Sunny Ray

September/October update

2011-10-31T09:38:00.001-07:00

It has been more than two months since Ray started elementary school.
We had our first parent teacher meeting on 10/10. The feedback was great. Mom and dad got a chance to see Ray's work in school. We knew those homework but there were a lot of in-school works we didn't see.
Ray's reading made so much progress. Belli, Nanthan, and Ray formed a small reading club. There were two weekly assignments for them. Ray seems to enjoy school life very much. Ordering his own lunch in school kitchen is an exciting thing to him.
Ray made a pal with another Ray in grade three. We knew it through the interview notes they made.
Chess club has been going well, thanks to dad's insistence to Ray's finishing chess worksheet.
Swimming was going very strong. We joined in YMCA for in-door swimming as weather in Austin finally started cooling down. There was a swimming team for older kids in YMCA. Ray should be qualified for making a team. Right now, dad still enjoys and is confident with being Ray's coach. Average three practices per week. Ten laps for 25 yards pool per practices. Butterfly arm is out of water now. We just bought a pair of flippers for kicking practices. Ray's breathing manage was fairly good. His heart rate was just moderate after a full lap. He is ready for having more laps. The motivation for weekday swimming was ipod touch game on the way plus hot chocolate in YMCA. Weekends waterscape is attractive enough for Ray and Tony. BTW, Tony passed adult pool swimming test as well. He is so proud that he has his own little green rubber band.
Violin class set our Saturday schedule. Tony managed to be his company sitting in the same classroom. Mom did a great job for weekday small private class and parent orchestra. Hanging around UT feels great.
Sunday morning soccer game really boosted up Ray's confidence in team sports. We registered Ray into a basketball team in YMCA for this coming spring.
Ray got a WII for his birthday. Honestly, WII really needs some changes to be competitive.
OK. When school started, life is getting a little busier.

Twin wish

2011-09-06T13:44:00.001-07:00

Ray talked to mom in private.
"I wish Tony and I are twins", Ray said.
"Why?"
"So we can do everything together." Ray wished.
Certainly Ray wasn't thinking about he would lose half of toy fights.

Remind which guy in Dragon ball?

2011-09-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

Answer: Go-ku.

A fresh K-student

2011-09-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Ray has been in Brushy Creek Elementary Kindergarten for two weeks. He liked it a lot. It was quite a bit change for everyone's life.
The first day was something. Everyone woke up at 6:40am and left house at 7:15am. We walked to school as it was just two blocks away. Our neighbor kids are taking photos in front of their doors. A tradition for the start of every school year.
We walked to school and sent Ray to his classroom. Starting from tomorrow, Ray will stay in cafeteria first, then the whole class walked into their classroom altogether.
Ray got a straight 'super' stickers in his home communication folder from his teacher.Each sticker means a kid has a good day in school.
Dad was greeted by another teacher passing by in a morning with 'You got a very smart boy'. Dad thought that was an equivalent to 'Good morning' in school. But he still asked Ray.
"Do you know her?"
"Yes, she asked me a lot of questions. I got most of them right. A few of them wrong. She said I did a good job."
"OK. Way to go."
Mom and Dad managed to keep half hour swimming daily for Ray and Tony. We need to make sure Ray goes to his bed before 9:00pm. So it is a little tight. Ray's teacher, Ms. Taylor has started assigning some books for reading. Ray was a little pumped up by it. Dad gave Ray a notebook to write down the names of the books he finished up. That night he inked five book names in it. The next two nights, zero. It is pretty much a tiger head, snake tail. But we have to admit that Ray's interest in reading growed a lot. Ray made a friend, Nathan on the first day. Ray said he played a lot with him. We met Nathan's family at Waterloo icy house in a family gathering organized by school parent teacher association (PTA). Nathan's parents said Nathan was very excited that Ray's in his class too. Good to have some friends around.
Austin is still three digits hot. Dad is so glad to find out Brushy creek has a indoor gym for P. E. class. Somehow it wasn't shown to us in the school tour night.
One thing worth mentioning is Ray's violin lesson is about to start. Mom and dad already had training on Suzuki method. What is amazing is that the philosophy of Dr. Suzuki fits dad's pretty well, kinda contradicting to mom's. So...well, let's talk about something else.
Ray's free style is almost there. Butterfly is the lst one to conquer.
Here are the goals for this school year we noted down in the school communication letter,
1. Get into Nitro swimming team (require four swimming styles, but we are almost there)
2. Develop a good interest in violin (Might be tough, as Ray has already been talking about playing instrument is boring and it is not necessary for every kid)
3. Have a happy and productive Kindergarten year!

