What's been going on

I know this is a little late. But better late then never right?

For Easter, Lien decided we should do something different with the kids. We don't really hunt for Easter eggs. The last time we did that with the kids was like....3 years ago! We just never really got into it.
Anyways he decided to take us to the golf course hit some....all we did, well all they did, was hit the golf ball around to see how far it will go and to practice. I sat and watch, well i tried a little but mine never went far!

It was a really nice time though, not what i expected at all. The kids seem to enjoy it so it was good.

here's Lien teaching Naree how to do it!

 After the driving range we took the kids to have Dim Sum, but when we got there, there was a HUGE line!!! We waited a while but decided it wasn't worth waiting for. We were there 15 minutes and the line hasn't really moved so we left. I really think they shouldn't allow people to make reservations for Dim Sum. I mean it's not fair. Dim Sum is a first come first serve kinda deal...when you get your sit you still wait for the cart to come around. So reservations should be out of the questions. It's not fair to other people that are waiting for a sit.
Okay so i was venting a little! ; )
We ended up having lunch at Siam Cafe. We didn't even have to wait for a table! Plus the food was soo good! I'm glad we went to Siam Cafe, so were the kids too! After Siam we went to moms' for a while and then headed off home to relax!

umm yeah i should have taken my jeans off..don't know what i was thinking!

So a few weeks ago we decided that Yuki was in need of a hair cut! His hair was going wild!!!! He did pretty well, i must say. He didn't move too much..
I accidently cut his ear...just a little. Little man didn't like that too much. Now he looks nice, no wild hair everywhere. But it's already growing fast! He's such a cutie! No more Mr. Mcfluffy!!! ; )

Happy 30th!

I was a little scared to turn 30! Let me admitt that part first. It's not easy to tell yourself, or in my case, even think that 30 is coming up. I wasn't sure how i would feel or how i would act. I mean, am i going to act differently? Talk different? Walk different (you know?...old people? since my kids were saying i was getting old.). I've heard people say when you've reached 30, it's a whole new ball game! So to speak.... Would i become a better person? I'm not sure why i wondered all these things. I mean, come on now. I KNOW just because you're turning 30 doesn't mean everything has to change or YOU have to change. I was just a little paranoid and FREAKED that I am turning 30! Well in this case I already am 30. I am so freaked right now!

I thought I'd be spending the day alone, since Lien was going to work (or so i thought) and the kids were off to school. Lien told me he'd take the kids to school for me so i can stay home and rest. He had also given me permission to not do anything for the whole day! Wow!!!! No cleaning, no NOTHING! Awesome!
He woke the kids up and Naree got into bed with me, and gave me a hug! Nilun came in and gave me a hug plus said "happy birthday mommy"!...what a way to start off the day!
Anyways I helped him get the kids ready, got their lunch money, fixed Naree's hair and got them breakfast. After he took them to school i went back to bed, thinking i'll just lay down and relax for a bit then i'll figure out something to do. I'll tell you this though, i really didn't want to spend my b-day alone, espesically my 30th! So i'm laying there and next thing i know, i fell asleep. I thought i dreamed that i heard yuki barking but thought nothing of it. And then someone pulls the covers off of me!
What the heck????
"what are you doing here?" I asked while still in shocked that someone had came into my house and pulled the covers off me and can see my butt!---i was wearing only my undies! Thought someone was going to rape me or something..that would be horrible...well if it was Johnny Depp then it might be good! ; ) Hey a girl can dream right?....right?
"what are you doing sleeping? Get up! I decided to go to work a little bit later, i need to go to Best Buy to get a few things for the laptop. You can come with me and i'll drop you off before i go back to work? Well?"
"ummmm ok i'll go with you." good for me since i really didn't want to stay home alone!
So i'm up and washing my face and he comes in the bathroom and tells me "don't use anything on your hair ok?"
"i never do" i should have known something was up right?...wrong!
"but you can put on your makeup though"..
"no i don't want to today"
"you should.. go put it on. I don't want anyone seeing me with an old lady!"(he laughs) really? you had to say that on my 30th..especially when i'm already not feeling good about turning 30?

