Sorry, Cesar...

Cesar Millan, his books are the bible for us to have a dog. I've read some of his books, watched his shows and educated myself to be a ideal "pack leader" for Toby's sake.

His books are so eyeopening. He keeps saying that human being and dogs are so different, if you want to raise a good dog, you must understand dog's nature.

The key is that you must satisfy his instinct first, mainly migration (walk) with his pack leader and then make him suit human beings which means discipline, and then give them a lot of love.

Exercise, decipline and affection in this order.

According to him, a pack leader has to always project "calm assertive" energy which makes him feel stable and submissive. You can not melt down his cuteness, because dogs don't trust emotional energy.

I'm hoping it's not too late. I have to stop babying him. I'll keep trying when I aware it anytime. but, you know...it's sooo hard not to melt for my beloved Toby!!

Toby, Tobs, Tobi-chan

First snow today. Toby's brand new "dog run" in our yard was powdered but he didn't seem he cared the chilliness. But the anticipated mother (me) squeezed him into the sweater. Although he wears gorgeous fur, he's only a puppy, plus he looks extra cute in it, am I right?

One more pic. Come to your Mommy!!

Wow...He looks so elegant in this pic. Should we have named him Prince or Christopher to suit his grace? No, no. We can't forget he was called "Sumo" at the breeder's house, because he was the chubbiest and goofiest in his litter. And we loved that!

everything is new

First walk on our road. You did a great job on "heel" naturally but afraid of the sound of wind? distracted by dried leaves? It's OK, I'm here for you.

First shower. You look so thin when you are wet.

Toby is a 9 weeks old, Australian Labradoodle puppy. Every movement he makes melts our heart. How can we resist you!!

Welcome home, Toby!!

Say good-bye to your litter mates.

Say good-bye to your breeder.

You are coming with us to your new home, but don't worry.

Lots of greeting were waiting for you.

Good-night. Sweet dreams, Toby.

Long time no see...

Is it December already?? Time flies, really...but please don't say I missed TWO whole months to post...well I have to admit that I did. This is so ME, but like why not I can't restart from at this point. This is my own blog so I think I can post whenever I want, am I right??

I'll update last two month real quick.

My daughters' first Horse Show. They got some ribbons, well done!

Halloween. It was windy and chilly, but they got over 100 candies each. Well done!!

How could I have missed this memorable event. This is the pic of the first meeting with Toby at breeder's house. How adorable he was!!!! He was 4 weeks old Labradoodle. So chubby, playful, cuddly handsome puppy.

My younger one's 9th B/D. I brought in some jello instead of cupcakes to her class.

My older one was helping cat adoption at the Cat Show. This was the first volunteer opportunity for her. Great experience!!

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. We went to the city on the Thanksgiving day to see the famous parade. Lots of people....we barely saw the parade but for the people like us they had balloons, and then had blunch at Norma's.

Decorating Christmas tree. This year we didn't bother to go upstate to buy fresh tree. Using your old artificial tree is the most eco-friendly way to celebrate the Christmas! I love the monent just right after my husband put a tree top star and then plugged in the lightning!! Blissful!!

Summer trip Day 9, in Rome

Day 9, Sep-5-2010

St. Pietro Cathedral. It was the most beautiful church I'd ever seen. We were lucky enough to get in Sunday morning service they had, but unlucky enough they closed the museum on Sunday. So we missed the world famous painting on ceiling. My daughters were excited to know the fact Vatican is not in Italy, it is another country. They can add one more country they have ever visited.



Fountain of Trevi. We threw coins from our back hoping we can visit Rome again someday. Cross the fingers!!

Summer trip Day 8, in Rome

Day 8, Sep-04-2010

Colosseum. A big ruin. We had to face human cruelty at there. Sadly I'm sure I'd be one of them who got wildly excited by the show if I were there back then....

Then we strolled around Faro Romano which used to be a big city in 2000 years ago. It was amazing to know that back then they had most of all life we have now, such as court or marketing system.

After that, we went to Bocca della Verita, the Mouth of Truth. Of course we put our hands in the mouth. Since there was a long line, my husband was not able to fool around to pretend his hand got bitten by the mouth as he planned to surprise our kids like Gregory Peck.

Summer trip Day 7, in Rome

Day 7, Sep-3-2010

We visited St. Angel Castle. A lot of angel statues had been waiting for us.


Spanish stairs. Audry ate gelato on there in Roma Holiday. Of course we also ate gelato at the shop, my favorite was pistachio, my daughters' were strawberry and Nutella.

Summer trip Day 6, Florence to Rome

Day 6, Sep-2-2010



Finally we had a chance to see Florence.



We walked around the city, visited beautiful Duomo, rubbed the famous bronze hog's nose that is said you can come back Florence if you'd do that, joined the crowd on Ponte Vecchio bridge, climbed all the way to Piazzale Michelangelo and saw fake statue of David in there.


I know we missed to see the real David and many master pieces at Uffizi museum, but we were happy to see the rest of Firenze. I'm hoping rubbing the hog's nose legend would work someday.


We arrived Rome after sunset.

Summer trip Day 5, Venice

Day 5, Sep-1-2010

The gondolier skillfully handled the oar to make our way through the canal which was spanned like a maze in Venice.

We encountered main stream once and enjoyed to see other gondolas, on the boat markets and sea breeze but then he got our gondola into a chink of ancient stone buildings. When we looked up, washed clothes were swinging on our head.

Venice was really one of a kind place. I'd never seen the place like this before. All the time we were strolling the city, I felt like I was in the special setting of a theater play. I could picture a masked mysterious clown sneaked out from a masquerade every corner of stone paved path.

Summer trip Day 4, Pisa

Day 4, Aug-31-2010

We went to Pisa.

It took an hour by train, and also took 50 euro from us. We didn't know we had to activate our Eurail Pass by writing down the day on tiny little space they showed otherwise they require 50 euro as penalty. We paid "tourist tax" and learned the lesson "never fail to read the rules".

The leaning tower was leaning. My husband and kids climbed up on marble dangerously slanting stairs of the tower. Since I wore flip-flops, I didn't even try it.

We took a tons of silly pictures like many tourists. As you imagine, we posed as if we were supporting the tower. That was fun!

Summer trip Day 3, Interlaken to Florence

Day 3, Aug-30-2010

Even though we didn't want to leave from beautiful Switzerland, we headed to Italy as we planned.

We took the route from Interlaken via Spiez via Milano to Florence. It took almost 5 hours. We had lunch on the train and played cards.

It was so interesting to see the scenery changed as we went to south.

The lakes were cool frosty blue in Swiss, but in Italy they looked more cobalt or navy. The depth of green was getting faded and it was more like yellowish in Italy, and I found that matches the building orangy tone. I could see dust everywhere it seemed the blazing sun light dried moist from air.

When we got off the train at Milano, it was totally different country, smell of cigarette, the bustle of big city, high-heeled fashionable girls, and families like gypsies.

We arrived Florence around 6pm. Hungry. As soon as we dropped our backpacks and duffel bags at the hotel, we were off to get pasta and pizza!! Yummy!!

Summer trip Day 2, Jungfraujoch

Day 2, Aug-29-2010

This is not a post card. I took this picture of very tip of Jungfraujoch, 13642 ft, Top of Europe. That was abusolutely breath taking.

I didn't know the Swiss railroad was that accessible to the mountain. We climbed (or I should say went?) this mountain with our tennis shoes and Converse and light fleece.

I couldn't help thinking all the toil they made for digging the tunnel in this frozen rocky mountain 100 years ago. I guarantee you can be amazed by nature beauty and human power at the same time here.

On the way back to Interlaken, we had hiking at Grindelwald. That was a pretty village. We overlooked glacier of Eiger from there.

