Our first snow trip

Last weekend we went to the snow for the very first time. My kids have never touched snow and I myself haven't touched snow in 30 years. Can you believe it? Yep, I think the last time I went to the snow was with YTF. Fortunately we found a couple of seasoned families to accompany us newbies.

Some of you may be thinking that I really missed out on the fun of skiing/snowboarding all these decades... and maybe you are right to some degree. But the way I see it, those fun activities come at a steep cost that don't justify the fun. Honestly, I've heard way too many stories of people getting stuck in the snow/traffic resulting in seven hours of travel time and just the thought of being trapped in a car that long with my screaming kids would kill me. And then you have to buy the gear, and take lessons, and take a day off from work... And did I mention the risk of injuries? Just last month two CIBCers had a dislocated shoulder and broken arm! Um, no thank you. I survived this long without swimming, I think I can do the same without skiing.

Thanks to Hebron, we were able to secure a wonderful cabin in Twain Harte. The grand total for two nights rental, food and gas came out to about $270/family. The 2.5-hour, 125-mile scenic drive was a breeze with zero traffic and no need for chains. In fact, we didn't even see snow until 15 minutes before our destination. I'm guessing by next month most of the snow will be gone.

The kids, aged 3 to 9, played very well together. Dustin has been dying to play in the snow. He would often tell me how his friends always go up to the snow every year and how come we don't. And how they've gone to Disneyland every year and us only once... My response would be, "Sorry Dustin, but who said life was fair? If life was fair, your friend's parents would've given birth to twins and you would be born into their family. And it's not just unfair to you... If life was fair for me, I would have children that appreciate being part of our family and not whiny little ingrates that wants what everyone else has." Life is so unfair.

The first day the incredible Hung shoveled a nice long slope for us just above the cabin. And here was my first interaction with snow in 30 years! It was an absolute blast!

The second day we discovered a giant open space below the cabin.
We called this place the "lake".

Lining up for the sled race.

We had nice sunny weather in the low 60s, I didn't have to wear my jacket once.

I wonder if those sleds have a weight restriction.

Both nights I waited until the final (north) round to stage my miraculous comeback.
Them women don't know what hit them!

The view from atop the giant slope. Everyone vacated at lunch time
and we owned the mountain. Sweet!

We owned the lake too. There was no one else in sight.

The gentle slope on the lake was perfect for the younger kids.

My van seats 8, but we easily fit 12. All the slopes were within walking distance
but we were quite pooped after several hours of playing.

After a long day, half of us passed out immediately.

Below is a three minute video that summarizes the weekend.
It was such a delight, we're already planning for next year.

Photo credit to most photos: HM

Christmastime (long overdue)

Sorry for the delay, I meant to get it up sooner.

Shot from approx. 70 ft. away in 720HD with the incredible Canon Powershot SX20is.
(Thanks, Wong See Mo)

We wish you a Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Ray's Annual Hotpot Party

Ray and I estimate we've been doing the hotpot party for 10 straight years now. (You can read my blogs about our 2008 and 2007 parties when Ted deep fried the turkey and Twinkies.) It all started with a few of us childless folks playing mahjong every weekend. We looked for any excuse to get four players together. Boy does time fly! Also it's hard to believe we've been taking this same group picture for the last three years (ever since I started blogging and using the Nikon).

Each year the group gets a little larger because somebody's family grows every year. But this year, even with the addition of Hope, our group actually got smaller! That's because thanks to cantata practice, both Chris and I lucked out and came family-free! Heehee!! It's such a relaxing experience when you don't have worry about cooking for and monitoring your kids!

Actually, there were more people. Two families missed the group photo session. One family had to get home in time for bedtime. I admire families that can routinely pull themselves away from all the fun and awesome desserts just to stick to a rigid self-imposed schedule (and even on a Friday night)! Wow, such discipline! The other family is the total opposite, came late and insisted I shoot them in the back and then Photoshop them into the photo. Am I the most accommodating friend or what?

The three momma-boys.

Everyone's happy after they are fed.

Owen had to sample everything in order to have a complete meal.

