bonnie & jason

Random Alissa pics

Alissa’s hair is long enough to put in a pony tail… sort of. It stayed up pretty well because it’s been hot the last couple days and Alissa is getting over a cold so her sweat and boogers acted like a kind of mousse. Nice, huh?

Alissa’s glamorous shades. We went to Tiburon this afternoon with Jeff and Xiao-Yi. After sitting on a bench overlooking the bay eating dim sum,

we headed over to the Windsor Winery tasting room and tried to not get drunk. They actually had a bucket of toys that kept Alissa busy as well.

Afterwards, we went to the Gelato place on the corner where Alissa modeled Xiao-Yi’s sunglasses.

She also “wore”a chocolate gelato goatee.

Clorox Family Day at Six Flags Marine World

Clorox hosted the first “Family Day” in nine years today at Six Flags Marine World. They did a great job with organizing everything and even had games in the picnic area for the kiddies. Plus, there was a special showing of Shouka the Killer Whale just for us.

Alissa is still a bit small to enjoy all the rides. And getting her to walk or stay in the stroller was also a bit of a challenge. But we had a good time on the carousel and train and will no doubt be back again once Alissa gets older.

Alissa at the beach

Today was another beautiful day here in San Francisco. As a matter of fact, it was so warm that we were motivated to pick up a shovel/pail/sand sifter set for Alissa for like $2.79 at Babies ‘R Us. (I feel like that’s our second home.) So off to the beach we went!

At first, Alissa didn’t want to sit down in the sand. I’m not sure if she just likes to squat or if she didn’t want to get dirty.

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As you can see, she got over that pretty quickly:

She also decided to play Baby Godzilla and trampled down our sand city:

And to think we had thought about getting her a sandbox for the backyard. Why bother when there’s a whole beach a short walk away?!

The beach was actually quite crowded today with the weather being so nice. I just managed to get close crops or find the right angles to keep most of the crowds out of the pictures. (All images taken with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS.)

Back from NYC

I had a work meeting in Manhattan last week so we ended up making it the beginning to our annual east coast pilgrimage. While in the city, we met up with a couple friends as well as my cousin Anna’s family. While visiting them (likely for the last time before they move to the ‘burbs), Alissa and Chloe decided to take turns pushing each other in a little doll stroller:

(Speaking of which, our Graco Mosaic stroller broke a wheel after being subjected to the gate check from our flight… this was after I had to epoxy it back on after it broke off the first time after our trip to Laguna Beach so it’s not entirely their fault.)

Alissa and Bonnie also spent some time with Vivian. Here they are in Central Park playing with the water:

After working up an appetite, they stopped for some snacks:

Alissa loved this jam apparently. Don’t report us to child services for feeding our baby what amounts to straight sugar.

Alissa also enjoyed her first pickle which we got from the Carnegie Deli along with a pastrami sandwich about the size of her head:

Then, for the weekend, we ended up at Vin’s place for the annual “Wang’s come to the East Coast BBQ.” Here’s Alissa having her first Oreo cookie sans frosting:

She also had a great time playing with Gunther all weekend:

He basically tolerated her while she tried to ride, stand on, pull on, and pet him constantly.
Alissa also got a chance to try out her big hat at the park down the street:

The only thing I forgot to do is take a group picture of all the folks that were able to make it to the BBQ. Too many people to catch up with in too little time. Oh well, hopefully we can make it back again next year. By then, all conversations will revolve around kids as Vin and Denise will have a little Chao, Kiran and Priya will be inconceivably bigger, Alissa will be even more of a pain in the butt, Ellen and Mike may be able to make it with Natalie and their newborn, and Jenny and Eric will have a little one as well. Damn… talk about population growth!

Rest of the pics here.

Memorial Day BBQ with Bonnie’s cousins

Most of you know Bonnie has a ginormous extended family. As such, sometimes it’s tough to see everyone on a regular basis as folks are busy with school/work/family/etc. So, as an excuse to get together, we had a BBQ down in Mountain View today (kudos to Vivian for the idea and Deeann for the park). It turned out to be a great day! Not too hot, not too cold. Great food. Some fast and furious frisbee/football/tennis action. (Vicki Chan and I have Vivian Chan and Calvin lined up for Double Trouble Part Deaux at the next BBQ.) And the never ending entertainment that toddlers provide. Anyway, here’s an illustrated review with my usual running commentary. The entire album is here.

Deeann, queen of the soy/ginger chicken/steak.

Said soy/ginger chicken. Looks good, doesn’t it? We also had ribs, burgers, sausages, corn, two fruit salads, potato salad, smores, rice crispy treats, and a bunch of different drinks.

Alissa and Megan have similar “backpacks.” Alissa has the monkey, Megan has the doggie. If you didn’t notice, the “tails” act as leashes. I prefer to call them “safety restraints.”

Girl Power!

Kissing cousins. Alissa likes to kiss everyone, especially kids, these days. It’s to the point now when we’re out in public and there are other little kids around, we have to pull her back. She also likes to hug and pet kids’ heads. Hopefully this phase will pass quickly.

Alissa may be turning into a bit of a ham.

Alissa managed to get the monkey off her back. (HAH!)

And apparently, this signaled that she was the dominant toddler and ready to feed Megan to which Megan apparently agreed?! These have to be the funniest pictures I’ve ever taken… it was even funnier in person. Especially with Vicki’s commentary that Megan won’t let her or Tony feed her.

The now dethroned dominant toddler literally up in arms with the new regime. She took her aggression out on the adult empire later in the afternoon with what can only be described as Lollapapoopa.

Tony can throw a Frisbee really well. Hitting a tennis ball is more of a developing skill.

Look at that extension!

Karate chop!

Such balance and grace! (And mega-cool awesome sunglasses that exude sex appeal.)

It’s all about the follow through.

More good follow through.

Less good follow through.

Good times, good times.

P.S. For anyone interested, these were all taken with a 20D and 100mm 2.8 macro lens.

Back from Laguna Beach: The real Orange County

We just got back from a week in Laguna Beach. Yes, that Laguna Beach. It’s not so much that we wanted to see where Kristin Cavawhoever hangs out, more that we wanted a place that was close to the beach, in between LA and San Diego, and affordable for my side of the family. So we rented this place.

I have to say, I didn’t have high expectations as most web sites make the place seem better than it actually is. However, in this case, the web site was underselling the property. First of all, the place was huge! No “wide angle lens” tricks here. The bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms, even the hallways were humongous. Second, the house was very new and all the furniture, decorations, etc. were still fresh without any of that “rental house” feel that sometimes happens over time. Third, everything was very high end. From the bathroom fixtures to the light switches, it was clear that this house was built to luxury standards. Finally, everything was very clean and well stocked. We didn’t have to go scrounging for bathroom tissue or bring our own towels. All in all, we were very happy with the accommodations, especially given that the price wasn’t bad as we were at the tail end of the off-season.

I’ll put up a more detailed trip summary later this weekend as it’s kinda late now. For the time being, here are a few pictures that I liked: (Edit: Added new pictures and commentary below. Also, here’s the link to the full album.)

Alissa loved the stairs. I guess they were a novelty as we don’t have any at home that she can use. So she spent the better part of most days going up and down, up and down. She did enough so that she can actually go down the stairs forwards while hugging the wall. She’s not super reliable at this technique though so someone had to be there to catch her in case she fell. But between the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, Alissa got pretty much her fill of things.

We spent one of the days at the San Diego Zoo. It was a super hot day but worth the trip. Here’s a picture of the baby panda. He was just hanging out in this tree. Didn’t look all that comfy to me, but he seemed to enjoy it. If you look at the pictures in the whole album, you’ll also notice that he enjoyed showing the crowd his dirty, fuzzy butt.

