Ryan's 2014 Christmas Dance

Here's Ryan's 2014 Christmas dance...

Ethan in Jazz Band - Chili Pepper Solo

Ethan had a trumpet solo in his middle school jazz band's playing of a song titled "Chili Pepper."

Naomi's Art

One of Naomi's hobbies is art.  She likes to draw animals but has branched off into on-line art and photography as well.  here's a sample called "Play the Wind."



To see more, follow her at: http://loneecho.deviantart.com/

No Soup for You!

...because it's a meat pie!!!

2014 Christmas Feast

We had another successful Christmas evening feast at Chuck and Yuki's house.

The menu included the following:
Turkey
Roast Chicken
Lasagna
Mac and Cheese
Sachiyo's Popular Chow Mein
Obaachan's Popular Scallop Casserole
Beef Stew
Sweet Potatoes
Stuffing
Mash Potatoes
Rice
Garlic Green Beans
Green Salad
Corn Casserole
Garlic Bread
Cranberry Sauce
Mango Sticky Rice
Sachiyo's Popular Egg Rolls
Homemade Gravy

And for dessert we had apple and cherry pie with spumoni, peanut butter and chocolate and/or strawberry ice cream.

And before the meal, our intrepid bakers came bearing several types of cookies.

And before that there were countless bags and plates of chocolates.

Here is collage with proof of the food carnage. Okay, so there wasn't much carnage.  Mostly just happy eaters.  We are still eating left overs today.



But alas, our hosts opted to stick to just sweet potatoes...



After dinner and dessert, all manner of card games and a viewing of everyone's all time Christmas favorite "Pacific Rim" ( a story of robots doing battle with monsters) was had by some.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the California Emotos

Okay, so we didn't get our cards out in time for them to arrive before the big day for many of you. So in its place, we'd like to electronically send you this greeting.



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

from,

Casey, Dorothy, Naomi, Ethan and Ryan

Science Experiment Video

In high school, not only do you get to do science experiments, but you also get opportunities to make videos of your experiment. Here's Naomi's latest.

Ryan's Surprise

Sometimes when Ryan uses the bathroom it takes a while. Maybe this is too much information, but let's continue the story. On one recent occasion, we decided to surprise him by turning out the lights and hiding to see what he would do. This video shows what happened. The room was fairly dark. The image has been lightened so you can see his reaction.

Chili Pepper - Ethan Plays a Trumpet Solo

Here's a recent jazz band concert where Ethan had a trumpet solo.

Beast Mode Strikes Again!

Marshawn Lynch does it again. In tonight's Seahawks-Cardinals game, he ran through and over the Cardinals defense to his longest TD run of his career. Here's the radio call of the run by the Seahawks radio broadcast team:
 
Here's the video clip:


Another incredible run by the former Cal Bears running back!

Sketch of Dudley

. Sketch of Auntie Barbara's dog Dudley drawn by Naomi.

Life in a Walk

Last year, a new show ran on the Pac-12 network called "The Drive." In the show, two Pac-12 football teams were followed for the entire season and the Cal Bears was one of those teams. Unfortunately for Cal, they were featured in a season where they only won a single game and had a historically poor season by anyone's definition. The person responsible for the show was a former assistant coach with USC from back in the Pete Carroll days, Yogi Roth.

His latest creation is a film called "Life in a Walk" based on a trip that he took with his father, the premise being that life is too short to not spend more time with the people that mean the most to you. From this has sprouted a movement based on this same theme. Check it out.

 

Forever Young by Alphaville

Here is one of the songs in the previous Seahawks video.

Time to Defend...

Listen to what they were saying about the Seahawks before their Super Bowl win.  Wonder what the pundits have to say this year?

Photos of People Taking Photos!

Check out these photos.  It's a picture of Yuki taking a selfie with kids, but in the background you can see a picture of me taking a photo of them taking their selfie.  In the second photo you can see the photo that was taken by me!

Fireworks Night

Ryan enjoying fireworks night...

Off to Camp Chawanakee

Ethan off to his third boy scout summer camp at Camp Chawanakee.  His troop shoved off at about 1pm today leaving their scout shack, 15 or so boys with three adult chaperones in three vehicles.

Having attended with Ethan his first year, the mystery that might exist with many of the parents regarding boy scout summer camp does not exist for us.  The complications of summer vacation means that not everyone will be traveling to camp together and returning together, making travel logistics somewhat challenging.  Almost every seat in each of the three vehicles was completely filled today by a person or gear as they headed out.



After autographing the trailer, they were soon off for a week of adventure, learning and making memories.  Ethan's classes this year are Cooking and First Aid.  The week will go by too fast and they will be home for the rest of the summer.

Fireworks in Concord!

This year we didn't have very far to go for fireworks once again as the City of Concord owing to  funding from several private partners put on a terrific show.  On a last minute decision after finishing eating we drove towards downtown and ended up on the top of a parking structure.  Turns out that we were not the only ones with the same idea.

The following is a video of the finale of the firework show shot by another YouTube user.  The best part was that the show had two finales.  It was a great show!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July!  Enjoying a quiet BBQ at home with family!



Also here's a salute to the Fourth with some of the lighter moments from our recent trip to Disney World!

Good Times in Orlando: Days One and Two

It was more than a family vacation.  It was an extended family vacation with 12 of us on the trip.  The Seid family graciously arranged for all of us to stay at their time share near Disney World.  And although the time share had a pool fully decked out with water cannons, oversized inner tubes and a river-like loop through the pool, the kids were only able to enjoy the pool twice because of the late nights that we spent at the theme parks.  This was even though the pool was open until midnight.

We flew into Orlando on different flights.  The Seids and our family flew in on US Airways from Oakland via Phoenix.  The flight was uneventful, but the baggage claim process was like a Disney ride with an hour long wait.  This "ride" was followed by another hour long wait at the Budget rental counter.  In this time, both the Tam and So families who were on two separate flights were able to catch up to meet us at the rental car counter.

That night at the time share, we ordered out for pizza and kids were able to go swimming at the pool. The evening sky was a reddish, purplish hue which could've meant that good weather was in store for us based no the fisherman's adage: red sky at night is a sailor's delight, but it was not meant to be.


The next day started out fine. We made our way to Disney World by car, tram and ferry, stopping along the way to pick up our tickets. That's Alden at the window picking up our tickets.

If you've never been to Disney World, you will be surprised to learn that it has four parts: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom that are interconnected by road, tram and ferries in some manner. Anyway, we made our way to Magic Kingdom and decided to stand in line to get on the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride. It turned out to be one of the longer lines of our entire trip. There still was no rain and it was quite warm.



But by later that day the weather had changed and rain ponchos and umbrellas were in order for most of the rest of the day.


The plan was to make it over to Hollywood Studios so we could see the Symphony in the Stars fireworks show.  At Hollywood Studios, we checked out The Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, and The Tower of Terror.  Must have to say that the fireworks show was terrific with the fireworks exploding almost directly over where we stood.