Welcome Parker Ainsley Paqueo!

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Dearest Parker,

We are so happy that you have finally arrived! Your lolo and lola apparently already calls you "Parker pen", and we, your titas, have been calling you "Kuva" since before you were born. These nicknames have important meanings, but the most important of all is that you are loved in a very uniquely Filipino way.

Before today, tita Annie always made sure you were well fed by eating (a LOT) along side your mommy. I always made sure to talk to your mommy's tummy to familiarize you with the voice of the tita who will spoil you endlessly... Even though I was talking to your butt.

Your titas are so happy, we decided to buy a glass of bubbly to celebrate this momentous day!

We love you so much!!!
Love,
Tita Annie and Tita Ate

Does Ironman eat peas?

Yes. Ironman eats peas.

As well as most other vegetables, including: broccoli, carrots, spinach, brussels sprouts, beans, asparagus, eggplant and other ones parents love to make you eat.

This is true.

Les... Poi... Ssons!

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Gotta love the Chinatown fish store! I bought 16 crabs today! The man standing on the truck was unloading fish with a huge net... One tried to escape but quickly learned that the sidewalk was meant for walking and not for swimming. Also, fish is still one of the most revolting smells, particularly if you're a 6 year old child.

My "vanity area"

Our show was a great success and I had a great time dancing in it. The pro photographer took all the good dancing shots. I just have a reflection picture of me in my first costume and my accessories. Yes, at some point in the show, I wore each item. Including the basket full of leaves on my head. Skills!

<3 NEW EDITION

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OMG so much was going on this day for Gail and I... I can't even begin to describe it but I'll try.

- We watched the show in Kent, WA on June 22.
- A vanity plate on the car in front of us in the lot said "B4REAL". It totally set the tone for the night.
- We sat 5th row centre!
- A man sat nearby looking like a mix of DJ Quik and Morgan Freeman with a wave.
- NE sang and danced like they were still 20... Except for maybe Bobby Brown. The party life took its toll on him for sure. But he kept up where he could.
- There were "alcohol enforcement officers" present.
- RONNIE DEVOE TOOK OFF HIS SHIRT AND THREW IT AT US! Thanks to Ron who caught it and made sure we kept it!
- We drove back to Vancouer right after to make dragon boat practice and kp rehearsal.

It was truly inspiring to see these mid to late 40s men sing and dance like they did. I wanna be like them when I grow up.

Raf and Mey's day of fun, all grown up!

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It was just over 10 years ago that Rafael started doing regular outings with his favorite sisters. The old pictures came from a photo booth in Oakridge mall. The new ones are from our outing to Biercraft. Yay! He is now 19 and able to participate in grown up days of fun! Cheers!

Officially a Generalist*!

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I did it! Yay me!... And thanks to everyone who endured me for the last 2 years.
Only one more to go for my certificate!!

*When I was asked by who I consider a very smart man "What did you major in?" I sheepishly replied "General Studies." I waited for him to laugh in my face or crack a joke about "basket weaving" or "getting a real degree" but instead, his eyes lit right up. "What a phenomenal degree. This world needs more generalists. Congratulations."
I really was surprised. My major is not common, since people are usually brought up thinking that they need to know their career by grade 10. "General Studies" is not exactly up there with business, computers, engineering, medicine or trades, but it is just as important. Generalists can see the big picture. We are sort of like the Swiss Army Knife of jobs. The kind of people you'd want on your trivia team. True, we are not specialists, but we'll know when to delegate specialists. And I'm down for delegating ;)
Thanks to that very smart man. I'm even more proud of my degree.

Love!!

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Congratulations to my baby sister Sarah and her new husband Carlo!!! That was some party! The familia loves them so much that we just partied as hard as possible.

I love the familia

Overly excited!

De Ranke Kriek (p.s. I'm totally not sober right now)

Taken at BierCraft

Brussels pic-nic!

Taken at BierCraft

Cantillon Rose Gambrinus

Taken at BierCraft

Cantillon Gueze

Taken at BierCraft

Lindeman's Gueze cocktail

Taken at BierCraft

11.05.12 Swarley

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I will never complain about Starbucks because I am a faithful patron. Me being a patron, however, may be because I get many a Starbucks gift card from the kids I teach. Anyway...

My favourite thing with Starbucks right now is that they write your name on the cup. I've tried to document these occurrences because, obviously, it is horribly entertaining to see my name misspelled! The only one missing is "Mary Anne" because I can't seem to find the picture I snapped. The best is when I spell it out and it's still wrong. Since then, I just let them guess.

There is just one cup spelled correctly. But it doesn't count because my friend was the cashier!

Gail in Danielle's Sunnies

Super moon!