bonnie & jason

San Francisco Giants Picnic in the Park

Cousin Eddy took a bunch of people including Alissa and myself to the Giants Picnic in the Park yesterday. It was a great event actually. The weather was perfect. Free hot dogs, beer, soda, popcorn, tacos, ice cream sandwiches, etc. They had an inflatable jumper and obstacle course for the kids and even a petting zoo. And, of course, they had a bunch of players signing autographs and helping distribute beer and food as well. The coolest part was just the perspective of being on the field. Here are a couple things I noticed:

1. The grass is amazing! It’s so dense, you can’t see the dirt even if you try to look between the blades of grass.
2. The warning track is much longer than it looks on TV. Probably about 20 feet long.
3. The outfield wall is taller than it looks on TV. It’s about eight feet tall I guess.

Here’s the photo diary of the trip:
Sami and Shauna helping Alissa cross the busy streets:

Killing some time at Borders before the event started:

Enjoying a hot dog with Megan in left field:

Hanging out with pops:

Enjoying cup #2 of popcorn:

In the jumper:

Looking for something fun to do with Uncle Alan:

Enjoying some organic chocolate milk:

On the way back to the car:

Moment by Moment

Some of you know that I volunteer my photography services with the non-profit group, Moment by Moment (click logo above for details.). It’s little more than a some time and a few dollars for me. However, the organization is managed by a few very dedicated people who really put their blood, sweat, and tears into this endeavor. Unfortunately, blood, sweat, and tears aren’t enough to keep the lights on so to speak. So if you happen to be looking for a great group to invest your charitable contributions with, please consider Moment by Moment. As it turns out, they are actually having a fundraising event September 12 if you’re interested in attending (contact me for details.) Otherwise, you can simply contribute by check or credit card. For checks, please make payable to Moment by Moment (Tax ID 55-0896956) and mail to Moment by Moment 1499 Sunnybrook Road Alamo, CA 94507. For credit card, you can submit via fax (925-407-2737) with the following info:

Card Number __________________________Exp. Date ______Code_____

Signature __________________________Total Amount Charged $_______

As a semi-unfair tug at your heart strings, here’s a picture of Amanda when she was in the hospital a few months ago.

Pretty in pink + Poor polka dots + Purple playing

Pretty in pink:

Alissa all dressed up for a party with a bunch of family at the Wong’s house in Fremont.

Poor polka dots:

Ashley’s first foray into “solids.” It’s mostly milk, but there’s some oatmeal in there.

Purple playing:

Amanda gets tickled.

Amanda and Ashley are 6 months old

Went to the doctor for their 6 month checkup today. Ashley is 14 lbs even and 24″ long. Amanda is 12 lbs even and 23.25″ tall. They’re just barely on the charts at around the 3rd to 5th percentile but continue to creep up the curve. Otherwise, we got a clean bill of health.

Flowers or appliances?

Apparently, the traditional and contemporary fourth anniversary gifts are flowers and appliances respectively. I understand flowers. Who doesn’t like flowers? But appliances? Isn’t that kind of like giving your wife a vacuum cleaner for her birthday? So instead, I’m being uber-contemporary and giving my wife an HD-video for our anniversary. Actually, Bonnie did most of the work for the video by selecting the images. I just did the iMovie part of it and picked the sound track. So to celebrate, we’re actually just planning on going to dinner and a movie (by ourselves). Anyway, enjoy the movie. (The song is “Just You and Me” by Zee Avi.)

2009 07 30 anniversary video from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

Can I get a “Woot woot?!”

The roof is shingled!

Now I just have to finish the shelving inside, get the trim up, and paint the thing. For now, it basically just holds all the tools that I used to make the darn thing. And some leftover materials too. If anyone needs any roofing nails or roofing paper, let me know.

I’m sure you all are sick of my stupid shed by now. I promise, just one more post when it’s 100% done. To make up for it, here are some pics of the girls:

The Picture People

Bonnie found a coupon for the picture people so we decided to go get some family pictures done. Alissa was a little shy and cried for a bit but we ended up with some decent pictures.

The setup is kinda generic, but the formula is pretty tried and true. I personally prefer to do outdoor pictures with “real” backgrounds, but generic isn’t necessarily bad in this case. Also, it’s kinda hard for me to take my own family pictures so this will have to do for now. Maybe when the kids get a little older, I’ll try some on my own with a tripod.

From rags to riches

Rags… (shingled half of the shed Sunday… hopefully finish the whole thing this weekend.)

… to riches

We visited Jef, Xiao Yi, and Gavin this weekend at their beautiful new place in Burlingame. Xiao Yi made a fantastic dinner as always. Beef noodle soup and onion pancakes. Very Taiwanese. And very tasty. Afterwards, we went for a short walk.

Alissa is getting faster and faster.

And she likes to push rather than ride in her stroller.

(I had to make her walk in the grass because the road was too steep and she would certainly have face planted on the way down.)

Gavin is so much bigger than last time we saw him.

And finally, here’s a random pic of Amanda.

The shed has walls, a roof, and doors

Bonnie’s dad came over this afternoon to help with the shed. Definitely needed a second set of hands for almost everything that got done today.

First we put the roof rafters up. They were pretty close to identical. Had one sort of stick out just a hair. Then we put the back wall up. This was pretty straight forward. Just lots of nailing. From there, we put the roof decking on. This was kinda hairy since 4×8 plywood is pretty heavy and the roof is kinda steeply pitched. In retrospect, I would have altered the plans for a smaller pitch angle. Also, it was hard to reach the second half deck panel so I had to sort of hang from the roof to get that installed.

Ok, it wasn’t that bad.

Once I got up there, I was pretty comfortable. It was getting up there in the first place that was a little scary. Next step was to get the front wall and doors in. Not rocket science, but it did take a bit of cutting and nailing and measuring. For some reason, the front wall ended up slightly out of square compared to the back wall but you can’t really tell. After some bracing and extra reinforcement in some key areas, we ended up with this:

I then trimmed the walls to the roof and here’s where things sit now.

And with some stuff already in it.

This is what Ashley thinks of it.

Then I told her that this is where she will go for time out if she’s a bad girl.

Another funny story… when Alissa went down for a nap, the roof wasn’t up yet. When she woke up and saw the shed in it’s later stages, she exclaimed, “Look at the house! Who’s house is that?”

Next steps are to get the roofing felt, shingles and drip cap up. Then I have some trim pieces to install before priming and painting. Still a lot to do but today was a productive day.

Sisters don’t shake hands… sisters gotta h u g g g…

$1 to the person who gets the modified quote.