Back Home

This is home. Obviously I've built a new life with my own little family and home, but I will always feel like I'm home when I go back to Toledo. So much is familiar from the overwhelming cigarette smell as you walk out of the Detroit airport to the cloudy, overcast skies of Toledo.
Toledo has definitely been changing from when I grew up there. From TCBY getting burned down and turning into a check cashing place to the demolition of the Southwyck Mall. There are good changes too, like the new Mud Hens Stadium and the growth of towns surrounding Toledo.
But the thing Toledo definitely has over Denver are the TREES. All the streets are lined with big beautiful trees. I miss the autumn colors and the green summers. And I always miss being home with Mom and Dad. Mom makes the most delicious food and she's just nonstop in making sure we're comfortable. And Dad always has some interesting news or "funny" joke.

And it's always fun to see Enoch, Joy, and Gabriel. These boys had so much fun together.

We miss him already!It'll be fun to see everyone again for Christmas. We miss you guys!

Rori's Bubbles

Rori was excited to play with her bubbles she got for her 4th birthday and daddy was excited to shoot with his old manual lenses.... it's fun to get back to photography.

Baby Quino One month +

These are the latest photos of Quino, he has been a bit more fussy then Kaori and Rori, but he is our cute little boy. I think you can see some of the cousins traits in is face and expressions. We will post more as he gets older

Lysle's Masters Thesis

Houston Needs a Mountain from Lysle Oliveros on Vimeo.

Here is Lysle's Masters Thesis he completed at Rice University. Click here for the link to his thesis. Great Job Kuya!

The Joy of your Mom & Dad

The Lord has blessed us a lot this year. In February, we visited Michelle and her family in Califronia to witness Taylor's baptism also. She turned 8 and was baptized and confirmed LDS. Your mom and I were so touched by your Ate's testimony after the baptism and it was a great experience for us to see the first of the grandchildren to be baptized.

That night, Taylor also celebrated her birthday and had a big party and their home was filled with children and relatives both young and old. We had a great time.

Gabriel too turned 3 and we always enjoy having him at home every Wednesday and for Sunday dinners. He plays soccer now (we still wait for him to understand what he is suppose to do in the field). It would be nice if Evan and Brady are here for him to play with. He misses Evan. Enoch and Joy are expecting Georgia in July. (That's number 11, guys!)

Then comes a very special spirit to Lysle's family, the son he was waiting for: Joaquin Miyasaki Oliveros. Kaori and Rori sure need a good brother.

And now, here's Lysle, graduating from his Master's Degree in Architecture at Rice University, presently the country's most prestigious school for post graduate course in architecture. It pays to have a good and supportive spouse like Kamiko.

This was a very uplifting day for me and I think everyone who sees my smile here will know that I felt really proud of Lysle. Having all four of them also and my lovely wife, it is very easy to forget all of the other problems in life. It is a BIG thing to get your Master's Degree from Rice University getting ahead of your classmates who came from schools like from Harvard and Yale. Coming from OSU, Lysle did just that.

You do not have any idea how happy I was when taking this picture. Mom and I still think that all of you have remained to be cute and cuddly. Thanks for the 10+1/2 grandchildren and we are looking forward for more!

It's heart-warming to see the four of you play with one another again. Brings back memories of our 5 years in West Africa back in the early '80s. All being married now with families and still playing together is such a great sight.

We are very happy that we have been blessed with great children-in-law with equally great parents and we are doing our very best also to be the very best of in-laws also. Visiting Houston, it is great to see Lysle and Kamiko happy and Lysle is gainfully employed as one of the head designers at Morris Architects even during these hard times. We look forward to more of the Lord's blessing through the years.

We can't wait to visit the Steeds next in Colorado and be with Cache, Brett and Evan and Brady. Be sure that everyone set aside December for our Family Reunion at Michelle's in California with all 11 grandchildren! Don't plan anything else.

The Graduation Celebration

What better way to celebrate than to eat till it hurts? We were all starving after the ceremony, so we went to a Thai buffet. It was pretty good, way better than any of the nasty Thai places here in Denver. Here's a really awkward picture of all of us. Candids usually don't turn out as good as you anticipate.


Then there was a surprise celebration for the graduate at his house. Except I'm sure he saw it coming per his statement when he came home, "Why do I hear everyone going 'Shh, shh'"


Here's a close up on the cake. Ate (Michelle) baked it. It was SO DELICIOUS.
And the kids decorated it.

And of course, we can't see mom without requesting her cooking. And that was SO DELICIOUS TOO

Of course we were all in the kitchen helping her... oops...

That was some good eats. Kaori has the cutest face! And there's Rori's pose.

Then it was cake time. The girls helped blow out the candles. And I won't be ashamed to admit that I had two slices. The cake was so good. It had chocolate pudding injected in it.

Yeah, the Houston trip was a serious binge fest. I probably gained 10 lbs. But it was all for the sake of honoring my brother, so it was worth it. We're all so proud of you!!

Rice Graduation Ceremony

Saturday was all about GRADUATION. Half of us had to get up early so we could save seats (in the shade). Rice is a beautiful campus. And the ceremony and speaker were impressive. But it was HOT. They read every single name of every single graduate, it felt like it dragged on FOREVER. But it was nice getting to see my big bro get recognized.
BTW, Kamiko looked AMAZING for just having a baby less than 3 weeks ago!

The Pre-Procession

Here we all are watching the graduates march out And the moment we all flew out for...

...in detail

Since he was getting his masters, he was one of the first ones recognized. So the kids had to endure the rest of the ceremony. And to be quite honest, I was VERY IMPRESSED. Troy is such a good boy. He was restless just in little spurts, but otherwise, he did such a good job being so well behaved. It made me glad I didn't bring Brady, cause that boy would have been wrecking havoc. And then it made me wonder why my kids are so much naughtier...

This was pretty much how Rori posed for pictures. Why so sad, shy and somber?

Kaori was asking for her dad. Both girls sat patiently through the ceremony. But you could tell it wore on them a little bit.

Then it was finally over, and we got up to find the graduate.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Then the group pictures...

Oliveros Children

Oliveros Family 2009

(Miyasaki) Oliveros Family 2009

All of us

Check out Troy picking his nose. Good times.