Happy Valentine's Day

Just a quick recap on Valentine's Day. We had kind of a staggered Valentine's, as after dad's last business trip, I couldn't wait to give you and mommy your first Valentine's gifts. So daddy got you an Elmo - My Fuzzy Valentine's Book and a mini-spotty dog, and for mommy a magnetic Lionheart for her car. Then last week, we had a little pre-Valentine's celebration when daddy brought home a family gift... ROCKBAND... to which mommy replied "oh no..." upon opening. Saving the best for last (considering after the rockband mishap that if i didn't, mommy wouldn't have been very happy... btw she HATES the drums) mommy told us that the only thing that she wanted for Valentine's was an ice cream cake.

Well, there you go Sydney. A week's worth of ice cream cake for mommy and me. And you surprised us with the best gift of all, as Beverly and Susan helped you to make us your very first Valentine's day card! You are the best, I think I tell you that 10 times everyday.

Love you sweetie. Watch where you are when mommy and daddy are doing yoga at home. You might get squashed.

p.s. nice duck.... quackquack

Random February Videos... Enjoy

Party of Five (and a half)

Sydney, your second Dine Out Vancouver dinner, with the Tanakas and Mr. Ricci. haha.

A fantastic dinner with great company to boot. Saltaire had a great view of our regular Ambleside walk-way, and dinner included Dungeness Crab Penne, Blood Orange Salad, Grilled Chicken, Tomato Soup and a delicious Creme Brulee.

There were glasses of wine and martinis at the table as well. Mommy's funniest part of the evening was when she let you sniff (not drink obviously) a bit of her Merlot. As you can tell by the picture, you HATED the smell... (yuck). Another funny part of the dinner was when Uncle Robert tried to kiss Uncle Rob (also pictured). Poor Uncle Robert gets to lonely without Melissa... :)

Hugs and kisses from the Tanakas and Uncle Robert too.

The Year of the Golden Pig is done...

Well, the luckiest of lunar years has completed, and we're on to the year of rat.

Sydney would like to wish everyone a happy Lunar New Year. She's definitely embracing the year of the rat by brushing up on her chinese reading, and also watching her favourite Pixar rat, Remy The Little Chef.

In terms of reflecting back on last year, it really was a great year. You all know that we're thankful to have each and every one of you health, strong, and living happy, fulfilling lives. Personally the highlights that made this last lunar really the best year I've had since the Eggos-GreenEggs&Ham championship run or the year that Geve and I got engaged and married are:
- The four months off between jobs and getting to wake up with Geve and Sydney everyday. Probably the best four months of my life
- Hawaii!
- Caden! The little man C-Dog joining the family. Bath time was a once in a lifetime experience.
- Seeing Christina play in the Western Final.
- BOG in Panorama and getting to outdrive Ben and Craab Raab (my short game sucks). We loved rooming with Ben, Kim & Elia.
- Crashing in Calgary for a week and a half, and pigging out on fruit smoothies thanks to Co Hanh.
- Seeing Geve meet up with Aimee again in San Francisco
- Being at Jen's wedding in Houston and spending time with Uncle Huy and Auntie Ha (Brian, I get so amny complements on that Ravage t-shirt... thanks! Fuddruckers and the water incident.)
- Kerrie's wedding on the island.
- SPICE GIRLS with Jade, Chris and Jess (with 3am phantom phone calls, Sydney's monster poop at Anton's... good grief, and smashing Christina's "H" key).
- Selling our first place for a good sized profit
- A great new dream job where we play basketball at work (and Geneva says it's cushy... whatever)
- Seeing what a great mom Geve has become

My absolute favourite parts of the year were two-fold. One, there was a stretch for two months when Sydney would wake me up in the mornings with a kiss on the check (she's walking around way too much for that now). Two, and she still does this, is when she sees me come in the door after work and runs up and gives me a hug. That's why I don't work late (from work anyways) anymore.

Love you all. Happy Year of the Rat.

4:30 Nap time with mommy

Afternoon cat-nap position after feeding with mommy