we covered 8 states in 4 days. much of it looked like this for the first while.

we stopped to visit the official spam museum just off the highway in austin, mn.

we stayed with good friends charles and serena the first night in madison, WI, and rocked the night away.

uh oh. smokey pulled us over once. not bad i guess, for how much driving we did.

we passed some pretty interesting mid-west towns, where the locals seemed pretty 'interested' in seeing two asian guys walk into their diners and gas stations.

we crossed the border in blaine, WA on monday at 6pm, some 3,700kms later.

we always love it when our dear friends kip & lindly drop by to visit. boo loves playing with wei ling and jasmine, who are getting more and more lovely every time we see them! kip carried micah and sang strange lullabies to him, and eventually was able to put him down for a nap - impressive.

a few of us from our summer softball team went to a canadians game a couple of weeks ago, and had a great time! i hadn't been to nat bailey in years, and forgot what a fun place this little stadium is right in the heart of town to watch a baseball game. mommy was wise enough to get some ear muffs for the kids ahead of time as this was their first major sporting event, and knowing how they both get startled easily and aren't used to noisy environments.

i'm not sure it's totally kicked in yet that i'm a father of two. some days i look at these two kids in my house and car's rear view mirror and wonder where they came from. i guess that's why many parents say "they grow up so fast"... in all the daily demands and how time just flies by at this stage in life, it's easy to miss the little things they do.

my 9th birthday, going by the date stamp on the bottom right. this was probably taken before the party started, since my mom is still smiling. they must've really loved me... look at all the balloons.

here's our family. can't tell where exactly this was taken. maybe england, or japan (are those cherry blossoms in the background?). if i remember right, we did a round-the-world trip in '76. you can't really tell from this photo, but i can guarantee you my brother and sister's pants have some serious bell-bottom action going on.

any guesses as to location? haha, giveaway! see, told you about the bell bottoms. i, however, was way ahead of them and preferred slimmer fitting jeans at the time.

a few weeks ago we took a trip to the Bay Area to visit some friends. it was micah's first flight, and he did very well! we flew allegiant air outta bellingham, which saved us some money. but BLI won't be winning any airport of the year awards anytime soon.

our first trip with 2 kids, car seats, stroller and luggage was quite a handful! but our good friends the kashiwamuras were kind enough to let us use their minivan which made everything easier.

boo had a great time hanging out with auntie patty and kalista again...

we also enjoyed sonic for the first time. must go back to try some of their other drinks.

we paid homage at 1 infinite loop, visiting a friend that works there as well as the company store. we found some cool swag

matia, meet mateo. we had pho with my coworker and his family in fremont one night, and enjoyed letting the kids play.

while killing time one afternoon at the great mall in milpitas, angie discovered kettle pop. think kettle corn with caramel and chocolate dripped over it. mmm. we brought a couple mega bags home with us, it was so good!

on our last night we enjoyed watching an old concert video from 1989 of a continentals concert. patty and i met on that tour, and it was very nostalgic.

the other night the baylens and parks joined us for a spam party at home. angie made kimchi jigae and tracy brought spam sushi. mmm... we love spam!

a few weeks ago we dedicated Micah during our church service. our hope and prayer is that this little boy would grow to love God and become a man of faith. our thanks to the special family and friends (including cousin nicky, niang niang, a-ma, yih ai-yi, derek, viv & addy, and cousin david, lena and aj) that made the effort to join us for this occasion!

happy anniversary, to my beautiful wife! it's been 9 years since that day we said our vows to each other, in front of many family and friends. so much has changed. life has happened. lots of it!

i'm one blessed dude. my wife has given me 2 adorable children (ok, i'm a little biased perhaps), a home that is loving, a marriage that tries hard to honor God, and she even lets me ride motorcycles when i get the chance!

for our wedding day, our good friends josephine and joey wrote this song as a gift to us. it brings tears every time i listen to it, and especially now many years later, i see how God has protected us (cuz let's face it, marriage is hard!) and our community (both then and now) has encouraged us.

happy anniversary, snugo! i love you!

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blink. wow, what happened to being 42?! remember how when you were young a year seemed to take forever to pass? these days it seems like i just blew the candles out on my last birthday cake, and another year has become history.

yesterday i attended a memorial service for a friend's father who passed away much too young last week. i'm starting to really appreciate funeral services. no, not in a morbid way of course; it's hard going to more and more funerals these days. but what's good for the soul is hearing the story of a person's life, condensed to a few short sentences. i always like to hear how the family chooses to summarize their loved one's time on earth. the words read for my friend's dad were simple and even amusing at times. but you could tell in the simplicity he loved his family and impacted the way his kids grew up and even how they are as individuals today. beautiful. no real need for a long list of accomplishments, letters behind a name, or even how financially successful or not he became. i had only met my friend's dad a couple of times, but i now know that he lived and loved. and that's pretty cool.

growing older i think many people find themselves less patient about things. well, people, really. ok, maybe things too, sometimes. like wifi or unimportant stuff like that. but i'm noticing that can have it's occasional pluses, too. i know, we're supposed to be trying to be as patient as we can in life; not a bad practice. but what i mean is it's helped me try to move past the small stuff, which seems to be increasing in number as life gets more complicated and demanding. i think of people i know who are seemingly angry about whatever they can be angry about, and i'm reminded that life is short, why waste so much time and energy on stuff like that? there's so much more to live for instead, like improving how well you love those you need to love, appreciating everything you have been blessed with, living with eternity in mind and not just collecting for the present. and even forgiving and understanding that at the end of the day it's really God's grace that got you this far anyway! i'm so thankful for God's grace.

anyway, all this typing has made me tired. this old man needs to go and rest. i think i'll just watch boo sing me happy birthday the rest of today. that kinda stuff makes me happy.

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