Silver Oak Release Party

Once again this year, Elisa and I made our way up to the Alexander Valley for the Silver Oak Release party. Silver Oak only makes Cabernet and is one of my favorites. They pour the new release as well as some old ones throughout the day. Plus they have a lot of amazing food as well. It was another fun day. Does it look like we were having any fun?

We Be Tours

Well another weekend and another tour. As soon as Greg left town my friend Bret came into town. He is teaching at the University of Nevada now and was in town for a Conference. We picked him up at his hotel and were off to show him our standard Saturday tour. Greg should remember that one. We went over the Golden Gate to Sausilito and then to the Palace of Fine Art followed by a drive down the coast before dinner at our Malaysian & Thai restaurant. It was really good to see him and fun to talk about our early years. The kids enjoyed his stories of things we had done. We will go up and see his family as soon as the kids finish their Dragon Boat season. This weekend we will be heading down to Southern California to hit Knott's Berry Farm and then go to Venice Beach as well as our usual hangouts. On another note the kids were sure ragging on Greg his last day in the city. They couldn't believe he would rather hang out with his "Computer" friends instead of hanging out with them. It was fun to have him here.

Greg at Big Trees

Notice the homage to Mike?

Greg and Kids at Treasure Island

Greg and Dean at Golden Gate Bridge

Greg on Twin Peaks

Greg and Elisa at The Palace of Fine Arts

D'oh!

Well this past weekend was very busy for us. On Friday Ethan graduated from High School and Elisa and the kids were able to go to his Commencement. We are very proud of him and the hard work he put into it to make it happen. On Saturday we went to see the new "Simpson's Movie", I will have to give it a thumbs up. It was a very funny movie which had me laughing throughout. I highly recommend it to you all to see. On Sunday we went to see the Giants play, hoping to see Barry Bonds hit the tying and hopefully record breaking home run. But alas, it was not to be. Later that night we had a dinner for Ethan to celebrate his graduation. Last week we also had dinner with our first tour group to China and will be going out to dinner again this Thursday. It's always good to see them. Glad to hear the cruise was so much fun and that you all were able to find something to eat while you were gone.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday?

Yesterday it actually rained here in the Bay Area. It was the very first recorded rainfall ever for this date, which explains the title of my blog. Mom will probably be the only one that gets it though. On another note, we received an e-mail reply from our tour guide Jackie that we had in Guillin. He was not completely sure if we were the same ones in Guillin so we sent him some photo's we had taken together. Look forward to hearing back from him. Aside from that not much else is going on. Later!

25 Year Anniversary

The beginning of this year I completed my 25th year of working for Chevron. With every 5 years of service that you have, you are entitled to a luncheon on Chevron. The number of years you have also determines how many people you can invite as well as the gift you can choose from. Being that I had reached 25 I was allowed to have a dinner instead of a lunch which I chose to do. I chose to go to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. I had tried to have this while Mom was in town, but I couldn't get everybody together during that time. I invited 3 of my friends along with Elisa and my boss. I chose Ruth's because in my opinion it is the best steak I have ever had. When you order the steak you get nothing with it except the steak, the rib eye I had was $43 for the steak alone. You then order the side dishes which are just as good. Elisa ordered a lobster and the smallest they had was a 3 1/2 pounder. It was a good size puppy. I enjoyed a couple bottles of wine that were about $80 per bottle. I was presented with my gift which was a very nice Movado watch that I had ordered. I certainly didn't need another watch, but I didn't want a belt buckle or pocket knife. It was a very nice time with some old friends and some amazing food. Wonder if I will make it another 25 years?

Memorial Day Weekend

Hope you all had a very enjoyable long weekend. Except for Mom, where they are all long weekends. The King and I went to Carnaval on Saturday, which is the Latin version of Mardi Gras. There were lots of great food and many booths full of Hispanic themed items. Sunday we got up early and went to Walnut Creek to Heather Farms for a picnic with some of the King's friends and co-workers. Did I mention that prior to leaving the house, "Houston" we have a problem. We had fully loaded up the Mercedes and were pulling out of the driveway when something didn't feel right. The left rear tire was flat. So we unloaded everything in the car so that we could change the flat. Unfortunately, the King did not get all of the manuals for her car and it took us a while to figure out how to get to the spare and what we had was in German. After a while we were able to get the little doughnut tire on the car and back into the garage and load the Lexus for the trip across the bay. The picnic was held at Heather Farms which is a real nice Park over in Walnut Creek. They had a large playground for the kids as well as an Olympic sized swimming pool. The kids went swimming later in the afternoon and had a good time. Then on Monday we arose once again early for another trip across the Bay, this time to pick cherries. We went to Brentwood with some friends and their parents to pick cherries. You can basically go to Brentwood and pick anything you desire. The have apricots, strawberries and cherries in season now with peaches coming soon. After a few hours of picking and eating cherries we went back to their house and went out for Sushi. It was a very busy weekend, which was fun, but I felt like it was gone too fast. On another note, we were awful glad to hear that the exploits of the Passport turned out well. We were glued to our computers in anticipation of what was going to happen. I hope the girls are enjoying their trip, because I know Greg was stressing about it.

Redwood Shores Regatta

Well last weekend the kids Dragon boat team was invited to participate in the Redwood Shores Regatta. This event is located south of San Francisco near Redwood City. The event is for adult and college teams to participate in. The kids team was invited since they had won the High School Championships. There were several races during the day which determine your class ranking. The kids once again messed up and did well enough to place in the "A" Division Finals, which is the best one. They were up against 4 adult teams and a team from UCLA. They ended up coming in last but were with a half a boat length of the winner. They did manage to do better and beat teams like Stanford, UC Berkeley and UC Davis. It was funny to listen to the other teams once they realized they were just high school kids. They may not have won any awards but they certainly held their own and made us very proud of them.

Congratulations Auna!

Congratulations to Auna today on her graduation from High School. We are very proud of you and wish we could be there for your special day. Try not to trip on your way across the stage. Just kidding! Love you!

Happy Birthday Pops!

We Love You!

Happy Birthday Greg!

We would all like to wish Greg a very Happy 41st Birthday! Please be careful today as you are not getting any younger. Perhaps a day of drooling at the Bass Pro Shop is in order? We love you and hope you have a great day.

Happy Birthday April!

The West Coast Crew would like to wish April a very Happy Birthday! We hope you have a wonderful day. Love You!

Traffic Nightmare

As you all probably heard we had a little accident out here this past weekend. A tanker wrecked, blew up and destroyed a major intersection that allows me to get to San Ramon every day. Fortunately for us, the fact that we leave so early in the morning helps us. We took the detours they have set up and it added between 5-7 minutes this morning by going through the surface streets of Oakland. There should not be any problems for us when we go home. But it will be a "Nightmare" for anyone that works in San Francisco and has to go home that way this evening. I think it will add an extra hour to their commute. We are lucky because we have the reverse commute. Aside from that, it was Elijah's 16th birthday yesterday. He chose to spend the day hanging out with his friends in San Francisco and then we took him out to dinner when he got home. I had spent the day painting his room with a "little" help from Crysta. The King and I were going to get the Visa's for China today but the Consulate is closed for two days and after reading UK blog, I now know why.We will get them this Thursday instead. Aside from that it was pretty quiet around here. We are sure that Mike is very happy about the draft and figure he already has his Peterson jersey. Later!

China Trip

Since I am not sure if UK sees the e-mail I send him, I am trying the blog as another source of info. We will be arriving on June 13th at 5:25 pm at Pudong Airport on United flight 857. There will be 6 of us this time as the King's mother will be joining us. We will be in Shanghai until a Monday morning flight at 8:10 am out of Pudong Airport to Xian. This should give you a little time to figure what might be the best way to get us to the airport on that Monday morning. Would a ride on the Maglev train be a possibility? Look forward to seeing you!

Stockholder's Meeting

Today was Chevron's Annual Stockholder's meeting in San Ramon. I was asked to volunteer and help out at the event, which I agreed to do. They didn't tell me when I volunteered that I would have to wear a suit. But thankfully with the weight I have lost, I must admit it actually fit me pretty good. I was assigned to the Security part of it which required me to search everyone's bags and to confiscate any electronic devices that they might have. It was actually pretty interesting and all of the people were pretty easy going about it. A few didn't like having to leave their phones with us, but these were the same people that missed the 10 signs leading from the parking lot saying they were not allowed. I most enjoyed the more mature ladies asking me when the gas prices were going to come down. They said they had gotten no answers from the Board of Directors so I told them that they were going down tomorrow. All in all it was a pretty interesting day and will certainly help out again next year if asked.

The Race Is On!

Here the two are in one of their qualifying races for the mixed teams. You can see them circled on the photo. It was a very cold and windy day on the lake and it started to rain prior to the Championship races.

Crysta Banging Her Drum

Crysta is banging the drum to keep them in rhythm. Elijah is the one right in front of her. We were hoping she wouldn't drop the drum stick and thought about taping it to her hand. Not really, they both did very well!

Dragon Boat Races

Well this past Saturday was the High School Dragon Boat Championships. We arose early to have our two contestants there by 7:00 AM on an overcast and rainy day. The kids first race was not until 10:15 so we had some time to stand around. Elijah and Crysta were on the same boat this year, while Elijah paddled on the all boys team as well. Crysta was the drummer for the boys team also. They did not win any medals this year but it's not because they did bad. They actually did better than they did at the meet in September of last year. You have qualifying races throughout the morning to determine your Division, which consist of "A - D" Last year they surprised everyone and won the "B" Division. Well this year they messed up (not really) and qualified for the "A" Division finals. It was the first time that one school had 3 of the 6 teams in the "A" Division finals. So suffice it to say that they were going up against the very best and held their own. The Gold Team from their school Lincoln which is mainly Seniors won the event. They may not have won any medals but they certainly improved over what they did last year.

Happy Birthday Edge!

The King and I as well as Crysta and Eli would like to wish Edge a very happy birthday. We hope you have a great time today and wish we could be there for your party. We love you buddy!

Easter Weekend

We awoke Saturday morning to the sound of someone and their jack hammer making a lot of noise. The King asked what is was and after I told her she got dressed and was out the door. About 10 minutes later she was back and had arranged for the guys that were making all of the noise to come to our house and widen our driveway. By the time she had finished with them she had gotten them to reduce the price by $250. She's good at that. After that the King and I went to see the Giants and Dodgers play on Saturday, unfortunately we lost, but it was nice to get out and watch a game. We then cooked some chicken out on the grill later that evening. On Sunday her and I went into Chinatown for a little shopping and then got home in time to take Elijah to an event he was having at the school. After picking him up I planted a bunch of flowers in some pots that we had bought to spruce up the back yard some more. The kids then went out to dinner with their Paternal Grandparents. Hope you all had a great Easter and it was really nice to be able to see you all and talk to you.

Ching Ming

The kids are on Spring Break this week so the King and I took yesterday off with them. We got up and went to Chinatown for supplies and then took off to the Chinese Cemetery for Ching Ming. It is a Chinese tradition of visiting the ancestors. We took rice wine, fruit, dim sum and incense and candles. You burn the candles, light the incense and then burn paper money and such so that they have money and gold in the after life. You pour the wine on the ground for them and leave food. Then you eat the rest of the food for yourself while you are there. Most people went on the weekend but we went on Monday, there was no one there which was very nice.It's always been very busy. Sunday night was the Tam Family Association dinner which is the King's mother's clan. The King's uncle is one of the leaders of the group. There was the typical 10 course dinner and the ever popular Karaoke singing. NOT!! The rest of the weekend was either spent at Home Debit as I continue to work on the back yard or shopping for new clothes to take to China.

