California 09 - Vegas Baby

In the middle of July time was well spent by driving to Vegas to my parents house - we dragged along my Auntie Karen to help us in the car with the kiddies. Tyler went to Girl's camp with her friends so it was me, the boys and Tristy-Lu.

Tyler got to spend a few days at my friend Laura's house - Thanks Ms. Laura!! So we could go to Vegas and come back when we needed. Technically this picture is of when Tyler returned - but since we left before her it's all I had...



Many of her friends from school went to camp - I was only able to get these few with my camera. We had about 6 non-member girls going to our church Girl's Camp this year. It was terrific! Our camp is not like others - adults have to kind of be on the "in" list to be able to go with the girls. They do rock repelling, water skiing, tubing, hikes, sleep in cabins, the food is AWESOME, fabulous crafts - they do it all! One day I may be able to go - we'll see.



Before we went to vegas we had a small family bbq at my cousin Suzy's house. Here is a picture of Tristan and Moeshe - my cousin's valentine baby...(and cousin ms. megan in the background_

Vegas - did many things - the weather was hot, but not as hot as I have been to in previous years.. . we saw 2 movies (I saw 3, I finally got to see Star Trek! Loved it!) - we saw Harry Potter and Ice Age 3, went bowling, out to eat, finally shopped for school clothes, and went to the Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay....




Fishing for Sting Rays


Chandler got one!




Ian in Brian Gau Gau's glasses


Lucas & Annie


Cman on Lucas' new DS (Pau Pau spoiled him)


Annie & Pau Pau


Ian, Gung Gung, Tristy-Lu, Lucas

We had a lot of fun with my parents, brother and Auntie Karen - it was a great visit and we had a lot of fun. I got to learn or remember lots about my Auntie Karen in the car and the kids got to spend fun time with their great aunt.

My parents have lived in vegas now for 10 years - it is amazing to think time has flown by so fast! We had a great trip there - and I'm glad we went because otherwise my parents wouldn't have been able to spend a lot of time with the kids if we didn't make it down this summer.

I'm getting closer to finishing my Great American trip - so much to cover in the last 3 weeks here at home!

California 09 - Tristan Red Egg & Ginger

Yes I'm still doing my summer catch up - Here are more pictures of our summer escapades - we had dinner at our friends house and got to meet their new baby Joshua - they actually live across the street from us in Ptown - and my next door neighbor also had a new baby as well - Sam - so on our street we have 3 cute new babies within the same year - sadly we aren't there for good playdates!





We had a Red Egg & Ginger Party for Tristan while we were in CA as well - What is a Red Egg & Ginger party you ask? Well - in Chinese culture after a woman has a baby you are supposed to stay cooped up indoors for 30 days after you have it - after the one month has passed they have a party with yummy food for good luck,prosperity and health for the mother and the baby. Good and bad - I don't eat the normally specially prepared pickled pigs feet for the mother to restore bone marrow/blood - after my first baby I gave it to my mom - the others I asked to not have to eat it!


We had lots of family and friends come to the party - sadly I only got a few pictures of Tristan - mind you that normally a baby is one month old - so they normally sleep and are passed around - well since Tristan is 7 months old - and needed a nap, she was a bit more clingy to mom than normal and wasn't expecting all of these people to come see her.

Mike couldn't stay for the party - he had to go back to the UK - but my dad was able to come up in between work from Vegas - my mom drove up separately. Mike's parents flew in for the weekend to be here for the special day also! We're very blessed.

Normally for baby parties the babies (and sometimes the mom) gets lots of gold and jade swag - babies are usually weighed down with jewelry - but alas - along with the whole pig's feet tradition going by the wayside - so are my gold and jade allocation, probably also because she's not 100% Chinese because you usually have sides competing who can give the most, but not in these economic times! But she did get the traditional Crane Baby bracelet that my grandpa john & grandma started - it's 24K gold with her name on it - it's very special to us.

Yes - this is a whole pig - and it is Delish!!

My whole family and 2 grandpas!

Tyler's buds

Lucas & Pia

Linda squatting - I think she was 7 feet tall that day with her heels!

Tammy, Me & Nu - HS buds

Linda, Me, Rachel, Grace - my long time Fremont friends

Lucas & Hayden - BFF

I'm getting closer to August!

