins of Sutro Baths in San Francisco   Opened in 1896, this was once the world's largest indoor swimming pool establishment.  Fire left the bath house in ruins but there is still something breathtakingly beautiful.

Next, we headed to Ocean Beach; the perfect backdrop to dig a giant hole and fly our speed kite.  Chris had fun terrorizing us with the "swooping bird" action of the kite.  (Unfortunately, I have no proof of this abuse since my phone/camera ran out of battery power.)

We ended with dinner at Fresca Restaurant (nouveau Peruvian cuisine).  
We shared an array of tapas (yummy empanadas), Arroz con Mariscos (Peruvian paella), and tres leches cake for dessert.

Had a lovely day with my family.  What a perfect way to celebrate anniversary one-three.  Feeling so spoiled with love and life.  Here's to lucky 13!

Switcheroo Day

Switcheroo Day - students dress as teachers and teachers dress as students.  I know, still does not explain why Jayden looks like a cute old Italian grandpa.  Still, makes me smile though.

Ol' Grandpa Jay-seppe

Making Good on a Promise

I've always been the photographer in the family.  Throughout the year, my pictures have depicted my husband as "father of the year", while I stand behind the camera, no where to be found during family trips, holidays, and special events ("The Absentee Mother effect").  

Today, my husband promised to take more pictures...

However, this was not what I had in mind!!

Taking a Selfie

Snowflake Show-down

Making snowflakes with Jayden and then Chris felt the need to show us up (as per usual...friends of ours have lovingly nicknamed him "No Mercy Uncle Chris" for a reason)!

No need to point out who made which ones...