East Bay Heads to the Far East

Well, its actually closer if you go West, but Far West doesn't sound as normal to the ears. Candy and Salene sent this at 2am on Thursday as they prepared to go on vacation to Thailand...


Just wanted to let you know that Candy, myself and our good friend Zena are leaving in a few hours to Thailand. Asia has been a place we have been wanting to explore for a very long time.

The opportunity was offered for us to stay with a friend of ours there in a huge house with a maid and a chef, so we ran with it. We will be homebound in Bangkok, but jumping around to some of the famous islands and hotspots like Chiang Mai and Phuket :).

Some things we are looking forward to are the night markets, riding elephants on the beaches, snorkeling, horseback rides in the jungles, visiting the temples, the $5/hr massages, the art, the water sports, the food, and staying in cabanas on the beaches.

Candy has been practicing a lot of the language! I will be sure to send pictures when we get back! Some internet access, but no cell phones.

Be back in 2 weeks!
laa kawn (goodbye)


And here's an update from Friday morning at 10am...


WE ARRIVED in Bangkok and we are safe. It's 1am and we just got settled in to our friend Jill's apartment. Her place is beautiful. The temperature is currently 81 degrees (yikes!). We all slept 7 hours on our flight from Tokyo to Bangkok so we are wide awake and ready to hit the streets. We'll try to keep in touch....

xoxox


Here are some pics to let you know what and where...

January Birthdays, Updated

I forgot to include Cousin Candy in the birthday list for January-- sorry!

Here's the updated list:

• Leah Hernandez, January 1

• Martin Hernandez (Sr), January 2
  

• Marisa Arellanes (Scoob!), January 2
  

• Monica Modlin, January 8
  

• Manuel 'Duke' Romero, January 15

• Cousin Candy Diaz, January 15
  

• Sonia Aspuria, January 19
  

• Natalie Hernandez, January 22

• Malaya Aspuria, January 29

• Salene Castaneda, January 30
  

• Bill Arellanes, January 31

As I've written before, if you have anything to say, or want to add birthdays to my short list, just let me know!

Family Billiards: The Hustle's In The Genes

The day after Thanksgiving, some of the Fam went to play pool together at Don Q's. Salene sent me some great pics of the happenings. Here's what Salene has to say:


My mom has been wanting to shoot pool for a long time now. I promised I would take her the next time I came to S.B., so here we are at Don Q's on Chapala. It was a good time :)

My mom hasn't played in decades and I play weekly. I have competed in tournaments all over the Bay Area and in Las Vegas. First game against my mom, just like she said she would, she whooped my butt. I liked it :) Actually I think it is in the blood, because all the cousins were shooting really well... even lil Megan who has never shot before!


So who showed up? Auntie Rosie, Megan, Salene, Candy, Bosco, Ronny, Wolf, and one of the guys' friends.

After that, I think I'ma take my nina Rosie to some out-of-town pool halls and hustle some cash ;)

Thanks Salene for the pics!

Here's the album.