Summer trip Day 1, JFK to Zurich

Day 1, Aug-28-2010

We arrived at Zurich around noon, then activated Eurail Pass and headed to Interlaken.

Unfortunately it was cloudy and drizzly, but the scenery seen from a train window was the view I'd expected in Swiss. A mountain range, green grass, cows' grazing, brown cute wooden houses which decorated pretty flowers...

After checked in Mattenhof Resort, we strolled around Interlaken and for supper we had Cheese Fondu.

It's time.

I've finally decided it's time. We are getting a dog. What kind? Where? Boy or girl? There are many decisions we have to make. My kids have been feeling they won the lottery, and believe or not , I'm so excited the fact. Yes, we ARE getting a DOG!!

the first day of school

Today was the 4th of the first day of school for my daughters in US. Was it only 3 years ago when they went school in first time here? I saw them fighting back their tears at that time. They barely knew ABC back then.

Language brought a life to them. The more they are able to speak English, their worlds are expanded more.

I'm so grateful and can't thank more their public school which has many international students and great ESL program. And of course, great friends and teachers around us.

cool jeans

Kids grow in summer, especially their height. So I cut off my kids' last year jeans. They turned out damaged-cut-off-in-style shorts.

I wonder since when this kind of style had become "cool".

When I was in college, a friend of mine told me that her grandma sewed up her damaged Levi's 501 when she visited her house. Granny must have taken pity on her grand daughter's frugal student life and ruined her special pair.

Being "cool" means rebel. When tradition says yes, it's uncool all the time. I bet if damaged style became school uniform, it wouldn't be cool anymore. Young peole always need to oppose something.

BTW, my husband said "home-made-Abercrombie" when he saw the shorts. Unfortunately my master pieces aren't cool enough when I tried to recycle them.

hamsters

Hi my name is Fluffy. I'm shy and reserved. I've been tail-less ever since my friend/enemy Cotton bit it off. She had been chasing me all the time before my owner family separated us into different cages. Now I'm free from her and enjoy alone time.

Hey, I'm Cotton. Ooops, sorry you can't see me, cuz I'm so fast. My less favorite thing to do is sitting still. I wonder where Fluffy is these days. I miss her, we used to have great time together, mainly tagging tails..well as I recall I tagged her most of the time though.

Do I look cute when my owner girl is holding me?

It has been a year since we were adopted by Iyah's daughters. I enjoy to see people's reaction when they see us. Some says "Owww, sooo cuute", some says " Eww...mice...".

Roman Holiday

We watched this movie for our upcoming big trip to Italy.

Every time I see this movie, I found Audry so stunning. The story was lovely. This is the king of chick-flick for me or every girls. My girls and I are so looking forward to going to Rome now.

For our trip, my husband and I watched "Angel and Demon" the other day. That cast a cloud on my expectation. Every place Dr. Langdon visited, there was a murder. Stone paved streets and ancient churches looked scary in there.

Well, I know everything has both bright side and dark side. It so depends on your point of view, doesn't it? I'm so glad I saw "Roman Holiday" after
"Angel and Demon".

home practice

I practice yoga at home with DVD when I can't go to the studio.

David and Shannon's instruction of Jivamukti is the hardest and longest, for an hour, on the other hand, Rodney's is the most gentle and relaxing. Cindy from OM teaches step by step with funny description.

This summer I have a company, my daughters. My younger one's favorite is David for some reason. She chants well without knowing the meaning.

"Lokah..Samasuta..Sukino...Bavantu....Oooom Shanti Shanti shanti hari.....Ooooommmm...."

Don't be mean..

This is the shirts my younger one has selected for today's Japanese reading/writing tutoring.

Since the teacher has been torturing her by picking up tiny little mistakes of her Japanese reading constantly in really mean way, she hates him so badly now.

