Tip for state quarter collectors

We were at the outlets the other day and the heat was starting to parch our throats so I walked up to a vending machine, put in my quarters - six of them - to get a Dasani water. Only then did it say that it was sold out. So, I pushed the coin return button and out of the blue, I just began to wonder if the coins it had just spit out were the same ones that I put in. There was only one way to find out.

I took note of what was on the back of one of my quarters, shoved it in, and pushed the return button. Guess what, I got a different coin back! So, that's how they work. :) Hoping I'd get a state quarter that I didn't have yet, I kept feeding and pushing until the machine begged for mercy... okay, until *I* got frustrated. I didn't get what I wanted. But I did find out how it worked. That was a nice piece of self-discovered trivia.

If you collect the state quarters (or any kind of quarter for that matter... and they rhyme too), you might want to try this trick. Worst case, the machine eats your coin. You lose a quarter.

Priceless Moments

… the way the kids correctingly and smilingly say “no…” when Jing or I say something wrong, intentionally or not.

… the different ways Janelle says “I pooped” and the different facial expressions that go along with them.

… how they notice even the smallest things… at L&L Hawaiian, Jed noticed the writing on the trash can: Mahalo. He said it meant Thank You since on the other trash cans he’d seen, that’s what’s written. We don’t even notice such things. Maybe it’s time we did... he also noticed the misspelled "thief" at the Aquatic Center. It was spelled "theif"... even the "giatns" on his shirt that should have been "giants".

… from the kitchen, the sight of the top of their heads slightly moving behind the couch while watching TV and eating the food Jing had just given them… just way too cute.

Oh, btw, we've had Jed tested at the gifted school. She confirmed that he was really gifted and that he belonged there. We have yet to get the official test results. The test was called "Woodstock" something. We were there the whole time as she played the "games" with him. There was even one game that we ourselves were finding a bit too hard to follow. It was when she would enunciate each part (not necessarily each syllable) of a word and he would guess what word it was. It got more and more difficult as the words got longer. But he got a lot that we couldn't. Anyone care to sponsor a genius' education?

Last but not least, Belated Happy Birthday to my brother, Elmer!!!

From Galleries to Albums

I was still finding my process of adding new galleries quite tedious. So I thought of a better solution: use some free online photo sharing service (or whatever the official term). I decided to use Yahoo! Photos. Uploading is a breeze.

Check it out. I uploaded all the galleries there and added new photo albums (that's what they're called now) while I was at it. I also decided to share a couple of old albums that I created sometime back and had actually forgotten about.

Enjoy!