aj's personality...

i just wanted to jot down some things that aj says / does that i just think is soo *cute*

- my mom taught aj to say "paw - paw" which is grandma in cantonese. however, he still can't really say "goong - goong" (grandpa) so instead it comes out as "doo - doo" (which means a private part in cantonese hahaa)

- we always read aj a couple of books before bedtime; it's usually good night moon, good night new york city or good night san francisco. i love it when he holds the book up and starts talking like he's reading the book!

- he definitely does not have a problem when i leave him for work. in fact, every morning when i drop him off at my mom's he says "bye bye" and closes the door behind me. so much for missing mommy. =(

- lately, when we ask him to kiss someone, he totally puckers his lips and closes his eyes!

- he loves playing w/ balls. soccer, beach, baseball ... you name it, he loves throwing, kicking or palming the balls.

- he loves his cousins. he totally smothers my 8 month old nephew...he hugs and kisses him all the time. sometimes, he will even try to pick him up! w/ my 3 yr old nephew, aj copies everything that he does! if one is playing w/ a ball, the other one will want one as well. if one is drinking water at the dinner table, the other will want water as well.

- when we are outside, aj will point to his head - indicating that he wants to wear his cap. =) i think he realizes that it helps him block the sun and can see things better.

- when we put on his jacket, he always wants to zip it up. when we get home, he unzips his jacket, takes it off and puts it on the couch. he's also really great about taking off his shoes once he's inside.

petting zoo

we met up w/ s' siblings in the east bay at tilden park. they have this great free petting zoo...you just have to bring your own celery and lettuce. since aj loves looking at animals in books and puzzles, we thought he would really have fun feeding the animals. first, he was very excited to see all the animals. he loved looking at the pigs and was happy to feed the goats. however, once we got to the cows, i think seeing how big they are and the noises they made scared him. he didn't want to feed them anymore but we finally put him at ease and he was at least comfortable enough to pet them.

after the petting zoo, we went to the play area where he got to have some fun in the play structure. we then sat on the grass and had a nice picnic lunch. it was a beautiful day and we had a great time hanging out w s' family.

he loves to lean his whole body back so we always have someone go down the slide w/ him. i guess i'm paranoid; i just don't want him to hurt his head.

he likes to clap when he proud of something he's done =)

feeding the goat

looking at the pig

mass exodus...

in the retail industry, i work in a function that has one of the highest turns in a company. there are a couple of reasons:

1 - most people we hire are usually 1-2 years out of college. since the work we do is specific to the retail industry, people don't truly understand our roles in the company and i think are fairly disappointed when they join our group.
2 - we stare at excel spreadsheets all day, crunch numbers and deal w/ the pressures of having to hit our financial numbers. it is definitely not a glamorous job.
3 - competition. this is more of a recent issue. 2 big retailers have moved into the bay area and they are aggressively hiring. i currently have 2 open positions and have no luck filling them.

so, here i am at work on a gorgeous saturday afternoon. w/ 2 open positions and a new person to train, who seriously has time to do their day job? i only have time to write this entry because i'm waiting for my slow computer to print and save my files.

father's day brunch

my sister and i took our hubbies to brunch at epic roasthouse. after brunch, we walked along the embarcadero and shopped in the ferry building. we couldn't spend too much time in the city as s and i were hosting my family at our place for dinner.

aj's delicous strawberry ricotta pancakes

dungeness crab cake benedict

steak fries w/ roasted garlic

this is the complimentary bread!

almond polenta waffle

mac and cheese

18 months old

this post is REALLY late considering that aj is now 20 months haahaa. it's just amazing to see how aj has grown these last couple of months. there is definitely a noticeable development in aj's verbal skills as well as his listening / comprehensive skills. he definitely understands more than i give him credit for and his chinese is better than his english. =) my parents are doing a great job teaching him chinese words. i try to speak to him in chinese as much as i can but it's difficult since my chinese isn't that stellar. if anything, i look at it as me improving my cantonese skills as well!

here are his stats:
height: 33.5 inches (75th percentile)
weight: 27.6 lbs (75th percentile)
head circumference: 19 inches (50-75th percentile)

ummm...can you tell which kid has never had a cupcake?

mommy...i'm going to be a drummer!

or maybe a fireman!

i love me some elmo!

portland, oregon

my sister and i were discussing going on a family trip and we had to keep the location somewhere in the northwest since she would be traveling w/ 2 kids and this would be aj's 1st flight and had no idea how he was going to behave. our choices were seattle, scottsdale or portland. since several of us had been to seattle and scottsdale, we decided to plan a weekend trip to portland.

my sister and i were on the same flight which had us arriving at 10am. my parents, brother and his girlfriend's flight arrived at 12p. even though we had arrived 2 hours earlier, with having to wait at luggage claim, taking a shuttle to the rental car and issues in getting our car seats in the van, we all ended up checking in the hotel at the same time!! since we were renting a van the entire weekend, we decided to bring our own car seats instead of renting them (mostly for sanitary reasons). however, aj's car seat didn't make it on the flight w/ us so we had to use a rental seat for the day until the airline delivered our car seat to the hotel.

surprisingly, aj did very well on our flight to portland. my baby nephew, on the other hand, was a completely different story. poor baby, he was just miserable the entire flight. he was the baby that if you didn't know him, would think he was one of those annoying babies that just cries the entire flight haahaa.

we were staying in downtown portland and decided to have a mellow 1st day just walking around and shopping. it is a no sales tax state so we definitely wanted to take advantage of the "9.5% discount".

we had plans to do several outdoor activities but unfortunately, it was raining all weekend so we had to change some of our plans. on saturday, we went to the OMSI (oregon museum of science and industry). it was okay but most of the exhibits had additional costs and it was too young for the kids. we then spent the afternoon at tillamook cheese factory. sunday morning, we went to multnomah falls. unfortunately, aj fell asleep on the ride to the falls and i stayed in the van w/ him while everyone went to walk to the falls. by the time he woke up, everyone was already on their way back. the flight back was much more successful for the kids. =)

although, the weekend was very exhausting and most of us were sick and it was raining, it was nice to get away for the weekend and have aj experience flying and exploring a different city and culture.
if anything, this encourages us to travel more w/ aj.

the happy parents w/ their napping boys on the flight back to sfo

the famous voodoo donuts...s and j eating their "cock ball" donuts

aaron was not amused w/ the cow at tillamook

the 2 boys at the cheese factory

down memory lane...

i never really appreciated san luis obispo until after i graduated and moved back to the bay area. maybe it's the food or "slower" pace or just the familiarity of a place where i had such wonderful memories. it is where i met some of my closest girlfriends and my wonderful husband! so s and i do try to go back once a year or so and i learned that some of the other girls were also going down to slo for the weekend. since some of us had been going at different times, we thought it would actually be nice to try to be there the same weekend and maybe meet up w/ some of the girls from southern california. to show support as alums, we also decided to be in slo the weekend of lantern festival. this first year has been successful so hopefully everyone can make it every year! with 6 families and 8 kids, there were moments of craziness and multiple crying kids but we had such a great time!

oh the food was amazing as usual...clam chowder at splash. steak cobb salad w/ seasoned fries at firestone and of course, caramellos from uptown (now known as black horse). the bonus...coffee bean is in pismo beach!! of course, i went there both days and even twice on saturday! yummie

all the chi delts w/ our kiddies (missing 2 kids)

l and j w/ their matching hoodies

at the remodeled uu plaza

playing at the beach

isn't he just so darn cute?

w/the j's

i love this picture of s and l walking towards the water together!

viva las vegas...

my big sis and i try to meet up once a year to have some quality bonding time...no husbands or kids. just the 2 of us and we can indulge in our shopping, eating and just spending time together to catch up. i think the last time i was in vegas was my four years ago! i know, that's a long time for someone like me. =)
we landed thursday morning and went straight to check in at the palazzo. once we settled in , we grabbed a quick bite and then started gambling. =) we played pai gow for a couple of hours and did a little shopping. it's so convenient (or damaging to my wallet) that barney's is located right downstairs from our hotel! then we got ready for dinner. we made reservations to fleur de lys. we took a cab to mandalay bay and enjoyed a relaxing and wonderful meal!

