You can almost tell I'm Asian in this picture:
Dane kind of looks like a ventriloquist dummy in this one:
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Family Photos 2010
We had our family pictures taken by the same photographer as last year; once again, we were very happy with the results:
You can almost tell I'm Asian in this picture:
Dane kind of looks like a ventriloquist dummy in this one:
You can almost tell I'm Asian in this picture:
Dane kind of looks like a ventriloquist dummy in this one:
Monday, January 17, 2011
It's Never Too Late for Christmas
We drove to Oklahoma this year, and we were grateful the drive was fairly easy and uneventful. Luckily, we got there early enough to catch a couple of days with Rika and Brady, who ended up spending Christmas in Utah. Boo.
So Rika and I worked on the impossible Nutcracker duets together:
And Dane enjoyed a few pre-Christmas bike rides with Jiichan in the Dane-mobile.
They can be pretty tiring.
Finally, it was Christmas Eve.
Dane extracted the final treat from his advent calendar,
and got to open one special present:
Christmas pajamas!
But we hit a few snags trying to get the pajamas on:
We finally got them on, but Dane didn't want to pose for me. He did, however, yawn and show us he was ready for bed so Santa could come!
On Christmas morning, we have a tradition of playing instruments as loudly and annoyingly as possible to wake our parents. So, of course, the impossible Nutcracker duets are in order. This year, it was me and Mika, and we got video!
This is what Dane thought of it all:
Finally, it was time to see what Santa brought!
Unfortunately, our camera battery died. What terrible timing! So I have no documentation of the wonder of Santa presents and opening the Christmas bounty. Sad.
But Dane still had plenty of adventures in the POWER WHEELS LIGHTNING MCQUEEN HE GOT FROM SANTA!!!
He was so excited.
My dad even had extra presents so Dane could go on a little treasure hunt in his car every night after Christmas.
Dane is such a lucky boy.
One day, we had some unseasonably warm weather, so we rode our bikes around Lake Hefner. Kenji and my dad were unquestionably in the best shape, but the rest of us struggled a bit more. Nevertheless, we made it all ten miles, riding against the wind most of the time (and, lest you forget, Oklahoma is where the wind comes sweeping down the plains, so it was pretty strong wind).
Kenji, in good form:
Dane, ready in the Dane-mobile, which Daddy pulled:
About a mile into the ride, we came upon my favorite fake lighthouse:
I had been riding the tandem bike with my dad, but Mom was having a hard time, so we traded.
Mom spent much of the rest of the ride with her feet propped up, Mr. Burns style, while my dad did all the work. I regret I did not get a picture, but this will give you an idea:
We stopped about halfway through for a sushi lunch at a little park
And then finished the picturesque ride.
I didn't get any action shots of me, but I looked awesome.
And I didn't fly off my bike a single time.
Afterward, Dane enjoyed the wonder of a sunroof:
On New Year's Eve, we took a little trip to Pops, which is always fun. And this time, Mika discovered Leninade!
The bottle was full of funny phrases, like "Get hammered and sickled," and "A soda worth standing in line for." The soda itself wasn't that great, but the bottle was worth it.
Then, we had our traditional Japanese osechi.
It was Michael's first time, so we of course made him try everything. Here, he has just enjoyed the anchovy wrapped in kelp:
Joel had some, too.
We found some trainer chopsticks for Dane, so he picked up his own chicken. Quite deftly, I might add:
Overall, it is very delicious.
Also delicious are my dad's chocolate milkshakes, which Dane thoroughly enjoyed:
Then, we whisked Dane off to bed and ended 2010 watching Japanese Kohaku and playing Presidents.
(Presidents, or Scum, is a card game. But we add the silly hats to denote ranking. Totoro is president, and the lampshade hat my mom made is scum. Joel was scum in this picture, and Michael was president.)
At one point, Joel noticed that there were some old dried flowers hanging on the curtain rod. They are the flowers he sent me for my 20th birthday, back when we first started dating and he was living in Connecticut while I was home for the summer. Isn't it so romantic that I've kept them these seven-and-a-half years?
Except these roses were diseased; they started turning brown within 24 hours. I tried to salvage some and dried them, but then they just dried into these lacy skeletons of petals. Now, seven-and-a-half years later, they were super dusty and gross. So we said goodbye.
Well, there you have it. We had to head out on New Year's Day, and we were very sad to leave. Mom and Dad and Mika and Michael showed us a wonderful time, and we definitely miss them.
We got to stay at Allen and Monique's house in Albuquerque one night, and then we caught Rika and Brady in Springville as we pulled in. So all in all, we got to see a lot of family. We missed Kenta and Kendall and Thomas, but they were waiting patiently in New Hampshire for the arrival of baby Abigail Hiromi!
And I'm serious when I say they were waiting patiently, because she was due on December 29th and didn't want to be born until January 6th.
So that's it. Oh, except for the picture of Dane looking through binoculars the wrong way.