Antie Clare's community Sugar Land

2011-07-31T14:54:00.000-07:00

Houston zoo 2

2011-07-31T14:52:00.000-07:00

Houston zoo

2011-07-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

Aaron back in town

2011-07-17T23:11:00.002-07:00

Olson Meadow Park and an update for last month

2011-07-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my blog was updated last time. Too much has been going on that dad couldn't squeeze enough time for it. Our Olson meadow park just renovated soccer fields. It looks awesome.
OK. Let's start from Ray's swimming. We are so spoiled with Texas summer warm pool water, which essentially feels like a spa. We almost go swimming every day. Ray's breast stroke is fairly competitive now. Free style is still a little bit struggling. Back stroke comes naturally. Butterfly scratches a little surface. Every day, four laps of breast stroke, four laps of free style, one lap of back stroke, one lap of butterfly. Then it is play time. Let's see if Ray could join Nitro team this fall. It requires all four styles passes.
Sunday soccer is going strong. Coach Gang Li relocated back to China for a job change. But the system he created is still functioning well. We got big player Daniel, who really spiced up our game. Now it is really competitive and hard to score.
Our turtle passed away. She has been sick for a while. We could tell from her behavior change. She was not interested in food any more. She was buried in our backyard.
To reward Ray's excellent soccer field performance, dad took Ray to a creek to catch some fish. Actually the reward came ad hoc, right after the game, so we didn't have any tools prepared. Dad managed to catch a little mellow with his bare hands and settled it in a disposable water bottle. Be specific, Tony's water bottle. Ray caught a tadpole with that bottle, purely with unbelievable luck. It sounded like a perfect ending. Here came Tony, who had to hold his bottle as it is HIS bottle. Then here came Ray: You can hold your bottle, but you can not watch my fish. Wow, it sounded so familiar with Ba Yi Baron and Afanti story.
Ray has been doing great in his Kindergarden class. Teacher said Ray was one of the few kids who had a smooth transition to K-class. Ray often bragged at home that he and someone were the only kids who earned free play time today. Well, he must be doing all right.
Tony really hated nap time, which could be as bas as an excuse that he didn't want to go school. These days, we couldn't be late for school as Ray's K-teacher put a big sign in front door to show CLASS STARTS AT 8:30AM. ON TIME. Every morning it is a little bit rushing. Tony became a real piece of work every morning these days.
Aaron came back in town. Big deal. We need to address this respectively.
Ray started having field trips in this K-class. One time to cedar creek zoo. Twice swimming in an elementary school per week. Mom was fortunate to be the only parent accompanying them to zoo with teachers. It was a great trip.
Somehow Pokemon came back to Ray's life as a key note. It has something to do with Aaron's return.
Oh, well. Another big news was Ray was admitted by UT kids string program. Ray was put into waiting list since he was a few months old. Now we got in. Tony might be in at an earlier age thanks to be Ray's sibling. We can either choose cello or violin. As popular as violin is, we can not say no to it. This is an outstanding programm. It is lucky to be part of it. Well, this also put an end on our route to piano.
The fig tree in our neighbor's backyard is quite a grower. It started having serious fruiting this year. The figs falling down to the ground were completely ripen and tasted so well, if you could get them before ants and birds.
Overall, it is a busy summer start. Oh, my, how many days more than 100? Just a summer start?

Schlitterbahn award

2011-06-14T09:48:00.001-07:00

Ray received his award for performing on stage. Tony took a free ride in both performing and playing in Schlitterbahn.
Ray can enjoy almost every adventure over there. Tony kept awake till 7:30pm to take his nap.
This summer is hot and dry. The sun is pretty active this year. We go swimming almost every day. Ray made some remarkable progress on his frog style. Tony can pretty much be on his own in the pool. Dad's new half hour swimming practice and half hour whatever water fun policy worked out pretty well.
To save some time in weekdays, we bought a 10 feet diameter inflatable water tank and set it up in our back yard. When dad got home late, we don't have to go to community pool for water fun.

Pre-enter Kindergarden

2011-06-02T10:59:00.001-07:00

BCMS started an elementary class this summer. Ray joined this first class.
After the first day, mom asked Ray how he likes the school. Ray said he liked it because he could take more challenging works.
Ray made some progress on swimming. Frog style started looking like frog style now.

Summer is here

2011-05-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

Ray almost got all full scores in parent teacher meeting. The only thing seems to need to improve is getting school on time, which certainly was mom and dad's fault. There are a lot of compliments on how Ray did in school. Pretty much like a perfect role model. Dad and mom never got such a compliment in their childhoods. Way to go!
We started shopping a piano for Ray but no result came yet.
Ray's soccer game was getting more and more intense and so was the fun.
We got a new 18" bike for Ray as the old 16" was broken.
We made a trip to Houston to visit Auntie Clare and see their newly-purchased house. It was a great neighborhood. We visited Houston zoo and had a good evening family soccer game in Auntie's neighborhood soccer field. Now we don't need to worry about disturbing anyone while we played Kinec in Auntie's house.

Color sense

2011-04-11T23:49:00.001-07:00

Ray and Tony were playing games at home. They were pretending being Santa's as they were having Christmas hats on.
Then Ray made a comment to Mom and Dad:"I am the Santa. Tony is a Brown Santa." Ray certainly did not miss the fact Tony has a darker skin like dad. So Tony is crowned as a brown Santa.

Barton creek trail hiking

2011-04-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

Mom was the photographer.

Barton spring creek trail

2011-04-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

It was spring so mom decided to have a hiking for whole family. Dad convinced mom to take someplace close. So we ended up with someplace really close. It was right next to dad's office. Barton spring creek trail. Tony and Ray pretty much finished hiking themselves from 360 car access to Gus Frue car access. Tony needed a little help. We saw a bunch of people doing cliff climbing along the way. And there was no water but a dried up creekbed. Then it came dad's turn to get car for everyone at Gus Frue car access. Dad's calculation was it would take less than half hour to get it as it was only 3 miles to get back to the car from street. Well, big mistake! Huge! First of all, it was hill, not track field. Secondly, it was not Bo at twenty something. When dad was telling kids story about carving the boat for sword (刻舟求剑）, even dad didn't believe the story was real. But now he was just making the same mistake. Tsk, tsk! OK, it was a pretty good way for weight loss. He lost three pounds for this run!
Well, does Ray look like a serious hiker!

我们的祖国是花园

2011-04-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

BCMS school spring photoshot

2011-03-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

The photographer was pretty good. Mom watched how he dealt with kids. He is a natural smile generator. No cheese for kids at this age, as it often got over-smiles. Instead, he talked a bunch of silly things to kids. Then here came naturtal smiles. Also he probably cropped out Tony's shoes, as Tony was with a pair of sneakers. We all loved this one.

Moving along

2011-03-14T19:06:00.001-07:00

Four years ago, when we moved in our house. George, a neighbor kid 5 years old, came over to ask if we had kids of his age. Ray was just 17 months old.

Time was moving along. Recently, Ray and George are becoming buddies these days. Tony certainly was around like a shadow.

Brushy Creek elementary school tour

2011-03-10T15:44:00.001-08:00

BCES had an open house today. Dad and mom didn't bring Ray in the beginning, but changed mind to pick him up from BCMS. Just want to gave him some exciting experience. Looking forward to something good happen is usually more fun than when it really happens. We registered Ray and had a tour. Ray was impressed with the stage in the dining hall. Staff are friendly. We are all looking forward to seeing Ray getting into Kindergarden.

Teacher change

2011-03-07T18:13:00.001-08:00

Ray's class lead teacher, Miss Kanaberi went back to India. Her family has been in U.S for a long time. Now they got a good opportunity to go back to work and live in hometown. The new teacher happened to be an American born India, Miss Ameta. Ray likes his new teacher a lot.

Ray' first text reading

2011-03-07T11:57:00.001-08:00

Last night, Ray finishes his first text reading, 'Can you see what I see'. Tis should be credited to Ray's M- school doing a great job. Mom and Dad didn't put much effort into teaching Ray words and phonics. It just came as a pleasant natural outcome. Ray was pretty excited about that too. He insisted to read it one more time at bedding time.

We got snow this year

2011-02-12T22:22:00.000-08:00

Santa got to be there

2011-01-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

Ray got some gifts this Chrismas, but none of them from Santa. We were out in Taos so dad even did not bother to put up Chrismas tree. One day, Ray was playing outside with George."What did you get from Santa this year?" George asked."Nothing", Ray replied.Then Ray came home talking to mom."I know why we didn't get gift from Santa this year. Because we didn't set up our Chrismas tree and didn't leave milk and cookie for Santa.""next time, if we wer not at home, let us leave milk and cookie, and leave a note to Santa. Santa, please leave gift under the tree."

Kid's trick

2011-01-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

Ray:"You are my servant, Tony?"
Tony:"What?" Tony was so into his own business.
"I said you are my servant." Ray said.
"No, I am not your servant." Tony replied with some confusion.
"But you said yes." Ray smiled with a smirk.

Lego land in NASA center

2011-01-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

NASA space center

2011-01-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

Ray and Tony like to build stuff.
There was a Sunday morning. Ray and Tony were playing in closet. Tony kept rolling the closet door handle so evetntually the handle felt off. Tony was a little worried. Ray picked it up and figured out how to install it back.
"I am bob the builder. That is why I am wearing bob the builder," Ray proudly claimed as he was dressed with a bob the builder fleece.
"That's why I can always count on you." Tony happlily flattered, with a nice relief.

NASA space center's mini lego land

2011-01-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

We went to Houston to visit NASA space center. Dad had been there ten years ago. Now the center setting changed quite a bit. It added a bunch of stuff interesting to Kids so that a family with kids can spend a whole day there without getting bored.
Now that Auntie Clare lives in Houston, we will often visit them.

approaching Kinect

2011-01-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

The first facial expression of Ray and Tony's when they saw Xbox Kinect in Auntie's apartment.

Dad saved a promise

2011-01-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

One the way to Taos, dad promised that we were gonna make a snowman this time. It was true that we didn't need to worry that there was snow or not. It's just hard to believe that we didn't get a chance to make a snowman while we spent three whole days in Taos Ski valley skiing. The truth was Ray and Tony stayed in Ski school and mom and dad stayed in Rugeli and Strawberry, learning skiing all day long. Here came the last day, we had to leave early for driving back home.
One the way home, dad saw a scenary stop and luckily he made a stop. This was the best place we could ever stop on the way to fulfill dad's promise. It was not a big snowman. The snow was a little bit too dry to make a snow ball. But we still got a frosty snowman for Ray and Tony. The mountain view was great and this snowman was lucky.

A white Chrismas this year in NM

2011-01-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

It is a play day!

2010-11-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

Brushy creek montesorri gangs. From left to right, Will, Ray, Cira, Ethan, Tony, and Viviane. I bet Ray was having a Harry Potter Fantacy.

Ray looks like a flower, Tony doesn't care

2010-11-16T21:20:00.000-08:00

This Halloween

2010-11-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

When other kids came for trick or treat, Ray was the host man and Tony was little helper. Dad was having his drink on the couch and watching.

Kids Jean Competition

2010-11-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Emory was preparing Kaia for Gap kids' Jean competition. When we knew this, there were only a few hours before the submission deadline. We had a last minute shot, but the last minute Gap website login was mission impossible, so we just kept photos for ourselves.

