Happy Halloween!

Emi-chan went trick-or-treating for the first time tonight. I don't think she understood what was going on, but she had fun running around in her Abby Cadabby costume. And we had fun getting candy she can't eat, but we can.


So, okay, Emi-chan doesn't look like she's having fun, but trust me, she did.

A New Hobby

A few months ago, Rick started a new hobby. No, it isn't hang gliding at night dressed like Batman, or building the Millenium Falcon out of toothpicks. It is (drum roll please)...composting! Yes, the Yoshidas are going green. Or at least Rick has. I still toss plastics out in the regular trash and Emi-chan doesn't care either way, yet.

About 6 months ago, he noticed that the avocado plants he was babying were looking a little pale and weak. He began collecting used coffee grounds and left over salad in a container and once a week or so, he buries the pile in one of the planters in our "garden." He keeps the container in the fridge, so I have to be careful that I don't grab the compost container instead of the chocolate pudding container when I'm reaching for a snack. In the beginning, the front area of our home STANK. I wonder if that was the reason why in the newsletter the homeowners association sends out, one of the articles was on how we need to keep our patio areas pleasant for others. Oh well. The smell didn't bother me. I just kept the windows closed. Now, we have rich, black soil which nourishes our precious avocado plants...and the squirrels which periodically dig up the pile to get to the veggies.

A couple of months ago, Rick noticed a vine growing out of the compost pile. It turned out to be a tomato plant. We became organic farmers by accident.


Eventually, we had a handful of tiny tomatoes which were very yummy in our dinner salad.

Alive...

...and mostly kicking. We're down with colds and just plain tired. Here are some videos we enjoy. Hope you like them, too.



I don't know why, but I love this video.




I know, everybody's seen this one, but we love it.



This is Emi-chan's favorite video

Oh My...

...it's September! I lost track of time. It's been an especially hectic month. A bad hard drive didn't help, either. Now that we're all down with a cold, I have a little bit of time, and energy, to catch up and reflect on the past few weeks.

At the end of August, No-ah came to visit! Yeah! I haven't seen her since...before Emi-chan's birth. She's one of my oldest and closest friends, although she lives down South. Somehow, we've been able to maintain a strong friendship. No-ah couldn't stay and visit very long, but it was great to hang out with her and catch up.


Over the Labor Day weekend, we took a quick trip to the beach and visited Vince. At the beach, Rick and Vince had fun building sandcastles.



At Uncle Vince's, Emi-chan learned how to play video games with Selena...


...and Rick and Vince competed on Rock Star. I think they enjoyed this more than the sandcastles.

Rick was pretty pooped out from a fun filled day.



September 6th was my birthday. Yeah, yeah, rah, rah. I'm 41 years old now. Great. Not very exciting, but Rick got me some very nice desserts. Love, love.


Recently, I met up with an old friend, Lisa TS and her sister, Doreen, for lunch. Lisa is my oldest friend. We've known each other since junior high. I think we met in French class. It was fun hanging out. Thanks, Doreen, for distracting Emi-chan so I could scarf some lunch and speak 2 full sentences in a row. Hopefully, we can get together again soon for lunch, and Emi-chan will be in a better mood.


Gran Gran was feeling better, so her cousin, Yasuko, drove up from LA to visit. They haven't seen each other in about, oh, 40 years or so. They had much to catch up on.

Here are the young ladies together at last.

Although having the cold is a pain, it at least made us slow down and hopefully enjoy the rest of the month.

Happy Anniversary

Our duo events cake

This past weekend was our anniversary. Rick and I have been married for 4 years! Imagine that! It seems longer. Only kidding...sort of. It's actually have been 4 good years. Grandma and Grandpa came up to help watch Emi-chan while Rick and I went out on the town for our anniversary and painted the town milk toast white.


