2nd Annual Vancouver Weekend With The Girls

The 3 Day Team from last year decided to make it a tradition to go to Vancouver for a weekend to get in some good walks and some good times...

Here's the view from my parents' apartment (we kicked them out for the weekend, they went camping so we could stay at their apartment. How awesome are they?!?!).














When we pulled into the apt parking lot we happened to see our friend Solomon and his fiance (who we hadn't met before) walking by. They had some big news! The Justice of the Peace person (well, the Canadian equivalent) had just called to tell them that she could either marry them TONIGHT or it wouldn't be til October.

His fiance, Nikki, moved here from Japan to be with him and can't get on medical insurance, a job, etc until they are married. So hey, no time like the present, right?

So we found ourselves taking them out for a "rehearsal dinner" to celebrate their upcoming nuptuals. (Yum, lamb at Characters...)



















About three hours after we arrived we were the witnesses for their wedding in their apartment. My parents were very sad to miss it (Solomon is like a son to them), it was so last minute that they'd left for camping earlier that day planning to be the witnesses the following week.

But we made it a very fun celebration for the new couple! Here they are--newly married.














Da girls.














After the little ceremony at their apartment we all went out dancing to continue the celebration... Lots of memories! :)














The next morning began as all mornings should: Fresh pastries (chocolate croissant, mmm) from Cobs Bakery then down the street to Blenz for some good Canadian java. Welcome to our Morning In Vancouver tradition.














Another tradition: serious walking.


















Countdown to the Vancouver Winter Olympics



















Look at us and our bad selves with our scarves! Oh so hip...



















We went out for ramen for dinner that night at a legit Japanese ramen shop. Slurp!



















Photographing ourselves in the world's most awesome mirror. Seriously. It makes every woman feel 8 feet tall... (maybe you had to be there?!)



















We spent time on Granville Island before heading back home...

The Kids' Big Trip

Off they went on their own (together) to visit Uncle Kevin and Auntie Theresa in California!!














They had such a great five days with their uncle and aunt. They got to do things that they don't do at home--like go to the park in their pjs ;)














They spent a few days at Theresa's parents' place. Her sister lives in a neighboring house on their ranch and the kids spent lots of time in their pool.














Auntie Theresa happily snuggling with some of her nieces and a nephew. (The other two are her sister's girls)



















They visited the Jelly Belly factory where Theresa's mom worked in the admin office for many years.

We visited the factory when Asia was two, she thought the employees were Oompa Loompas when we went on the tour and looked down into the candy-making factory :)














Such cool hats.














Fun for kids of all ages!!














The kids had a very special time with Uncle Kevin and Auntie Theresa. They were all tuckered out from all the fun!!

Sushi with Grampa

Dad was with us for an evening and we had a sushi feast at a new restaurant near our place.

Yes, mom (Gramma) and dad (Grampa) are the king and queen of quick visits :) Our motto is better one day than nothing at all! We love 'em.

Camping in the 'burbs

Opa and Oma were here for a few days. They'd planned to go off camping for a night or two with the kids but the weather was iffy so instead they just camped across the street from our house.

You can see their heads in the back window--this picture was taken from our front porch :)

Ezra lost his first tooth!!!

My 35th (August 12th)

...gee, what an exciting-looking party! A bunch of guys in plaid shirts hanging around watching the Olympics.














Of course the ladies know how to party! The camera is rather out of focus, it seems to have had a bit too much to drink... hmm... ;)














Aww, what a fun surprise--birthday cake(s)!! I hadn't expected that from my "I don't eat sweets" husband. And by the way, no, I'm not 53 as the candles on the white cake might make you think ;)














"Cousin" lovin. Ezra and sweet little Alice.














Good times were had! A post-party margarita... Just one more drink...














...over and out. It's tiring be 35!!

Horse Camp

One of (several) highlights of the summer for Asia was her week at horse day-camp. Here she is on the last day showing the families their new skills. Her horse was named Sierra.














She looks so confident on Sierra! It was such fun for her. She first got to ride a horse when she was just two years old and her Auntie Theresa took her for rides on her own childhood horse, Dusty, when we visited them in California.














Asia's buddy Sylvie did horse camp too. Happy girls!



















