Luggage packed. Cameras ready. Batteries charged. My heart is already pounding. Pounding for the beautiful New York City, for a good friend that we have not seen in many years, and for another wedding that Ricky and I get to photograph. It is hard to describe that feeling. It’s like an athlete getting ready for a big game. Like a pianist who can’t sleep on the night before a recital. I can feel some positive energy inside of me about ready to burst. Yes, it’s THAT exciting!

Thanks x1,000,000…to grandpa and grandma, who are willing to take care of our kids, to make this trip possible. I can’t wait to big hug the big apple!

One day, a friend said to me, “You have a nice blog. And I never knew your English writing is so good.” I was so embarrassed. English is my second language. Never have I felt that my English writing can be considered good. When I was in college, I had this so called Essay Writing and Group Discussion Phobia. Not to mention presentation. Don’t even go there. I wished my English could be as fluent as the native speakers. I wished I could write out my thoughts freely without any grammatical errors.  I wished I could express my opinion without having to pause like 15 times. By God’s grace and the professors’ mercies, I got through English 101 and 102.

My Chinese is not any better. I can google the Chinese words by typing in the English way faster then I can type in any Chinese typing program. Sad!

I’m still learning and practicing this second language. If you read any annoying grammatical error or even something not making sense on here, please just pretend you didn’t see and use your best imagination to guess what I mean. It’ll help save my ego.

Annabelle can now write some three letter words. Way to go baby! I can’t wait to learn some English slang from you.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The sounds of fireworks seem just around the corner. We heard the first bursts of celebrations but could not see any sparkle, as we were lost on the streets of Anaheim. We were so close to the happiest place on earth but not feeling any happiness. The fireworks at Disneyland had started, but disappointment was sinking into my heart.

Our plan was to go watch the Disneyland fireworks at Downtown Disney on my birthday after tucking the kids into bed. Ricky and I drove to Anaheim, trying to look for the signs to Downtown Disney. He turned into the Anaheim Garden Walk, pretty sure that was our destination, and then parked the car. “This place doesn’t look as if having anything to do with Disney.” I told him. But since I was wrong 90% of the time on driving directions, I just trusted him. As soon as we found out that it was not Downtown Disney, since we saw nothing that has Mickey Mouse on it after walking for five minutes, we asked someone for directions. A bus driver said Downtown Disney was within 4 minutes of walking, so we followed his direction. Forty-five minutes later, we were back to the original spot where we parked our car.

We were finally at Downtown Disney after getting lost a few more times while driving. But it was already 10 pm. The fireworks started at 9:25 and finished at 9:45. I guess we can do all the planning and things still don’t go as planned. Because man plans, God directs. Afterall, watching fireworks is not the most that matters, it is being with the person who loves me so much, that he would skip basketball to get lost with me.

“The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” ~Proverbs 16:9

Today is my birthday. I forgot since when, I have to make an effort to remember my own birthday. It was almost impossible to miss in the past couple years ever since I was part of the Facebook community. So many friends reminded me and sent over their well wishes on this day. My age though, is harder to remember. Trust me, after the thirty-year mark, I always need to do some math to get my age. And since birthday is a good time to count our blessings, I want to share about the people whom I feel very grateful for:

• Annabelle. She gives me hugs and kisses before I leave her at school every day. She is so special to me because I see me in her.
• Christian. Always singing in the car to entertain us. He is my bundle of joy.
• My dad. Earlier this year, our family was sick a lot. He boiled up 5 gallons of vinegar to sanitize my whole house during his last short visit.
• My mom. She went through labor pain to bring me to this earth. And also for not leaving me outside the police station during the first three months of my colicky life. This turned out to be a wise decision, right mom?
• My mother-in-law and father-in-law. Grandparents are the best babysitters in the world. They are the ones who make our NY trip possible.
• Nanny Luz. She takes care of Christian, makes breakfast for us, does our laundry, washes all the dishes, cleans our whole house, weeds the yard…so that I have time to blog right now.
• Ricky. The only guy who asks me whether I want flowers on my birthday every year. He spoils me with instant network fixes and awesome hard drives/back up solutions.
• You. You are reading this post means you care about me and my life. Or even if you’re simply fans of my kids or my photographs, that makes me happy too.
• Last but not least, Jesus. He forgives and loves me no matter what I’ve done.

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23:6

Thanks to Hanns and Winnie who gave me two tickets to the Hornblower cruise, I celebrated my birthday with Ricky by having a Sunday Brunch Cruise in the Newport Harbor. Nice weather, yummy food, champagne, music, what nicer things could I have asked for?

I need to do exercises for a week in order to work these food off.

Happy Monday!

Emily was my high school classmate. She has a blog that I stalk. I always enjoy reading about her life because I feel that I can connect to her experience all the time.  She makes everyday life interesting and meaningful.

