Category Archives: Japanese

Sledding, Swimming, Sushi, and S’mores

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Sunday, December 8, 2013

A perfect hill for sledding was right below our balcony. Simon forgot his gloves so I had to throw them down to him from our window.
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Iris and I joined them in the snow to watch Simon sled.
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Smiling Iris all cozy in her bear outfit.
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Just a picture with mommy.
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Naptime near the fire pit.
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Warming up after sledding and building a snowman.
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Warm inside.
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Lunch at Driftwood café. They have the best clam chowder.
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Simon napped but Iris was wide awake.
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Simon and Daddy went swimming in the hotel’s heated pool.
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Dinner at Off the Hook sushi. Albacore with garlic is a delicious special dish.
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Making s’mores by the fire pit.
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A busy fun-filled day!

Iris, Happy 2 Months!

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Saturday, July 13, 2013

Iris is 2 months old today!

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Though, she had quite the fussy day today. Didn’t want to nap or take the bottle. She probably didn’t want to sleep because she slept a lot last night. After Chuck E. Cheese’s, we got home late so she didn’t get to bed until late so was really tired. She slept 6 hours and 40 minutes! Woke up for 20 minutes to nurse and went back to sleep for 2 hours and 30 minutes. But she was still groggy so a bit cranky.

Simon was super energetic today which was perfect for all of his activities today. He went to Lowe’s this morning to build the Pizza Planet Truck from Toy Story. He actually hit in most of the nails himself (looking closely, you can see the dents from the hammer). He was so proud.

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Then we went to Pump It Up in San Francisco for Joshua’s 5th birthday party. He had a good time crawling, jumping, and sliding around with the other kids. Here is Simon (in brown) and Ron (in orange) going down the inflatable slide (on the right).
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Then we had dinner with Grandpa Chung, Uncle Henry, and Auntie Betty at Ramen Parlor in San Mateo. We had a bit of a wait, maybe 20 minutes. Iris slept and Simon enjoyed hanging out with Auntie Betty.

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Dinner was pretty good. Noodles had a nice chew and broth was very flavorful. I had the spicy crab miso ramen. I wish I ordered another soft shell crab, so delicious!

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Ron had the pork tan tan noodles. Beautiful boiled egg on top.

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We are all super exhausted after a long day. Both kids fell asleep in the car and both were easily transferred to their beds without a fuss. I am looking forward to a peaceful slumber like Iris.

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Update on the Last Few Days

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Friday, June 28, 2013

Been too tired in the evenings to blog the last few days so here is the make-up post.

TUESDAY June 25:

I had my post partum checkup today and everything is a-OK. I’ve lost 26 lbs so far and looking to lose 15-20 lbs more. Losing weight starts with healthy eating so I picked up some delicious organic strawberries at the Kaiser Farmers Market. So sweet and delicious! Kaiser Walnut Creek has a small Farmers Market every Tuesday from 10am-2pm.

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I took Simon to his swim class which he loves. Although he sometimes doesn’t listen to the teacher, he seems to be learning bit by bit like “Thumbs up! Wave goodbye! Pinky in the water!” (Backstroke) Here he is just splashing at the edge of the pool before the lesson.

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Happy after a shower after swim class.

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Little Iris. She has a small scab above her nose from scratching herself in her sleep. Mommy hasn’t been doing a great job on trimming her nails often enough.

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WEDNESDAY June 26:

Iris after waking up in the morning.

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Simon after opening some packages from Barnes and Noble. He loves books! We’ve discovered he really likes “The Cat in the Hat Learning Series” which have the cat explaining different topics like dinosaurs, money, bugs, etc. These new books are about sharks and whales.

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THURSDAY June 27:

Last day for this session of camp! Spider-Simon! I think we are going to sign him up for another session as he seems to be enjoying it more.

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Smiling Iris. She’s been smiling a lot more and occasional cooing. I love “talking” with her, she makes the cutest sounds and they change every few days.

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Grandpa Chung came for a visit and Simon got comfortable reclining in the new car.

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FRIDAY June 28:

Little lady in yellow.

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Lifting her head a little during tummy time.

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Out to dinner tonight. Yummy sashimi!

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Simon trying a salmon skin handroll (which ended up being terrible and in edible). I didn’t taste it but Ron said it tasted burnt and made up of chopped up salmon skin. Simon didn’t like it after the first bite so we returned it. The service was a bit off-putting as well. We felt like they were trying to rush us out of there because the food came so quickly and they cleared our table so fast. We ate at Miraku in Walnut Creek. But I have to say they have really good sashimi!

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Time just flew by this week. Now on to the weekend fun. It’s going to be HOT!

Whee! Let’s swing!

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Day 213

Ron and Simon were able to attend a class finally at My Gym. Simon enjoyed some time on the swing.

Whee!

He also seemed to enjoy this swing shaped like a dolphin.

They have some pretty cool toys at the gym for the babies to play with.

So we’re not sure which gym we’re going to start taking him to. There are good things about both but we’ll just have to figure out which one has the better schedule for all of us.

For dinner we decided to try a new restaurant for us, Sanraku Japanese Restaurant which is within walking distance from our apartment. We ordered some sake to start and discovered they also have a restaurant in the Metreon.

We ordered the sake in a box. They overfill it onto the dish as well.

This is the appetizer sunomono which is octopus with pickled cucumbers. The portion size was smaller than I expected but tasted fine overall. The imitation crab stick was a bit strange.

The entrees are served with salad (and miso soup).

The sushi lover’s platter.

Agedashi tofu.

Shrimp tempura.

Sesame chicken.

Simon had his first taste of an orange. It tasted really sweet to me but maybe not to Simon…

Not much else to comment about the restaurant other than service was really fast. I had a bit of an upset stomach after I got home but I’m not sure if it was the food or overeating.

Simon got cranky near the end of dinner. He just wanted to go home and play with his toys.

Fascination with light

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Day 191

Simon checking himself out in the mirror. I hope he’s not getting vain.

Among his friends.

My parents came to visit us so we went to dinner at Akiko’s Sushi Bar near our apartment. The restaurant is small but very accommodating. Well, at least the other customers were accommodating since a couple moved to the bar so that we could sit at the table. I ordered the chirashi which was pretty delicious. The rice and salad were well seasoned and the tuna and salmon were very fresh. The yellow tail had a weird texture which I couldn’t figure out but it tasted fine, just kind of mushy or something. Overall the food was good but the service was pretty slow and disjointed. My mom got her hot chicken donburi first then there was a large gap of time before we got our sushi and sashimi dishes, maybe 20-30 minutes. It’s probably best not to go here in big groups.

Simon in the spotlight!

Actually, Simon is fascinated with my LED book light. Either he wants to eat it…. or “phone home”…