Browse Author: beakatude

Didneelan with da Fam

tickets

Last Sunday I went to Disneyland with Brother, Joy, and Jes.  Since it wasn’t the exact date of my birthday, I couldn’t get in free.  Bummer.  So, I managed to dig out a pair of complimentary tickets that I got back in 1993 when I worked there.  They never expired so it looked like the perfect time to use them.  Unfortunately the tickets were so old that no one really knew what to do with them.  After a couple managers took at look at them, we scored a pair of Park-Hopper tickets worth $97 each!  Can you believe how expensive it is to go to Dland nowadays?!

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Spam and Cole

Once we got in, we grabbed a little ice cream on Main Street, got a FastPass for Space Mountain, and rode the Nemo ride before lunch.  Jes got to eat some yummy fried chicken and then the Suminos arrived!  They met up with us in front of the castle and brought two boxes of spam musubi – wooo!!

Matterhorn

Brandon

Astro Blasters

It was so much fun hanging out with the cousins and the boys.  Cole is four now and big enough to ride Matterhorn!!  Brandon is two and does a pretty good job keeping up with his big brother.  Cole was brave enough to ride in the front bobsled with me and I let him steer the car on the Autopia ride.  We also rode the Astro Blasters ride, which Cole missed out on last time he went because it broke down.  Unfortunately my score was really low since I was too busy taking photos.

the boys

group photo

After hanging out with the family, it reminded me of how time passes so quickly.  Marie and I used to go to Disneyland all the time as kids and it was really something to be taking her two boys around our old stomping grounds.

Toy Story

3D glasses

In the evening, Jes had to make a conference call so we all hung out at Disney’s California Adventure for a while.  I rode the new Toy Story ride that was in 3D and was super fun.  Unfortunately Cole wasn’t tall enough to ride the roller coaster.  Too bad.  The Suminos went home once the sun went down and we ran over to Space Mountain for their special haunted house version.  Thank goodness for the FastPass because the line was super long.

Nighttime on Main Street

The evening ended with the fireworks show that actually wasn’t as cool as I had hoped.  It was a Halloween/Villains themed show and the music was terrible.  We ended up leaving halfway through the show…that’s how bad it was.  It was such a fun day with the family and a wonderful way to celebrate my Birthday Eve.

Here are the photos from the magical day.

Back to Downtown for another 30th

Surprise!

Last weekend I flew down to LA to surprise Brother for his 30th birthday.  He was a little bummed out during the week leading up to it and I was lucky enough to find $39 fares on Southwest just the Sunday before.  On Friday night, we flew down and Johnny got home around 11 pm and was speechless when he walked in and saw me just hanging out in the kitchen.  He just had this dumbfounded look on his face so I made him redo his reaction for a photo.

Copa d'Oro

On Saturday night, we went to Josie Restaurant (in Santa Monica) for dinner with his two friends Ben and Tiffany.  We got there kinda early so we stopped for Happy Hour at Copa d’ Oro, which had a tasty cocktail menu of drinks for only $5 each.  Score!  At Josie’s, we had a yummy meal that was easily shared by all 6 of us.  Earlier that day, we were talking about going out for drinks after dinner and Joy jumped in and said “We should take them to Golden Gopher.”  She had planned a suprise party for Johnny the week before and we gave her a good excuse to head out there.

At Golden Gopher, we got settled in the patio and slowly Brother’s friends started to trickle in.  He was a little confused but so happy to see that there was more planned for his birthday afterall. They also made me take a jager bomb, which was nasty nasty nasty.

jagermeister

Cousins

The cousins, Pish and Debbie, also happened to be at a wedding around the corner and stopped by too.

Danger Dog

The night would not be complete without a late-night “Danger Dog”.  We walked down the street and found a cart parked just outside.  I got a tasty bacon-wrapped dog topped with onions, ketchup, mustard, AND MAYO?!  Soooooooo tasty tasty.

It’s crazy to think that just 4 years ago we were at Broadway Bar (around the corner from Golden Gopher) celebrating my 30th and Brother’s 26th.  It turned out to be pretty cool to be coincidentally celebrating Brother’s 30th just around the corner.  Funny how things work out like that sometimes.  Happy Birthday, Brother!

30thBirthday

September 2005

Johnny's 30th

September 2009

Here are photos from that evening.

Shout Out

Just wanted to apologize for the lack of posts lately. With some of my loyal fans sitting here with me I thought I’d give a shout out to Eleen, Ryan, Michelle, Susie, Jes, and Victor. I have a lot of catching up to do this weekend. And Happy Birthday, Vyl! I’m having a fun time here at Nihon!

Here are the first 198.

Rome_01

*SIGH* After a week of fighting a miserable cold and plowing through over 650 photos from our first three and a half days, I have 198 uploaded and shared.

Rome_02

Rome was surprisingly fun after so many people told me how dirty and dangerous it would be.  The ruins were amazing, Vatican City was magical, and Trevi Fountain was a hoot.  We also got a morning of rain but we were actually prepared with an umbrella that we packed!  Yay!

If you’re in Rome for at least 2 days, the Roma Pass is worth getting.  For 23 euro per person, you get a card that gives you admission to two museums, a 3-day bus pass, and discounted admission to additional museums.  We used it for admission to the Colosseum and Galleria Borghese and rode the bus everywhere.  Might have costed almost the same if we had paid for everything without the pass but the convenience factor counts for at least 5 additional euro.

Roma Termini (the train station) is huge and convenient but FCO (Rome Airport) is super small and inefficient.  Their bus system requires a little figuring out but our tour book actually had a route map that helped us figure it out.

Rome_03

The food was good at times but then disappointing at times as well.  We always seemed to be in search for a whole-in-the-wall and found a couple gems.

Rome_04

Loved the gelato and sorbetto everywhere (*slurp*) and Jes had fun drinking beer out in the street.  We found the “pinocchio store” called Bartolucci and learned quickly that restaurants charge you a “bread charge” of 3-5 euro but don’t expect you to tip.  Italians also like to give you free snacks with your glass of wine.  Sometimes it’s a bowl of olives and sometimes it’s a bowl of olives, finger sandwiches, and potato chips!

Here are the photos from Rome.  Enjoy!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Hols!

OK…we’re back now.

We arrived in SF on Saturday night around 9 pm.  It’s back to reality for now.  The weather is cooler here but the rain is trippin’ me out!  Why does it seem like it’s raining everywhere in the world right now?  Anyway, Mommy is still here and we took her out for some Dim Sum and Thai food on Sunday.   But that was after we had McDonald’s breakfast as our first meal back in SF.  I truly missed having an American breakfast of eggs, meat, and potatoes.  The cappuccinos were good there but I also missed regular coffee.  Ah…there’s nothing like brewing my usual cup of coffee and enjoying it with a Big Breakfast.

I tossed and turned on Saturday night and woke up every hour until 4 am when I simply gave up.  It’s now Monday morning and I managed to get 6 hours of sleep but I got up again at 4 am.  I even stayed up all day without a nap and this still happens?!  I’m sitting here in the dark with my laptop on as Mommy’s sleeping in the livingroom and Jes is still…wait…I hear a stirrin’…nevermind…he’s awake now too.  I’m tempted to go to work super early but I probably won’t.

Photos are slowly getting processed and I should have updates on each city this week.

Italy Part 1: Rome, Sept 3-5

Hi Everyone!  We left Rome yesterday and had a wonderful time.  The only bummer of the whole experience was the heat and humidity.  Other than that, we saw plenty of famous and historical sights and wanted to share some of them with you.  I figured it would be best if I did this while 1) I have internet access and 2) it’s still fresh in my memory.

St. Peter's Basilica

We took the bus to Vatican City and I was in awe of St. Peter’s Basilica. It’s so beautiful and grand and I couldn’t help wonder if the Pope was around.

Sistine Chapel

We also visited the Vatican Museum where the Sistine Chapel and the famous “Creation of Man”.  Despite the signs and a guard yelling “no foto!”, I managed to sneak a shot.  Thankfully it came out.

Colosseum

Our hotel was just around the corner from the Colosseum and it was crazy huge inside and it’s amazing that it’s still standing.

Trevi Fountain

At night, we enjoyed hanging out at Trevi Fountain.  It was my favorite place to hang out.  I got a gelato while Jes got a bottle of Peroni beer and we just hung out at the fountain people-watching.  It was crowded but you wouldn’t be able to tell by this photo.

There you have it.  It’s like a quick Cliff’s Notes version of our first few days in Italy.  We are now in Florence and this hotel has free internet access so maybe I’ll post more updates soon.  We just finished our first day here and have a 5-hour cooking class planned for tomorrow.  Should be fun!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JES!!!