One day I was at Target’s book section with Annabelle. I saw this children’s book, Love You Forever. This book looked familiar to me. “Where have I seen it?” I tried to search my brain.  “Oh, Emily recommended this book on her blog.” She wrote that it was written by a famous Canadian children book writer. As soon as I grabbed it, Annabelle asked me to read it to her. When I got to the last few pages, I needed to make an effort to hold back my tears.  This book gives a powerful illustration of  a mother’s deepest love for her child. Just thinking about the story makes me want to cry. Do not read it at the store if you don’t like shedding tears in public.

Last Sunday morning, I was in my home office doing some last minute thing before heading to church.  Ricky called me out to look at the walls. I realized the walls were all artistically stamped with “Ricky Lai and Iris Cheung. For Deposit Only. Account No. XXXXXXXXX.” We further inspected the house and found that not only the walls were endorsed, the couch, the carpet, Christian’s shirt and Annabelle’s legs, were all ready to be deposited into our checking account! The kids found my bank stamp and went crazy with their stamping action. I almost felt bad to ruin their fun. Almost, but not quite. “Guess what, both of you are going to timeout!” I made my best effort to say it calmly. And this was Annabelle’s reply, “Okay, but I’m busy right now.” She managed to stay as calm as I was.

These photos, however, have nothing to do with the sad incidence. How could I forget about them. They were also taken at Knott’s.

She is almost four but still would not go on a swing. Bounce house at school is not her thing. This is how cautious and conservative Annabelle is. I was prepared that Annabelle and Christian’s first time at Knott’s Berry Farm would not be super exciting. Instead, I anticipated a day of walking and sightseeing. We went because Ricky’s company had its annual picnic at this America’s 1st theme park. The day turned out to be quite fun for all of us.

When we first got into the park, whenever we walked by a kids’ ride, I would ask Annabelle if she wanted to play. The answer was always “no“.  After answering “no” a few times, she was annoyed and decided to say “I don’t want to play ANYTHING.” Okay fine. I was glad we got the tickets for free. Then Ricky had an idea. “Why don’t Annabelle and Christian watch our stuff so we can go play?” Oh I loved that thought!

Just when I stopped asking Annabelle if she wanted to play this and that, she pointed at the Huff-N-Puff wagon and said, “Mommy, when can I go in there and play?” Girls have rights to change her minds anytime.

Then it was showtime for Christian. He wanted to ride on the airplanes.  Annabelle did not want to ride because these jets were fast and they went off the ground. So I got in line with Christian. He was excited and kept saying “I wanna ride plane!” After he repeated this 15 times in the line,  it was our turn. I put him in the seat and left. As soon as he saw me leaving, anxiety began to emerge on his face. Soon after, he started crying. Too late. The planes were taking off. After going 2 lapses, the planes slowed down. The technician was checking his switches and did not know what went wrong. A lady started walking in; she stopped next to Christian and announced through the microphone, “Parents of this gentleman, please come and pick him up .” That was how he got evacuated. No crying was allowed on flights.

I only took my 50mm f/1.4 with me and shot with it all day. Man, isn’t this lens amazing? What a bargain.  Here are some more photos from the rest of the day…

It was a great ice-skating show that I enjoyed so much. Yummy colors, fantastic music, and amazing dancers!
I wouldn’t mind watching one more time, but Ricky objected.

This back lighting scene caught my eyes as we were leaving the theater.

Dusk can be as beautiful as sunset.

I’ve been drooling over this Shootsac for I don’t remember how long. It was a luxury to me when I was shooting mainly lifestyle sessions. Lately I’ve been thinking about this bag again since I will be shooting a few weddings and hoping to be able to do more. It’s a real headache how I’m going to carry my lenses, batteries, and compact flash cards at wedding ceremonies and receptions. I secretly pray that I don’t have to wear a belt with two lens pouches attached to my pants. Anyway, I mentioned this bag to Ricky and told him I wish to have one of these.

Like all my other shopping wishes, I did not expect him to pay attention. But he did put it on his mind. A few days later, he told me all the websites that sold the Shootsacs were out of stock, except for one store in Canada. Oh well, it may be pretty cool though to look like a gunman in a wedding, I thought. Who could have knew that my brother-in-law who lives in Canada is a frequent visitor of that camera store. Ricky told him about this, and he went and bought one for me right away! Isn’t he cool? Thank you Ricky and big brother! What a nice and early birthday gift for me. Now I don’t have to worry about my pants falling off while I bend down to shoot the flower girl.

Annabelle made a sand castle at school.  She explained to me how she made it. In the end, she said, I put a cross at the top so Jesus can die on it. Wow, how thoughtful! But I almost fell on the ground. I’m glad she has Jesus on her mind. But I also hope she will understand very soon the true meaning of the cross, the ugly humiliation of total self-denial, and was all because of our sins.