Happy Halloween

He was the bravest knight at Truck-or-Treat. The sword was his new favorite. He was good not to use it among all the children. Playing sword fight is a thrill to him.

We made pumpkin cookies together. He made the "snake cookie". He was Tomas the Train at the school party. He was really curious about all the classrooms at school and got lots of yummy treats.

He had been talking about Transformer costume since day one. Every time he looked at the catalog, he got so excited but I told him it was too expensive. This morning I went to the store just to see if I could find a good sale. I called him to ask him what he liked. He said he really liked "Optimus Prime" but that would spend all mommy's money. Oh, bless his heart! I felt so touched by his sensitive and selfless response. He had a great time going around the neighborhood trick-or-treating with Daddy tonight. What a fun time of the year to see all the little ones dressing up and having a good time!

Baba carved this Jack-o-lantern with freehand. He's amazingly talented without a doubt. :)

Food Storage Analyzer

This post is for the recent give-away from Emergency Essential to write a review for their new food storage analyzer.

We have been gradually building up our food storage for Emergency. However we have not yet put together an inventory list. I tried to use the Food Storage Analyzer from Emergency Essential and it's very useful since I buy regularly from them. I also can put up the items I buy from the grocery stores or add my own item. It calculates the total calories that my food storage provide and the days they last for my family. It's a great tool and I'm very excited to finish my inventory. The only thing that I don't see from this tool is to show the target food group I should store. For example, it will be nice to know the quantity of protein, grains, sugar, salt... that I already store and how much I still need to get for each group. This way I would know better what to buy next.

God's Love

We went to the Louisville Temple yesterday. I drove us down there safe and sound which was the first time by the way. Baba didn't like to lose control of the wheel. He let me drive this time to give me experience of driving long distance and overcoming my fear of driving in the rain. I almost had an accident once when I slipped on the wet road and I was scared of driving in the rain since.

It was so wonderful to go back to the Lord's house to feel His love and be reminded the purpose of our life on earth. It's a sacred place of peace, love, wisdom and it's timeless. I'm so grateful to have a temple to go back often to remind me of all the beautiful covenants I made with God.

As we were about to leave the temple, I could not get the car to go. Yes, Baba let me drive again. ^_^ He had to switch to take the wheel and finally got the car to go after a few tries. Our hearts were racing because the car seemed it would stall in any minute. We were an hour and half away from home. It didn't look good at all. Our gas was low so we had to stop for gas, which made things worse. The car struggled when it stopped. We said a prayer and didn't stop praying all the way home. We did make it home and knew God stretched out His hands to us. We tried to start the car again and it just went dead. It surely was a miracle that we made it home yesterday. We feel Heavenly Father's love and are very grateful for His help.

Heuston Woods

Heuston Woods has a little lake beach that is quite attractive for Cincinnatians who are so far away from the ocean. It's about an hour drive north of Cincinnati. We like this beautiful place. It's a perfect day for a picnic at the beach! It calmed me down listening to the waves, feeling the wind, smelling the beach air.....

Zoo Trip

Carousel is his favorite thing in the zoo. He had to ride on this wolf which he always called it a coyote.

He loved to pet animals and showed no fear toward reptiles obviously.

A hero had to conquer the spider web, right?

Don't worry this tiger was harmless!

His "wingspan" is far narrower than the Steller's sea eagle(blue shade)! Wow, what a big bird!

Dinosaurs all around us!

Baba had the opportunity to do summer hours this year. I work extended hours Monday through Thursday and then on Friday I get to leave at noon. Last week, we decided to go to the Dinosaurs Unearthed Exhibit as a family. My son loves dinosaurs, so we thought this would be a lot of fun for him. Turns out he likes to see them from a distance.

Baba-I really enjoyed having the time to spend with my family. Some of the dinosaurs move on their own, but most are controlled by little buttons, which he liked to push. After taking in the full exhibit, despite how interesting they were, I think we all walked away grateful that we don't share the earth with this extremely large predators. Being faster than the next guy, might not have been fast enough.

Our First Family Campout

We went camping with some church families yesterday and it was such a fun experience. Traveling brought me such a healing power to my cabin fever. :) I could feel my sensory mind changing as soon as we were approaching the country area. My son and I both fell in love with the campfire. His favorite thing was throwing sticks and marshmallows in the fire. He loved the glowing sticks and playing with his little friends. We were blessed with nice weather so everyone enjoyed the starry sky and bright, clear moon. Baba is not a fan of camping but he made it through the night. He's fortunate enough to have his buddy help with the tent and spending some time playing Xbox with him. Yes, his friend brought all the equipment to the camp site. They really enjoyed their game time and I was just glad that he seemed to be in good spirit most of the time. He even took care of our son in the middle of the night when he had night terror. Oh, his scream was fierce in the dark, silent night. I felt bad that we might have awaken a couple of poor souls but our sweet friends were very understanding.

Breakfast was so delicious with pancakes, sausages, bacons, eggs and fruit. I could stay in the woods forever, bathing in the sweet smell of the phytoncides from the trees. We will definitely do it again and again....