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Birthday Vineyard Trip

by Chansoda on October 14, 2014

Our friends Krista and Francia came back up from the city for another vineyard trip joining my besties, Jeannine and Sally! This time we went up to New Preston, CT’s Lake Waramaug to celebrate a duo Charla birthday. Overlooking the lake is Hopkin’s Vineyard, such great place! Plenty of people, live music was playing, and the colors of the leaves were at their best. Grabbed a bottle of wine and picnicked outside with some snacks. Great view, beautiful day, awesome company. Can you tell how excited we are (jumping pictures define excitement)??

Overlooking Lake Waramaug.

Overlooking Lake Waramaug.

Charla sighting.

Charla sighting.

My friends!

My friends!

More of these ladies.

More of these ladies.

I actually started out the day with a photoshoot for this really adorable family in the morning. After the vineyard, we headed to my mom’s house for a party and introduced Francia and Krista to the Khmer community. My brother ended up proposing to his girlfriend (finally) at the party. Wedding officially coming in July.

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ChansodaBirthday Vineyard Trip

Campers

by Chansoda on October 12, 2014

Karla, Tom and Skip decided it was a good idea to go camping, in the cold rainy October month, on my birthday. I have to say, I really didn’t agree with this. I much prefer sitting around the fire in the comfort of my own home, with my own shower, soft bed, and a full kitchen to cook my meals. Holly and I both prefer that set up, we don’t mind the outdoor walks, but when it comes to warmth and sleeping, my own home is so much better! I was so happy to finally head home, so was Holly. It was a beautiful place to go camping, if you’re in to that kind of that thing, it also allows dogs, if your dog is in to that kind of thing. Tolland State Forest in Massachusetts. We used Reserve America to book our stay.

Walking around the grounds.

The camp ground was very nice. 

The beautiful fall.

The beautiful fall.

I love the colors.

I love the colors.

The lake at Tolland State Forest.

The lake at Tolland State Forest.

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Fallen leaves in the water.

Holly was not a fan of this.

Holly was not a fan of this.

Holly prefers being in the tent.

Holly prefers being in the tent.

Tending the fire.

Tending the fire.

Siting around the fire.

Sitting around the fire.

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more tending to the fire…

more sitting around the fire, apparently, that's all it is to camping.

more sitting around the fire, apparently, that’s all there is to camping…

Let me in the tent.

Let me in the tent.

Morning of freedom from camping.

Morning of freedom from camping.

Couldn't have been a more gorgeous day.

Couldn’t have been a more gorgeous day. Happy Birthday to me.

Hurry home, I need to shower.

Hurry home, I need to shower.

But this crazy thing happened on the ride home. A car with a bicycle strapped to it’s roof was driving ahead of us, unfortunately not so tightly strapped. The bike comes flying off the roof on I-84, and hits our car, bike goes flying, luckily no one was hurt. Scary, but it was all good. Lady should definitely double check how her bike is mounted on. Not cool.

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ChansodaCampers

Birthday Lantern

by Chansoda on October 4, 2014

Karla’s birthday, this actually made us kind of nervous… We wanted to shoot a lantern in to the sky, because why not, it’s so pretty. We hung out with our favorite people, Nancy and Skip who have become my pseudo parents. A little dinner finished with some home made chocolate cakes, wine, and a little birthday lantern wish. Nothing caught on fire, at least that we know about…

It's lit.

It’s lit.

Karla and Skip getting ready to launch

Karla and Skip getting ready to launch

And there it goes...

And there it goes…

Ice cream, cake and candles.

Ice cream, cake and candles.

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ChansodaBirthday Lantern

Sailing and Wine Tastings

by Chansoda on September 27, 2014

Went on an outing to Mystic with our friends Francia and Krista. It’s nice to be able to show our city friends a little bit of Connecticut. Just so happened Tom and Skip were also there on their weekly sailing adventure, so we met up with them to continue our partying at the marina.

First stop, Saltwater Farm Vineyard, where we had a few tastings and explored their amazing winery ( I was actually here for Tom’s daughter’s wedding a few years ago). It’s such beautiful setting and the weather was perfect, sun shine, nice breeze. Then we had lunch at this cute gourmet deli a couple miles away. Meandered along the back roads of southeastern Connecticut to our next stop, Jonathan Edwards Winery. This charming vineyard is situated on top of hill in North Stonington in the midst of some beautiful farmlands. We enjoyed the wine here and met a nice couple celebrating their wedding anniversary.

I highly recommend visiting the wineries on the Connecticut Wine Trail, they have so much charm and are fairly easy to get to considering it doesn’t take that long to drive across Connecticut! There’s also a passport program with grand prizes that include a trip for two to Spain! Defintely signing up for that next year.

After that, we headed to party on the boat! Margaritas, wine, storytelling, barbecue, it was such a fun time we ended up crashing in the hotel room with Krista and Francia to get up early for a morning sail with Captain Tom and Skipper. They were happy to have four lovely ladies tour the ocean with them.

The view at Saltwater

 

Inside the hangar, pretty cool!

 

The lovely Francia and Krista.

The lovely Francia and Krista.

Charla!

Charla!

Down and out.

Down and out.

Entrance to Jonathan Edwards

Entrance to Jonathan Edwards

The couple celebrating their wedding anniversary, took a photo for them!  Congrats ladies!

The couple celebrating their wedding anniversary, took a photo for them! Congrats ladies!

Stroll.

Stroll.

Another Charla sighting.

Another Charla sighting.

More of the lovely ladies.

The group!

The group!

Stroll through their vineyard.

Stroll through their vineyard.

That's how we do wine tastings!

That’s how we do wine tastings!mystic-7334

Our old guys! Love them.

Our old guys! Love them.

Trying to look the part of a sailor.

Trying to look the part of a sailor.

Ladies ladies.

Ladies ladies.

The marina at dark.

The marina at dark.

We were all hurting, but we made it up for the morning sail.

We were all hurting, but we made it up for the morning sail.

Marina in the daytime.

Marina in the daytime.

Leaving the marina.

Leaving the marina.

Can you see the seagull?

Can you see the seagull?

Captain Tom.

Captain Tom.

Skipper at work.

Skipper at work.

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Great morning to be out.

Enjoy the sail.

Enjoy the sail.

Ocean!

Ocean!

Karla at the helm.

Karla at the helm.

shooting the breeze.

shooting the breeze.

All the sailboats hanging out.

All the sailboats hanging out.

Smooth sailing.

Smooth sailing.

at the front.

at the front.

Skip, my "pseudo dad" and me.

Skip, my “pseudo dad” and me.

:)

🙂

Cool track that opens to let boats in to the marina.

Cool railroad track that opens to let boats in to the marina.

Pulling the sails down.

Pulling the sails down.

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We enjoyed the sail.

Beginning of a colorful fall.

Beginning of a colorful fall.

Our sailors!

Our sailors!

Off to town.

 

Strolling in to the town center for lunch.

Strolling in to the town center for lunch.

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ChansodaSailing and Wine Tastings

Visit to Lowell

by Chansoda on September 13, 2014

We took a small trip to Lowell, Ma, now known as little Cambodia town. My mother had been wanting to visit her brother for a while, (though not blood related, my grandfather had all daughters so he ended up adopting some young men as his own ) who is now living with cancer. It’s been hard on him and his wife, and I know my mother has been missing connections to her former life.

Karla is a big fan of Cambodia town, so when she heard Lowell, she perked up and was ready to go. We went with my brother Veasna, his girlfriend Sokha, and my mother.

First we stopped at the asian store in Lowell to pick up some groceries and snacks. Then we headed over to my uncle’s house, he was there with his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. He looked great, and it was nice for them to catch up with my mom. We also got to hang out with my cousin and his cute little guy, named Benji. It was great for us to see everyone, with him being sick, it’s hard to know how much time is left. They also prepared a beautiful meal for us, that I did not get to enjoy because I’m deathly allergic to shellfish, but everyone else enjoyed it. It was fun to laugh over the stories exchanged. We even wanted to take Benji home with us, he’s too cute.

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ChansodaVisit to Lowell

Trip to Maine

by Chansoda on August 12, 2014

Madawaska, Maine! God’s country, because there are more cows than people.

We took the 10+ hour trek up the the heart of the St. John Valley to visit our friends Shirley and Angelo (they spend part of their summer in Maine, winter in Florida, and the rest of the time, down the street from us in CT). Karla and I seem to have a thing for only vacationing with retired people 🙂

Madawaska is Shirley’s home town and we really wanted to see it. She was excited for us to come up during the Acadian Festival to show off her roots. Angelo was excited for company, he’s a very social Italian man. They are also celebrating their five year wedding anniversary (they are quite possibly the cutest couple I have ever met).

We left really early in the morning and made a quick stop in Ogunquit, Maine to take a walk along Marginal Way and grab lunch. It’s quite breathtaking, the coast is absolutely gorgeous and the walk was very easy, relaxing and scenic. We even ran in to a friend and her husband from Connecticut on our walk who were vacationing in Maine, such a small world. Then we continued on towards the valley into the backwoods to Shirley’s cottage on Long Lake.

We literally camped out on Shirley’s front lawn, sleeping right at the lake front to the sounds of the loons. It was perfect! Still had access to the shower and bathroom and Shirley’s delicious cooking each day. We spent time exploring the St. John Valley, tried to do a little house hunting for our other retired folks, boating, and had lots of laughs. It was a great time! We met Shirley’s family and became friends with her neighbors Denise and Brigitte. The weather worked out perfectly, it really doesn’t get too warm up there but there was a bit of a heat wave that gave us clear blue sunny skies everyday perfect for boating and swimming. We saw bald eagles, fields of potatoes and wheat, and trails everywhere, but no moose!

Since our trip also coincided with the full moon (supermoon), I was able to get some practice with night time moon photos. Was very excited to set up for that.

Looking forward to coming back again

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Entering Marginal Way.

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Looking out from Ogunquit, Maine.

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Beautiful sea.

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More scenic intake on Marginal Way.

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Another stop along the road to check out Mount Katahdin view.

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Mount Katahdin is some where out there… I think.

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Set up our “camp.”

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Yup, nice view.

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Started off with breakfast here. Awesome bread!

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It was a little shop and breakfast place. So cute!

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Explored a nearby church.

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Fields everywhere.

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He had a beautiful garden and gave us fresh produce from it!

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Garlic!

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How cute are they?

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Us on the overlook to Long Lake.

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One of the four corners of the U.S. Madawaska, Maine.

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These heads are fun.

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The causeway to the island.

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Morning walk to the island.

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But watch out for cars… and the dust they bring.

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Wheat field in the middle of the island.

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Wheat.

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Boating time.

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Relaxing on the water.

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Pretty and undeveloped.

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🙂

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Swimming!

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A smooch.

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St. Agatha at the Lakeview restaurant.

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Crab apples! (A favorite cambodian snack)

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Sunset portrait of Karla.

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Golden.

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And the full moon.

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Happy Anniversary!

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3 a.m.

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Calm lake water in the morning.

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More boat time.

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Finally, a group picture.

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That’s a bald eagle!

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Dusk.

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And more fields

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Beautiful.

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Another sun set portrait.

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Supermoon!

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Early morning rise.

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Traveling back through the fog.

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Portland, Maine for lunch at Central Provisions. So good!

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Karla didn’t know how to focus the camera but Life is good.

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ChansodaTrip to Maine

A Day in the Life of Asian Pacific America

by Chansoda on July 8, 2014

“On July 4th, 2014, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center presents an experiment in cultural democracy – the first crowdsourced gallery of the Asian Pacific American experience around the world as lived on one day.”

What resulted is a beautifully curated collection of images representing slices of life in the daily activities of what it is to be an APA in this world.

Please see the gallery: http://smithsonianapa.org/life2014/

I personally submitted some photos through my Flickr account, and got a wonderful surprise to find a couple of them included in the collection. The images were taken at Peyton’s 5th birthday party, what a wonderful way to commemorate him turning 5 and celebrating this APA day.

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ChansodaA Day in the Life of Asian Pacific America