Simpsons Fun

A bit of silliness from this website. Here's me, Allan and Todd as Simpsons characters:



That's supposed to be a five o'clock shadow on Daddy's face, but it ended up looking too Homer-like. D'oh!! And it was VERY hard to do babies and little kids, because there just wasn't enough variety of features. This was the best I could whip together. No crew cut, no big ears, just the trademark blue hooded sweatshirt.

And, for a bit of fun: Grandma and Grandpa :-D

Summerfest 2007

A year ago this past weekend, Allan and Todd and I were braving record-breaking heat and humidity and enjoying Summerfest '06. This year, with temperatures over 20 degrees cooler, we enjoyed Summerfest '07.

What is Summerfest? It's basically a work-sponsored festival/carnival, right on company grounds . Free food, beer, games, music, shows, and rides. Because of last year's heat wave and the coincidence of Summerfest with the hottest day of the year, it was held in the evening rather than in the early afternoon this year.

We started off the late afternoon with an early dinner-- apparently we arrived just in time to avoid the lines at the cafeteria. There was a bit of a line indoors, but it wasn't too bad, and we got our food within 10 minutes, making our way back outdoors to grab a seat. While sitting there eating, we observed the line get longer and longer. First it started spilling outdoors. Then it started snaking clear around the other side of the building! Considering all we had to contend with was an indoor line and THAT took 10 minutes, I hate to think how long the folks lined up outdoors had to wait until they got their food. 30 minutes? Maybe more? Yikes!

After dinner we enjoyed a magician's show, where the jokes were corny and the tricks old hat, but still entertaining nevertheless. We then made our way to the Midway, where we took in the sights of all the rides, almost all of which had lines a mile long, even the little kiddie rides. We ended up going on the Merry-Go-Round, and even managed to secure the same dragon that Todd and I rode on last year!

Here we are LAST year, can you see us sweltering in the heat?



And here we are THIS year, same dragon, Todd a bit bigger (and yes, I'm wearing the same shirt. Don't worry, I've washed it a few times since last year :-P)



Afterward, we made our way back to the stage area, where none other than Little Texas (one of my favorite country bands!) was playing. They played one of my favorites "My Love", but unfortunately we didn't stick around long enough for me to get to hear them break out their famous tune "God Blessed Texas" :-) I tried to get up close and capture a shot, this is my attempt at getting a pic of Little Texas on stage:



I was hoping to get Todd's face painted but alas, the lines for that were just as long as the lines for anything else. So we settled for temporary tattoos. Todd got a happy face sporting a football helmet, and I got a rose. He picked mine out for me :-) Here we are showing off our leg artwork:



We grabbed another quick bite to eat (some fruit, shrimp salad and nachos) before making our way back home. All in all, a very fun day. It helped loads that not only was this event in the evening, but it was nowhere near as hot as it was last year (as you can see by the pic of me and Todd, both clad in our sweaters, brrr!). No potential sunburn or heat exhaustion to contend with. Another memorable summer day! :-)

Don't Kiss Me!

Yesterday Oma was smothering Todd with kisses, as grandmothers are prone to do :-) Todd apparently found this bothersome and complained for her to stop.

"But you're my grandson!" Oma pointed out.

"No!" declared Todd, loudly and forcefully. And then he continued: "I'm Opa's grandson, and Ama-ama's grandson. And Mommy and Daddy's son."

"What about Oma?" asked my mom.

"No!" Todd repeated.

Thinking he was being his usual contrary self, my mom nevertheless inquired further: "Why not?"

"So you won't kiss me!"

Hey-- a logical extension to her assertion that she's kissing him because he's her grandson, right? :-D

Broken Glass

The above picture was taken this past Saturday, and shows the glass sliding door connecting the dining room to the sunroom/backyard. No, your eyes aren't fooling you-- the glass is completely shattered.

Todd was being exceptionally naughty on Saturday morning, so Oma put him outside and shut the sliding door. In frustration, the little man picked up a small magnetic bead and threw it at the glass door. This thing was smaller than a pea, so you wouldn't think something that small could cause that much damage, but apparently the force of it was enough to break the glass. Especially since it was a lot of energy all concentrated on a small surface area. The bead sailed through the glass (if you click on the photo to view it in full size, you can see the hole where it all starts) and caused a ripple effect, cracking the entire pane.

Luckily the door is double-paned, and it was just the outside pane that Todd broke. A few days later it finally all came tumbling to the floor, and my Dad spent the evening picking out the remaining attached glass shards, and sweeping and vacuuming all the tiny pieces up.

What an expensive way to learn a lesson about throwing things, especially at glass windows/doors!

Multilingualism

It's no secret that kids are amazingly adept at picking up languages. In the spirit of that, we're trying to raise Todd with more than one language. So far, he's got 3 of them downpat-- English, Chinese and a Chinese dialect my grandmother speaks. We're attempting to throw German into the mix but everyone is so rusty at it, we keep forgetting and lapsing into our own native tongues. Anyway, Todd speaks solely English with Mommy and Daddy, solely Chinese with Opa, solely Chinese dialect with Ama-ama, and a mix of English and Chinese with Oma.

But it's not just different languages. My parents, having immigrated to the United States when they were in their late 30s, speak English with a noticeable accent. Daddy and I, however, do not. Todd has picked up on the subtle differences in our accents, and speaks in a slightly different accent to Oma than he does to me or Daddy. A good example is the middle "t" in words-- something Americans pronounce as a hard "d": turtle = tur-DLE; water = wa-DER, etc... but my folks pronounce as a soft "t", very much like the British pronunciation.

I can understand firsthand why its natural for him to do so-- I do the same. I use the same accent with my parents that they speak in, but adopt a 100% American accent when speaking to anyone else outside the family. It just seems so unnatural for me to speak with an American accent to my parents, and vice versa. I cannot bring myself to adopt one universal accent for use with everyone.

And now Todd has picked up this same habit. To my mom he'll clamor "I want wa-TER", but to me he'll ask for "wa-DER". It kind of reinforces the notion that my own dual-accent is not a conscious decision.

Fascinating what kids pick up, isn't it!

Sea Turtles and Hitting your head

Todd has recently taken to qualifying the name of his turtle as not just a "turtle" but a "sea turtle". Then one day he extended it to me, and called me "Sea Mommy!"

So naturally I asked: "Does that mean you're Sea Pao-pao?"

"No. I'm just Pao-pao"

:-P

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A few weeks ago, while going out to dinner to bid our friends Steve and Sara farewell as they graduated and moved out of the Geekhouse, Allan parked in one of those low-hanging parking structures in downtown Santa Barbara. At one point he had to hastily duck as the top of his hair grazed a low beam. Todd observed all this and then declared: "I don't want to be tall like Daddy. If I'm tall, I'll hit my head!!"

Smart boy ;-) Luckily the pediatrician assures us he'll cap out at 6'1" or 6'2"

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Yesterday evening I came home to find Todd helping Oma wash the car. He had on a long-sleeved shirt over his T-shirt. When we went inside, I asked for my usual hug and kiss that he gives me when I come home. But this time he refused: "My shirt is wet!"

After helping him out of his wet shirt, I again asked for a hug, and this time he complied, explaining: "I took my shirt off, now I can hug you."

When I asked him why he couldn't hug me before, with his shirt still on, he pointed out: "Because you'll get wet!"

Toddisms in droves

Todd started taking to smacking Daddy around during the trip. His reason? "Because you're so funny!" So Daddy decided to turn the tables on him and smacked his butt for the same reason. To which Todd replied: "No! If I'm funny you don't hit me, you laugh at me!" ... double standards, anyone?

On the way to LAX on the Airbus, Todd learned what air brakes were, as they made noises everytime the driver hit them. At one point we stopped at a traffic light and he observed, much to the driver's amusement: "When you have a red light, you use the air brakes!"

Meeting Molly provide some cute big-brotherisms. I have a clip of video that shows one of them coughing (not clear who exactly), at which point Todd says in his most grownup, authoritative voice: "If you cough you have to cover your mouth with your hand, okay?"

And when her Daddy admonished her to hold her cup with 2 hands to avoid spilling it, he listened intently, then turned to me and repeated: "You have to hold the cup with 2 hands. If you use one hand, the milk will spill!"

Speaking of spillage, when the waitress at the Lockstop Cafe in Ballard, WA spilled soup onto our table as she served it, we all refrained from saying anything... until Todd piped up with the very obvious observation: "She spilled it!"

Last night Oma was telling Todd stories about how she used to style Mommy's hair when Mommy was Todd's age, and how all the pulling caused Mommy to cry. Todd immediately chided Oma: "Don't do that anymore!" and pointed his finger at her, wagging it. He then added: "If you do it again, I am angry! I put you outside and close the door and you cannot get in!" LOL

Finally, he enjoyed a piece of candy after dinner yesterday, but not before Oma pointed out that all that sugar was not good for his teeth. Todd's reply? "But it's good for the tongue!" True enough!

Home sweet home

At long last we are home. And here are the photos:

http://hellykwee.myphotoalbum.com

Enjoy!
:-D