Stenwood Fun Fair 2010

Trick-O-Treat

Trick O Treat

Smell my feet

Give me something

Good to eat

Maddy, the Red Ninja

Maddy, Danny (Darth Vadar), Michael (Black Ninja) and Danny's Sister

Maddy and Ashley

Halloween Parade

Maddy the Red Ninja

Halloween Parade @ School, Friday, Oct 31st.

Just a Reminder ...

Popcorn sales for the Cub Scouts end November 7th so hurry on up and fill your order/s before it's too late :) These make wonderful Christmas gifts for family and friends!!!

If you have ordered online, please send me a copy of the order so Maddy gets credit for the sale/s. (Batgran, did you manage ok?)

A big THANK YOU to family and friends who have already done this and for those who have had the popcorn sent to our place, I will send them off as soon as I receive them (Sachi, we have to replace one of your tins because *cough* two big mice ate the chocolate one LOL).

For those who placed their order and paid through me (manually), the popcorn tins will be distributed to me on December 6th and then I'll send them to you.

Thanks once again and we appreciate your contributions towards Maddy's fundraising activities.

Alofa Atu xxx

Pee Wee Swimmers

Yay, finally booked swimming lessons for Maddy at Providence Rec Center on July 7th. He has 8 sessions, from Monday through to Thursday for two weeks (30 minutes) and once he's completed that, and passed, he'll move onto the next Pee Wee class hopefully in August before school starts up again. Daddy will be taking some time off to take him to his lessons - father/son bonding time before he leaves again on July 21 for Belize and Guatemala.

Maddy's birthday is coming up and we still haven't decided what to do. He's been invited to Alex T's birthday July 12 at 'Pump it Up', a private party zone featuring gigantic, soft, interactive fun-filled inflatables, like the place where Nanna and his Aunty's took us to for his 4th birthday in New Zealand. That was a lot of fun and no doubt Maddy is going to love it.

I think we will keep it low key this year and have it a little earlier so we can celebrate it when his Grandma and Aunt from NZ and Connecticut come down mid July and before Daddy travels again. It's going to be hard though because Maddy has already written out his list and he's invited most of his class LOL ummm I did tell him 5 friends didn't I? LOL

To All the Dad's

More Bbq's!

After a last minute call from Domenico and Rosie yesterday morning, we were on our way to Mason Neck State Park in Lorton Virginia to meet them for another bbq. You can read all about the park here http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/mas.shtml

Not only did we enjoy the food and company, the kids took part in 'making butter' and finding insects to talk about with the Park Ranger. We also went for a walk through the trails and took pictures along the Lake.

Lake Fairfax Park

Today we spent the day out at Lake Fairfax Park with Matthew's friends Domineco, Rosie and their 3 year old son Neno (short form - name is italian and not sure how to spell it lol). Vai's girls joined us too as they spent the weekend with us.

It was a gorgeous day for playing soccer, flying kites and finding tadpoles lol. We bbq'ed t-bone steak and sausages and had potato salad, coleslaw, bread buns and fruit to go with our meal along with fizzy's and water to drink.

The Park was packed with families and they even had a spanish musical band who went around to each family and played a few songs. Of course it wasn't for free but it was well worth the one song they played for us.

Myra, Melody, Neno and Maddy

Dominico and Neno

The Four Amigos LoL

Elizabeth Puni's 21st

We were invited to a 21st birthday last night for Elizabeth Puni (Sa'aga's daughter), a young girl we use to see and talk to in Lalovaea, Samoa, when we were living at Mama's house. Little did we know that she has been living here in the USA attending University. It happens that their family goes to the same church as Fati and Vai and had recognised Madison when he went with them to church last weekend. We also got to meet Erika Puni and his wife Maxine and their two year old daughter (more family on Matt's side).

Overall there was lots to eat (yummy Samoan food), items performed by Elizabeth and a few family members as well as some line dancing by the locals and families - that was fun to watch!

Happy 21st Birthday Elizabeth!

Japanese Hibachi Cooking

We went to have lunch at a Japanese Restaurant called Sakura to celebrate Daddy's promotion he got last week. It was the first time Maddy and I had experienced Hibachi cooking, where a Japanese chef cooks your food right in front of you (on a grill that is) and boy was it exciting and absolutely yummy!! Here are a few pictures we took of our chef and us :)

At IHOP for a quick celebration dinner

Daddy got a promotion yesterday - Praise the Lord! :):)

More Zoo Photos

Sleepy Lion

A Prairie Dog

Panda's Bottom

Resting

A Big Tortoise

Having Fun

Smithsonian National Zoo

What a dissapointing start to the weekend, with the All Blacks losing to the French Unbelievable! We are still in shock and I'm sure all of NZ is too!

Today was Columbus Day Holiday and we decided to spend the afternoon at the Smithsonian National Zoo. We were suppose to meet up with Matt's workmates Sakib, his wife and baby, Rajiv and his wife to play tennis thereafter, but for some unknown reason, they were not able to make it so we have rescheduled for next weekend either before or after the bbq at Candy's place on Saturday.

We saw Donkeys, A Panda Bear (well it's bottom LOL), Lion, Tigers, Sea Creatures, Turtles, Prairie Dogs, Alligators, Crocodiles, Tortoises, Snakes, Lizards, and all sorts. It was a fun sunny day and were soooo tired afterwards from all the up-hill walking. We finished the day with pizza, and about to get ready for bed as Matt and Maddy have work and school tommorrow. I'll be attending the PTA meeting held at 9am at Maddy's school then heading off to the gym to do some light weights.

Have a great week everyone!

Donkeys

Maddy, Daddy and the Lions

Inside A T-Rex Skull

Umm Some Kind Of Lizard LOL

Kimodo Dragon

Maddy with his two new toys, Giraffe and Donkey

"Walking With Dinosaurs" Show

Tonight we went to see "Walking With Dinosaurs : The Live Experience" show at the Verizon Center. Thanks to Daddy who found some cheap tickets at the last minute, we were able to experience what it was like during the "age of dinosaurs". What an experience it was and of course Madison loved every minute of the show. His eyes were fixated on the entire show and he hardly ate any his food. Everytime a new dinosaur came out on stage, he yelled out their names and smiled excitedly especially when Mama T-Rex and Baby T-Rex entered the stage (his favourite out of all the dinosaurs).

Here are some pictures of us at the dinosaur show.

Maddy eagerly waiting for the show to start

Very excited

Utah Raptors

Torosaurus

Baby T-Rex, Torosaurus, Ankylosaurus and Mama T-Rex

At Intermission, Maddy playing with one of his light toys

Allosaurus and Brachiosaurus

Allosaurus and Stegosaurus

Ankylosaurus, Baby T-Rex and Torosaurus

Reston Zoo

Since it was a beautiful day today, we decided to go to Reston Zoo. It was a lot of fun and Maddy especially enjoyed feeding all the animals like sheep, goats, llamas, ducks, birds etc. The most exciting part was riding a pony, he was sooo brave!

We then got to feed the goats and as soon as Maddy put his cup up to feed them, they took the whole cup and gobbled it all up. We had to keep filling the cup up several times just so we could feed the other goats and animals.

These ladies were holding a real Python - scary stuff I thought. We were even allowed to touch it but none of us would .

Maddy on one of the rides with his friends from Madagascar (haha)