Category: Family

Posted on

Soojin’s Naturalization & The Longest Day

So today was THE DAY for Soojin… she is now an American! 
Please send her your regards… she can now moan and complain about the politicians like we do!! 
So what made today one of the Longest Day for me?
Here’s the recap…

1. Get up at 5:30 am to drive the family to Cyfair area in this horrid cold rain!
2. Traffic near the area is horrendous as nearly 2000 naturalized citizens and family showed up!
3. We left at 11…
4. Caught lunch at Pappadeaux near Gessner… way too salty dirty rice & blackened catfish! 
5. Drove to Social Security Services branch in Pasadena and waited two hours in the car while she was waiting.
6. Got back home to Clear Lake and dropped the family off.
7. Took my ol’ Honda to Nick’s place for oil change & state inspection.
8. Went to Verizon store ’cause my i730 PDA phone touchscreen decided to go AWOL on me.
9. Got home at 6:30 pm.
10. Went to Bible study at Formosan Church in west side
11. Got back home at 10:30 pm

Whew!  I’m exhausted… and the phone not wanting to work with me didn’t help either…  Good night…

Posted on

Video Skype & Best Buy Anna!

So we finally got video Skype to work with my parents!!



That’s Anna speaking with grandma. It was pretty decent… not to mention free!!

And here’s Anna getting into BestBuy plastic bag! No kidding!

Silly girl… maybe I can sell this to Best Buy?!!

Posted on

Man down!!

So I got home from work… and after dinner, I played with them for a bit.  As we played, we started to talk about what JJ liked to play with.  I nailed it down.  Cars, trains, planes, and boats and such.  Guess what Anna says… she starts with dolls and then… she shouts out…  “I like new clothes!!” 

And then… they re-discovered the green bucket we got from Wal-Mart while back… so I decided to be the “green bucket monster” by putting it over my head.  So I was chasing them down… not much of a chase really… as I couldn’t see jack for anything!  After chasing, I got to the doorway of my kids’ room.  I felt the hallway ending and slowly felt my way into the room.  Then, BAM!!  Anna shuts the door on me and my two fingers (mid and 4th) get squashed!! 

I was in pain…. bit of swelling and my bones may have been in pain…  man down.  Oh well…  it was all still worth it though… 

Posted on

Catching up with the times: Skype and Webcams

Logitech_QuickCam_Communicate_STX_WebcamOFH-detail

While we were in New Jersey, my father had brought up a request wanting for video telephone capability.  I asked why and he said that since they only get to see us once a year, he wanted to see the kids’ faces more frequently so that my kids wouldn’t forget what the grandparents looked like… 

So pleasantly surprised, we had talked about Skype and its video capability for FREE!    So I have been keeping an eye out for a webcam that would meet our requirements and keep it relatively cheap.  Lo’ and behold, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that today’s Woot had Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX for $19.99!!    It sports 640×480 video capture and 1.3 MP stills!  So I quickly grabbed two and we will be giving it a go real soon!!    And by the way, this webcam supports Skype as well…  Hee…  So this one’s for you, dad! 

Posted on

Making the most out of… the lemons…

So Soojin got the flu… 
She called me at work from home after 1 pm. Work has been getting very busy as of late but she has to get rest…. So I headed home and she had fever just over 100 F.  So after dishes and such, I decided to take the kids outside since that would be the best way for Soojin to get rest.  So I decided to make the most out of it by taking them to Bay Area Park and pick up a pizza from Papa John’s on the way back.

I was partially(?) sick but I wanted to make the most out of this “situation” and the kids had a blast at the playground… and after about an hour and half of running around, swinging, and chasing, we headed to the lake… and just… watched.  Sat by the “shore” on a bench and watched the birds… counted how many were sitting on a tree…

We walked back holding hands… and then tried to race together… WHILE holding hands!    And then picked up the pizza but since JJ was falling asleep in the car, I offered him a deal .. “blue juice” aka. Gatorade Frost!   Anna and JJ also discovered how much they love Papa John’s (good-for-nothing) garlic butter.  At least, despite our being sick, they had a blast.  Soojin is now on the good ol’ TheraFlu.

Posted on

The Texas Comeback

So… we are back… whew!  After packing and driving through NYC again to get to JFK airport, we checked in our bags and got ready to get on…  well, I forgot what it was like to fly with kids (though it has only been 4 months!)…
Oh, and props to JetBlue for providing complimentary free WiFi spot at JFK so the kids could watch TV ??? ??? ?. 

You see, Soojin got sick… she has digestion problems easily and was just feeling terrible.    So I had to feed these rowdy and demanding kids.  We managed to get some edamame before we got on the plane.  Well, I had to peel them all one by one only to be eaten real fast by the hungry kids!  I just couldn’t peel them fast enough.  After that, they went through couple of cups of OJ and water.  Then I had to make sure they were well rested and eventually, they fell asleep… but JJ required me holding him to fall asleep.  He likes being held.    But I had to stand up in the aisle to comfort him and calm him down during the flight.  JJ and Anna had to pee after all that binge drinking too!!  All this time, Soojin was just feeling like throwing up…

And she did.  When we finally landed.  And JJ just had to pee again while people were de-boarding!  Ah ya…  After we got our luggage, I took the kids with me while Soojin watched our bags (since she still didn’t feel well) to pick up our car at the Sunpark.  Well, now, I forgot to bring the keys with me!  So we came back…    After the key pickup, we went back, came back to pick her up with the luggage.

When we got home, Soojin wanted me to vacuum the place since we hadn’t been home in two weeks.  So they waited in the car while I vacuumed and opened up the windows to circulate the air!  And since Soojin wasn’t feeling well, my dinner had to be Jin Ramen with tofu in it!  Oh well…  in the end, two things are clear…

1. It’s tough traveling with kids.
2. It’s good to be back home.

PS.  All the time we were in New Jersey, Anna kept on asking when we were going back home.  And she was worried that someone would take our cars and our place!  Cute…