More surprises for Hunt!

Remember Hunter's surprise birthday party last year? It was surprising because it was so early. This one was surprising because it was a bit late, but great fun nonetheless. Hunter does an English corner at one of the nearby colleges on Monday nights and the students wanted to express their appreciation by throwing him a party. They went all out. (Photo above: us with our language teacher, Christina.)

Archie enjoyed the cake. He also enjoyed feeding some to Diana, one of his favorite aunties!

Beautiful cake!

The games were fun for all!

But, Archie's favorite game is running through the rather strange shaped conference table. He could chase balloons in there all day!

Thanks for a great party!

Random funny pictures

I think we've got a little computer scientist on our hands. He's come a long way from his Computer Baby days. Note: he can use both the mouse and keyboard. We must keep our bedroom door locked at all times or Archie scampers in, climbs into the chair and goes to work. (Sometimes keys get popped loose in the process.)


I found Archie sleeping with his rear end stuck up the other day. So cute, but I wasn't quite quick enough with the camera to capture it. You get a bleary eyed baby instead who wasn't fully appreciate of being woken up by a flash. Guess I can't blame him!


What's funny about this? To celebrate a local holiday, Hunter had to go with a bunch of teachers from our school to a park to plant trees. (There were about 1000 teachers there.) Afterward, he got a radio interview with a local station. No, he wasn't speaking English there!

Pizza Party Fun!

I feel like I've come a long way since opening my East Asia Pizza Kitchen one wintry February day. (And Archie has also developed quite a love for the stuff.) I have now hosted two pizza parties, which were fun for all. I am getting good at delegating pizza and pasta making tasks ranging from chopping veggies to frying veggies to rolling out dough to that not-so-fun task of dish washing.

Party #1

Party #2
A small sampling of the food we ate at Party #2. We all used chopsticks to eat the pasta (not pictured). Yes, those are deviled eggs. Who says you can't eat deviled eggs with pizza? One of these pizzas was topped with strawberries by request of the attendees. Yes, it was my first time eating strawberry pizza, but it was pretty good - especially for a Hawaiian pizza lover like me.

Oympic Archie

When I got home from Beijing, Archie stared at me for a few minutes before accepting that I was, in fact, his Mama and that I still loved him. A few hours later, I was so sad when he smashed his finger and went to Daddy for comfort instead of me. He's fully recovered from the separation now, though, and I made some pics of him modeling his Beijing Olympics t-shirt.

This is why I can't make good pics of Archie anymore. He's a moving target!




Archie's thoughts: "Yes, the shoot is finally over so I'm free to run!" Believe me, he's fast!

Beijing sign fun and other stories

I must confess I was expecting to see perfect English on the signs at the Olympic park. However, I ended up getting my usual laugh in. In case you can't see, I'll post a few favorites.

1. Please do not bring the dangerous materails into the park. No smoking and making a fire in the open air.
5. Please look after your elderly, children and private belongs.
8. Please cooperaterstaff's work...

The English translation of this sign might be funny, but the Chinese is great! It's a cute little rhyme about taking care of the smiling grass. (It makes a lot more sense in Chinese.)

This is not a sign, but I thought it was pretty funny. While I am accustomed to seeing people making wedding photos outside in parks, I am pretty sure these folks were shooting advertisements for a tennis shoe company. There were tons of brides and grooms in tennies.

What else did I do in Beijing? Probably the other biggest cultural highlight was the Beijing Acrobats show. I could not believe what those people could do with their bodies, and I never dreamed 12 girls could ride one bike! I also had fun shopping for a few import groceries to bring home (Gatorade, Almond Joys and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups), and shopping for a Beijing t-shirt for Archie.

Touring the Bird's Nest

I recently had the opportunity to go to Beijing. Among other exciting things, I got to tour the Bird's Nest (Olympic Stadium) and water cube. Of course, Hunter jokes with me that my favorite thing about the trip was getting a three day break from baby care. You will probably never see so many pictures in a post just featuring me. However, since Hunt and Archie weren't with me, pics of me (with Grace inside, of course) are all you get this time :)



Do you know these guys? I mean the Olympic mascots. It's impossible to live in Asia and not know them by name, but I was talking to some Americans at the Bird's Nest and was shocked to find they had never seen them. Their names are really cute. Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huang Huang, Ying Ying, Ni Ni. (This means Beijing welcomes you.)


Here's the water cube!

Happy Mother's Day!

Archie made sure my second Mother's Day was a special one. When he whispered to Dad that he wanted to buy me some flowers, Hunt happily took him to the store. Afterward, Daddy took us both out for ice cream. Don't you like their matching clothes?

Baby's first haircut!

If you remember my haircut experience, you may be able to more clearly understand why we delayed until Archie's 19.5 month b'day to introduce him to the world of professional haircuts. (Yes, I have trimmed it a time or two myself with less than desirable results.) We purposely chose one of the only shops in our area that doesn't blare rock 'n' roll from the speakers and is relatively quiet. He did quite well, and the hairdresser assured us he cried less than the last baby she'd seen!

Afterward, he played in the chair by the sink. (You can check out the final haircut product in this pic, too.)
Haircuts are great fun for the whole family!
Dad even got one. (I've been steering clear of haircuts here since my last experience :)

Introducing Grace and funny sayings

We've finally decided on a baby name! Our little girl will be...

Grace Virginia (called Grace)

Since this may not be the most exciting post in the world, I thought I'd share a random, funny Archie saying. He has FINALLY started associating a few (very few) words with meaning. (I am still not sure Mama is one of them.) He is CRAZY about dogs and now hollers the local word every time he sees one. Unfortunately, he thinks dog is a general word to describe all animals and had a lot of trouble understanding why we were calling the little kitty we ran into yesterday cat instead of dog.

Random playtime pictures!

When Archie saw Daddy putting on his running shoes to go out and exercise the other morning, he brought me his shoes so he could go out for an early morning romp, too! While we were out, our neighbors set off to take their son to preschool. Archie totally idolizes his now four-year-old "older brother" and watched from the gate as he disappeared down the road. He really wanted to go to school, too.

I think Archie looks a little like he wants to be a model in this pic. Thanks Memaw and Papa for the cute outfit!
Archie enjoyed a few of the outdoor toys in our garden. Adults use the one below for exercise.


Archie was disappointed when it was time to go in!

Another walk down Center Street

Remember our walk down Center Street last year? Now that Archie is old enough to enjoy it a little more (especially the part by the river), come take another walk with us. This post is a bit out of sequence as the actual date of our walk was April 6. (We had the day off for the Tomb Sweeping holiday, but I think there were more people out playing than sweeping tombs!) You can tell from the pics that the weather had warmed up a lot and parts of the river were even starting to thaw!


I think the highlight of Archie's day was the pink bunny balloon. Although Hunter and I had already decided not to buy Archie any of the toys the peddlers were peddling, we were awfully glad when a nice college student gave this to Archie because it kept him entertained all afternoon and for several days thereafter. (It also served as a nice decoration at our Easter party.) We think we might spring for a balloon next time!

Another highlight was all the kids. Archie found plenty of little playmates while we were out.


This little boy was even nice enough to let Archie have a turn on his riding toy.

The little boy in the white cap below was really funny! Although he was a month younger than Archie and therefore a "little brother" his verbal skills were a little more advanced. When it was time to go and we put Archie in the stroller, he started to cry. The little boy continually comforted him by saying, "Don't cry, don't cry - bie ku, bie ku!"

Archie's preferred mode of transportation down the street - foot!

Most popular activity of the day? Kite flying! Maybe when Archie's older we'll try it, too!