Two more San Diego trips

[Previous trips to San Diego: Spring 2023, 2021, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, beginning of 2017, end of 2015, 2014, 2x in 2013]

This fall, I was able to go to San Diego twice more. In October, my mom had a special birthday party that I flew out to attend. We stayed in Carlsbad near the beach and got some really nice sunsets. We also saw the partial solar eclipse. The party was super fun! In November, I had the opportunity to go to a conference in San Diego. After the conference ended, Sakina flew down for the day to see me and spend the day together. While in San Diego, I also had the chance to catch up with Angela, Stephanie, Terence, Paul, and Kerri, which was super fun. It was great to be able to go to San Diego 3 times this year! 

Flag Halloween costume

[last year's siphonophore costume]

This year, Chase had a very specific idea for his halloween costume. He memorized all 194 country flags and quizzed himself for weeks leading up to Halloween. He then designed a costume with all the flags together on his sweater and each flag individually on his pants. People could point at any flag and he would tell him the country. To make the costume, we put the flags together on PowerPoint and then printed them on fabric by Spoonflower. We then used two-sided iron on paper to iron on the fabric on the paper and then iron them onto the pants. Chase cut out each flag for the pants and arranged them all before ironing them on. I wish I had a picture of the process but I was busy helping Chase with the iron. 

Chase had a lot of fun wearing his costume for his Friday school party, for his school parade, and for trick-or-treating with his friends. 

Latest Family Photos

[Previous family photos: 2021, 2018, 2018, 2016, 2015]

We wanted to update our family photos. We used the same photographer and park as 2 year ago. We so loved how these turned out that we ended up buying the whole gallery. 

Edit: We used these photos for our Christmas card this year. Thankfully, this year I didn't forget the T in Christmas as I did a few years ago. :)

Fall Corn Maze

[Previous corn mazes: 2022, 2021, 2012]

This year, it was Laura and Boris who joined us for our annual corn maze. Once again, we went to Treat Farm and found all 6 obstacles in about 2 hours. We did right hand rule and found the exit before finding the other obstacles and had to go back in, just like we did last year. We had a great time! And are continuing our tradition with Boris and Laura from 2 years and 11 years ago! 

Fire & Ice Festival in Rhode Island

[Previous New England activities: 2022 day trips, fall 2022, summer 2021, winter/spring 2021]

My mom had read about the Fire & Ice festival in Rhode Island and was excited to go so we all joined my parents for a weekend trip to Providence. It was nice to meet up and hang out with Olga there as well. We arrived in time to go to the RISD museum, where Chase found a hippo that is similar to the ones in the Louvre and Met. Once it started getting dark, we saw the lighting of the cauldrons, and walked around the river with the lights and boats. It was a very fun atmosphere! The next day, we went by the Stonington Light House and Palmer House, before stopping to get some baked good at Sift in Mystic on our way home. 

Summer Crafts

[Previous Chase crafts: 3D printing, snow globes, siphonophore Halloween costume, Octopus]

Other than 3D printing which he is still very much into, Chase also had a few other crafts this summer. 

All summer, Chase was obsessed with collecting 4-leaf clovers. He managed to collect quite a number and then dried them in a book for a week each and laminated them together. 

Chase also was very into making a donut pillow. We went to a fabric place to get the colors he wanted and then he used the sewing machine to make a donut. He was going to add some sprinkles to the top so I was waiting to take a picture of that, but he never ended up doing that before using it as a pillow, so I never got a finished picture.

Family Reunion

This summer, Chase had a unique opportunity to have all his grandparents together. Amy and Tony were visiting us and seeing our house for the first time. We took a walk with them in New Haven and at the beach, did an escape room, and played lots of games together. Then we had my parents over for BBQ and had a chance to take pictures together. Chase was so excited to have everyone together.