TIGER MEETS PANDA BLOG: November 2008

Last month (11/22/08), the family and I drove up to San Jose to celebrate my Father's 70th Birthday. In the Korean culture the 70th birthday is a huge milestone in life. Traditionally, the children get together and throw a huge birthday to celebrate this milestone inviting all the family and friends who have been a part of that person's life. My Father and his twin brother decided that they would throw their own party. This way it would not be a burden to their children and then it would be left to us to gift our Fathers in whatever fashion that we felt was most appropriate.

Recently, my Father finished his autobiography and wanted to get it published. The cost to print the books would cost $3000 U.S. dollars. So my sister and I decided that we would cover the cost of printing the books as our gift to our Father's 70th Birthday.

My Father and Uncle picked out the Korean Palace as their stomping ground for their 70th Birthday celebration. It's always been interesting to grow up with a Father who has an identical twin. I have never personally mistaken my Uncle for my Father, but it's interesting to see two people who are so similar yet so different. Here is my Father saying hi and thanking everyone for attending their birthday.

Next is a table of family. The woman in red is my Grandmother...going clockwise...next is my oldest Aunt's husband, an extended Aunt, my cousin Jung Ho (he is a pretty well known conductor in the classical music world http://www.pricerubin.com/classical/dossiers/Pak.pdf , my oldest Aunt...who is the mother of my cousin Jung Ho.

Next is my Mom's youngest brother telling a story and later on would give prayer before the dinner.

Another table of family...my son Justin playing Nintendo DS...his cousin let him play with it and he never let it go till we left...,my wife Nancy, my brother-in-law Albert, my younger sister Susan, my Mom, and my Mom's youngest brother's wife.

As you can tell...because my aunts and uncles' names are Korean...I couldn't honestly tell you them. We don't have an Uncle Joe or an Auntie May. Since I was a kid...I just called them Aunt and Uncle and their respective position ie...youngest, oldest, and so on. Another table full of Aunts and Uncles. From the balloon clockwise...my Aunt's husband, my Dad's youngest brother and his wife, my Dad's youngest sister, another younger sister, and another younger sister and her husband.

These are my cousins and their kids. To the left of the balloon...So Jung, going clockwise her daughter Megan, her husband John and youngest daughter Sienna, my cousin So Young's husband Ingu, their son Benjamin, my cousin So Young, and their daughter Claire.

A shot of the room.

Here are the Pak twin birthdays boys.

Here is a shot of my cousin Nancy...who is my Dad's twin brother's youngest daughter and her youngest Sofie.

Here is my cousin Johnny taking a picture...he is my Dad's twin brother's oldest son. TRIVIA...both my Dad and his twin brother have only two children...1 boy and 1 girl...both sons are the eldest and both sons are named John.

Here is my Uncle (my Dad's twin brother) saying a few words. You can't tell in this picture, but he is a gregarious speaker who is pretty humorous.

I usually like to take candid shots. I was trying to capture a shot of my sister and Mom, but my sister is a photo hound...she immediately sensed that I was about to take a shot and primped herself up for the photo.

We laughed about it afterwards.

Here is my cousin Jung Ho again with his daughter Mia and wife Erica.

Here is a picture of my Dad's brothers and sisters...including my Mom, my Dad's twin brother's wife, my Dad's youngest brother's wife, and Grandmother. My Father has 9 brothers and sisters. Three were not in attendance due to distance or other family obligations.

Here is a clip of the taking of the photo.

Near the end of the night we tried to take a photo of all the kids, but I couldn't get a proper angle to capture them all...plus it was hard to get all the kids to sit still.

Again you have to remember my Dad has 9 brothers and sisters...each sibling had 2 to 3 kids of their own...each of their children (my cousins) has had 1 - 3 kids of their own. WE HAVE A BIG FAMILY. TRIVIA...In Korea I would just refer to all my cousin's kids as nephews and nieces, but here in America they are technically my 2nd Cousins Once Removed. Look it up if you don't believe me. Here is a clip of me trying to get some of the names of my nieces and nephews.

Here is a clip of the Birthday Boys singing Happy Birthday, blowing out candles, and cutting cake.

When I was a kid I wanted a Dad who played catch with me. I remember when I was a teenager fighting with my Dad how I wished I had a cooler Dad. Even as an adult my Dad still rubs me the wrong way sometimes. One thing for sure though. I love my Dad and over the years have learned to love and respect him infinitely more. I wouldn't and couldn't ask for a greater Dad. I have grown to see how really cool he is. I am blessed to have had my Father for the past 70 years and I look forward to having him longer.

You can't finish off the night without some Karaoke. Some families are into bowling, charades, Jenga, or whatever. Well, our family is into Karaoke. Actually, let me clarify this...our parents are into Karaoke...especially my Uncle and Dad. As a final memory to this special night let me leave you with the sweet voice and smooth moves of my Uncle.

Halloween...Halloween...and Halloween. That is all Justin could think about all of October. This year Justin was into Clone Wars...so he made the decision that he would be Luke Skywalker and Dylan would be Yoda. I was supposed to be Hans Solo and Nancy was supposed to be Princess Leah, but we opted out to dress up for those characters. This Halloween was a busy one. I had to prepare 20 goody bags for Justin's class. 15 goody bags and cook 60 potstickers for Dylan's school. The night before Halloween was a lot of work. The night before Halloween I finished work and got home around 12:30am. I immediately had to start working on making 35 goody bags. I got to bed around 3am. I had to wake up around 6:30am. Then take the kids to school. I got back to home around 9am...started cooking potstickers for Dylan's potluck at his school and delivered them around 10:30am...helped Dylan's daycare do a little trick or treating...drove back and picked up Justin at 11:35am. No rest for the wicked. On top of all that I had to work at 6pm at the restaurant. At least I got everything done and everything turned out well.

I will first cover Dylan's Halloween experience. Here is Dylan and his older buddy trick or treating.

Here are some of his classmates dressed up.

Here is Dylan walking down from a house.

Here is Yoda Dylan walking to another house.

Here is Dylan dressed up and smiling as Yoda with another classmate who was also dressed up as Yoda and Dylan's older buddy.

Here is a short video clip of me trying to get Dylan and the kids to say Trick or Treat.

Justin was not allowed to dress up during school hours because I guess the school felt that the kids dressing up would be disrupting to classes during learning time. So they set aside a time for a costume parade before the Annual Halloween Carnival. Here is Justin and Nancy posing for a picture before the parade.

Here is Justin proudly posing in his Luke Skywalker costume.

Here is a short clip of Justin giving a light saber demonstration.

Here is Justin posing with his teacher.

Here is one of Justin's classmates dressed up as a witch. She is so cute. She looks like the little girl in the Halloween Disneyland commercial.

Here is a picture of Justin posing with one of his buddies dressed up as Venon.

One of the best and most creative costumes I enjoyed was made by one of Justin's classmates. It was simple, but done very well. His classmate was dressed up as Wall E. A simple box, but painted well and it really looked like Wall E.