Here’s Aidan at the petting zoo. I love the hat. I think he had just as much fun playing in the dirt as with the animals.

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Christian and Chloe on the deck at the house. The sun was nice and low so I got warm, even light. And Chloe obliged with a big smile!

Bonnie and Alissa on the Carousel at the zoo. Alissa didn’t really know what to make of it until the second time we rode it.

Papa, Mama, and baby monkey. Literally hanging around looking at the people looking at them.

Lions and tigers and bears (two kinds) oh my!

At the San Diego Wildlife Park, the animals had much more room to run about. It was cool to see the different species occupying the same large space.

Alissa’s first dippin’ dots. Only $4.50.

Can’t have a good day as a kid without swings!

Back from Vegas… again

We were in Vegas once again this past weekend. This time, it was for the annual meeting of my investment club (mostly a bunch of fraternity brothers) as well as to spend time with my family who is now rather settled there.

Alissa was pretty well behaved for the most part. She really liked the escalators and people movers in the airport. Here she is during one of the rare sitting still moments:

It gave way to people watching pretty quickly:

Otherwise, she enjoyed most of the “vacation” not that she has anything to vacation from. Regardless, as you can see, she found Vegas most relaxing:

When not lounging about, she spent some time at the local park. As she does while at home, she enjoyed the slide and tube tunnel.

And of course, she enjoyed being spoiled by the grandparents probably just as much as they enjoyed spoiling her.

However, I think she would agree that there’s no place like home, especially when there’s a froggy towel to be wrapped up in after a nice long bath.

Back from Vegas

We’re back from our holiday trip to Vegas to visit my family and there’s a lot to share!

First off, we ended up driving since plane tickets around the holidays were so expensive. The Pilot only ended up getting about 20 mpg so we probably spent one plane ticket’s worth on gas. Here are some shot of Alissa in her new car seat, ready for her longest drive ever:

PEACE OUT!

Mmm… elephant

Alissa was actually amazingly well behaved throughout the drive. She slept through most of it and only complained if the sun was in her eyes and towards the end of the trip when we were all itching to get out and stretch our legs. It probably would have been even easier except we ran into a lot of holiday traffic when we merged with the Socal holiday travelers on I-15. All in all, with four stops for breakfast, lunch, milk, dinner, it took us 13 hours. A long day, but overall, not a bad drive.

Once we got there, we were afraid Alissa wasn’t going to sleep since she had napped so much during the drive. Fortunately, that was not the case as can be seen here:

The next few days were spent walking around some new shopping areas, eating, playing Wii, opening presents… typical family time stuff.

Alissa loves her new bundle-me and hat

But it messes up her hair

Hanging out with great-grandma

The tree Anna had mailed to grandma!

Playing with grandpa

Massive bedhead

Christmas morning presents

For some reason, Alissa loves the wind in her face

Xmas display at the Bellagio

Alissa “playing” Wii

Mmm… hotpot

The drive home was easier than the drive in since there was much less traffic. However, it did have one dramatic section around Edwards AFB where we had to drive through a sandstorm! As we approached, it just looked like a dusty cloud, but once we got closer, we could clearly see a it was much much more.

Here’s a video of the ordeal:

Driving through sandstorm from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

All in all, a pretty good trip despite having the Pilot sand blasted. (It seems to be ok…) We probably won’t be doing this drive all that often since flights to Vegas are usually pretty cheap. But it’s good to know that Alissa is capable of tolerating such a long drive.

Mike’s wedding pictures

I did some quick editing of the pictures from Vegas. I still have to get some pictures from Leslie, but the bulk of them are done. Here is the full album, and some highlights below.

Vegas for Mike’s wedding

Mike got married in Vegas this weekend so we took the opportunity to spend some extra time with my parents in their new house as well as a bunch of other relatives mostly from the east coast. I have a ton of pictures to process as I was the wedding photographer as well as the best man but here are a few from the point and shoot: