充實的一天

年尾（12／30）多放了一天假，倒沒有浪費掉。 早上吃過早餐之後，小孩看看電視，把家裡整理一下。 我提議到一間出名的印度餐廳吃她的lunch buffet. 餐廳名字是minuva india resturant. 有幾間分店，我們去的是Rockville 那一間。 我自己十分欣賞她的食物，Mabel沒有我那麼喜歡 Indian 或 中東的重味食物，但也十分喜歡她們的 "Goat Rogan Josh"

價錢便宜，大人＄9.85, 4-9 小孩（$4.95), under 4 免費。 (http://minervacuisine.com/)

 

之後到了Barnes and Nobel,兩個小孩收了一張 gift card 作為聖誕禮物，便讓他們自己選一本書。Darren 選了Transformer, Lea選了Biscuit ( 小狗） 的書。 到書店前還給我看到一隻小鷹（Hawk吧！）可惜手上只有我的便攝機（Panasonic DMC-ZS7), 但總算影得到。

 

晚上還到了友好家裡吃晚飯，有牛扒，又有紅酒，又有sour apple martini，好不容開心！

 

聖誕大豐收

 

多謝各位uncles and aunties!!

Merry Xmas!!

Darren 中文學校聖誕表演

Lea 在哥哥正式演出前走到台上影相。




Darren 在後台，和小友 Garion

正式上台，Darren表現不差，是小數可以全部演出都做得到的同學仔之一。

Lea 對話

Mommy and Lea shopping at "Target"
Lea said , "Cat eat cat food!"
Mom asked, " what about dog?"
Lea answered, " Dog eat dog food"
Mom asked, "What about Mommy?"
Lea answered, " Mommy eat mommy food"
Mom asked, " What about Lea?"
Lea answered, " Lea eat Lea food"
Mom asked, " What about Snoopy?" (Snoopy is our dog, you would think she would say " snoopy eat snoopy food " Right? Instead...)
Lea said " Snoopy is a dog, Snoopy eat dog food"


媽媽和Lea在“Target"購物
Lea說，“貓吃貓糧！“
媽媽問：“狗呢？“
Lea回答說：“狗吃狗糧“
媽媽問：“媽媽呢？“
Lea回答說：“媽媽吃媽媽的食物“
媽媽問，“Lea呢？“
Lea回答說：“Lea吃Lea的食物“
媽媽問：“Snoopy呢？“ （Snoopy是我們的狗，你會以為她會說：“Snoopy 吃Snoopy的食物“嗎？誰不知...）
Lea說：“Snoopy是一隻狗，Snoopy 吃狗糧“

小作家

今早起來，Darren拿著他畫的畫給我看。原來是他畫的插畫書。他還要我把它「釘裝」起來。之後還給我一支蠟筆，原來他已經想好了一個故事，要我給他寫下來。故事是這樣的：

Page 1: There is a monster. Daddy put the magic bean in his cup. He mixed it up. The boy poured it on to the monster. (Dad added: the blue wavy thing is the monster)
Page 2: The boy happily had the ice-cream after all. And they leave the "monster sun" behind.
Page 3: The End
(中譯: 第1頁：有一個怪物。爸爸把魔豆在他的杯子。
把它混起來。男孩倒它到怪物處。
第2頁：小男孩最後也可以高興地吃冰淇淋。不需要回頭看怪物太陽了。
第3頁：終結)

古靈精怪

就到聖誕了，前幾天出外吃午飯時，看到到處的聖誕裝飾，便叫Darren和Lea到柱前影一幅相，兩個小魔怪當然不會正正經經的給我們影，最後給我一個古靈精怪的表情。

聖誕樹

Lea什麼都愛「小」的，這個小聖誕樹由她來裝飾就最合式了。



一起幫忙，給家裡九呎高的聖誕樹帶上各色各樣的裝飾。

最重要的一環，吃「士的」糖 （ Candy Cane)

完成了.

