Resemblance?

Boy Boy's ever-growing face. Not sure whom he resembles more nowadays. What's your take?
He does have the Lau's ears though, for sure.

1st Hike

Happy July 4th, everyone!

Solar went on his very first hiking trip at the Mariner's Ridge today. This is a quick snap at the beginning stages into the trail. See Nathan and his dad in the background.


Alexander preferring to have his sleeves rolled up as usual. He looked stiff because he was still learning to hold his balance on the loose dirt and the uneven ground.


Later on, we finally caught up with the main group which were about 20 minutes ahead of us. Da Da brought out something simple but filling. Solar enjoyed his banana while sitting or squatting on a piece of shallow rock.

All rubbish went to da da, new rule on eating out on the mountain ridge. Behind him was little Isaac spotting the lady bugs rummaging on the ground.


A quick group pic of all the kiddies. As usual, Solar was hidden somewhere in the background.
Weather was mild but a bit dusty at that spot where we took our break. Everyone was trying to squeeze their eyes shut to stop the dusts from entering. Isaac had his goggles on and continued to enjoy the snack, unlike everyone else.



With the horizon and some valley (probably Hawaii Kai) as background, Solar and dad had a photo op. Solar was still chewing his banana. Da Da carried the peels and rubbish in one of the pockets somewhere.


We finally reached a spot of return. Going any further would be too unpleasant since the terrains up are not suitable for kids. This was a group shot of everyone, da da was holding the camera.

Some credits...

Real Ironman and IronWoman
阿嫂 (lady in fluorescent pink Micky Mouse shirt carrying Aliana) and Jacky (gentleman on the leftmost with monk-cut hairstyle carrying a sunglasses-donning Isaac). They carried each of their kids all the way up and then all the way down. You don't see it here, but I think 阿嫂 was indeed carrying the backpack as well in the beginning ascend of the trail.

Almighty Shepherd
See the young man with his arm up holding a camera (ok, there is no way you can tell from the pic)? That's our 興哥 da Shepherd leading us all the way from the assembly point in Moilili to here. He printed extra maps for us so that we wouldn't get lost. As far as I know, everyone was accounted for. Right? BTW, Winnie and Johnny were the young 先峰隊 guiding us from the very front. They actually took the time to pre-screen the trail for us last Saturday. Big mahalo!

Hiking 信心之父
On the pic, the gentleman wearing a navy shirt with his hair unusually fluffed (due to outdoor mountainous conditions) is our own Spencer 執事 da Abe (Abraham). Despite the back-breaking experiences from last year's hike (we weren't there, but rumors had it that Spencer carried Michelle pretty much all the way on that more treacherous hike), Spencer came back to assure us that faith is indeed strong.

包抄隊長
Our cool-looking Stone sporting real jeans tailed us (Boy Boy and Da Da) all the way throughout the entire hike. He was so nice to watch over us like an angel just to make sure we were safe. Indeed, we finished the trip without a scratch. God Always Blesses the Lau's family through the so many angels among us. Amen!


All in all, Alexander had a great time. Da Da intended to let Alexander hike on his own as much as possible and Boy Boy performed quite admirably. Though Alex never declined to be carried, he stayed on his own feet all the time when Da Da asked him to walk. At most, Alexander was carried for a total of no more than 2 minutes with less than 20 seconds on each carry. He did slip a dozen times or so, but he was never injured. Alexander and Da Da were always the slowest tailing everyone (well, with uncle angel Stone behind us, of course), but as a first hiking experience for an almost 4-years young, it was quite impressive.

Before the start of the trip, we prayed together and asked God to watch over us. HE DID, indeed. Amen!

Outbreak Ward 役埠 ALERT!

Sorry to report that the whole clan is under serious stomach flu virus attacks.

Boy Boy has very little diaper control right now.
Mui Mui threw up every little particle she ate.
Even Da Da threw up Sunday morning (he can't remember when was the last time he vomitted, not even sure if it happened in Florida or Hawaii).
Ma Ma is having a funny tummy.

The kids ate only chicken feed since Sunday. They would play for about an hour and then sleep for 2 to 3. Well, this sick ward routine actually works as they are getting the rest they need in order to recover. Hopefully soon.


This photo was taken at around 11:20am in the middle of the day. They have been dozing off at the shown positions for about 2 hours at the time the image was snapped.




Aren't you glad that the internet doesn't transmit odors? They've been spewing and leaking everywhere creating quite a reeky stench on carpets and furnitures. Our poor washing machine has been running on overdrive since yesterday.

Ok, look on the bright side (while holding my stomach and sipping my 鐵觀音 tea), I can look no further than my harddrive at some old photos for inspirations. This image was taken near end of September, 2004. Scroll down a bit to a few posts earlier showing them eating apple bananas. You can then see that they have grown so much in so little time. How can we be not grateful to Our Almighty Lord?





