Library 101

Hey, it's Isa here. Mommy likes to follow a very cool librarian, Michael Porter, who goes by Libraryman as part of her professional world (you know that place she goes to every day to work. I don't quite get it; I just know she's gone M-F from 8am to 5pm).

He's looking for people to submit photos and videos for his new song/video called Library 101. Mommy decided on Sunday morning 8/16/09 before we headed out to church that we needed to send in some photos. Actually she decided a few weeks ago and finally had a moment to make it happen! We sure hope a shot of us is included as there are many submissions already.

In case we don't make the video, here are the photos we submitted:











Go ahead and submit YOUR entries!

Saturday 8/15/09

Here are some videos taken on Saturday 8/15/09. First, Isa is still stretching those vocal muscles:





And Xia has really taken to making up stories. They are sometimes hard to follow, but always very interesting to say the least:



Lastly, Xia has a microphone that records as it plays music. It was cute to hear her humming along in the recording:

The Bumbo is Now Isa's

It's Xia. Remember the first time I used the Bumbo? Well, here I am on Friday 8/14/09. I'm a little big for it now, don't you think?

I have allowed the Bumbo to now be passed on to Isa. She needs a little more head control, but it's a start. Looks a bit like a drunk trying to sit up for now...

Weekend of Sacraments

And to round out our weekend of sacraments, on Sunday, 8/9/09 we were happy to be invited to attend Julianna Freeman's baptism at church. What a cutie and what a wonderful church family we have:

Brian and Vivi's Wedding

Mommy here. We had a busy weekend after our vacation. Why, you ask? Because Brian and Vivi got married!! Who are Brian and Vivi? Take a look at a post from last year for reference. We're so happy that prayers were answered and Vivi was able to come back to the states and marry Brian.

Mommy got to read the Prayers of the Faithful during the wedding mass, so she went to the Rehearsal and we all got to go to the Rehearsal Dinner at Brian's parents house afterwards on Friday 8/7/09. Brian is one of 7 children, so his family is great about including kids.

Here are Brian and Vivi during a Chinese tea ceremony that is the Indonesian custom. A brief summary of this interesting ceremony: "Back in the Sung Dynasty, it was customary for the groom from a wealthy family to come armed with precious ornaments made from rare stones, jade and gold, rolls of satin and silk as well as tea cakes to the bride’s home. In the Ming Dynasty, a bride to be had to drink tea when she accepted the offer of marriage. It was a common belief that once the seeds of a tea tree was planted, it could not be moved. Moving the tree would mean death for the plant. Thus the drinking of the tea symbolized staying true to one person throughout one’s life.

To connect large families on wedding days: The tea ceremony during weddings also serves as a means for both parties in the wedding to meet with members of the other family. As Chinese families can be rather extended, one or two hundred people, it is entirely possible during a courtship to not have been introduced to someone. This was particularly true in older generations where the patriarch may have had more than one wife and not all family members were always on good terms. As such, during the tea ceremony, the couple would serve tea to all family members and call them by their official title. Drinking the tea symbolized acceptance into the family. Refusal to drink would symbolize opposition to the wedding and is quite unheard of since it would result in a loss of "face". Older relations so introduced would give a red envelope to the matrimonial couple while the couple would be expected to give a red envelope to younger, unmarried relations.":


And here are Vivi's mother and her mother's best friend (who helped a lot with translating):


On Saturday 8/8/09 we all went to their awesome wedding. It was so much fun. First, the happy couple walking down the aisle. Vivi was gorgeous as was her dress (from Indonesia), Brian didn't look too bad either:


The ring exchange:


Maryam holds Isa:


Exiting the church:


Xia trying to blow bubbles:





A little better with Mommy's help:


Daddy and Isa watch:


The reception was held at Revere Tavern, a very nice place. They had a great idea - they set up a kids table in a back corner with paper, crayons and candy. Great way to keep the kids happy:


The cake was beautiful:


Brian and Vivi's first dance, so in love:




Brian and Vivi cut the cake - they played nice:


Xia enjoyed the cake and ice cream:


After all the candy, food, cake, dancing, etc, the kids were very wound up:



Xia did A LOT of dancing:



Isa did a little too, kind of:



You can't see this one, but the dancing was funny for "Jump on It!":



Vivi's mom, sister, and mom's friend enjoyed Isa:


Here's Brian's family:


Vivi's Mom:


Vivi's family (who could come from so far away):


And last, but not least, the finished creations at the kids table!

