We had a wonderful and BUSY summer as you can see we were absent from the blog ^_^
So what did we do this summer? The highlights are:
A trip to Maine/Mass, we went to New England for 2 weeks. A thankfully uneventful trip - as opposed to last year's saga - you can read about our last year's trip: august-is-for-recovering-from-vacation.
Our great friend Nancy, or Ancy as Megan called her, and family came to visit and stayed with us - it was really fun for Megan to have them as house guests.
Megan turned three!! We had a small party for her in her favorite park - Matthew's Beach
A trip to Lake Quinault - the first road trip we took together as a family of FOUR, yes Rufus got to stay with us in Lake Quinault Lodge in Olympic Peninsula.
We took lots of pictures and you can see them in our photo site (link to the right). Blog posts are under way - stay tuned!!
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Neat and Tidy and 筷子
Meg has been in her big girl bed for several weeks now. The room is pretty well child-proofed and we have a gate at the door to her room so she can't get up and wander around at night. Neither of those things seems to have been necessary yet. She tends to stay in there in the bed when she wakes up. Sometimes we have to climb into bed to pick her up to drag her out of bed. She loves to just lounge around, read books and giggle in bed.
Once in a while she will get up on her own... but the results are the opposite of what you might expect. Sometime during the first few weeks, she got up and put all the Winnie the Pooh story books (that were spread around the room) and put them back on the shelf, organized by color. Just this past Wednesday, during her nap time, we think she didn't sleep a wink. I could hear a bit of rustling on the baby monitor but it sounded like she was just reading a book. I was wrong. Here's what she was doing:
Looks like an ordinary box of tissues, doesn't it? Perhaps that top one is a bit wrinkly? It's bulging a bit on the sides too. Meg had not only pulled all the tissues out, she has also put them all back in and then put the box back on top of the dresser. I think I might set her loose in the garage for a few days to see what she can do about the clutter.
Here's some more evidence of developing fine motor skills. We made some makeshift "kids" chopsticks using the paper wrapper they come in and a rubber band. She got the hang of that pretty quickly so we gave her a pair of short child sized chopsticks... Results: not too bad!
Once in a while she will get up on her own... but the results are the opposite of what you might expect. Sometime during the first few weeks, she got up and put all the Winnie the Pooh story books (that were spread around the room) and put them back on the shelf, organized by color. Just this past Wednesday, during her nap time, we think she didn't sleep a wink. I could hear a bit of rustling on the baby monitor but it sounded like she was just reading a book. I was wrong. Here's what she was doing:
Looks like an ordinary box of tissues, doesn't it? Perhaps that top one is a bit wrinkly? It's bulging a bit on the sides too. Meg had not only pulled all the tissues out, she has also put them all back in and then put the box back on top of the dresser. I think I might set her loose in the garage for a few days to see what she can do about the clutter.
Here's some more evidence of developing fine motor skills. We made some makeshift "kids" chopsticks using the paper wrapper they come in and a rubber band. She got the hang of that pretty quickly so we gave her a pair of short child sized chopsticks... Results: not too bad!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Fourth of July Weekend
This sat in the draft folder for a week - sorry.
We had a busy 4th weekend. On Friday, we managed to get out of the city for a hike at Twin Falls - a very "family friendly" hike (read: it' pretty flat, short and had a river to play in along the way). I-Chwen had a concert on Sunday so also had a dress rehearsal on Friday. Saturday, we headed to the farmer's market and then had a BBQ in the afternoon. Sunday was the concert.
Twin Falls
Yes, we found a caterpillar.
Yes, Meg picked it up...
Yes, she let it crawl on her hand....
Yes, it started to crawl up her arm...
....a little higher...
It got real high up her arm. Don't worry, I moved it to the leaf before it ended up under her shirt.
Getting Ready for the Concert
For I-Chwen's concert I rented a longer and faster lens (AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED). I figured I needed a longer lens with vibration reduction to manage taking pics of the choir in a poorly lit church. I took a few shots random before hand. It's an impressive lens... so much so that I had folks coming up after the concert to ask me photography questions :-) It's a $2k lens so I won't be getting on anytime soon but $30 for a weekend is a good deal. Here's a hand-held snapshot I took of Meg in the kitchen
I used this lens a lot at the concert.
At the dress rehearsal, Meg got to hang out with Laura, the daughter of one of the choir members. Laura had brought along a few books about fairies and was more than happy to read them to her.
The Concert
There were three choirs involved in this concert: Four Seasons Chorus （四季女聲合唱團），Seattle Emerald Singing Group ( ) and the Crystal Children' Choir (晶晶青少年合唱團）
The lens I rented was well worth it. Not only did it allow me to get some close ups on the performers, but the vibration reduction helped me actually get clear pics. Not only was the light dim but I was shaky by the end of the concert. It was well into the 90s in the church and stuffy, stuffy, stuffy. Towards the end of the concert, I was seeing rays of light filter down from over the stage... rays of light as in sunlight passing through clouds of moisture. With all those people sweating and breathing in there, clouds were starting to form over the stage. I was soaked head to toe and a bit shaky after running around for over and hour with 5 lbs of camera and lens held up to my face.
No idea how the performers survived and managed to do such a great job singing (and dancing occasionally). Everybody did a great job.
OK - this post has been sitting in the "drafts" folder for a week. Time to publish. I'll get more concert pics up online eventually...
We had a busy 4th weekend. On Friday, we managed to get out of the city for a hike at Twin Falls - a very "family friendly" hike (read: it' pretty flat, short and had a river to play in along the way). I-Chwen had a concert on Sunday so also had a dress rehearsal on Friday. Saturday, we headed to the farmer's market and then had a BBQ in the afternoon. Sunday was the concert.
Twin Falls
Yes, we found a caterpillar.
Yes, Meg picked it up...Yes, she let it crawl on her hand....Yes, it started to crawl up her arm.......a little higher... It got real high up her arm. Don't worry, I moved it to the leaf before it ended up under her shirt.Getting Ready for the Concert
For I-Chwen's concert I rented a longer and faster lens (AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED). I figured I needed a longer lens with vibration reduction to manage taking pics of the choir in a poorly lit church. I took a few shots random before hand. It's an impressive lens... so much so that I had folks coming up after the concert to ask me photography questions :-) It's a $2k lens so I won't be getting on anytime soon but $30 for a weekend is a good deal. Here's a hand-held snapshot I took of Meg in the kitchen
I used this lens a lot at the concert.
At the dress rehearsal, Meg got to hang out with Laura, the daughter of one of the choir members. Laura had brought along a few books about fairies and was more than happy to read them to her.
The Concert
There were three choirs involved in this concert: Four Seasons Chorus （四季女聲合唱團），Seattle Emerald Singing Group ( ) and the Crystal Children' Choir (晶晶青少年合唱團）
The lens I rented was well worth it. Not only did it allow me to get some close ups on the performers, but the vibration reduction helped me actually get clear pics. Not only was the light dim but I was shaky by the end of the concert. It was well into the 90s in the church and stuffy, stuffy, stuffy. Towards the end of the concert, I was seeing rays of light filter down from over the stage... rays of light as in sunlight passing through clouds of moisture. With all those people sweating and breathing in there, clouds were starting to form over the stage. I was soaked head to toe and a bit shaky after running around for over and hour with 5 lbs of camera and lens held up to my face.
No idea how the performers survived and managed to do such a great job singing (and dancing occasionally). Everybody did a great job.
OK - this post has been sitting in the "drafts" folder for a week. Time to publish. I'll get more concert pics up online eventually...
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Megan and Mama
The other day after I changed Megan, she patted me on the head and said "Bird nest!". Then she said "Tweet tweet", as if to make sure I know what she meant. Earlier in the week, we found an empty bird nest from the hedge in the front yard, and I got a haircut I wasn't happy about and decided to trim my own hair. Somehow, Megan made a connection of the two.....
The next day, after I washed her face, she patted my face and said "You're so cute!", then she said "You're fat". I said "What?", she said "Yah, you're fat"...
The next day, after I washed her face, she patted my face and said "You're so cute!", then she said "You're fat". I said "What?", she said "Yah, you're fat"...
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tugger the Big Blue Monster
It was real nice here this morning so we decided to head off to St Edward' Park. It's an old seminary with several miles of wooded hiking trails:
Besides the giant play structure (castles, mountanis etc...), we can bring the dog along. Rufus got a quick walk around the park and got to play with a bunch of kids who fell for him instantly. Here's Meg exploring the play structure
and then took a short walk down a trail into the woods.
Meg heard some birds and made a comment about a "birds nest" and "tweet, tweet"
Once home I (Kevin) had to do some work. EcoFAB is taking part in an "event" next week that will have some political big cheeses so need to do some prep work. I-Chwen went down for a nap with Meg. Around three, I was putting the final touches on a lasagna for a former co-op pre-school classmate's family. (It was standard for everyone to take turns preparing a meal for anyone who had a child during the year to help them out during the first few weeks. This person had their child the week that school ended so we thought we'd continue the tradition). Right around 3:15 Meg woke up screaming and kicking.
It took I-Chwen a few minutes to get her to wake all the way up... but she was kicking and thrashing and screaming. Once she calmed down we managed to get that she had had a bad dream. She was scared by a big blue monster named "Tugger" (or something that sound like that). That was a neat moment. We'd never managed to get her to tell us about a scary dream, even though she'd told us several times over the last month that she'd been scared in her room. Scary stuff for her I'm sure but very cool to hear the story about "tugger"....
Besides the giant play structure (castles, mountanis etc...), we can bring the dog along. Rufus got a quick walk around the park and got to play with a bunch of kids who fell for him instantly. Here's Meg exploring the play structure
and then took a short walk down a trail into the woods.
Meg heard some birds and made a comment about a "birds nest" and "tweet, tweet"
Once home I (Kevin) had to do some work. EcoFAB is taking part in an "event" next week that will have some political big cheeses so need to do some prep work. I-Chwen went down for a nap with Meg. Around three, I was putting the final touches on a lasagna for a former co-op pre-school classmate's family. (It was standard for everyone to take turns preparing a meal for anyone who had a child during the year to help them out during the first few weeks. This person had their child the week that school ended so we thought we'd continue the tradition). Right around 3:15 Meg woke up screaming and kicking.
It took I-Chwen a few minutes to get her to wake all the way up... but she was kicking and thrashing and screaming. Once she calmed down we managed to get that she had had a bad dream. She was scared by a big blue monster named "Tugger" (or something that sound like that). That was a neat moment. We'd never managed to get her to tell us about a scary dream, even though she'd told us several times over the last month that she'd been scared in her room. Scary stuff for her I'm sure but very cool to hear the story about "tugger"....
Monday, June 22, 2009
毛毛蟲 and 爸爸 Day
Note: long post but lots of pictures.
毛毛蟲 (mao2 mao2 chong2 - caterpillars) are Meg favorite outside friend. She loves finding them, looking at them, talking to them, telling them what to do, picking them up, putting them down and generally making their days just a little more interesting than they might otherwise be. We can't head out the door without her calling out for "Chong-chong?"
We had two of them on the front porch who received a pretty gentle handling from Meg.
Uh oh.. looks like trouble for Chong-chong
Soft...
He's OK
In that case, let's pick him up.
He's soft.
Gentle...
Here's your bed Chong-chong. See you tomorrow
For Father's Day we headed downtown for a walk through the Sculpture Park and brunch.
She watched some cars go by from the overpass over Elliot Ave.
She enjoyed hanging out on the chairs with Mom most of all
We saw a WWII B-25 fly over on it's way to Boeing Field (click the pic for larger size)
...and B-17 go by. I think they were ging Father's Day flights. (click for larger size)
Meg did pretty good at the restaurant (Boat Street Cafe - good food but a tad slow)
Meg and mom had a great card with Meg's signature AND drawing of dad (a squiggle with three dots in it.... which is more of her "signature drawing")
We played with our shadows on the way out and headed home for a nap.
The afternoon was Pooh Sticks...
..and a bit of running around a park over in Kirkland
It was a good day. Thanks mom and Meg!
