Brother and Sister…

We are so lucky that Jack and Stacy get along…at least they do now.   We had no idea how Jack would like having a sister but he has been so sweet to her.  If anything, I think Stacy dislikes how much attention Jack gives to her because she just wants to be left alone for peace and quiet!

With Jack having his new bike, Stacy is just as happy because she knows if Jack is riding his bike, she can go outside!

 

It may look sweet how they are together, but Stacy is walking and Jack wants to ride close to her and ‘beat’ her as they are racing:

 

Nice picture of Jack and Stacy:

 

Over bite and fish lips in the next picture!  What is up with that??   They didn’t even know I was taking pictures, their facial expressions just change from one extreme to the next and luckily I snapped this picture!

 

Finn’s Birthday…

What, another Birthday?   Yup…another birthday where it is just me and Jack.  This week it was Finn the Pirate’s birthday:

 

I think this was the first party they wanted parents in the picture as well. 

 

It seems like all the parties nowadays have piñatas.   I dunno what it is but Jack hits is so lightly.  I am going to have to practice and work on his baseball swing for objects that aren’t a baseball:

 

In line the boys were chanting, “HIT IT, HIT IT, HIT IT…” when people were hitting the Piñata.

 

Maybe it was a good thing Aya wasn’t at the party because when everyone was chanting, “HIT IT, HIT IT, HIT IT…” Jack busted into his ‘smell my butt’ dance!

So not appropriate for a birthday party.  Yup, I am that dad…with that son.  *sigh*.

New Bike…

Jack has been really nice to Aya since her mom has passed.  My parents would have Jack write a letter to Baba every day.   When we knew the time was near, I started to tell Jack that Baba was going to pass away and go to heaven.  I wasn’t sure if he would understand or know but I just thought I would at least bring up the subject.

When Baba did pass away, Jack wanted to know if Baba took the “magic stairs” to heaven, like the way Tom from Tom and Jerry did in one of the episodes he watched.

Baba got Jack one last gift before she left and got Jack a new Spiderman bike:

 

Testing it out at home:

 

That smile says it all!!!   Notice Stacy is ready too…she is all ready to go to the park again and watch brother try out his bike there instead of the alley at home:

Zoom-Zoom!

Park…

Man, Stacy really likes to be outside!   She loves to go for walks…regardless of the weather.   One day it was pouring rain and I was going to the market and she wanted to go.  Even with the rain pouring on us she didn’t mind.  Luckily, the weather was nicer on this day and we headed out for some time at the park:

 

Blahhh..Zombie….

 

I love me some park time!!!

Mad and Crying…

Just like their mother…two dramatic children.   When Jack gets mad and wants to pout he scrunches his neck, folds his arms, you can hear him go, “Hmph” and then makes this face:

 

It is actually pretty funny but if you laugh while he is doing this face he gets SOOOO angry. 

 

Stacy on the other hand is so sensitive.   Stacy will cry and her eye’s well up so quick with tears.  I think she is faking it most of the time.  The other day, she was by the power cord and I told her to stop and get away.  Stacy was looking at me, daring me to yell out as she inched closer and closer.  Finally I yelled, “NO” and then this face:

I didn’t even really yell.  I just said NO very sternly.  Girls.  =(

Stacy…

I was wondering if Stacy’s hair was long enough for a ponytail in the back so I gave it a try:

 

It didn’t come out so great but I am getting better at this hair thing.  Stacy and I , playing peek-a-boo on the stairs:

 

Hahahhaha, I see you!!

Swim Class…

Before the summer rush, we decided the enroll Jack back into Swim classes.  Actually we had one nice sunny hot weekend and we went to the pool and Jack liked swimming so luckily I checked the YMCA and classes were just starting:

Sadly, the next month it has been rainy or cold and gloomy so we haven’t gone to the pool.  In any case, Jack is enjoying his lessons and he is doing quite well.  Hopefully this summer we will be spending a lot of time at the pool!

Jack and his shark robe!

Jenny Birthday Part 2…

This posting was written by Aya:

I had heard about Urasawa’s a couple of times and heard 2 conflicting reviews: 1) It is too expensive for sushi and 2) It is the best sushi ever!… so I wanted to try it all out for myself and see what all the buzz was about. My problem was that I knew Miles would not want to go with me, so I recruited Jenny and Shirley and by the time we got some dates together, it just so happened to land close to Jenny and Shirley’s birthdays, so it gave me another excuse to force them to go out with me!



