Category: Slice of Life

Busy Busy

, , Slice of LifeLeave a Comment on Busy Busy
"Carrot Flowers" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/340 sec, ISO6400
 “Carrot Flowers” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Wow, today was a busy day.

While Mariko is preparing the New Year’s osechi feast, I am in charge taking care of the kids and running other errands. That included buying a new hard drive for one that is on the blink, taking Bay to get his haircut, dropping Koa off at his friend’s house, going to the pet store, dropping Bay off at the mall, picking up our dog Lani from the sitter, changing out water from the aquarium, giving Lani a bath, cleaning the battery terminals on my minivan, and picking up dinner (In N Out, yay!).

I got a lot done, but one of the fun things I did was to buy a new phone! My Moto G2 is getting really slow, and Mariko and the kids have been telling me to upgrade for a while now, so I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a new Moto G4. There is a good deal on Amazon right now – the 32 GB version for $189 (normally $229). I really like my G2 but it only has 8 GB of internal storage so I have run out of space for apps. And it’s not like I have a lot of apps, but the standard Google apps have gotten so big that they take up almost all of the internal memory!

I’m pretty sure 32 GB should last me a while, and of course there’s the SD card so I can pop in my 64 GB card for my music and photos.

The phone arrives in a couple days… can’t wait!

Today’s photo is of some carrots that Mariko carved into beautiful flower shapes. They will be part of the osechi, or Japanese new years food.

I hope you had a nice day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

End of the Trip

, , Slice of Life, Traveling, Well-beingLeave a Comment on End of the Trip
"End of the Trip" Long Beach, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/8000 sec, ISO6400
 “End of the Trip” Long Beach, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

We have returned to Texas from our week and a half trip to Southern California. It was a wonderful trip to see my parents, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. I actually most enjoyed just relaxing at the house watching tv, eating good food, drinking whiskey, wine, and cocktails, and our nightly mahjong games. It went by so fast!

But I am glad to come back to our Texas home. I never really realized it, but the life in California is a lot different from life here in Texas. I don’t mean geographically or culturally, but more personally the way I live my life and spend time in each location is very different. I’m still trying to process those differences, and maybe I will write about what I figure out, but I think it’s all good. The things I can learn about myself from these experiences can help me grow in a positive way!

I hope you had a great day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Bucket List Item – Pedal Boats

, Slice of LifeLeave a Comment on Bucket List Item – Pedal Boats
"Pedal Boat Adventure" Redondo Beach 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/3200 sec, ISO2000
 “Pedal Boat Adventure” Redondo Beach 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today we visited the Redondo Beach Pier again, this time to cross an item off of my son’t bucket list. When he was little, he wanted to go on the pedal boats, but it was too cold. In subsequent years have visited the pier (it’s one of our kids’ favorite things to do) but there has always been some reason why we didn’t do the pedal boats. So, not going on the pedal boats has become kind of a tradition.

Well, today the weather was beautiful and the pedal boats were available (they were closed a few days ago) so we finally got to take Bay out on the water. It was pretty fun, but it was also a big workout – our legs were burning! But the water was calm, the sun was bright, and it was cool to pedal out to the small barge which was packed with lounging sea lions.

"Sea Lions" Redondo Beach, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/3200 sec, ISO800
 “Sea Lions” Redondo Beach, 2016

You can rent pedal boats at the International Boardwalk, and the price for an hour rental is $10 for adults, and $5 for kids. Cash only.

I hope you had a great day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Trip to Dodger Stadium

, , Slice of Life, TravelingLeave a Comment on Trip to Dodger Stadium
"Visiting the Dodgers Museum" Los Angeles, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO1000
 “Visiting the Dodgers Museum” Los Angeles, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Today we made a trip up to Dodger Stadium to visit the new museum. There are lots of really cool things to see for Dodger fans. We enjoyed it a lot. We got to see a bunch of historical jerseys that were worn during no-hitters and other memorable games, plus a cool Vin Scully exhibit with the headset he wore for the final game, the game notes, line-up sheets, and scorecard. They also had a few broken game bats which were cool to pick up and see just what a real MLB player’s bat is like. I loved it!

"Giant Bobblehead" Los Angeles, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/1100 sec, ISO400
 “Giant Bobblehead” Los Angeles, 2016
"Brooklyn Dodgers Jacket" Los Angeles, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO400
 “Brooklyn Dodgers Jacket” Los Angeles, 2016

Later in the day we had a bite to eat at Mercado La Paloma. It was great to get some delicious Mexican food and hang out with my family. I highly recommend the Chichen Itza restaurant. Yum!!

"Lunch at Mercado La Paloma" Los Angeles, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Lunch at Mercado La Paloma” Los Angeles, 2016
"Tacos" Los Angeles, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO4000
 “Tacos” Los Angeles, 2016

I hope you had a nice day!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto