our first baby-sitting job by.cristina sunday.sep.30

stacy and jack had a dinner date in bellevue tonight and asked peter and i if we could babysit hannah. of course we said yes, since we wanted to do something nice for them, and absolutely adored little hannah.

they had just arrived from a vacation in taiwan a few days ago, and all three were still suffering from jet lag, especially hannah who wasn't sleeping through the night. therefore we were given strict instuctions NOT to let hannah sleep while in our care, so that they may have a chance of getting her to sleep at night.

that sounded like such an easy task ... but ... hannah was dropped off to us at 6ish and she was already exhibiting the signs of a sleepless night ...

so after pete's numerous attempts to wake, distract and play with hannah ...

he finally accepted defeat from an 8-month old ...
and little hannah was able to get a couple minutes of uninterrupted sleep ...
until our attempts began all over again.

what a sight by.cristina wednesday.sep.19

after i had finished with the dishes after our sunday get together with pete's relatives, i walked into the lounge room to find this ...

both had fallen asleep on the couch ...
aww.

staying indoors by.peter tuesday.sep.18

With summer coming to an end, we’re expecting we'll be doing more indoor activities. One such activity Cristina and I have always enjoyed was karaoke. Since the big stores like Best Buy only stock the ‘American Idol’ branded sad excuse for a karaoke system, we decided our best option was to visit the ID (International District) in downton Seattle. So armed with my broken Vietnamese we visited every store along Jackson Street (think John Street in Cabramatta…just more industrial) that sold CDs or DVDs to ask if they sold or knew of a store that sold karaoke systems. Eventually we were directed to a small store run by an elderly Vietnamese couple. They had the equipment we needed – the mixers and microphones. Once we had our equipment we needed to get some karaoke DVDs of course. Most of the shelves were dedicated to Vietnamese music, comedies or Chinese movies with Vietnamese dubbing. In the back corner was a small section for “American” karaoke. I wanted English but they’d have to do :-P.

With our new system set up at home, we decided to invite some friends over to try it out ...

Just to remind us to stop planning outdoor activities, rain was forecasted for the following day – the same day we were inviting my cousins over for a BBQ. Fortunately, during our karaoke hunting trip we discovered a nice little diner in the ID that served really nice Vietnamese dishes. We ordered 6 family sized dishes and the day was saved :-).

gather around by.cristina thursday.sep.13

i love our new dining table and chairs. not only the look of it, but how it's just the perfect size for us. oh how i searched far and wide just to find the one that matched exactly what i was envisioning in my head ... and i finally found it at crate and barrel - a store with a distinct style that really appeals to me.

though the price was a tad (heh) high, we've really made good use of the table and chairs ...

i cooked dinner for some friends ...

and told them they couldn't revoke their friendship no matter the taste ;-P

we had our first game night on it...
and it accomodated two settlers games happening at once!

so yup, the dining set is worth every penny <mum & dad> spent on it! hehehe ... thanks again guys!