Weekend Update

Well, not a whole lot to report for this past weekend. I started walking in the Park again now that the weather is nicer. It's a lot more scenic than walking through the neighborhood. The King and I took the kids to practice on Saturday and then went shopping at Home Debit. We picked up a nice "Money Tree" for her Dad. After we picked the kids up from practice, we picked up Estella who is Francy's daughter. Francy is the King's best friend in Hong Kong who played our tour guide for the first few days we were in Hong Kong last year. We were taking Estella out for her birthday. We went and had Sushi at our favorite place and then went to the Mall. Elijah took off once we got there and I was left with the girls. All three of them were in their shopping mode. I found myself enjoying having two girls but do not think I could afford it. Estella spent the night and played video games with Elijah most of the evening. On Sunday we took Estella home and the kids to their paternal grandparents which left the King and I a chance to go to Costco. We picked up a few trees to plant out back and then went to Ross. It was a pretty quite weekend. Later!

Happy Birthday Auna

We all want to wish Auna a very happy 18th birthday! Hope you have a wonderful day and can not believe you are already 18. Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Clean Up

Well I woke up on Saturday morning and for some reason I decided to clean out the back yard junk. All of the stuff that has been collected over the years sitting on the lower level of the yard. I just started loading it all in a van that I had and took off to the dump. After the first load I was just ready to go back and get some more. Eventually I had completely emptied out all of the junk and now have a spotless backyard. Now all I need to do is get the portable building I want to put down there. After that I finished Crysta's room by putting up her mini blinds and doing a little touch up painting. After that I went outside and pulled weeds from the back yard. Yesterday I came into the office and set all of the clocks. After that is was back home to see what the gang was up to. Not much, we then went to the grocery store picked up a few steaks and grilled the steaks and some lamb chops for dinner with the King's parents. I will go home today and clean out the aquarium. Fun!!!

Catching Up

Last night we went out to dinner with two of the families that we were on the tour to China last year with. The family with the twin girls and everyone's favorite little boy. The King's parents went along with us as well and everyone had a great time. Everyone looked well and the kids picked right back up where they left off. The talk was to go back to China as a group in 2009. They all said to tell Momlls hello! There was a lot of good food but I am trying to eat less. I was very inspired by the news of Greg and Jeanne new slim physiques that I am trying to lose some weight as well. Kudos to both of you! I have been walking as much as I can and I climb the 5 flights of stairs at work 10 times a day. I have lost about 10 pounds in the last month and look to lose a lot more. If nothing else I feel better.

The Celebration has Ended

This past weekend officially ended the New Year's Festivities for another year. The Chinese New Years parade was held on Saturday night with the Street Fair on both Saturday and Sunday. We went out to dinner with some friends on Saturday night for another dinner. We went to a new place fr us and had a very "special" version of the Monk Dinner. It was mostly pretty tasty. We then went to Chinatown for Dim Sum on Sunday morning and then checked out the Street Fair. I was a little disappointed. I had money to buy things, but just didn't see anything that I could live without. We then went out for dinner last night with the King's parents as well as her brother Wing and Ethan and Stephanie. It was fun to hang out with them all. It was a very nice weekend here after it had been raining for a while. I was able to work out back in the yard and wash some cars while the kids were at Dragon Boat practice.

Mother Nature or the King

Last night Crysta and I were in our bedroom watching TV when I noticed a big thud and some rumbling. I said to Crysta that we just had an earthquake. She looked around and said no that was just Mom coming up the stairs. Sure enough about 3 seconds later the King walked into the room and I just thought to myself someones putting on a little weight. But fortunately about 10 minutes later they came out with a news report that we had just had a 4.2 quake or a "Light Quake" This sure made me feel better about the King. Yesterday we also had some snow atop Mount Diablo which is always pretty cool to see, we don't see it very much unless you go to the Sierra's. This weekend will be the Chinese New Year parade and the Street Festival. Not sure we will do the parade, but will probably do the street fair. Hopefully there won't be too much rumblings today from the ground.

Lakers in Town

Well this weekend started off really well. After watching a cooking show, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Po-Boy sandwiches. So the King and I went to our local Asian Market and bought the biggest shrimp we could find. We then proceeded to make some very tasty Po-Boys. The on Saturday it was everyone's birthday in the Chinese Culture. We went for Dim Sum and then took the kids to their first Dragon Boat practice of the year. We then took the King parents with us to Home Debit so we could get some paint for Elijah's room. We then picked up the kids and they went to their paternal grandparents for dinner while the King and I went to dinner with her parents. We then took them to the mall after dinner to walk a little of it off. On Sunday we had tickets to see the Golden State Warriors play the Lakers in basketball. We had all of the kids with us and most of us were wearing our Lakers jerseys. The King was actually pretty good. She had the binoculars attached to her eyes the whole day watching Kobe Bryant. The only time I got worried was when she anted us to wait out by the Lakers bus to see Kobe leave. I told her he would not be out for a while and she reluctantly agreed and we left. We then picked her Dad up and went to dinner. The kids have practice again today. I'm not sure they have gotten over the aches and pains that they acquired on Saturday. It's pretty funny.

Year of the Pig

Gung Hay Fat Choy to everyone! Well it's officially that time of year again. We rose early Saturday to do some last minute shopping in ChinaTown for the festivities. Getting our fresh chicken and other items. The rest of Saturday was spent feverishly cleaning the house prior to midnight, with a rush of showers and hair washing prior to midnight as well. You are not allowed to clean house or wash your hair on New Year's Day as you might wash away any good luck. We arose on Sunday to join every other Asian for Dim Sum. We were all wearing our new clothes that you save for New Year's day preferably red, which you know I was sporting. After that the kids spent the rest of the day with their paternal grandparents. The King and I spent some time running errands before we met her parents and every other Asian again for dinner. The night was spent watching all of the New Year's celebrations that were on the Chinese channels that we get. Events from Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Monday was spent visiting her parents house for some New Years rituals, nothing bizarre. And then we followed it up with the Monk's dinner which has to be one of my favorites? It consist of dried mushrooms, dried oysters and black hair moss. And the really fresh chicken, all of him. This weekend we will be celebrating again in the morning and the evening with our very close friends the Asian community. On Saturday it is everyone's birthday in the Chinese community. I guess it's mine as well, so we will be celebrating those as well. And then on Sunday we will all be going to see the Lakers play the Golden State Warriors in a basketball game.

Happy Birthday G-Man

All of us at West Coast Peavine want to wish G-Man a very Happy Birthday. Hope you have a great day and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Rainy Weekend

Well it has finally been raining around here which is something we could use. A lot of people are starting to get nervous. I remember it did the same thing last year, and then it rained for 35 straight days starting at the end of February. Crysta and I finally got around to painting her room on Saturday. I really hate to paint and had been putting it off until it was a rainy weekend with nothing else to do. It really made it so much easier having her help me. She was able to paint in the corners and the lower parts of the walls leaving me to do the higher parts. We really did a god job together and her room looks really nice. She picked out a really nice shade of blue. Next we will have Elijah pick out some paint and do his room. While her and I were doing that, The King and Elijah took her mother into Chinatown to buy food and such for Chinese New Year. It will be on February 18th this year and we had our first New Years dinner last night at one of their favorite restaurants. That means that this Saturday they will all be busy cleaning the house before New Years and then I can look forward to one of my favorite dishes. The black hair moss. Yum!

Queen Mary 2

We didn't do much of anything this weekend. Did a little around the house on Saturday then got up Sunday morning to go for a walk and then clean out the aquarium. After that it was time to watch the Super Bowl and the part I look forward to the commercials. Sadly the commercials this year were pretty lame. The game was actually much better than the commercials. Also on Sunday the Queen Mary 2 came into San Francisco on her trip around the world. It's a pretty big boat! Everyone was crowded on the beaches the Golden Gate Bridge was packed and traffic stopped when she came through. She will be here until tonight before she heads off to Hawaii.

Nuttin Much

Not a whole lot going on out here. Crysta has had a few basketball games this week in which her team won both of them. Today is Stephanie's (Ethan's Girlfriend) birthday. We will take her out to dinner tomorrow to help her celebrate. We are closing in on the Chinese New Year which is on February 18th this year. It will be the year of the Pig - let me know if you need anything from it Auna. I recently had my 25th anniversary with Chevron and have now started on my 26th year. I get to have a dinner or lunch with friends of my choosing and the place of my choosing. I am looking to find a place that is VERY nice but not real stuffy. I want the best but I want to have a good time. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Birthday UK!

All of us at West Coast Peavine would like to wish UK a very Happy Birthday! We hope you have a great day and look forward to seeing you soon!

Greetings from Icy West Coast Peavine

Well I know it doesn't compare to what those of you in East Peavine are experiencing, but for out here it's a bit nippy. We have had temps in the 20's in the evening which is pretty cold for out here. I hear that the citrus crops were basically wiped out so prepare to pay for your fruit. I have actually had ice on my windshield a few mornings and had to wait for them to thaw because I don't think anyone has an ice scraper out here. Aside from just trying to stay warm inside and outside we have not done a whole lot. The King and I took all of the kids the other night to see Golden State and Miami play in basketball. It was a pretty good game even though Golden State lost. We are going to see them play the Lakers in a few weeks which should be fun. Some will have more problems at that game without mentioning any names. I did actually take one of my days off yesterday. Everyone else in the house were off so they decided I should as well. We ended up going downtown for lunch at one of our favorite little dives for Vietnamese food, Tu Lan's. We then went to the new Bloomingdales that they built on Market street. It is a brand new shopping center that is anchored by a Bloomingdales. We are still awaiting to hear what tours will be offered in the summer for China before we make any official plans. We did look at several books at a Borders yesterday to try and get ideas of places to see in the areas we want to go to. As soon as we find out something Kev we will let you know. Maybe you could join us on the tour if we go to Xian and Guilin. Hope you all are staying warm and safe in the weather that you are having out there. Later!

Xmas In West Coast Peavine

Holiday in Review

Well we hope you all had a wonderful holiday and got everything that you wanted. We would like to thank everyone for the great gifts that were bestowed upon us from UK as well as East Peavine. We went over to Teri's on Christmas Eve and had another great time. It's always good to see them and the boys and their families. We had tamales and enchiladas and rice as well as sandwiches. Lots of good food. Then it was time for the carnage. The kids had to wait until Christmas morning for Ethan to come over before they could unwrap their gifts. We then had the King's parents over for lunch and everyone had a good time. It's now back to our routine and starting to think about next year's gifts. Sorry I wasn't able to make it back for the football game but I'm sure everyone had a greet time and that no bones were broken. Hope you all enjoyed your gifts from us and that it is something you can use.

Basketball Tourney

Well another weekend has past without any major incidents. We spent this past weekend attending a basketball tourney that Crysta's team was in. It involved teams from the San Mateo are with Lincoln being the only team from San Francisco in it. The girls ending up winning the tourney after a few close games. Our girls are very good and very quick and all of the other teams are very tall. We will always be the smallest team. The King and I spent yesterday shopping for Xmas gifts for both the family and for work. My company is having their Xmas Party tomorrow and I have been responsible for buying all of the raffle prizes we will be giving away. That's a lot of prizes. You have to figure out what you think 400 people other than you might like. Well this year they are going to like what I like. I will then spend the next few days passing out candy the kids sold for their Dragon Boat Team. They didn't actually sell any themselves. They were required to sell $50 dollars worth and they hoped they sold $100. Together they accounted for about $1000 which I get to distribute now. It all comes back to haunt you. I remember giving Dad my really crappy candy to sell for me at work, and now I know how much he hated doing it. It's the parents curse.

Yes Kids, There Really Is A Glen!

Well Glen finally came out for a visit after saying he was going to for the last five years. The King and the kids had always heard stories about him, but had never seen him. Sure they had talked to him on the phone but still assumed he was just a myth. He arrived on Thanksgiving day and we then sat down with the King's parents and all of the kids for smoked turkey and pink turkey. We then spent the next few days watching football games and then seeing the sites after the games. He has been here before but never spent much time in the city as we did this time. We fed him lot's of Chinese food that he loved and the King cooked a few wonderful meals for him as well. I really think she enjoyed seeing someone enjoy the food as much as he did. The kids just kept laughing at the sounds of enjoyment he made as he ate. We then took him out for his first taste of Sushi which he loved! We also spent a day in Chinatown where we took him for Dim Sum. The King made him eat with chopsticks the whole time he was here and would get onto him if he tried to use a fork. It was really great to have him here and for the gang to meet him.

West Coast Weekend

Well I hope everyone is ready for the holidays coming up? I guess the King and I will go get our pink turkey today. Not sure what else we will have. Not too much happened this weekend. I watched football while the King and the kids went to the eye doctor for new glasses. We then went to Crysta's first basketball game which was a preseason game. Her team won 20-3. They have about 16 girls on their team, but they look like they could be good. Yesterday we went to a new place for dinner since the kids were hanging out with their other grandparents. We took the King's parents to a new Chinese place by our house. It was pretty good, but her Dad and I probably liked it more. It was Szechuen style cooking, which is a much spicier style than what the King is used to. They had a really good spicy calamari that really had a kick. We might have company for Thanksgiving but I'm not holding my breath. Glen keeps telling me he is coming out, but he has told me that before. I told him if he called from the airport then I would come get him. We shall see. It would be fun to have him here and watch football games with him. He's a little more of a fan than the rest of my crew. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and I will talk to you then!

More of the Same

Well this past weekend saw me finish my gate project, getting the final of 5 coats of paint on and then covering the top with Plexiglas to keep the rain out. I then took 5 boxes of old paint to the recycler to clean out the garage. I then worked on the plants out back for a while and finally got the grill working again. I then went inside to watch the OU game. The king went to a concert on Saturday night to see Alan Tam who is a big artist in Hong Kong. She was in a very happy mood to see that. Yesterday we went to her friend Anna's house for a birthday party for her daughter. We are getting the torsion springs on the garage fixed today which have been broken for about 4 months. The garage door won;t open without someone helping it along. Aside from that it's life as usual, Crysta has basketball practice every day and they both have Dragon Boat practice about once a month. Aside from that, not much to report. Later!

What's Going On

Not much to report out here the past week. I spent all weekend painting our front metal gate. Scraped of all the old paint I could and then put on 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint. Hope I don't have to do it again. I then cleaned the aquarium in time to sit down and watch the game on Saturday. The King did what she does best and went shopping. Crysta has made the JV basketball team at her new high school with practice every day after school. So much work to be done around the house that aside from OU games, I plan to do nothing else on weekends until I get caught up. I figure sometime in June should be about right. Hope everyone is doing well!

Napa Valley

Well this past weekend I was stuck with a very emotional dilemma. On one hand I had the OU/Texas game to watch. On the other hand, one of my very good friends and his wife from New Orleans was in town. The King and I took them out to dinner Friday night at Fisherman's Wharf and really had a good time. They were asking us whether it was better to take a tour of Napa or just try it on their own. You have no idea how long and hard it was for me to utter the words' We would love to take you". In the end, I made the right choice. We really had a good time and I only thought about the game a few times. My friend did tell me later in the afternoon that we had lost, but we were having a good time and I didn't dwell on it.

Happy Birthday to the King!

Would like to wish the King a very Happy Birthday. Long Live The King!

Crysta's Birthday

Here is the gang celebrating Crysta's Birthday at BJ's Brewhouse. It was her idea to go there. Honestly!

Dance Workout

For Crysta's birthday, Mom got her a Playstation 2 game called "Dance revolution SuperNova" It's a really cool game that you mimics on a dance pad that you get to go with it. The kids had been playing it and we decided to get a second mat so that you could go head to head with two people. It is really fun plus you are getting a workout. Here is a picture of the two of them playing it.

Dragon Boat Races

Yesterday was the 11th Annual International Dragon Boat Festival held at Treasure Island here in the city. We awoke before the crack of dawn and delivered our race contestant before the sun ever rose. We then proceeded to spend the next twelve hours next to the bay under a perfect sunny day watching dragon boat races. We were there to cheer on Elijah and Lincoln High School where he and Crysta go to school. Lincoln has three teams and Elijah's team are the first year group. The other boats have been doing it longer. Traditionally Lincoln and Lowell High School are the top high school teams in California as well as the U.S. They had races to determine the seedings and in the first race they were up against the top team from Lowell and held their own. From there they went into the semi finals which determined their class. They were then in the "B" class finals. They started off very good and led throughout the entire race. It was so nerve racking hoping that another boat would not catch them and pass them at the end, but they didn't. They won the Class "B" division and won themselves gold medals. The top ranked Lincoln team won the "A" Division as well. The King and I are both very proud of him for doing this. We had no idea that he wanted to join the team. He didn't tell us until after he made the team and then he looked forward to every practice. He was always totally exhausted after each practice but really enjoyed every one of them. It was really great to see all of their hard work pay off. And all of those days that I had to take him and pick him up from practice and wait for him was worth it to see him so happy when they won. It was a good day!

Give em Hell and Get Well!

All of us here at West Coast Peavine wish UK a very speedy recovering from his ordeal yesterday. It is certainly no surprise to any of us that this happened, only that it doesn't happen more often. We are very happy to hear that it's not anything serious and that G-man is alright as well. Being over there and seeing the way they drive it's no surprise that the locals saw nothing wrong with it, that's how they are. Sorry you had to find out first hand, but are proud that you stood up for yourself. Never thought you would be the one the Day Officer had to bail out! Remember to look all 4 ways when crossing the street!

Autumn Moon Festival

This past weekend was the Autumn Moon Festival. In the Chinese culture it is very similar to Thanksgiving. The King and I took her mother up to Chinatown for the event. We first went and had Dim Sum at our regular spot there in Chinatown. After that we went and bough Moon Cakes. They are a type of cake that is usually about 3 x 3 and have different fillings in them. The King really likes the ones that have what I call dried egg yolks inside of them. I could do without those. After making our purchases we walked along the streets and checked out the hundreds of vendors selling all kinds of good stuff as well as performers doing there thing. We will probably eat Moon Cake for a few days now, trying different ones each night. It was a beautiful day here and we had a good time.

Week of Caring

Every year Chevron has their United Way campaign to raise money for non-profit organizations in and around the Bay Area. I have been on the core team of that for years but in the last few years I have been in charge of my OPCO's campaign. Each year we also have what is know as Week of Caring where people volunteer for different projects to work at. Chevron had over 2600 people that volunteered for different organizations. I worked at The Habitat For Humanity building houses for low income families, which here in the Bay Area would include me, but I digress. It was very hard work and it was a very hot day, but worthwhile in the end. Also as part of the same week, Crysta's ROTC group cleaned up the beach near the Cliff House for a few hours. She said they picked up a lot of trash except for the dead seal they found. This is me hanging inside a window. They asked who was not afraid of heights and I raised my hand. I got to work on putting up the roof. Did I mention it was hot! The smart ones were all working inside the house

Giants Game

Well I have been really bad and haven't blogged in a while, so I will do my best to catch you all up. A few weeks ago we got to go see a Giants game with some people I work with. Only this time we got to sit in the Chevron Suite. Since Chevron is a major sponsor of the Giants they have their own suite behind home plate. It is very plush with all of the food and drink that you want right there. There are sofa's and chairs inside if you want to watch on the plasma screen. But we sat outside and had a blast. If you wanted anything to eat you just called the kitchen and they brought it up to you. I think even Crysta got a little sick from all of the food she ate. The Giants won the game and we all had a really good time. I do think we are spoiled now and it will never be the same to just sit in the stands.

Happy Birthday Jeanne!

Jeanne, we hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Labor Day Camping

Well I hope you all had a great Labor Day holiday. We went with some friends of the King camping at a YMCA camp just outside of San Francisco. It was really a beautiful place in the woods. We went horseback riding which was the first time any of them had ever been on a horse. We also went canoeing which was really pretty and peaceful where they had it. The kids played a lot of basketball with the other kids that were in our group. We also made soap! All in all it was a pretty good time and the people we were with are all really nice people. I did feel like I was back in Hong Kong with 20 people all staying in the same cabin.

Happy Birthday Nate!

All of us out here on the West Coast would like to wish Nate a very Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great day and we look forward to more stories about your football team.

Labor Day Weekend

Well I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend. We are going camping with a group of the Kings friends an hour down the coast. Still have not decided if I want to drive home on Saturday to watch the OU game. What would here friends say or think? It's only an hour away. I should probably stay there and watch it when I get home. Seems like the right thing to do. Well whatever you have planned I hope it's nice and safe!

15 Seconds

They say everyone get's 15 minutes of fame. Well this past weekend I had my 15 seconds, which is really all that I need. The local ABC station out here did a piece on volunteer work. My company is the largest volunteer company in Northern California. While we were at the local Food Bank volunteering, ABC was there filming for the episode. They say the camera adds about 10 pounds to you. Well they must have had about 10 cameras on me, and the glare from my head was blinding. They tried to interview me but I was to quick and had moved on before they could catch me. Please, no autographs!

After the Garage Sale

Well we had our garage sale this past weekend and got rid of some stuff. Not nearly as much as I would have liked but a very good start. I will give the rest to Goodwill and haul of the rest to the dump. We cleared around $700 for the 2 days. The King & Crysta made very good sales ladies, as they worked the crowd. I remember what Jeanne said about the people. We did have a few strange folks come by. There was the guy who had to have everything shown to him about how it works. We wanted him to leave, but the King just kept showing him stuff. Then there was the lady who was a little confused. She would come by and by some of the kids Pokemon cards. Just grab some and random, pay and then leave. An hour later she would be back after changing her clothes and get some more. She came back a few more times, each time in different clothes where she started buying golf balls a few at a time. Somewhere she is sitting with some really bad Pokemon cards and about 5 golf balls. It was also a really great way to meet the neighbors who came by. You always see them and wave, but now we actually know their names and their kids. I gave all of my old clothes to our day janitor at the office. She takes them and gives them to the people in Mexico. Next time I'm in Mexico I will probably recognize everyone or at least their clothes. I 'm getting closer to my dream of a house without unneeded things!!!

Garage Sale

We spent Sunday pulling stuff out to have a garage sale next weekend. It is amazing how much crap you can accumulate over time. We were able to empty out a room with so much stuff to get rid of. I know we won't get rid of enough to make me happy. The King seems to hang on to everything she has ever had. I am willing to part with a lot of my stuff. Only keeping things that have sentimental value, of which I have about 4 boxes and she has about 40 boxes. Hopefully the sale will go through and be a big success.

Back To Chinatown

It has been almost 3 months since we were in the SF Chinatown. We went sometime in May before we left for China and have not been since we got back. The King had not cooked Chinese food since we got back. I think that was because all we had on the trip was Chinese and she was paying us back. We went to Chinatown on Saturday to buy some groceries to get back to our old routine of eating Chinese food. I had begun to miss Chinatown, but quickly realized once we got there that I hadn't. It's funny, I really miss the China that we visited. Everyone here is pushy, rude and spits all over the place, plus it's just dirty. To me, it was just the opposite in China. None of that stuff went on like it does here, it probably has a lot to do with the consequences they face in China. Spitting will get you 2 years in prison over there. So I have decide that the Chinese that come to the states are like the kids from divorced families, they go live with the parent who will let them get away with stuff. All of the Chinese that don't want to follow the rules or deal with the consequences of their actions move to the states. I know things are tough in China with little or no freedom, but I'm having trouble finding fault with that. We might have a little too much freedom. Ride a bus or the subway in China then ride one here. I would pick theirs every time. No one eats or drinks or plays loud music over there. You want to kill half the people here for being a**holes. Enough of my rant, that's just how I felt after going back to our Chinatown.

Week In Review

Nothing very exciting happening out here. The weather has been very nice in the city, usually around 68 during the day. Elijah has joined a Dragon Boat team and has been practicing. For those who do not know what Dragon Boat racing is, please check out this site http://www.cdba.org/aboutdragonboat.shtml. He really seems excited about it and they practice 3 times a week for 3 hours. Did a little back to school shopping this weekend and then went to dinner with the King's parents and her brother Wing's family. After dinner their two kids came over and are staying at our house until they get bored or 4 kids is just too much for us. They have been no problem and they all seemed to be getting along and having a good time. Yesterday we went and bought a new bed for Elijah and that just got me started on cleaning up the place. We did a lot of cleaning with so much more to do. We are planning on having a garage sale the weekend of the 26th. Looking to unload a bunch of stuff. I smoked some ribs for dinner (I'm getting much better at it) and we ate. All in all not much excitement but life in general. Later!

Candy Dulfer Concert

Well this weekend we went to the Rodney Strong Winery in Healsdburg to see Candy Dulfer in concert. Not sure if you all know who she is, but she is a terrific jazz saxophone player who plays with people like Prince and Van Morrison when she is not touring on her own. She lives in The Netherlands and rarely tours in the States. So suffice it to say that I was very excited she was playing a show out here. We had really great seats and enjoyed a VIP wine and food tasting before the show. There was a group called Brain Culberson and Eric Darius that opened the show and they were both very good. Candy played after them and she was great. After the show we were able to get everyone's autograph. It was a good day!

Silver Oak Winery

The King and I went up to the Sonoma Wine country this weekend to see a concert. We stopped off at the Silver Oak winery where they were having their Summer Release Party. The winery only makes Cabernet and they were releasing the 2002 Cabernet. It was a huge party with a lot of good food and some great wine. We really had a good time.

Happy Birthday's!

Happy birthday to both Mike and Terri! Hope you both have a great day! Not too much going on here except the heat. I know it's not anywhere what you are having in Oklahoma, but it's pretty warm. Especially when you don't have air conditioning. We went to a Giants game last Saturday and saw them win. Sunday I fired up my new grill for the first time. We got some shark steaks at the store and grilled them. They were very good! I was on Jury Duty most of this week, but have done my civic duty for at least another year. Last night we went out to dinner with two of the families that were on the China tour that live near us. It was really good to see them again. It brought back some nice memories the first time the kids went "ewww" This Saturday the King and I will head up into the wine country to see a concert at the Rodney Strong Winery. We are going to see Candy Dulfer who is a jazz saxophonist that I have liked for a long time. Mike may know here as the girl who plays on Princes' albums. Glad to hear everyone is doing well and UK made it back safely from Guam. Till next time, Later!

Where's Your Mom?

Keeping track of Mom to make sure she didn't wonder off and avoid getting those calls from the front desk.

The King Says Hello To A Local

Our Tour Group

Update

Well it's been tough having to work a whole week. Sure do miss the days in China where you didn't even think about work. Not much going on here, kids are just hanging around the house while the King and I work. Bought me a new grill the other night, so I will probably test it out this weekend. For those of you waiting to see the pictures, be patient. I have been working on them this whole week when I could and I have about a third of them cleaned up and labeled. I would like to thank UK for putting up with us and for being a top notch tour guide, it was really great to see him. I find that I really miss having someone salute me when I walk by, oh well I got to enjoy it for a little while. Later!

For Mom this year, her birthday fell while we were in Hong Kong. We went to Macau that morning, taking a 1 hour boat ride over to the island. We then spent the day seeing the sights in Macau and then took the ferry back to Hong Kong. My mission was to get Mom some American food for the evening. We had some wonderful Chinese food the whole trip, but every once in a while you need something different. Truth be told, we were looking for a KFC when we stumbled across the Hong Kong Hard Rock. We went inside and proceeded to have some of the best nacho's we had ever had. Not really, but they were the best at that moment. We then scarfed down some cheeseburgers. They started playing the Beatles "Today is your Birthday" on the sound system, and then they put on the monitors "Happy Rockin Birthday to Layanda!" Mom wondered who Layanda was until she turned around and all of the staff from the Hard Rock was right behind her. They asked her to stand on the chair, which she politely refused, and the whole place sang Happy Birthday to Layanda. It was pretty cool!

