Tag: Miami

Farewell Party

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"Fun Family" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/120 sec, ISO6400
 “My Crazy Family” Miami, 2016

The final day of our visit to Miami was wonderful. It started out with a leisurely morning with our cousins playing games and then half of us split off to do some sightseeing at Coconut Grove, and the rest stayed at home. I opted to stay home, and helped get ready for the evening party. I went with my mom and cousin to deliver food, extra chairs, and set up tables at the nearby church’s dining hall which we rented out for the party and because I got a preview of the party-to-come, I was pretty excited!

"Farewell Party" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/60 sec, ISO6400
 “Farewell Party” Miami, 2016

As is typical with our family, the party involved dancing, drinking, and lots of yummy food. There were patties, curry, stew peas, rice and peas, oxtail, jerk, etc… And of course we had to spice it up with fresh Scotch Bonnets! 🔥 Plenty of Red Stripe was also consumed. 🍻

"Such Good Food" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
 “Such Good Food” Miami, 2016

I mentioned before that the Leesang family likes to dance and tonight we had an instructor teach how to do a couple different dances at the beginning of the party. Check it out below!

Our family is also pretty into the Pokémon GO! craze too, and there was a gym at the church so several people had fun outside battling to take over the gym. Another fun family activity, actually!

It was a lot of fun hanging out with the extended family and taking lots of photos (I shared them in our private Facebook page) and I have to say the X100T was perfect. I got a lot of people asking me about the camera too… many people thought it was a classic film camera. 😄 What I love about the camera is that it is so fast and discreet. I had people smile, took their photo, and it was over in a split second and we were back to partying. That was such a great feeling… to not have the camera be such a big deal. The “snapshot life” is a great place to be.

Anyways, the party was a blast! We ended up leaving at around midnight and then the party continued back at the house, with the younger generation playing boardgames til the wee hours of the morning, while a few of us opted to go hang out in the pool.

I finally hit the bed at around 2:30 AM… it was a great day!

Note: This post was written on 8/7/2016

Wynwood Art District

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"Art Viewing" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/11, 1/70 sec, ISO3200
 “Art Viewing” Miami, 2016

Hello! Today we returned to Miami and ended the cruise… 😔 but the family reunion continues! 😄

After a nice Jamaican lunch from Jamaica Kitchen, and then a short nap, we took a drive to the Wynwood Art District to see the wall art. When we arrived, we noticed that there were news vans all around the neighborhood. We asked one of the reporters what was goign on and she said that they just discovered that four incidents of the Zika virus were pinpointed to that neighborhood. 😧 Just our luck!

We decided to walk around the area anyways, and saw some really cool artwork and went to some interesting shops. We also stopped for a cold drink at a restaurant called Kyu before heading to another Leesang reunion dinner.

The dinner was held at a Chinese restaurant and we celebrated my uncle’s 80th birthday. The food was yummy and we enjoyed entertainment in the form of a dancing tiger… the kind you see at Chinese New Year’s festivals. 🐲 It was fun for everyone, especially the small kids.

Lots of group photos were taken and we even got to see some photo albums of old images from when the 2nd generation was in school. Very interesting!

It was a great day, but wow, I was tired afterwards. We went back to the house we were staying at and just relaxed with a cold drink and then I was out like a log!

Note: This post was written on 8/6/2016

Cruising

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"On the Ship" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/11, 1/400 sec, ISO400
 “On the Ship” Miami, 2016

Today we began our cruise aboard the Norwegian Sky. 🚢 It’s one of those massive ships that seem to have every amenity on board. This particular ship has an open bar… so it is affectionately known as the “Booze Cruise”. And yes, I did have a few drinks! 🍹🍷🍸🍻

"Let's Go!" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/340 sec, ISO400
 “Let’s Go!” Miami, 2016

This day was pretty much a half-day aboard the ship but it was really fun. It began with lunch and a welcome dance up by the pool. My extended family were all wearing the same blue reunion t-shirt so we pretty much took over that deck. I think there were around 200 of us! And this family loves to dance. Besides the nightclub on the ship, just about every other family gathering had dancing. 💃 It was so much fun!

The rest of the evening was spent taking a huge group photo, a dip in the pool, dinner, karaoke, gambling at the casino, and dancing at the nightclub. And probably a visit to the midnight buffet. 🍔🍴 It was a great start to the cruise!

"Distant Clouds" Atlantic Ocean, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/40 sec, ISO3200
 “Distant Clouds” Atlantic Ocean, 2016

Note: This post was written on 8/3/2016

Baseball in Miami

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"At the Marlins Game" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO1600
 “At the Marlins Game” Miami, 2016

Hello! How’s it going?

Today a few of us decided to catch a Marlins game while we had a free day. The Mets were in town visiting and we got some great seats on the right-field side. I had forgotten that Ichiro played for the Marlins, but when we got to our seats we noticed there were a lot of Japanese fans in the seats. Then I realized that we had the chance to see the great Ichiro!

Unfortunately he wasn’t in the lineup… All the Japanese fans were bummed, I’m sure. But happily, in the 8th inning Ichiro came up to bat as a pinch hitter. He ended up striking out, but it was cool to see him play at least a little bit. ⚾️

I’m happy I have gotten to see some great ballplayers during my lifetime. Besides Ichiro, I have seen Derek Jeter, Clayton Kershaw, Mike Piazza, Tony Gwynn, and Ozzie Smith among others. Hall-of-Famers!

It’s so fun to visit the different MLB stadiums around the country. This was the 7th MLB stadium I have been to, and I’ve been to 3 in Japan.

In the end, the Mets beat the Marlins 0-3 but we still had a fantastic time. I’m so glad we went!

"Baseball Panorama" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
 “Baseball Panorama” Miami, 2016

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Note: This post was written on 8/1/2016

Hello from Miami

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"Ready for Take Off" Miami, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/12 sec, ISO3200
 “Ready for Take Off” Miami, 2016

こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going?

Today I am writing this to you from Miami, Florida. I have started my vacation!

The flight from Austin went through Atlanta, and it was a nice trip. I sat next to a young man who is in the midst of his pilot training and he told me a lot of facts about commercial aviation, including some of the history of McDonnell-Douglas, models of airplanes, and also some of the shop-talk and nicknames of planes. It was quite fascinating! I hope he can achieve his dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot! ✈️

I arrived in Miami safely and was picked up by relatives and then we all had a nice catch-up dinner with family at my cousin’s house where we are staying. It was especially nice for me because I only see my parents and brothers once a year at most, so seeing them as part of our larger (100+ people) is quite a treat! I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

Tonight’s photo is of the younger generation showing everyone a drone. One of the boys just returned from Jamaica, where they used the drone to take aerial photography as part of their activities. It was really cool to see one in action! Fascinating to say the least!

I hope you had a great day, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto