3rd annual cherry picking

we trekked to brentwood for our third annual cherry picking at lopez ranch.  not sure what happened to the cherries, but there were not a lot of good ones.  aaron did find this area where there were a few red, ripe cherries and we all flocked to where he was and started to pick them too.  tin and huong put more cherries in their stomachs than their buckets.  we picked a total of 7 lbs.  mom and dad, 4 lbs., tin and huong, 3lbs.  usually we would pick double that.  and next year, we will be prepared as we will bring and do the following:

• leave early
• hats
• cherry picking tool (dad made this hook tool thing to grab cherries that we can't reach)
• man-purse (so when i'm in the trees, i can just put the cherries in my bag)
• small ladder
• blanket for a little picnic
• oh, and lopez ranch cross street is concord and orchard (off of walnut)

mom, huong, dad, tin

using the tool dad made

huong trying to find cherries

aaron picking red, ripe cherries

congratulations thanhha!

thanhha was the last out of the four of us to graduate from san jose state.  afterwards we went to downtown campbell to have some ice cream and frozen yogurt.  yummie.  graduation / birthday celebration will continue this memorial weekend.

keep it up thanhha

keep up the great job thanhha - you are doing awesome on your training ;)

goodies

a flower cake - sooo cute!

thank you chris :)



all made by sharon - adorable!

thank you sharon

i love mermaids

this is for ami ;)

diamond springs visit

we visited leroy and charlotte last weekend and had a good visit.  everytime we're in diamond springs, i make sure that we stop by deb's frosty.  i love soft serve and theirs is very yummie.  i don't remember the name of the restaurant we went to for dinner as most of the food was delicious.  i say most because the sauteed mushrooms that was on top of my filet mignon was very salty.  we had dinner outside and had an awesome view of the garden, which was so pretty.

yummie!

leroy gave aaron his electric train set.  leroy had it since he was twelve years old.  i can't wait to display them on my bookshelves.

garden view from our dining table

another garden view

miniature version of the cabin where we had dinner

fireplace outside - i made sure i sat right next to it  :)

happy mother's day

we celebrated mother's day by going to dim sum, then off to get shaved ice and homemade mochi in japantown, then dinner and then had homemade coconut cake and cinnamon rolls for dessert.  tuan and stephanie were not with us because the kids were not feeling too well.  to all the moms i know, hope everyone had a great mother's day.  and to my mom, i love you very much. 

dim sum at jade cathay in downtown san jose

my first cake - everything was made from scratch, even the frosting :)

mermaid 5k at quarry lakes

thanhha and ami have been training for the mermaid 5k and boy, did it paid off!  their chip time was 36:33.  average pace per mile was 11:44.  woo-hoo!!!  i thought thanhha might hit a wall and slow down the last two miles, but adrenaline pushed her through.  ami's knee was bothering her, but she also pushed through the pain.  great job thanhha and ami.  i am proud of you guys!  nike, here we come!

before the race

thought the saying was really cute - i (heart) 2 run, walk, move, play & laugh

we ran around the quarry lake

stretching - such pros!

post race - doesn't even look like they ran :)

thanhha said she runs so she can eat

ahhh

more ahhhs

love the shirt!

each necklace have a different saying - mine is inspire.  thanhha's is motivate and ami's is enjoy.

dexter hiding

i was giving emma a bath and when it was dexter's turn, this is where i found him - hiding in one of the bedroom's closet.

having fun with my camera

i finally read the manual on my camera and i thought i love taking pictures before - i LOVE taking pictures even more now.  all the new features i could use.  so fun.  below are some pictures i took of pierce while lianne was playing soccer.

fish-eye effect - shoots with the effect of a fish-eye lens

miniature effect - blurs top and bottom for a miniaturized effect

color accent - keep only selected color and change others to black and white

poster effect - shoots images with a posterized effect

lianne first time playing soccer

lianne had a blast playing soccer.  the main coach is so energetic and really keeps the kids captivated.  coach told the kids to chase him and kick the ball towards his feet.  once they did that, he asked what animal they want him to be.  lianne's first animal - a unicorn.  her second animal - a princess.  coach said that's not an animal, but proceeded to talk in a high pitch voice and using a wand.  this boy's animal to coach - a girlfriend.  haha.  coach was stunned for a couple of seconds and said that was not in his repetoire.  too funny.