Extra Bonus: Solar's Sumo Pics!

Japanese Sweets

Uncle Paul, you probably are Alex's favorite idol right now. By the way, Solar is scooping up a "Japanese Sweets" dessert order from Makino's.



Before the meal began, Mui Mui was "fishing" right at the dinner table.

Watching Video with Gung Gung

Day 2. We're watching Alexander's May Day performance video with Gung Gung before dinner. Nat Nat 表妹 called us a little after dinner. Alexander was happy and excited to hear her voice on the speakerphone.
Before that, we had Father's Day Dim Sum with Gung Gung with plenty 叉燒包 (Char Siu Bao's) and 蛋撻 Custard pies at Royal Garden. Both Boy Boy and Mui Mui napped for close to 3 hours in the afternoon.

Behind Bars

Guilty parties locked up. No bail.

Banana Twins

Enjoying apple bananas and each other's company...peacefully.

Cool Hair Day

Da Da finally decided to mess with Boy Boy's long hair. Hence,

1st May Day

Sitting next to Nathan, who played da King

Front-end performance

May Day portrait with mommy

Uncle Nelson

Da Da's cousin and 師兄弟, uncle Nelson, from LSC visiting the 姑姑's in the San Jose area. Look how everyone dressed up like an Eskimo but uncle Paul. Also look at Nat Nat's rosy cheeks.

Pagoda

Aunty Sai Sai visiting Oahu on a business trip and had dinner with us at the Pagoda Hotel


Dimples, anyone?

Reading Materials

Many folks wonder how Solar can nap from 1pm till 5:30pm in a typical weekend afternoon, please just look at the amount of reading that he goes through to help himself sleep...


Need to make Chrissy picks up a good reading habit too as she rarely naps more than 2 hours.

Presidents Day

We had dim sum lunch with Andrew, Vera, Nathan, Vincent, Joyce, and Windus in the Cultural Plaza at a place called Fook Lam or 福臨門. The place was a bit crowded but we had quite a good time there. Alexander probably consumed at least four 蛋撻's and Mui Mui had at least two. Together they devoured 2 orders. Everyone got to see Mui Mui vacuuming-style eating. When we got home afterwards, it didn't require a lot of convincing for us to fall asleep as we're quite tired. Boy Boy did sleep till 5:20pm and Mui Mui turned in a couple of hours of shut-eyes as well.

Before I forgot, the following crime-scene photo was meant to be put up last week. It occurred two Sundays ago....
It's almost funny to see Christine cheering her big brother on! As you can see, Alexander has already figured out a way to pull the mattress out of the frame. My real worry is Mui Mui. She witnessed first hand what happened and can you imagine the day when she will have her own toddler bed?

Hey! Hey! Hei!

Aloha 姑媽 & 姑姐s,

Guess who they are? I'll give you a hint. The 4-months young on the left looks very much like his own uncle when he was a kid (that 叔仔排行第四). Yes, the LauZ sibblings are related to the father of these two good-looking kids.
(Please put your guess onto the Comments (see the link on the bottom right of this entry?) and remember, use only your first name or first initial and no lastname nor email needed)
(Kids' dad, thanks again for letting us see the pic. Send up more when you have a chance, ok?)

MM/DD/BB

Random pic taken first thing this morning. Joyce held the camera and the image looks tilted. Probably not the best time to ask her for anything.
From left to right: Mui Mui / Da Da / Boy Boy

重慶森林

Forgot what she was fussing about. However, this shutter accident rendered a funky image that resembled a Wong Kar Wai movie 重慶森林

Jacques in da Box - Part Deux

This image shows that Alexander is definitely not claustrophobic. Out of boredom, he tried to get back into his old carseat but, aarhem, got stuck in it. "Help me please, da da! Help! Da Da 幫您!"

After lunch I took them upstairs to nap. Sure enough I stayed in there for about an hour to get a little rest myself. What happened after I got up? See for yourself

See the pillow on the floor with a green case? See the mattress out of the bed leaning against the wall on the left? See the empy toddler bed frame? See the stuffed hippo getting stuck under the toddler bed? See the mess in the crib? By the way, there was one more pillow lying somewhere outside to the right side of the frame... ALL new chaotic-style design arranged by none other than Alexander himself. Mui Mui was confined in the crib during the whole, although she probably was not totally innocent. They had plenty bonding time earlier this afternoon, I could hear it from downstairs. On the positive side, they fell asleep in less than 10 minutes after lights off tonight.
Boy Boy seems to have recovered quite a bit and most likely will go to school tomorrow morning. I will check on Chrissie tomorrow morning and make a determination then.

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...