Had to snap this pic quick so that they too could stay on schedule.

Hope is thinking, "Yo dude I'm about to pass out. I'm still on Hong Kong time."

My circle of friends. Yes, we are easily entertained.

If you ever wonder why Patty carries such a large purse...
just be sure to stand back when she opens it.

It's like 50 degrees and the kids are in t-shirts and shorts. Strange family.

On Sunday, Ray shared about his upcoming mission to Uganda in January. Ray just completed an intense quarter of Spanish immersion in South America. He is now fluent in Spanish and can totally tell you what Dora says. I know all you proud Chinese parents think Mandarin is the proper thing to learn, but living in California (or Texas or Arizona), it's a no-brainer that Spanish is most valuable language to learn. Heck, had Ray come back a week earlier, I would've asked him to come tell my neighbor's gardener to stop blowing leaves into my yard.

To read more about Ray's adventures, please visit his blog: Don't Pee on My Campfire.

YFC Christmas Party

Here are some photos from our annual YFC Christmas party. This year over 70 people showed up for $5 prime rib (although they were a few shameless people who were still hungry and went to mooch off the YAF party in the next room). We had a very fun and competitive treasure hunt this year. My team came in first, so we got to line up for food first! Woohoo!

Like any other YFC meeting, one moment everyone is fine, the next they just start getting wierd.

"Phone, keys, kids.... hmm, what else am I missing?"

30 pounds of prime rib and LOTS of gravy, courtesy of the of the SF Fongs.

"Unk Hunk" is what Justine calls him.

Josh-E makes his long awaited debut. That's a lot of hair for 11 weeks!
Unfortunately they were left starving because Myron's team came in last.

Future choir members.

Hot Pot Party!

Like last year, and the many years prior to that, the Tangs graciously hosted the annual hotpot party on Christmas Eve. I think this is the 6th year we've done this (I lost count), but I'm pretty sure us, along with Chris, Oliver, Steve and Mary have all had perfect attendance! We look forward to this every year!

For all you non-Chinese folks that are wondering what the heck we're eating... we had thinly sliced beef and pork, shrimp, clams, crab, tripe, fun-see noodles, mushrooms (brown, enoki), meatballs, tofu and green leafy veggies. Throw everything into the water and boil it to death. We all share the same two pots so if anyone is sick, everyone gets sick (although all the germs should get killed by the temperature...). Also my mom fried two pans of eggrolls and shrimp chips, and we had all kinds of dessert.

Earlier that day I saw Grace and Owen during lunch and offered to sneak them in to hotpot like I did last year. But she blew me off saying they had better things to do, like preaching at church (Note: they are both pastors).

Anyway, as always, the food, fellowship and fun were all top-notch and we never get tired of seeing the same ole people every year :0

Below are the photos in chronological order. Thanks Ray and Mrs. Tang! Can't wait til the next time we eat and party together... Oh wait, that's tomorrow!

6:25 p.m.

Fend for yourself. Everyone was trying to eat as much as they could before the
other Fongs showed up. This was taken right before the fight broke out.

6:45 p.m.
Like in the old days, the women and children wait while the men go fishing for dinner.

7:56 p.m.
Almost everyone is done eating.
Chris was eating real good all night – except at the MJ table :o

8:56 p.m.
Group photo time before the responsible parents take their children home.

Can you guess which one is Patty's kid?

10:09 p.m.
The sons vs. the moms. The sons lost.

10:45 p.m.
Justine normally won't let any strangers hold her.
But Patty smelled like cookies.

11:35 p.m.
I got tired of losing at MJ so I had to beat up the Scrabble players instead.
WREAKERS, 68 points!

12:42 a.m.
Someone is finally starting to get sleepy.

2:53 a.m.
Colby is starting to get tired. But nobody else wants to leave.
Little do they know, Chris is about to explode and then we would all have to leave.

Last second Christmas card

If you're like us. You order your Christmas cards from Costco. Then you realize you don't have any good family photos as a group. So you just throw up individual photos of the kids because you're too lazy to shoot a group photo. You upload, pickup, and barely get them off in time for delivery before Christmas and breathe a sigh of relief. Then two nights before your family gatherings you realize you don't have enough cards to pass out to your relatives. Doh!

