Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year! It's been a bit more toned down this year with my Parents traveling in Hong Kong. But that doesn't mean we don't have Snoopy decorations for this celebration! May everyone have a healthy 2009! Gong Hay Fat Choy!

I Fly, You Fly, We All Flew at iFly!

A couple Saturdays ago, we did the unthinkable (at least for me, since I am afraid of heights): WE FLEW!!!!

We celebrated Julie's 30th birthday with an indoor skydiving excursion at iFly, followed by a delicious dinner at Buca Di Beppo. This was our baby step to the real deal, sky diving. Ha ha, who am I kidding. It'll be a million years before you see me voluntarily jump off a plane. (Maybe if I can bring my camera, hmm...)

Anyways, it was definitely a fun and interesting experience. I compare it with snorkeling vs. scuba diving. If you never plan to scuba dive, snorkeling gives you a taste of it. But it's not the same.

Thanks to Julie for inspiring us to fly and thanks to Carol for helping us takes all these pictures and videos. The pictures came out amazing!

The Flight Crew


The birthday girl was very excited...


...and delirious.

This is as close to sky-diving as the Lo's will ever get


Safety first


Julie giving us the thumbs up! She is ready to fly!

Julie soaring to her 30s.

You can see Carol in the background capturing Eric in flight-motion.

Mike demonstrating the perfect flying posture

Andrea checking out the instructor to make sure he is watching and ready to catch her!

All of a sudden, Julie remembers she is bidding farewell to her 20s. Hence the pout.

Julie perks up when she realizes there are birthday gifts waiting for her to open.

The birthday girl is diving (no pun intended) into her tiramisu!

Check out this animated gif! I wasn't able to upload the file in Blogger, so I borrowed Brandon's photo gallery to post it. It's a really funny animation of Julie! Also, while you are at Brandon's gallery, check out his work!

A Delicious Resolution!

One of my 2009 resolutions that I am really exciting about is to do more cooking, and of course take pictures of my dishes.

For those that don't know, I love to cook. Maybe it's because my first love at school was chemistry, and cooking reminds me a lot of chemisty (mixing, heating, burning, and ah yes, explosion!) And besides cooking, I LOVE to eat. Being a Fob, we eat anything and everything. My rule has always been: "if it's on the menu, I'll eat it." So my cooking resolution is a win for my cooking passion and a win for my stomach!

Oh, come to think of it, I guess Sally is a lot like me. She loves food and eats anything and everything. Like daughter, like father! I just hope no one starts calling me "chunky monkey". =(

Here is my first dish of 2009: Sichuan Beef Noodle Soup

Lake Tahoe 2009

It doesn't get any better than celebrating the New Year in a warm cozy home while snow is falling outside. That's how we spent the first three days of 2009, in snowy Lake Tahoe. We were again fortunate enough to rent out my coworker's house in Lake Tahoe and we made the best of our time playing Catch Phrase, Wits & Wagers, watching Wall-E (Wah wah wah), cooking up delicious food and playing some snow football.

A nice layer of snow buildup on top of the fence


Nothing more amazing than a new coat of fresh snow on your windshield...


...and a fresh dog paw-print on the snow


Yup, our poochies are spoiled:
Bonnie with her red Beag-coat and Sally with her purple Furberry-coat

The Chou Family Photo


Bonnie layered on a waterproof raincoat over the red Beag-coat.


Bonnie sinking into deep snow




Great shot Newt! I love Sally's unconditional love!


Known as a "Torpedo" in the water, Sally is known as "Snow Mobile" in the snow! We love her Bunny ears!


One of our favorite pictures of Sally! Look at her eyes!


As always, Andy messes with Sally by putting as much stuff on her as possible.
Sally, as usual, does not seem to mind.


Steve purchased a new pair of snow boots. His shoe is 1.5x bigger than Newt's!


Andy going airborne!


Brandon doing a Zoolander while diving for his football.


On our ride home from Tahoe.

A Brand New Hair-do For A Brand New Year!

Jenny cut her hair to welcome the new year.She donated her hair for a great cause to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. Check out her new do!

The Before-After length comparison

After the initial chop, which took 2 minutes, the poor hairstylist spent the next hour cutting and styling Jenny's thick hair.

Jenny was quite impressed with how light and flouncy her hair became that she did a twirl for me.