Pics from Talya's 3rd: Happy birthday big girl!

Talya turned 3 on September 14. Three special friends (Quynh, Issac and Serena) joined her for a monkey-themed birthday party, complete with monkey-face cupcakes, do-it-yourself monkey face pizza, pin the tail on the monkey...you get the idea. Among the many cherished presents she got were a brand new bike from Boppa and Lita, clothing from Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh's world travels, and a ballerina outfit from Mommy and Daddy for brand new ballet lessons (which she is loving).

Life is good...

Take somebody's hand.

Nevermind the storm clouds.

Build your dreams.

At Daniel's art show

A summer highlight was Daniel's senior art show (Dan has just graduated from the University of Washington). Boppa, Daddy and I left the deep discussions of art inside the gallery to reflect and cogitate on what we had seen. Art is best pondered in a hammock.

A day at the Lynden Fair

Just south of the border, the city of Lynden hosts the annual Northwest Washington Fair, which is more popularly known as "The Lynden Fair" among locals. Now, Janelle has told me that the county fair is a quintessential rural American experience, which just whetted this city boy's appetite to go. Part of the cultural experience is the food apparently, which will give you a coronary if you eat it all the time (i.e. it is delicious). And that's the very appeal of the fair from the culinary perspective--that $10 ticket is your license to guiltlessly relish gross stuff like corn dogs, chili cheese nachos, elephant ears (fried dough), funnel cakes and plenty of other American culinary wonders. The cultural experience aside, there was a very important reason to go to the county fair this year--Anastacia Tippery (my sister-in-law Liz's youngest sister) was showing her pig Charles along with her projects from her 4H club. Talya adores Anastacia (who wouldn't?) and got to learn a thing or two about raising pigs. Matter of fact, the lucky girl got to see pigs getting born! After all of that education about the farming life, it was time for fun--face painting, roller coasters (mild ones that Talya really enjoyed, albeit Dad's retina felt like it was going to detach again), and the carousel. The photo is blurred but the look of unadulterated joy is priceless.

Mother's Day 2010

Nice to be near enough to celebrate with you all...

saruk boyz

Isaac and Baby Ben are awesome pals. But, for being a baby, Ben is one strong and heavy little guy. As much as I like to hold him, I feel a little overpowered when he tries to chew on my ears. When I sit on my bar stool next to Isaac, I have just the right amount of personal space to keep my pomegranate popsicle to myself.

Art with Anastasia

When you're a firstborn, you never get to be doted on by older brothers and sisters and when you're the baby of the family, you don't get to be the "mature one" who can show the little ones the way. That's why Anastasia (youngest sib of Aunty Libby) is such a cool pal. Talya idealizes everything she does and Anastasia gets to be like a big sister. Pictured is the girls' hands-on art project where Anastasia had some really great ideas about how to use all of the textured materials.

Cousins

We were invited to spend the long Victoria Day weekend on Vancouver Island with my cousin Rubens and his family. Joining us was our mutual cousin Vincent. Rubens, his wife Stacey and baby boy Jordan live in North Vancouver, while Vincent, a lecturer at the National University of Singapore, is completing his PhD in Sociology at the University of Toronto. It was great to reconnect with Vincent, whom I hardly see and am now getting to know as an adult. Thanks to Rubens and Stacey for putting together a superfun weekend!

Food discoveries

Ever the foodies, we drag our daughter around Vancouver and stateside to discover fine dining experiences. Now, daddy's soul food is anything Singaporean/Malaysian/Indonesian, so we were delighted to discover an Indonesian rijsttafel restaurant. Talya evidently shares her parents delight in good food.

The only thing, in our opinion, that Vancouver lacks is good Mexican food--the kind that is served in hole-in-the-wall restaurants and out of food trucks anyplace you have large immigrant Mexican populations. For that, we have to venture to Bellingham, USA, where great dirt cheap Mexican food is available--we're talking burritos the size of babies, traditional sopes, and exquisite pig tripe tacos, served perhaps on cheap plastic Chinese dishware (e.g. pictured above). Daddy had the cow tongue taco; the close-up was blur so I didn't post it (lucky you).

Meet BeeBop

He is a beluga and the mascot of the Vancouver Aquarium. When Talya first met him (this is her second encounter with the thing), he was wearing bunny ears for Easter. Poor girl now has species confusion.

Hands on learning

Boppa loves activities with Talya. Ever the professor, he makes fun educational as well. Here he is giving Talya a lesson about mixing colours. Her attention span is of course short, as reflected in the sequence below.

CHEEEESE!!

Talya doing her best camera smile.

All About Isaac

Since moving to this side of the border, we've felt pretty lucky to have our friends from Wheaton, Graeme and Karla, nearby. Talya and their son, Isaac, met when they were 7 and 3 months old, respectively and have been pretty lucky to get to know each other, too. Since we moved here, they have become very good pals and usually get to spend Fridays together. Talya is the biggest fan of 4 month old, Baby Ben, too.

Making homemade pizza...yum yum!