Off to Best Buy we go! When we get there, he's all like "wait, look...it's not open yet!" So I'm just like "so what are you going to do? Drive around till it opens?"
"Lets go to Sears and walk around till 10 then". he gives me an excuse about tools...that he needed to get new ones anyways.
We walk into the mall and i'm just walking straight ahead of him not paying attention and he calls out "hey, over here". I look and i'm kinda puzzled but i have a smile on my face. Why? Because he is standing inside of the salon waving me to get in plus I just can't stop smiling...i'm always that way. it's really irrating!
Anyways i walk in and i'm like "are you getting a hair cut?".
 Then the receptionist guy says " is she ready?" She???? what?
So by this time i'm totally confused! I look at the guy and look back at Lien and i said "wait! Am i getting my hair cut?"dur......clueless much?
 "yay you are".
"what? when did you do this?"
"about a week ago"
"is that why you were asking me about salons and mens hair cuts and stuff?"
"Yes" with a big smile on his face!
So i was really excited! I've been wanting to fix my hair, want it cut. So the highlights were a bonus!!!

After my hair cut i thought he'd be taking me home but he was like "forget it i'll go to work tomorrow. I don't want to go today, it's already noon". So i was of course very happy about that! Spend my day with my hubby? Of course i wanted to!!! truth was he had taken vacation but didn't tell me!
So he's driving and it doesn't look like the way home so i'm like "ok, what are you doing now?"
He tells me he missed the exit to home. yay right? like i'm going to believe that one!
He drives out to Beachwood and told me he'll give me a longer ride home. I'm game with that! I love "longer rides home"!
He drives into the Sushi Rock parking and i knew it!
"we're having sushi aren't we?"
"what? What are you talking about? I'm just turning around!"
"Oh, i thought we were having sushi"
The he pretends to do and little turn around and goes into a parking!
"Ok we are having suhsi...surprise!!!!"

I was so happy! I have been craving sushi! Wish you guys could have seen my silly smile by now!
We have sushi and talk and just enjoy ourselves! After that we went to pick up the kids at school, we also went to my moms' for a bit (i have to see mom on my b-day) and spend the rest of the day just relaxing and spending time with our family!

So me being all scared was all for nothing. What a great surprise he planned for me. He is such a sweet heart! Thinking back, i should have put all the pieces together, i mean all those questions he asked me and he kept on saying "sorry babe there's nothing for you this year. I have to work". I should have known he'd never do that to me. He is always up to something. I guess i probably had it figured it out already. I mean i thought about why he wasn't wearing his uniform to work, or why he was asking me about cutting hair and stuff. It did cross my mind but it also left my mind quickly too! Because every year he would just take me to dinner and shopping. He said he wanted to do something totally unexpected this year! And unexpected it was!
How else would i spend my 30th! Right?

30 is not going define me as a person at all. I will not let you stare me down and torment me with signs of wrinkles and laugh lines. You will not scare me by making gravity take over and winding my energy down. I will not let YOU tell me how to live!
30? You've got nothing on me. I'm not scared anymore. I think you've made me a lot wiser and happier! Thank you very much!
I'm going to embrace you and say BRING IT ON BABY!  I'm looking good and still feeling great. Silly of me to think you could bring me down. There is no turning back and i wouldn't want to!

Mom bought me a purple orchid which are like my most favorite flowers! Thanks mom! And Lien and the kids bought me the white one! We finished off the night with our favorite

crab legs and papaya salad. Crab legs thanks to mom for buying for me for my b-day!

So heres to me! Here's to turning 30 and still looking good (hey it's my birthday...i'm allowed to be a little conceited okay?!)
Here's to all the wrinkles i'm sure are coming my way but i'll be okay with that....i think. But most of all here's to many more birthdays! I'm enjoying life. I have the most wonderful family and friends who are dearest to my heart! That's what i'm thankful for!
Cheers to you #30!!!

An aunts' visit, some park time and Canada

A few after moms' surgery my aunt Noy came to visit us from California! It was really nice to see her...it's been almost 9 years since I've last seen her and that was for my uncles' funeral. She came to visit to help out with my mom and plus to see us all. I'm very glad she got to come and visit. She works at the federal building in Oakland as a security officer. So with her job, if you want vacation you put in the request and wait for them to give you the ok...so there's really no planning for her. I weren't sure if she was able to or not till literally 3 days before she arrived. We're so glad that she came though. 
It was a really busy week while she was here. I was the only one who wasn't working so i ended up being the driver- which i didn't mind at all. She was a big help with mom too! 

On the second day she was here, I took her, mom and Da to the Metro-parks in Willoughby. She really enjoyed it! I think she was really excited. She ooohed and ahhhhhed at almost everything. Made me started wondering if Oakland had anything to be excited about! We took some pictures, which i really enjoyed, because as anyone of my friends would agree - I LOVE TAKING PICTURES! I kinda felt bad for mom since she still wasn't fully healed from her surgery but she wanted to go to. We walked as slow as we could so she wouldn't have to try to catch up. Mom is such a trooper!!!! Of course I think she enjoyed it herself too- since the surgery she's been cooped up in the house! So it was nice for her to get out and also get some fresh air! 

The second day I took her to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame! I was pretty excited myself, mainly because I've never been to the place! Yes i know, after 12 1/2 years and I still haven't been there. Blame my husband for that. Well actually now i know why, it was $24 a person. I know it's not how much you spend when you are spending it on family, but for that price just a see a whole bunch of rock and roll stuff? Come on that was a little over! But i paid for it. I was glad to do it. My aunt had a great time, and surprisingly, I did too! I learned a few things and i saw lots of interesting things. Who knew rock and roll could be interesting? Not bad at all! I saw Elvis's purple Corvette. As learned that he had bought 13 Corvettes for his employees and he also bought on for a lady that was there that day looking for a car. What a lucky lady huh? Just happened to be there at the right time and day!!!! And here's the shocker!!!.....are you ready?.......it all only cost him $1,300.00!!!! Really, my eyes literally were like popping out!!!! 

Oh and yes, mom and Ming went too. This time I had a wheelchair for mom!
The only thing I didn't get about that place was, why they wouldn't let us take pictures? Weird...but i guess maybe because some of the stuff in there were actual artifacts and the artists didn't want them being duplicated or anything? Oh yes and one more thing....Jonas brothers were in there!?? Ok what??? they are not even close to being legends...just so wrong. 
The day before she is to fly back home, my husband and I took her to Canada!!! She wanted really bad to go. She's been here in America for 30 plus years and she's never been out of California! Well there was that one time she went to see us in Idaho-she didn't like it there. Anyways she had heard of Niagra Falls and really wanted to see it. So my husband was able to get vacation last minute to take her. We do thank him for that! I was a little scared at first. I have heard of stories about us "green card holders" not being able to come back into America and stuff so i kinda was panicking! I really wanted to go to Canada with them. So mom ended up coming with us! She wanted to come so that if i wasn't able to cross into Canada, then she would stay in New York with me while my husband takes my aunt and Da into Canada. If you all are wondering what's the big deal? Well the new rule is that they want only people with passports to cross the boarders. So no more green cards! I guess this happened after 9/11....So i ended up going into Canada anyways, and i have to say it was pretty simple. They looked at my green card and checked all our IDs. And let us go in! So i was feeling pretty good after that. 
We took some pictures of the falls. It was kinda raining so we got a little wet at the falls! Mom couldn't walk any further with us so she waited in the gift shops for us. It was really fun!!! We tried to take as many pictures as possible. After about 2 hours of that, we went to the casino and ate! Da "swore" it was the best buffet ever. And frankly I'd have to disagree! It was great. The roast beef was really dry, like sand paper. Fried rice was tasteless, my veggies were not even flavorful, the sushi was horrible- lets just say i wasn't impress. None of us were. I don't know what she's talking about. And we couldn't even take pictures! Not cool! Don't they know WE ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS! HOW DARE YOU! ; ) But being my aunt, she snicked in a few shots! After lunch we had to wait for Da to gamble a bit, so my mom and I got some change and wanted to try out some of the slots...maybe we'll get lucky or something. We had trouble playing! We couldn't find where the slot for the coin was! I looked everywhere for it but couldn't find it. We were baffled! Turns out you don't use coins. You have to exchange the coin for a dollar (you would have to have enough coins to make a dollar to exchange) and then you put the dollar in and bet. It doesn't matter how much it cost to play you still had to put in a dollar. Needless to say, we didn't play for long. Took me literally 3 minutes and the dollar was gone! That was enough gambling for me! I just wanted to try my luck! 
After that we went back to the falls one more time so my aunt can look for the last time. Her birthday is on the 9 of April so she kept on saying that this was the best birthday present ever. And we are very happy to have given her that gift! She seem totally in awe and was just amazed! I'm so happy to see her that way.  
Ok so on our way back, i started to panic! All those stories are flooding back to my mind again! When we got to the border, the lady ask us for id and passports. So we all showed our stuffs and she ask questions and such. Then she says "ok you are good but there are a few things we need to ask you so i will ask you to park your car and proceed to follow the white line and go into the building and go up to the second floor. Once there have a sit and someone will assist you". So by this time i'm like "oh no, oh no, dear God please don't let this happen! I want to see my babies!". We did as told and once up there, the nice hunky looking officer comes over and gets us. We go into to this cubicle and he proceeds to ask us ( in a very intimidating voice) what we were doing in Canada, how long we were there, what did we buy, how much money did we bring back etc.... My mom and I were asked more questions since we were not citizens. My mom had a passport so he asked her even more questions...like "why do you have a passport and a green card? Why do you have a passport? Are you planning on leaving the US? Do you know your address?" My mom was getting nervous, heck i was too! After all that, he took both my moms' and mine finger prints and took a picture of our eyes. I'm still not sure on the eye part, but i'm sure it must have something to do with clearance? So after all that, he was like "ok you're good to go, it was nothing, just some precautionary steps". Okay? Thanks hunky dude for scary the bee-gees out of me! I was praying while in there "please dear lord, i still want to live, i want to see my children, please take me home....today!" Thank goodness my prayers were answered! I was sweating let me tell you! I couldn't wait to get out of there! 
My aunt is a single mom of 4! And all of her adult life she's had to take care of them without a husband. So she worked her butt of for so many years to support her children, that's why she's never been anywhere. Now that her children are all grown now and some have moved out, she is able to do something for herself. And even though she didn't go on vacation on her own or anything, she still enjoyed her time spent with us. She got to enjoy seeing Niagra Falls, she was able to be in 3 states in one vacation and spent that time with family! And that's all she ever wanted. She told me "i've worked hard almost my whole life to take care of my kids and now that they are grown and stuff, it's my turn to do something for me. I don't have to worry too much about them anymore, they can take care of themselves now. Now i can travel like i've always wanted to, go anywhere i want, pick up and just go without having to worry about them." It's my turn now! And she is right. Those many years of hard work has really paid off for her. Her kids are doing well, one had bought her a new BMW!!! She has taught those kids well.

And i'm glad that we were able to take her to Canada! I can see that happiness in her eyes every time we take a  picture! I am so happy that we were able to share that experience with her! We hope that she'll be able to visit more often! We've really enjoyed her company and i can see that mom has been doing very well since her visit and mom has enjoyed it tremendously! To see my family happy brings so much joy to me! There's nothing better than that feeling that you've done something great for someone! I love that feeling! It didn't even matter to me at all how much i spent in the end, what mattered the most were the memories we made along the way! 
 
Lien and I cheesing it up!!
 
Aunt Noy and Lien
 
sisters!!
 
I love my mommy!!!
 
I just had to do a picture like this. I couldn't resist! My aunt was tripping, she did not like it at all!!
 
 First time she saw snow!! She was happy!

It was kinda cold but not too bad. A lot of my wetness was from the fog from the fall! It turned out nice though!