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:

• a Phoenix Suns bag
• an $8-off coupon at a local drugstore, which we used to buy sunscreen (the Phoenix Suns shot eight 3-pointers that day)
• a Verizon t-shirt
• a souvenir game ball from A’s relief pitcher Grant Balfour
• & a Jared Dudley Phoenix Suns t-shirt, which I ‘earned’ by doing this:

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!

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!