Seafood at Channel Islands

We decided to actually stay home this weekend!  Aside from Michael getting some much needed lawn stuff done, we also had a great lunch with mom, dad and Isabelle at H.C. Seafood at the Channel Islands wharf.  We've heard about the good cheap seafood out there for a while now, but this was our first time trying it.  The food definitely lived up to the hype -- the seafood was fresh and cheap!  We brought our own rice and sauce and shared a ginormous spider crab and fish.  We had a great time and will most definitely be coming back (hopefully with the rest of my family)!!!

Tomorrow we have mass at the Cathedral followed by dim sum at King Hua with our CCC friends!!!

Christmas @ Costco!

You gotta love Costco!! It's only August and they are already selling Christmas stuff!!!! Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday and I'm so excited to be able to have Zoe's first Christmas this year!!! I'm also excited that we finally have a home that I can decorate with a tree and everything!!! Yay!!! Since Costco got started early, so did we -- we ended up buying our first Christmas ornaments!!!  I know Zoe will LOVE looking at the tree and all the lights ... can't wait!!!! I know Christmases will ONLY get better and better for our family ... I'm looking forward to creating new traditions with Zoe so that she, too, will LOVE Christmas as much as mommy does! Woooohooooo!

Blessed house!

Today we got a very special treat -- a visit from Monsignor Kevin!!!!  He went to send off Egren at St. John's seminary in Camarillo and afterward, he stopped by to hang out!! Zoe was a little shy at first, but after a few minutes she settled down and got super comfortable with him!  He was having so much fun interacting and playing with her ... he said he'd love to do that every week =).  I'm glad the two of them got to hang out and play.

When Michael got home from work, Monsignor Kevin blessed our new home. It was such a nice feeling to have our house blessed -- it's actually the FIRST place we've ever had blessed.  We had always planned to get our condo in Pasadena and Century City blessed, but it never happened.  Now I feel so much safer and our house is officially a home!!!

Afterwards, we went to dinner at Lure in Camarillo.  At dinner, Monsignor Kevin thanked us for keeping true to our promise of staying involved at the Cathedral.  He said when we first told him we were moving to Oxnard he figured we wouldn't be around as much.  But now, he sees we're more involved than ever!  Mass every Sunday, CCC meetings, some C-YA/NOD events, helping with the marriage orientation program, and whatever else he asks us to do.  The truth is, we LOVE being active at the Cathedral.  We are so blessed to have gotten married there and to really build our family life around the people we've had the privilege to meet there.  We are always looking for ways to give back and to offer our time and energy to God.  Monsignor Kevin is a HUGE driving force to all the blessings we've received since we stepped foot at the Cathedral and we'd do anything to reciprocate the amount of love he's always shown our family.

Sunday afternoon

After mass today, we went to the San Antonio Winery with some of the CCC couples.  It was so much fun!!!  We definitely have to get together like that more often -- thank you Lord for blessing us with such a great network of friends in Christ!!!

My uncle took the cutest picture of Grayson and Zoe "looking up" to their Ninong Kevin after mass.  Soooo cute!!!

Ima's debut fiesta!

Ima's 85th birthday fiesta was a huge success!!!  It was so fun to dress up in traditional Filipino attire, eat traditional Filipino food and even dance tinikling!  It was great seeing Ima so happy!  Perhaps the best part of the entire celebration was the team work that went behind it.  Everyone had their on little part in the big event ... Ms. Zoe was looking super cute as well!  She had TWO outfits made especially for her!

Everyone had a wonderful time and I'm sure it's an event Ima will fondly remember forever.  She deserves these big parties -- she's the heart of our family and we all love finding ways to show her how much we care for and appreciate her.  Thank you Lord for blessing us with such a wonderful woman!  Thank you also that Zoe has the opportunity to spend time with her great grandmother almost every weekend!

Happy 85th birthday Ima!  We love you very much!

Happy belated birthday Ninang Tasha!

It was Ninang Tasha's birthday yesterday!!!  Our family is so very blessed to have Tasha in our lives ... we've only met her a few years ago, but it's felt like we've known her forever!  She is the best ninang a little girl could ever ask for and I am so excited that Zoe will grow up with someone to look up to and admire ...

As a special treat, Zoe dedicated a video in her honor.  Zoe's been fascinated with herself in the mirror lately. She's even gotten to the point where she starts licking her reflection or kissing her reflection.  I mentioned this to Tasha the other day and of course she said I should get that on video.  Well today is her lucky day because Zoe really gave mommy a lot of movie footage for ninang!!!

Big girl standing in her crib

Today, as Zoe woke up from her nap, she was standing up while holding the rail and she looked so incredibily grown up!! What happened to my little baby?!!  I had to take a picture to remind myself that Zoe is indeed growing up ... look how cute she looks in this pic -- what a little lady!!! I <3 her!!!

Happy 7 months! Happy birthday Dad!

Zoe is SEVEN months old today!!!!!!!  UNBELIEVABLE!!!  I always have mixed emotions when I think about how old Zoe is ... on one hand, I'm THANKFUL that the Lord has blessed her for seven months with good health ... on the other hand, I'm SAD that it's all going by so quickly.  I could only imagine how much faster it would feel if I was going to work full time.  Thank God I'm able to spend every waking moment with her -- what an amazing BLESSING!

Another busy Sunday!  We celebrated with mass of course and afterwards, we went to pick up Dad at the airport!  His birthday is on August 15th and he wanted to make sure he spent it with all of us.  We had lunch at Versailles (YUM).  Afterwards, we hung out at Mao's place in Glendale where Zoe and Dad got to hang out ... she was so playful with him!!  Afterwards, Mike and I went to another great CCC meeting before heading back to Oxnard (with my Dad).

All in all, it was another beautiful weekend!  I always LOVE weekends where we get to spend time with family and friends! Here's to a great next few days with Dad at the house ... woohoooo! Happy 66th birthday dad!

OC Fair!

We had a great time at the OC Fair!!!  It was our first time there and it was our first "real" outing as a family (me, Mike and Zoe).  We also had the best time spending the day with Elizabeth, Nelson and Grayson Lee, Bing, Joe, Lia and Jax, Jay and Mao, and Dennis and Dan (and Phoebe in utero).  I say it was our "First family outing" because I think this was the first time Zoe actually had a great time -- she knew what was going on and was entertained by all the things she saw.  I could see her really enjoying herself and that was the most rewarding part of the day (and the junk food we all had wasn't bad, either!).

Zoe got to meet animals for the first time.  She seemed pretty analytical of them ... she just kept staring and staring and staring.  She also had fun playing with Jax and Grayson.  I think all the sights and sounds of the fair was quite entertaining for her -- she was all smiles all day!!!  Mike even got a chance to use the bjorn (finally)!  We also ate a whole bunch of crazy food!! To save money (and our hearts) we and our friends decided to all get something different and share it.  This is what we ate: cinnamon roll, chocolate covered bacon, giant western dog, tasty fries, onion rings, fried clams, fried klondike bar, fried frog legs, fried BUTTER, pulled pork sandwich, tri tip sandwich, sweet potato fries, Australian fries, corn, margarita, beer, block of chili cheese fries, lemonade and an ice cream smore!!! Good thing it only cost us $2/each to get in (not like that stupid Strawberry Festival!).


We also ended up buying a collapsible wagon (kind of like a radio flyer but way way better!). We ended up leaving around 7 pm and I couldn't believe we spent the entire day there!!! Zoe was knocked out all the way home!  It was really so much fun to spend time as a family and with friends in that way.  I hope we can have more outings like that ... going to the OC Fair will hopefully become an annual tradition for us!!!