Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween!  This year's celebration was spent in San Diego with Luke, Dori and "Baby Tommy".

(It was a perfect Halloween sky)

Leading up to the festive night, was the search for a halloween costume.  Zach and I looked online and unfortunately didn't find anything that excted him.  We also made a few frightning visits to the halloween store (pun intended and appropriate), but no luck there either.  On these Halloween store visits we actually had some experiences that were less than pleasant.  We tried to visit a Halloween store on two different occasions and both times Zachary was clinging to my neck saying, "He scares me mommy, he scares me", bless his heart, he was not a fan of manequins and masks this year.

So because of this we went with an easy costume this year (i.e. being creative with stuff we mostly had and buying new stuff we would use again!).  So what was Mr. Walker this year, you ask?

An Irish Soccer Player (complete with Tattoos!).  His costume was compliments of Aunt Erin's summer spent in Galway (town motto "probably the best city in Ireland").

The addition was some soccer shoes (which are adorable and impossible to find!!).

Zachary joined buddy Tommy (dressed in the cutest Bat costume ever, nice find Doris!)

and made the rounds at a local shopping center and in the Kartalis' San Diego neighborhood.  Walking around the shopping center was great, as Zach wasn't sure what was going on and was timid as usual (our shy little guy).  Then he realized people were giving him candy and he easily walked up and said "Trick or Treat".  That is until the next store when he decided that his job was to then give candy back, so as the guy handed Zachary a piece of candy, Zachary reached in his bag to give the man one as well.  Kids are the cutest!!!

The rest of the night was such a treat walking around the neighborhood with the kids.  Halloween hasn't been better in years.

Happy Halloween 2009 from the Waker Family!

Pray for Daisy

Isn't she ADORABLE?

My mom shared this story with me the other day.  It is a story about a five year old little girl named Daisy.  Daisy is the niece of a Houston family friend and also a California neighbor of ours (she lives in Carpinteria, about 30 miles north along the coast towards Santa Barbara).  Last month she was diagnosed with a form of childhood cancer, Wilms Tumor, in stage 3.  This is a highly curable form of cancer, but she still needs lots of prayers.

Check out her blog here and spread the word to pray for Daisy.

http://prayfordaisy.tumblr.com/

Pumpkins and Palm Trees

Nothing says Halloween like Pumpkins and......Palm Trees? 

Zach's childhood memories seem to have distinctively different details than my own. 

Isn't life wonderful?  It makes me smile.

Halloween 2009

We are less than a week away from Halloween 2009, can you believe it?  I can't.  That seems to be something I say often, where did the time go?

We decided to wake up early this morning to go get some pumpkins and fully embrace the upcoming trick or treat holiday.  We went to a pumpkin patch in Camarillo, Pete's Pumpkin Patch to be exact and had a GREAT morning checking out pumpkins, hay bails, giant hills and tractors, all while enjoying the California Sunshine.

Zach, as always, was a great helper in pushing our pumpkin wagon.

Once we picked out our first pumpkin (Zach picked it out, then picked it up "It's heavy, help dad"), checked out a tractor and conquered a giant haybale.  Zach decided it was time to conquer another obstacle.  The giant hillside.

Unfortunately we were too early for hayrides, but seeing this great maching was just as good for a two year old.

This was the giant hill.  I hope the photo does it justice, but I don't think it does.  Do you see those specs on the left trail?  Those are people, specifically me and Zach.  We only made it halfway because I was afraid of the slippery trip back down, but thanks to "Super Dad" the boys went to the top.  Much to Zach's enjoyment.

Me and Zach

Doug and Zach

(can you believe those GIANT pumpkins only cost $15,

note to self, never buy a pumpkin at a grocery store EVER again.)

As we were leaving with our four pumpkins, I told asked Zach if he had fun, he responded, "Yup".  Then I told him he did a great job picking out pumpkins.  I also told him I thought he picked out the best ones they had, to which he replied, "I think so".  

His vocabulary grows so much everyday.  Doug and I find ourselves laughing each night after we put him to bed while discusing what he did or said that day. 

Each day is truly a blessing.

Happy Halloween from the McGowan's and Duke's!

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Happy Halloween featuring the Walker Family

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Great celebrity story.

Living outside of Los Angeles we have more than our fair share of celebrity sightings.  And anyone who has been with me on a trip around LA knows I have an uncanny ability of spotting celebs in all sort of places.  So you would think this story would be from me, but no it comes from Doug.

During a recent trip to Las Vegas, Nevada for a guys weekend Doug noticed a familiar face waiting with him in the Burbank Airport.  Michael Clarke Duncan from movies such as "The Green Mile" was also headed to Las Vegas.  He created a small stir in the waiting area with some excited fans, and Doug said he was pleasant, cordial and overall seemed like a good guy.  Once they landed in Las Vegas and headed to the baggage carousel an excited fan practically skipped over to meet the star.  Their exchange went just like this:

Excited female fan: "Hi, are you Ving Rhames?"

Michael Clarke Duncan: "No, no I am not.  My name is Michael Clarke Duncan."

Less excited female fan: "Oh, well, you look just like him"

Michael Clarke Duncan: "No, no I do not"



As you can see from below he is absolutely correct.  Poor guy must get that a lot.  Anyway, it provided some comedy for us. 

His Sunday Best

Zach has been doing a great job of eating his meals at the dinner table each night.  He doesn't always finish his meals and veggies are still tough (as is fruit for that matter) but he sure knows how to make dinner an enjoyable experience.

This past weekend Zachary refused to sit at the table with us UNLESS he could wear an outfit of his choosing.  While I believe there are certain things Doug and I need to put our foot down on to establish some boundries, there are other things that are either just not that big of a deal, too much hassle for the return or just darn adorable.  Zach deciding to wear the outfit below was one of these non-fights.  (FYI: Dinner that night was Pork tenderloin with a garlic balsalmic demi glaze with a side Parmesan Risotto, yum!)

I hope your family dinners are equally enjoyable and entertaining.