Summer is here

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

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

Mom was the photographer.

Barton spring creek trail

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

BCMS school spring photoshot

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

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

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

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

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

Santa got to be there

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

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

NASA space center

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

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

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

Dad saved a promise

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

It is a play day!

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

This Halloween

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

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

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

Self-promotion master ONE TWO THREE

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

Arboretum Renaissance hotel

Fix Tony

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

Revisit Schlitterbahn

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kung-Fu kid

A spring new addition - Our yard bench

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.