Browse Category: family

Weekend Recap

On Saturday, I loafed around and managed to finish 5 loads of laundry between my four-hour nap and watching Good Eats. In the evening, Johnny came over and we went to Debbie’s 30th Birthday Party, which was a “Black and White Ball” with everyone dressed in all white or all black. They went all out with a bartender, poker tables, and chocolate fountain. Happy Birthday, Deb!
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On Sunday, the Brother and I had a day in the suburbs complete with a neighborhood jog, breakfast at Denny’s, shopping at Target, shopping at the grocery store, and making chili at home. Exciting, I know. Jes came home from Vegas and we spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
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Despite the lack of excitement and adventure, I’m feeling well rested with clean clothes to wear and 3-days worth of lunches ready to go!

Fun with Fish Sauce

One of my favorite TV channels is The Food Network. Lately, many of their shows have been featuring traditional dishes that were passed down from generation to generation. Well, our mom is a wonderful cook. She makes, I think, the best Thai food ever! That’s probably what contributes to the “magical house” the most. Anyway, in hopes of learning a thing or two, I invited the family to my house and my mom prepared 4 of our favorite dishes. While she cooked, my brother and I watched closely, took video clips and photos, and took notes of ingredients and techniques. It was like making a cooking show for my mom. She made some pretty classic comments about her techniques that make it real “home cookin'”. For example, she was frying some sliced onion and we asked her, “What are you doing?” She replied, “I just do this to make it brown.” Haha. That’s awesome…let’s try writing a cookbook like that. She would also ask if we had something like lemon juice. I’d tell her that we didn’t have any and she’d say, “OK, we don’t need it.” There will be no list of ingredients or measuring spoons in this cooking show. Well, the dishes turned out great…just as I remember. Boy did we have a feast! I’m hoping to have several more of these afternoons so I can document and keep her recipes going for years and years. Thanks Mommy! You rock!

making friends

Last week I went to “My Gym” with Marie and Cole. Since it’s a “parent-participation” activity, I needed to man the video camera and I took some photos as well. It gave me a chance to practice taking action shots of children, which is a lot more challenging that I expected. With so many kids running around, I couldn’t blind them with the flash, so it was tough for me capture the right shots with the flourescent lights above and Cole’s quick moves.
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Another funny thing that I witnessed was Cole’s emerging personality. He’s such a go-getter with a rough-play personality. At one point, he walked over to this other child and grabbed him by the shirt. Since he can’t talk yet, that was basically his way of saying, “Hey, let’s play!” Unfortunately, it made the other baby cry and his mom wasn’t very understanding. Ah, Taku-chan…you’re going to be some trouble-maker later on but it’s going to take you far in life too.
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Here are the photos.

Happy Daddy’s Day!

This is me and my daddy at the beach when I was about 2 years old.
This is me and my daddy almost 25 years later at my wedding.
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Can we say, “Daddy’s little girl”? Yep, that’s me. My daddy totally rocks and here’s why:
  • He grew up swimming with catfish in the river by this house.
  • He loves Elvis.
  • He’s generous and compassionate.
  • He built my first set of wooden blocks, desk, and chair.
  • He introduced me to photography and bought me my first camera at age 5.
  • He has the green thumb that I wish I had.
Here’s a little tribute to all the daddy’s around the world. Compliments of Nike.
Thanks for everything! Love ya!

a swingin’ good time

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On Tuesday, Marie and Cole went to my work to visit me. It was Cole’s second time to my clinic and I can’t believe how much he’s grown and developed since then. During the first visit, he was barely walking, didn’t want to play on the swing, and couldn’t quite put a ball into a little musical toy. This time, he was walking all over the place, stepping off the mat with no problems, sitting and enjoying the swing, and was a pro at putting the balls into the musical toy. Watching kids grow and develop is so cool.
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Anyway, I think he had a great time and it gave Marie a chance to rest a little while he got to play in a safe and carefree environment. Man, the next time I have to babysit the little man, I’ll just bring him to my clinic. No worries about hitting his head on tables or destroying anything. I think every kid should have a room in the house with mats and squishy furniture.

Didneelan!

IMG_3405.jpgOn Sunday, I went to Disneyland with my mom, dad, and brother. I actually can’t remember the last time all four of us went together as a family. All I know if that many things have changed and yet somethings have remained the same. For example, my dad went home after lunch…that’s the same. My mom actually rode and survived Space Mountain…that’s different. We bought churros…same. Johnny and I have to look out for our parents now…different.
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The brother and I spent much of our day taking random photos throughout the park. I’m sure we looked like silly Japanese tourists but that’s how you improve your photog skillz, right? I played with the exposure compensation button, my aperture priority, and even dabbled in some long exposure shots. It was extemely overcast that day so lighting was really tricky.
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Oh yeah, Disneyland gipped us royally by cancelling the fireworks show that we waited around for. It was due to high wind conditions. Oh Pahleez! With the ridiculous ticket prices, they should have developed technology that would turn off the wind by now. Heck, Disneyland should be placed in a little bubble with a switch to turn the sunshine on during the day and turn it off at night for the stinkin’ fireworks. I just wanted to see the 50th anniversary fireworks show…*sniff*
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Here are the photos.