Little Cub Foraging For Food

Dylan cracks me up on a daily basis. The older he gets...the more mischievous he gets. He is bit of a trouble maker, but does so in a way that you really can't get mad. On this day January 7th, 2008 it was a beautiful day. It was the following day after the storms had passed. You can see all the fresh snow that was dumped onto the mountains in this next picture. Here I am loving Dylan...I'm gonna kiss my boys as long as they let me. I cannot get enough of them.Here is Justin giving me his Zoolander look. Later on that night we had hot pot for dinner. Here are the boys enjoying their corn on the cob. Some enjoying more than others...namely Dylan sucking on his corn like there is no tomorrow. The next two clips are Dylan just doing his thing and me commentating on Dylan as a little bear foraging.

First Day Of School For Dylan

On January 4th, 2008 I took Dylan to his first day of school. Nancy and I decided to start him once a week every Friday so that we could have spend some together time during the afternoons and give me the option to take care of errands. When we started Justin with daycare I have to say that it did not really effect me that much because I was working 2 jobs. I would still see him in the mornings asleep before I left for work and I would still see him asleep when I got back at night. Plus, Nancy did most of the child rearing during the 1st year for Justin. Here is Dylan holding his brother's lunch box dressed for school with no idea that today he is just not going along to drop his brother off, but to also be dropped off himself. Here is a shot of Dylan's backpack with his personal stuff (diapers, extra clothe, and some other personal belongings). Even at 1 year of age children are very perceptive. As soon as Dylan and I walked into his new class he would hold me tighter and snuggle his face into my shoulders and did not give me the option to put him down. Justin stayed for an hour with his brother to help him through the process. Here are some shots of the Pak brothers playing around in Dylan's new class. I have to say letting Dylan go on his 1st day of school was pretty heart wrenching. I have been raising him for the past year and during the process have grown really attached to him. I've changed many diapers, wiped a lot of poo, taken many good naps together, went for walks, cooked and fed him many things, and the list goes on. The hardest part is to listen to your child cry in anguish because he thinks that he is being abandoned. I have to admit I almost cried when I left because I missed him as I walked out and I hated the idea of him feeling lonely. Hearing him cry and screaming Pa Pa was almost too much for me. I almost decided to just take him back and call off the whole daycare thing. I do have to say...when I picked him up I have never felt so important to my son as I did then. For once...I felt like number 1 parent. I know now what it feels like to be Nancy in my children's eyes. Most Dads become the background when the Moms are around. On that day when I picked him up...I was the only thing Dylan saw. I've titled this last picture..."Baby Boy Facing The World". My boys are growing up quickly. It seems like yesterday when Justin was this age. I can't believe that only a couple of months ago Dylan was learning to walk and before that crawling and before that learning to flip over. I have to keep telling myself to cherish these tender years. Thank you God for bestowing Nancy and I the honor to raise and love these two boys.

A Really Nice Present

As promised I shall continue the Christmas Eve story. After my sister's Christmas Eve dinner and opening of presents we went back to my parents house. We washed up and prepared for bed, but before went to bed we opened a few more presents. Nancy received a Cuisinart Utensil Set...this was also on her wish list. Again here is Justin opening...oh I mean helping Nancy open her present. You can't tell by the picture, but he was commenting on how nice the spatula was.Here is Justin ripping into his gift. When he realized what my parents got for him he was genuinely flabbergasted. He got a Hot Wheels Spin City. This was one of the gifts that was on his top 2...the Wii being number 1, but we made it clear to him that the Wii was wishful thinking. I was even surprised that my parents came through with this. My Mom had called to ask what they should get him and I was trying to explain my best in Korean what this Spin City was, but my lack of Korean vocabulary did not allow me to say cork screw and at the time I blanked out of the fact the thing was called Spin City. You know you are in trouble when you start to mime things out while speaking on the phone hoping that it will help get the message across. Anyways, it turns out my Mom figured it out and was able to get the very last one at the Toys R Us by their house. Here is Justin jumping up with glee. Justin had previously said, my sister's present was a "nice present", but when it came to my parents' present...he said, "This is a REALLY nice present"...I wish I captured him saying it. I did capture his happy dance and him thanking my parents. Enjoy Justin enjoying the Christmas season.

Jubili Frozen Yogurt And Christmas Eve Dinner

It is 12am and I find myself once again behind on my blogs, but this time I'm behind by a month. I tell myself to suck it up and stay up to write, but getting back from work around 1 or 2 am and making the commitment to hopefully write intelligently and humorously till whenever and knowing that I have to wake up around 7:30am is a daunting task that I have not been able to tackle this past month. Tonight though I am committed to catch up or at least make some sort of a dent.

On December 23rd the family made the trek up to San Jose to spend Christmas with my family. We initially were going to leave at 5:30 am, but that changed to 9:30am. It took us a little under 7 hours to get to San Jose with all the pit stops for the kids. When we arrived we rested for a couple of hours...put the kids to sleep and went out to meet up with my friend Tony and his wife. He and his wife recently had a baby girl. So we wanted to see her and give her gifts. Tony was my best man in my wedding and is one my best friends from 7th grade. We hung out for a little bit, but we were pretty exhausted and we had a full day the next day...so we left and went to bed.

The next day we were all going to my sister's place for Christmas Eve dinner. My sister was going to cook Christmas dinner for all of us and her In-Laws who were visiting from Canada. When we arrived my Mom wanted me to visit my cousin Andy's new yogurt store. I wanted to check it out and see all his hard work. He has been working really really hard to create a new yogurt franchise that will hopefully compete against Pinkberry in the Bay Area. His concept is similar as far as the yogurt aspect , but he is also about breakfast cereal, parfaits, and teas. I liked his location...it's right next to a Starbucks...funny because Starbucks infused cash into Pinkberry. I liked the vibe of his place because I felt like he wasn't trying to necessarily imitate Pinkberry which a lot of stores are trying to do here in LA, but more try to be a Coffee Bean to Starbucks if that makes sense. One of the sucky things about running a business is that you have to be there ALL the time ...especially in the beginning stages. My cousin let his employees take the day off on the 24th and worked by himself. Here he is serving a customer with a smile. Here is my Mom who just finished a "my"(med) original yogurt. My Mom liked it. I found the interior to be soothing and fresh. Here is another angle of the store. I called my cousin after I came back to LA to let him know that I was really proud of him. He had been coming down to LA to sample different yogurts...including Pinkberry...and working on a vision to create a franchise that could succeed in this newly highly competitive yogurt industry. He is a recent graduate of UC Davis and already creating a franchise. I believed in him before, but now seeing the his hard work coming into fruition it only solidified it more. Shoot...if I can afford the franchise fees and quit my acting career I would open a Jubili. If any of you are around San Francisco around the Fillmore District check it out. The parking secret is to park at the supermarket parking lot across the street and walk over.

Jubili Frozen Yogurt and Cereal
1515 Fillmore St.
Open Mon.–Wed., 7 a.m.–10 p.m.; Thu.–Fri., 7 a.m.–11 p.m.; and Sat. and Sun., 8 a.m.–11 p.m.

Anyways, my Mom and I stayed for about 30 minutes, but we needed to get going. We gave our farewells to my cousin and drove back quickly. We didn't want to make people wait to eat dinner on account of our tardiness. Especially, since my sister put a lot of work into preparing this Christmas feast. Here is the dinner table setting and some of the food that was prepared. Albert's father actually prepared the turkey. It was moist and flavorful. Dinner was tasty...sorry that I didn't take more pictures of it to show, but I was hungry...so I was busy eating it. It was a great Christmas dinner. After dinner we opened presents.Here is Justin opening...I mean helping Dylan open his present. Here is Justin checking out his brother's present. Nancy and Dylan smiling for the camera. Albert's mother opening a present from Nancy and I...a selection of Bigelow teas. Here is Justin wondering what he will get. Here is Justin grinning ear to ear opening his present from my sister and Albert. A HotWheels race track. He said with enthusiasm, "This is a nice present." Here is Dylan bringing over his present to see if Justin would like to trade. Nancy got a 65 piece flateware set. Believe it or not, but this was one of things on her wishlist. Here is my sister and Albert posing with their gift from Nancy and I. We got them a digital photo frame. They recently bought a nice SLR Digital camera and I thought the digital frame would be a great compliment. Lastly, my sister enjoying a moment with her nephews. Family is important. I thank God everyday for mine. Okay...I'm pretty tired so I am going to post part 2 of Christmas Eve at my parents later. I hope this entry wasn't too long, but I'm sure for our loyal readers it's not enough. I guess that should be one of my New Years resolutions...to blog more consistently.