Forty Years Ago . . .

On April 7, 1972, my dad and mom got married. I’ve decided to go down memory lane and share with you an excerpt of what I’m giving them for their anniversary—our Top 40 Family Moments. Our family is not perfect but God is so faithful!  

1.     How Papa and Mama met—The stories about the handkerchief, interview and list of requirements are classics in our family.

2.     Their wedding reception at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. Papa was wondering why his three kids didn’t show up. Now he wants to have another reception just for our family.

3.     Their firstborn

4.     Their second son

5.     Their only daughter

6.     Memories of the Paco house, memories of Baguio trips (tea and boiled eggs for the road, picture or real, counting cows, champuy, Park Hotel, corn soup, Burnham park) and Mama’s trip with the kids to India (my chin, ouch!)

7.     Growing up with our neighbors in our Valle 1 house and Bhaoo’s maasti with the neighbors; getting locked up in Green Valley and memories Valle Verde Country Club (swimming, tennis, barbecue, iced tea), racing with Nato and Greg to La Salle and then having lunch sent to school every day; Big Daddy and Big Mummy; our cousins (Bhaoo’s maasti with Priya, Aarti, Gopal, and especially Govind)

8.     Mama’s trip to India with Bhaya and me, and then Hong Kong with us kids (overweight bags, trains, buses, not having enough money to pay for a cab to get back to the hotel, buying Tags, Cole Haans and Giordano stuff)

9.     The weddings (two) and the grandchildren (four)

10. Trips to America, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and stints in America

I love my family and I see God’s faithfulness over us every single day :-) 

And there are lots more memories to make. The best is yet to come!

Happy anniversary, Papa and Mama! I love you :-) 

Hong Kong Highlights

Our family spent a weekend in Hong Kong. Here are some of my highlights:

Yummy mochi

10. Trying out random things, like a tea that tasted really bad but the next time I tried a mango shake that was really good! The mochi was really good too. I went back for it the next day. Plus you can buy bubble tea/milk tea almost anywhere.

9. Our hotel--even if we didn't spend much time there. It was really nice!

8. The random restaurant in Mong Kok that had good but cheap food. It was hard to explain your order and talk in Chin-lish but if you want to eat, you just have to try.

Kowloon

7. Walking down Canton Road, Nathan Road, and being able to stop and shop at will. Papa showing us around and being our tour guide.

6. Mama haggling for me so I only have to pay half of what they were asking. Shopping, shopping, shopping.

5. Hong Kong Disneyland! The day was hot and there were too many people, but we all had fun :-)



4. Angela met Rapunzel. And we think it made her trip!

At Mong Kok--Angela didn't want to have her picture anymore

3. The dim sum restaurant we discovered, thanks to our hotel concierge. I love looking for restaurants locals enjoy. We were the only ones there who spoke in English, and I really enjoyed their shrimp siu mai.

2. Coming home with money left over. And I got to buy what I wanted. Woohoo!

1. Being with family! It was the first time Papa, Mama, Bhaya, Melody and Angela were together in one trip out of the country. We sure missed our Nashville family. Of course we won't forget how Papa almost didn't make it to the plane, how we strategized getting into our shuttles every day . . . Fun stuff! I'm thankful for family :-)