Happy Thanksgiving!

A preview of our Christmas photo!

Turkey Trot in Dana Point

"Turkey Trots" are held in various cities on Thanksgiving Day. The idea is to run in the morning to give your stomachs all the more space for that tasty dinner later on. Anna and I participated in the Dana Point Turkey Trot, while Sam and Steve cheered us on. Anna and I lined up together at the starting point but once we started running, she left me in the dust. You can see her running with the fast guys while I jogged to the end of the 5k distance. Fun times!

Roger's Gardens

Every so often there's a place that I want to visit that the rest of the family might moan and groan at the thought of going (basically I have to drag them there), but it ends up being a lot of fun. Case in point: Roger's Gardens is a nursery center in Newport Beach that sells gorgeous plants and has beautiful Christmas decor this time of the year. They were also selling the tallest Christmas trees... Look at everyone's faces, didn't it look like we had fun? ;)

Star Wars at the Discovery Science Museum

We are all Star Wars fans. We've recently watched several of the movies. Sam collects the Star Wars Lego mini figures, and loves reading about Star Wars in kids' books. We also enjoy playing the Star Wars Wii game. So we had to check out the new exhibit at the local museum, featuring memorabilia from the movie sets. There were also lots of interactive displays, including manipulating a virtual spaceport, and constructing a magnetic hovercraft. A couple things I noted: Chewbacca is very, very tall! And the model of the Millennium Falcon is very detailed. We all enjoyed the Star Wars exhibit.

El Dorado Nature Center

I watched Gabbi and Olivia for a day when their brother Seth was having surgery. We went to the El Dorado Nature Center and park for a one-mile hike. After we picked up Anna and Sam, they played games and ate fried rice and sweet potato soup. Sam and Olivia couldn't resist getting dressed up in their Halloween costumes before the day was done.

Fall Random

Yumi and Anna are about the same height!...


Anna participates in Cheer Clinic at school...


Mari and Julia wait to eat honey walnut shrimp at one of our favorite local Chinese restaurants...


Anna runs back home after catching the mailman to deliver freshly-written letters...


Julia dresses as Hello Kitty...


The Star Wars Death Star at the Lego Store on a 3-D video display...


Big smiles at Grandma's house...


Sam and friend Noah at the Harvest Festival...


Sabrina, Natalie and Anna enjoying the Harvest Festival as well...


Yumi and I enjoying Buzz Lightyear, my last trip to Disneyland before my pass expired.

Bathroom Remodel #2: Master

Here is a photo of our master bath before the remodel.


The window was a full-length frosted glass one, showering and bathing never felt too comfortable. This bathroom would trap a lot of heat. The bathtub was wide and spacious but to fill would take forever and halfway up the water would turn permanently tepid. Also, we had a peeling, corroding bathtub, and leaking issues which made this a remodel must-do.


Upon demolition, there was a lot of wood rot damage behind the tiling and walls. We couldn't wait to see the progress on this bathroom.


We wanted a natural color scheme for this one, and Steve especially liked the slate.


In went the bathtub, a few inches deeper than the hallway bathtub which makes it a soaker tub, and the slate tiles. The slate, a natural stone, had to be treated with a protective coating which will last for five years and then will need to be reapplied. Dan picked out this new smaller slider window with frosted glass.


Toto toilet (I had to get in a photo of this "one piece", check it out), ceramic tile flooring (same as hallway bath), bronze Danze fixtures.


Here is the master bath/toilet area. Dan put in a shelf with the extra granite from the slab, and also trimmed the window area with it.


Here is a photo of the rain shower head. We are still waiting for the hand-held shower head to be delivered.


The vanity area of the master bath is like a different room to me, in a good way. The granite is still the same, and the tile flooring flows, but the cabinet has a bold cherry finish, and the light fixture is unique to the space. The vanity had to be custom made and it was made at a better height than the previous one. We were able to "recycle" the mirror which was in good shape and was the perfect size.


A closer look, I like the bronze fixtures.

While we are still waiting for the hand-held shower part and hallway shower bar, we couldn't be more pleased with the quality of work in a short amount of time. Both bathrooms were finished in about a month. The whole family is so happy with this remodeling project!