Mid-October update

Hey, sorry folks. Don't know if anyone is still reading here, since so much time seems to go by between posts. Sometimes I wonder why I keep it up... but I know at least a few people are reading.

Cutie girl: Maiya is an unbelievable 20 1/2 months. I'll just do my update in photos of the little one.

Maiya wears her sushi chef kimono to childcare almost every day. Here she is walking down the steps by herself, while holding a piece of bread.

Here she is sporting pigtails for the first time. Martha, her favorite caregiver at childcare, gave them to her. My first thought was, Oh! She's a girl!

I love this picture. It shows Maiya as she often is, in action. She's running towards me while literally calling someone on my cell phone.

House Update: Countertops ordered finally! The people at Synder Diamond were starting to make jokes since Tony was going there about every 2-3 days to pick up and borrow 2 more tile samples. He must have gone there 6 or 7 times. But, we finally decided on a countertop. Cabinets are about 95% finished. Our friend Danny, who Tony has known since junior high has been making the cabinets and he's done such a nice job. So, we still need to pick paint colors, get a sink, faucet, undercabinet lighting, gargage disposal and drawer pulls. So I'm guessing another 3 more weeks. It will be so awesome to be able to eat, do laundry, wash dishes and cook in our new kitchen! Here's a sneak preview.

Here are the drawers. They are Maple with Euro-thin ply. They will have an open edge, which means you can see the plys. Very chic and modern.

Sold! After 31 years, my parents have finally sold their house! They moved about 7 miles away to a newer single-story house. It was quite a stressful ordeal, but as of yesterday, escrow closed and they have officially moved. It wasn't easy finding a house with their specifications, but Mom got a smaller house (3 bedroom) and dad got a 3-car garage. Now, hopefully they can relax and take their time unpacking. I only lived in the house for 7 years (1975-1982), but the thing I'll miss the most is taking our annual family Christmas photos on the extra wide stairs. Our families have gotten so big we have to split up and take the photos by family groupings.

Here are me and some of my cousins on 12/25/02. We're waving as we often do when taking these corny pictures.

Well, it's after 2am. I'm beat, so I think I'm just going to stop here. Tomorrow (Saturday) I have to go to work (my quarterly reports are due next Thursday), but I have an exam on Tuesday that I need to study for. Auntie Keiko has come the last 3 weeks to watch Maiya on my day's off while I try to study. They've been going on long walks to the park and shopping. Toodle-loo!