Dim Sum Diaries
Well finally back from a week of vacation and fun family bonding time. Lo-Gung and I were a bit naiive and thought, hey wouldn't it be great fun to drive up the old Highway 1 and see the coastline whilst on our way to Monterey??? Bad idea. As boyfriend and girlfriend we'd driven down it...now I wanted les fils to see the glorious California coast. To know their homeland and such. However we seem to have forgotten why the 5 fwy was built in the first place...BECAUSE IT TAKES A FUCKING LONG TIME TO DRIVE UP THE BLOODY COAST. We were on the road for a good 12 hours...a drive that should've taken maybe 5 hours. Yes...it was that bad. The scenery was beautiful, and we did stop and enjoy the coastline at Pismo Beach and some random point god knows where...lots of sea kelp beds...but by the last 35 miles, and when one would think...oh...35 miles isn't bad...but when you've been in the car all day and stuck behind the stupid minivan from out of state who is driving 20 mph (when one could at least be going 40) because of the curves...suddenly...35 miles is a hella long time.

Speaking of Pismo Beach, they had a tiny outlet mall there, and I was desperate for sunglasses and a decent book. They had a Book Warehouse there, the romance section was all crap, but did find Dog Days by Anne Marie Cox. I lived at her site Wonkette during the last presidential election, and it seemed to be the only decent book at the whole store, so I got it. (Side note: not too bad, the most useful thing I got of it was the expression Control-Fuck-You.)

So anyways, we finally got there, checked into the hotel, scoured the guide for a cool local area restaurant...and decided to go to one called Forge in the Forest. It was very picturesque and we sat outdoors. Apparently every employee has a interest in the ownership of said restaurant, and a bit pretentious (boy our waiter was a dork), but I think I was able to command the waiter's attention by keeping my eyebrows haughtily lifted the whole time. The freshly waxed and beautifully arched eyebrows were telling him, "oh yeah, you better be serving us in a timely manner beeyotch, or I will open a can of whoop ass on your big ole white ass biscuit!!!!!!!!!" I believe I was quite successful. :)

There were two couples next to us, each at their own table. The older couple (lets call them Al and Peggy), most likely denizens of Monterey were talking shop about local events, and Al started a conversation with the younger couple (lets call them Marcy and Steve). About what they should see and recommending they should eat at this particular restaurant.

"Here!" Al said, sticking a fork full of his steak at Marcy. "You've got to taste this!"

Marcy looked a bit shy, but didn't seem to have the fortitude to refuse, so she politely nipped the meat off the fork and smiled.

"Oh, and you have to try the ceasar salad!" Peggy piped up. She too took a forkful of salad and stuck it in Marcy's face. Marcy ate that too.

Lo Gung and I were quietly laughing...as the evening passed Al had gotten a few drinks in him, and after ignoring us all evening, suddenly turned to us and said, "So where are you folks from?" I told him, and apparently it was an acceptable venue to be from, as he became increasingly friendly. He recommended the Underwater Explorers program for P (eldest daughter, 8) which we ended up doing. After dinner we went back to the hotel and decided to watch a movie and then turn in.

I'll write more tomorrow...need to run errands and this is turning out to be a rather long entry. :)
Well we went to Universal Studios today on our first official kids are old enough to enjoy the sights hellz yeah no more diaper changes and strollers vacation and boy was it fun! If you are privileged enough to be designated a friends and family on my Flickr acct, then yay you, you get to see some of the pics! Otherwise, I've noticed that I need to lose some weight (massive workout plan when I get back home) before I'm photo worthy of posting my bad ass self all over the internets again. Tomorrow at 5 am we head up to Monterey Bay to spend a couple of days sight seeing etc. Kids are intent on serious beach time, so it should be fun. No internet access, but I'll report the highlights when we get back.

