Month 18-1 (7/12/08 - 7/20/08) - Bay Area road trip 2008

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Originally uploaded by gabeluk

Wedding season is in full effect with 3 weddings in 2 consecutive weekends in 2 different cities. Wow!

First, we made a road trip vacation up to the Bay Area for Uncle Eddy and Auntie Grace's wedding. Daddy took a couple of days off to hang out and to show me around his old stomping ground. We stayed with Auntie Julie and Uncle Keno's place, so I got to hang out with Jayden a lot. I love playing with Jayden. He is kind of like my own little baby brother, except that he ain't so little. He is almost as heavy as me and he is only nine months old. Let's just say that I am very impressed with his appetite.

Our Thursday schedule was a bit hectic as we ate hand pulled noodle (yum) in Fremont and hit Ghirardelli Square & Fisherman Wharf, Chinatown, and the expanded San Francisco Centre all in one day. At night we visited Uncle Dave, Auntie Ying, and Audrey in Palo Alto. Audrey was only about two months old when I last saw her, and she is about my size now. (Let me get this straight. Both Jayden, 9 months, and Audrey, 1 year, are my size? And I am close to 18 months old already? Hmm... I am not sure if I like where this is going. I think I need to start hitting the gym or something.) Anyways, hanging with Audrey was so much fun for the both of us that I kept her up way beyond her normal bedtime. Comes with the territory if you want to keep up and party with me.

Friday was all about food. We had Zachery's pizza for lunch. Unlike last time where mommy and daddy ate while I salivate, I got to taste the legendary deep dish pizza this time. In fact, I pretty much ate half a slice all by myself. Impressive huh? We then chase down our pizza with gourmet ice cream, daddy got his Mocha Bianca at Cafe Strada in Berkeley, and had Singaporean food with grand auntie Teresa and grand uncle Wilfred for dinner. Man, writing this makes me hungry.

The Bay Area gang were all in attendance for the Uncle Eddy's wedding. He was his usual goofy and sweet self. Good music and alcohol flowed freely as would be expected. How can that not be fun? See here for pictures and videos at the wedding.

Finally we had dim sum and boba with Uncle Willie, Auntie Karen, and Uncle Alan the next day before driving home to LA. While entirely too short, it had been a really really fun trip!!! I can't wait for my next visit.

See pictures and videos from our Bay Area adventure. As usual, these pictures are also available on Shutterfly.

Month 17-2 (6/30/08 - 7/11/08) - It's all about me again

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Originally uploaded by gabeluk

On July 4th, we went to Auntie Christine and Uncle Phillip's place where I got to be ring leader for my subordinates Nathan and Nicole. I also met Benjamin (Uncle Patrick and Auntie Susan's newborn) for the first time. When he is a bit older, I will also recruit him into my army of mischiefs. At night, we went to grandma and grandpa's to watch fireworks from their front porch. I was too young to truly appreciate fireworks last year, but I found them totally fascinating this year.

On the 5th, we went to Auntie Annie and Uncle Tom's place for another BBQ and hung out with a bunch of daddy's beach volleyball pals. Auntie Annie's BBQ is always fun and always has a lot of good food which I can actually eat this year. Next year, I am going to take a dip at the pool.

What a difference a year make, huh? This time last year I was barely able to laugh and roll from stomach to back and vice versa. This year I am walking, talking (sort of), and eating big people's food.

BTW, my chinglish is coming along nicely. Here is a translation of a few of the vocab in my repertoire:
-- baby-ah (self-explanatory)
-- da = dog, duck, cat, and pretty much any non-humanoid animals
-- ba-pi = give me (why? your guess is as good as mine)
-- eyes = eyes or nose
-- wa = wall-e
-- mic = mickey mouse
-- bao = bread (in chinese)
-- ea-ea = eat

"Uh-oh" is now my favorite phrase, which is very appropriate. Since mommy and daddy didn't bother to baby-proof the house much, my recent favorite hobbies include emptying the kitchen drawers and throwing folded laundries onto the floor. Who need toys?

See my pictures and videos from Month 17. I have a few really cool videos where I rocked out with daddy to the tunes of High School Musical. They are definitely worth checking out. My pictures are also available on Shutterfly.

Month 17-1 (6/12/08 - 6/29/30) - The mommy and daddy episode

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Originally uploaded by gabeluk.

June '08 seems to be more about mommy and daddy than it was about me.. well, at least their lives seems a bit more eventful than mine for the moment.

Daddy finally launched FindTopSchools.com earlier this month. He has been working on this site on and off for a while, but he really turned it on these past few months, which was part of the reason why he didn't have much time to help me with my blog recently. It is a pretty cool site that helps folks find all the good public schools in California. Even though he still has a to-do list a mile long, I am hoping that he will now have more time dedicated to Cadence again. :-)

We lost daddy to Uncle Eddy's, Uncle Mark's, and Uncle Marc's (yes, not a typo) bachelor parties (also not a typo) in Las Vegas the weekend of 6/20. Sounds like fun right? Except he made the mistake of driving the Civic. He blew his tire, got stranded in the middle of the Mojave desert in June in the middle of the day without water and shade for two hours, and took 8 full hours (no AC in the car) to get the Vegas. Driving back took him 6 hours because of an overturned eighteen-wheeler. I assumed he had fun for the little time that he spent with the Uncles. Once back, he kept muttering, "That damn Civic has betrayed me for the last time!" Hmm... maybe the Civic won't outlive us after all. We shall see.

Finally, 6/28 was mommy and daddy's fifth year anniversary. They ditched me and went to the Hump for sushi. Daddy dared to try the "surprise me" chef special. He said it was delicious and the meal looked delicious in the pictures, except his tummy didn't feel so good the day after. Perhaps he was too adventurous. Anyways, happy anniversary, mommy and daddy.

That's it. Next week the focus shifts back to me. Later.