Jacques in da Box

....or more like Alex in da shelf

A strong cold front hit Hawaii on last Thursday right after Gung Gung had left town. Both Boy Boy and Mui Mui got quite a bit of a cold as a result. We've been administering the nebulizer to Alexander since last Friday and Mui Mui has had her a couple of doses since yesterday. We are almost running out and a quick call to the Longs Drugs will resupply us later this afternoon.
Today, naturally nobody is going to school and so da da of course has to stay with them. Well, let's see if there is anything wrong with this image:
He's wearing a new robe that I named it 楚留香 because the way it flows when Alexander runs around reminds me of certain old tv shows fron Hong Kong. Ok, let's see another shot taken about 10 seconds before the above:
Yep! I now have indisputable evidence that he could make quite a mess despite what his dearest mommy believes. Look at the bottom of the photo, look how he cleared out everything on the open shelves and just dumped them onto the floor.


Happy Birthday Grandpa!
Today happens to be Gung Gung's 68th birtday. I let the kids have some snacks and TV at the same time on a small kiddie stool. Boy Boy was trying to be a sweet brother and fed Christine some Cheerios. Ma Ma may not be too happy to see this as they shouldn't be sharing food. Oh well, both of them have already caught the germs...

Wheeeeze

Little Boy Boy coughed up quite a storm last night. We woke around 12:30am last night because he was wheezing again. Gave him another dose of nebulizer and he's been coughing and sleeping in mommy's bed since.

Solar sick

A massive cold front is coming through the islands. Temperatures dipped to mid 60's (a big deal in Hawaii) last night. We have the kids staying in our room just to stay warm (enought) together. Depsite having the windows and bedroom door closed, Solar got sick. Low-grade fever, but he is having asthma-like attack again...

Makino Chaya

Look at the 3 generations enjoying some nice Japanese food.


Look who had the most fun with Gung Gung's bday cake. 68 years old!

Chinese New Year's Eve

We had Dim Sum with some of the Won's family at the Royal Garden earlier. Alexander again ate 2 char siu bao's and 3 custard tards. Christine demonstrated her food-vacuuming techniques again with no help from anyone. Thank you Lord for blessing us with the Won's family! Amen!

No more "Min Min"?

May I have some more "min min (sphagetti)" please, mama?
However, mom was talking to gung gung on the phone. Christine didn't nap earlier in the afternoon. Hence, she just pased out when her mommy stopped refilling her plate with min min.

Lefty Custard Pie

I hope you can see improvements here as Christine finally learned to use a hand to assist in assimilating the food on her plate - vaccuming style.

'O Chaya!

Trying to get "mui mui" to post with gung gung in our new 'O Chaya series of images. She wouldn't cooperate and insisted on walking around and exploring on her own. Gung Gung has some stylish new spectacles on.

On the other hand, Boy Boy almost always cooperates with gung gung in front of the camera nowadays.

This one taken about 10 months ago in 2005 March. Look at Boy Boy's hair!





Ma Ma shocked at what she saw - Mui Mui chowing down a snow crab leg!

3 Januaries

2003 - Preferred lying down than running around




2004 - First bite of a nice piece of char siu



2005 - looking a bit "helpless"



2005 - Sharing the spotlight with the new baby...

(All images taken in January)

Sound-proof napping

See the crib in the background? 5 minutes prior to this shot, mui mui was screaming in the crib demanding to get out right after waking from an afternoon nap. Da Da took her out, Ma Ma finished up phone call with Poh Poh in HK, then went up to see if Solar was ok. Ma Ma went back downstairs, took the camera, inserted a battery, and took this shot.
I guess Alexander really needed to sleep.

More background:
This is a shot of Solar sleeping in his daddy's spot. A couple of weeks ago, the weather turned chilly and the kids began to have some slightly wheezing problems. We decided to move the kids into our bedroom just to keep them warm during the night. The light-wooden colored crib belongs to Christine. The white-painted toddler bed came from the kid's own room across the hall.
Thanks to uncle Paul and DLau 姑姑 for all those stuffed animals in the foreground. Nemo, Bruce, and Dori.

Say "Cheese"

Just as I pressed the shutter, Alexander playfully hid behind his buddy Hinson to create this very neat portrait of the two of them.
It was great eating out with Peter, Mabel, and the handsome Hinson. Alexander really loves playing with him.


