Happy three

Well, I made it. I am now three years old, that's good because two years old sounds so young and I am a big boy now. I can count to one hundred in English and Mandarin. I can keep my pants dry all day, including naptime (been doing that for a while now). I still love trains and Curious George. Singing the alphabet is old hat and assembling complex sentences are beginning to be the norm. Wow, what a difference a year makes.

Mommy had her birthday recently too. We went out for some yummy food with Uncle Billy and Auntie Carolyn. I had my first taste of an Oreo cookie. I like cookies. Daddy made some cupcakes for us to share at daycare. I like cupcakes too.

Grandma and Pop-pop came to visit me for my birthday, just one night though. We had some yummy food with them and I got to open some presents. I like presents. Birthdays should come more often. Vitals: Ht 38.5", Wt 34.25 lb 75th percentile for both measures.

Wistful weekend

Mommy is going to see her girlfriends from college this weekend. She does this every year, and has been doing so since she graduated so long ago from Cal Poly. This year they are convening in Yosemite National Park. I hope Labor day isn't too crowded on the valley floor.

This also means I will be one-on-one with daddy all weekend. What are we going to do? Sometimes I get to do some Naked Gardening. I know we'll find some good food and maybe ride on a train. Daddy saw that the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a new white shark in their tank, maybe we'll go see him too. We'll miss mommy, but she'll come back on Monday and we can get ready for both of our birthdays. Go cake!

Yay Beijing Olympics

Congratulations to Michael Phelps. He just won his eighth Gold medal, eclipsing Mark Spitz's gold medal count of seven in the 1972 Olympics. In doing so, Michael also set eight Olympic and seven World records. It also brought his lifetime medal count to 16 (14 Gold!) making him the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time. Congratulations Michael, we were all hoping for this outcome and you made it happen. Astounding.

I am practicing my strokes in the backyard inflatable pool. I am not wearing swim goggles yet because I haven't figured out how to hold my breath underwater, but these Lightning McQueen sunglasses help with the glare. Mommy and Daddy hope that I'll be athletic when I get bigger. Maybe I'll be a swimmer like you Michael Phelps, your feats in the Beijing water cube are an inspiration.

The Scientist

I went to visit the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose yesterday. I found a big black hole where I could deposit lots of blue balls. The balls would roll around and seem to accelerate as they got closer to the hole in the middle. Then they would drop out the bottom and start their journey again. Entertaining to say the least, I could've stayed there forever.

Papa had other ideas, as he dragged me away so we could play in the WaterWays display (water, more balls, a vortex and smocks), Bubbalogna (soap bubbles and thin films in all manners), a real ambulance and a fire truck. I guess that's not all bad. I was a tired boy after that.

I hope you are watching the Olympics. It has been an exciting start to the games in Beijing.

Thumbs up to Mommy

Er, actually it is a big-toe up to Mommy. You see, it was Daddy's 40th birthday last week and Mommy went all out. To start with, Mommy took the whole day off from work to play with Daddy; they drove out to Byron, CA to go on a surprise skydiving trip. Yep, skydiving, jumping out of a perfectly functioning airplane for the thrill of the fall from 10,000ft. Mommy did it too, but it was old hat for her - she had done her first jump years ago.


Later that evening, after the adrenaline had worn off and a short nap. Mommy took the initiative on a new Churrasco restaurant in Palo Alto. This is a Brazilian style of eating, whereby the waiters keep bringing skewers of meat to your table until you can eat no more. I am pretty sure all manner of barnyard animal was represented; lamb, beef, chicken and pork in addition to the sausages and extensive salad bar.

To top it off, Mommy organized a backyard barbecue (on Saturday) with many of their friends (who fortunately brought all of their kids to play with me). Grilled meat and a giant pot of chili accompanied the roasted potatoes and asparagus. It was a big week for food. Of course there was a cake but respectfully, no candles. It would've surely been a fire hazard. Daddy is grateful to have Mommy as his partner. I am happy to be their son. Thumbs up to Mommy.

