Wedding Pictures

Ramona sent me some new pictures from her wedding taken in Malaysia - Jan 12th, 2008. I was so honored to be part of her wedding. I (Vivien) have known her since we were 13 (Form 1 - Assunta). We've been best pals since then and I absolutely miss her. :-(

Chinese New Year

So they say this is the year of the Rat. The Rat?!?! I don't like Rats. Period. Or "full-stop" (as we say it the British way). Well, anyway....my experience with Chinese New Year is visiting my Chinese friends' homes (back in Malaysia) and eating good food. If I walked away with a red packet ("ang pow") in my hand, I was pretty fired up. Watching dragon dances, seeing fire crackers go off and tasting Chinese cuisine is all part and parcel of enjoying the CNY - in my experience.
It just dawned on me, that I should introduce my children to some Malaysian festive seasons. So, I decided to teach Sydney how to make little chinese lanterns using red construction paper. On Thursday, the 1st day of the Lunar new year, we gave Sydney and Caleb red packets with a $2 bill in it. And, yes, we had chinese food that night. Nothing too elaborate because Sydney is a picky eater and I didn't have much time to prepare. I made fried rice and chinese egg soup. On Saturday, we took the kids to go see a dragon/lion dance at a mall that was promoting the CNY celebration. Sydney thought that the best part was feeding the dragon some money and having her bestfriend Reese with her.

December quickly turned to February!

Okay, so i'm a little slow on updating our blog. December and January are such a blur for our family. We celebrated Christmas and New Year in Malaysia with Vivien's family and we returned to the States on Jan.15th. Ever since, we have all been playing catch-up with our schedule. In between, John's been to California for a week for work and last week, he was in Iowa for a week. We sadly found out that his dad has 2 tumors - in the brain and lung. Today, he's going in for surgery to remove the tumor in the brain and for them to run tests on it. Keeping Jim in our prayers!

Back to our vacation, it was wonderful. Some of the highlights from our trip:

• Caleb celebrated his 1st birthday with about 80 or so guests at my parents house
• Vivien, her best friend Ramona and Ramona's sister went for a Thai body massage and had dinner at Hard Rock Cafe in KL to celebrate her bridal shower
• We took a trip to Langkawi (an island up north, close to the Thailand border) with the whole family
• Caleb started walking at 12 months and Vivien's family got to witness it!
• Vivien was matron of honor at her bestfriend's (Ramona) wedding at that was an incredible day!!!

Big Hole in the Ground

John and I had a little get-away right before Thanksgiving. We flew to Phoeniz, Arizona where John had a conference to attend for 5 days. We dropped the kids off with his parents in Iowa, who graciously watched our kids for us so that we could have a little time to ourselves. The conference was held at the Desert Ridge Marriot Resort in Phoenix and the place was absolutely beautiful. I (Vivien) came home feeling refreshed and relaxed after being there. It was the perfect vacation. All I did was read, sit by the pool, swim and enjoy the facilities at the resort. Towards the end of the trip, we took a day trip and drove to the Grand Canyon.
I was expecting to just see this big hole in the ground but turned out to be more than that. GC was absolutely breath-taking and left me speechless. Took some pictures, but we feel that even the pictures don't do any justice for what we really saw and how we felt about the GC.
The 1st picture was taken in Sedona Valley, on our way to GC. The rest were taken at the GC.

Trick or Treat

Sydney was of course a Care Bear (to be specific "Cheer Bear") and Caleb was dressed in a giraffe outfit. We went out trick or treating on the 31st with some friends and came home with more candy than we know what to do with. We had a great time as a family!

Shenandoah National Park

After John returned home from his CSCMP conference in Philladephia, we took a couple of days and went away to the mountains of Shenandoah in Virginia. The weather wasn't too great (too much rain!) but it was nice to be together as a family and away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Sydney enjoyed staying the night at a hotel and kept getting out of bed to look outside. Cute! Besides the skyline drive, we also visited the Luray Caverns, which are the largest caverns in Eastern America. That was amazing to see and learn about.

Time to pick pumpkins

We went to the Butlers Orchard this year to pick out pumpkins. Sydney had fun with Matthew and Jack today. Caleb was sick (boo hoo) and had to stay home with Daddy (who was also not feeling well). I'm determined to get a photo of both kids with pumpkins, but have to wait till Caleb is better. The hay ride was one of Sydney's favorites.

It was perfect day to go pick pumpkins. Now, we just need to carve them !

Brookside Gardens Shots

We love the Autumn season here in Maryland. The weather has stayed around mid 60s and 70s. Just perfect! Sydney had fun picking leaves and when we got home, we made a mobile out of them. Caleb just rips the leaves apart and then tries to eat them.

I'm growing up too fast

Mommy insists that I move on to a sippy cup, even though I'm barely pushing 10 months. I'm slowly getting used to the cup idea, but every once in awhile I splatter water all over my face and my big sister thinks it's so funny.

Is Vivien getting old?

I think birthday parties should only be for kids and I just wanted to spend a quiet Sunday afternoon with my family. Sydney insisted we have cake and balloons and yesterday, she wanted to buy party hats. So, we settled on some cupcakes and balloons....and yes, she was having more fun with my birthday...especially opening all my gifts! It was a nice, quiet, relaxing birthday. Just the way I wanted it.