Hanging in the Forbidden City

On the Great Wall

Mom eating eels in Nanjing

We Are Out of Here

Well the day has finally arrived and I can't wait for it to be over. I am not looking forward to the 12 hour flight to Beijing. Last night Crysta graduated from Middle School and then a party after with her friends. I have had 4 hours sleep but seem surprisingly awake. Hope I go comatose on the plane. Well we probably won't be able to update until we get to UK. We will let you all know how we are doing as soon as we can. Maybe we will find an Internet Cafe in Beijing. Later!!

Weekend Recap

Well, I hope that everyone had a nice and safe Memorial Day weekend. We spent some time on Saturday morning at carnival Street Fair in the Mission District. From there we went to the East Bay for the King to do a little shopping. Later that evening we went to see the new "X-Men" movie, which was pretty good. Sunday we got up and went to see the Giants play the Colorado Rockies and to see Barry Bonds hit his 715 homerun. It was really cool to be there and see something like that in front of a home crowd. It was wild! Yesterday the King got her haircut and so did Elijah in preparation for our trip to China. It's getting closer and I guess it's about time to start getting ready for it.

Our Champions

This past weekend Crysta and her basketball team played in the Championship for her league. It was a very exciting game, but the girls fell just a little short losing by 2 points at the buzzer. The girls were very disappointed but played their hearts out and that is all that matters. We were very proud of Crysta. After the game the parents decided to take the girls out to Chevy's a local Mexican chain to celebrate. This was the last game the girls would play together after 4 years. They will all move on to different high schools next year. They all quickly got over the disappointment and had a great time. They sat at one table raising hell and the parents sat at the other one drinking margaritas. It was good to see them really enjoying themselves.

Mother's Day

Well I hope all of you lovely ladies had a wonderful Mother's Day. It was a beautiful day here in WC Peavine. I got up, wished the King a Happy Mother's Day and let her watch her Chinese shows in bed. I then went down and washed our 3 cars. It's times like that I don't like having 3 cars. The the King got to do her favorite thing and go shopping at Ross. When she returned from her outing, me and the kids took her to her favorite Vietnamese place in Oakland, Le Cheval. We had a very nice dinner and the company was very good.

Art Show

Last week the King and I went to the sophomore Art Show at Ethan's school. Each year they have a show and the students submit pieces for the show. Of those pieces the teachers pick the ones to showcase. This year Ethan had a drawing and about 3 digital photo's that were displayed. His sculpture met with an untimely demise. It was held at the gallery at his school. Food and drink was provided for the guests, but the kids ate it all before the guests could get to it. This is the drawing that he had submitted, which I thought was pretty good. The parents were all encouraged to buy the pieces, but Ethan chose not to sell his. I don't think he is ready to go pro.

Weekend Update

The King and I enjoyed the day on Thursday at the Giants afternoon game against the Chicago Cubs. It was a perfect day and the Giants beat the Cubs pretty easily on the day. It was really exciting every time that Barry Bonds came up to bat. 42,000 people would all stand and hope to see him send one out of the Park, but to no avail. We then spent Saturday up in Chico which is a big college town about 3 hours north of SF. We took the King's mother to visit a friend she has known since her childhood in China. After that we went and had lunch at the Sierra Nevada Brewery which you know I really enjoyed. The food was really good and the beer was great as well. That evening we went for Malaysian food in Chinatown which turned out to be very good. My favorite dish was one called Lady Fingers sauted in garlic. For those who do not know what Lady fingers are, me included, it was okra.

Looking down Columbus Street

It must be noon somewhere?

Sunny Sunday

Well yesterday was just a perfect day to be outside. We had gone out to dinner on Saturday with some of the King's friends for the Hong Kong Alumni Association. There was good food and dance lesson's that the King took part in. We awoke to perfect weather yesterday so we took off to enjoy the day. We first went to the Ferry Building which sits at the end of Market Street. They had remodeled it and I wanted to see it. It was full of gourmet and organic shops of food and everything you can imagine. We had fresh baked bread and homemade marshmallows that were so good. We then went to North Beach & Chinatown where we had some good Thai food and then went over to the Pacific Brewing Company so I could have a beer and sit out on the sidewalk and enjoy the weather. Then it was off to Ross so the girls could get in a little shopping. After that we went home and grilled some of the specialty sausages we had bought that morning, including lamb and duck sausage. The duck was better than the lamb for those who are keeping score.

Happy Birthday April!

All of us here on the West Coast want to wish April a very Happy Birthday! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you. We Love You!

Visa's

Well I took yesterday off and waited in line to get our Visa's for China. It was a pretty long line but moved pretty quickly. I will go back and pick them on Friday. Tomorrow they are coming back to finish fixing our refrigerator. Sure will be nice not having to run downstairs when you need something. Later!

Early Mother's Day

Sunday here was just perfect! It was about 70 with not a cloud in the sky. The King and the kids went to Dim Sum with Elijah's paternal grandparents so I had the day to myself. I spent 6 hours working in the backyard, pulling weeds and just cleaning it up. I could barely move by the end of the day. Then later that evening we went to dinner with the King and her family to celebrate an early Mother's Day. It's not always easy to get everyone together. We went out for the typical 10 course meal. We tried a much different dinner than we normally do. We had a crab, I'm not sure what type it was, but it was huge and provided about 3 of the dishes. I have enclosed a photo of the bad boy. Seems like we have to take before and after photo's of our food. Still not sure on why we do that, but we do.

Elijah's Birthday

Well Saturday was a pretty busy day for us. First of all it was Elijah's birthday, secondly it was Freshman orientation for Crysta at her new school for next year. She will be going to the same high school as Elijah, which is Lincoln High. It's only 2 buses away versus around the corner. She had to go for placement tests and to meet counselor's. Then later that evening Ethan and his girlfriend Stephanie came over and we took Elijah out to dinner for his birthday. It was a nice dinner at BJ's Brewhouse and then we went back home so he could check out his prizes.