Their other favorite thing about horse camp was playing carpet ball...

T-ball, er, I mean Softball

Andy's office started a softball team this year with the local parks & rec department. I keep telling people that Andy is in t-ball b/c I'm used to sports for the kids, not for one of us adults!

I know I'm biased, but Andy was definitely the MVP for his team at their first game.














Here he is, the MVP himself coming around on his way to making one of their two runs (I totally don't want to embarass Andy so I wouldn't dare mention that the other team had, oh, 27 or so runs... ;). Hey, it's all about having fun, right? That's what we tell the kids when they play t-ball and soccer!!

Happy Birthday, Kelly!

A mini GNO to celebrate Kelly's 22nd (hee hee) birthday. Cheers, girlfriend!

Sept_99 Mom Good Times

Many of you know about my email-group-friends that I've had since I was pregnant with Asia. We are a group of 9 women who were all due in (or around) Sept, 1999. We formed a group via babycenter.com and have remained close friends to this day--almost exclusively via email. I'm the only one on the West Coast so when one of the girls decided to go on an Alaska cruise--departing from Seattle--with her family I was VERY excited! Only one other mom from the group has ever visited me out here.

Karin and I had such a great time hanging out in person. What a treat! We'd met a few other times but it'd been around 7 years since the last time we saw each other.














We asked our dear Vietnamese neighbor, Mr. Huong, to take a picture of our group. He cracked us all up with his random counting and his random angles!

Our families freaked out at how much we know about each other. Tim's face was priceless when he realized that I knew the name of his best friend (and that he also happens to be his neighbor). The husbands got a tad nervous wondering exactly HOW MUCH we know! We know everything, boys. Everything. ;)














After their fun Alaska cruise we got to spend one more evening together while my parents babysat the kids... A beautiful (and delicious) dinner out together.














Two of the Sept_99 Moms...


















...and two of the Sept_99 kids. Asia and Tim were born two days apart.

Early Birthday Celebratin'

Mom and Emily took me out for an early Birthday Lunch during mom's quick visit to Seattle. The ladies and the kids had a lovely afternoon.














This lady has been lovin' mojitos lately. Now I just need for Andy to figure out the recipe!


















Cousin Girls Rock!














Gramma and her four grandkids.

National Night Out 2008

As usual, we had a fun block party for National Night Out (1st Tuesday in August).














The clown noses were for the adults to enjoy too!

Seal Beach, 2008

ParentMap fun

Traffic... bah! On our way to a goodbye party for my supervisor.














A gaggle of ParentMap children. Is that the word used for a bunch of kids? Or would it be "flock" or "gang" or?? Hmm.

Tennis

I just posted a slideshow with pics from our weekend in Portland and this is the info I wrote about the slideshow (since you'll be seeing this post before you see that one if you are looking at my blog from the top down):

I'm trying something new--using Picasa to put slideshows on my blog when I've got multiple pictures of one event.

Here's my first try, I hope it works! Just hit pause (by hovering over the bottom of the slideshow) if you need more time to read the caption/view the photo. Enjoy!

Ezra finally hearts swimming!!

We went swimming with some neighbor friends and this was the first time ever that Ezra was brave enough to jump in the water like this! It was such a blast and made me realize that all the $$ we've paid for swimming lessons have definitely been worth it!

Happy Birthday Tara!!

A fun evening out to dinner to celebrate Tara's 28th birthday (she's such a young pup!).














Birthday smooches

The chef

Such the budding chef! I woke up one morning and she'd gotten started on making pancakes. From scratch, I might add. No pancake mix for Chef Asia!

Portland

I'm trying something new--using Picasa to put slideshows on my blog when I've got multiple pictures of one event.

Here's my first try, I hope it works! Just hit pause (by hovering over the bottom of the slideshow) if you need more time to read the caption/view the photo. Enjoy!

Girl Scout Camp

Another fun week of Girl Scout Day Camp. I was one of the leaders for Asia's group. Thumbs up!


















The sons of the leaders at camp also go to Girl Scout Camp--they have their own boys unit there. Ezra LOVED it. On the last day the boys unit did the flag salute. Look at that little Boy Scout-in-the-making! ;)