I love summer parties when they’re set up in our front yard. We’ve been in San Mateo for nearly two years, & we’ve noticed the downtown community tries to keep the spirit of the city alive through free events & street festivals throughout these warm months. A few weeks ago, the San Mateo Festa Foundation threw their annual Festa Italiana Community Street Fair just down the street from our apartment. A perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon.

The event had its share of adult activities—specifically the wine kiosks—but it was geared mainly for families & the little ones. Ice cream booths, foods on a stick & cannoli vendors abound for a quick pick-up-&-go atmosphere. Shiny plastic toys & bubble machines kept the children lively & jumping around from booth to booth. To top off the carnival-type atmosphere, there were even some kiddie rides set up right in front of the San Mateo train station. My sister’s family came to visit—a perfect type of event for two young parents, an infant, & a toddler.

The best part? When we got tired, we just picked up our stuff & made the five-minute walk back to our apartment to put up our feet. The little baby needed to stretch out outside of the carriage anyway.

Do we plan to go again next year? Most likely. It’s definitely not a huge festival by any means, but it’s a good reason to have people sample what downtown San Mateo has to offer.

These are my friends who came from far to visit: some as far as St. Louis & Hawaii, others even farther from Japan & Thailand. It has been more than a few years since I’ve seen my international friends, so no doubt, we were really excited. They land in SFO, so it made sense to have our San Mateo apartment the meeting point for all our guests. They got to see our new apartment, too. Also a good opportunity to further explore Downtown San Mateo—it’s always better to do these kind of things with visitors!

I’m on a photo retouching roll! I got to finish a few photos taken a few weeks ago. Apparently, my new niece doesn’t even look like she does in the photo above. Babies grow quickly!

More photos are in my Flickr album.

Good news, everyone! We finally uploaded the photos. We’ve been out & about entertaining out of town guests since the conclusion of the party, so but now we’ve finally found the time to upload these lovely photos! We even hired a photographer this time around!

Check them out on our wedding page.

Everyone but my mom has seen our new place. Mother’s Day would be the perfect opportunity to show her our new digs, so we invited the family over to come celebrate with a patio barbecue.

It was the best day ever. Not only did we have good food, but A’s pitcher Dallas Braden throws a perfect game! Being a good son & a gracious host, of course, I TiVo-ed the game while I had company & watched it after they left.

Crazy thing after that: my sister has a her baby 10 days earlier than expected! Now she’ll get to celebrate Mother’s Day with her new baby.

Even when I’m not in Oakland catching an A’s game, I’m always trying to find a way to get my baseball fix. When my uncle told me my young cousin started little league, we didn’t hesitate to catch his early morning games across the bridge in Hayward. My little niece Ava shared our enthusiasm as well,  so we took her along to go see him play for the Hayward Athletics (can’t go wrong with a name like that!).

At the game we watched, he was the only player to hit a home run, & he caught a good game to boot.

Ava didn’t understand the rules of the game, so she made friends with a five-year-old girl she met at the ballgame. She didn’t absorb as much baseball as we did, but had just as much fun!

I had to come in to work last Thursday morning so I can take the super early shuttle to get to the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s were giving away a fleece Snuggie—what they called a Sluggie—to the first 10,000 fans. I had to get a good spot in line to guarantee getting the wearable blanket. Otherwise, my wizard hat wouldn’t make sense (photo above).

Thanks to all my friends & family who came out to rock the left field bleachers. Without them, I wouldn’t have got us on DiamondVision (finally!) & started the wave that went all the way around the Coliseum 7.5 times. Ahh, what a good game.

Another thanks to my cousin Daniel for wearing my camera & taking almost all of the photos of the evening. Nice shots!

My bro-in-law celebrated his birthday over the weekend. My sis threw an informal par-tay at their new place in their clubhouse. Gave me a good reason to dust off my trusty DSLR & ringflash & take some party photos with their friends.

Happy birthday, Kris!

His good friends & family threw him a superb surprise birthday party last Saturday. I designed the official uniform for the day…the similarity is uncanny.

Happy birthday, Nano! We love you.

Flickr: Nano's surprise 40th birthday party

Happy new year! Sure, this greeting is a few weeks old, but I still mean it!

It was a relatively quiet New Year’s Eve party. Many family members were out of town or couldn’t make it. Disappointed? A little. It’s a bit hard to maintain a huge family, but you gotta hold on to what we have left—namely, tradition. Hopefully for years to come, I can always count on the big family New Year’s reunion as I’ve done all my life.

On a positive note, my Auntie Remy threw a really good party, complete with good food, a money booth (inspired by a Filipino game show) & a house full of laughter. As a gift, I’ve uploaded a photo of her & her sisters. I doubt she reads my blog, & if on the off chance she does, I hope you enjoy it, auntie!