毛毛蟲 (mao2 mao2 chong2 - caterpillars) are Meg favorite outside friend. She loves finding them, looking at them, talking to them, telling them what to do, picking them up, putting them down and generally making their days just a little more interesting than they might otherwise be. We can't head out the door without her calling out for "Chong-chong?"
We had two of them on the front porch who received a pretty gentle handling from Meg.
Uh oh.. looks like trouble for Chong-chong
Soft...He's OK
In that case, let's pick him up.
He's soft.Gentle...
Here's your bed Chong-chong. See you tomorrowFor Father's Day we headed downtown for a walk through the Sculpture Park and brunch.
She watched some cars go by from the overpass over Elliot Ave.
She enjoyed hanging out on the chairs with Mom most of all
We saw a WWII B-25 fly over on it's way to Boeing Field (click the pic for larger size)
...and B-17 go by. I think they were ging Father's Day flights. (click for larger size)
Meg did pretty good at the restaurant (Boat Street Cafe - good food but a tad slow)Meg and mom had a great card with Meg's signature AND drawing of dad (a squiggle with three dots in it.... which is more of her "signature drawing")
We played with our shadows on the way out and headed home for a nap.
The afternoon was Pooh Sticks...
..and a bit of running around a park over in Kirkland It was a good day. Thanks mom and Meg!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Cheese! and Sand?
Meg and I went to Magnuson Park on Sunday morning. I-Chwen had choir practice so it was just Meg and I and a picnic lunch we picked up on the way.
It was cloudy and gray so there were not too many people there.
We watched a float plane take off and land a few times. Guess they were practicing. The yellow plane was one of the only bits of color around that day.
Meg picked me a "lupine!" We had some lupines next to the driveway at home so all flowers have now become lupines. if she runs a crayon over a piece of paper and we ask what she is drawing... it's "lupines!" This one is a clover with some of the white bits removed. She calls it a baby lupine.
We chased some ducks, but not for long. She was a bit tired from not sleeping that well (for what seems like the last month or so...)
She saw dad taking pics so grabbed her camera and hammed up some cheese.
Finally, we settle down onto a blanket and had some more snack and played with some bugs we found on the tree we were sitting under. She wandered off and I hung back while she wandered. She was playing in some sand with an old house key she likes to carry around in her pocket. She even laid down on the sand for a few minutes.
When she came back, she had sand all over her chin. I wiped it off. She went back to the sand again later but this time she was facing me... and I saw her scoop sand into her mouth with the key... twice. She stood up, smiled, wiped off her hands and said "Crunchy!" I took the key away for the rest of the trip and we stayed away from the sand.
Meg actually fell asleep on the way home. Since she's been waking up when we move her after falling asleep in the car (see comment above about not sleeping well), I just pulled into the carport, cracked the window, reclined the seat and took a nap as well. Cheese, sand and a nap.
It was cloudy and gray so there were not too many people there.
We watched a float plane take off and land a few times. Guess they were practicing. The yellow plane was one of the only bits of color around that day.
Meg picked me a "lupine!" We had some lupines next to the driveway at home so all flowers have now become lupines. if she runs a crayon over a piece of paper and we ask what she is drawing... it's "lupines!" This one is a clover with some of the white bits removed. She calls it a baby lupine.
We chased some ducks, but not for long. She was a bit tired from not sleeping that well (for what seems like the last month or so...)
She saw dad taking pics so grabbed her camera and hammed up some cheese.
Finally, we settle down onto a blanket and had some more snack and played with some bugs we found on the tree we were sitting under. She wandered off and I hung back while she wandered. She was playing in some sand with an old house key she likes to carry around in her pocket. She even laid down on the sand for a few minutes.
When she came back, she had sand all over her chin. I wiped it off. She went back to the sand again later but this time she was facing me... and I saw her scoop sand into her mouth with the key... twice. She stood up, smiled, wiped off her hands and said "Crunchy!" I took the key away for the rest of the trip and we stayed away from the sand.
Meg actually fell asleep on the way home. Since she's been waking up when we move her after falling asleep in the car (see comment above about not sleeping well), I just pulled into the carport, cracked the window, reclined the seat and took a nap as well. Cheese, sand and a nap.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