Well.., I taught her that there is no fairly tale which doesn't have mean enemy. She can survive and will conquer someday. Only she can do is working hard, then nobody can pick her up.

Since all the teachers my girls have met before were understandable, sugar-coated type, this encounter was a shock to them.

They've learned life is tougher than they used to think it was in this summer. I hope my girls' hearts grew stronger as well as their tanned bodies. Never give up!!

karaoke evening

I went to the city to sing songs in karaoke box with my neighbors and kids, 10 of us!

Then I realized that only latest songs I knew was kid's songs such as Hanna Montana or Serena Gomes. Also, there are too much words in such a short time! Even I had the lyric showing TV in front of me, I wasn't able to sing along with songs. When friend of mine put Carpenters on, it was so comforting, finally I felt like singing but chanting..

However, despite of my tune deaf about music and slow reading about lyrics, it was so much fun!!

the founder of anusara yoga

New york times magazine published this big article about one yogi who founded anusara yoga. It can be read more critical rather than favorable.

Some must have been disappointed by the fact their "guru" was a shrewd entrepreneur, some must have felt themselves as decoy ducks of him.

I don't care how much money he makes out of practitioners as long as he gives something they want. He has a right to have his own life, doesn't he?

But I found him phony because the article said nonchalantly " he settled himself into an overstuffed leather chair in his living room....". Ooops, I heard " leather" !! Isn't no killing one of the important doctorine of yoga?

I smell the writer's malice in there more than any other critical comments.

horseback riding camp

Today was the last day of my kids' horseback riding summer camp. They learned from horsemanship to cantering. Though my younger one once fell off and got a big nasty bruise on her thigh, though after the end of the day they smell like horses, they love horses.

a night at the Playland

It's such a good idea opening an amusement park until 11pm in this hot and humid summer. We had a really good time!

6 girls sleep over

Watching a movie, painting toe nails and endless chatting!!

kindle 2

My beloved kindle 2 has broken. It only showed this gray patchy display for any effort.

I made a phone call to the customer service, then after a few conversation, the operator diagnosed it couldn't be fixed. She said she is going to ship new one to me!!

I still don't have any idea about the cause. she didn't even ask me if I dropped or dipped in water or anything. But simply replace it for me.

How generous amazon is! or this happens all the time? Can I trust next one?

But anyway, I'm grateful the recent e-book war. Quality of customer service must be much nicer than it used to be.

I'm hoping they ship kindle 3 which is the latest and capable in Japanese also by mistake!! Cross my fingers!!

dog sitting

My kids is taking care of Mystic while the owner family is out of town.

You'll never know how my girls got excited about this dream job! Right after they came home from their riding camp they went straight to hers, played with her and took her a walk.

I have to confess that I freaked out when Mystic got excited and gone "banana" in their living room. She didn't listen to me at all, I tried to command, scold or even threaten her, but none of them worked. All I did was only pour more fuel to her. I can't be a dog whisperer, never...

Eventually, my older one was able to manage the situation. She did a great job!! I'm so proud of her!!

fall already?

I found the window display has been changed for fall at almost every store now. We just got into August though. Take it easy..time flies anyway....

piano man

My older daughter and I did discuss whether the song "Piano Man" by Billy Joel is a happy song or a sad song.

I thought it's a happy song. On the other hand, she thought it's a sad song.

I asked my American friend's opinion. She thinks it's so sad.

I wonder if the piano man got stuck in that bar miserably or he found his happiness near himself surrounded by reality.

Robert Moses Beach

Friend of our family took us to this gorgeous beach with them on Sunday afternoon.

Basically I'm not a beach person but as I've stopped swimming for a few days for some reasons (swimming at the pool became my routine since the summer had started), I really really wanted to dive in. So I did.

That felt soo goood! We had a great time. Then I realized that was my first dip into the Atlantic Ocean!! Yey!

welcome back

Our nice friend/ former neighbor came to here for visiting all the way from Japan for two weeks. We met after a whole year.

We had a big neighbor party at my place. Even though we live on the same street we hardly have a chance like this big gathering.

Yes, she is the one who can bond people together. We really had a great time! Thanks!

the nice doggy

Her name is Mystic, not our dog unfortunately, but our neighbor's dog. They are generous enough to let my kids play, walk and water? with her these days. Now their dream comes true.

My kids have been dying for having a dog for 5 years.

At the first time they asked me if they can have a dog, we lived in small apartment, so tenants were not allowed to have pets.

Then we moved to our own house. But I was not comfortable with the thought that a dog would walk around our new house.

Then we moved here, but still there are a lot of what ifs. What if we would have to move soon, a puppy could be killed by a long flight. What if we wouldn't be able to train him/her well..etcetra..etcetra..

Hopefully we can have a nice doggy like Mystic in near future.

Arranged / movie

Does the restriction save you or tangle you? They found a balance in between. You'll never be free from everything but you can find happiness somewhere near you anytime. Also I found that, in this wave of globalism, keeping ethnicity is one of the virtue for everyone.

English? Japanese?

My kids had a play date with Japanese kids today for the first time in ages. They usually play with American kids in English, so I was kinda worried if they can express well in Japanese.

For my pleasant surprise, there was no need to worry eventually.

Until the friends left they had spoken Japanese, but just right after I shut the door, their verbal switch turned to English mode from Japanese ones!

Their first and the most comfortable languages are English now. Almost every time I have to remind them to speak Japanese in our house otherwise their conversation are 100% English.

Ok, this is I wanted them to be in the first place when we came here 3 years ago. Even though their parents are both native Japanese, the influence of school, friends, books and TVs overcome it easily.

My biggest fear is that if time passes by like this they could forget or reluctant to speak Japanese. I want them to be Japanese who can speak English, not Americans who can speak Japanese. It would be a nationality crisis!! So I won't stop saying "Speak Japanese!!

kids movie

Every week we borrow DVDs from our loco library. I prefer classic movie like those for kids. No complication. Good people defeat bad people, reliable smart animals, friendship, no violence, no bad words, some funny characters but not extreme.

Only the problem for me is the British accent in the Black Beauty. It's hard to pick up words, they sounds so different. However, my older girl had British teacher last year, so she imitates very well their English. Bi-yuu-tii, Bi-yuu-tii!!

yogo joy

I took my girls to this place "yogo joy" which is new to my neighborhood. The system in this parlor really suits us. It's all self-service so that you can serve frozen yogurt as much/little as you like, and put varieties of toppings. yummy...

The Namesake/ movie

A young Indian man who believed in the words "Books are for to travel without moving an inch" was told " Pack a pillow and see as much of the world as you can" just before a train crush happened in India.

He came to New York with his young bride in early 70'. They had two kids, a suburban house and nice Indian friends. One success story in the USA.

However, their son, Gogol, started to hate his strange name which obviously was named after Russian eminent novelist, also what he struggled most was the balance between his Indian roots and his already Americanized modern life.

He managed to find his balance and the deep meaning of his name, as the title showed.

I rather sympathized his mother, Ashim, than Gogol. She wasn't able to adjust American culture like other family members, wearing sari all the time. When her children flew away from her, she said that she lost all her family when she came to the USA, and secondly she was losing them now. After her husband passed away, she was back to India.

This movie made me think that it is hard to understand somebody even if you were his or her parent or son or daughter or friend or else. Especially when you had different backgrounds. Thus we need to keep trying to understand each other.

Being a foreigner in different country is tough. I know the feeling. I sometimes feel strange when my kids act and speak like American kids. I know if you'd like to raise your children bilingual and international-minded, you must teach them your language first.

In the last scene, Ashim was singing Indian song in beautiful sari. she looked so relaxed and tranquil. I wonder that ending symbolized the value of tradition and ethnicity.