The Hot Pot Victims

Lobster, Shrimp and Oysters
Frog and Tofu

Christmas Day in West Coast Peavine

We awoke around noon on Christmas Day after our journey to SacTown the night before. We were expecting the King's parents and our friends David and Carmen with the twins for dinner. We finished wrapping all of the gifts as it was easier with the kids not at home. The our guest arrived for the non traditional but we may have to make it our traditional Christmas Dinner. We had hot pot which is a Chinese form of cooking. You get lot's of things like shrimp, tofu thinly sliced beef and lamb and noodles and dunk them into pots of flavored broth to cook. I chose to use my Zatarains seasoning for crawfish which is spicier than what we normally get. David brought over some lobster meat as well as oysters and some fresh scallops that we had to coax out of the shells first and some fresh frog that was cut up. We all then sat down and proceeded to stuff ourselves. It was really very good and the company was great.

Troy Enjoying his Prizes

Xmas Eve

The King and Isabella

Xmas Eve in SacTown

The King and I made our trip up to Sacramento to spend Xmas Eve with Teri and her family. I picked up my tamales as usual and then picked up the King. Load was a little lighter this year with the kids being in Hong Kong. Good thing, I'm not sure where we would have put them, the car was full. The traffic was horrible and it was raining. Normally what takes me 1 1/2 hours took me over three hours to get there. Once we got there we ate and then the fun started. We had lots of babies this year. As usual we had a great time and got home about midnight. Crysta called at 1:30 to wish us a Merry Christmas. We will have our Xmas when the kids get back on New Years Day.

Sooner or Later

Over the weekend Crysta's team was in a basketball tournament down in San Mateo. They have won this tourney the last two years. This year they once again made it to the finals. In the Championship Game they started off really bad and were getting creamed by half time. The other team was not bad, but not nearly as good as ours. When they came out for the second half it was completely the opposite. They ran all over the other team and ended up winning for the third straight year. After that we all drove down to San Jose State University to watch the OU women's basketball team, who were playing the Cal Bears. We got pretty good seats, which seemed to be in the middle of a lot of Cal fans. The King thought we should move but I liked where we were sitting and there were other OU fans near by. It was like deja vu, the OU women could not buy a basket in the first half. We sat there and listened to all of the abuse from the fans around us. The little Asian lady next to me that loved to clap so uncontrollably in my direction when Cal would score or a foul against OU. The guys behind us talking about how overrated the Paris twins were. To Cal's credit they played a flawless first half and led by 26 at the half. All of the fans around us were doing their Cal cheers during the whole half time, while we just sat there and smiled. When the second half started the OU women were on a roll. They chipped away at the lead slowly, and had cut it in half with ten minutes left. They just kept rolling and when they started hitting some shots you could hear Elijah really yelling. He sat in front of a couple guys who were the worst and he had enough of listening to them. With about three minutes left OU tied up the game and all four of us were on our feet yelling. Strangely the crowd around us had grown eerily silent. The girls then hit some key three pointers and OU ended up winning by nine points. It was an amazing game to watch and we all just had a blast. While there, we were keeping on eye on the Heisman Award and were so happy to see that Bradford had won it. It was a very good day all around. Yesterday we just finished up our Xmas shopping to mail to East Peavine. The King was VERY excited to learn UK next assignment is in Tokyo. Sayonara!

Sonoma Wineries

This past weekend we went up to the town of Sonoma to visit a few wineries. I had mainly gone to get a Christmas present for my afternoon receptionist who sells all of the kids candy and cookies for their school and she makes me salsa all the time. She likes a particular wine that can only be purchased at the winery. The winery is Sebastiani in Sonoma. The King and I as well as Crysta went up on Sunday. We bought the wine for Mercedes and tried some other things that were pretty good as well. I then called a buddy of mine Marshall who I work with on other projects. He does promotional work for a bunch of companies, including some of the wineries. We met him at a winery called Jacuzzi. Yes, it's one and the same. When the family came over from Italy and started a winery they developed pumps to get the water into the fields. Later, they used the same technology to develop the aforementioned Jacuzzi, plus they also invented the propeller. While there we enjoyed some very good wines, also since Marshall does a lot of work for them he gets the vendor discount which is 50% off. It's good to have friends like that. I bought a bunch of really good wines for half price. We then went to another one called Cline Cellars and again enjoyed the discount. The girls had never met Marshall, but hear me talk about him all the time. He is very crazy and we get along just great. By the time we left him to go shopping Crysta had us all in a group hug. I look forward to going back to these places in the spring when it is much warmer and greener. It was foggy and in the 40's that day.

Surprise!

A few weeks ago we had Estella (Francy's daughter) over for a few days as it was her birthday. She was coming over on a Saturday night and for some reason I didn't have to go pick her up. Well, I heard the doorbell ring and decided to let someone else get it as I was being lazy. All of the sudden I heard all this yelling from downstairs. As soon as I got downstairs I realized why I did not need to pick her up. Francy had flown in from Hong Kong to surprise her daughter for her birthday. And then they proceeded to surprise the King. It's always good to see Francy as she is one of my favorite people. Well we had a nice dinner while the King and Francy talked all night long. We then spent a few more days with Francy before she went back to Hong Kong. The King and her hung out for a few days and then I went with them when OU was not playing on TV. The last day we went up to the Outlet Mall in Vaccaville and then that evening went out for dinner in Chinatown. We went to the restaurant of one of Francy's best friends. It's pretty nice when the owner joins you for dinner. The service is pretty good and the food is top notch. Plus he brought out some really good wine for me to try. It was a lot of fun and I know the King and Estella were very happy to see Francy. Look forward to her return in May when Estella graduates.

