Jury Duty...

Phew! That was a close call but in the very end I got kicked off jury duty. I was so sure that I was going to be juror because:

1. We had about 80 jurors in just my jury pool.
2. After the first 20 or so jurors were excused by peremptory challenge, I made it into the jury seat.
3. After about 60 other jurors were excused by peremptory challenge I was still there.
4. The defense said TWICE they were okay with the selected jury panel.
5. Luckily the state dismissed ONE final juror and that was me!!


Man, it was such a waste of time to hear all of the questions they asked perspective jurors. I mean EVERYONE tries to give a biased answer to get out of jury duty. Heck I tried as well. I also learned NOT to read a book/magazine while sitting in the jurors box.

I was so bored that I started reading and the judge got upset. Another lady was doing a crossword puzzle so it wasn't just me. After that to occupy my time, I just stared at the DA the entire time. Aya thinks I 'creeped' her out by my staring and that is why she kicked me out. I wish I thought of it earlier!!

Oh well....no more jury duty for me and I get $60 bucks! Woo-hoo!

Pinata...

At Sophie's Halloween party there was a pinata. It was Jack's very first time hitting a pinata:

Halloween Party...

It seems Jacks best friend at school this year is a girl named Sophie. We got an invite to go to her house for a Halloween party so we decided to go. Jack had a great time playing with Sophie:



They had a puppet show, this super industrial strenght bubble maker, tons of junk food and a pinata...more to come on that.

Jury Duty...

Can you believe it? Not only did I actually go to jury duty but I got *PICKED* to be a juror! Incredible. It is so boring at jury duty. I mean it is the absolute worse thing ever! The waiting around, the anxiety to NOT get picked.

Actually now that I am a juror it isn't so bad because now I am just waiting for the case to start and get it over with.

Doing my part as my civic duty is a bunch of BS. One day I got to court at 10. We didn't start until 11:30. We got dismissed at 11:50 for lunch. We came back at 1:30 but court didn't start until 2:30 and then we were done for the day at 3:15. Basically I spent my entire day waiting around for less than an hour of actual court time!

When other people find out that I am on jury duty they always ask, "Why didn't you say he is guilty?" It just isn't that easy. Plus, other people tried that before me and the judge just asks more and more questions...essentially proving you are just trying to get out of jury duty.

I mean I tried to get off jury duty by saying:

1. My dad works for LAPD
2. I don't like to follow the rules
3. I am biased towards translators and people that don't speak english. (The defendants don't speak english).
4. I said I like to cheat to win.
5. I said I wouldn't lose a night sleep over an incorrect verdict

All that and I am still on the jury. I have a slim chance to get booted off tomorrow but the jury selection should be all done tomorrow. Can you beleive it took ONE week to pick a jury? Horrible....horrible waste of time.

Pool...

I was so mad at Jack for his poor performance at swim class and him crying that I told Jack that we would go to our pool to practice and if he didn't go he couldn't watch any tv.

After five hours of stalling, Jack finally went up to the pool and he was totally fine. He played in the pool, we practiced swimming and he was fine. He enjoyed it so much that we went back to the pool on Sunday as well!

Water fight....which I dominated:



Jack floating without crying. If fact for the first time he dove in head first and tried grabbing his sea squid toys.


Lounging...apparently I am a pool chair for Jack:

Swimming...

I have no idea what happened but he totally hates going to swim class now. Last week Jack was recovering from a cold but he was well enough to go to swim school. Once we got to the swim school, Jack said he did not feel well and that his stomach hurt. I told him to stop complaining and that we are going swimming. (Class is only 15 minutes long).

We get inside and we were a little early so we watched other kids swim and Jack's face just turned pale white. We watched thru 2 way glass and the second he saw his swim teacher, Jack threw up! Not a little bit...but full blown I have been drinking all night and now I am sick throwup.

Needless to say we just went home.

This week, I told Jack no getting sick and we are still going to swim class. Again Jack complained about a stomach ache when we arrived at swim class but this time I hardly gave him breakfast before swim class.

All during swim class Jack sucked. He wouldn't listen. He wasn't doing any of the basic drills. Then at the end of class he totally started crying like a baby:


We have 3 more private lessons we already paid for but at the end of the month we are going to quit swim school.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs...

Aunty Dawn took Jack to see his first movie at a theater. They went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs:

I love this picture. Jack looks totally dis-interested in taking a picture during the movie with Aunty.

Jack enjoying the movie and eating his snacks:

Souplantion....

Every Friday night we go out to eat at a restaurant. Jack loves to eat out. Jack still has a hard time sitting thru long dinners so we usually try to go to family friendly places. One day we decided to go to Souplantaion. I hate Souplantion but I went and Jack ended up LOVING IT!