In comes HP with their printable templates for any occasion. Woohoo!

So after dinner we dress up the kids and park them in front of the tree for a portrait session (which is what we should've done in the first place). The only incentive for them to sit still is the promise of super rich junk food afterwards (fudge). But still we had to resort to a constant flurry of yelling at the boys while trying to get Justine to smile. Hard work indeed. (This is how my kids can be the reason for me to both pursue and give up photography all at the same time!)

Then after some creative Photoshop cutting and pasting, we upload and design our card. Download the final file and print out on the color printer. Now doesn't that sound simple and easy??

LINK to HP Printable Cards

Merry Christmas from the Fongs

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hurry and watch it now. Video expires on January 15. Hmm, should I buy it?

CIBC Thanksgiving Slideshow

After Martin's party, we rushed home, rested for 30 minutes, and then off to the annual CIBC Thanksgiving banquet. There were over 500 people in attendance and as always, the food was very good. Unfortunately we couldn't eat much because we were still recovering from our food coma at Kincaids. After dinner, the video above was presented to reflect a year's worth of thankfulness. Even in these tough economic times, we are indeed blessed.

In the weeks prior to this, I was sharing with a fellow carpooler that I was up late every night working on a slideshow. He wondered why it took so long and asked what version of Powerpoint I was using. I'm like "riiiight." Sensing my sarcasm, he further says, "You know you can do some really nice things in Powerpoint..." Really? You don't say!

That's one thing I notice most about most peecee users. They think Microsoft is the only way to do things. They use Powerpoint for slideshows, Word for newsletters, and didn't know what a PDF was until Word added the feature. Granted if you've never used Mac OSX, then you won't have any idea what incredible programs come with it (iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, Garageband, etc.). Yes, these are already included in OSX. And iWork (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) costs only $99 and will open/convert all your Word/Excel/PPT files and well as export back.

When you buy a cheap peecee and you factor in all the additional productivity and anti-viral software you need to purchase, it'll get rather expensive quickly (while still remaining a cheap peecee).

Below, fittingly is my favorite "I'm a Mac" commercial.



Christmas Newsletters
If any of you are fortunate enough to be on the Christmas list of a certain Fremont family with two girls, you'll know that every year they produce hands down, the most professional looking newsletter. At first glance it had me scratching my head wondering why an amazingly talented designer such as myself can't even come up with something this nice. I mean this family isn't extra special. They're just an average family with average intelligence (stay with me here...). How could they excel in something they have zero training in? That's when they told me they just used a free, pre-existing template included in iWork Pages and voila! Aha! That explains everything!! So this is proof positive that using a Mac can make the average family exceedingly above average (and in my opinion, most special!).



If you're on our mailing list you'll notice our "newsletter" is getting smaller and smaller every year. Actually, I wouldn't even call it a newsletter anymore. It's just a 5x5 piece of paper with some pics and some ramblings. I don't know how you all find so many things to write about that it will fill up both sides of a page when I'm struggling to fill even a 5x5 space. Maybe because we don't travel. Or maybe because we don't do anything fun. Or maybe because we're just raising a bunch of under-achievers... who knows. So don't expect too much from us this year. But my advice to you all: More pictures and less text. Because by the time people are done reading my blog, they'll be too tired to read anything else. Haha!

Until then, I wish you all a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. I'll look forward to your 'upgraded' newsletters and hope to reunite with you in the coming weeks. Let the parties begin!

Freaky Friday

Thanks to Ray for the picture above. I'm utterly speechless. So let me cut and paste something I read from another blog:

Have a safe weekend, everyone. Whether you dress up and go to a party, or stay home and read about the Reformation, take a moment to do something real. Have a meaningful conversation with an old friend, pray for the election, thank God for His blessings, help a neighbor. Then kick back and eat an entire bag of candy corn, realizing that even in the midst of pagan holidays, a sketchy economy and a divisive election, God is indeed good.

And please remember to pray for Pastor Ray, as he continues to minister to the sheep in his flock :)