Big Bear Part 2…

The fishing trip started off well.   We anchored, set our lines and within 5 minutes, Dawn got a bite….sadly her line broke….no fish…no picture.   Soon after that, I got a bite, reeled up the fish to the surface and I tried to give Jack my pole to reel in the fish but then MY line broke.   No fish, no picture…well, I am the photographer, so I couldn’t reel in the fish, give it to Jack AND take the picture.

Then it got pretty quiet.   Stacy trying her luck:

 

Jack concentrating on fishing:

 

But after 5 minutes, Jack was bored and moving around the boat and eating snacks.  Actually both Jack and Stacy did pretty well for being on a boat for 4 hours:

 

Bryan had ZERO bites:

 

Then, dumb luck strikes again and Aya caught the FIRST fish:

 

How?   I have no idea.   Just amazing.  Every single stinkin’ time:

 

Hold up…wait a minute…let me some BOOM in it!   Look who scratches the scoreboard and catches fish numero two:

 

Actually it was a bit lucky.  I thought I was getting some bites but then Jack walked by and just lifted up my pole to get some snacks and then nothing.  I assumed the fish got scared away.   I went back to taking pictures….Jack just makes lounging on the boat look good.  Nice day in Big Bear…on the water….family….a good day:

 

Then I noticed my line was loose so I started reeling it in.  I was reeling, reeling and I was like thinking did someone mess with my drag?   Why isn’t my line reeling in?   Why is my line going the opposite direction I casted it in.   Now my line is close to Dawn’s.  Then Dawn jerked her pole….great…we just crossed lines….no fish.   We untangled the lines and I kept reeling….TUG…WHAT?   HEY….I got a fish on my line!  Woo-hoo.

After I reeled in my fish, there was nothing.  We called it a day and headed in.

Bryan let Jack steer the boat by to the dock.  Not smart.  Jack was moving the boat side to side and I was getting a tad sea sick.   Luckily the ride wasn’t that long to the dock:

 

Well, well, well…looks like yours truly is the 1st Annual Big Bear champion with the BIGGEST trout caught!   DOMINATOR!!

Big Bear Part 1…

Grandpa promised Jack that he would take him to Big Bear once summer camp ended.   Going up to Big Bear sounded good, so we turned it into a family weekend!

Unfortunately for Aya and I the trip did not start out well.  As we headed up the mountain to Big Bear the car in front of us drove off the cliff…literally.   It looked like the girl who was driving fell asleep and drove straight off the cliff.   At first Aya and I didn’t believe what we saw, but we stopped, got out and we assumed we would help.   We didn’t realize that when she drove off the cliff, the cliff was straight down 200 feet.   Umm, yeah, we won’t be helping out.    We called 911 and waited for the police, fire and helicopter to come in to help.   Sadly the driver was dead by the time they were able to pull her and the car up.

In any case, we made it up the mountain unharmed and made a bee line for the lake!   Jack was happy to give fishing a try…this was his first time!

 

Grandpa, Jack and Aunty:

 

The driver of the boat:

 

Stacy liked being on the boat but didn’t dig the life vest much:

 

Aya, Stacy and Grandma:

 

Lets go fishing!!

Sureshots…

The SureShot clinic was not bad.   Even though it was chaotic Jack enjoyed it.   What I am torn about is the skill level.   One one team, the kids are his age but he is the youngest because he is born late and the other kids are actually born early in the year.   We found out that the basketball divisions are GRADE based and NOT aged based.  Thus, in one league he is playing up a level because we are holding back in school and Jack is starting Kindergarten while other kids are going into 1st Grade.   The SureShot had him in the Kindergarten group and now Jack is on the older side and it makes a HUGE difference. 

I feel like it is cheating Jack by playing based on grade but I guess it is why we are holding him back.   Boy mature slower and now Jack can have more confidence and leadership abilities.   Instead of being average or lower half of the 1st grade team he will be the top half of the Kindergarten team!

 

Passing:

 

Defense:

 

Shooting:

 

Dribbling:

 

See!  I told you there was a lot of kids!!

Girls Day Part 2…

Once all the food was selected and bought, the next stop was the chef’s client home where they cooked and ate.  So they Chef has several clients in Montecito and when they are not around they let the Chef use the house for her cooking classes:


Aya says the house was gorgeous:



Kitchen:



Dining room:


Okay, enough picture taking…time to eat:


The cooking class has about 8-10 people.  Everyone has to help chop, dice, cook, clean, etc.  Of course the first step was to eat t he cheese and DRINK!!!


The first course was a soup:


Then a watermelon salad that Aya said she didn’t think would be good…grilled watermelon??  But she said it was outstanding!



Then the prawns:


Followed up with a cobbler:


I had a planned dinner for the girls as well but after eating all day long, they cancelled dinner and ended up stopping off at the outlets for some shopping!   All in all a good girls day!  For a better recap, read Jenny's review of girls day:  http://devourtheworld.com/2011/08/girls-day-out-market-forays-in-santa-barbara/

Girls Day Part 1…

Every quarter, I try to get Aya to go out with her friends for ‘girls’ day.   This time Shirley, Jenny and Aya headed out to Santa Barbara for a day of cooking, eating and shopping!

 

The day started off at the Santa Barbara Marina where they picked up some fresh prawns:

 

Then they all headed over to the local Farmer’s Market to pick up some produce:

 

I know it is not pictures here, but Aya got this watermelon and it was super good:

 

Finally the cheese shop for some cheese and wine:

 

That is a lot of cheese…yuck.

Family time Part 3…

The kids had such a fun time playing together that they forgot to go into the pool.   We brought Jack’s swim stuff but told him it was too late for him to go into the pool.  Jack was fine with it and played around outside the pool getting the balls and just watching.   I noticed Jack getting closer and closer to the edge of the pool.  I kept thinking I bet he is going to fall in…sure enough Jack slipped and fell into the pool. 

The good news was, I wasn’t panicked when I saw him fall in…I just watched to see what Jack would do.  Uncle Su was quick and ran over to help Jack but Jack even fully dressed was able to swim to the wall and get out.  I guess at that point I couldn’t tell him it was too late to swim so Jack jumped in with Troy and Matthew for some night time swimming:

 

Jacuzzi basketball:

Family time Part 2…

Man, talk about a stereotypical moment….a bunch of Asians playing ping pong!!  Not only did we play but we had a family tournament.  Teams were randomly selected and bracketed.

Uncle Su and Jack were a team…they didn’t do well:

 

Ruth and Daniel were favorites to win it all:

 

Dan and Nicole were a team, talk about luck of the draw, mother and son and father and daughter were a team and played each other!

 

Grandma Chaunch and John every played:

 

Troy and I were a team:

 

Matthew and Andrew were the champs!

Family time Part 1…

We headed down to Newport to spend time with Aya’s family.    Sure, it might look like the ‘white’ people are moving in to surround the ‘asian’ people but all the cousins are 1/4 asian:

 

Daniel was getting ready to go back to George Washington and , Grandma Chaunch, Andrew, Taylor and Matthew gave Stacy so much attention:

 

Uncle Dan couldn’t stop playing with Stacy!

Stacy…

It just seems as though Stacy is growing up so much faster than Jack!    I can’t believe how big her vocabulary is.   How she knows what she likes or dislikes AND can communicate that to people.  Sometimes I forget she is just 19 months old because she wants to do everything Jack does!