BLOG: Mitch Wilson, Austin TX Web & Multimedia Developer – Austin, TX

Zander’s birthday photos

Zander's birthday party at the zoo was a blast! A lot of family and friends came and we got some great photos. I posted some of the photos to my Flickr account. See the photos on Flickr.

Even been to the Austin Zoo? You should. Definitely. I was skeptical at first. I didn't even know we had a zoo. So I thought it might be kind of lame. It's small but so much fun. And it's a great place to have a kid's birthday party. Plus it's cheap.

NYC Vacation

Yvonne, Zander, and I recently vacationed in NYC. Fun, food, zoo, the Children's Museum, the Natural History Museum, Central park, shopping (Yvonne), and more food, plus visiting relatives. We stayed with Yvonne's aunt, Bo Oi, and got to hang with her sister, Alexa. The trip was really good for us, esp. Zander. He's never been anywhere (he's only 17 months old). We all got to spend so much time together; it was great.

Hopefully I'll have time to post pics and videos, soon. Until then, just imagine us having a great time.

Asian Austin Publication, a Family Business

Yvonne and I have decided to start a new publication to cover Asian news, food, style, and politics in Austin, TX. We have just started (a few months ago) and have still have a lot of research and business planning. We do have a new (very basic) Website up, asianaustin.com to start promoting the publication. We plan to have several sections, such as News, Style, Food, etc. We hope to have a quarterly print version starting in about 6 months.

Yvonne is very passionate about Asian issues and feels that Austin needs a publication to cover them. While Yvonne is the Publisher and Editor, I am the Creative Director of the Website and the soon-to-come print version. Currently Yvonne works as the Managing Editor of the West Austin News. I work as a Web and Multimedia Developer at National Instruments. We make a great team. The publication will be self-sustaining via advertising but will focus on serving the Asian Austin community.

YvonneLim.com #4 on Google

Yvonne Lim is my dear, sweet, adorable, lovely, and intelligent wife. I helped her create her blog, yvonnelim.com, not too long ago: May 2006. She mainly posts about our son, Zander (short for Alexander). Her blog is number 4 now on Google, right after the top three results for Yvonne Lim, the Chinese actress. You haven't heard of Yvonne Lim the Chinese actress? I hadn't either. But I must say it's pretty impressive for her blog to show up this soon near the top. I'm so proud of her, I think I'll take her out to dinner. My site (this one, mitchwilson.net) took seven years to be number one on Google, MSN, and Yahoo. I guess I had more competition with Mitch Wilson the hockey player. So look out, Yvonne Lim the Chinese actress, we're coming for number one!

Zander’s First Birthday Party(ies)

Zander is one-year old today! Over the weekend, he had two birthday parties: the friends party on Saturday and the family party on Sunday. Even though he's just one-year old, he had so much fun and seemed to know that the gifts were for him. His friends came over and they have all really started developing social skills. See them playing in the photo to the left (click here or photo to enlarge). Zander on right, Ari on left, and McKenna in back. Here's another picture (click picture to enlarge) with McKenna in front, then Zander behind her on the left and Ari on the right, and Carter way in the back. That's Rachel (Ari's mom) leaning against the stairs. Carter is 17 months old. McKenna, Ari, and Zander are all around one-year old and their birthdays are all in December. (I'm missing a photo of Dirk and Daniel, McKenna's parents. We'll have to get one next time.)

The Friends Party and the Messy, Messy Birthday Cake

Everyone loved the cake, a cupcake cake from Central Market. They placed cupcakes next to each other and add layer of frosting over the whole lot. On this one, they drew a train with "Happy Birthday Zander" and "No. 1" written on top. Little did we know how fun the cake would be with all that frosting. The blue and black frosting got everywhere (even on the camera) and made everyone's teeth blue, as Sean just discovered in photo at right. Pictured from front clockwise: Rachel, Aaron, Ari (baby), Gage, Melissa, Carter (toddler), Sean, Yvonne, and Zander (baby). Doesn't get any more fun than messy colored frosting and small children, as this photo of Carter demonstrates. Her mom, Melissa, is right there waiting to clean her off.

Videos from both the Saturday and the Sunday parties showing Zander eating cake and opening presents »

The Family Party with Zander as the Center of his Grandparents' Attention

Zander had a lot at his first party on Saturday, with his friends, and even more fun at his second party on Sunday, with his grandparents. Pictured left to right: Betty, Larry, Alex, Sophie, and Po Po (his Great Grandmother).

Zander's Uncle Edward also came over, so he had lots of people to play with. It was his best birthday party ever!

Thanksgiving Photos and Videos

Yvonne, Zander, and I spent Thanksgiving, as we usually do, eating and eating and eating lots of great dishes with Yvonne's family, the Lims, in San Antonio. Zander played with his cousin, Andrew, who is about 4 months old now. Zander also showed everyone how he's starting to walk. We had a blast!

The Food was Great

We had turkey, chicken, a couple of dozen other dishes ... you name it, all the usual Thanksgiving dishes plus a lot more, Chinese for example. The desserts were great, too. I loved Edward's cheesecake, and I'm a big fan of good cheesecake (vs. most of the just so-so cheesecake available in Texas.) I couldn't have eaten another bite, even though I wanted to. Check out this video Erica, Yvonne and Zander. Note how full Yvonne's 2nd plate is.

Zander Played with Andrew

Check out Zander and Andrew playing with a stuffed animal. By Christmas, they might be able to play a lot more. We'll see. I'm sure they'll be friends in no time.

Happy Birthday, Randy

Also, it was Randy's birthday. I think he's almost 30, which I would say is getting old but I'm over 30, so ... Here is a photo of his cake, a monkey's head (year of the monkey???) and it says "Fay Jai" or Fat Boy.

Vanessa has a Boyfriend ...

I just had to take a picture of this. How sweeeeeeeeeet.