Xia is Thirty One Months Old

On Wednesday 8/5/09 (the last day of our vacation), I turned 31 months old. Not sure how much longer the quilt will hold me as I'm getting very long. Some kind stranger won the colorful dog on the boardwalk and gave it to me:

Seaside Heights Vacation - Day 6

Wednesday 8/5/09 was the last day of our vacation. It sure was a lot of fun and we're so blessed to have a wonderful family that made it possible for us to go! Mommy took some pictures of the condo and the grounds before we left.

Here is the sign:

Here is the sundeck:


Here are the view to the south and north off the sundeck. The beach and start of the boardwalk were right across the street!:




Here's a view off the sundeck looking back towards the pool/coutyard:


Last, but not least, our door!

Seaside Heights Vacation - Day 5

Xia here. Mommy and I started the day off by going with some of the family to go crabbing. John and Kris have all of the stuff to do this. It was so cool to see real live crabs! Here I am holding the fish bait before Ally tied it up in the nets that we lowered into the bay:


Now I'm holding one of the nets you can use to scoop up the crab if you're just using a line without a net. I don't know why Mommy didn't want me leaning over the bay? Well, my arms really aren't long enough yet:


Here's a shot of the crabbing/fishing pier on the bay:


There was a cool playground nearby too:


After all of that crabbing/fishing, I needed a nap. Grandy let me use his bed:


After dinner, Hans and Kathy tried out a shark kite that they used caution tape for as the tail. (Believe it or not, Kris and John had caution tape in their truck?) You can tell it's caution tape if you look closely:


Then, since it was our last night (Mommy had to get back to work), we all went to the boardwalk together. We saw this crazy clown that removes it's head at a Hershey's Ice Cream stand of all places. Don't really get what a psycho clown has to do with ice cream, but that's a boardwalk for ya. Uncle John is really freaked out:





Next we walked around some crazy mirrors inside an arcade. That was a lot of fun! Here Daddy has a big mouth and Mommy has a big head!


Now Daddy has a long neck and Mommy still has a big cone head!


Some movies showing the mirror silliness. Check out Daddy's crazy dancing in the second one!





Next, we saw a New Orleans Style Jazz Band:



I wanted to go swimming when we got back, but it was too late:



So we went inside and ended the night by watching the movie Daddy took during the Haunted Ride. I found it very funny...

Seaside Heights Vacation - Day 4

Hi, it's Xia again. Monday 8/3/09 was the busiest day of our vacation, for sure. The morning started with Isa waking me up...

Here is Isa tapping on me while I was asleep:


Hey, you woke me up Isa!


Well, you're so cute - I'll let it slide this time:


See how she looks at me with so much love and admiration? She just had to wake me up!


Arm in arm...


Aren't we a pair? And don't I have nice teeth?


We decided to go over to Grammy's condo and wake everone else up. Mommy laid Isa down right between the sleeping teenagers, Alicia and Kate. Nothing like a cute lil' baby to wake you up after a late night on the boardwalk, right?


See, you can't resist Isa, Kate is smiling...Alicia is still making up her mind...


We all spent the day at the beach - it was a very nice day:


Uncle John made me a nice sand slide:



And then he made me some sand steps:



After the long day at the beach and a nice family dinner, we all went back to the beach with kites. Here I am flying a kite for the first time with the help of Aunt Kris:




It was a cool kite:


Mommy and Isa watch:


Then Daddy and I do some kite flying together:


Ally is a great kite flyer:


And so is Uncle John. In fact, he and Kris set most of them up:


The moon rose over the ocean as we flew our kites, how cool!






Mommy, Daddy, Isa and I then decided to go on the boardwalk. I got to ride a pink elephant:





And Isa was so funny following the cars at one of the rides:



Like I said, it was a busy day and boy was it a fun day. We all collapsed in bed when we got "home".