Gotta love my dad. He brought his handy camcorder to record my first pitch. Yay to my dad, hurrah to the A’s public address announcer who pronounced my name properly, but yuck to my celebration face toward the end of the video.
Since I was only a few months old, we have gone on an annual camping trip with some of my parents’ ski club friends. It started out as traditional camping complete with tents, outdoor cooking, smores and snipes but as we grew up it gradually evolved into golf and condos. This year, we met the group, affectionately know as the Over the Hill Gang down in Pismo Beach.
Unfortunately, we were only able to make it down there for a night, but we made the most of our time there. We met my brother and future sister in law and a couple others in San Luis Obispo to have lunch at the famous Firestone Grill. I forgot how delicious their tri-tip sandwich is and ribs were equally good. After filling our bellies and strolling down Bubblegum Alley, we headed down to Pismo to do some ATV-ing.
ATV-ing was quite an experience for a couple reasons. For me it was my first time going so it was a mix of fear and exhilaration. For the first 45 minutes or so I was really hesitant but after finding a few straightaways to race up and down I finally gained my confidence and was brave enough to take on a few hills. Just before we headed back we decided to go our separate ways and to meet back at a marker a few minutes later. Four of us stayed pretty close together but my brother and fiancee decided to go out on their own. As the time came to an end, we saw my brother’s fiancee waving to us near our meeting spot. She kept waving as we got near and we kept waving back to assure her that we saw her. It was only as we got closer that we saw that my brother was sitting in a dune buggy holding his head. It turns out that he flipped over his ATV and knocked his head and ribs on his way over. Fortunately after a couple hours in the emergency room, he was okay with only a super glued gash in his head and some bruised ribs. Not exactly the way we planned to end the day but at least it wasn’t more serious.
When we got back to the condo, it was dinner time. Another group of people spent the day fishing so they prepared fish tacos with some of their catch. They also brought several other kinds of meats complete with all the fixings, including La Vic’s orange sauce. One thing you can always count on at these events is good food.
After dinner we had a casual baby shower for the ladies to help welcome one of the next generation of the group. It’s really fun to see the group growing. This year we had one of the biggest turnouts in recent history so it was really great to see everyone and we can’t wait for next year.
I may have said this last year: March is an awesome month to visit Arizona. We got to escape the insane Bay Area weather & got to take in some sun while enjoying our beloved A’s baseball! Score!
After she got married, my cousin Myra moved out to Glendale in Arizona, not too far from Phoenix & it’s many Spring Training ballparks. When my cousins learned that one of their old classmates/bandmates was playing baseball in Arizona (for the curious, it’s this dude named Troy Tulowitski of the Colorado Rockies, no big deal), my cousin Myra & new cousin-in-law Jay, cousin Mel, the wife & myself made it a mission to go out to visit him during practice at the gorgeous Salt River Fields at Talking Stick to see if he remembers them. We tried our darndest to try to catch him during at his home practice field, but was unsuccessful. Oh well, there’s next year.
By the end of the weekend, I was in the positive. I scored:
Can’t wait until next year! It’s fun to hang out with family outside of the Bay Area!
There’s one thing you can count on every year—a family reunion on New Year’s Eve! My photo booth makes an appearance; hopefully, it becomes a mainstay for future NYE parties.
I suggested to have a costume party, but my cousin Emee suggested we should ease our family into this new idea of a theme party. We settled on funny hats, &, well…it was a hit! Last I heard, we may do a funny t-shirt party next.
From our family to yours, happy 2011!
They made it official with a gorgeous ceremony in Mountain View, & ended the night with a banquet in Santa Clara. For those who don’t know this about me, me & my buddies from church are a part of an a capella group we called Bound by Faith. My cousin & bride, Myra, is one of our diehard fans, so she came to us & asked if we could perform. Because the venue lacked the amount of microphones we needed, we did the next best thing & presented this music video with a soundtrack we created ourselves. With our voices. Pretty impressive, right? Sorry, it’s the best we can do.
Okay, no more stalling. Here’s the video:
Congratulations, Myra & Jay! Welcome to the club!
