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| Ferrari 488 Spider |
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| Mercedes AMG GT S |
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| Mercedes-Benz G550 4x4 Squared - Not a sports but a rare find. |
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Counting sports cars
Jackson has been enamored with sports cars lately and has taken to counting how many he sees each day. On a good weekend day, he will often spot more than 50. Last weekend, we took a little side trip to a parking lot that often has fancy cars. We weren't disappointed!
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Norah's birthday weekend
We had a fun filled weekend for Norah's 2nd birthday. We had Chloe, Bruno and Emma over for the weekend. Marshall and Kelly also stopped over. It was filled with family, friends, tennis, birthday party, an outdoor brunch and the Dallas' mandatory Arboretum photography trip!
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| Three kids played so well like fish to water. |
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| Norah showing Grandpa her MONSTER face. Be afraid, be very afraid... |
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| Norah on her birthday throne, she was so proud! |
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| One of the many photos that none of them looked at the camera. :-D |
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| We got our family portrait! Thanks, Chloe and Bruno! |
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| Our funny, spectacular girl (in train to be classy ;-)) |
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Monday, September 11, 2017
The @#$%& Jackson does
At our tonight's bedtime routine, Jackson forgot to drink milk while reading stories. Jackson was drinking while I waited him laying on the bed. He joined me laying down. His straw was sucking air instead of milk.
Mommy: Silly, you can't drink milk laying down.
Jackson thought for a second and turned on his belly. And he proudly finished drinking milk laying down.
Tonight's book was about a group of chickens living happily near Versailles. There are the protagonists who are a pair of big brother and little sister. And there are a few naughty chickens as their friends. Jackson always looks for those naughty chickens in each drawing. (He likes them)
After story time, Mommy: Are there naughty chickens in your class?
Jackson: No. We don't have naughty chickens.
Mommy: Okay.
Jackson: Well, naughty chickens stay in the middle at our class. They don't get to be line leader or caboose.
Mommy: Are you sometimes line leader or caboose?
Jackson looked at me: No, mama. I am in the middle.
Mommy: Silly, you can't drink milk laying down.
Jackson thought for a second and turned on his belly. And he proudly finished drinking milk laying down.
Tonight's book was about a group of chickens living happily near Versailles. There are the protagonists who are a pair of big brother and little sister. And there are a few naughty chickens as their friends. Jackson always looks for those naughty chickens in each drawing. (He likes them)
After story time, Mommy: Are there naughty chickens in your class?
Jackson: No. We don't have naughty chickens.
Mommy: Okay.
Jackson: Well, naughty chickens stay in the middle at our class. They don't get to be line leader or caboose.
Mommy: Are you sometimes line leader or caboose?
Jackson looked at me: No, mama. I am in the middle.
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Norah is a big girl
Norah grew a lot in her language ability the last few weeks.
She calls "my turn" when we are talking. She told me yesterday after school that she got time out for coloring on the table. She told us that there were buses out of her window on our drive to Texins today.
She tries hard to catch up with Jackson. She insisted on buckling herself on car seats and high chairs. Jackson started buckling himself from 3.5 years old. Everything to her is "Norah do it!" "Norah did it!" "Look! Look! I did it!".
She has a different approach than Jackson's when she gets in trouble. One day last week when I picked her up, she was in time out for climbing the table. Teacher told me she giggled and swayed her body when got called out for bad behavior. And she said "you are funny! Norah is funny!" to distract teacher from giving her time out.
She calls "my turn" when we are talking. She told me yesterday after school that she got time out for coloring on the table. She told us that there were buses out of her window on our drive to Texins today.
She tries hard to catch up with Jackson. She insisted on buckling herself on car seats and high chairs. Jackson started buckling himself from 3.5 years old. Everything to her is "Norah do it!" "Norah did it!" "Look! Look! I did it!".
She has a different approach than Jackson's when she gets in trouble. One day last week when I picked her up, she was in time out for climbing the table. Teacher told me she giggled and swayed her body when got called out for bad behavior. And she said "you are funny! Norah is funny!" to distract teacher from giving her time out.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
The @#$%& Norah does
Yesterday Norah stayed at home because a low fever. I gave her Playdoh and a plastic knife to play. She accidentally scratched her neck with the plastic knife.
Norah pointing to her neck: Gege (Jackson) bit me! Here!
Mommy: But he is not even here!
Norah looked very certain: Gege bit me here!
She has developed a defensive mechanism towards Jackson. It's "Gege Stop!" "Gege timeout!" "No! Gege!" by default.
* Gege means big brother in Chinese.
Norah pointing to her neck: Gege (Jackson) bit me! Here!
Mommy: But he is not even here!
Norah looked very certain: Gege bit me here!
She has developed a defensive mechanism towards Jackson. It's "Gege Stop!" "Gege timeout!" "No! Gege!" by default.
* Gege means big brother in Chinese.
Monday, August 21, 2017
To the San Juan Mountains 2017
Our family had another great summer week in the San Juan Mountains!
We met up with Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa at the airport on Sunday. They just came back from Cousin Ben's wedding in Nashville. Flight was short and pleasant -- Jackson loved his videos on iPad and Norah enjoyed attention from all the adults.
We got the same setup as last year at Ouray KOA. It felt like home when we saw the familiar decor of the cabin, the creek by our front deck and the mountains near the campground.
Monday we hiked the Ouray perimeter trail to a small waterfall and a troll bridge. It's a little too steep and rocky for Norah. Jackson did great again and was the line leader for our hiking group. Norah didn't like to be carried since big brother wasn't carried. After nap, we did a mine tour in Bachelor Gulch. It's a 45 minutes tour with a hike in the mine. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and shared with us some disturbing facts of miners's working and living conditions back then. Jackson was focused the whole duration. Norah lost interest half way and Mother/daughter team did some gold panning in the nearby creek.
Tuesday we went to check out Ouray hot spring together. It is setup perfect for kids. Most of the open area are 3ft deep and water is just bath water warmth. After nap, we checked out the house we are going to rent for next year. KOA is so popular that the cabin we wanted are already sold out next August! We are going to change it to VRBO living next year and see how we like it. And we started our fire to make S'more! Jackson was so focused making his S'more and he had two. He had sugar high that night and couldn't sleep well but it was worth it for him. He tells daddy before bedtime that he will dream of deer and campfire.
Wednesday I went to Orvis hot spring by myself and the rest of the gang went jeeping. Orvis is a cloth optional hot spring. I overcame my fear of seeing nudity with my love of hot spring. This place is wonderful, with 7 different pools in a garden setting. The lobster pool is 112-114 degrees. I was able to get in there at the end of the day. My favorite is the main pool. It was under cleaning during the day since Orvis cleans every other Wednesday. I went back after dinner. The lights were dark and the main pool is very big. I didn't even notice much nudity around me and I saw the sun slowly sets behind the tall mountains. It was an unique experience and I will definitely go back next year. Everyone on the trail also had great time. Jackson says he will dream of mountain and jeeps.
Thursday Will and I got to go hike the famous Ice Lake Trail while grandparents took care of the kids. It was 7 miles round trip in high elevation. It started from Clear Lake Jeep Trail that we came last year. Ever from the start, the trail showed us spectacular view in every angle. Waterfalls surrounds us, creeks cut through the wide flower filled marsh, rock forms like mighty cathedrals only magnitudes larger. It was also a high elevation gain trail, we kept climbing till at the end, we spotted this magical blue lake. We continued climbing following a nice lady's direction to Island Lake and then join the trail down in the basin. Island lake looks like a place that could harbor it's own lake monster. There are also weird shaped boulders under the milky blue water. We continued on a not very clear path, felt more like an adventure now since we didn't read about this trail. There were nobody else on it. Actually even later I search for this trail description, it couldn't be found anywhere. But eventually the path got more clear and we got back to the main trail. This hike is a truly memorable one.
We rented Opal Friday and Saturday and went jeeping Corkscrew Gulch to Hurricane pass to Silverton. We found the sheep near where they were last year and two kids enjoyed seeing them covering the side of the mountain. We made a stop at Silverton ski resort and Silverton train track on the way back around 3pm. And we saw the train came back to pick up its passenger. What a treat! On our way back, we spotted Grandma and her jeep on the side of the road. We thought Grandpa was on a bio-stop and sneaked behind Grandma to surprise her. It turns out their jeep was broken. Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa drove a trailer with jeep to Montrose to their mechanic.
Saturday we went to Yankee Boy Basin with Opal. We also made stops at Governor basin and Sidney Basin. This trail is one of my favorite because of the open view and wide flowers and easy access to side hiking trails. Also it is the end of Blue Lake Trail, the one we would like to try next year. We had our lunch in Sidney basin near the big boulders. Jackson loved climbing the big rocks. We made the same stop at Yankee Boy Basin's small lake as last year. It was also challenging hiking a short distance at that high elevation to the Blue Lake ridge.