Urasawa’s is not all about sushi… it is high end seasonal Japanese food plus sushi. It reminded me of having a really nice dinner in Japan, without the 11 hour flight! And all the dishes were so pretty! This first dish is just a bunch of seasonal veggies, but they were flavored so well and the display was so colorful.


Next was the sashimi with toro (fatty tuna) and uni (sea urchin) all in a very cold ice sculpture.


The toro with caviar was a big bite, but absolutely delicious and the little bell pepper which we were told to eat afterwards was flavored and made it the best little bell pepper we had ever tasted!


Here’s one of pics of the sushi chef who was preparing the live ama-ebi (sweet shrimp)… So yummy!


Even the desert at the end was so pretty and it reminded me of some of the authentic Japanese desserts my mom would have when she was practicing her traditional tea ceremony. Although I had never had reconstituted dried apricots wrapped in shiso leaves and at first I would have thought the combo would have been really weird, but it was super-tasty!!

We had a great time and it put a little dent in the wallet, but it saved me a trip back to Japan… at least for now!

Yum-Yum Dim-Sum…

Since Aya’s Aunt’s were in town we all got together for some Dim Sum.

After Dim Sum we needed a few things from the market….looks like there was a sale on Jack’s.  Hmm, I wonder if we can get a refund?

Farewell…

Aya gave her mom’s Eulogy at Rose Hills.   It was a short and sweet service on a nice sunny Southern California morning.

Maybe because we had relatives from Japan in town, but Jack was busting out his ‘peace’ pose in every picture:

 

 

This one more looks like his President Nixon impersonation:

 

 

After the service, Aya’s Aunts from Japan, cousin from Washington DC and brother went out to dinner:

 

Bye-Bye to Baba…

Last week Aya’s mother, Yoko passed away after fighting Breast Cancer for the past year.    Yoko had been doing well in her chemo treatments but unfortunately she had a colon infection and that with the Breast Cancer was just too much for her to overcome.

 

Several weeks ago, Yoko was moved home for in-home hospice care.   Luckily, when Yoko passed, Aya and her brother were at her bedside when she passed.

 

We just wanted to, “Thank”  everyone for all their prayers and thoughts for the family at this time.   We all know she is in a better place and we are glad to know she is no longer in pain and suffering anymore, but that doesn’t help our heart when we lose a loved a one.

 

 

Aya and her brother are doing well.   Thank you again to everyone for your support.

12 Year Anniversary…

Where does all the time go?   I can’t believe 12 years ago was the day Aya and I got married.   I mean it doesn’t seem like ‘yesterday’ but it doesn’t seem like 12…TWELEVE years has gone by.  

 

With the additions of Jack and Stacy, I hardly remember what Aya and I did before we had kids!   We celebrated our anniversary with the kids at Café Del Rey.   Aya and I went to Café Del Rey the night I proposed and we pretty much go back once a year for our anniversary.

Just think, 12 MORE years from now and the kids won’t want to go to dinner with us on our anniversary!!

At home conversations…

The kids, Aya and I went to Oba-chan’s house to visit.   We were visting Oba-chan and hanging out while Aya’s brother Su went to the market to run a few errands.

Aya heard Su come back and went over to the door and asked Su, “Do you need any help?”

Su, “Yeah sure that will be great.”

Aya, “ok”…then she turns and yells out to me, “Miles, Su needs help with the groceries!”

 

I am with both kids, right next to Oba-chan, Aya is 3 feet away from her brother empty handed and asks *ME*  to help her brother.

I get up to help carry 2 light bags of groceries into the house.

 

Su, “I thought when you asked for help, you (Aya) were going to help, not call out for Miles to help.”

 

Yup, even in Brea, Aya is lazy!

Jenny’s 40th Part 1…

Wow, I think this week will have no pictures of the kids!   We celebrated Jenny’s 40th birthday at Bodega Wine Bar in Santa Monica.

 

Luckily, my parents watched the kids, so Aya was able to come out and celebrate with our usual Happy Hour group:

 

 

Normally the birthday girl is suppose to drink the most, but this time I think Aya drank more than everyone!

 

Afterwards, we made a pit stop at our usual Taco Truck to absorb all the booze!

 

April Fools…

Okay, fact or fiction…does Aya have barf all over her?

 

Yup.  Stacy must have had some sort of stomach virus because she couldn’t keep any food down.  Either she had diarrhea or she threw up everything.  Sadly for Aya, she was holding Stacy reading her stories for bed and Stacy barfed up milk and blueberry yogurt.   Not a pleasant smell…nor a pleasant look for Aya!