Starting from patting a grown-up ball

2010-10-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

Dad planned to start Ray's basketball training with a junior size ball at age of 5. What surprised dad was Ray preferred starting from dad's game ball and could pat it fairly well. So we have this designed point guard pose. "Move quick, my man."

A pair of tricky eyes and a pair of worried eyes

2010-10-23T17:16:00.001-07:00

Self-promotion master ONE TWO THREE

2010-10-16T00:13:00.000-07:00

Ray wasn't the best scorer in the soccer team. The little hesitation in front of the gate always cost him a chance to score. But Ray ran pretty fast and certainly was a good defender. The second half of last week game became Ray's show time. Ray's teammate Kevin and B&B twins all were too tired to run. Ray was the only guy on his team, who still could play. And he played against three guys in the other team and scored twice. The other team got nothing, though they won with a big margin in the first half. Ray's heroic behavior impressed many moms and dads, so that they came to ask what other sports Ray liked to do other than soccer. Ray earned a name of a great endurance.

To encourage Ray, at bath time in the evening, dad mentioned to Ray:" Ray, you did a good job. You played against three guys today."

"Yes, ONE person plays against THREE persons. And HE won TWO points!!!" With a great pride on his face, Ray looked like talking about a sports legend.

Austin Mountain Bonnet

2010-10-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

Arboretum Renaissance hotel

2010-10-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

Fix Tony

2010-10-01T04:04:00.000-07:00

Tony started complaining about going to school. He refused to go to his own class. Instead he wanted to go to Ray's class. According to Mrs. Betty's analysis, he figured out school wasn't as fun as he thought in the beginning. Thus the first week honeymoon was over. In the morning, Tony often made a scene with kicking, crying and rolling on the ground, as long as it was not dad sending him to school.
Dad was out of town for China for a couple of weeks. Then it was completely mom's job to send them to school. Mom was worried.
One morning, on the way to school, Tony was complaining that his tommy hurt.
"I want to have medicine." Tony cried.
"No, you are lying. You just don't want to go to school." Ray said.
"My tommy hurts. I really need medicine." Tony insisted.
"We are not doctors. How could we give you medicine." Ray replied.
Tony kept mourning, which really annoyed Ray and Mom.
"If you stopped crying, I will give you a candy." Ray offered.
Like a miracle, Ray did bring out a candy somewhere and put it into Tony's hand.
This bought a peace on the way.
Then when they arrived school. Tony refused to get into school.
Then Ray offered again. "If you stop crying and get into school, I will put a candy into your pocket." Ray did get another candy and calmly put it into Tony's pocket. Then Tony stopped crying and got into school as happy as a magpie.
Since that day, Tony never complained about going to school. We had no clue how it happened.

The second watermelon we harvested this year

2010-08-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

Revisit Schlitterbahn

2010-08-24T18:53:00.000-07:00

New Braunfels is famous for its water park. This was the second time we went there. The first time was when Tony was not even a year old! This time both Ray and Tony engaged well. Ray even took a long tube sliding. We all got a pretty good sun-tan. One good thing was Qualcomm sponsored both events. We all had a lot of fun.

Ray likes stickers

2010-08-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

Ray likes all kinds of stickers. And certainly he knows to put them at the right spots. Here came a Super-sized seeded watermelon.

Soccer is fun

2010-08-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Ray continued his soccer odyssey. Not only he was in game, he made great plays. His team won this week's game with a score 4:2. Ray made three goals himself and Daniel made one.
After the game, Ray told dad: "soccer is fun."
You bet if you scored three.

Buchana lake water fun

2010-08-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

It was Will dad's birthday. Ray was thrilled to take boat tubing. Tony was dropped into water twice, while he was on the tube. It never happened to Ray. There was something worth a mark. Ray couldn't fit in any kid's lifejacket, not even XL. So he ended up with having an adult size S.

Soccer breakthrough

2010-07-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

We met an old friend, Mr. Gang Li and his family in Sichuan Garden restaurant a few weeks ago. Though they only saw Ray once when Ray was four months old, they all remembered Ray, as Ray was a star baby with of a super size.

Gang was a cool guy. He was organizing a Sunday morning soccer camp and acted as a team coach. Ray was invited and that was how Ray started playing soccer in team.
The first week was not too exciting. Ray was reluctant even getting into soccer field.
The second week Ray showed up in team play, but just showed up literally. He stood there like a rock, doing nothing. He even occasionally put his hands into his pockets like a coach.
The third week was July 4th. No team play, just a little practice.

We tried many ways to motivate Ray to join in team play on Sunday training and at home. But Ray seemed not very interested. It was just too early to say Ray was not interested in soccer or team sports.

Here came the fourth week. Ray still put his hands into his pocket, when it came team play time. Dad was so anxious about it. But what can you do? He just stood there like a log. Ray didn't kick the ball even when the ball passed at his feet. It looked like that Ray didn't belong to here. Ray wasn't ready.

But dad is smart! Super smart! Super duper smart! Dad had his plan.
He put Tony in field during water break playing with Ray. Just dad, Tony and Ray.
Ray played.
Then when it came team play. Dad also put Tony in game. Tony blended in like a fish thrown into water. He had no fear at all and carried the ball to mid-field himself, though two and half years old was a little too early to be in a game.
Inspired by Tony, Ray on soccer field started acting like Ray in pool. Man, coach was shocked by what Ray could bring on the table. Even dad was shocked by how much Ray could do. He knew how to use his body to block defenders. He controlled the ball just so well, there was a play Ray was carrying the ball from left to right, from right to left, with a bunch of guys chasing him, but the ball just stayed under his control. Ray was a real soccer player now. It all started with Tony, who made a move.
After the game, dad asked Ray why he suddenly started playing. Ray said he saw Tony played.
It was so inspiring that what a difference an attitude change could bring in. It was amazing.
This made dad's day.
We are looking forward to next Sunday soccer game.