Water in Florida

I thought so. It's a good thing we found some water down in Orlando. It was uncomfortably hot and sticky humid every day. Lucky for me, many of the separate resorts (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom...) had built-in water parks like this one. The fountains of water were randomly programmed to squirt up. It was my job to find out which ones were going to be active and put myself into the stream. These water activities were probably my favorite part of the trip. Oh, these and the hotel pool. The pool had a water slide and shallow entry area. I could've stayed there all day if only Mommy and Daddy would've let me.

I was happy to see all of my relatives from around North America. Uncle Ru, his wife Soomi, and cousin Toshi came down from New Hope, PA; Auntie Maria and her husband, Lawrence with cousins Akio, Maya and Sasha from Montreal, Quebec; Uncle Misha and his new fiancee, Melanie from Springfield, OR; Grandpa Tetsu and Grandma Linda from Mahwah, NJ; Grandma Mira and Great-Uncle Kevin also traveled down from New Hope. A large group for sure, but we managed to find time to ourselves.

Anyway it's good to be home. We ate in restaurants all week. Yep, that's right, three square meals plus two snacks a day were included on our premium dining plan. We tried our best, but still had left over credits by the end of the week. Lots more photos of the trip on Papa's Flickr account (see link in sidebar). Stay cool.

We're going to Disney World

No, we didn't win the Superbowl or NBA finals, but we are going to Walt Disney World in Florida. I think Papa went when he was a kid but doesn't remember it very well. Besides, at that time there were no such things as Epcot center and Hollywood Studios, let alone the water parks. Good thing about the water, we are traveling in the last week of June and there will assuredly be hot temperatures and high humidity.

The good thing is the whole clan will be in converging in Florida. Uncle Misha, uncle Ru and auntie Maria; their respective spouses/fiancee and all of my cousins. Also Papa's mother, father, stepmother and my great-uncle Kevin will be in attendance. He is, after all, the gracious and generous sponsor of this trip. I hope we can survive the weather and any family differences that may erupt amongst the group of 17.

In the meantime I'll just play with this sprinkler in the backyard. It has been hot in the SF bay area, triple digits at times. Small boys like me need water to keep cool. See you when we get back.

Gravity always wins

You may remember this ball from about a year ago. It was the same one I was watering to make it grow better. That was then, this is now. I am much bigger, older and less naked now. I think that's a good thing.

Now I can sit on top of the ball and bounce off it on my butt. Mommy wants to get the family a set of Hippity-hops. You remember those sit-on toys that are essentially big rubber balls with a circular handle to hang on tightly. Could you imagine all three Mountain View Amagasus hopping down the street to the park? How fun. Anyway, I'm lucky this episode was on the soft backyard grass, because gravity always wins.

Happiness

Sometimes all that it takes is a walk to the park in the evening to make me happy. Actually, we usually ride my bike because it's much faster and maximizes our time in the sandbox or on the slides. Daddy recently reversed the body of the Skuut so that it is a little bit taller and steers better. I like it. Mommy also set the seat of the tricycle a little lower so I can push myself around on that as well.

Lots of runny noses in Mountain View lately. The flowers, trees and grasses are all doing their thing and dumping out pollen into the air. Good for propagation of the species, not so good for my nose.

Can I go to the park with you?

Boogers

Now I got you where I want you, now I'm going to EAT you! I sometimes pick my nose.

Alright, I'll come clean, I pick my nose all the time. The boogies bother me when I wake up or when there is pollen in the air, so I pick 'em. When Zadie is around, sometimes I'll feed her my boogies (she likes the salty goodness), plus it keeps the boogers off the couch or my sleeves. My parents like that. I even know how to blow my nose when it gets really runny. But booger mining is more fun. I am almost three years old, it is my right to have my finger up my nose to the first knuckle. Many, many times a day.

As they say, "you can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose."