Monterey Bay Aquarium

Alexi and his best friend went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium this week. The kids had a blast exploring and seeing all the fish and aquatic animals. The splash zone was a huge hit with the under 3 crowd. There were tons of things to touch and feel. Alexi liked dressing up as a fish, and in the end, ran himself to exhaustion. He fell asleep on the way out...perfect trip!

Happy New Year!

Oh, I've been very bad about blogging lately. Now that we're back to normal(ish) life I'm putting forth more of an effort to keep up with the blogging!

This year is going to be quite an interesting experience for all of us. The Hubs is working harder than ever before. Alexi has started Spanish Immersion preschool, and will likely move into a full time pre-school program in the fall. Math is turning into a full blown big kid right in front of our eyes, and I've decided to go pro on the photographing front. Should be a wild ride :0)

Why you have to have a Mac when you travel...

Alexi and I are currently in Pennsylvania visiting family. Math and The Hubs stayed behind since they both had school and work. I took my MacBook with built in iSight with us, and we were able to use iChat video conferencing to talk about our day and say our goodnights. Alexi's favorite part was when his dad and brother superimposed themselves into an aquarium and did a bunch of other zany special effects for his benefit :0)

Halloween Fiesta!

Our friends threw a Halloween birthday party last weekend for their son who was born on October 31st! The kids all dressed up in their costumes, and we ate some pretty incredible paella, too! :0)

Parent Dish Daily Cuties

I got a message from a friend on Facebook today informing me she saw my kids featured as the "Daily Cutie" on Parentdish.com today!

Makes me happy since I love this photo :0)

Alexander Peers Park

Our family has really come to enjoy Alexander Peers Park. Having two kids that are very spread out in age (6 years) there's something for both of them to enjoy, and plenty of shade for us parental units. There are several tennis courts, a wide open space for running, and a really cool rock-form play structure. It's also set back from the street, and is along the train line. Every now and then you get an opportunity to point and hear the Caltrain whoosh by!

Samuraí Exhibit

Yesterday was the last day of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum's Samuraí exhibit. So cool! We both learned tons of stuff and took in the glorious sunny weather. While the Samuri exhibit is no longer going on, the museum itself is chock full of intersting art, programs, and resources. Not to mention it's in a gorgeous building full of amazing architecture at every turn.

My older son and I have been exploring what it means to be Asian, or in his case half Asian, together. I'm adopted and growing up I didn't really think much about what it means to be Asian. I grew up in an Irish Catholic family and was loved and happy...really it didn't occur to me to question my cultural identity till I had kids of my own.

I've explained to my son for awhile now that he is half Korean and half Caucasian, and he is also adopted and he is also American. He's more obsessed with making time travel happen at the moment so this isn't a subject that comes up often. Again, yesterday we talked about how he was of Asian decent and how the cultures and foods and folkways and mores are different than the ones he's grown up with. He seemed to think the whole thing was pretty cool since, in his mind, being Asian makes him half ninja warrior...okay, kid, okay.

Natural Light Photography

Apeture f/2.2, 1/200, ISO 800, 50mm fixed.

I'm still dabbling in the whole photography thing. I'm really concentrating on tweaking natural light to work to my advantage and trying not to get lured in by softboxes and strobes... I went out of my comfort range and bumped up my ISO to 800...not bad, eh?

Woops and Joy...

Okay, comments were down for awhile with the new blog design, but now back up again.

Alexi gave me a break today and was pretty much an angel baby (except for the last half of the movie we took him to, but that was kindof a given). Makes days like yesterday seem like a distant memory :0)

Terrible 2s...and then some

Seriously, where did my sweet, happy-go-lucky baby go? I want him back! From one moment to the next I never know what's going to set him off...a toy? a book? popcorn? I feel like I'm stuck with a manic-depressive ex-boyfriend (on speed) all the time. Help!

Biking babies

So it's official...Math can now ride a two wheeler! Alexi is trying his best to keep up!

Haven't Disappeared...

Thing have been busy and haven't been able to give the blog proper attention of late! I will get back to being a faithful blogger in the near future, hopefully as soon as things settle down a bit.

Preparing for a trip to LA starting tomorrow! Dinner at Bazaar, Disney delirium, Sister in Law's graduation, and then chillaxin' with the family! Good times, good times :0) Updates when I return!

Community School of Music and Art

The Community School of Music and Art in Mountain View is by far the most amazing place! I signed Math up for a comic book drawing class last month and he's been digging it big time! The class has some classic components like learning basic anatomy drawing and pen and ink filling, but it's also very fun and laid back. Math is learning a lot, but having a blast all the while. I have a feeling we are going to be here a lot for the foreseeable future.

If you're not sure your wee-one is ready for a full fledged series of classes you can sign-up ahead of time to take part in a One-Day Saturday Funshop class. For $35 you and Junior can enjoy a two part music and art session with some of the finest early childhood education facilities around. The class is broken into two 45 minute sessions with a snack break in-between. Classes are developmentally appropriate, and is wonderful hands on exploration for any youngster.

Here's some photos of Alexander chilling at CSMA while we waited for Math's class to be over.

Pretty Pictures

I've spent my day searching how to combine photos. Finally figured it out. Check it:

Taken by my 8 year old son with a tripod and some good lighting :0)

Shameless Shooting Shoutout

Seems like everyone these days is a budding photographer. I don't claim to be one, nor even close by any standards, but I really do enjoy it a lot! I'm also enjoying the learning process even though it's grueling...sometimes it seems like great photographers don't want to share how they do it, and the others want you to pay for it, lol. But, there's a wealth of information and technique tips if you know where to look!

I love the Pioneer Woman. She breaks everything down into easy to follow directions - recipes, decorating, heck, even Photoshop! She had a guest blog post by a photographer who did a tutorial on doorway photography. I tried it out...so fun! So cute!


Lens was an 85mm fixed, 1.8f. ISO 200. I used Photoshop to sharpen up the eyes and a minor boost, but the lighting is all natural :0)