Feels like heaven

2010-07-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

This was this year's dad company 'yearly' baseball game family event. We gathered at Round Rock Stadium to watch Round Rock Express play against Oklahoma. Technically, it's Tony's first real experience of this event fun, as last year event was cancelled due to financial crisis and Tony was only a few months old the year before. Ray knew how to get stuff he wanted and helped Tony along the way, just felt like home. They did swimming, self-serviced various kinds of ice creams bars, and stuffed themselves with a bunch of hamburgers.

How does it feel like to pick ice cream bars yourself as many as you want?

Jumbo lunch box

2010-07-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

This morning we couldn't find Ray's lunch box. Dad had to find an alternative, our mini-Igloo box. Ray didn't complain anything about it on the way to school. He just picked some Star-war lego parts and a bakgun and put into his pocket, as usual.
But when we entered Ray's classroom, Ray stopped right there. "I don't want this lunch box." Ray was a little worried.
"It is OK. Just a little bigger." Dad said.
Actually it is a lot bigger.
"I don't want this lunch box." Ray didn't yield.
Fortunately, Miss Shima came by and complimented Ray's Jumbo lunch box and even offered to trade hers with Ray's. Then Ray finally OKed with it.
Ray seems not to like being a maverick.

Ray is already a swing master now

2010-06-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

Dad was not able to swing until he is thirty something. He didn't get much chances as swing was only available at park in China and there was always a long line waiting. The failure experience of a few available trials did put some shadow on his mind. That is why he picked this up at his thirty something. So don't get upset no matter when or if you learned how to swing.

Pioneer Farm

2010-05-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ray's class had a graduation event in Pioneer Farm as many of them will leave for elementary school this fall. A few miles away from I-35 ~exit 240, the farm is a real farm. They kept a gigantic wild flower bed. Many houses in the farm are still made with logs.
Ray is going to stay in BCMS for another year. So will be Will and Cira.

How we make a good shot

2010-05-16T01:47:00.000-07:00

We were waiting dad to set up his cam. Waiting was always a little boring, even it's just counted as seconds.

Here we go. Ready, set, go, Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeees...

Tony's smile was just like salt in Macaroni's Grill's pasta , it's always overdone, even you told them not to do so.

OK, we will figure out a way to fix it.

Fantastic ipod touch

2010-04-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Believe or not. This product is named unanimously in our family as the best product we bought in the last few years. The ecosystem created by Apple simply made this product choice a no-brainer. Ipad is also on our list but we prefer waiting for an improved second version, as there are a few improvements really really needed.
Here is what we do now with ipod touch.

Tony's list
1). Dora Lite
2). Shapes
3). Puzzles
4). Memory Pro
5). Farm sound and I hear Ewe
...
Ray's list
1). TaptapNinja
2). Ice hockey (it definitely works better on ipad)
3). Shaun #1
4). Shrek Kart
5). TicTacFree
6). Spelling
...
Mom's list
1). Web surfing
2). Chinese ancient poems
3). Labyrinth
...
Dad's list:
1).Ebooks (a tons of them) for dad and for Ray and Tony
2).quick mail and calendar checking (Fast than going to PC)
3).QQ with grandma (no video yet as there is no cam) but it is not bad to just do audio chat
4).free VOIP phone calls
5).Pandora
6).Web surfing while laying on the bed (the first pocket mobile device dad would like to surf web with)
7).Uncountable apps for all aspects of life.
...

The list is growing. Dad even has a little invention of ipod touch accessory. We are gonna show it later.

This product is beyond being cool. It is just practical and economical! Fantastic design. Hat off to Apple for this fantastic product.

BTW, this is the first practical COMPUTER our family use other than PC. Watch out. Microsoft and Intel.

An impromptu song

2010-04-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

lyrics by Ray Yang

There is a snowman in the snow

He wants to eat his nose

He is funny

He likes to eat his nose

He likes to drink something

His breakfast is bagel and drink

That is his breakfast when he wakes up

His mom always cooks that

He always go to cold places

He sometimes go to hot places

Then he melt a little bit

He fixes himself in the snow

Rolling over on Kettleman meadow

2010-04-07T23:25:00.000-07:00

Kung-Fu kid

2010-04-07T23:14:00.000-07:00

A spring new addition - Our yard bench

2010-04-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

Two mountain cedar logs moved with our wagon cart from our neighborhood, one old pine wood at home and a $4 new pine wood from homedepot composed our new bench in our backyard. The bench location has shade most of a day. A perfect spot in our yard to watch Ray and Tony playing.

The power of candy

2010-03-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

This is not a picture as peaceful as it looks like. It was taken at the outside of a candy store in Fredericksburg. The time was after Ray and Tony had already had a visit to an icecream store and also right after dinner. You can read out from two little ones' body language.
Ray certainly is a master of candy. Not only he knows more candy names than dad, but also he has various ways to get candy, like in restaurant cashier desk, HEB etc.. He ofter saved a little bit for Tony. And gradually he established his credit of gaining candy in Tony's little mind.
So here comes a familiar scenario happening at home.
...
Tony and Ray are fighting for something, whatever it is.
Tony started whining, yelling and crying for it.
Then Ray gracefully released it. Just said: "OK. No candy any more."
Tony thought a little bit. And put the something back into Ray's hands. "Take it, take it." Tony repeated it with a great worry.
"No." Ray refused and raised his head way up high.
Then Tony started crying again. "Take it. Ray, please."
That is the power of candy.

Enchanted rock

2010-03-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

Located at southwest of Austin, Enchanted rock is a unique place. Maybe mother of nature thought Central Texas was too plain. Pretty blue bonnets only blossom for a couple of weeks every year. Thus she created Enchanted rock. Two hours drive from North Austin, Enchanted rock deserves a trip for all people in Austin. A great place for hiking, rock climbing and camping. Be careful to go there on weekend as it is often fully packed so guards have to close it so you have to wait and it is not guaranteed that you can be admitted.
Tony climbed up the rock all the way himself. And he slept down all the way back in dad's arms.
Ray was so tough that he wants the next rock when we got the top. Dad promised him that we would get the next rock next year, when Tony gets older and stronger like him.
Then we went to Friderzburg. It was a nice cool sunny day.

Ray will have a school photo day.

2010-03-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow's school photo day. Mom picked up a dress for Ray in Costco and Dad had a pre-shoot at home.

We got snow this winter!

2010-03-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

Global warming?

Olsen Meadow Park

2010-03-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

Not quite a dancer

2010-03-04T08:28:00.000-08:00

Ray's one year dance experience stopped last week, as Ray showed little interest in it. A few bright dancing moments he showed brought him into this dance class but it didn't work out. Ray proposed for art class himself. Soccer class is the second option. OK, we will see how that goes.

Snow fun

2010-02-23T18:54:00.000-08:00

We had a serious snow today. Ray's school closed at 1:00PM. Back home, Tony and Ray had a lot of fun.

Round Rock Library

2010-02-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

Mom took a vacation for some personal business developement. Dad brought us to RR library. And we also brought a special guest.

Chinese painting

2010-02-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

First of all, mixing color is critical. It is a magic that yellow plus blue becomes green and red plus yellow gives you orange. It is fun to know it.

Spiderman

2010-02-05T21:03:00.000-08:00

So easy to be a caveman

2010-02-05T20:35:00.000-08:00

It is Ray's idea and Ray's masterpiece. We built a cave in our house. Tony was thrilled about it.

Farewell to Aaron

2010-02-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

Aaron and auntie moved to San Francisco Bay area. Ray wanted to go with them. On the way back home from airport after we saw them left, Ray was not happy all the time. Ray believed that the reason he couldn't go was he had no ticket. That was why the airport guy stopped him but let Aaron in.

Ray said when he grew up, he would move to San Franciso, work in the office and make money. Mom asked Ray if she could come with him. Ray thought for a while, then finally said:"OK".

Night-story

2010-01-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

You can be a storyteller without knowing many words. That was how Ray did it. Tony must admire Ray quite a bit as Ray was 'reading' the book along.

Fearless Ray

2009-12-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

Ray asked to take Atlantis in seaworld. Seeing Ray was so eager to take it, dad decided to be his company, though dad was a little scared in truth. Our ride had a short delay as the ride ahead of us has some accident. A girl was so scared after the first part little 'warmup' that she and her dad had to get out in the middle of the ride. This accident made dad a little worried more. Finally, it was our turn. The first warmup was pretty scary. After that, dad was just wishing he was not in the boat. Ray acted norm and seemed nothing happened. And it came the real deal. Or my gosh, dad felt he was almost thrown out of the boat. And he tried hard to hold Ray in his instinct. You can see that in the zoomed in picture. Thanks goodness, it only lasted about 2 seconds. Then dad started celebrating we did it. We made it. It was over. It was cool. It was something. Then dad asked Ray how he felt about it. Ray said:"I like it. Can we do it again?"
Not again.

Seaworld Chrismas Show

2009-12-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

Seasame street in sea world Chrismas show. Ray said: These are the real ones!

What are we riding?

2009-12-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

A little hint: We are in Texas. This is domain in Austin. Auntie is in town. She cooked some awesome sour-sweat fish we all love so much!

4 years check-up

2009-12-19T23:31:00.000-08:00

Weight=45 pounds (>95%), Height=45 inch (>95%). Doctor said Ray is big and tall. Ray couldn't hold his smile even though he really tried hard.

Austin winter duck pond fun

2009-12-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

Guys, watch and learn. This is how you pretend like a duck.

A not so great photo

2009-12-05T22:49:00.000-08:00

This photo is one of the kinds. I occasionally had facial expression like this. But mom and dad had to put this photo here as they definitely love to see it.

My new hair style

2009-11-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

This was my dad's hair style in all his elementary school years and after middle school years. Now he made me his pal.

Ray's 1st year birthday poster

2009-11-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

Ray is 4 years now. We feel it was just yesterday when he was one year old. So dig out some old memory and put it up here.

Ray's Holloween impression

2009-11-15T08:06:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

Yearly Oak Brook community pumpkin patch party

2009-11-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

Autumn in Austin

2009-11-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

The best season in Austin. Particularly to dad, who has some mountain cedar pollen trouble in winter. Capturing Austin Autumn is not easy as we don't have many deciduous around. Dad will try his best.