Let There Be Rain

On Halloween David and his family came over for dinner. We cooked a couple of the Herbert's chickens which they loved. After dinner the twins went Trick or Treating in the neighborhood with Crysta, something they had never done. I think they all had a good time. On Saturday it rained all day which made me very happy. I just stayed in bed and watched football all day. Crysta had basketball practice, Elijah was taking the SAT's again and the King went to Ross. Really enjoyed the football games that night. On Sunday we went out with David who is looking for a house in our neighborhood. It was amazing to see houses that were about half the size of ours was going for $995,000. We looked at several houses from the pit's to some really nice houses. Elijah is working today at the polls. He volunteered to work at one of the polling stations near our house. He will be there from 6 AM until 10 tonight. He wondered how I got up that early every day. Hope he enjoys the experience. Talk to you later!

Wynners and Vinters

Everyone was busy this past weekend in West Coast Peavine. Crysta was busy with basketball practice on Friday and Saturday morning. The King took her Mom into Chinatown to go to the bank. I stayed at home and watched football games. Elijah spent Saturday night at a Halloween party while the King went to a concert. She went to see a group called the "Wynners" They were a famous Hong Kong Pop Group that was created in 1974. They were doing a reunion tour as a benefit, so she went along with her friends to see them. Alan Tam is the only one in the group that I had ever heard of. On Sunday the King and I along with our friend David went up to Napa for the day. It has been unseasonably warm here lately and I just wanted to get out of the house for the day. We took him to the castle which is really cool. It was closed for a private event when Mom was here. We hit a few more wineries along the way back and then David and the twins came over to the house for dinner. The main event for the upcoming week is that Elijah has his driving test on Thursday. I'm sure he will do fine. Later!

Dragon Boat Races

2008 Dragon Boat Festival

We were pretty busy this past weekend here in West Coast Peavine. On Saturday it was the King's 25th Birthday. Elijah was taking his SAT's that morning while I watched the OU game. When he was finished we picked him up and we all went for lunch at a new Vietnamese place. Later that evening, we took the kids to a group dinner they were having. I then took the King for an abalone dinner. Then on Sunday it was once again time for the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival. A lot of pressure in our house this year because of it. Elijah was named captain of the "A" Team boat, which I must say he did rather well. I think he was less than thrilled about their chances this year, after losing the race last year and graduating most of their team. This year Crysta and him are on the same team which makes it easier when you are rooting for one. We arrived at Treasure Island at 6:30 am to start our day of racing. The Gold Team (Elijah's & Crysta's) won their two preliminary races for the seeding which put them in the top class final. Before the finals the respective girls and boys teams raced. The girls team was defending champions and won again in a very impressive manner. Next was the boys who finished 3rd in last year's race. They finished 2nd this year by less than a second. Then it was time for the Grand Champion Race. They were facing their arch enemies Lowell High plus the team that won it last year CYC. It was a great race and very close, but I have to tell you that Elijah can stop worrying. Once again they are the Grand Champions! Crysta said she put a hole in the drum from beating it so hard in the Final. I don't think the King or I have yelled that much in a while. Truman was there to see his first race and brought the King's parents. I'm pretty sure Elijah and Crysta slept pretty good last night.

Happy Birthday Jeanne!

We all want to wish you a very Happy Birthday!

80th

Well Saturday after another full day of painting the fence in the back yard we took off for an 80th birthday dinner for the King's dad. Her mother's birthday is around the same time but we are not sure of her age. We only recently found out from the King's Aunt that her dad was 80. On Sunday I was not allowed to work because the King feels that because of my age I can not possibly work two days in a row. We will see how long that last. The King's friend Francy was in town for her Grandmother's funeral, so the King spent the day with her at the funeral. Her Grandmother was 108. Crysta and I went with Elijah for his weekly driving lesson and then we just hung around the house. The kids started back to school today and this will be Elijah's Senior year. Neither one of them seemed to excited about having to go back today. Later!

As Crysta would say WTF?

I wonder if anyone would miss them?

Emerald Bay

Elijah wondering how he got talked into going hiking.

Our first day of hiking.

Lake Tahoe

We just got back from a weekend in Lake Tahoe. We went up there with the King's older brother Wing and his family. I had mentioned to the King after our last visit there that I would like to do some hiking , she called her brother and set up the trip. We went up early in the morning and I found a couple of hikes for us to do. The first one took us up into the mountains where we passed a waterfall and then climbed on up to a lake. You could keep climbing from there on to more lakes, but we opted to hike down to the bottom of Emerald Bay and see the castle at the bottom. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we didn't lose anyone on the first day. We then ended up going to our favorite Sushi place there called the Naked Fish where they have the "Fried Cheesecake" YUM! While we were out having dinner they had a big thunderstorm which produced a lot of hail which according to the locals doesn't ever happen. The rain moved everything out and the next day was just perfect. We drove on up the Fire Sign Cafe for another incredible breakfast and then proceeded to drive all around the lake. We found a really cool area where there were very large boulders by the shore and spent about an hour playing around on those. I really did have a good time and want to thank the King for setting it up. I must have had a good time because my whole body hurts. It was a lot of fun to hang out with Wing and the kids all had a good time hanging out with each other.