About 30 seconds ago, the two of them were just about getting ready to pose...

Shabu Shabu

First attempt on the Japanese style sukiyaki-looking hot pot. Of course, no real burner was put on the table because the kids were just too young. Anyway, we have some Korean pork, brocolli, dried scallops, different types of mushrooms, tofu, cabbage, long rice, squid balls, etc... (You're looking at the pot sitting on top of the stove for last minute warm-up before going out to the dinner table)
It was a pretty cold night. We let the kids all camped out in our room, just to keep them warm...

Custard Pies

Oh no, I want eat but I don't want mommy to feed me. How do I eat 'tis custard tart 'ting?



Let me see...


Dive! Dive! Dive! Dive straight in! Then, Bite Bite Bite!

Edit: I just realized that perhaps she's mimmicking the vacuum cleaner. She did see me vacuuming the carpet not too long ago.

Stephen & Joyce

Left to right: Joyce, Stephen, Peter, Clarence, & Wendy

Stephen and Joyce brought their kids to Hawaii during their Christmas break. We had dinner at a Yakiniku place because the kids would love to BBQ their food. However, the place was so packed that we ended up without a grill. Oh well, hopefully next time...

Not 2 great weeks

Christine was diagnosed with ear infection during her baby wellness check-up last Friday.
Alexander came down with a fever and mild asthma-like symptoms since last Saturday.
It's heart-breaking to any father to see his kids getting sick.

No Dodge & Burn

No dodge and burn this time. This is about how he looks in real life now. His rashes are slowly subsiding and drying up. Click on the photo to the right to see a bigger image. It's scary to smear hydrocortizone onto his face, but I think he's quickly learned to be extra careful and not to get anything into the eyes when rubbing his face.

First very successful visit to he dentist. No cavity nuffing!

Thanksgiving is only a couple of days away, but the legendary Thanksgiving weather has already begun. Very hot, humid, and uncomfortable.

Dodged & Burned

"Dodge & Burn" describes an old-school BW film print-making technique to manipulate an image. The following image is photoshopped by a one-click button offered in our image editing software. Oh well, just to show everyone the entent of his rash conditions.



Despite a bit of itchiness, I think he's generally as happy as any other weekend. Please pray for our quick recovery. The snap is out-of-focus but I think you can see he's just as happy as playful. BTW, he has Joyce's teeth for sure. My chompers are not as pretty as those.

Puffy -> Patches

It's not getting any better. The bit marks became swollen and the surrounding skins are sorta hardening to become patches. I don't feel like taking photos of boy boy.

Puffy

Look at my face, I'm so puffed up!



Some very nasty mosquitoes bites. Or it could be something else. Mui Mui got stung on Sunday morning and Solar got the same on Monday morning. Of course, Mui Mui has got to show her war trophies (bite marks on her right wrist) when she saw the camera too...



Actually, if you clicked open the photos and look carefully, you will see the top of her left cheek quite swollen too (just below her left eye).


Oh yeah, Da Da is very very unhappy about the bugs and cleaned and re-cleaned out everything in the sleeping quarters....

Busy Friday indeed

Early morning, sun's just risen. Mui Mui and da da were playing. Granpa coming down the stairs, Boy Boy also coming down right behind. Christine was nice enough to look up into the camera.
Next minute,






Boy Boy saw what Christine was playing. Charged towards the crowd, gently nudged his sister away and took over. His favorite on the Leap Pad has got to be the farm page. Moo Moo here, and Moo Moo there....
Then, we dressed ourselves to head out...





Somehow Mui Mui was always the first and most ready to go out. Here you can see her holding on to gung gung's hand tightly while mommy doing Disco dance behind. It's hard to find a shirt that fits Christine nowadays. This one is loose on the shoulders but tight on the tummy. No, she hasn't even had breakfast yet. We're going to the Pancake House now.


Mui Mui enjoying her drinks while waiting anxiously for the pancakes to show up.


One of the bus-persons snapped the following group pic for us... Look how she secured her seat adjacent to grandpa.










After breakfast we went to the Diamond Head Memorial to lay some flowers at Poh Poh's resting place.


Mui Mui got another photo-op with gung gung.

Another good-looking pic for boy boy...






We haven't even had lunch yet....