4th of July weekend activities-Scituate, MA

The 4th of July weekend was packed with wholesome activities! Saturday night was the big blowout party at one of the neighbors' houses (across the street). After a hot day at the beach, we came back to the house to prepare our dishes. P & I made our signature appetizer- baguette rounds with fig preserves, pear slices, and goat cheese... yum!

James made a great Flag Cupcake platter

P & I could do this... drinks and sunset by the beach?!? anytime.....

Some of the great kids at the party

Kate was one of J&B's friends' daughter- cutest thing ever!

The night ended with several IMPRESSIVE fireworks shows- one of them put on by the host and his friends. It ended up being a bunch of shows since their neighbors on either side of them plus people down on the other end of the beach also had loaded up on fireworks!

Sunday's official activities started  off with the Children's Bike Parade. All the kids in the neighborhood decorated their bikes with streamers, flags, pinwheels, and anything else patriotic. Everyone seemed to be wearing stripes and/or red, white, and blue! 

Willie on his cool "adult" bike

Ollie and his decked out BMX

A great photo by Betsy- a neighborhood kid concentrating on sucking his Freezepop amidst the frenzy.

After the Bike Parade, everyone went down to the beach for the Sand Sculpture Contest. Apparently, this contest is kind of a big deal, but we didn't really do any advanced planning since we were so busy with everything up until the trip, and frankly, because we weren't really doing it to win. Betsy just wanted to make sure that we had an idea that the kids would understand and be excited to be part of. 

 North Scituate Beach (the house where the 4th of July party was held the night before is one of those houses just beyond- they access the beach from a ladder in their backyard!

So, we just went in to have fun, not to win... B, J, P, and I literally came up with our idea that morning when the kids were on the Bike Parade. It was decided to be an "Under The Sea-tuate" theme (as in "Scituate") centered around an enormous octopus whose tentacles were wrapped around the Scituate Lighthouse, a surfboard, and an anchor.   

J and W hauling wet sand and tools for our masterpiece!

Hard at work forming the octopus and its thick tentacles!

There was also a mermaid under a large scalloped shell (viewed from above). Ollie brought up bunches of seaweed to wrap around the anchor and for the mermaid's hair.

Our neighbors' entry was an iPod (their pun: Mi(not) Pod (the area they lived in Scituate was called "Minot")

There were a bunch of prizes awarded to the 50(?) entrants (Best Teamwork, Most Unique, etc.) We thought our entry was pretty cool, but were shocked when we were awarded the GRAND PRIZE!!!

Ollie and Willie and friend Ryan, on the podium, accepting the silver Campbell Cup

O was a pretty proud winner!

We were pretty proud ourselves...

It was big enough for us to sit on top of/in between the tentacles!

After the judging of the sand sculpture contest, the kids joined in for a wholesome game of Tug Of War!

It was a great wholesome, fun in the sun weekend. Since we don't get to see James, Betsy, and the kids much, we really enjoyed our time together. Can't wait to have them down in NYC again!

4th of July weekend -Scituate, MA

 We couldn't have gone to a more perfect place for 4th of July weekend- the weather was warm and sunny, Old Glory proudly waved over every home, great beaches, tons of kids, s'mores, fireworks, parades, sand sculptures....

You just can't help but make puns for Scituate- it is "scituate-d" about an hour south of Boston, along the Atlantic Coast (north of Cape Cod). P's brother (James) and his family (Betsy, Willie, Ollie, plus Sailor, their chocolate lab) live there year round with the ocean to their front and a huge "pond" at their back, and are surrounded by beautiful homes and super friendly neighbors. We never saw less than 5 kids playing together at any time, and at the greatest, it was like recess time at the playground- dozens of kids from 2 to 16 (mostly boys, 2 girls) running around playing lacrosse, soccer, frisbee, basketball, riding bikes, kayaking, skim boarding, swimming, doing gymnastics, and without fail, their favorite game after dark, "Ghost in the Graveyard".

 The view of the houses across the street, with the ocean beyond

The pond and sunset behind the house

We hung out at North Scituate Beach most of the time

 The boys waiting for a good wave for their skim boards

Gearing up to get in the ocean

 I took a great walk down to Egypt Beach- the next beach over

 Beyond Egypt Beach there was this gorgeous serene wetland (?) with grasses and rocks. 

The houses on Egypt Beach are built on stilts

Minot Lighthouse is in the distance

Very well maintained homes and perfectly manicured landscaping!

A great view of from the backseat of James' Jeep

 We had steamers for our first dinner!

W & O stayed in the tent in the backyard most of the nights that we were there.

 All the neighborhood kids and parents showed up suddenly when we starting making s'mores. It was an impromptu neighborhood party!

Chinese New Year (Belated)

My parents were hosting a big Chinese New Year party on Saturday afternoon (which was why our trip to SLO was so short). It is the biggest holiday of the year in the Cheung household, and another occasion to have a bunch of people over and eat waaaaay too much food...
and an opportunity to display giant flower blossoms, firecrackers (fake), and clementines all around the house...
My sister and her boyfriend Craig also flew back to CA to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family so it was a big happy reunion.
Three generations of Cheungs... our adorable little niece is dressed up in a traditional Chinese New Year costume!
I mean, seriously... which one is really the present?
Saturday morning, my dad starting preparing his infamous fried sesame balls ("jin deui")- a Chinese New Year tradition in our family.
The filling is not the typical red bean paste, but his secret mish-mash of chopped up peanuts, coconut, and Chinese "herbs" that my dad kept saying were "ivy"?!)
Paul helped Dad mix and knead the dough... Note the bottle of gin in the background, another "secret" ingredient. Paul made his first Chinese pun and renamed these "gin deui"!
Craig rolled the dough into balls and made the indentations for the filling. Then they carefully closed up the ball and rolled them around in sesame seeds before frying.
My dad started off the deep frying process, but in the end, it was Paul and Craig who finished making them. Delicious!
Gung hay fat choy, welcome the Year of the Metal Tiger!