First off, we went to a restaurant called Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant at Vallco Mall (or Cupertino Square; what ever they want to call it). The restaurant was huge! and packed, but we were seated right away. Before we sat down, we were inundated by dim sum carts. The cart drivers(?) were a little aggressive and we got a couple of things we really didn't want because they kept pushing the little steamer baskets at us. Oh well. The food was pretty decent over all, except for a shrimp and veggie dish. We thought the white disks in the basket were water chestnuts or scallops, but they turned out to be sliced dough balls. Oh yeah, and the baus I thought were char siu baus were actually filled with custard. If I knew they were custard baus, they would have been fine. As char siu baus, they were awful. Not what I expected so my mind and tastebuds were discombobulated.

After dim sum, we got to do some things we haven't been able to do the past few months: go to a comic book store, go clothes shopping, go to 2(!) bookstores, and toast our anniversary with bubble tea and Jamba juice. You're probably thinking, what a boring couple. Well, we are. Besides, these are things we haven't been able to relax and do with Gran-Gran recuperating and we running her errands with a whiny toddler. We actually thought about doing something crazy and go out for a movie (oooh), but we couldn't decide on which one (actually we did. It's no longer playing in the area). So, we saw Ruff Ruffman at Macy's instead (no pictures. He was covered with little kids).



After a short pit stop at home, we went out to Kabul Afghan Restaurant. The restaurant is in an odd strip mall, by a Jack In The Box, tanning salon, and a donut place, but boy, was It good! Rick had lamb kabab, and I had gulpi challawa, a type of beef and cauliflower stew. We ended the meal sharing a nice piece of baklava. We want to go back again, and again to try out the other dishes. Maybe we'll be adventurous and bring Emi-chan with us, once she starts eating solids again.

It was a fun, sort of relaxing weekend. Now, for some down time. I don't know if we can take any more excitement.

Random shot with Rick and Emi-chan

Happy Birthday!

Today is Rick's birthday! May the Force be with you this year, Papa!

A Wedding

Recently, Julie and Ozzy got married in a private ceremony and invited friends to a fun and relaxing reception on the beach. We were a little worried about the weather, but it was a gorgeous day in Santa Cruz.


Julie looked lovely and happy, and Ozzy relaxed and manly. And there was a lot of good food and good friends.

We got a late start and got stuck in traffic (slowed down by 3 accidents), and we circled for about 15 minutes looking for parking once we got to the beach, so we were over a hour late. Once we got there, we found out there was no need to rush. The reception hadn't started yet. Phew.

It was Emi-chan's first time at the beach, so like any good toddler, she got grumpy and didn't want to be put down. Carrying her around was no problem when she was an infant. Now that she's a 28-pound 17-month-old, not so easy any more. The sand seemed to really bother her. Ironic, since she's always eating fistfuls of the stuff whenever we go to the park. Once we got her out of the sun and she saw a few familiar faces, like Auntie Selena and Uncle Nathan (see Nathan, I said something nice!), she loosened up and started having fun.

Emi-chan loved playing with the other kids, following after some friendly dogs, and especially playing in the water. She got upset whenever we took her away from the water. She's turning into a true water baby.

Yeah! Water!

The kids at play.

It was a joy filled day celebrating Julie and Ozzy's day.

Introducing...

...the cute and wonderful little Mizuki! Isn't she a doll? Rick, Grandma, and Grandpa had a good time visiting her, Ted, and Yumiko 2 weekends ago. I can't wait to meet her in person. Poor Emi-chan. She's going to be dethroned.


Here are the tired but proud parents. Don't worry. You'll eventually get some sleep.

July Synopsis

Finally! I have some time to blog! It's been a stressful month trying to take care of Gran Gran. Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa, and some kind friends have been very generous in giving their time to babysit Emi-chan and cook a couple of dinners for us.

This month hasn't been all depressing and stressful, actually. We were able to have a few fun, mostly carefree days.

Auntie Julie and Emi-chan

The first event was celebrating Julie and Ozzy's engagement (yeah)! The dinner/shower was held at Sonoma Chicken Coop in Campbell. The food was pretty good. Much better than I expected. We were tucked into an out of the way corner of the restaurant (we had to go through a maze to get there), but there was plenty of space to move around, to relax, visit people, and let the kids run around. And run around they did. Emi-chan loved it, especially playing with the little girls. Also, this is where Emi-chan learned how to scream and we all learned how LOUD she can get (her screams feel like a sharp skewer going through your head, over and over and over again). It was a fun night celebrating a joyful event.

More of a poof than a boom

The second day was Fourth of July. We drove down to Monterey to Uncle Vince's house for a B-B-Q and to watch the fireworks from the hill he and his mom lives on. His sister and sons were in town for a week long visit. We wondered if we would be able to see the fireworks because of the fog that rolled in and the smoke from the Big Sur fires. Sure enough, the fireworks were pretty lackluster. When the fireworks went off, most were lost in the fog and smoke. What didn't get lost, got cut off. We saw some pretty clouds, though. The most important part of the day was that we got to eat some good food...and hang out with friends. It was fun just eating, laughing, and relaxing.

Yeah! I'm the center of attention!

The third event was Emi-chan's first visit to the Build-A-Bear Workshop for Hannah's birthday. Emi-chan was so excited. First, there were so many bears! and accessories (she loves the bling)! and all these kids! She didn't know what to make of it. She spent most of her time laughing, clapping her hands, running around, and screeching. Good thing the bear stuffing machines are loud. They muffled the painful parts of her screeches. She chose a doggie to stuff. Actually, I chose the doggie and its accessories because she was too busy running around accosting other kids and trying to take their animals. Ah yes. I can see her in the future. Emi-chan the playground bully. Anyways,she loved it at the Build-A-Bear Workshop. I might take her back sometime in the future, when we have more time, more money (the animals are fairly inexpensive; it's the paraphernalia you gotta buy that'll get ya!), and when she stops taking things from other kids...so it means we won't be back for a really long time.

So, we had a fairly good but busy month. Hopefully, the next month will be fairly quiet (hope, hope, please God, please!).

Note: Although this post was started on July 25th, I didn't actually get it done until July 28th.

I'll Be Back...

Things are starting to calm down a little bit at the Yoshida Shire, but I'm exhausted. Gran-Gran is getting better, and Emi-chan's teeth aren't bothering her as much...although I think she's giving us a taste of the terrible two's lately.

I'm working on a new post. Hopefully I'll have it up soon. Until then, please enjoy these videos I found during my moments of insomnia.

I want to dance with stormtroopers, too!

How geeky, I have most of the insults from this movie memorized.



Glue! I need glue!

Yeah!

Some good news! I'm an auntie now! And Rick is an uncle and Emi-chan has a cousin! Ted and Yumiko had their baby a couple of nights ago. Her name is Mizuki Kylie (I hope I spelled her name right) and she's so cute. We saw her on a web cam (not of the birth, but a few hours after). No photos, yet (HINT, HINT). We hope to see her in person soon,

A Mind Going in Circles

Gran-Gran is laid up with a broken hip. Emi-chan is teething - again. Unca Jeff is depressed. I keep losing my wallet, car keys, and cell phone. The air quality sucks because of the wild fires. Gas prices are worse. How do I help Gran-Gran when she gets back home? What do I cook for dinner tomorrow? What stores have the cheapest prices for groceries? Where did Emi-chan's shoes go? When is Rick going to buy new shoes? Can I afford to buy another pair of shoes? This is just the tip of the iceberg of the things that have been on my mind. No wonder I can't sleep. Oh, to be a toddler and have no real worries. But then again, she might have some worries I can't see.

Happy Father's Day

I'm late! But I hope all the father's out there had a good day today. Hopefully it was full of fun, laughter, and no bad attitude.

Fun Times

It's been a busy last few weeks at the Yoshida Shire. Where do I start? First, Rick, Emi-chan and I were totally rooting for Larissa on Jeopardy and was totally bummed when she lost after 7 days. She was awesome! We thought she was going to be the next Ken Jennings. After a little lull, we watched Sameer Mishra win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Yeah Sameer! We were on the edge of our seats. Then, there was a 10 millionth showing of the Deadliest Catch marathon. Every time it's on, we have to watch it. (Discovery Channel must have a Deadliest Catch marathon on every other week. On the off weeks, it's either Mythbusters or Dirty Jobs...don't they have any other shows?) Will Captain Sig and the Northwestern catch their quota of opilio crab? Will Blake get a chance to captain the Maverick? Are these men insane to fish during ice storms? Yes, yes, and yes. Emi-chan gets so excited when she sees kids, we let her watch the Jon and Kate Plus Eight marathon. She loves the show. This show has made us thankful that we do not have more than one. Now, Sci-Fi channel is showing more Star Trek! Star Trek: The Next Generation is on Monday nights, and on Tuesday nights, Star Trek: Enterprise is on. Oh boy! More Klingons! More Borg! More fake science! Good thing TNT wasn't showing a Lord of the Rings marathon, or we would never get anything done.

By now, you're probably thinking, do the Yoshida's do things other than watch TV? Do they go outside? And the answer is: Yes and yes...sometimes...when the pollen count is low, and the sun isn't out. Only kidding. We do go out to get food and toilet paper and stuff.

This past Memorial Day, Rick and I thought it might be fun to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and visit Uncle Vince. So, with guest passes in hand (thanks D and Uncle Rich!) we made our way down and hung out with Vince, Nathan and Selena. After lunch, Rick took a nap and we the rest of us hung out. Then we realized the aquarium was going to close in 2 or 3 hours, so we got ready and woke Rick up and headed to the aquarium. Once we got in, we were hit by a wall of people. Holy cow, I thought, there's more people here than fish! We couldn't take our time to look at most of the displays, but what we saw were awesome. They did a great job updating the Splash Zone. Emi-chan was intimidated by the crowds so she really didn't try out the exhibits, but she enjoyed being held and watching the fish and sea otters up close.

Checking out the sea otters

Hanging out with Uncle Vince

Ohh. Jellies

We are family...at least 2 of us are having fun

On June 1st, we went to Calina's 30-something birthday party. Ken, her hubby, actually said it was a party to celebrate the last year of her 30ies, but 30-something sounds better. It was a fun night catching up with friends we haven't seen in awhile. We found out Emi-chan likes udon noodles. Rick caught her sticking her fist into Daniel's bowl and eating out of it. Daniel was in a bit of a shock. I don't know if he finished eating out of that bowl.

Happy Birthday, Calina!

So, as you can see, we do get out sometimes. Now, back to My Name is Earl reruns...

Busy Weekend Part 3

Sunday was the final party. It was a friends luau themed baby shower at Kenny and Lisa's home. Rick and I went a little later (the shower started around noon) because Grandma and Grandpa were packing up to leave, and we wanted to see if Emi-chan would nap. Ted and Yumiko went to the party on time.

After lunch, Rick and I left for the party (Emi-chan wouldn't nap) and got there around 3 PM. People were playing a game where each person receives a bowl full of uncooked rice with little tiny safety pins mixed in. The object of the game is to try to pick out the safety pins out of the rice with your eyes closed within a minute. Sounds simple? No it isn't! It's hard to feel the pins. They're almost the same size as the grains of rice and slippery. Some people were pretty good at the game. Others weren't. I was one of the worst ones. I think I only got one safety pin.

A fun but messy game

Then, Ted and Yumiko opened their gifts. It was fun to see what they received. We gave them a Pikachu pillow, a Miffy doll and DVD, and a cute little baby outfit.

Miffy vs. Pikachu: Who Will Win?

There was tons of Hawaiian food at the party, although looking at this picture, you'd think there was only cake, but they were all good.

Emi-chan did fine at the party. She ate all the rice on a Spam musubi (she didn't like the Spam) and played nicely with Hannah (for once, we didn't have to worry about her gouging some other child's eyes out).


Ted and Yumiko stayed until Monday morning and drove home. It was a busy, crazy, and hectic weekend, but it was so much fun and it was wonderful to celebrate with so many people the life of Ted and Yumiko's baby.

Busy Weekend Part 2

After the last post, Rick asked me if I was doing okay. He said it was a little dark and sarcastic. I think I was still recovering from Emi-chan's illness and was a little snarky. Sorry if I offended anybody. We all had a blast that day. Anyways, on to the next post...

On Saturday, we had the official family shower for Yumiko and Ted. It held at Tomokazu Japanese Restaurant in Cupertino. With only a few gaffes (the helium tank for the balloons was empty; Starbuck's coffee lost my order for coffee for the party - grrr!), the party was a success. One happy surprise was that the cakes showed up on time! I had some problems with the bakery, so I was a little nervous that they wouldn't arrive.

About 60 - 65 people came. There were Yoshida's, Hanaki's, Nagatoishi's, and Texiera's. They came as far as Sacramento (or somewhere near Sacto) and Los Angeles area (sorry. I can't quite remember where people came from). Grandma's Auntie Lily, who was visiting her daughter Brenda, was able to come. She's from Hilo, Hawaii (I remembered one place :D). It was nice to see people we haven't seen in a long time. One of the aunties I haven't seen since our wedding. Actually, there were a lot of relatives I haven't seen since our wedding so it was nice to see them again. Good thing Auntie Susie had us wear name tags. I couldn't remember a few people's names and how we're related.

Since Yumiko and Ted didn't have a cake to cut at their wedding, we made them cut the cake like at a wedding reception.

Aren't they cute?

Aww. Very cute.

It felt like we spent hours and hours eating and chatting. After the party, the Hanaki side of the family went out to eat, again. This time to China Stix restaurant. This was only an hour or two after the first party ended. We thought no one would eat because we were so full, but no one had any problem eating. I think it was the good food enhanced by the good company.

Even after we ate at China Stix, we still
hung out a little bit longer

We were pooped!

Busy Weekend Part 1

Finally I'm getting around to writing about Ted and Yumiko's Baby Shower weekend. It's been a hectic couple of weeks. When Rick and I thought we were finally rested and back on our feet, Emi-chan got sick and we all had a miserable time. She's finally on the mend, and so are we.

On Friday, most of the Hanaki side of the family (Grandma's family) were in town, so it was decided for the people who could make it, to get together for dim sum on Friday. We were told to meet at the Koi Palace in Daly City, near Serramonte Mall. Unfortunately, we got our directions mixed up and ended up at the wrong side of the mall. Oops. After a few frantic phone calls, Rick's cousin, Kim, got us on the right tract (I want to know, whose bright idea was it was to build a bunch of restaurants around a dinky parking lot behind an office complex? Huh? But I digress from the main story).

Koi Palace was PACKED. And NOISY. Emi-chan didn't like the place at all (Why are all the good dim sum places PACKED? And NOISY? I guess they wouldn't be if it wasn't any good. Another digression). We had a little trouble trying to figure out how to order items (Where are the carts with the bamboo baskets? We have to fill out what? Why do the servers keep asking us if we wanted food if we didn't order it? What's that? What are we eating?). I think the servers were annoyed with us, but who cares. The food was good (I loved the sesame seed balls!) and we all had a good time, except, of course, Emi-chan.

After we ate and squeezed our way out of the restaurant, the clan moved on to Golden Gate Park, specifically to a section called the Koret Children's Quarter. It's an awesome kid's playground! So much to see and do. The carousel was close by, so a we took Emi-chan on her first ride (thanks Kim!). The carousel is beautifully restored and I was really excited to ride it. Of course, Emi-chan loved it.

Here is her look of sheer delight and joy.

Actually, she HATED it and tried to climb off a couple of times. A sad thing. A child hating her first carousel ride. A sadder thing is both Rick and I got really, really sick riding the darn thing. I thought I was going to hurl, pass out, or both. Both Rick and I were so sick, we had a hard time walking after we got off. So sad. I used to have no problems on fun rides, like roller coasters, but now I can't even handle a carousel. But here are some pictures of people who had fun:

Here is cutie pie Ellis and his cute mama, Kim

Yahoo, Uncle Ken!

When we felt better, we made our way to the park and Emi-chan had a great time there (another digression: the people who run the park need to put in better restrooms). She was fascinated by these funny little seats that you sit in, and using your body weight, it spins around and around. She refused to get on, but loved it when other kids were on. She cackled the whole time while she watched.


Emi-chan and I had fun climbing around the toddler-sized play structures and going down the slide (I didn't get stuck! Yeah!).

Okay, so I had fun on the play structures and going down the slide.

Here's Emi-chan checking out her competition, Molly and Connor

After an hour or so of hanging out with the kids, and catching up with some of the cousins, we all had to leave. Getting out of the park was a little tricky (whose great idea was it to put a parking lot on a freaking cracked, slanted driveway with a big old freaking tree in the middle of it? Why didn't they chop down the tree, or better yet, find a better place for a parking lot where disabled people and baby carriages won't roll down the stupid hill? But I digress yet again).

It was a busy but fun day. Now, onto the next day...

Happy Mother's Day

The tea roses are blooming in our "garden." Rick is making dinner. Emi-chan is napping. I ate a brownie, 3 pieces of chocolate, a bowl of ice cream, and meat loaf and mashed potatoes, in that order. So far, so good.

Burnt Out

This past weekend Ted and Yumiko's baby shower, belated wedding reception, and family reunion. Plus there was a couple of family get togethers and another baby shower for them. I'll be posting about them soon, but right now, I'm pooped. Plus Emi-chan's molars are coming in and she's pretty miserable, and in turn, is making mama and papa miserable, too.

Until I'm able to post again, please enjoy these videos (the things I find while looking around in YouTube):

A Little Praise

No photo this time around. I've been too tired and distracted to take any pictures. There was a breakthrough, though. Emi-chan began eating solids again! But very, very tentatively. Still, it's a praise! She still won't eat bread or rice, but she'll pick at penne pasta (but not elbow macaroni). Right now, she can't stand mac and cheese. She's developed a taste for tofu, but only if it's cooked in miso soup, and only miso soup. She'll also eat some of the wakame in miso soup. She likes strawberries. An odd habit she's developed is that she'll suck the meat out of blueberries and leave the skins. Emi-chan now no longer likes beef, but sometimes will eat a little bit of chicken. If she could eat eggs 3 - 4 times a day, she would, but I won't let her. The funny thing is, Emi-chan is still pretty adventurous. She'll usually try what ever we give her, although it comes right back at us, although today she did eat a piece of oshinko maki and seemed to like it. I guess, we just have to keep on trying.

Dark Force

Emi-chan stopped eating solid foods about 2 weeks ago. No bread. No rice. No chicken. No little bits of veggies. No pancakes. Nothing harder than custard. Plus, what ever she ate or drank couldn't be too hot or too cold, but couldn't be room temperature, either. Couldn't be too grainy, or too gooey, or too sticky. Some items she wanted to feed herself, others I had to feed her. The rules changed frequently and randomly. All she wanted to eat were bananas, yogurt (at least she let me put wheat germ in the yogurt), gourmet organic pureed baby food, and lots and lots of milk and formula. Because she wasn't eating any solids, she would get hungry quite quickly. So that meant instead of usually feeding her 4 times a day, I had to feed her 6 or 7 times a day. Including 2 AM and sometimes 5 AM. It felt like we returned to the days when she was a wee infant and had to be fed constantly, except she doesn't stay in one place. She now runs around, screaming and crying that she's hungry, bored, or both.

Now, she's starting to eat some solids again, like tempura and scrambled eggs, but she still won't eat bread or rice. Some people suggested that she's probably teething. Maybe her molars are starting to come in and eating solids bother her. Rick has another theory: