Food, Family and Fun

Food: Anna decorating spritz cookies with sprinkles (pre-Thanksgiving)...


... and the Thanksgiving meal, clockwise from top: turkey with cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, stuffing with gravy, half-eaten deviled egg, roll, and green beans.


Family: the stylish Rob and Mari, in Banana Republic and Anthropologie apparel...


... and Yumi and me, her in Juicy Couture glasses and me needing a haircut.


Fun: Sam playing with his Blue's Clues toys we brought over to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Kappo Seafood

Tonight we celebrated Mari's birthday at Kappo Seafood in Torrance. In attendance: my mom, me and my sisters!

Hmmm... what do we see, sashimi, draft beers, and merlot in the largest wine glass I've seen!


We all ordered the "Ladies' Set". Let's just say I'm glad to be a lady at this restaurant, it included a variety of dishes such as this udon, and the tofu soup.


And the light-as-air tempura.

We joked about what "set" menu item Rob and Steve might order... they might get a lot of guffaws if they ordered the "Ladies' Set". There was one called the "Western Set" that contained a lot of meat items that may be suitable...



My mom treated us for this meal, so in a sense it was all our birthdays tonight. Happy Birthday Mari!
Thank you Mama!

Performance and a Haircut

During lunchtime Anna had a Thanksgiving performace in her class, the students sang, "We are thankful" (to the tune of Ferre Jacques). Sam and I were able to attend this event. Anna is barely visible in this photo, second row, fourth from the right.


This was followed by a big feast of turkey sandwiches and other savories.


Later on Steve met up with us at Anna's school and we purchased some reading material at the book fair.


Notice Sam's haircut? (And cute, somewhat prominent ears at this stage of his life, that I won't comment on ever again, for fear of a complex...)


Here he is earlier in the day soon after I cut his hair, thank goodness for his wavy hair. It's very forgiving.

P.S. Happy Birthday to Mari! Tomorrow I'll post on a special dinner that I'm looking forward to!

Veteran's Day Weekend Part 2

We met up with Dion and Lucy and mom Thao at Fashion Island on Monday for a playdate. Their Christmas tree this year is about 115 feet tall, we got to see it before it was decorated, an amazing sight.

I liked Anna's outfit choice, reminiscent of "Grease", perhaps? And do you like how Steve "coaxed" Sam into the photo?


The fun today was all about "water", the koi pond...


And this huge fountain, that spews out a massive amount of water. At both bodies of water, Sam wanted to step in and have a soak. He seemed to know it wasn't a bath or pool but thought he'd try anyway, thus Steve was nearby at all times.

Veteran's Day Weekend Part 1

We stopped by the Long Beach Aquarium on Saturday morning, as Sam was promised lots of sea animals. Our visit did not disappoint, we even saw a diver cleaning one of the "tanks". Sam was a little disconcerted to say the least.


Outdoors, there are some stingrays and other creatures you can pet using two fingers, not the whole hand. This is the time where Anna will shed her jacket and proceed to put her whole arm up to her shoulder just to touch one of the animals.


Across from the aquarium, we like to stop by Bubba Gump's for lunch whenever we can (i.e. depending on the kids' behavior). Anna enjoys the garlic bread, Sam the fries, Steve a sandwich or something simple, and I like something different, sometimes the special. This day it was mahi-mahi sauced up, atop rice, Yum!

New in November

Snow-capped castle at Disneyland...


A dinner date with Bailey and Brooklyn...


Taking photos of Anna's Aqua Dots creations before disposing of them...


Sammy discovers the joys of watercolors.

Discovery Science Center

Teaching... it's a rewarding job, yet very demanding, really few perks. No bonuses, no resort stays... Every so often we may get a discount here and there. At the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, teachers get free admission, I think partly to promote their locale for field trips. But hey, we'll take it! So with Sam being free (until he's 3), we only had to pay for Anna to spend a fun-filled Saturday. (Why is money on my mind right now, must be the holidays...)


Do you recognize our faces (sans Sam) in the pin board, look how cute Anna's face looks, like a Cabbage Patch doll...


We went early in the morning to avoid the crowds, we were able to dance in front of the underwater screen. Sam needed Dad nearby in case the scene happened to be real.


Anna really knew how to ham it up.


The highlight of our visit was the interactive exhibit Dino Quest. As the link says, "Dino Quest is the world’s first interactive, electronic dinosaur exhibit where guests are actually players interacting with the scientists at Dino Quest Headquarters and solving challenges as characters in a video game that has come to life”.


It really is too cool for words.