First Flight & Graduation

April 11 - 16, 2013
San Diego, CA

This week I was in San Diego with J3 for Jessie’s graduation from physical therapy school. I can’t believe how fast times flies. It feels like just yesterday I travelled down to SD with Jessie for her interviews for admission. Now she is a doctor!

The travel down on Thursday was exciting because it was JT’s first time on a plane. He was a ridiculously good boy. If I ever posted pictures of faces, this would be the time to do it as JT’s plane photo shoot was insanely adorable. He definitely takes after his aunty and grandpa in terms of loving to fly. At one point on the flight I thought I heard him starting to whine. It turns out it was the dog in the carryon below Jason’s seat.

Friday was graduation day for Jessie. It was a beautiful sunny San Diego day. It would also turn out to be the only sunny day of the trip. Jessie seemed to greatly enjoy her graduation. It was fun to meet a bunch of the people we’ve heard about for the last three years. After the ceremony J3, Jessie, Christy, Mercy and I went back to Jessie’s apartment for a pizza dinner.

On Saturday we went to the beach for a picnic lunch. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t conducive to much activity. Jason decided to boogie but even in a thick wetsuit he only lasted for a half hour. I went for a walk. It almost turned into a half-jog in an attempt to stay warm, while in jeans, a sweatshirt and jacket. The highlight of the beach visit was learning of Joycie’s irrational fear of kites. Watching her squirm, squeal and run from the guy flying the kite next to us was hilarious. For dinner we went to a delicious Mexican restaurant where JT continued to be the best child ever. He slept through the entire meal. Including a stretch where a mariachi band was playing directly by his head.



J3 and I spent Sunday with our cousins Sarah, Eric and Hunter. We hung out at their house watching the Masters, eating yummy Sarah prepared food and chatting. I’m fairly certain it had been more than a year since I had seen any of them, which is way too long. Needless to say this was the first time that they had met JT. He was on his best behavior. I’m pretty sure Sarah wanted to keep him, which makes sense since we all feel that way.

Monday morning all of the girls and JT went to breakfast with Jessie’s friend Carlie at a restaurant called Swami’s. It was sort of like an order at the counter Glenwood on steroids. The food was delicious, fairly priced and had super generous portions. I’m shocked I’ve never been there as it less than a 5 minute drive from Sarah and Eric’s house. I’ll definitely eat there again the next time I am in Encinitas. The rest of Monday was spent shopping before returning to Jessie’s for soup and sammies for dinner.

Our flight Tuesday departed at 3PM. There were six of us traveling with a lot of bags and two rental cars to return so we thought it would be prudent to leave at 12:15PM. Clearly I didn’t accomplish anything in the morning other than getting up, packing up and departing. The flights home were on time and non-noteworthy, which is exactly what you want when traveling with a little one. My return to the airport was also of note as a special guy met me there with Voodoo Donuts. The donuts were delicious and seeing the guy for the first time in six weeks was pretty good too ;~)

All in JT’s first trip to celebrate Aunty Jess was a success. The weather was a big disappointment but the time with family was great. The next trip on the books is to see the East Coast family at the end of May.

Until then,
Katy

Basketball, Boys, Bowling & Broken Legs

March 28 - April 1, 2013
Indianapolis, IN

This week Mom and I made our way to Indianapolis to watch the Ducks take on the Louisville Cardinals. We knew the Ducks would likely lose but once the March Madness bug bites me, I see it through. We flew out Thursday morning and made it to our downtown hotel by 4pm. We decided to explore downtown a little bit and ended up in some city center mall. We grabbed some lunch and then did a little shopping. I wanted to watch the games in the evening, so Mom and I ate dinner at the Indianapolis Colts Grille. Evidently this is the only restaurant controlled by a team in one of the big four leagues. There were tons of TVs and the food was pretty good, so Mom and I left satisfied. After a quick trip to Walmart to grab groceries for the weekend we settled in at the hotel.

Friday was game day for the Ducks. In the morning Mom and I checked out the Garfield Garden Conservatory. The garden was way smaller than I had anticipated but we still had fun looking around. After the garden we hit up the Ducks prefunk at the team hotel. We munched on some UO provided snacks, listened to the band and then watched as the team loaded its bus. Shortly thereafter we hopped in a cab and made our way to the game.



We arrived to Lucas Oil Stadium a bit early so I could look around. I had been to the facility on a tour a few years back and not a ton had changed. I enjoyed seeing it again, however, and I think Mom did too. The Ducks gave Louisville a run for its money. Each time Louisville made a run to push the game out of reach, the Ducks clawed back. In the end we lost 77-69 but I could not have been prouder of the effort. Dana and the rest of the Ducks have me ridiculously excited about the future of the team.



In game two we got to watch two of the most decorated coaches in college basketball history go head-to-head. Tom Izzo vs Mike Krysheski. Michigan State vs Duke. The game wasn’t the greatest game ever played but it was entertaining. Watching the dynamics between the two coaches made up for any letdowns in between the lines. In the end Coach K’s Dukies came out on top, 71-61, and moved on to play Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals in the Midwestern Regional Final.

Flying into Eugene last minute during the second weekend of spring break is pretty much impossible. To that end Mom and I decided to stay for the second game even though the Ducks were not in it. This meant we had all day Saturday to fill with activities.

We slept in a bit on Saturday morning. Once we finally got on our way our first stop was the Benjamin Harrison House. Mom and I took a fantastic tour of the 23rd presidents home. The tour lasted over an hour and our guide was full of information. The current exhibit in the house was “Raising the Hem,” which was a collection of dresses worn by former First Ladies. Needless to say Mom thoroughly enjoyed this display.



Our next stop was a trip to a suburban mall. Mom has been on a mission for months to find JT a hat she had seen in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog that was on backorder. She wanted to give JT the hat for Easter and prior to his trip to San Diego. We had some good salads for lunch at a random food court spot. We then found the PBK and fortunately it had two hats left. We purchased one for JT. We browsed a few more stores and then made our way back to the city for our evening activity, The Men’s NCAA National Swimming & Diving Championships.



I was pumped to attend a legit swimming and diving meet for the first time. It didn’t hurt that it was a men’s only competition. I used to think that picking a college with a good football team was important. I think I might advise my daughters to pick one with a good swimming team.





While purchasing the tickets I stopped to take a photo for a little girl with Nathan Adrian. For those of you who are unfamiliar with him, I’d google it. Not only is he tall and ridiculously good looking. He’s also nice. I thoroughly enjoyed my 30 second conversation with him. The meet was great too. We saw many close races and the diving competition was awesome. Below is a video of one of the best dives of the night.

Sunday morning Mom and I ate a leisurely breakfast. As you all know this was Easter Sunday, so our options for entertainment around town were limited. I had read that the Professional Bowling Association (PBA) had a tournament in town. Mom was mocking me that I wanted to spend Easter Sunday at a bowling alley but I did. She eventually conceded and we made our way to the Tournament of Champions at Woodland Bowl.

The parking lot at the bowling alley was packed. There were four large ESPN 18 wheelers taking up many of the spaces along with what had to be more than 100 cars. The finals were to be broadcast live on ESPN. When we walked into the alley there was a little table with two old people, a cash drawer and a bunch of colored bracelets. I told them I’d like to watch the bowling. The man said he wasn’t sure if there were seats available but he would go look. As we were waiting a man in bowling shirt walked by and the old lady said to me “THAAAAT’S PETE WEBER.” I said “I don’t know who that is.” She looked at me like I had just killed her dog. I then explained that I didn’t know much about professional bowling but I thought it would be fun to see a competition. The old man returned shortly thereafter and notified us that a few $15 seats were available. He said they weren’t very good but they were something. I didn’t want to spend a ton, so the $15 seats were great in my book. Mom and I bought a couple drinks and made our way to the staged lanes.



I decided that before the show went live, I wanted to grab a program. I left Mom in the seats and made my way around the bleachers and piping. As I rounded the corner toward the merchandise table I walked by Terrell Owens. I was like, “Uhm, okay, T.O. is here.” I proceeded to purchase my program. On my way back to the seats I decided to go to the bathroom one more time. When I exited the bathroom I saw a group of people walking up to T.O. The person leading the way toward him was none other than Billie Jean King. I never expected to witness on Easter Sunday, in a bowling alley, the meeting of Billie Jean King and T.O. But I did. And it went like this:

T.O. approaches BJK and says: “Hi. I’m Terrell Owens.”
BJK: “I know you who are.”
T.O. and BJK shake hands.



All in the bowling experience was awesome. We didn’t get to stay to the end because we wanted to leave in time to make it to the start of basketball. This means we didn’t get to see Pete Weber, who I now know is the grandpa of bowling at 50 years-old, defeat Jason Belmonte, a two-handed (yes, two-handed) Australian bowler in the finals.

The Duke vs Louisville regional championship game will be remembered forever, for all the wrong reasons. The game itself was decently competitive for 28 minutes. However, the most noteworthy moment occurred in the first half when Louisville’s Kevin Ware broke his leg in spectacular fashion. I was tracking the ball, so I didn’t see the break in real time. However, it was immediately obvious that something crazy had happened in the arena because players started falling over crying. In all my years around sports I’ve never seen players react like that to an injury. We weren’t given much insight as to what was happening in the arena. No replays were shown. We all just watched patiently, mostly in silence, as the paramedics responded and loaded Kevin on to a stretcher. The pace of the game didn’t really recover prior to halftime. Louisville eventually found its inspiration in the second half and won the game going away, 85-63. One of the nicest moments of the night was when Chane Behanan wore Ware’s jersey during the end of game celebration. He eventually removed the jersey and the team paraded it around during the trophy presentation.





Monday morning Mom and were off to the airport to make our way back home. We successfully made it on time from Indy to Chicago to Portland. We’re now waiting in the United Club for our Eugene flight that has been delayed on hour. All in Mom and I had a super fun, albeit random, Easter weekend. I’m looking forward to being home for 10 full days before taking off to San Diego for Jessie’s graduation with J3.

Until then,

Katy

Ducks Do San Jose

March 21-23, 2013
San Jose, CA

This week I cashed in some miles and made my way to San Jose to watch the Ducks play in the NCAA Tournament. I flew down on the 5am on Thursday morning to SFO. I stopped in the United Club for some snacks and a triple shot espresso. I then picked up a car and made my way to HP Pavilion in San Jose.


Sunrise at SFO.

The first game in SJ was St. Louis vs New Mexico State. The game was never really close. St. Louis ended up winning 64-44. The most interesting part of the game was watching New Mexico State’s Sim Bhullar who is 7’ 5”. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t move all that well. But he’s only a freshman. It will be fun to see how he develops. In between games I checked out a little more of HP Pavilion. It’s a very nice arena. I imagine it’s a great environment for Sharks’ games.

The Oregon vs Oklahoma State game was awesome. Arsalan Kazemi played ridiculously well. He was everywhere, grabbing 17 rebounds and scoring 11 points. I had fun chatting during the game with my seat mate, Tom. We had chatted about both the Duck game and travel. He works for IBM as a consultant out of Newberg and logs more miles on United than I do. The Ducks led virtually from start to finish eventually winning the game 68-55.



The Duck victory meant that I would not be flying home Thursday night. I had booked three return tickets with miles, as I wanted to be able to stay in the event the Ducks won. After the game I cancelled my ticket for Thursday night. Joel tried to talk my into driving up to Sacramento to celebrate Ilia’s birthday but on two hours sleep, in 5 o'clock traffic, I was too tired to do it. Instead I booked a room at a Hilton Garden Inn out in the suburbs and made my way to it. Upon arrival I took a brief nap and then went out to meet a friend for dinner and drinks back in San Jose.

I spent virtually all of Friday at the hotel. I did some work, worked out and watched lots and lots of basketball. After the last game of the night I decided I should venture out at least a little. I walked across the parking lot to In-N-Out for dinner.

Tip-off on Saturday for the Ducks was at 4:10pm. I watched the early games in the hotel before driving back into San Jose. I arrived extra early to find street parking to save the $25 fee for parking in the lots. I walked around the main drag, settled on getting some Mexican food for lunch, ate it (it was poor man’s Mucho) and then walked to the game.

I left my camera in the car for the first game and I wanted to take a good shot of the court from center court before tip off. I walked a section over from my seats, took the photo and made my way back to the aisle. While leaning against the seat on the aisle and looking down at my phone I heard someone say to me “cheer loud”. I knew the voice. I looked up. It was Uncle Phil. I assured him I would and said thanks for everything before a fan grabbed him away.



