A Day With Chuck and His Family

Making friends in Los Angeles is pretty easy, but keeping good friends is a feat within itself. I have been fortunate to make some good friends over the years while living in LA. Chuck is one of my good friends from UCSB. I have been fortunate to have him as a friend. He is good hearted person and ever since he got married and recently added a son to his family we have been able to connect in many different levels of our lives. This past Saturday Chuck, his wife...Eun Shil, and his son...Nicholas were able to spend a beautiful afternoon with Nancy, Justin, Dylan, and I in Arcadia at the Arboretum. If you have never been here I definitely recommend it as a good family outing. That is if you have young children. I know that I am getting older because when I was younger in my twenties I don't think I would really care to walk around a nature park, but in my thirties with a family I found it to be soothing and beautiful. The Arboretum is essentially the estate of one of the first families of Arcadia...Lucky Baldwin. He imported in all these trees, plants, and flowers to create one of the most beautiful arboretum and botanic gardens in Los Angeles. Here is Nancy, Justin, and Dylan sitting at the front entrance waiting for my friend Chuck and his family to arrive. It turns out that this is where they shot the show "Fantasy Island". Here are the boys posing in front the building that was always in the beginning of the show as the plane would fly into Fantasy Island. Here are the boys fearing for their lives from the friendly geese that hang around the area.Here is another shot with Nancy and the boys.And a family photo with the "Fantasy Island" building. You can see the water area behind us. This is where the plane would land with the guests. Another shot of the Fantasy Island with Nancy from a different angle. Another popular tourist attraction are the peacocks that roam around the park. Here is a picture of one of the peacocks that we saw. Another good thing about the place is that they do have a small cafe with food and drinks to accommodate the hungry needs of a family. Though like any amusement park or tourist attraction spot the price of the food is outrageous. Expect to spend at least $40-$60 to feed a family of 4. Here is my friend Chuck with his new son Nicholas. You can tell in his picture that he is a very proud father. Nicholas is a great kid. Very calm and cordial. Here is Dylan giving a big smile and being his goofy self. Here we are all posing for a group photo at the end of the day. This last photo is of Dylan running down a path. I was trying to make it one of those artistic photos that you might see on a card or a framed picture at a store. My partying days are over, but days like these make it all okay. Family outings such as these and BBQs with family friends are what the future has in store for me. If any of you are ever looking for honest reviews about restaurants around Los Angeles or even around the United States...you should check out my friend Chuck's website http://www.feedmytummy.com. He travels a lot and loves good food. He writes very candid reviews of the restaurants he eats at. I definitely give a thumbs up on visiting the Arboretum in Arcadia as a family or even a 1st date for you single people. I hope this blog is helpful and brings a smile to your face.

Little Iron Chefs

One of Dylan's big presents from us which also included some money from my parents and sister was the KidKraft Vintage Kitchen Set. Now kitchen sets are not traditionally given to boys, but Dylan really likes to play cooking. Actually, food and getting into trouble are his best subjects in life. For the past year of his life...Dylan has been watching his old man do a lot of domestic duties. Because of this one of his favorite things to do is pretend to vacuum and also cook. Whenever I cook for the family he insists that I hold him as I cook so that he can get a birds eye view of what I am doing and also he gets to be the first one to taste the food. He likes to be the official food taster. He actually watches pretty intently and insists on me passing some of the ingredients to him so that he can add them into the dishes I prepare. So Nancy had been researching for the past month on kitchen sets to find the best deal and the most manliest kitchen set on the market. She found one that was blue and grey, but it turns out that they no longer carry this kitchen set. We settled for the KidKraft Vintage Set because it was a good brand and it was the only one that was not pink. Pottery Barn had a good one, but it was way too expensive.

It took me about 2 1/2 hours to build this thing, but it was worth the hard work. When the kids saw the final product they were pretty ecstatic. Here are the boys reacting to seeing the kitchen set. Dylan was pretty happy...actually he was extremely happy. Here is Justin checking out the whole kitchen set and giving the old tire a kick. Finally, here are the Pak brothers dressed and ready to create new dishes and compete in the Iron Chef.As parents we never really realize what influences we have on our children till they mature into grown adults. I look forward to or maybe fear what and how our doings will shape our children.

Dylan Turning an Old 2.

We celebrated Dylan's 2nd Birthday on September 19th. It literally seems like yesterday when we celebrated his 1st birthday. 1 year to us adults is unfortunately not much of a change. 1 year to a child is pretty life changing. We decided to keep his 2nd birthday super low key. Since Dylan is at daycare full time we decided to celebrate with cake with his school friends. Here is a picture of his cake. Initially Dylan did not really understand what was going on. I think he just wanted to leave the daycare as fast as he could. I think he was concerned that we were only visiting and then he would be left behind. You can tell in the pictures he is a bit shy. Once he understood the cake was for him and he had to blow out the candle he loosened up and a smile started to crack on his face.

Here are some of his preschool friends waiting patiently to get a slice of cake. This is Mrs. Ping...she is the main teacher of the preschool. She was a teacher for many years in China before immigrating to the US. Here are pictures of Dylan eating away his cake. One thing that the teacher loves to comment about Dylan is how well he eats. Here is Justin enjoying his brother's birthday cake with one of Dylan's classmates. Kids are funny. The first day I saw this kid...I swore if Dylan had a twin brother...he would probably be him. This kid is playful, mischievous, big bellied, just so much like Dylan. Here we are in a family picture and a picture with the teacher. Here is video of all the kids singing Happy Birthday to Dylan in English and then Chinese.



Remember how painful it had been for me when I took Dylan to his first day of daycare back when we lived in Downtown. It has been even more painful for me taking him 5 days a week. Nancy chose a Chinese immersion daycare in hopes of Dylan retaining and gaining the ability to speak and write Chinese. Every morning we go the same route to his daycare and every morning when I make that right turn off of Fremont he starts to whimper and tears begin to well up...when I make the left turn onto the street where the daycare is he begins to say "No" repeatedly and begins to bawl...I feel my heart breaking and wonder if we are sending him to the right school or if I should keep him home one more year. By the time we park he is crying in utter sadness. I then begin to wonder is he being physically abused. I hear from other parents that we chose the right school, but maybe the school is not right for Dylan. The teachers open the door hearing Dylan's cries knowing who has arrived without having to look out. It is the bereaved Prince Dylan approaching with his heavy heart. He clings tighter and tighter to my neck hoping that I will not relinquish him to his daycare teachers, but alas I must hand him over with a burdened heart hoping that I am doing the right thing. "Please don't feel sorrow because you think your Father is abandoning you." I give him a big kiss and tell him that I will see him later. I then begin my 20 yard trek back to the car listening to his cries through the window trying to reassure myself that this will be all better in a couple of weeks. When I go pick him up I try to peek through the windows to see if his sullen face has upturned. The first day the tears came out like a fire hydrant. Once the valve was released his emotions came gushing out as if he was telling me how could you have left me behind. He was so overcome with joy to see me, but also sadness was intermingled for being left behind. Now he doesn't cry, but you can see in his smile and feel in his hug the earnest happiness he has when he is once again in my protective arms. My boys are growing up. I guess it is time for me to start growing up as well.