Aug 2006
Family Vacation
Tuesday, August 29 2006 Filed in: Family
Last week Tina and I took Kai and Ben on a family
vacation trip. Cam stayed home to work, he looked
after the house and took care of the dog for us while
we while we were gone.
We really didn't have room in the budget this year for a real vacation, but my sister Kris and her husband Mark invited us to join them and their two boys at a cabin they rented on Priest Lake in northern Idaho. This is a beautiful lake, and while it is becoming more and more popular, there's still a lot of it that is wild and undeveloped. The weather was perfect and the cabin was great; there was lots of room for all of us.
Kai loved going for boat rides with his Uncle Mark and even rode a jet-ski with him!
I will write more about this trip soon, but wanted to get this slideshow online now...
We really didn't have room in the budget this year for a real vacation, but my sister Kris and her husband Mark invited us to join them and their two boys at a cabin they rented on Priest Lake in northern Idaho. This is a beautiful lake, and while it is becoming more and more popular, there's still a lot of it that is wild and undeveloped. The weather was perfect and the cabin was great; there was lots of room for all of us.
Kai loved going for boat rides with his Uncle Mark and even rode a jet-ski with him!
I will write more about this trip soon, but wanted to get this slideshow online now...
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The Fair
Sunday, August 20 2006 Filed in: HuiHui
Updates
Just north of Bellingham, almost right on the
Canadian border, is a pretty little town called
Lynden. Every August Lynden hosts the Northwest
Washington Fair.
Going to the fair is a tradition in our family. Ben's birthday is almost always during "fair week". In fact Tina and I went to the fair with her parents 16 years ago the night before Ben was born!
We used to love taking our big boys to see all the animals and exhibits when they were little, but as they grew up they would leave us behind to spend their time on the midway and the carnival rides. This year was a bit of a flashback for Tina and me as we once again had a little guy in overalls to visit all the animals with! Here's a little slideshow of Kai's first visit to the fair...
Going to the fair is a tradition in our family. Ben's birthday is almost always during "fair week". In fact Tina and I went to the fair with her parents 16 years ago the night before Ben was born!
We used to love taking our big boys to see all the animals and exhibits when they were little, but as they grew up they would leave us behind to spend their time on the midway and the carnival rides. This year was a bit of a flashback for Tina and me as we once again had a little guy in overalls to visit all the animals with! Here's a little slideshow of Kai's first visit to the fair...
Baba's Car
Sunday, August 06 2006 Filed in: HuiHui
Updates
We have two cars, a 94 Caravan and a 99 Beetle. Kai's car-seat stays in the Caravan. This is the only one of our cars he has ridden in. The Bug is my little commuter. And I do mean "little"; I live less than 3 miles from work. Kai loves the Bug. Since I'm the one who mainly drives it he calls it "Baba's Car".
Last week I took the Caravan in for service on Friday, so we moved the car-seat into the Bug and Tina had it for the day. It had gotten pretty dirty so I washed it the night before and invited Kai to help me. Washing things is one of his very favorite activities so this was pure heaven for him. We have kept the car-seat in the Bug for now and have traded cars for a bit. Kai is quite pleased about this and talks about Baba's car a lot. He is VERY pleased to be getting to ride in it finally.
How Do You Sleep?
Tuesday, August 01 2006 Filed in: HuiHui
Updates
Pretty well lately.
Kai has been in his own bedroom for couple months now. When we came home from China we had his crib in our room. At first we left some space between it and our bed, but found that Kai woke most nights and needed some comforting to go back to sleep. So we pushed the crib right up against Tina’s side of the bed and lowered the side. This made a little “half-wall” between us and him, and was a nice compromise to co-sleeping with him. He could crawl in with us when he wanted, and we could put him back in the crib when we tired of fighting him over the blankets.
When we first came home with him we tried to rock him to sleep, or cuddle and sing to him in our bed tell he dozed off before putting him in the crib. He began fighting this though, and we found he did better if we put him in his crib awake and let him go to sleep on his own (like he would have at the S.W.I.). In time his typical bedtime routine evolved into joining me on the big bed for stories, then we’d turn off the light and he would climb into his crib. Then I would sing a few lullabies before saying goodnight. I would leave the bedroom door open so he could hear us out in the living room, and he would go to sleep on his own. When we came back in later to go to bed ourselves, we could have the lights on low and talk, brush our teeth, etc. and it never bothered him.
After a while his night wakings diminished. He would sleep through till early morning, then crawl in with us to cuddle a while before getting up. Once this pattern seemed established we decided to try moving him into his own room. The room we have for him is right off the living room by the front door and has a twin bed in it. We initially tried putting him in the twin. It’s against the wall and we got a side-rail to put on it. We left the crib in our room just in case. The first night was a bit too hard on us though. He went right to sleep like normal, but when it was time for us to turn in I couldn’t take it. What if he wakes up and worries that we aren’t there? I caved, and scooped him out of the bed and carried him down the hall to the crib in our room. The next morning I had to go to work early and left before he woke up. When he did wake he was confused to find himself back in our room. He was actually bummed about it. So Tina moved the crib out and put it next to the twin bed in his room. He’s been in there ever since. He still wakes up some nights, usually around 4:00 AM, and will come down the hall to our room. When he does we bring him into bed with us and he goes back to sleep. But more and more now he’s sleeping through in his own room. We plan on transitioning him to the twin eventually, but he loves his cozy crib, and he likes having his own room too.
Kai has been in his own bedroom for couple months now. When we came home from China we had his crib in our room. At first we left some space between it and our bed, but found that Kai woke most nights and needed some comforting to go back to sleep. So we pushed the crib right up against Tina’s side of the bed and lowered the side. This made a little “half-wall” between us and him, and was a nice compromise to co-sleeping with him. He could crawl in with us when he wanted, and we could put him back in the crib when we tired of fighting him over the blankets.
When we first came home with him we tried to rock him to sleep, or cuddle and sing to him in our bed tell he dozed off before putting him in the crib. He began fighting this though, and we found he did better if we put him in his crib awake and let him go to sleep on his own (like he would have at the S.W.I.). In time his typical bedtime routine evolved into joining me on the big bed for stories, then we’d turn off the light and he would climb into his crib. Then I would sing a few lullabies before saying goodnight. I would leave the bedroom door open so he could hear us out in the living room, and he would go to sleep on his own. When we came back in later to go to bed ourselves, we could have the lights on low and talk, brush our teeth, etc. and it never bothered him.
After a while his night wakings diminished. He would sleep through till early morning, then crawl in with us to cuddle a while before getting up. Once this pattern seemed established we decided to try moving him into his own room. The room we have for him is right off the living room by the front door and has a twin bed in it. We initially tried putting him in the twin. It’s against the wall and we got a side-rail to put on it. We left the crib in our room just in case. The first night was a bit too hard on us though. He went right to sleep like normal, but when it was time for us to turn in I couldn’t take it. What if he wakes up and worries that we aren’t there? I caved, and scooped him out of the bed and carried him down the hall to the crib in our room. The next morning I had to go to work early and left before he woke up. When he did wake he was confused to find himself back in our room. He was actually bummed about it. So Tina moved the crib out and put it next to the twin bed in his room. He’s been in there ever since. He still wakes up some nights, usually around 4:00 AM, and will come down the hall to our room. When he does we bring him into bed with us and he goes back to sleep. But more and more now he’s sleeping through in his own room. We plan on transitioning him to the twin eventually, but he loves his cozy crib, and he likes having his own room too.