Braden's First Haircut

This evening Braden got his first haircut! He needed it, too, he was our little mullet boy. You can't really appreciate how long his hair was in these pictures, just trust me, it was getting close to little girl long.

There was no special fanfare; we all just crammed ourselves into our tiny downstairs bathroom. My mom, Braden, and I sat on the floor, Matt took pictures while sitting on the toilet, I cut Braden's hair, Braden wore a Target bag to collect the clippings, and my mom fed Braden pineapple sorbet to keep him preoccupied.

His hair was REALLY long.

Braden could not figure out why Matt was taking so many pictures and kept looking up at the camera (which made cutting his hair pretty difficult).

It worked out pretty well, though.

We all had a good time and Braden now looks like we've actually taken the time to groom him. I even saved his hair clippings in a dated envelope and put it in our fire safe. :)

BBQ Fun at the Taylor's

This afternoon we went over to Russ and Debbie Taylor's house for a delicious barbeque. There were tons of fun people and tons of great food . . . so much great food that my pre-Thailand diet went out the window. But it was so worth it. :)


We ate, played Wii, watched some of Russ's racing movies, and watched the kiddos play. Braden had fun playing with his new friend, Abigail, who's almost one and playing with the Taylor's dog, Baxter.



Braden was having a great time . . .



. . . and then we got mean . . .










In our defense, he was SO STINKING CUTE.






He didn't mind the wigs or the glasses independently of each other. In fact, I think he felt pretty cool in the shades.

But he REALLY hated wearing the glasses and a wig at the same time; it was too much to bear.

This is his glamour shot. Hehehe.

The poor little guy was so mad.

Even now I can't help but laugh looking at these pictures. Abigail would not have anything to do with the wigs and Baxter resigned himself to allowing us to put the afro on him.

We made it up to Braden by going out to the garage to look at Russ's car. Braden is crazy about cars. He kept walking around in the car, checking it out, and touching things that interested him like reflectors and lights.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday!

Disneyland and California Adventure AGAIN

Friday was Braden's 16th time to Disneyland. That is not a typo. He has been to Disneyland 16 times since the very end of March. We have been having a blast. We have been discovering new things everytime we go. For example, in California Adventure, we went to Flik and Hopper's show in A Bug's Land for the first time on Friday and LOVED it! We also did the wilderness/adventure trail by the river rafting ride and had a great time walking across rope bridges and learning about different trees and animals. It was so awesome!




We also went to a Food and Wine Festival Chef's Showcase for the first time. Free food prepared by an experienced, talented chef . . . I really don't think it gets any better.





While we were waiting in line before the showcase, Braden kept himself busy by stepping on every seed pod and leaf in sight. He loves to do this wherever we go. I think it gives him a sense of power; the feeling that he is bigger than something else.




When that got old, Matt and Braden wandered around playing . . .




. . . while I took pictures of them . . .





. . . and the flowers . . . They're gorgeous, huh?!


When we were finally seated, Chef Juan Mendoza Lopez made chicken mole (pronounced Mol-AY, like guacamole, not like a mole on your face or a furry animal who lives in a hole . . . chicken mole would be a lot less appealing if it was pronounced like mole).


Moles generally have a minimum of 36 ingredients and can have as much as over 80! They contain herbs, spices, peppers, chocolate, corn meal, and other ingredients. The chicken mole was so delicious! Even Braden loved it. I wrote down the recipe and e-mailed the chef to get the formal recipe and thank him for such a great experience.

We had so much fun, we'll be going to many more chef showcases in the future!