Ghetto Vallejo...or Something Else?

A couple of days ago, all of us drove to the Blockbuster here in Vallejo to drop off a movie. My mom gazed over to the Hollywood Videos as we drove into the Blockbuster parking lot and recalled that the last time she came here, a club of low-riders took up all of the parking space at Hollywood Videos. They didn't go in to buy anything, but just hung out there. When we left Blockbuster, we saw an abandoned Raley's cart on the sidewalk by the bus stop.


Then, my dad asked Gabby and Victoria, "What do you girls think when you see that?"


Victoria replied, "Vallejo! Vallejo people are GAY!"


Silence...


Then hysterical laughter.

I think she meant to say "ghetto," but oh, well...

-Jelaya

Memoir of Something Scary...(don't read this if you're scared!)

WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE SCARED!

This was actually a while back. Gabby was about 5 at the time. We still lived on Phelan Avenue, in the more getto part of Vallejo. Our house was small and condensed, with slabs of rock covering most of the front. It was a bit after lunch I would say, when Gabby and Victoria were both running around the house. Gabby had some kind of black ring on her left pointing finger , but nobody noticed it until...well, you'll see in a little bit.

I think it was around dinner time when my mom found out what had happened. She was preparing to give the babies a bath, and she noticed Gabby's finger. She freaked out, really! We all rushed over to see what the problem was. It turned out that Gabby had wrapped a small black rubber hairtie around her finger pretty tightly...It had been there for several hours by the time my parents removed it. The tip of her finger above where the band had been was shriveled and dark purple, like a raisin. We all knew that it may have had to be amputated.

Well, I got freaked out! My mom gave the babies a quick bath. My parents were waiting to see if it would get any better...but nothing had changed. After the bath, my dad took Gabby to the ER at Kaiser. I don't know what happened there.

When they came back, however, things were looking up! Gabby's finger was a bit more plump than before, and the skin had almost returned to its pink fleshy tone. It was still a little purple. We were all really relieved! Her finger would live to see tomorrow!

Now, her fingertip has returned to normal, but her nail had fallen off. The nail that grew back was not the same size, but that doesn't bother us. At least her finger is okay. Everyone in my family knows now never to wrap things too tightly around fingers...or, something like that. I will forever be psychologically distressed whenever I think about it. Like the kids in Signs.

And that concludes my attempt to relay this particular recollection of memories that may have shocked you...

-Jelaya

Hosanna's Training

Well, now that Hosanna has learned to talk and stuff, our mom decided that it was time to start potty training her. Fortunately, we bought a toilet before we started training her. Every now and then, we have that short little conversation.

"Do you need to go pee-pee?"

"Nnnnope."

"Do you need to go poo-poo?"

"Nnnnope."

We've also been trying to get her on the toilet in time when we can tell that she's going something, but we haven't been successful yet...*sigh* Hopefully, we can get her to understand the concept of her telling us before she goes, not after.

-Sophia

Fourth of July (and some mishaps)

Two days ago was the 4th of July, and our friend Mod was with us at the time. That night, we had planned to watch the foreworks at Marine World from our court. It didn't work out because the view wasn't very good. Instead, we drove to the parking lot at Best Buy. We had a good view, and my dad explained to us the escape plan for when the fireworks ended and everyone started driving home. I'm telling you, I was just not getting along with the hot cocoa that night. First, the cup I had was leaking, so I appeared to have wet myself...Good thing it was dark out...

The fireworks at the waterfront began first. They were a bit far off, but we were able to see them. Good thing I brought my glasses! Those ones lasted about five to seven minutes. They were really nice. I liked the "chandelier" fireworks. Is that what they're called?

Not even one second after the fireworks at the water front ended, the fireworks at Marine World began. Maybe they planned it all out somehow. They were closer up than the water front fireworks, so that was nice. However, the fireworks were very, very short. The grand finale started not even two minutes after the show began! In all, the fireworks show at Marine World lasted no longer than three minutes, four minutes if that. We were all so dissapointed! After this year, my family and I have all unanimously agreed that we will never watch Marine World fireworks again.

Therefore, we Jinatas (and Mod) had one interesting night. It was, overall, a nice time to be with my family and enjoy a time of relaxing under the stars, drinking hot cocoa on a woven mat with many comfy blankets under the black speckled sky, and watching fireworks explode overhead. Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

P.S. I couldn't find a Fourth of July picture with my mom in it, so I added another one!

-Jelaya

A Day Spent in the City

Since Friday, Mod has been staying with us. (Mod is one of the Thai students that we helped during the Discovery Kingdom incident a couple of years ago.) She was visiting us during a short vacation after working as a nanny in Virginia. On Saturday, we went to San Francisco to meet up with another Thai student named Kwan (as in Tae Kwon Do) , a.k.a. Nida.

When we first arrived in SF, it was all the girls, our dad, and Mod. (Our mom was at work.) My dad had to go back to Vallejo and pick up our mom from work so he said that Jelaya and I could stick around with Mod and Kwan for the day. For the whole day, we went around San Francisco (staying close to Union Square) and looked in a whole bunch of shops. However, before we started, we went to eat a Japanese cuisine restaurant. Once we had full bellies, the four of us started our adventure. We went to Macy's, Payless, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Shoe Pavilion, American Eagle, and, one of my favorite stores ever, Forever 21. Then, after walking around for a bunch, we had a rest at Starbucks. Mod got a grande caramel machiatto frappuccino (I think), Kwan got a grande green tea frappuccino, and Jelaya and I shared a venti iced vanilla latte.

Kwan had earlier planned to go home with us, but something came up and we departed at Starbucks. Jelaya, Mod, and I headed for Union Square, where my mom would pick us up and take us home. We had time to spare by the time we arrived at the square, so Jelaya and I bought some chocolates for ourselves and our dad from that See's Candies booth. As we waited for our mom to pick us up, we observed many things in the city.

First, we saw a hobo with a sign that said, "Need cash for alcohol research". He sure does. Then, we saw this weird guy who was in front of the Macy's that was across the street from the square. He was saying, "Hey", really loud and maniacally yelling. Just a really strange guy...Jelaya looked at me and said, "Maybe he's with Trigger Happy TV." and we just laughed out loud. Lastly, there was a dude crossing the street towards Macy's. He had the tightest tank top and pants in the world on. The odd thing about him was that he had really small legs and...Well, let's just say that his upper body wasn't the same size as his lower body. His gut was just blurping over his pants and it was just REALLY gross to look at. Overall, our trip to the city was a lot of fun and I'd like to do it again someday.

-Sophia