In the mean time, Jeannie discovered that Lorelai is in an apple phase - she just loves them, alot.  I suppose that’s a good thing, better that than candies :)

Yesterday we went out and drove around to see just how close the fire was.  All of the Chino Hills state park was charred!  Houses a mile away from us were evacuated.  My boss, who lived in Yorba Linda, was also evacuated from their house over the weekend.  Scary!  Thankfully the Chino Hills side seems to be under control.  For the latest update, check this map.

And here’s the bonus video of Lorelai on the Hot Air Balloon ride.  She liked it so much that she went on twice:

Click here to view the embedded video.

At around 7 something, we decided to call it a day and headed back home, but then we saw tons of cars parked outside of our neighborhood (not Sundance II, but right next to us).  Jeannie demanded suggested that we park and go walk around (what a good suggestion!)  Some of our neighbors went all out, and there’s even one that dressed up as Elmo!!!

Lorelai: “OMG!!!! ELMO!!!!!!! ELMO!!!!!”

Check here for some pics.

Here she’s having fun riding a horsie ride a couple days before Halloween at a local pumpkin patch:

Bonus Video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Original:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2008:

Click here to view the embedded video.

• My appointment was at 8:05am in San Bernardino, CA, a 45 minutes drive from home.  I woke up early fearing traffic and got there at 7:30am.  When I got there the waiting room was already half full.
• No cellphone allowed, so I couldn’t mess around on my phone.  It was just boring waiting.  There were many different interviewers popping out of a door and calling out a name.  Some of them looked very nice and friendly, but some are just plain mean/annoyed looking.  I kept on hoping to get a friendly one.
• They didn’t call my name until 9:00am!  By 8:30am I really wanted to go pee, but then I was afraid that they would call my name and I wouldn’t be there, so I just kept on holding it.
• I got a friendly guy in his 30s or 40s who was in the Air Force.  He basically went through my application item by item to make sure there are no mistakes, then on with the tests.
• 1st I was asked the following (6/10 to pass):
  “What colors are the stripes on the flag?”
  “Who makes the Federal laws in the US?”
  “How many Senators are there in the Congress?”
  “What is the capital of CA?”
  “Name the countries that were our enemies during World War II.”
  “What was the 49th state added to our Union?”
  “Who nominates judges for the Supreme Court?”
  “What is the executive of a state government called?”
  “When was the Constitution written?”
  “Where is White House located?”
  2nd I was asked to Write the following:
  “The boy threw a ball.”
  3rd I was asked to Read the following:
  “The children play at school.”
• That’s pretty much it.  The actually interview itself took less than 20 minutes and was rather painless.  By the time I came back out to the waiting room again, the room was all full, which probably means a 3 hour wait time.

Yay!  So I am almost done I guess.  All I have to do now is just to wait for another letter to tell me where and when I need to go swear in.  The long journey of citizenship is finally almost over.

It’s a charity event, and people were bidding on different prices.  We didn’t really bid on anything except buying a $20 cupcake for a chance to win a pair of $1,500 diamond earrings.  We were so so close too!  Jeannie picked one of the last 2 Hello-Kitty cupcakes, and right after she picked it, they found the winner to be the very last Hello-Kitty one!  Oh well, for charity I guess.

Speaking of charity, seriously, I think we were the only Asians there.  I think Jeannie said it best: “Asians don’t do charities.”

The Santa Ana winds were going crazy that day, which made our skin super dry and Lorelai extra grumpy.  We left just a bit early, but it was still a fun relaxing day.

Check out the pictures in the gallery here.

Check out the gallery here.