ANNA TURNS 26!

That doesn't happen but 8 times in her life,
so we wanted to make sure it was special by way of

A Night Time Pool Party / Hawaiian Luau / Birthday Bash!

Hurricane Katrina almost put a crimp in the event as there was no electricity just the day before! But that night the lights were back on, the sky was blue and empty of clouds. Not even a sprinkle from the sky and only the slightest of warm breezes made this evening

"The Best Birthday Party I've Ever Had".

Albeit this is the only one she's ever had, but still, it was quite fun!

The TIKI BAR is now open! Jonathan & Lauris check it out!!
Ooh Look! The special for tonite: MOHITOS!

Anna poses for a pic with Chad, bartender extraordinaire. Besides the best MOHITOS east of the Mississipi, he also whipped up a special concoction of young coconut, rum, cranberry juice, orange zest.....and who knows what else? All I know is.....it was simply delicious!

Chop-Ch0p was the entree!

Whatcha doing Tian? Puttin' Shrimp on the Bar-B.

KARAOKE DIVAS! Friends Iliani, Dawn, Elaine & Jen belt it out!

Nice ambience, yes? Get's you in the mood, no? It's them tiki torches.
Bonus - they keep away the mosquitos too!

Satellite view of partiers from 500,000 miles in space

This party game is patented and is the exlcusive trademark of "LL&A, Inc." It can not be replicated without obtaining expressly written permission from all board members of said company. Game pieces: 5 waterguns full of vodka, 5 flashlights, and 15 party peeps. Note: Those who participated in this game had to sign confidentiality agreements prior to participating.

It's not actually a pool party until someone gets wet....

Friends Oliver & Phil are obliged to adhere to the ancient Hawaiian tradition called "throw-the-birthday-girl-into-pool".

She's a fiesty load...but they can do it.

Almost there......

Splash!! There she is....

Now that birthday girl's in, let's get the party started!!! All the party pool people say "Yeah!' "Yeah!"



The birthday girl gets ready to blow out her candles, making a wish that her next 26th birthday is just as raging!


Friends gifted Anna a beautiful dragon kite. "Fan Man" Vince directs artificial breeze while our dragon queen poses in modelesque fashion for the paparazzi.



This is just a sampling.....For many many more photos of the big birthday bash, click here!

India

I am posting this from an outdoor 'family' bar next to a relative nice pool here at the US Embassy in New Delhi. Yes, India. It is a little bit passed 6 PM and my friend and I are quite hungry. We thought tonight is a Mongolian BBQ nite at the embassy but we just found out the Mongolian thing is for tomorrow night. I guess we will come back again tomorrow night. It is not like there are thousands of things to do here in New Delhi.

We went to a large indoor shopping market this morning to look around. My initial thought was at least it is going to have AC. By the time I took my first step, I wish I was back at my hotel room instead. Little shops occupy all the square inches of the market. Being different and tourist looking, the shop owners are all standing outside their shops 'hackling' us to go check inside their stores, "come look inside, no cost to you , sir ", "we give you good prices !", "real leather ...". My friend bought some latest DVD, "End of the World" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", for about $4 each. I bought the tourist thing - a bunch of India hand-painting eggs. Each cost about 50 cents - nice gifts to give to the secretary and friends back in the office.

We are going to take a private half day trip around Delhi tomorrow morning. Not sure what to expect. At least we will have a chance to get out of our tiny hotel room for a while. Pretty sure we will then come back here again for the Mongolian BBQ one more time....

I probably will be here for a while - at least til October. My friend who works here has left for her vacation. So, I have been asked to come sit in her chair while she is gone. Delhi wouldn't be my first choice to spend my Sept, but I have no choice. But then, I have been traveling so long that I know I will manage somehow to make the best out of it.

qcorners

(P.S, saw that the hurricance did some damages to Florida. Stay low, you hear !)

HURRICANE KATRINA

Uncle Lee and Aunt Athena flew into Ft. Lauderdale on a 3:15pm afternoon flight Thursday evening, afterwhich the airport was closed down because of Hurricane Katrina's impending visit.

Uncle Steve & Aunt Tina also braved the gusty winds, driving up from Miami to join us all for a welcome dinner at Lucy's house. BBQ ribs & chicken, lots of chatting & laughter, and wholesome enjoyment of one another's company happened while the lights continually flickered on and off.

Outside, the warm but powerful winds blew down signs, branches, and uprooted trees. Power was out and stayed out throughout the night except at Lucy's. It took a day for us to get ours back, 2 days for the parents....and there are about 800,000+ still without power as of today.

We were lucky, because Katrina changed its course and headed south after hitting land, so she did more damage in Miami-Dade than up here in Broward. Here are some pics of our neighborhood

My ficus bush got a bit tipsy!

How about a swim, anyone?

Street of the Lost Palms

Big tree

Little Branch

HUA DRAGON BOATERS!!!

Our miami-based dragon boat team, PUFF, just got back from the New York competition where we took home the bronze in the Advanced Mix's 250 meter race. We had a great time despite the scorching heat over 100 degrees each day. Here are recent pics of the some of your favorite Hua paddlers in action.












Anna showing team how its done!



Lauris in those mighty cool looking $10 Oakley imitations -- very intense. Anna's the one with the black cap hiding from the sun. She's a super stroker although no thanks to this sport and cap or no cap, she is getting darker by the day.




Angus is our team groupie. He follows us from competition to competition, sits around, watches, claps, take pictures and eats ice-cream.