First night in Irvine we arrived very late at the gated community. I got the apartment keys from a lockbox and couldn’t access the garage. Apparently I had to get it the next day. Public parking was completely full so I had to park outside. It also rained for a little bit (?!!).

After parking my car, I came back to the gate and the code doesn’t work! To make things worse this is the end of the day, and my phone shut down! After trying for a little bit I ended up picking that lock to open it… In a few mins after I got in, some car came out and opened the door! Guess I didn’t have to resort to those drastic measures…

Oh well… At least the apartment was nice!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

From,
James, Karen, Lia, and Eli

I’ve been experimenting of making my own bread for the past 3 days. Here is my Whole Wheat Bread……

It’s very soft and yummy. Now we don’t need to buy from TJ and we can eat  bread everyday.

We love you Daddy!! You are a great daddy and no you are not getting XBox 360 for father’s day. We have something better for you…

Here is your gift this year…..

After stagnating for a year, it’s time to refresh the photo albums!  Here are some of the new albums added:

Denver Vacation
Chloe’s One Month Party
Grace’s Baby Shower
Halloween Costume Party
Mom’s Birthday

These days I don’t take as many pictures as I normally do at each event, as I need to watch Lia, but I do make an effort! All albums are always available from the Photos link on the right side.

On Saturday, Jeffrey and Grace were officially initiated as parents…

Unfortunately because of H1N1, the hospital didn’t allow young kids into the delivery rooms, so Lia couldn’t meet Isaac.  Karen and I had to take turns visiting…

Isaac was sleeping like a rock the whole time…

But otherwise was happy (I think) and healthy.

Congratulations Jeffrey and Grace on their cute baby boy!

Here are more impressing chalk drawings on the floor…

Whew!  That’s all!

Chase Freedom credit card seems to be getting worse. For a while you get 3% on your top 3 categories, 1% on remaining, and every $200 you accumulate, you get to request a $250 check. Not long ago, they took away the extra $50 check benefit, and the way the top 3 categories are calculated. Now, they can’t even do their math correctly! I looked at last month’s statement and I earned a measly $1.30 for rewards even though I charged over $900 on this credit card! Even at a flat one percent I would expect at least $9 in rewards. Needless to say, I called in and they would get back to me in 5-7 business days. Had I not called, it would have just gone unnoticed…

The morale of the story is, don’t trust banks to “do the right thing”. Always verify all your bank and credit card statements!

This past Saturday Carolyn had her birthday party…

There were endless New Orlean crawfish being served, which Karen and I finally learned the proper technique for eating them, thanks to April…  All you need to do is break their neck, detach the head, and sip the body!

The party was Hawaiian themed, so there were a plethora of leis for everyone, including Lia!

Some of Carolyn’s other friends were also here, such as Jujube…

Then there was the candle blowing…

And the bubble blowing…

Then we went inside to answer 20 questions about Carolyn, where the winner gets Hawaiian T-shirts! The winners were Karen and Phoebe, but they ended up with Chocolate Truffles instead… since when did Jun join marketing?

After a couple more games, Lia’s drowsy eyes turned into teary eyes, so we had to leave the party, but not before we wished Carolyn a first birthday!

From James, Karen, and Lia!