New Year's Resolutions 2010

I know it's been a few months since I posted anything so I thought I start the New Year off with some resolutions for the upcoming year. I saw on my cousin's wife's blog about resolutions and I thought that was a great way to start off for my 2010 blog. Here it goes.....

This year I would like to accomplish the following:

1. Lose Weight - Won't say how much but LOTS
2. Try to do more family outings
3. Accomplish and get my AA degree in Accounting
4. Learn how to crochet Amigurumi dolls.
5. Hopefully make more $$$$ and save LOTS

I will keep you posted on my accomplishments as they happen, wish me luck. Especially on #1.

Halloween

This year for Halloween I think Brandon and I did a really good job on carving our pumpkins. We had several compliments when the kids came to our door to get candy. One lady actually took a picture of my pumpkin, I was surprised.

Brandon's pumpkin (kitty eating a mouse)

Rachel's pumpkin (turtle)

Brandon in his Halloween costume (what is he???)

Pumpkin Patch - Apple Hill

This past Sunday we (Greg, myself, Brandon and my mom) went to Apple Hill. We had a great time, and the weather was nice. We went to 4 orchards (High Hill Ranch - Boa Vista - Abel's - and El Dorado). I wanted to get our pumpkins when we were there so here are som pictures from the pumpkin patch at Boa Vista.

Bingo

So thist past Saturday, 6 of us went to play Bingo for the first time. We didn't really know what to expect since it was our first time. We all got there before 6:30 and got our cards. We paid $16 which gave us 26 games and that lasted until 10:15pm. Each game was worth at least $250. When we all sat down we must have look like "newbees" since people kind of starred at us. We were probably the youngest ones in there, so they were probably wondering why we weren't at the bars or clubs. But we wanted to try something new and thought that this would be fun. We played several different games, and we had to catch on pretty quickly since the games changed pretty fast. The games were all a little different. We each had a different color dobber, and so after each game we switched so we all got to use different colors. We noticed that they sell all different colors and sizes in a vendor machine, so the next time I'm going to get me a different color. There was this couple that sat behind us that helped us through. It was nice of them to offer because there were a few games that we might have got lost. By the night end none of us had won but we had a GREAT time, and were definetly going to go back again. Some of us got close to winning, like only needing one more number. I think the people around us might have gotten upset if we were to have win since we were new. But oh well, we paid our moeny like they did so we deserve the right to win as much as they did. I only played once and I'm hooked.

Great America

Another day when we were in San Jose a group of us went to Great America (myself, Brandon, aunt, uncle, cousin Rich and Emi). This was Emi's first time at Great America and she had a blast. She loved riding the roller coaster, she has no fear. She went on several rides and couldn't get enough. She enjoyed meeting her favorite cartoon character Dora and Diego. She took pictures with them a few times. Rich and Brandon went on several rides together. The 3 of us went on Invertigo, luckily the ride did not break down when we were on it. This past Saturday I heard people were stuck on this ride high in the air for up to 4 hours. That's just crazy! Brandon won 2 basketballs and Rich won 1. Emi even won a Dora ball in the kid games, so that was cool. That's the best prize she could have won. We went to see a Ice Show while we were there, that was cool too. We stayed there from open to close, I didn't think we were going to stay that long. Emi took her nap on time and so she was good to go all day. By the time we all got home after we had dinner at Boogie's, we were all exhausted. Oh and by the way the weather was perfect. Couldn't have been better, it was overcast when we go there and warmed up a bit after. The rides were not that crowded I think that was due to the weather and also that we went on a Thursday. Overall a great trip.

Brandon on her 1st ride of the day

Me and Brandon waiting to go on the "Psycho Mouse" ride

Brandon and Emi on the "Taxi Jam" roller coaster

Emi with Dora and Diego

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

The 2nd day we were in San Jose Brandon and I went to Santa Cruz with my aunt, uncle and cousin Ron. We went to the Boardwalk. Brandon and I went on one roller coaster "Giant Dipper", the roller coaster was cool. Of course I screamed while on the ride like always. Brandon and my cousin Ron played video games in the arcade for a while the had a blast like always. My uncle played the chicken in the pot game and won 2 cute monkeys for his granddaughter Emi, she loved them of course. Brandon won a glass and a shot glass at the dime toss. I love winning cups. We have a collection of them at home from their. The weather was nice and we had a good time.

Giant Dipper Ride

Brandon and I going on the ride

The Beach

Trip to Monterey

Last weekend Brandon and I went to Monterey for Jill's (my cousin) birthday. We started off by going to her house in Oakland early Saturday morning to meet her new dog Lucky. She is adorable, but did not warm up to us as we hoped. She is really attached to Jill. We stayed there for about an hour and then headed to the Oakland airport to pick up Jill's best friend Monique. Then we went to Mountain View to eat some delicious ramen. We went to a store afterwards then we went to my cousin Rich's house in San Jose to drop our stuff off since Brandon and I were going to stay with his family for a week after our trip to Monterey. From there we went to Monterey, and checked in our hotel when we got there and then did some site seeing before dinner. We had dinner reservations at Passionfish, food was excellent. For dessert we went across the street to an ice cream shoppe. Brandon of course got some but I was too full from dinner. It was pretty late by this time so we all went back to our hotel and rested for the next day.

Sunday morning we all got up early and went to eat breakfast at Toastie's. They served delicious breakfast dishes. I will definetley go back the next time were in Monterey. Then we all headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and had a great time. We split up into groups after we saw the tuna and baracuda feedings which was cool to watch. The seahorse exhibit was one of the coolest exhibits at the aquarium, they did a good job putting this exhibit together. We met for lunch afterwards and had some delicious Clam Chowder in a bread bowl. That is one of my favorite dishes. We all split up again when it was time to go home. Brandon and I stayed in Monterey for a 1 hour and 1/2 since he wanted to climb on rocks. He loves to explore and climb on rocks, so I figured we had time so why not. I on the other hand is not a big fan of doing this so I watched him and took pictures until he convinced me to join him. I was scared but did it anyway. By the time we got to San Jose it was after 7pm, traffic was really bad. But overall our trip to Monterey, was great. Too bad we couldn't have stayed longer. Thanks Jill for suggesting this trip hope to do it again soon.

Me and Jill

Brandon and I at the Passionfish Restaurant
Me and Brandon at the Outer Bay Exhibit

Seahorses

Me up on top of the rocks

Brandon on the rocks