Tuesday Toot - Adam Water Skis

While I was partying it up at BlogHer this year (I continue to have dreams about partying at BlogHer, even about next year!), I dropped my family off in Wisconsin to visit with friends.



With forecasts of good weather on the lake, I felt less guilty about leaving them for three days. For the last two years, Adam had tried water skiing, but he hadn't been able to get up. Last year, his ski accidentally hit him in his private parts, so he was extremely gun shy about trying it again. So he stuck with tubing with his new friend.



When I joined my family after BlogHer, I tried tubing as well for the first time. It was a blast! I couldn't help laughing nervously/hysterically the whole time. Then our friends convinced me to try water skiing on the boom. I've never even thought of trying it before, it looked way too hard, even though Doug can water ski as if he were drinking ice tea. So I tried several times unsuccessfully, learning how to fall every which way, including an ultimate enema. Adam still did not want to try it after watching me flounder about.

The next day, I woke up thinking about the position that I needed to be in for water skiing. I lifted my arms and legs in the air to mimic the position. Doug woke up, looked over and asked what the heck I was doing. Water skiing of course! On this day, I finally managed to get up on water skis, but there will be no pictures posted of my belly flab escaping out of my tankini...

Even with my success, Adam still didn't want to try it.  He watched as his seven-year-old friend water skied.  Finally his friend convinced him by saying, "You know, it's a lot easier to learn to water ski as a kid instead of when you're an old man."  Ha!  Maybe the visions of his old lady mom flopping about on the water was something he didn't want to repeat.  So he tried it using the rope (no wimpy boom like me).  Doug, Dova and I watched from the shore.  After a few tries, he finally was up on the skis!



Look at that delighted face! We were all whooping and hollering from the shore.



He stayed up for quite some time. Here he looks like he's water skiing like a pro!  We are so proud of you Adam!  And special thanks to our hosts for teaching him and taking these pics!


Hosted by Mommy Community.

PSF - Flying

A long time ago, I used to list my hobbies on my resume. I'm not sure whether I just needed to make my resume longer, or to make it appear that I was a well-rounded person, or what my reasons were. Nowadays, my resume is overflowing and I'm at the age where I'd be better off leaving my year of graduation and losing a few of my first jobs. But back then, I was young and inexperienced and I put kite flying down as one of my hobbies.



Kite flying? Do you make them? Do you compete? Are there clubs? I got lots of questions during interviews and I had to disappoint people and say that it was just something I really enjoyed. Perhaps it labeled me as a Chinese American stereotype or perhaps it was a sure sign of an introvert. Eventually, I removed it as it was increasingly apparent that it was a ridiculous thing to put on a resume.

My collection of kites include a box kite, several diamond and delta stunt kites and even a three-tier red baron airplane kite that I've never used. I took one of my kites to the beach recently for the first time since the kids were born.



As soon as the spindles were in my hands, I felt that familiar tranquility pass over me.  I laid down in the sand and looked up at the kite.  A light touch here, a light touch there, and the kite followed my every move.  It soared high and it soared right and left, its tail gracefully mapping its trail.  As soon as I took my eyes off it, it would falter, so I gazed at it steadily to keep it afloat.



Doug graciously took the reins as I shot these photographs (I tried to photograph it while flying myself, it was impossible!).  He loves to fly kites as well as likens it to flying an aircraft.  We wanted the kids to try it and only Adam volunteered.  I was afraid that he would want to crash the kite, as his destructive boyish impulses tend to take over, but he was very careful.  But he was quickly bored and headed back to the waves.



I joined the kids in the water as Doug continued to fly the kite.



It danced gloriously.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Toucan bills are not for snagging dates

At the National Zoo, we only had time to see the pandas and the birds.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to photograph the most colorful birds. This toucan was behind white wires, but when I stood close to the wires with my telephoto lens and an open aperture, the wires simply disappeared (just like they say in the books!). You can see the wires when I zoomed out or stepped away from the wires.



After our trip, I learned from this Scientific American's 60 Second Science podcast that "the toucan's bill is so big because it acts like a radiator strapped to its face. When a toucan needs to cool down, its beak heats up."  So all the conventional wisdom (including Darwin's) of the colorful beaks attracting mates may be false.  Wow, you learn something new every day!

WW - Catching some sun... flares

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Ruby Tuesday - Tutto Italiano

Tutto Italiano is a huge car show held every year at the Museum of Transportation in Brookline, Massachusetts featuring Italian automobiles and motorcycles.  It is a must see event for Doug, as he's gone four out of the last five years, including one year where he showed his own Ducati motorcycle.  This year we went as a family to ooh and ahh at the Ferrari's, Lamborghini's and Maserati's way out of our price range.

My personal favorite was this classic Maserati:





Dova took a liking to this Ferrari 430 Scuderia (you can tell that this is the special Scuderia model from the front spoiler, mirrors and wheels... Doug would be so proud that I knew). Only $282k my dear!





This Ferrari F430 was black, but still had the red horses on the floor mats.. There was a sign saying that you could lease it for $2977/month.  As if!



This silver Ferrari California had red gauges (others have yellow).



Adam peeks through the side of this Ferrari 599 GTB.  Another bargain at $320k!



Even Maserati was getting in on the red brake caliper action.



Let's not forget the Ducati motorcycles.



The kids would even be happy with this Alfa Romeo toy car.



Happy Ruby Tuesday everyone!



Hosted by The Teach at Work of the Poet.

PSF - No Autographs Please

At BlogHer, I shunned away from the celebrities, as I didn't even know who most of them were (in real life, I'm pretty much a shut-in who doesn't watch TV). I declined the Nikon party with Carson Kressley because they wouldn't let my mom in since she wasn't a blogger (hey, at least I asked, instead of assuming that babies grandmas could come). I didn't look fabulous with Tim Gunn like Christine or Rachel. No, no, I stuck to celebrities I knew... like the Michelin Man.


Photo from Michelin BlogHer.

And Mrs. Potato Head.


If you look at this photograph large, you can see her eyes peeking through her hat. And her eyeballs are where her boobs are. Freaky!

But I did hang with a few celebrity bloggers. With my pal Christy from More Than Mommy:




Photos from Dove Clinical Protection.

And with the fabulous founders of kirtsy, Laura, Gabby and Laurie.  No, we weren't drunk, they forced us to put on these costumes!! We were not having that much fun (yes, we were).

Oh but wait!! On Saturday morning, Sandy of Momisodes was all hyperventilating about this cooking celebrity that I had never heard of.  She was way too shy, so I dragged her skinny butt up there to meet Dave Lieberman from the Food Network.


Photo courtesy of Sandy of Momisodes.

And of course, she looks completely composed and I look totally starstruck!!  Gah!!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Adam hits the waves

Every time we go to the beach, Adam complains that he doesn't want to go. But then he spends the entire time splashing in the waves until he is frozen (this is chilly Salisbury beach in Massachusetts).











When he finally gets too cold, he'll come out to magically levitate beach balls.

Running Here, There and Everywhere

Whenever we go to the beach, Dova is always running, running, running.











Sometimes she stops to bury herself in the sand.

WW - Green Waters

From various vistas around the Sheraton Chicago for BlogHer '09.

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