Whoa, it's been a month already. The time is already flying by this year! February was mostly quiet (until our cruise) as the weather has been rainy and cold. I know we need the rain but I wish it was a bit warmer at times. That's from a wimpy Californian :p On to the pictures!
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We had a few gatherings with the neighbors. Tien and Tam got into card games so the kids
started to learn about poker :) |
Kai had a belt promotion and moved up to a gray belt. Lute is a very detailed and meticulous about advancing their students so Kai has been slowly gaining ground. I'm proud of him for sticking it out. I don't think he loves it or anything but he's got a lot of grit for doing it these many years.
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Here he is getting thrown by
Coach Aaron |
Girls Scouts Cookie season also started and Amy is, once again, leading her troop in the effort. This year, she happy that there are some new parents who are more enthusiastic and that's a big boost in both getting help and morale for the troop. They are planning to sell more than double the amount they did last year and are well on their way to the goal already! Sora is doing a great job and has been walking around the neighborhood and talking to people at church and school about. Funny, we try really hard to have her do all of the selling herself as we wanted her to earn and learn from the work but eventually she got a bit upset with us and we did post her link to Facebook :D
https://digitalcookie.girlscouts.org/scout/sora920302 |
She set up a table on the creek trail
next to our house |
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| The boys came out to help her sell too! |
Valentine's day was nice. The kids went to school and Amy and I had a nice lunch date. We went to a new cafe close to our house (Taste of Heaven Bistro) which was nicely decorated with roses and a photo wall even :) Valentines day 2007 was when we first started our official dating. I still remember that conversation with Amy on the phone while sitting on the couch in the front room at our apartment on Crescent Heights in LA.
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| 17 years later and this girl is cuter than ever! |
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| Still taking silly pictures together :) |
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The kids (led by Sora) made Amy a nice card and a diorama for me
because they know that I love elephants.. so creative!
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The month was otherwise fairly quiet with the usual school and activities. The highlight of the month was our cruise with Amy's family. Her parents used to cruise quite a bit but since Amy's dad's Parkinson's has worsened, he doesn't have as much mobility. Amy worked hard to encourage her parents to go on this cruise as something to enjoy and look forward to, especially as both her brothers would be along for the trip to help assist as well. It also left out of San Francisco so there was no need to fly anywhere which helped. In the end, they did enjoy it and were glad they went. The kids enjoyed the novelty of being on a cruise and the unlimited food that was available though the weather was not ideal as we were accompanying a storm all the way down to Mexico. The weather was generally cool and there was so much rocking and rolling that the pools were closed much of the time. Still, we all had a good time and had lots of family time. It was nice to hang out with Matt and David as well.
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The obligatory boarding picture .. we didn't want to
buy any pics but Amy's mom couldn't resist this one |
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Sailing out of SF Bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge.. it
was cold and rainy but the kids toughed it out! |
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Our small interior room was nicely set up with our steward, Jiwa,
taking good care of us. I had to rotate sleeping with the kids because the
beds were too small for two adults (even though Amy and I are small!) |
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Unlimited food buffet :) Simple stuff for most meals and the ethnic foods were usually the
tastiest. The boys really liked unlmited bacon! |
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We all had medallions (basically bluetooth airtags) that could be used to
unlock our doors and track each other down on the boat which was cool.
They also allowed mini games on the various screens. |
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Much time was spent in the hot tub
because the pools were too cold or closed |
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There was a kids club where we could drop the kids off
but we never really did. We did sneak in there and play
some skee ball and air hockey when they were open |
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There were a couple of nights when the kids were in bed and we
went to hang out with Amy's mom and brothers. Mahjong! |
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We even brought slightly nicer clothes
for the "formal" night :) |
It was a short 5 day cruise from SF to Ensenada and back. Our first real stop was in San Diego where Nicole met up with us. She wasn't able to come along because their school did not have the President's day week off and also because she's in her third trimester. It was fun to go get brunch and catch up with her. We spent the afternoon wandering around Balboa Park.
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| One of the gardens in Balboa Park |
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| Brunch at the Fig Tree Cafe |
One of the highlights (and Amy's dad's favorite activity for the entire trip) was the Model Train Museum. It's very cool how detailed these miniatures were and the work that this group puts into their trains. They even showed us how they add liquid smoke to simulate steam on the old locomotives.
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| Kai was into trains for years as a kid.. he still enjoys them |
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| Working here must be a railroad hobbyist's dream! |
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| There was a tiny miniature golf course even |
There were some kids activities on the boat but not quite enough. I think if the weather was super nice then the kids would be swimming everyday and that would take up a good chunk of time/energy. I know there are some ships with more slides and zip lines so maybe next time we'll go for something like that. Disney probably has more kid centric activities too. Apparently, cruises are terrible for the environment though so maybe we'll avoid unless it's the only option for Amy's parents.
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| Amy's dad lounging on the rear deck |
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| Hot dogs, fries and soft serve to order anytime! |
Our second stop was Ensenada, Mexico. I had never really been over the border except for a brief stop in the Mexico City airport years ago. I still don't think this really counted though as the excursions were so tailored and not truly an expression of the true culture of Mexico. We just took it easy and went for a walk into the downtown area. We probably got ripped off and the food wasn't great but it was still interesting to be off the boat and wander around.
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| Breakfast off on the aft deck with Ensenada in the background. |
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We went with Tim and his family and stopped at
a small place for tacos and quesadillas.. Unfortunately,
they were not that good and we probably got ripped off (as tourist :) |
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This picture (by Kai) turned out really nice though
and the ceviche was the best thing there |
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The water fountains were on in the port square and the kids had a
blast running through it. Kai, Jad and Matthew all got soaked! |
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There were a couple shows that we went to watch
in the ship amphitheater (though they did delay one
due to rough seas the first night) |
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| There was time to chill and watch TV |
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They also had some ping pong tables out and the kids enjoyed
playing. Tim and I even entered a tournament, though we both
lost on the first round (but I lost to the eventual champ! :) |
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Dinner was basically sit down every night (you reserved a time in
one of the dining rooms).. ordered as much as you wanted off the
menu and the food was generally pretty good! |
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Dessert was also unlimited.. Sora and Jad
opted for the sundaes this day |
Overall, a great time. Maybe Amy's parents will consider an Alaska cruise and that might be worth tagging along for though we may go crazy being on a boat more than a week :) We finished off and disembarked back at the Embarcardero in SF. We took the opportunity to walk to the Ferry Building and pick up some small gifts for Nicole. This area of SF is still very nice even if the downtown areas have gone down hill. It was nice to hang out with Matt before we dropped him off and headed back home.
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| Getting some samples of the fancy fine foods :) |
Til next time, everyone!