Sunday we hiked the Ouray Perimeter trail again to the tunnel and box canyons. And followed by ice cream after nap, s'more after dinner, our vacation is beautifully wrapped up. We are already planing to come back. In between, let's dream of deer, jeep, mountains and campfires!
We met up with Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa at the airport on Sunday. They just came back from Cousin Ben's wedding in Nashville. Flight was short and pleasant -- Jackson loved his videos on iPad and Norah enjoyed attention from all the adults.
We got the same setup as last year at Ouray KOA. It felt like home when we saw the familiar decor of the cabin, the creek by our front deck and the mountains near the campground.
Monday we hiked the Ouray perimeter trail to a small waterfall and a troll bridge. It's a little too steep and rocky for Norah. Jackson did great again and was the line leader for our hiking group. Norah didn't like to be carried since big brother wasn't carried. After nap, we did a mine tour in Bachelor Gulch. It's a 45 minutes tour with a hike in the mine. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and shared with us some disturbing facts of miners's working and living conditions back then. Jackson was focused the whole duration. Norah lost interest half way and Mother/daughter team did some gold panning in the nearby creek.
Tuesday we went to check out Ouray hot spring together. It is setup perfect for kids. Most of the open area are 3ft deep and water is just bath water warmth. After nap, we checked out the house we are going to rent for next year. KOA is so popular that the cabin we wanted are already sold out next August! We are going to change it to VRBO living next year and see how we like it. And we started our fire to make S'more! Jackson was so focused making his S'more and he had two. He had sugar high that night and couldn't sleep well but it was worth it for him. He tells daddy before bedtime that he will dream of deer and campfire.
Wednesday I went to Orvis hot spring by myself and the rest of the gang went jeeping. Orvis is a cloth optional hot spring. I overcame my fear of seeing nudity with my love of hot spring. This place is wonderful, with 7 different pools in a garden setting. The lobster pool is 112-114 degrees. I was able to get in there at the end of the day. My favorite is the main pool. It was under cleaning during the day since Orvis cleans every other Wednesday. I went back after dinner. The lights were dark and the main pool is very big. I didn't even notice much nudity around me and I saw the sun slowly sets behind the tall mountains. It was an unique experience and I will definitely go back next year. Everyone on the trail also had great time. Jackson says he will dream of mountain and jeeps.
Thursday Will and I got to go hike the famous Ice Lake Trail while grandparents took care of the kids. It was 7 miles round trip in high elevation. It started from Clear Lake Jeep Trail that we came last year. Ever from the start, the trail showed us spectacular view in every angle. Waterfalls surrounds us, creeks cut through the wide flower filled marsh, rock forms like mighty cathedrals only magnitudes larger. It was also a high elevation gain trail, we kept climbing till at the end, we spotted this magical blue lake. We continued climbing following a nice lady's direction to Island Lake and then join the trail down in the basin. Island lake looks like a place that could harbor it's own lake monster. There are also weird shaped boulders under the milky blue water. We continued on a not very clear path, felt more like an adventure now since we didn't read about this trail. There were nobody else on it. Actually even later I search for this trail description, it couldn't be found anywhere. But eventually the path got more clear and we got back to the main trail. This hike is a truly memorable one.
We rented Opal Friday and Saturday and went jeeping Corkscrew Gulch to Hurricane pass to Silverton. We found the sheep near where they were last year and two kids enjoyed seeing them covering the side of the mountain. We made a stop at Silverton ski resort and Silverton train track on the way back around 3pm. And we saw the train came back to pick up its passenger. What a treat! On our way back, we spotted Grandma and her jeep on the side of the road. We thought Grandpa was on a bio-stop and sneaked behind Grandma to surprise her. It turns out their jeep was broken. Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa drove a trailer with jeep to Montrose to their mechanic.
Saturday we went to Yankee Boy Basin with Opal. We also made stops at Governor basin and Sidney Basin. This trail is one of my favorite because of the open view and wide flowers and easy access to side hiking trails. Also it is the end of Blue Lake Trail, the one we would like to try next year. We had our lunch in Sidney basin near the big boulders. Jackson loved climbing the big rocks. We made the same stop at Yankee Boy Basin's small lake as last year. It was also challenging hiking a short distance at that high elevation to the Blue Lake ridge.
Sunday we hiked the Ouray Perimeter trail again to the tunnel and box canyons. And followed by ice cream after nap, s'more after dinner, our vacation is beautifully wrapped up. We are already planing to come back. In between, let's dream of deer, jeep, mountains and campfires!
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