4 year old

2009-10-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

Ray had a 4 years banana muffin party at school and had a cup cake party at home. Ray got transformer, walking robot, volcano lab gifts. Now Ray is officially 4 years old.
Something to note down: an H1N1 case was confirmed in his class.
Ryan came to sleep over last night. Ray and Ryan are good play buddies now. Today it was Saturday. Dad took them to Olson Meadow park. Excited by great weather, dad ran back home to get soccer ball to start a little soccer training. But boys seemed not very interested. Dad really put a lot of effort into getting them involved.
After we got home, mom just told dad:"A mom told me something she eavesdropped in the park. Before you came back from getting soccer, Ray whispered to Ryan. He said: Don't play soccer. It is boring."
Oh, now dad got it.

Our little teacher

2009-10-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Ray was teaching Ray how to recognize things in cards, which used to be taught by mom to Ray.

"This is a cup. Say cup." Ray said.

"Cup." Tony followed.

"This is a caterpillar. Say caterpillar." Ray said.

"Caterpillar." Tony followed.

"Eh, ...." Ray picked a card which he didn't know what it was.

Instead, Ray said:"This card is too hard for Tony."

Then he skipped this card to the next.

Follow the water

2009-10-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

That was how we started our hiking this Saterday. I rode my bike and explored brush creek bend side a little bit. A little accident about Tony shortened our hike. I still met a new friend Ryan, who showed me two head skeletons of deer he shot. And he gave one to me! How old is Ryan? 5 years. You believe it?

This is our Texas.

Frank analysis

2009-10-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

Tony was playing in his high chair, while Ray was having his dinner. Ray was the last one still working at his dinner as usual. Dad moved broccoli plate a little closer to Ray to urge him eat faster.

Tony saw this and had a yell. Then Tony asked for broccoli. Certainly it was welcome. But while Tony was eating, and he was also yelling occasionally to Ray.

Ray started talking:"Tony doesn't want me to eat my dinner because he doesn't want me to grow big. He wants to eat more so he can grow big."

Kids do pretty down-to-the-earth analysis.

Also at dinner table, Ray talked something about his school day:"We had soccer class and everyone went to the class."

Dad pretended he didn't know it and asked:"Did you go?"

"I didn't go because you guys didn't pay it for me." Ray said with a frowned eyebrow.

Wow, Ray is fairly clear how things work now. And he also can exaggerate it a little bit with saying everyone went to the class except him. The fact is he is going to a dance class and most kids didn't enroll soccer class.

Ray was never interested in soccer though dad set up a nice soccer gate in back yard. Maybe it is different to play in a team. Well, maybe we should try it out.

One thing we need to mention is Ray made a huge progress in throwing and catching a football. Though he is far from as good as Jack next door (Jack is eight years old), dad can have fun with Ray now by throwing and receiving a ball back and forth. Right now we have to keep only six feet distance. Pretty sure the distance is gonna grow soon.

Our first rain flood experience

2009-10-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

We got all missed water back in this fall. Today's rain even flooded Olson Meadow. It's quite an eye opener. A stonebridge nearby was completely under water so the road was closed. Weather forcast showed there's gonna be another rainy week coming.

What open house exactly means

2009-10-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

Ray's school had an open house yesterday. This was the third time they did it. We attended the first time when the school just opened. It was just a tour of school, so we missed the second as we thought we did the tour already. It turned out it was more than just a tour the second time.

This open house was pretty much a show time. Every kid sat on their seat to show some projects. Ray's projects were 1).counting kindles, 2).bar maze creating, 3).two letters phonics. Mom and dad had a good time seeing what Ray had learned in school. Mrs. Betty told us Ray did well and even helped their Chinese teacher teach his class Chinese.

That is open house all about.

A fan of The wizard of OZ

2009-09-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

While dad was flipping all ESPN channels to squeeze out every little bit report on Brett Favre's magic last second go ahead TD, he saw the Wizard of OZ in TNT. That was one of his favorite movie in high school. His exchanged English teacher from Washington played this movie for his class and it inspired a lot of imagination. Dad could't wait to get Ray there. Certainly Tony followed.

Ray loved it, though we really missed most of the beginning part. Dad promised to get a full version DVD for Ray and Tony. However, this movie opened a great source for dad's draining bedtime story lib. The Wizard of OZ was extended into many periods, which made persuading Ray going to bed so easy.

a number mystery

2009-09-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Quite a while ago, Ray's teacher Miss. Betty told us Ray impressed her with counting number up to 20, though Ray forgot one or two numbers. That was a pretty good math development. But Ray always forgot number 13. No problem from 1 to 12, then jump to 14, a little shaky after 14 but the only number he consistently missed was 13.

This really puzzled dad. What is wrong with 13? Dad didn't send Ray to Catholic school. Is it the pronunciation?

Dad printed down the numbers up to 100. Guess what? Ray could go up to 100. But he still needs help on 13. Dad googled around but didn't get any answer. What a mystery!

Gangs of Kettleman Lane

2009-09-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here we are. Wilson brothers, George, Aaron and me. Not everyone showed up today. But this street has a whole lot more boys than girls. So be careful when you are around.

Move up

2009-09-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

It has been for a while we didn't go to Olsen Meadow park, owing to this brutal hot summer. Ray starts thinking about real monkey bar now.

Where was baby?