I mean he loves the place! He knows how to get there, he always tries to pick it for the Friday night dinners. We were going every Friday and after 3 weeks I had enough. I instituted a new family rule. We EACH (Aya, Jack, the baby and I) get to pick a place every Friday. Thus, Souplantation should only happen once a month.

So why does Jack like Souplantion? I suspect it is because of where we sit:


Souplantation has mac-n-cheese, jello, muffins, ice cream, corn, peas and milk. Basically all the stuff he likes. In addition during dinner he can see a traffic light. There is a FedEx station down the street. Lots of cars drive by to entertain him and then he pretends to 'shoot' anyone with their window rolled down:

Dresser...

With Baby #2 on the way, we decided instead of buying new furniture for the baby, we would use all of Jack's furniture for the baby...but that meant we had to go out and buy Jack new furniture.

This weekend we bought a dresser and painted it. Jack was excited about painting and I was going to paint the dresser by myself but Jack really wanted to help...so we painted the dresser together.

I probably should have just painted alone as painting with Jack was an advenure. Jack 'flung' paint onto the dresser, floor and wall. Then he realized when he paints the paint is 'wet'...but he realized that after he leaned against the wet paint. Naturally, Jack tried to rub off the wet paint...but on the carpet. Argh. After Jack painted the sides and one drawer I decided the rest of the dresser was a one man job.


I wasn't sure about a black dresser...let alone black furniture but so far the dresser came out well. We are still waiting for his new bookcase and headboard but at least Jack will have brand new furniture and the baby's room will be done!

Halloween Harvest Festival Pt 3...

I dunno why it bothers me, but sometimes when Jack picks the color pink or plays with a kitchen set it just irk's me. At the Halloween Festival I tell Jack to go and take a picture in the train cutout and which face does he pick?? Yup, the girl's face. Ugh.



I made him move over to the conductor face:



Then to be sure we 'man-ed' up a bit, we took a picture by the gargoyle:


Of course, Jack is Aya's son so we had to get kettle korn and funnel cake before we left:

Halloween Harvest Festival Pt 2...

Jack loved going on all the carnival rides! We first started at the Merry Go Round. C'mon, really...who voluntarily picks the "chair" to ride? Jack was the first one on and this is what he picked:


After Jack drove a mini tractor. Last year he had a hard time pressing the gas and steering. This year he drove like a champ!


After being on the 'chair' on the merry-go-round, Jack opted to ride a pony in a circle:


Jack's first time in the bumper boats:

I wasn't sure if Jack would chicken out but he climbed the big slide and he loved it!

Halloween Harvest Festival Pt 1...

We went to Pierce College's Halloween Harvest Festival this weekend. It wasn't so much a pumpkin patch or farm like Tanaka Farms in Irvine but more like a pumpkin themed carnival.

Of course we have to start with the gratuitous pumpkin pictures. I wonder if Aunty Dawn taught Jack how to 'pop his collar'?


Jack and Frankenstein:


The evil smirk with pumpkin ears.

I dunno why, but Jack kept squatting down for the pumpkins:

Then again on the haystack:

Man v Food...

I like to watch Man v Food on the travel channel. Last week the host ate a burger using Krispy Kreme doughnuts as hamburger buns. I thought it was weirdly interesting. It just kind of looked or seemed wrong.

In any case, I didn't give it much thought but then last Friday, Aya and I were walking in Santa Monica and we happened to be a block from the doughnut store so I went and grabbed a few Krispy Kreme doughnuts:



For dinner, I decided to make some burgers, so I sliced the doughnuts:



Fired up the grill for the meats for Aya and I:



Added some cheese, grilled the doughnuts:



The key was the remember to but the glaze side as the inside part of the bun...assemble the burger and viola!

Krispy Kreme, bacon, cheeseburger! Yeah, sounds like a strange idea...but it is actually pretty darn good!! It's like eating a french toast burger...but you just feel so wrong for eating it....but it's burger awe-some-ness!!

Wii Bowling - Part 3...

HOLY BAT CRAP!!

This is totally N-O-T cool. Jack no longer likes Aya to bowl with us because he knows adding another player slows the game down, so Jack just likes 2 player games.

We played tonight and as unbelieveable as it sounds... ** I ** Miles the super duper awesome best video gamer out there....got beat:



It wasn't even close. Granted, I didn't really bowl well that game but still I got beat by a 3.5 year old!! '

I started off well and and Jack started poorly so I started messing around a bit. The second I started goofing around, Jack got on a hot streak and then I couldn't catch up!!

Did I mention I am sick? Grr. Already beaten at video games by my boy. A sad, sad day for me.

Wii Bowling Part 2...

Hmm, I think I created a monster. I told Jack if he is a 'good boy' then we can play Wii and it looks like Jack is turning Wii into a daily after dinner routine.

On day 2 of playing Wii, Aya decided to bowl with Jack and I. Here are the results:


Miles - 180
Aya - 166
Jack - 114