Lea 小挫折

Lea 昨天遇到一個小挫折。話說大懵媽媽一心想帶Lea到朋友女兒的芭蕾舞班上一堂「試驗班」。Lea到了跳舞中心好不興奮（要知她已經恨上跳舞班很久了。）。雖不知那一班最細也要三歲半，導師說什麼也不讓Lea上堂。令到Lea不知多傷心，眼淚不其然流下來，剛剛停了不久，想著想著,眼淚又丟下來。真可憐！


下圖是今早出門前拍下的，愛美的Lea把本來四個骨的legging和粉紅色短襪變成三個骨legging加長襪。影到一半Darren來「攪攪鎮」。

Darren 的太空船

Darren 自己做的飛船，都幾detail咖！前面綠色的小點是武器，後面有引擎（會噴火的）。有三個乘客正坐在座位上欣賞電視（電視畫面上還有公仔）。前面綠色像一支是雷射鎗。100％自己做的，他真的十分喜歡太空船！！

I am sick of "Sent from my iphone"

I am OFFICIALLY sick and tired of iphone photos

I don't know what people are thinking when they think iphone camera (or other smart phone camera) is a substitute of Point and Shoot. I have yet see a iphone photo of friends/family kid that does not look horrible.

These tiny little phone might work on a picture perfect sunny day at a outdoor environment, but trying to capture that indoor with that tiny little led "flash" and the tiny sensor is just a disaster.

Maybe I am too old school.. I still use email instead of FB exclusively, I still write Blog instead of mini-blog.

But come on, if it is a kids photo that you want to take and keep, please use a decent P&S. Those wash out fuzzy photo really do you no good in keeping the memory. If you can afford an iphone or any smartphone, you can afford to get a modern P&S, and the size is small enough that ladies can put them in the purse at all time and guys can put them in their pocket.

All this being said, if the only photos you have of my lovely nieces/nephews are from your iphone, send it over anyway... that still better than nothing I guess. ( Oh, now I know why this trends continue... it is better than nothing)

PS. Just as I started this blog, there is an article posted on New York Times about this

"NOT" sent from my iphone

「打邊爐」

又到「打邊爐」季節，沒有山珍海味，但一家四口在室外氣溫華氏三十多度的寒冷天氣中,圍著火鍋徬邊吃吃肥牛肉，也是人生一大樂事。

National Air and Space Museum (Chantilly, VA)

國家航空航天博物館

今天我們去和一些朋友到 Chantilly, VA 的國家航空航天博物館的, 不要混淆她和 DC 的國家航空和航天博物館。她是一個相對較新的博物館，如果你從來沒有聽過它，也許你看過電影“變形金剛 2”。在博物館裡的場景與許多飛機的一幕便是在這個博物館裡拍的。

喜歡或不喜歡如在於是你喜歡飛機，我覺得它值得一去。由於是史密森學會的，所以沒有入場費（除US＄15元的相對比較高的停車場費）。在博物館裡，我相信大部分展品是真的，有40年代和50年代的舊戰鬥機，也有一些僅僅在幾年前還在服務戰鬥機。

對我來說，一個比較有趣的部分是法航協和式飛機。就在幾年前你仍然可以得到的機票（如果你有那樣的錢），現在又是一個很大的博物館展覽 ..

今日是和一班舊朋友一起去的，已經有一段時間沒有見大家了，很高興可以見一見大家。更加高興的是孩子們現在長大了一點，幾個小孩差不多是第一次正式見面，但卻玩得很開心。

National Air and Space Museum

Today we went with some friends to the National Air and Space Museum in "Chantilly, VA", don't confused that with the "Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum" in DC. This is a relatively new museum, if you have never heard of it, maybe you have seen the movie "Transformer 2". The scene in the museum with a lot of airplanes was shot in this museum.

Whether you like it depends on are much you like airplane, I found it worth a visit. As part of the Smithsonian Institution, there is no admission fee ( except for the relatively high $15 visiting parking). In the museum, I believed most of the exhibits was real, it has the older fighter jet in the 40s and 50s, all the way to some fighter jet that was still in service just a few years ago.

To me, one of the more interesting piece is the Air France Concorde. Just a few years ago you can still get ticket for it ( if you have that kind of money), and now it is a big museum exhibit..

It was also a nice experiences to meet our friends, we have not seen each other for a long time, We were quite happy that the kids, now grew up a little since they last seen each others, were having a lot of fun playing together.