Fathers' Day!

Be kind to thy father, for when thou were young, Who loved thee so fondly as he? He caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, And joined in thy innocent glee. 

~Margaret Courtney

It's Father's Day!

It's a good day for some flying...



... and comparing / taking stock. (below: When did James's head get bigger than Paul's fist?!)

A little quiet time in the morning to celebrate Paul.  And then it was to celebrate my Dad, "the big Daddy" (/ diva) with dim sum at Marco Polo.  (Though, Paul does like dim sum a lot, so it was kind of for him too...) 

Annoyingly, Dad always chooses Marco Polo, and almost always complains about the food. (So what if it's on the second floor -- a pun being "a level better than the rest" if you don't actually like it?). 

Anyway, Father's day for me is again about family getting together and hanging out... which we managed a little at their place after dinner.

James couldn't keep his eyes off Kevin. (Does he recognise this is another boy / like him? Or is because of what he's wearing?)

Everyone was so smiley!  Even Carl, who lit up when he saw James (though James wasn't so happy about it).  Was he this cheerful with his kids?  I can't even remember.

Yep, it was a long day with a lot of activity and noise... but a pretty good one. 

Below right: James fell asleep sitting up. 

Mothers' Day

"Mother's of sons, work from son up to son down."   ~ Beccy's magnet (bestowed by Jackie)

The card "from James" was heart melting.  I think I did cry a little.  (Especially, Paul's message.) 

Invited people over in mind to honour my Mom and Jackie for mother's day, but guess what?  All the Moms ended up hard at work!  Oops.

Jackie was cooking, I was feeding (James), and then my mom showed up and immediately started cleaning...

Oh, well.  It was also sort of a belated birthday for Celina. 

Store bought pizza and lasagna, and veggies were the main menu.  There was the too sweet cake* I'd made for dessert, that shocked her and Kevin (because my stuff was usually so "mild" -- my words.). 

*No eggs -- a decent (though sweeter) substitution for 3 eggs: 1/4 cup applesauce, 2 tsp cornstarch, 6 Tbs water.

Unfortunately, the actual visiting and interaction bits didn't quite go according to plan. 

We were all awful, with me being grumpy about Mom.  I could feel myself tense up every minute she was there.

Mom: "Oh, everyone's talking in English, I don't understand what they're saying, so I'll just clean up in here.  Could you just clear that up / get that ready for me...?" 
Me: "You could try... You could talk with Celina and Kevin...  I could translate for you. 

Nothing I said could pull her away from the kitchen, but all the things she was doing also needed me to help.  I resented her for making me stay with her -- I was missing out on what's going on with the others!  

Ugh.  I wish I could be nicer.  But it was a relief when Celina and Kevin ended up taking her away. 

"When you grow up, you'll know to fear our Mom,"  Kevin and Celina told James -- so much for their part of "honouring" their mom...

Le sigh.  Maybe this is just the way it is with moms.  Such a thankless job. 

One of the sweetest messages came from Erica: "We choose our parents, James chose you!"  That made me cry again. 

Later, I did get a bit of treat: I indulged in gardening.  But the 1/2 hour, of course, was not enough.

I'd found the lily beetles have invaded!  Argh!  More than 7 adults and so many eggs.  Squished as many as I could, but it meant less time for putting things into the ground...

I need to decide out what is worse: no more lilies this year or after (the beetles will eat them to the stem and lilies won't recover), or no annuals this year?  Both uncertain since I don't know how much time I could devote to managing either anyway.

And then there's the dandelions...  (WHATEVER!) 

He knows.

The table's set and we're ready to sit down for a meal... and then there's a cry from the box.  It's uncanny: James wakes up just when we're ready to eat. 

It's like he knows. 

And, it happened for Jackie!  See!  See!  We weren't lying!

She kept saying we were telling porkies since James is so good he couldn't possibly be doing all those bad things.

Its a bit maddening.  But I should enjoy it while it lasts. (I'm sure he'll be screaming at diaper changes in no time.).

Lunch at GongGong and PoPo's

"He's only a little ugly now."

"Uh, thanks...?"

Guess I shouldn't give Kevin a hard time: Newborns are cute because they're small, but they're often also wrinkly... and mottled... and crying...

And, Kevin says he was ugly too (and look at him now :P)


First visit to GongGong and PoPo's was certainly an event / production.  I brought lots of stuff.  Theresa took many photos. 

James was pretty quiet during the actual meal.  Kevin made up for it by talking about ice cream.  Apparently, Costco's was as good as Marble Slab (though lacking the variety), and that he'll take James out for ice cream when he's older... and that he could really enjoy some ice cream right now.  Yeesh!  Stop it already! 

