It's in the Blood
Earlier this week two of my mother's sisters stopped by for a short visit. They had arrived in the US after spending several days in Vancouver with a cousin, and spent the night at our place before heading down to Santa Cruz to visit another relative. The first place they wanted to visit? Costco.My aunts are veteran shoppers. These ladies will literally shop from the time stores open till the time they close. I've accompanied them on numerous shopping sprees, from the time I was a teenager, around the malls of Manila, to weeklong junkets in Hong Kong, to day trip to the outlet malls in Gilroy and New Jersey. They do have enough money to fund their buying sprees, but they'

Giving Thanks
Today I'm sharing a couple of videos of my boys giving thanks.Jammy and his classmates expressed their happiness and thanks through dance. Judging by the little jigs he's doing, Jammy is very thankful this year.3Po is thankful for friends and the earth and such. I'm thankful for him.Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Technology is nice, but it's not everything
3Po's kindergarten class presented a short play yesterday, and throngs of parents showed up to watch. With cameras and iPods and videocams in hand we settled down to cheer our kids as they sang a couple of songs performed "The Little Red Hen".Sadly, one of 3Po's classmates burst into tears as he said his lines because his mother was late for the event and missed his "Little Red Hen" solo. He cried throughout the whole thing. Afterwards I tried to cheer him up by saying I had captured him singing his songs and we could let his mother watch it. It didn't really cheer him up.I guess technology is no substitute for a mom.

Wordless Wednesday: Route 66
Welcome to my Wordless Wednesday post! This month I'm featuring photos from our trip to the Grand Canyon. Click here for more of my WW / Grand Canyon photos.We spent the last

What's in *Your* Disaster Kit?
Here in the Bay Area people like to say that it's not a question of whether we're ever going to experience a disaster, but when it's going to happen. We haven't had a major earthquake since Loma Prieta in '89 but we've had wildfires in Santa Cruz, El Nino flooding and landslides, and goodness knows what. We are fortunate that we haven't ever experienced a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina or the New Orleans flooding-- but it's important to remember that a disaster doesn't have to be a major disaster.