AHI TUNA TARTARE
Shaved Fennel, Ginger Ponzu, Fennel Seed Tuile
j got this most amazing truffle onion soup (and i don't even like onion soup)!

CHORIZO WRAPPED SUZUKI SEA BASS
Piperade, Barley Risotto, Caramelized Chorizo Sauce
not my favorite - a bit too salty and the sea bass was slightly dry

PRIME FILET MIGNON

Baby Spinach, Wild Mushrooms, Baby Carrots, Red Wine Reduction
omg...so delicous

CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE
too cute...the sugar outline had a fleur de lys but it was crushed when the server poured in the choclate =)

after dinner, we walked down the strip and then played craps for the rest of the night. we slept in friday morning...which is obviously a treat for both of us. after getting a cup of tea from my favorite coffee bean and tea leaf (which was so conveniently located by the hotel elevators). we sat down at a pai gow table and just gambled. ummm...we gambled from 10am until 6pm. seriously, i was not even hungry for lunch. poor j had to put up w/ my sickness. j finally felt a little light headed at 6pm. we grabbed a quick bite and then went out walking to see the new city center. the shopping center is amazing. it's very spacious and airy but just full of super expensive designer stores. while we were in the louis vuitton store, i had my celebrity sighting! j and i saw timbaland! he was just slummin it in some sweat pants and white t-shirt. no one even approached him! we then gampled for several more hours until we both got tired.

sunday morning, after my weekend routine of coffee bean, we spent the last couple of hours at the pai gow table. i had a great run and ended up winning after the entire weekend was said and done!

i was sad to leave vegas and of course to say goodbye to j. however, i missed my 2 boys and it was nice to see them when they picked me up at the airport!

the 2 boys...

i love these shots...s cut our nephew's hair and he just happened to be wearing a polo shirt that aj had as well. so of course, we said, hey, put the shirt on and take a picture! they'll probably see these pictures when they are older and wonder why my sister and i had matching clothes. trust me, it's not the only matching shirts they have... =)

my dear grandpapa...

for me to say the last couple of days have been rough would be an understatement.

my grandfather went to the hospital last monday due to significant blood loss. on thursday, my mom was told that he would only have a couple of days to live. the diagnosis was either lung or colon cancer. they ruled out lung cancer w/ some tests; however, because my grandfather was in so much pain, he couldn't get a colonoscopy. in any case, my grandfather had been weak for days before arriving to the hospital and hadn't really eaten anything. he was so exhausted and frail, he weighed less than 70 pounds. he was still somewhat alert the 1st couple of days in the hospital. by thursday, he became incoherent and wasn't really able to speak. on friday, to make him more comfortable, he was given doses of morphin. so, with the morphin, he was just peacefully sleeping. he never woke up again. so then we just waited...

when we were at the hospital, we couldn't cry. we had to be strong for our grandmother and mom. however, once they started, it's game over for the rest of us. my poor grandmother had not left his side. my once jovial and "young" grandmother had been left sullen and devastated. my uncle stayed w/ my grandfather every night as well and he looked like he's lost 10 pounds. during the day, he refused to go home for fear of not being near to say his final goodbye. instead, he sacrificed by sleeping in the car for a couple of hours during the day. every day, my family took turns rotating to and from the hospital since we had to take care of our three boys. every night, we said good bye to our grandfather not knowing if it was the last time.

i said what was now the final goodbye on sunday night. early this morning, i found out that my grandfather had past right before midnight. thankfully, his wife, kids and several grandkids were able to say their final goodbyes. so, now, he looks down on us.

i've been lucky...i've grown up with all 3 of my grandparents (my paternal grandfather died when my father was an infant so i never knew him). i've never had to experience such loss and sadness. we console each other knowing my grandfather lived an absolutely full life... he had a loving wife, 3 devoted children, 9 amazing grandchildren and 11 beautiful great grandchildren. his memories live on in all of us.

his services are this sunday and i know i'm just going to be a mess...