It's already hard enough to eat.  Even food made at my parents I need to wash just in case it's coated in soy sauce or other sauces with MSG.  Taste-wise, I'm happy for it to all be less salty, but it's so much work.  And there's no "washing" of ice cream...


After lunch we squeezed in a short visit with Auntie Ada.  So many kisses.

She looks older than I remember.  A photo of Uncle Johnny surrounded by candles and flowers takes up a fifth of her kitchen table.  Pictures of the grandkids fill the fridge door and walls - they're growing up! Sophia dances ballet... Adam plays violin and soccer... not sure about Simon, but he bigger.

She kept saying "Now that you're a momma..."  But, I'm not sure I understand or know any different... yet.  But, when James was crying (see photos) he probably needed some food. 

Closing the Year with Hot Pot!

Paul gets adventurous: 5 orders of spam!

No, not actually.  But he does go for a Tom Yum soup base.  I am a little less adventurous this time at 97 Hot Pot (I'm not just eating for myself...), but it's still all delicious.

It doesn't feel like that long ago that we were here, but it's been a year.

Again, I didn't like how the individualized pots meant we were focused on what was right in front of us, but it did mean we can customise the food and cooking to exactly how we'd like it. 

This time, I decided to try XO sauce, ginger, cilantro, chili oil, and green onions in my dipping sauce.

Celina's in a medical biology class, and looks more closely at the cooking pots, examining each morsel questioningly.  Yep, learning about all sorts of bugs and parasites can do that.  

I take this as my chance to ask Theresa more about pregnancy (guess I wasn't that curious before).  She apparently gained about 20-25 pounds in each pregnancy.  Also, she breast fed with Celina, but not with Kevin. 

I definitely ate too much and needed to go for a walk to the high street.  It was incredibly warm outside, maybe even disturbingly so...

At home, I'm motivated to clean - sort of.  Spring cleaning for Chinese New Year is traditional after all.  But, I don't get that much done.  So tired.  But still getting rid of things and some dust, so... doing o.k.

Mid-Autumn Festival Reveal

Kevin: This pot's so big you could cook a baby in it. Maybe two...
Me: Is this our segue?

Celina: "I'm so happy for you!  I don't want to hold it."
Kevin: "Yay, I'm going to have another cousin.  I don't want to hold it."

What?  Do they think I'm just going throw the baby at them?!

Kevin jumped up from his chair - showing a bit of that excitement that we were hoping for.  Celina's mouth was opened wide smiling.

Regardless of these, I'm glad everyone's so happy... well, maybe except Theresa.  I don't know, my guard is up at every point.

Theresa: "Oh, you're going to be 36 when you have the baby.  That's later that me."

Kevin: "When your kid starts school, Jack and Jeff are going to be so old!"
Me: "Um... so will we..."

Theresa: "When's your due date?"
Kevin: "Darn, that's a school day."
Celina: "It's not like they'd want you there!"
Me: "Um... you guys realise it isn't clockwork, right?"

Mom: "Stop talking about it!"

Right, we wouldn't want to tempt fate, but I think Celina already (within seconds) posted it / shared it with all her friends.

Kevin: "You have to name it after us."
Me: "Kelina?"
Paul: "Celvin?"

Maybe not.

One Golden Bird

Really, has Michael been going to the Golden Bird for 20 years?* 

Well, for our team's Christmas lunch, he takes us there to experience what it is that keeps his family coming back.

* Though he also admits, it could just be because we often get so used to doing something and closed in our spheres that something even a block away we might never visit...

Initial thought: This looks like an independent coffee house (with plenty of oil painted birds).

When the food arrived, people thought it was really authentic. I'm not sure on that point, but my pho was very tasty.

There were no speeches.  Instead media dominated the conversation:
- Amy Quon Dynasty on OMNI -- those who brought us Chicken for Lunch and Lingnan, also brings us a reality television show.  Our home grown Kardashians. 
- Some of the crazy dance videos that Slavica and Michael's daughters watch on youtube.

I cleaned my bowl (with the help of a wooden leg / take home container).  I think the waitstaff tried to hand me a cover... then realised I was using my own.

Afterwards, Olivia tells me she's trying to limit her child's exposure to television.  Movie as a form of communication, has its own rules -- what means to see something from a different perspective, how we know something is from the eyes of a character, or that we're now in a different space... all are learned.  She didn't want her child to be imprinted that way, to directed to think in a certain way. 

I definitely never thought of that as being an issue.  Instead, my thought was about how there wasn't a common thing for children (or us) to talk about since we don't all watch the same television programs like in the past.  But then, maybe that doesn't matter as much.  Olivia and I still have lots to talk about.