A winter walk to the farm where we buy our eggs, visiting all of the friendly goats this time.

"C'mon Isaac. Let's not waste any time. There's going to be an Easter Egg hunt (whatever that means!)." Actually, once the kiddies got outside, Isaac developed a super efficient strategy of collecting a basketfull of eggs before opening them up. Talya, on the other hand, was happier to check inside--and sample--each one as she went, not really caring about how many other ones there were to beat Isaac to. It was pretty hilarious to watch.

The best 2 year-old entertainment ever! They could have probably gone hungry watching these guys in action at a very yummy Vancouver noodle house.

Nostalgia

If there can be "good old days" when you're only 2 1/2 years old, that's what these memories are for Talya. We just saw these pics (of the old days when Ami used to take care of Talya and Nora together) for the first time and felt quite nostalgic.

Oh my goodness, Ami! How did you ever get those two bundles of sleep out of the car, through the two locks, four doors, and up the three flights of stairs to each of their cribs?!!! That would take octopus arms!

For the record (below), Talya is still a fan of the aguayo (the colorful Bolivian cloth Ami used to carry her in). Whenever she sees it, she always calls it "Ami's blanket."

Happy Easter 2010

Besides the treat of having Ami with us for Easter, it was an extra special celebration to have a playmate and a visit from the Easter Bunny (aka Uncle Andrew, Aunty Rachel, Lita, and Poppa...between them, some toddler-sized eggs were filled and distributed for Talya and Isaac's hunt). Thanks, family!

"The loot!"

Ami's Visit

We all had a special treat over Easter weekend having Anne Marie ("Ami") with us. Ami was a regular babysitter for Talya and our nextdoor neighbor friend, Nora all of last year and will always have a special place in our hearts. Talya has still been pretending to call Ami on her play phone, talk about her, and draw pictures of her, but finally has had the opportunity to catch Ami up to speed on her new life this side of the border. Between bubble beards in the bath, family sing-a-longs (one of our most polished performances is the ABC song...we'll be selling tickets to our band concerts next year), cookie baking, local walks, and the Vancouver Aquarium, we had a great time reconnecting. Thank you for your visit, Ami!!!

Outside our place with Ami: Talya was on a nap deficit and not very interested in taking this family photo!

On an Easter morning walk, looking at the beautiful Canadian mountains beyond the Fraser River in the immediate foreground.

We didn't quite have Easter-themed cookie cutters, but we came up with some good stories of how the shapes we did use had to do with the Easter story. Circles turned in to eggs, we had a gingerbread man shape that represented the angels and risen Christ, a heart to symbolize God's love, etc...

Staring at the dolphin tank...

Bubble bath beards and tickles...

Push "play" for the concert of your life! (:

Family

Talya is fortunate to have a cousin living in her own town--Jordan, the son of Alex's cousin Rubens and his wife Stacey, who call North Vancouver home. Uncle Rahim and Aunt Maureen are fabulous hosts, and Uncle is quite the gourmet chef/kitchen diva. These pics were taken when grandparents Kwee were in town over Christmas.

Garden Makeover Extravaganza

If you've ever seen "postage stamp" lots, you can imagine our neighborhood well. Long, rectangular houses and detached garages with square patches of grass in between. We like the lower maintenance of a small yard, but it needed some serious work to build character. That's where the men in the Nelson family are uniquely qualified. They seem to love huge piles of dirt, embrace the curvy lines of nature, and have the know-how to transform good ideas for square patches of grass into edible and inviting places of character.

The task has begun...these pictures are compliments of Karla S., featuring the toddler playground created by compost topsoil (more dirt is always a major bonus around 2 year-olds!). Although gardening is always in progress, we did come toward a final product in the landscaping/shrub/fruit tree arena, and we'll post more pics soon.

A Big THANK YOU to Dad and Andrew for all of your help!!!

Mount Baker

If we're going to be this twisted around with our blog-chronology,

why not throw in a piece of last summer in the local mountains?

Talya discovered that her favorite snack (blueberries) grows wild

on a Mount Baker hike shortly after our relocation last summer.

Her numerous blueberry breaks thereafter made it hard

to keep up with the grandparents on this beautiful hike.

In our first full calendar year in this part of the world, we are planning

to reserve more time (and save $) for "staycations" and do some exploring

and enjoying of what the Pacific Northwest has to offer. (:

Christmas 09

Continuing the disjointed chronology of our lives, here's a clip from Christmas. I chose it because it features the namesake of this blog's URL (xana), who has been keeping a low profile here for some time. She is alive and well but somewhat prone to vomiting and dashing out of the house at any opportunity. Fortunately, she doesn't go far. She typically takes a few steps before freezing in her tracks, paralyzed at the prospect of having no hunting skills and toilet facilities to survive in the outside world.

On the Fraser River

We took a walk one misty morning on MacMillan Island near our home. On the muddy banks of the Fraser, this very grey scene is enlivened by the happiness of a pink-clad girl and her mom.