PoTW 5/30 – 6/5: I realize I’ve been remiss…

… but it’s been crazy around here.

This week, we went to the LA Zoo with Adam, Timmy, and Micah Noritake.  While we were walking around the zoo, Emmett chose Timmy as his best friend du jour.  Whenever we moved from animal to animal, Emmett would look around for Timmy to hold his hand.  This was great for me, because I didn’t have to worry (as much) about Emmett wandering off by himself.  Wherever Timmy went, Emmett was there, too.

We’ll see if he remembers him next time we see the Noritakes.

Graduation on a Thursday?

Emmett and I observed the first call night of this rotation by going to Disneyland to see what had changed since we were there last.  Quite a few changes, but there’s still a lot of construction happening.

They're redoing the rocket ships. Looks a lot more colorful than the monochrome version that was there before. Wonder if this means a re-coloring of all of Tomorrowland?

We went on Small World. They've redone a lot of the inside.

It's now "the happiest cruise that ever sailed 'round the world"

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell

Alice and the White Rabbit

Cinderella and the mice

Pinocchio

Aladdin and Jasmine (and carpet!)

Mushuu

Mulan (I think...)

Pumbaa and Simba

The Three Amigos

Ariel and Flounder

Lilo (I think...) and Stitch

Woody and Jesse

The second famous chef I've seen at Disneyland, Kerry Simon was giving a presentation at CA Adventure

Kerry Simon was on Iron Chef:

The Ferris Wheel is back up and running

Construction for the new "World of Color" water show

Ma-Se-Ca!

Good day, though a bit crowded.

Oh, and…

CHECK OUT THIS SCORE!

Memorial Day 2009 – We will remember those who have served our country… and how long the line was

About two weeks ago, I received an email from Disney notifying me that there was an event to be held at Union Station in Los Angeles.  There’s a movie coming out in November and they’re doing a train tour starting in LA and ending at Grand Central in New York.  The kick off was this weekend, so we packed up our family and invited the Noritakes along to see the spectacle.

When we got there, we were greeted by:

A 3-4 hour line.  We (the adults) collectively decided that it was in our best interests to go do something else.  So we walked over to Chinatown and ate Dim Sum at the Empress Pavilion (we rate it a 7/10) and then went over to the Noritakes for BBQ.  Pictures:

A group of kids who don't understand the history behind the chairs that they sit (or stand) in.

They failed to mention that the "once in a lifetime" involved a 3 hour line.

Four Noritakes...

... and a Wong

I had no idea we were so generous.

Best $.50 spent all day.

Shameless plug for a Jackie Chan movie in the middle of Chinatown

Emmett ended the evening by putting on Cherish's princess shoes. Can you blame him? They made lots of noise on the tile floor, and they were a challenge to walk in.

All in all, a good day.  We were all very tired.

A few days in the Pacific Northwest

We’re back! (Well, back to San Francisco)  We got back from a 6 day jaunt out to the Pacific Northwest to visit with family in Seattle, Vancouver, and Victoria (as well as a fair amount of sightseeing/touristing).

Day 1:

We arrived in Seattle and settled in to the rental home, which was AMAZING.  Everyone got their own room and we had a full kitchen to boot!

After settling in, Gifford took us over to West Seattle to eat at Pegasus Pizza and Pasta.  Parking and foot traffic were a bit much, but the food was worth it:

And then Emmett ran around on the Beach:

Rest of Day 1 pics

Day 2
Christina, Hannah, Emmett and I took Gifford to church to teach Sunday School while we played in the park:

Then we went to the 11:00 service at Faith Bible Church (where apparently some people know Joe Castillo!)

From there, we went to Pike’s Place Market, where there was a cheese festival going on (who knew?):

For dinner, we bought a Copper River Sockeye Salmon:

and put it on the grill:

And it was gooooooood:

(By the way, the secret to not losing the skin is to season your bbq grate as you would a cast iron pan.  Worked like a charm.)

Rest of the Day 2 Pics

As you will note in the above pictures (and the rest of them if you look at the slideshows), Emmett has been becoming increasingly attached to his Yee Pau.  There are plenty of stories to illustrate this, but see if you can’t notice it throughout the rest of this narrative.

Day 3:

We took off (as early as we could get 9 people and a baby out the door) for the Canadian border on Monday Morning.

‘Tis a strange place, Canada.  Everything measured in metric:

A&W’s are still plentiful:

And the money is not monochromatic:

$20 Canadian!  That’s like…. $20 American!

We went to go visit with Goong Goong’s older sister and her family (six daughters, one son).  We had lunch with some of them:

See the family resemblance?

Then we checked into the Hampton Inn in Downtown Vancouver, where we had an awesome view of the B.C. Place Stadium, home of the BC Lions of the CFL.  Apparently, it is the largest air supported stadium in the world (but will be changing to retractable roof/open air in 2011).

We stopped at a Whole Foods to get some food for Emmett, and the metric madness continued:

Also, I believe that I spotted this actress:

in the parking garage.  I looked it up, she lives close by, so it’s possible!

After WF, we went to go meet up with family for dinner:

Rest of Day 3

Day 4

After dropping off Goong Goong and Pau Pau to spend the day with family, the rest of our travelling troupe headed off to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal and headed out to Victoria.

First stop, Butchart Gardens:

This is Emmett’s Pau Pau trying to take a picture with him.  Emmett, however, would not take the picture without Yee Pau.

Butchart Gardens Pictures

After the gardens, we went to Downtown Victoria to look around for a bit:

Then we got back on the Ferry and headed back to Vancouver.  While on the Ferry, Emmett found the kid’s play area, then proceeded to locate his Yee Pau (over 15 rows in) and drag her over to the play area, where they played for the rest of the voyage.

Rest of Day 4

Day 5:

We started the day by visiting the REI flagship store:

And then went to go see the Chittenden Locks:

And then we spent a few hours at the Experience Music Project and looked at the Space Needle from the bottom:

Rest of Day 5

Day 6

Our last day in Seattle, so we decided to only do a couple things before heading to SEA-TAC for our flight back.

Gasworks park, where Emmett LOVED rolling down the hills (videos and pics of this later)

The Bridge Troll (just a drive by picture)

Lunch at Salumi, owned by the father of Mario Batali:

And then we visited the Panama Hotel, where many Japanese Americans stored their possessions prior to being moved to internment camps, never to pick them up again.  There were also a lot of neat photographs of the Japanese community in Seattle prior to WWII.

A glass section of the floor, where you can catch a glimpse of what was left in the basement of the Panama.  Detail:

And our last stop was the Seattle Central Library.  From the outside, it looks like this:

Crazy.  All the elevators and escalators are neon green:

And there is one floor of meeting rooms that has all red walls:

And the book stacks are organized in a four floor spiral that was designed so as to not break up the progression of the Dewey Decimal System.  Technically, you could walk from 000 to 999 without going up any stairs or getting on an elevator.

Then we went to the airport and came home!

Rest of Day 6

PoTW 05/02 – 05/08

We love free Wednesdays!  This past wednesday, the three of us (Nate, Christina and Emmett) and Emmett’s Mah Mah went to the Exploratorium in San Francisco.  Given that it was the first Wednesday in the month, it was FREE (the best price ever)!

Everyone had a grand old time pressing buttons and making sound and looking at all the flashing lights.  And another thing:

UNDERWEAR! (or Dai-Fu!)  Being that we’re all on vacation, we decided to try a little experiment in terror.  So far, we’ve only had one instance of standing in a puddle of pee. We’ve been having a lot of fun up here spending time with family and seeing some old friends.  Stay tuned for more updates!

EDIT: Almost forgot about this gem from earlier in the week:

Also sprach Emmett

And thus spake Emmett, originally uploaded by jerematography.

PoTW 04/25 – 05/01

We’re back in Northern California (for about a month)!  This week’s PoTW comes courtesy of Emmett’s Bak Fu.  Daddy’s preaching on Sunday, and Mommy has been busy relaxing like a pro.

Emmett really likes his cheese

IMG_2931, originally uploaded by Emmett’s Parents.

PoTW 4/18-4/24

Emmett has been developing quite the sense of humor.  When he discovers something is funny, he’ll do it over and over again, and then he’ll re-hash the same jokes the next day.  Quite the sign of development.  I present the above as evidence to the fact.

This morning, I got it in my head (with much prompting from the doctor) to get on my bike and ride.  My ultimate goal is to be able to get to church and back without totally killing myself.  You see, we live at the base of a very large mountain on the other side of which is church.  I managed to find a route that would get us to church without going over the hill, but rather going around the base of it.  There are still, however, a number of ups and downs to be contended with.  Today was the first experiment:  how far could I get while towing Emmett and the trailer and still be able to get back without my legs falling off?

The results:

9.5 miles.  About 5o minutes total riding time.  We’re getting there.

Next week’s PoTW will be from some place different, yet familiar!

Emmett Blesses the Food

Emmett Blesses the Food, originally uploaded by Emmett’s Parents.