P.S. Did anyone notice that I cut my hair? I'd been planning on getting it trimmed, but my mom thought it was obscenely long and offered to pay for a hair cut. Then we found out the haircut would be free if I donated my hair to Locks of Love. So, twelve inches later, I have shoulder length hair. I actually kind of hate it, but oh well. My hair grows quickly.
So Rika and I worked on the impossible Nutcracker duets together:
And Dane enjoyed a few pre-Christmas bike rides with Jiichan in the Dane-mobile.
They can be pretty tiring.
Finally, it was Christmas Eve.
Dane extracted the final treat from his advent calendar,
and got to open one special present:
Christmas pajamas!
But we hit a few snags trying to get the pajamas on:
We finally got them on, but Dane didn't want to pose for me. He did, however, yawn and show us he was ready for bed so Santa could come!
On Christmas morning, we have a tradition of playing instruments as loudly and annoyingly as possible to wake our parents. So, of course, the impossible Nutcracker duets are in order. This year, it was me and Mika, and we got video!
This is what Dane thought of it all:
Finally, it was time to see what Santa brought!
Unfortunately, our camera battery died. What terrible timing! So I have no documentation of the wonder of Santa presents and opening the Christmas bounty. Sad.
But Dane still had plenty of adventures in the POWER WHEELS LIGHTNING MCQUEEN HE GOT FROM SANTA!!!
He was so excited.
My dad even had extra presents so Dane could go on a little treasure hunt in his car every night after Christmas.
Dane is such a lucky boy.
One day, we had some unseasonably warm weather, so we rode our bikes around Lake Hefner. Kenji and my dad were unquestionably in the best shape, but the rest of us struggled a bit more. Nevertheless, we made it all ten miles, riding against the wind most of the time (and, lest you forget, Oklahoma is where the wind comes sweeping down the plains, so it was pretty strong wind).
Kenji, in good form:
Dane, ready in the Dane-mobile, which Daddy pulled:
About a mile into the ride, we came upon my favorite fake lighthouse:
I had been riding the tandem bike with my dad, but Mom was having a hard time, so we traded.
Mom spent much of the rest of the ride with her feet propped up, Mr. Burns style, while my dad did all the work. I regret I did not get a picture, but this will give you an idea:
We stopped about halfway through for a sushi lunch at a little park
And then finished the picturesque ride.
I didn't get any action shots of me, but I looked awesome.
And I didn't fly off my bike a single time.
Afterward, Dane enjoyed the wonder of a sunroof:
On New Year's Eve, we took a little trip to Pops, which is always fun. And this time, Mika discovered Leninade!
The bottle was full of funny phrases, like "Get hammered and sickled," and "A soda worth standing in line for." The soda itself wasn't that great, but the bottle was worth it.
Then, we had our traditional Japanese osechi.
It was Michael's first time, so we of course made him try everything. Here, he has just enjoyed the anchovy wrapped in kelp:
Joel had some, too.
We found some trainer chopsticks for Dane, so he picked up his own chicken. Quite deftly, I might add:
Overall, it is very delicious.
Also delicious are my dad's chocolate milkshakes, which Dane thoroughly enjoyed:
Then, we whisked Dane off to bed and ended 2010 watching Japanese Kohaku and playing Presidents.
(Presidents, or Scum, is a card game. But we add the silly hats to denote ranking. Totoro is president, and the lampshade hat my mom made is scum. Joel was scum in this picture, and Michael was president.)
At one point, Joel noticed that there were some old dried flowers hanging on the curtain rod. They are the flowers he sent me for my 20th birthday, back when we first started dating and he was living in Connecticut while I was home for the summer. Isn't it so romantic that I've kept them these seven-and-a-half years?
Except these roses were diseased; they started turning brown within 24 hours. I tried to salvage some and dried them, but then they just dried into these lacy skeletons of petals. Now, seven-and-a-half years later, they were super dusty and gross. So we said goodbye.
Well, there you have it. We had to head out on New Year's Day, and we were very sad to leave. Mom and Dad and Mika and Michael showed us a wonderful time, and we definitely miss them.
We got to stay at Allen and Monique's house in Albuquerque one night, and then we caught Rika and Brady in Springville as we pulled in. So all in all, we got to see a lot of family. We missed Kenta and Kendall and Thomas, but they were waiting patiently in New Hampshire for the arrival of baby Abigail Hiromi!
And I'm serious when I say they were waiting patiently, because she was due on December 29th and didn't want to be born until January 6th.
So that's it. Oh, except for the picture of Dane looking through binoculars the wrong way.
P.S. Did anyone notice that I cut my hair? I'd been planning on getting it trimmed, but my mom thought it was obscenely long and offered to pay for a hair cut. Then we found out the haircut would be free if I donated my hair to Locks of Love. So, twelve inches later, I have shoulder length hair. I actually kind of hate it, but oh well. My hair grows quickly.
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