California 09 - The UC

I'm plugging through my pictures - while we were there this summer we got to hang out with Auntie Nu, Uncle Max & Pia - Lucas even got to have a sleepover at Pia's grandma's house!

One day we went out there to have American McDonalds for the boys and we went to Kennedy Park (which was drug central when we grew up) but it is completely renovated and very fun. We got to meet up with an old friend - Karen S. (who married her high school sweetheart) and her very cute kids.

Her kids were about my 3 middle kids ages so they had a great time and made friends easily....

Here are our pictures of the 'hood...

California 09 Part deux - Utah too

We stayed in CA for just 5 days before heading out to Utah to visit Mike's family. I forgot to post this other picture of my cousin Emily holding Tristan when we visited my Grandpa John :)


Before we left I also got to go to dinner with my girlfriends....We went for Sozo Japanese - something I don't get very much of here in London.....

Michele, Christy, Me & Laura - Christy is my great friend that got to come visit us last Easter (and let us stay at her house!!) and Michele & Laura are coming this year at Thanksgiving!!! I cannot wait!







So then the next part of our journey commenced and we had to get onto another airplane. The one hour 45 min flight to SLC was a breeze! Except we felt more harried at the Oakland airport than we did at the International airports!

We got to Grandma & Grandpa Bob's house in Centerville and had a great time. We got to go to Lagoon, watch a 4th of July parade, fireworks, family parties - oh what fun!

4th of July and lots of glo sticks!

Uncle Ryan, Cman, & Mike ran in the Centerville 4th of July races - Chandler came in 10th for his 1 mile race - not sure about the old men ;)

Dad & Tristy Lu

New cousin Gabbie and Aunt Rachel

Lagoon - we went on the water rides first so we could "dry off" - little did we know we were in for a summer monsoon! It was freezing!

Me & my SIL Juliann

Mike and his old friend Brent

SIL Rachel, Tristy Lu, Gabbie & Me

We also had a fun BBQ - Mike's parents best friends have all been together for 60 years... their kids were like each others cousins so whenever they can we try to get everyone together. Amazingly all of the kids and grandkids were able to come to a BBQ
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So what started as this Six Pack, as they call themselves....

Became this group........

Then with spouses they created this......

And when we do come into town the kids all know who are cranes, gledhills or laytons and all have a great time together...now how fun is that?

California 09 Part une

We first arrived in CA on June 25 - the kids did great on the flight home - poor little Tristan did fantastic the first 8 hours - the last 2.5 were brutal.

We stayed in a hotel the first 2 nights since we had jet lag and it was a good decision. We would all wake up right at 5, 5:30AM and be ready for the breakfast at the hotel at 6:30 when it opened! I think people were a little surprised that all 7 of us were awake, dressed and read to eat!

The first night we walked over to the mall and ate and did a quick look around - it was so fun to be in an American Mall! Tyler and I were quite excited, the boys - were all bored within the first 10 minutes - so alas, no shopping on the first day :)

Our second day my good friend Christy helped me get my car out of storage and then we were mobile. It looked so nice and clean! We drove to our old neighborhood and we parked the car in the middle of the street and the kids fanned out and rang the doorbells to our neighbors - it was so fun - we could hear screams of our friends when they opened the doors and saw Cranes outside!

We then went to visit our grandpas that first weekend - it was so fun to see them!

Grandpa John - we liked staying at his house to visit because his house was so cool! That weekend was the hottest CA had so far this summer - it was miserable, we really missed London weather at that point!
We also visited my other Grandpa and had lunch with the extended family as well - it is always fun when you call one family memeber and all the rest come out too - I love being part of a big family.
This is my cousin Amanda's new Valentine baby - Moeshe - he is so cute! But next to Tristan he is a giant!!

My brother Brian was also up from Vegas that weekend so we got to see him right when we arrived as well! The kids love their uncles!

June 2009

I'm still catching up before we left for California for our summer vacation. Before we left we went into London with Mike's cousin and his family who were here for the summer. Now they are going to probably be moving here for a year and we are so excited for them!

In front of Buckingham Palace - Lucas with his new 'grin'

This is the Tower Bridge (the one that gets mistaken for London Bridges falling down...)