Brother Fun

Conversations I have with my brother:
*Brother: Hm, that didn't work
*Me: What?
*Brother: Oh, I tried to draw Lincoln playing baseball


Game we played where each person says a word to a tempo and ends up with strange sentences:
Bananas went to heaven, and Alex went to heaven to eat the bananas.
There was a ball and they burped up Cinderella who kissed bob and bob went to heaven.

Brother on whatsapp:
"We did a living comparison thing in history today and I learned that 23 percent of adult sin Lesotho have HIV!!!"
(what a smarty :D)

Playing Space Team:
Brother: "Flushbypass!"
Me: "Clean the Garbage!!"
Brother reaches over to me and pushes my buttons on the phone.
Me: "Asteroid shake!"

Engagement

Woot! It's official!

Snoqualmie Falls

How it started:
When I departed for Africa in August, AB gave me ten envelopes. I was allowed to open one for each week I was in Africa until we see each other again in October.  Each envelop contained a written letter, one or two physical letters, and one or two photographs.  I soon found out the letters were each about some aspect that he liked about me (blush).

 

 

When it came to be the last week, he told me to hold off opening the letter, and bring it with me to Seattle where we were going to celebrate a friend's wedding.


Seattle:
In Seattle, we had decided to go visit a famous Seattle waterfall during the day and then have a nice dinner at night.  But unfortunately, it looked like it was going to rain, so we decided to change it to Wednesday.  On Wednesday, we had planned to go early in the morning, but we both slept in late, and then I took a long time looking for the item I was going to mail KP for her Nov bday.  To top it off, there was traffic, so we didn't get to Snoqualmie Falls until almost midday.  It was very different from what I had remembered from childhood. It used to be simply a trail down to the waterfall, but now part of it was paved with plaques about the hydroelectric power plant that was underneath the waterfall. It was fascinating, so I read every single plaque - including ones about different conifer trees.  But Alan appeared distracted and didn't seem to have any interested. I even said, "you're not paying attention at all are you?" and he simply replied, "Nope!"

Lower Snoqualmie Falls

Unbeknownst to me, AB had arranged KP to be there that morning to help take pictures. She had just arrived by plane that morning for a business trip, and was hoping to get to work by noon, but I was taking my time moseying about and looking at every single plaque.  She was supposed to have gotten there to take the after pictures, but now she was in time for the actual proposal. AB didn't get a chance to scope out the place prior, so while I was enjoying myself, he was busy trying to figure out what's a good place to propose and not take up too much of KP's time. KP did find a nice place behind a rock to hide, when AB suggested that place for me to read my last letter, I dismissed it as being too crowded.  So then the chase began with AB and I walking around, and KP surreptitiously following behind us.  At one point, we had gotten to the end of boardwalk at a scenic viewpoint of the waterfall, and KP and AB were hoping that was the final spot, but once again, I found it too crowded so we started walking back.  KP quickly texted AB that she was right in front of us, but he didn't see the text, and she quickly turned and tried to walk in a different manner so that I wouldn't recognize her.  I was busy reading the plaques, so I didn't notice anything. I also noticed Alan texting quite a bit. He gave the excuse that he was trying to figure out when to meet up with his friend Sharon.

Snoqualmie Falls River Front

We finally walked down a path to the river-side, and settled behind a big rock, hoping it was more secluded.  I read the letter, and AB proceeded to give a small speech summarizing the letters.  He then paused and looked around, so I looked around as well, but he kept on putting his hand on my head to keep me from turning my head.  He explained he had asked someone to be a photographer, but didn't want me to see him...or her.  Then AB got on a knee and pulled out a box.  At that point I was still sitting down, so I was looking up at him, and decided I needed to stand up, but took some time to fumble with the letter to keep it from blowing away.  Finally I stood up, AB pulled out a glimmering ring, and that was it!

So shiny...

Video of engagement taken by bucket list girl (with full commentary, unfortunately it's sideways).

AB then pointed out the photographer, and to my surprise, it was KP! She was so sneaky, had even talked an hour with us on the phone the other day and didn't mention anything about coming to Seattle.  Thankfully the weather was bad on Monday so she was able to be there for the proposal.  KP said, "Congratulations!" and then a stranger popped out from the trees next to her and also said congrats.  At that point, KP yelled, "Complete stranger!"  Apparently it had always been on the complete stranger's bucket list to see a proposal, so she had followed KP around.  The bucket list girl had first surprised KP when she was hiding behind a rock and thought she was taking a bathroom break. KP quickly corrected her, and she continued to follow KP around.

Thanks for the beautiful flowers KP and MZ!

We took some more pictures next to the waterfall, now without my silly backpack, and said our good byes to KP who had now had her work out for the day.  We went to Din Tai Fung for lunch, which had some yummy xiao long bao, sao mai, and spicy beef noodle soup.

For dinner, AB took us to a fancy fusion restaurant in Woodinville called the Barking Frog where we had the most fascinating combination of foods:

Palate cleanser: some combo of nuts, carrots, veggie, sour cream

Appetizer (enough for meal for 2!): penn cove mussels- coconut-curry broth/coteghino (sausage)/bok choy/grilled naan

Scallops: squid ink fettucine (so it's black)/ikura (salmon roe)/chinese broccoli/bok choy/carrots/kaffir lime-ginger broth

Seared duck breast: duck confit/chard/sweet potato pie/cherry compote/cacao-brandy cream sauce

All in all, a great day! :D

Seattle: indoor sky diving, UW, cascades, square dancing, weddings.

Saturday

Girls Night Out with girls and AB: It was supposed to be girl's night out, but what was I supposed to do with AB who flew all the way from Houston and had his plane delayed 4 times? To top it off, we hadn't seen each other for an eternity (or exactly 2.5 months). But it all turned out okay I think. AB got to catch up on some email, chat with some other fellow Houstonian, while I got to cover up my abysmal of a toenail.

Sunday:

Chinese church with parents: When my parents invited us to their church, I don't think they took into account the fact that AB would probably be unable to comprehend any of the sermon, or at least 99% of it. And my understanding of these sermons is probably already 50%, so I suppose AB got about 25% of the message after final translation? He claims he understood it, but I could very well have been telling him about some other sermon I heard about and he wouldn't know (except that I'm writing about it now).  Anyhow, it all turned out okay, people did not bombard us with questions as Asian women are prone to, and it was overall nostalgic to be back at the church I grew up in.

iFly (indoor sky diving): After church we headed to our scheduled appointment to do some indoor skydiving! It was so much fun and crazy. Never imagined I'd actually be flying. Although the promotional videos were of people going up into the air, doing flips, and all kinds of crazies, this first session was supposed to be mostly about keeping balance. We got to sit and watch the previous group go while we waited for our instructional video, and during that time, I calculated the exact angel my legs and arms needed to be at to give me optimal lift. Okay, maybe not calculated, but I was coming up with all kinds of flying theories. I'm pretty sure during that time AB was just worried about whether the safety net was secure, if we could possibly fly too high, what the damages could be..  

It wasn't anything too scary - did not require jumping from a high ledge or anything. You simply walk out onto a safety net, lean your body forward, and the wind will carry you up as long as you maintain a semi-superman pose. At the end we had a choice if to fly up and down (with the aid of the trainer), and it gave a similar sensation as going up and down a rollercoaster.  I thought overall I did fairly well, except I forgot to close my mouth a few times and spit must have floated up somewhere.  AB, on the other hand, was a riot to watch! I feel kind of bad for making him do this, but at the same time, I think it's a once in a life-time experience that's worth experiencing. Anyhow, right off the bat, he was stiff as a board. There were parts where the instructor tried to bend his elbow 90 degrees, but he was so focused on bracing himself, his arm kept on springing outwards to a straight V. My brother and I got a kick out of it, but I have a feeling AB didn't find it so funny.  Afterwards, he didn't recall that part at all, but was so shocked by how much wind was blowing into his face.  Apparently during that time, he related to the song, "I can't feel my face when I'm with you, but I love it!" except he didn't love it.  He couldn't understand why the instructor kept on telling him to relax.  Haha!  Thankfully the second time around was an improvement for all of us!

  

Meeting up with the Nerd Herd: Met up with JS, AL, and AC. I can't believe people are getting their own homes, getting married, starting their own families - people are really growing up faster than I can take it all in. Nostalgia aside, it was nice to see everyone, although briefly.  It's nice to hear AL and JS are even moving in together. It's like the Nerd Herd had a time of dispersion, and now we're migrating together again. How nice!

Monday

Somehow I have a very poor memory of what happened today. I recall going to UW, showing AB around UW and then grabbing some world famous Molly Moon ice cream, but I don't recall...oh that's right! Canoe ride! How could I forget! We went to UW and did a canoe trip after we went to bellevue - now if only I can recall why we went to Bellevue. Hm....  Oh that's right! We had lunch with NT at Microsoft! It was nice to feel her hair again - I mean - see her again. :D  Maybe we'll have a big international organization leader in our midst one day. 

Anyhow, we had a nice canoe ride out on Lake Washington. It was quite empty except for the UW crew team. We felt pretty inadequate next to them, and at one point we almost interrupted their practice. Oops. We had a nice work out on a cloudy day (thankfully no rain), and we canoed along the bank and observed the ginormous lake-side mansions. We also spotted some cranes, ducks, geese, and ran a bunk a duck island, or so I called. 