2009-09-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ray saw a lot of old pictures with only Ray, mom, and dad. "Where was baby?" Ray asked.

"Baby didn't exist back then. He was not born yet." Dad replied with a plain but straitforward answer.

A while back later. Ray came back and said:"When I was a baby, baby Tony went to baby island. When I grew up to be a big boy, baby came back from baby island." This question was still hanging on his mind. It might be too abstract to let a toddler accept the concept of ethereal existance. Ray had to figure out his own way to make sense of it.

English delicacy

2009-09-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

Ray and Tony often fight for toys, books, and anything. A rule set by mom and dad is that you can not take things away from the person who got it first, as two boys have to share many things.

Ray certainly is not happy as the side with more power.

There was once Tony got something fun first. Unhappy Ray made a comment:"We just don't like each other."

Then he sneaked a glance at mom and dad nearby, then said:"But we still love each other."

Our story while dad was away

2009-09-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

While dad was away to China, mom took care of both Ray and Tony. She did a terrific job. Not only was the house well maintained, but also she told dad a few fun stories.

Here is one of them.

Mom was blowing a floaty, which could lift Tony in pool. After a few tries, she had little success. It was hard. While she was trying to figure out how to do it, Ray urged for help. What could a toddler help? Mom kept trying without taking Ray seriously. It just didn't work. Meanwhile Ray was insisting helping. Mom certainly was a little irritated by Ray's push. "OK, I will let you do it and see what is gonna happen." Mom thought.

Ray happily took it over and started blowing the floaty. Like a miracle, the floaty started growing and growing. So did mom's eyes. Then it was done. Ray gave it back to mom and said:"Here you go, momy."

This story was not over yet.

Tony saw all this and he was excited to help too. He pulled the two corners of the floaty so hard that the floaty was broken. It turned back to flat like it started.

These are our two boys.

A week in San Francisco

2009-08-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

People in New England emigrate to Florida in freezing winter. It makes sense for Texas folks to escape to California coast or New England in hot summer, even just for a week, which we did this year.

Last time I came to SF was January 2007, thanks to dad's conference trip. Now I felt like coming back to see my old friend.

We stayed a condo in San Francisco city, right next to MOMA. The condo was rented by auntie for a month at a special deal. We just took a free ride. It is said regular rent is $3000 per month plus $250 for a tiny parking slot. That is one of the reasons that most of people live in this condo drive BMW 3 series, Merceds CLS/CLK, Porche, and unknown tiny fancy sports car, that are easy to park. I am not kidding. The imbalance of housing price and housing size really make we Texan scratch our heads.

Rental car cost twice much as other cities. People told us sometimes cars were rented out in summer. Forget about price and you should feel luck to get one.

Parking is prohibitive, but we were lucky to get one free. What a luck!

A whole food store is one block away, recommended by people living here. It becomes our grocery store as our mindset are san-fancied, a new word we had to create.

Then it was our start of exciting SF adventure.

Day one:

...

I will let Tony to tell exciting part this time. Please see his blog for coming stories.

Then we were back to Austin. So in a day, we experienced 72F at noon in SFO and 95F at 11:00PM in AUS. But we did appreciate more our spacious streets and housing. In a way feel like a little chicken breaking out of egg shell.

Ray's Baby skill

2009-08-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Tony likes talking and whenever Ray talks, Tony always talks twice much back, though 90% of what he says is not understandable.
Ray knows how to deal with baby talking. Here it comes:

Tony:"aadyuo, jljhljladyfi, adkoqlk, oqakln, qimc, eojojljlagg, bla bla bla ....."
Ray kept his head down, working his stuff and replied:"OK."
Then Tony goes:" kqiuq, aipqhe, dfhloq, gqkjka, ejhkja, bla bla bla ...."
Ray:"Yes, you are right."
Then Tony was satisfied and kept quiet.

Mom is a genius

2009-08-05T05:02:00.000-07:00

Mom picks Ray up from school at 2:30PM everyday. Then it is gonna be almost 4 hours she has to deal with two boys herself alone. It is a tough job as one of them is very needy. It is even tougher when it comes dinner cooking time. Cooking dinner and dealing with Tony and Ray at the same time sounds like a mission impossible.
We bought a book named 'How to cut' yesterday. This book taught kids how to make things with scissors. I was so into it and it became my favorite activity. Then it came to mom's cooking time. She came up with a creative idea to let me help her trim sweet bean clean with my scissors. I loved this job and did a wonderful job. You could bet on it as this job took me almost an hour to get it done. We all loved eating beans cleaned by me at dinner.

Oh, my, this Texas summer!

2009-07-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

This summer was brutally hot and dry. We did get a few weather forcast with isolated shower of 20% chance of percipitation. But we always got the other 80% chance. Even Olson meadow turned yeallow with its newly installed sprinkler system, as city had to save water. We didn't get much chance for biking or hiking like this.

We met a few big boys in the pond. A boy just caught a fish. Dad caught this moment with a setting of ISO1600, 1/30' and F1.8. We wish the picture could be better, but it just couldn't be, as it's too dark. We need a full frame camera body with an F1.2 for this. That boy said that it was the first time for him to get a fish though he had been fishing for many times. It got to be us to have brought him good luck.

Libray lover

2009-07-14T03:01:00.000-07:00

Library is Ray's favorite place. But it has nothing to do with books.

A diffence of one and half year old from three and half year old

2009-07-14T02:29:00.000-07:00

One can be your model, the other can not.