My assigned seat was on the aisle in row 12. Tom was behind me, which allowed for our banter to continue. I also ran into half the neighborhood who decided to fly down for game Saturday’s game. I enjoyed giving them all a bad time about being fair-weather fans and only showing up after we established ourselves in the tournament. I also told them I would hold them personally responsible if we lost since the Ducks played so well without them on Thursday. Anita assured me that they would win again. Fortunately she was right. The Ducks played fantastically well, beating St. Louis 74 - 57.


Tip-Off for Tony.


Arsalan, Ben and Johnny celebrate the Ducks victory.

I decided to fly home this evening as to save on a hotel night. That meant I had to leave for SFO at halftime of the Syracuse vs Cal game. The game was competitive, so I was bummed to leave but what can you do?

I’m now back in the United Club at SFO after a fantastic 54 hours in San Jose. Thanks to the Ducks victory and a planning assist from Dad during the second half of the Duck game, I’ll now be on my way to Indy with Mom on Thursday.

Until then,
Katy

Scooting to Jersey

March 15-19, 2013
Moorestown, NJ

This weekend mom and I travelled back east to Jersey to visit Granny and the rest of the family. The trip was fairly uneventful minus the whole Mom has a broken foot thing. A few weeks ago Mom had foot surgery that requires her to be non-weight-bearing for at least six weeks. There were smokin roundtrip ticket prices ($288) from PDX to PHL, so we decided to travel at five and a half weeks post op. This meant we had to travel with both crutches and her knee scooter. It actually went smoother than I was expecting. It turns out if you have a cast and crutches United flight attendants are actually nice to you. On each flight we gate checked the scooter like a stroller. We took our time getting off each plane so the scooter would be waiting for us. Watching Mom scoot up the jetways and through the airports was quite entertaining. She attracted more than a few looks of bewilderment. 

We spent the majority of our trip helping Granny shop for replacement items for the damage Sandy did to the Shore house. One stop was of particular note where I took Mom and Granny to Boscov’s. Mom again was tooling around on her scooter with her crutches, while I was pushing Granny in a wheelchair. Getting all of their medical equipment in and out of the trunk was an accomplishment of its own. I’m fairly certain in this season of life God is teaching me patience. I hope I’m passing because I look forward to the pace picking up again soon. 

Speaking of increased pace, on Sunday night I found out that the Ducks will be playing in the NCAA Tournament in San Jose on Thursday afternoon. I proceeded to spend that evening making plans for attending the game. 

Mom and I flew back to PDX on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning she had an appointment with her foot surgeon. She was cleared to switch into a walking boot, which made her pretty much the happiest camper ever. After quick stops at the flower market and Bridgeport Cafe for lunch, we made our way back to Eugene. I need to wrap this up so I can go unpack, repack, play soccer, try to sleep for a few hours and then make my way to the airport by 5am.

Until tomorrow,

Katy 

Dim Sum & Sky Suites

January 29, 2013
Hong Kong

We slept in a little today, which was nice. We grabbed a small snack for breakfast in the executive lounge before meeting Mom and Dad at 11:45AM to head out for dim sum at Din Tai Fung. Ben had read a bit about the place and it had also been recommended to him by his parents. It was delicious. I’m not sure if it was better than the best meal in the Maldives but it was definitely up there. We had all kinds of chicken, beef and pork buns along with kale, spinach and really good egg fried rice. Just thinking about it makes me want to eat there again, NOW.





Ben and l left Mom and Dad with plans to meet up with them again for more shopping after they had checked out of their room. We stopped by SOGO again to make sure they didn’t get any more of a specific toy we wanted. They hadn’t. Next we went back to our hotel to finish packing. We then checked out and took our checked bags to the central train station where we were able to check in for our flight and leave off our bags.

At 4PM we met up with Mom and Dad to explore the mall beneath our hotel. Ben checked out his favorite suit shop, Mom and I enjoyed a random housewares store and then Ben saw another ad for “moon luggage”. We then found the Zero Halliburton shop. Ben, Dad and I had fun investigating all of the luggage while Mom discovered a little stuffed toy for JT.


This is the window that made Ben straight up giddy. 

By the time we finished shopping it was nearing 6PM. I had spotted a hoop on Ben and my cab ride to central station earlier in the day and I wanted to see if I could find it. After 10 minutes or so walking outside I found the court. The only problem was the way onto it was not obvious. There were security signs all around it and very obvious video cameras. Mom and Dad weren’t up for what they knew could turn into a long exploration but Ben decided he wanted to tag along as I took off on my adventure. After a solid 30 minutes of running up stairs, over overpasses and through apartment complexes, I still couldn’t find the correct way in. This hoop has a lot of potential for a great shot. I will definitely need to investigate this place further prior to my next trip to HK.


I didn't get a hoop shot but Ben took this nice picture of the Lippo Center. 

We said bye to Mom and Dad who were off to the airport early. We then went to one final local store looking for the toy we wanted... and we found it! The shop “Log-on” aka City Super was actually pretty cool. I wish we would have had more time to investigate it.

Our final stop in HK was an attempt to get one final hoop shot with the lasers coming off the buildings. I said attempt, because unfortunately, that’s all it was. For some reason even though it was a beautiful night in HK, it seems as though the laser show was cancelled. I was pretty bummed because the picture had a good chance of being an iconic photo in the sense that HK’s laser show is known worldwide. I guess I’ll just have to take this as one more sign that I’m supposed to go back to HK.


The International Commerce Center disappointingly does NOT have lasers coming out of it. 


At least we got a beautiful full moon to enjoy over the water on the way back to the metro. 

After picking our carryon bags up at the hotel we took our final cab ride of the trip to central station to take the train out to the airport. Within 20 minutes of boarding we were there. Customs and security were both very quick. Before we knew it we had found Mom and Dad in the lounge. Dad was glowing with excitement because he was about to experience the highlight of his trip.

The plan for this whole adventure started when Singapore Airlines dumped a bunch of its premium inventory into United’s system in July. I was able to book my parents almost exclusively in Singapore’s First Class. After the flights were booked SIN changed the aircraft from HK - SFO to an Airbus 380. This meant that my parents would be flying in Singapore’s Sky Suites, which is basically the equivalent of a dream come true for my Dad. Historically these seats were only available for purchase at the bargain price of $25,000 a seat. Ben and I were “only” able to book business class (typically $10,000) but I was still quite excited since I’d never been on an A380 or experienced Singapore’s business class on a three class plane.

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We are now on board and all I can say is this plane is ridiculous. Only 21 of the 60 business class seats are full, so I feel like I have the run of the place. Ben and I are seated in row 24, which is upstairs. We have the middle two seats but the window seats on each side are empty, so we have the freedom to bounce around if we want. The service has been fantastic. I’ve made friends with Felicia who seems to be basically my own personal flight attendant. The purser did me a favor and helped my parents turn on their in flight phones so that we could enjoy seat to seat calling during the flight. I needed the purser to help me with this because commoners in business class are not allowed anywhere near the suites, even if their parents are in them. I think the best way to share this experience is through pictures.


Part of the business class cabin. Note that the flight attendants are actually smiling and there is artwork. 


You rarely board a flight hoping it will be longer than 11 hours and 33 minutes. This is one of those times. 


The dinner appetizer. 


The main dinner course. 


I talked to my parents on the in-flight phone system. 


I enjoyed that the remote listed the length of the program I was watching, along with the current time stamp of where I was in the program. 


You know your plane seat is awesome if it has a "do not disturb" botton. 


We made it. 


The flight attendant refused to let me take my own bag downstairs. 

After landing the purser of the flight allowed Ben and me to go and see Mom and Dad and the suites. If our experience was ridiculous in business, I don’t have words for what their’s must have been like in the suites. The suites are like having your own room on a cruise ship. Below are just a few of my Dad’s photos.













































Since we dinked around on the plane for a while after it landed, the customs line was HUGE by the time we made it there. This was no problem for Ben and me because we have Global Access. We used the kiosks and made it through in five minutes. Within another five minutes we had all the bags on carts. We then waited for 45 minutes for Mom and Dad to clear customs. We are now at the Double Tree SFO for one last hotel sleep before journeying home to Eugene in the morning.

All in it was a fantastic trip. If there are two takeaways, they are this: Save your points for Hilton and United. Cash them in for the Conrad Rangali Island and premium classes on Singapore Airlines. I feel truly blessed to now have another amazing trip under my belt... and I’m already looking forward to the next one!

Katy