Hmm...highlights of today, see inset pic, saw this and had to get it for my mom, who plans on scaring her sister May with it very soon. I was a bit disappointed that she wasn't going to eat it, since it was a good food source that would satisfy her sweet tooth AND is good protein as well. And yes, that is a real cricket in there. Uni Stud has upgraded their park since I last went (20 years agoish), there is now a roller coaster and a water ride with a Splash Mountain-esque drop in the end. A bit horrified to find I am now the quintissential Asian mum because I walked around with a large oversized hat on my head all day (no umbrella tho) and was a bit shocked at the scantily clad teens wearing bikinis and bitty bitty shorts (ok that is not a teen but that was how low cut the bikini bottom was) prancing around. I pointed this out to Hubby, who suddenly perked up and was scanning the area alertly for several minutes.

"Where??? Where???" he asked...and as his gaze met mine (I had raised an eyebrow at this at this point)...hastily added, "Oh honey, I'm sure its an outrage!"
Clan Mir is going to frolick up and down the California coast for this week (yay vacation). :)

This will be the first official family trip we take...familiy bonding and all that...will post pictures... :)
Well its August already!! Summer is winding down (so quickly) and this month is jam packed with activity for Clan Mir. Daughter is in ecstasy over her week of HORSE CAMP, in which she gets to spend time breathing and eating (not literally) horses. She is horse mad, just like me at that age, and talks endlessly about her horse Tucker. Its like an episode of Saddle Club (which she watches hours and hours of on Discovery Kids). She is able to groom, ride, tack and untack Tucker. I am glad she is able to experience this, and one of the few things we both talk about:

Daughter: And then we had to stand up in the saddle while we were trotting...

Me: Oh yes! That's called posting!!

Daughter (beaming): Indeed, Mother.

For a moment in time, mother and daughter are united in perfect harmony and understanding over their mutual adoration of horses...the birds are singing...the sun bursts forth through the clouds...there is a moment of stillness and glory...well you get the idea...

Man she's gonna read this someday and think I'm a dork.

Son is now old enough to experience his first YMCA Discovery Camp and he is very happy about it as well. He is a big boy now and loves the fact that he can swim every day.

Which leads me to comment on how popular summer camps are. One really never notices this until they have kids who can do this sort of thing, of course. It seems that my favored place to enroll them is the YMCA summer camps. They've apparently got this thing down to a science where when you drop your kids off, they've organized 3 lanes for cars to drive through to drop your kids off. As you near the main drop off point, a staff person will personally come to your car and open the door to escort your camper to the staging area. Pretty cool. And its the same with picking them up, you drive through again, and a staff member carrying a thick folder full of campers info comes up to your car, looks up the child's info, checks your id to make sure you are eligible to pick up the child, they radio back to wherever so they have your child ready to enter your car by the time you reach the main area. They then escort your kid to the car, open the door for them and tuck them inside. Its kinda amazing. I never had this shit at my age. Though I guess this YMCA is nestled in a somewhat upscale area. Whilst going through the brochure, was a bit shocked that they actually offered a MEGA SUPER CAMP, in which if you were willing to shell out $1000 for a week of it, an air-conditioned luxury bus would escort your child to a bunch of different places like Disneyland, the Zoo, etc., and they get all meals taken care of, a nice souvenir of each day and a behind the scenes tour of whatever theme park they were going to. Crazy shit, and its sometimes hard to reconcile the image I have of the YMCA from back in the day, where people down on their luck would go rent a bed from or something.

In terms of me, finally got off my ass and had my eyebrows waxed (it'd been awhile). Easy to neglect I suppose, and had been dreading the eyebrow waxer's murmurs of "Damn your eyebrow are FUCKING HAIRY". Which is exactly what she did of course (tho not in those terms), but at least the beast is defeated. *sighs

Anyways, something to get excited about---Hilary's chances of a 2008 presidential run. She's convinced upstate NY that she's a great Senator. Can she convince the nation that she rocks as Prez? I surely hope so.

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip Pilot Ep


Watch it while you can! God I love technology!