UW was grand as usual. I took AB to see the Suzzallo library, and to my pleasure, he found it just as amazing as I did.  It was as I had described to him - like the Harry Potter dining hall.  Ironically it's called the Allen Library.  It also happened to have a harry potter exhibit right outside the Harry Potter room. Afterwards, I wanted to get AB a UW t-shirt, but I totally forgot where the HUB was, so I asked around. But I asked 3 people, and nobody knew! The first girl was apparently a foreign student who could barely speak English, the 2nd girl looked older and pointed us in the wrong direction as we later found out, and I'm guessing maybe new or a grad student (?), and the third girl said she had only been there 2 weeks, but managed to point us in the general direction.  Ultimately I looked it up on AB's phone.  Sighs.

Molly Moon ice cream was heavenly texture, but neither of us thought much of the flavors that we got. It's been so long since we got ice cream, we totally forgot to get tastings before buying it. We got balsamic strawberry and lavender honey.  Lavender honey was my choice, because it sounded so exotic and fragrant, but I totally forgot I don't like the smell of lavender much; thus, it wouldn't be so unusual for me to say I didn't care much for the ice cream flavor either. Meanwhile, the balsamic just clashed with the soft gentle strawberry flavor, although the strawberry itself was tasty.  How unfortunate! Next time we will be more careful in our flavor choices.

Tuesday

Tuesday was the day we were supposed to go on a two-day North Cascade hiking trip, but instead, we only had Tuesday to drive up there because the silly Walmart store couldn't get my parent's mattress order right, and so it got delayed to Wednesday (so have to be home that day). Sadly, the mattress still wasn't delivered on Wednesday and my parents had to go pick it up from the store (which they tried to do earlier, but they had mistakenly sent it back to the factory) - sighs, long story of incompetence. 

Anyhow, that meant our leisurely hiking trip turned into an all day marathon drive through the North Cascades, then Leavenworth, and then back home. It was still beautiful, don't get me wrong, but it would have been so much nicer not to have been cooped up in the car all day. We did get out in the scenic points and took some pictures, so it wasn't a complete leg-atrophying day. Also got some yummy ice cream in leavenworth (whiskey creme and tiramisu).  mmmmm!

Wednesday

This day will have to be saved for another separate post.

Thursday

Nice day of having lunch with KP near Puyallup (or as AB calls it "Pully-up"), then tennis with the family, and a nice dinner at Sora Sushi. Delicious sushi with great happy hour menu (5-6p).

At night, we took my brother to his square dancing practice. Last year, his team won the yearly school competition, and so this year, they decided to start practicing extra early to regain their crown. It was such a funny crowd to see. There were senior citizens, middle age adults, young adults, and then this one group of hyper teenagers. They hadn't danced since last year, so they had forgotten a lot of the moves. Watching the other group was like watching a well-oiled machine, but watching the kids was like watching bumblebees rushing from one move to the other. It was hilarious to watch though and they were laughing and enjoying themselves as well. I had no idea what square dancing consisted of, and now I have a much better appreciation of it. 

It consists of 4 couples facing the middle, making a square. There's a caller on the stage who calls out a move every few seconds, and the groups have to perform the moves. If they fail, they are out (or so it is in an actual competition).  And the moves are complicated!  There are the well-known ones like dosi-doe, but there are also weird ones like make the wave, or turning the gear ...I'm pretty sure I'm butchering the names.  Some are simple moves, and others look sooooo complicated. Kudos to the elderly with still such sharp brains to remember all the moves. 

Friday

This was a pre-wedding day of wedding activities. In the morning we went to help AW (the bride) make center pieces and sandwiches. Then had a brief lunch and then went to get my first every manicure done along with the other bridesmaids at Stop 4 Nails. Unfortunately only one of the guys there seemed to really know how to do it (the thin guy), whereas the others' nails quickly came off or bubbled. After I came back, my mom was like, "I could've done that for you!" - since she did nails in the past. 

Then we had a rather early but delicious dinner at Top Gun Seafood, after which we went to rehearsal.  Sadly AB had to leave to be a groomsman in another wedding in another city (we got invited to 4 different weddings in 4 different cities on the same day), so I had to send him off at midnight :(.  He missed his rehearsal, but luckily he attended AW's rehearsal, so it was kind of like he attended rehearsal. 

Saturday

AW's wedding! It was beautiful! It was lovely! It was perfect!

Sunday

After church, got to see KP one last time and along with my bro, played one last game of space team.  Peel the potato!!!