Jack and Jill

At Sherman's beautiful community room in his building... Stacy & Terry's friends hosted a beautiful little shower for the both of them. It was a Jack and Jill shower.
I thought it was the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill, but apparently I was incorrect. 'Jack and Jill' meant 'coed'. Okayyyy...Must be a Canadian thing... and here I am queen of planning showers... but of course they were always baby showers not bridal showers. And I have never gone to a co-ed shower so what the hey.. something new to experience right?

This was a beautiful and delicious cake! And since they were not going to have a wedding cake (instead it was going to be wedding pops) we had to really enjoy it! It was red velvet!!

Everyone patiently waited for us... we were 30 minutes late.... CA Chinese time right?

With the bride and groom

The girls hamming it in the 'photo booth'

While the boys played race cars.. Timothy with Enzo (Matthew's cousin Jason's son) both are the same age... 4!

You can't have a bridal shower without... Games! Yep... I shuddered as I heard that word... but I tried to be a good sport about it and participated... for the sake of my children... Didn't want them to think their mom was a party pooper... (which I am!). Yes I admit, I am NOT very fun!

First Game was a trivia one... Ok... I can do those. And I got one or two right too! (I'm a good guesser.)

Second Game... create a decorative table topper with only the supplies given. Well... my little creative genius, Hannah, was on my team and she whipped up something that was personal yet creative with a little bling to it to honor her Auntie Stacy and Uncle Terry.

Apparently, her brother's team (that Mathew was also on) did not quite understand the concept of 'table topper or centerpiece'. This was an interesting horse puppet thang.

Can you guess which one the guest of honor liked? (Of course the $20 that Kenny slipped in it as an added accessory was a clincher!)

Another game was... Dances... yep I know... it gets worse for me... Each team had to 'perform' four different dances (written on slips of paper) and the bride and groom had to guess what kind of dance it was.

Emily's team had her Goo-Jeh/Matthea... can you guess what kind of dance they were doing?

Here is our team.. I'm not sure WHAT we were doing... oh yes... it was Beyonce's Single Ladies

Here the young boys were chillin'.

NEXT UP: THE Dinner

The Pre-Wedding Banquet

Gathering a group of 15 of us to eat dinner is a feat.. then find a restaurant that will fit all 15 of us at one table is another feat.. but it can happen (when you know the right people) And yes 5-Sook/Sum do know the right people.

You actually can't call it a 'dinner' when you eat with them. It's more like a 'banquet' ... 10 dishes... fancy dishes I might say... you won't see sweet and sour pork, lemon chicken or chow fun at this table! When you eat with this couple... you eat well... you eat really really well...

Of course, I did not take any pictures of our dinner the first night we were in Vancouver at Kirin.. bummer.. that was one of the best ones during this trip... I guess I was too busy eating and talking (drilling casually asking one of Matthew's cousins about his new girlfriend) to remember to take pictures of the food.  5-Sook actually nicknamed me CezNewsNetwork aka CNN.

So you'll have to make do with dinner #2. Let me walk you through our courses at Tai Tung Chinese Seafood Restaurant:

Traditional chicken soup... with the feet... yum they were delicious! So tender!

Peking duck with wraps not buns as you would see them in the States

Two fresh lobsters...

...that turned into lobster with e-mein with creme sauce

Duck meat (from the previous peking duck dish) and stir fried bell peppers

Steamed black cod with black bean sauce (Matthea picked through this fish until it was bone dry!)

Chicken salad? I don't remember

Large pea leaves stir-fried with garlic

Fresh deep fried tofu and some kind of veggie.. I don't remember

Deep fried pork with a sweet type of glaze.. very yummy and crispy

Beef stir fry with gailan (Chinese broccoli)

I had to include this picture.. Here is Matthew's two cousins (Stacy and Sherman who are also siblings) and Stacy's husband, Terry in the middle all having an engaging conversation prior to the arrival of the food. LOL!

NEXT UP: Jack and Jill

2 B.C. 2 c the M.A.s

We headed to Vancouver, Canada, this time to celebrate with Matthew's cousin, Stacy's marriage to Terry. (Yes... if you have been following my blog this is twice in one year.. actually twice in 3 months.) This time we only stopped in Seattle for an hour layover before switching planes to Vancouver.

We boarded this little plane... it actually had propellers.

And seated only two seats on each side. Not a bad ride... I would have thought it would be more bumpier with it being so small but it wasn't. The landing was quite smooth!

Once we got to the airport, we were picked up by Uncle Pat (5-Sook), swung by the hotel to check in and drop off our stuff and then headed to Auntie Eugenia/Uncle Roy's (3-Goo-Jeh/ Goo-Jeung) house.

Matthew's sister, Matthea and her family already arrived the night before. This was the first time the Vancouver relatives met both of her children. She was pregnant with Marissa the last time we were all up for a wedding.

First time Marissa met Buddy, 3-Goo Jeh/Jeung's doberman pincher. He is a very gentle dog... big though.

5-Sook is always an entertainer. (aka.. he gets bored easily.) Here he is entertaining us with some magic tricks. [I have no idea what he was trying to do. But of course I was not paying attention.]

I have to tell you that our hotel was in a great location. Literally we were in the Hong Kong version of Canada. That is what the city of Richmond is referred to. Everywhere you see Chinese restaurants, Chinese stores, Chinese speaking people.

And across the hotel there was a mall. A Chinese Mall with a Chinese Food Court.

Kenny, Matthea, Timothy and Marissa

We all loved the Food Court. Matthea could come every day.. numerous times a day to get her milk tea.

Hannah had preserved duck egg and lean pork porridge (aka pay dan so yook jook)

Emily had just plain noodles minus the won ton (she is a simple gal)

The same for Marissa

And Timothy.. they sure love their noodles!

I, on the other hand, had Teppanyaki. The rib eye beef cooked on the hot iron plate and everything was delicious!

Then off to shopping in Daiso, the largest at least on this side of the hemisphere. This Daiso was two floors large and had a lot more of everything than the one at home. (for those who don't know, Daiso is a Japanese dollar store. Most items cost $2 CAD at this store) -ed.

It was quite cold in Vancouver.

This mall could not be an Asian mall without a Hello Kitty Store.

We also checked out the Olympic Oval in Richmond where the speed skating events occurred in 2010 Winter Olympics. The big rink was converted into multi-use sporting venues: a smaller ice skating rink, basketball court, etc...

It was located next to Fraser River, the longest river within British Columbia... perfect place to see.... wild birds!!

Canada goose and her family

 

NEXT UP: Pre-Wedding Banquet

All That Jazz

We got the privilege to listen to a little jazz quartet play with some special guest singers. Some of the players might look familiar to some of you.

It brought back great memories of listening to Marty and Brian play along with hearing Andrea sing! Oh those good ol' CIBC days!! 

It was a great time of reconnecting with many who came out to hear these very talented friends!

KHA vs Heart4Haiti

FCC's year long mission this year is to raise money and awareness for Haiti specifically to rebuild some if it's orphanages and to minister to the many children who lost their families from the devastation of earthquakes and hurricanes. Our church is sending a missions team during this Easter Break to help in the above areas.

To raise money, the girls' school, KHA (which is a ministry of FCC) put on a fun competitive basketball game. KHA faculty vs Heart4Haiti (aka FCC members).

My dear husband was lucky enough to be asked to join the Heart4Haiti Team. 

It was a great game! There were even female players, one being Ms. S. who is one of our first grade teachers. (She was probably the most popular one... her students were her cheering squad!) What an awesome role model she was for the young ones! Girls can do anything!

A devoted fan!

Matthew played a great game.. . and more importantly he didn't get hurt! See him in action...

KHA players were in fancy blue jerseys with numbers; the other team wore no jerseys. Matthew is in a blue shirt.

After five quarters, the score was 45 - 57. Heart4Haiti won!! Yay!! Plus we raised a few hundred dollars to boot!!