31 July 2009

Reunion

It's been 10 years since UPenn graduation... 3917 Baltimore Reunion!

 
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20 July 2009

Sasha at... CEC

Sasha had a grand time during her first visit to Chuck E. Cheese over the summer. We went on the carousel about 4 times in a row - where else can you find a lil carousel just her size!?

 

 

 
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18 July 2009

Sasha & Fievel

Daddy loves me, Daddy loves me not, Daddy loves me....




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11 July 2009

A New Title

She's given herself a new name:
Sofie Fu Princess Bubblegum Ever The World.

Naturally, that makes me Mommy Fu Ever the World, and her prince is Daddy Fu Ever the World. Sasha hasn't been given an "Ever the World" title yet, which is kind of indicative of the jealousness she has for little Sash these days. It's not out of control, but she's very aware of what Sasha does and has, and even more so, the attention that she is getting relative to Sasha. It's a tough time for her, admittedly, since the spotlight isn't always on her anymore.

On a good note, Sofie is [kinda sorta maybe] straying from the princess obsession thing, and has rekindled ties with her former BFF Dora the Explorer. As much as I used to despise Dora for her overly excited and punctuated way of speaking, there was definitely some nostalgia to the simplicity of her and her lack of sparkles and pink.

Sofie continues to crack us up daily with her advances in speaking. She loves to use phrases she hears tossed around, and she does it appropriately, which shocks us all:
"Impressive!"
"Sasha, stop freaking out!"
"Of course, I always LOOOOVE to do THAT."
Upon seeing her new tricylce:"(gasp!) and there's a BAG with it!!!"
Doing her Yoga DVD: "Love hurts."

She's also adapting her own sort of language, with her exact definitions:
"Exclemente" = "This means: good job, you're very smart"
"Ikameki" = "This means: you didn't do a good job and you're not very smart"
"Ayunameh" = "HELP! HELP! I said HELP!!!"

Since these new words seem to pop up after she watches either Dora or Diego, it's her own twist of the Spanish (or Japanese?!) that is being taught. But she vehemently denies that perhaps the words she is looking for are "Excelente" and "Ayudame".


Sofie doing the Mambo

2 Weeks of Fresh Air

So, what have we been doing so far since we've taken over Ahma and Ahkong's place? Detoxing. Spending time outside in FRESH AIR! Biking, scooting (yes, I lugged that thing all the way over here), flying a kite, swimming in the inflatable princess pool, experimenting with massive bubbles* with our MegaBubble wand, running around barefoot in the grass, hanging out at the local library (so clean that I let Sofie roll around on the floor without a care), shopping at Target, indulging in drive-through Starbuck's...

Knock on wood, but we've been back in the States for over 3 weeks and neither of the girls have gotten sick - sadly, that's a record. So what does that tell you? Hmm. Don't get me started.

(*I made this bubble solution that is a bazillion times better than the crap you can buy. Mix 3/4 baby shampoo to 1/4 water, and then add a little sugar to thicken it. Shake and you're ready to make long lasting, huge bubbles!)





Itinerary: SEA-ORD-CLE-NYC-CLE

There's a reason for our lack of posts. We've been on this whirlwind trip of the States... Visiting family and celebrating this and that...

First stop: Seattle (Bellevue to be exact)
Whew, that was a busy tiring week that didn't allow for much down time to hang out. We got to spend loads of time (although not as "quality" as we would have hoped) with Aunt Nancy and Uncle John, along with Uncle/Great Uncle Jou & Auntie, and I met up with one of my high school freshman year roommates, whom I hadn't seen in 17 years!

We also had 2 storage spaces stuffed with crap, crap and more crap that we had to go through. Many hours were spent in the sterile, fluorescent hallways of Public Storage going through box after box, and the kids were troopers for the most part, and Aunt Nancy became SuperAunt. Although it was a chore, it was kind of fun at times, since it was like a time capsule. Every 5 minutes, we offered something to N&J, and they rolled their eyes 95% of the time...but Su-Ting's claim "this is QUALITY!" sometimes convinced them otherwise. The most difficult decisions were whether to part with sentimental things. Alas, since we are striving to live a simpler life, we did let many things go. Sniffle, at least was cleansing. Literally.



Sofie at the Science Museum


Next Stop: Chicago (fine... Evanston, to be exact)
Why does Chicago always have crappy weather for travel? The last time we had passed through Chicago, we had a lovely 24 hour delay due to fog, and had spent about 10 hours running from one airport to the end, back and forth, back and forth, attempting to get booked on another flight. So when we found out our flight from Seattle to Chicago was canceled due to weather, we weren't surprised. But we were a bit peeved, since arriving the next day would mean we were missing Aunt Christine's graduation. The entire Fu/Hsu/Palmer crew had planned on assembling in Chicago for this and it would have been very unfortunate. But luck was on our side, in the form of (gasp) 2 incredibly helpful airline ticket counter reps, and we managed to get all 5 seats on the only available flight to Chicago for the day. We must have looked that pathetic!

Anyway, we throw out our kudos to Aunt Christine, who actually made it through the Kellogg School of Management - but she barely survived through the sweltering hot ceremony which was so cleverly held in a non airconditioned gymnasium. Massive coolors of cold water and free fans were provided, so it wasn't a total bust. Anyway, CONGRATS TO CHRISTINE AI-YI! The Fu's are so excited we're, um, bleeding purple. Oh, and happy 27th (or is it 28th) to Uncle Jason!!!


Third Stop: Ohio (for a few days)
It was my first solo flight with both kids myself, and I chose a short one to test it out. How was it? Umm... manageable? Aside from Sofie's urgent bathroom needs a few times, all went well. But I'd really rather not do it alone again until they're older. Like 18 and 20.

Fourth Stop: NYC!!
We hadn't been back in New York as a family in almost 3 years! It was Sasha's first time, and she was stokked. She told us so. Aunt Christine took over the role of SuperAunt for the week and decided to road trip with me and the 2 kids to meet Su-Ting there. Uncle Jason came up for the weekend too. We had some good food, strolled through Central Park, brought the kids to FAO, and then bid a very painful but healing good bye to Peter.

Su-Ting spent hours and hours, days and nights, working on the eulogy that he would give during the service. How do you find the words to pay tribute to someone who lived life like Peter? His first draft was a 15 minute speech, and ultimately he was forced to leave many things out to shorten it to a 5 minute speech. But it was delivered beautifully, nonetheless, and it was, no doubt, the last honor that Su-Ting could serve to him.



The next day, Su-Ting flew back to Hong Kong, and we had a brutal 9.5 hour drive back to Ohio. Why 9.5 hours when a normal fast drive should take like 6.5 hrs? Leaving out all the details, let's just say we took 4 VERY long pit stops, and the car floor was covered in french fries when we arrived back home.


01 July 2009

The Big Number One - now with PIX!

Guess who fell asleep two times today with no pacifier, and didn't cry during any of her diaper changes! Must be because she's 1 years old today....


Okay, finally posting pictures from Sasha's 1st Birthday Celebrations! We had one in NYC so that Su-Ting and Uncle Jason would get a chance to celebrate with her. She very much enjoyed her big fat juicy birthday ribeye from Del Frisco's Steakhouse (she chose that place herself, can you believe that?!), and she most definitely enjoyed her chocolate frosted chocolate cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. We don't call her our chunky monkey for nothin'.


On her actual birthday, we celebrated with Ahma and Ahkong with a Chinese birthday banquet with random Chinese people she didn't know that gathered on her behalf anyway! Very typical. Nonetheless, she managed to stuff her face with enough long life noodles to ensure she'll live to be 100, washed down by fistfuls of her own smash cake (which was bigger than her head). A couple presents, none of which she cared for except a card that sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" to her, and then she passed out within minutes of getting home.


Overall, a very very good birthday.


Some videos capturing Sasha as a 1 year old...





(note the cheek profile!)