Fun Weekend

It's always fun to have family around. Here's a recap of our 1st weekend of fun with Andy's mom and brother:

Saturday:
Went to check out Rochesterfest and then stopped by the mall. Afterwards, we went to Willow Creek and checked out model townhome. Andy's mom really enjoyed seeing the lake with the greenery. She is always talking about how beautiful it is. She also enjoyed the townhome because she just likes to see people's homes. She does real estate back in Macao and that's why she finds it interesting.

Afterwards, we went to the Galaxy 14 theatre and watched Wall-E. It was really cute. The best part is we got to watch it on the Mega Screen...it is the largest screen in Rochester and it's high definition...and it only cost $4.50. The theatre has deemed the hours between 4 pm - 6 pm as rush hour and any movie during that time is only $4.50. Anyway, Wall-E was pretty good. Not a lot of talking so it was perfect for Andy's mom. I think she got the basic idea of what the movie was about.

Sunday:
After church, we had a BBQ for dinner. Our friends Craig and Jaclyn wanted to meet Andy's family so invited them over as well. Plus, we had taught them how to play Mahjohng and thought it would be fun to all play together. So, after eating, Craig, Jaclyn, Andy, and Kenny (Andy's brother) played a few games. I sat between Jaclyn and Craig to offer help if they needed it. However, they did a great job playing and actually one a majority of the games. Andy and Kenny each won a round and Jaclyn and Craig each one like 3 games. It was fun. Plus, I think Andy's mom enjoyed watching us play...she especially enjoyed listening to our friends speak chinese. :)

That's basically a re-cap of the weekend. Nothing too exciting but still fun. Oh...and here's a funny story with Andy's mom.....

Friday night, we made it to the asian store to buy a few items. Andy's mom decided to buy 3 haam daan (salty eggs).

Saturday morning, I go downstairs and she had cooked juk (rice porridge). She then tells me, "Don't ever buy the haam daan's from the asian store. I cooked two this morning and when I cut it open, they each had a baby bird in it. It scared me to death. The third one also had a baby bird in it. Don't every buy the haam daan's from the asian store!."

I just laughed and explained to Andy that it was probably the Filipino eggs that she bought. In the Philippines, I guess it's a specialty and its called Balut. Anyway, she was pretty shocked that people would actually eat that type of stuff. Which of course, Andy then stated that Chinese people eat things that Americans would never have thought to eat as well. In fact, she tried to show me the eggs as well...but I didn't dare look.

We all had a good laugh. :)

Andy's Family

Andy's mom and brother finally made it to Minnesota to visit us! Andy's mom has wanted to come visit for a while but we needed to have someone travel with her. Luckily, this summer, Andy's brother was able to come. I could tell Andy was pretty excited and nervous at the same time. He was worried they would have problems with the connecting flights and getting through customs. We got to the airport shortly after they landed and Andy was actually nervous because he didn't see his family. I told him that it took time for them to get off the plane. Anyway, a few minutes later, his mom and brother walked through the gates. It was great seeing them. Since it was pretty early, we took them downtown to show them Mayo Clinic and then after dinner, we walked on the Douglas Trail for a bit.

It's always nice having family around. I can tell Andy is excited to talk to his younger brother and mom. You can also tell that they are happy to be here and see him. I just hope they don't get too bored. They don't know how to drive so they will basically be "stuck" at home while Andy and I are at work. They will be here for about 6 weeks..which means busy weekends full of fun for us.

Seattle

Last weekend, Andy and I were able to take a trip out to Seattle for my cousin Justin's wedding. We almost didn't make it but luckily, things fell into place which allowed us to go. There were only 3 cousins that were not able to be there (Ada and Amy on missions. Lisa on a vacation that was planned before hand). It has been a LONG time since practically everyone had been together. It was just great to be able to see everyone. Especially my family. My nieces and nephews are growing fast! Too bad they can't stay little forever.

Anyway, the wedding was really nice. Justin and Jessica were so happy. My sister also did a great job of taking some of their pictures. The reception was a lot of fun as well...a lot of clean up to do afterwards, but the gym looked great! My nieces also did a great job with the chinese dance they did with their cousins. I wish I could see them dance more often. But for now, I guess the clips that my older sister posts will have to do.

P90X Graduate

Today, me, Andy, finally becomes the graduate of P90X. I am so glad that I finish it although it was two weeks longer than I planned. This workout program is pretty good. However, toward the end of the program, it gets pretty boring; especially with the nice and short nice weather outside in Minnesota, it was so tempting to give up the program and go out to enjoy the nature. Anyway, I am done, and I am happy with the result.

Beautiful Weather!

I am sooo excited!!! Spring/Summer is finally here and for the past week, the weather has been perfect. Since last week, during lunch hour, I have been walking on the Douglas Trail. Every time I walk to the trail, there is one area were a red-wing blackbird will start flying above me. I know he is guarding his territory because he is just chirping away and hovering over me. Hopefully he won't attack me. Anyway, it is so nice to be outside and to enjoy the sun. With the sun being out, hopefully I'll be able to get a nice tan. :)

Picture of Red-Wing Black bird.

Stay home Mom earns 6 figure

Have you thought about how much a stay-home mom earns? Let me tell you. A stay home Mom can earn $117,000 per year according to a survey conducted by Salary.com. This survey compares the "pay levels for 10 job titles with duties that a typical mom performs, ranging from housekeeper and day care center teacher to van driver, psychologist and chief executive officer."

So, we all know that stay-home mom duties are not easy. Although we can't put a price tag on the jobs that a Mom does at home, the price tag provides a way or clue to people how much a Mom sacrifice to stay at home.

You can read the full article here.

Fixing Car

Saturday was a good day. We finally could sleep in without worrying being late at school. I finally got the time to do some of the projects around the house. I have been wanting to change the wheel cylinder in my car's rear break. I have done my research and asked my people including my brother-in-laws (they are very good in fixing car). It shouldn't be a big project. It will take a professional mechanic an hour to do it. I was planning to do it in 4 hours. I guess things would never turn on the ways that you want. It took me a about two hours to replace the wheel cylinder in one side. That was not too bad. Until I needed to bleed the brake system, things just started to turn south.

The idea of bleeding the brake system was to pump your brake and drive out all the air in the brake system through the bleeding valve in the wheel cylinder. However, for some odd reason, the brake fluid was shooting out from the wheel cylinder inside. I didn't think it would do it. In fact, that was the reason why I replaced the old wheel cylinder. Anyway, it took me another 2 hours trying to figure out how to fix this mess. Since we only have one car, anything happened to this car would lead us not able to go anywhere. I started to think about a back out strategy and worst case scenario. I guess we could call someone to tow our car, rent a car, or ride the bike to go to work.

At this moment, Tanya happened to talk to her friend and learned that her friend's husband knew quite a bit of fixing car, and they said that they would come to help. Great. Although I believe my abilities to fix the car eventually, it's always good to someone know what they do to teach you.

Anyway, three hours later, we finally replaced both side wheel cylinders. Later, we went out to eat. I was glad that the Thompsons could help us in this, and Mike said that he had a good time to do it because he liked to fix car. One thing I forget, I need to thank my home teacher Andrew for giving me a ride to get some tool earlier on that day.