A girl named Widget

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009 was fun! I finally got what trick or treating was about. I went to Old Towne Orange where my friend Hannah lives and went Trick-or-treating with her. I also handed out candy at her house afterwards with several friends, including Science Dude. My Meema made this neato Bumble Bee costume for me. I decided Friday before Halloween that I wanted a Pink Bumble Bee costume, but since no such thing was invented yet. Mommy convinced me to wear this one. The costume was a success. I took home beaucoups candy, but Mommy & Daddy secretly gave most of it to Hannah or ate it themselves.

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My first trip to the Magic Kingdom!

Unkie Jon Jon and Auntie Kiki (Uncle Jon and Auntie Karen to grown-ups) found out there’s a great deal for California residents at Disneyland, $99 for 3 trips (including the normally blacked-out weekends and California Adventure!). I was free, of course. Until 3 years old. Now that’s a kid’s discount!

I invited Ah-ma and Kong Kong along. Kiki and Jon Jon came, too. It was a big family outing. My first and mostest favorite ride was Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. It was in a submarine, but you had to wait in line above ground for over an hour just to ride it! It was near the place in Disneyland Unkie Jon Jon got lost over 36 years ago. Luckily they found him last week, he had been living on Tom Sawyer Island all these years. He still thought Nixon was president and CB radios were cool. I told him about Twitter and the Internet. He said he’d look into it.

It was a bit hot during the day, and Disneyland was a little bit crowded, so we headed over to California Adventure. But not before stopping by the happiest changing station on earth in Disneyland. Mommy’s friend Nancy told her about it. Daddy also bought me a big balloon before we made the trek to the less crowded sister park.

I’m not old enough or experienced enough to know the adults had more to do at California Adventure than I did. Disneyland is the place for me. Next trip I’ll get to go on all the famous Disneyland rides with Ah-ma. I did get to ride a few rides and see some shows. Kong Kong decided the Mickey’s Fun Wheel (Ferris Wheel) with the swinging gondolas was his favorite ride. There was even a talking turtle named Crush (though I’ve never made it that far into Nemo to know who he is).

Ah-ma bought me a pair of pink mouse ears with my name on it! Can you believe they stock “Widget” hats? I couldn’t either. They even had “Bort” ears (but they were out of license plates). Thank you Ah-ma!

I got to see TWO parades! One was a Pixar parade (video on right). It was neat and wet. Everyone seemed to think the participants were famous from the movies or something. I wouldn’t know. I’ve only made it about 15 minutes into Nemo, and no minutes into the other ones.

The other one was at night — the electric light parade. It was more exciting, and cooler. The characters were lit up and didn’t squirt us with water like the Pixar people.

Afterward everyone made a mad dash for the exit to see the last remnants of the Disney fireworks show. I saw lots of booms.

Afterwards I slept well. They tell me I will get to go again soon! Hurray!

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Happy 4th of July, 2009!

Big night for me. I saw fireworks… and wasn’t scared! In fact, I wanted to get closer and shimmied out of daddy’s arms to get a front-row seat. Unfortunately, none of those pictures turned out because it was too dark. But I ran one photo through Photoshop and lookie:

 
             Before Photoshop                             After Photoshop

 

 

Here are some pictures and a video from earlier in the day, when I got to see my first Fourth of July parade (Huntington Beach’s 100th birthday) and playing with dirt and boys at Jeff & Mary’s FoJ shindig. It was hot! But fun… I didn’t want to take a nap. Who would? 

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Gardening with Kong Kong

Ah-ma and Kong Kong wanted to pretty up Uncle Jon and Auntie Karen’s front yard with flowers. I felt like they needed my help so I changed into my overalls and headed to their house to offer my expertise.

Lots of stinky dirt. What fun!

Afterward, we went out to eat because I love to eat even more than I love to garden (but maybe no more than I like to get dirty). Anyway, we went to a new hot pot restaurant that had a huge pot split in half — one side with spicy broth, the other was not so spicy. We ordered a ton of meats and vegetables and just ate and ate and ate.

And then we walked around the corner to get yogurt. I fell off a chair. Ouch.

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Water fights, a pinata and a 40th birthday party

My uncle Jon turned 40 this month, making him 40-times older than me. That’s old, isn’t it? I can’t really comprehend that because I’m a mere 19 months old. 

He invited me to his birthday party and there were all sorts of things to do besides eat meat (and lots of it).

We had water balloon fights, ran in the grass, played with my cousin Daphne and picked up lots of candy. I don’t know what happened to all my candy — I think my daddy ate it all.

But what was really fun was the pinata because Auntie Theresa went crazy and nearly took out Uncle Jon’s friend John, who was maneuvering the pinata. My daddy took the video and he missed recording it but captured the sound. He was wondering if he should go rescue John. He didn’t.

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Another day at the beach, June 2009

It’s been a while since I went to the beach. Now that Ahma and Kong Kong don’t take care of me, I rarely go. But I finally got to go again this time with mommy and daddy and their friends Katie and Hugh and my new friend, Aiden.

He was born one day and one year after me, but he’s almost as big as I am. We wear the same size 3 diaper! He didn’t move much though. I guess that’s what I was like when I was 7 months old. He’s the reason why Katie and Hugh missed my first birthday! Oh well, I guess Aiden is okay.

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ROAD TRIP! San Francisco, May 2009

I went on another road trip, this time to San Francisco. We drove 6+ hours starting Friday night at 9:30 pm. The Jermster and his Mum and Dad came along, too. Jeremy didn’t say much, though. I slept through the night. When we woke up, we went for breakfast at the Ferry Terminal Farmer’s Market. The rest is kind of a blur. We stop in Alameda on the way home and visited with my old friend Shawna and her parents and her husband. It was fun, but short.

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Texas, Spring 2009!

The week before my 17-month birthday (yes, everyone should celebrate their birthday every month!), we headed to Texas to visit my Texas grandparents. We call it the Taylor Manor Manor because they live in Manor, Tex. (And for all you non-Texans, that’s Mānor, which sounds like zānier). Their house is, like, a gazillion times bigger than my house. I LOVED it! Lots of place to run around, lots of new things to get into and knock over and, my favorite, lots of outdoor space to roam.

It’s my second trip and my mee-mah and pop-pop (yes, I have new names for them now that I can “talk”) could barely recognize me since they last saw me on my birthday. I’m completely different — I laugh, I dance, I sing, I even can wave bye-bye! 

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My second Chinese New Year, part 1

 

 

Remember what I looked last year at Chinese New Year? I’m a big girl now and my cheong-sum fits, mostly. And I have more hair, and can walk, and “talk,” and play the piano. This year, Auntie Karen’s family cooked a big feast for us. But I only got to eat noodles. Good thing I like noodles!

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Widget learns to share

My parents wanted to point out how cheeky kids can be, so this is another video from the “ANOTHER BIRTHDAY PARTY!” post. Nico, who is three months older than me, was eying the same left-over party blowouts as yours truly. I successfully possessed the three blowouts, when others present decided I should share.