Rain... again

We were planning to go to Kailua beach this morning but changed our mind due to the rain. Instead, the girls played in the backyard in their swimsuits!

Boy

Uncle Russ and Auntie Kathy's dog "Boy".

Making mochi for the new year

We went to a mochi making/pounding event in Waialua today to celebrate the upcoming new year! I certainly learned a lot about the tradition of making mochi without modern machinery. Here are some pictures and a video of the actual mochi pounding!

On a side note, President-Elect Obama was also visiting a friend in Waialua (near the North Shore) today. Christine thinks that he is following us around the island ;)

Sunday morning breakfast

With food in front of the girls, all is well and quiet.

Hmmm what to eat?

Jamie(left) and Mattea(right) trying to decide which sushi plates to eat. It's all so yummy :)

Still without power

It's about 9am here in Kaneohe but we are still without power... Christine is busy calling her friends around the island.

Darkness overtakes Hawaii

Can you see anything clearly in this picture?? Rather dark? Well, lighting caused a statewide power outage on Oahu this evening. It's been out for over 2 hours now and it won't return soon either...

Ice skating in Hawaii

We all went ice skating today! Kelly's friend Kathryn (from Irvine) joined us.

Family girls

(left to right)Kathleen, Christine, Muriel, and Stacie. Gma Taira in the back.

New Kitchen for Mattea

Kekoa has been working for the past hour to assemble Mattea's new Kitchen playset... almost done... I think.

Christmas day at Stacie's house

Everyone converged at Stacie's house for Christmas to open presents!

On the road again....

It is so much fun sitting in the backseat with Daddy.. (on our way to the Dole Plantation today).

Snorkeling

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay!

Cookie break

Taking a cookie break during our way down Diamond Head Hike.

Top of Diamond Head

Nice view from high above!

Jody's Christmas art project

Jamie's art project

Jamie's Christmas art project at auntie Muriel's house.

Caroling

Christmas caroling at Auntie Kathleen's house.

Arrived in Hawaii safely!

It's been a long travel day for us. We were up very early to head to LAX. But, we made it to Hawaii finally. Here's Jody and Jamie with Gpa Taira.

Jamie's Christmas piano recital

Kelly on unicycle!

Lin girls waveboarding

Visiting the dentist

Nice decorations at the dentist's office!

Christmas Card 2008

OK, Christine is continuing her tradition of sending out Christmas eCards for the past 3 years now. Here's this year's eCard, in case you haven't received an eCard from her yet :)

Just cute and paste the link below into your web browser.

http://www.photoshow.com/watch/Si5hU4Vi

Santa visiting Jamie's class

Santa visited Jamie's Chinese class today. All the kids were surprised!

Cold???

Two very cold individuals in Irvine today. A storm is about to sweep through this evening bringing lots of rain and low temperatures.

Kelly's Christmas Piano Recital

Warning!!! It's 4 minutes long........ don't fall asleep :)

Jody's Christmas piano recital 2008

Jody's piano recital last Saturday.

Xmas display

In front of the Mission Viejo City Hall. Kelly is performing her piano recital tonight.

Remains of Kelly's dinner

Can you guess where we ate dinner based on what you can see on Kelly's plate? (hint: affordable pasta, meatballs, salad, and Lingonberry juice)

Cousins

Cousins Sascha(6) and Mateo(3) visiting us!

The Lin grandparents visiting

Gma and Gpa Lin attended Jody's piano recital this afternoon at the Yamaha music center.

Jody on drums

We all got to play Guitar Hero World Tour (video game version of a real rock band) at Stan's house yesterday. FUN! Jody played the drums while Mia sang on the mic. I was on guitar :)

Solar science project

Kathryn and Kelly working on their solar science project! They will be working on it all day today!

Relaxing

Jody, Megan, and Jamie relaxing on the couch.

Raining Thanksgiving Day!

This morning, I went to Dana Point Harbor and ran a 10k Turkey Trot race in the pouring rain.... And I really mean POURING RAIN!!! Fortunately, the weather was around 60 degrees and not any colder. I had fun!

After I got back, the rain had subsided a little bit. Jamie decided that she wanted to go out and play in the rain. Here's a short video clip. We are getting ready to head out to my brother's house in Carlsbad :)

Belated Halloween photo

Late Halloween photo of our girls and friends. Kelly was Clifford the big red dog, Jody was an elf, and Jamie was a cowgirl.

Skippy's new doggy door

Ok, I am late in posting this. Several weeks ago, I installed a new dual-layer doggy door in the wall for Skippy. This looks much better than our old single-pane doggy door that was in the slider door. This new door is not only better looking but also provides better insulation for our kitchen :)

Dinner with Shaun

Shaun came to visit us after work this evening. He's enjoying his bucket of KFC chicken while Christine ate some chocolate chip cookies the girls made this evening. Shaun will spend Thanksgiving at Linda's house while we head down to Carlsbad.

Pastry Chefs in the making

We have been making fresh bread via our breadmaker every evening for breakfast the next morning. Jody and Jamie are really into it! If you got some good recipes (and easy too), please share with us!

Jody's 50m race

Jody is in the White shirt (3rd from the left in the video). She placed 2nd in her 50 meter race.

Exciting and unfortunate 4 x 50meter race

Here's Jamie and Christine running the first 2 legs of the 4 x 50m race. Jamie is the first runner in a white T-shirt in the 2nd lane from the inside track. She hands off the baton to Christine wearing Orange shirt(2nd runner). Christine ran so fast that she flew by the 3rd runner (6 year old girl) through the baton transition area and had to run back to tell the little girl to start running. Unfortunately, they finished 4th. You can also see another mom on the inside lane behind Christine take a bad tumble :(

Kelly at Tug-Of-War

Today was a fun day! All the girls participated in several events. One specifically was Tug-Of-War. Here's a picture of Kelly before their class victory. Even Christine ran three 4 x 50m races to win a medal.

Jamie's class

Jamie's class photo on Sports Day.

Sports Day

This is the annual sports day for Irvine Chinese School. The girls ran 50 meter races, 4 x 50m relays, and parent/child relays with Christine. Jody and Jamie proudly posing with their medals.

Bubble buddies

Enjoying some bubbles on a Saturday afternoon.

USA Flag!

We now have an American flag for our house! We were the last house on our block to put up a flag. Our patriotic neighbors wondered why we took so long?

Jazzy Kelly

Practice music... We couldn't get her to play for us during dinner :(

Waveboarding in Irvine

Christine, Kelly, and Jody waveboarding in the street!!

Jamie's Chinese class

Halloween dress up day at Chinese school.

Rainbow over Irvine

We went to the Global Village festival this afternoon in Irvine. We sampled several ethnic foods; Persian, Indian, Chinese, Cajun, etc. Got caught in the passing rain on our way home on our bikes. I took this rainbow shot over Woodbridge Village Center.

Lost Teeth

Jamie lost one front tooth last night and one this morning.

Greek Festival event

Just after Kathleen and Russel left this afternoon, we took a walk to the Greek Festival nearby. Here's Christine and Kelly on a Sprint Bungee event. We ate Gyros, greek salad, Lamb chops, and these honey dipped and cinamon sprinkled fried doughnuts! My goodness, the doughnuts are AWESOME!!!!

Father and Son day

Russ and Shaun just outside of the Ronald Reagan pub.

Marine One

Russ, Shaun, and Jamie in front of Marine One.

President Reagan's Air Force One

Jamie with President Reagan's plane.

Jamie on a dolphin!

Wheeee....

Jody's hummingbird ride

We were at the mall waiting to meet up with Shaun. Had some free time.

Coaster ride at Topanga Mall.

Mall near Shaun's place.

Jody on a Stealth ride

Jody's plane.

Hula at El Toro High School

Christine and Jamie (front row) performing at El Toro high school. They have been busy with multiples performances this past summer!