Shutter Happy

I embarked on an online course recently, which means most of my nights are now spent catching up on readings and completing my assignments (yes, dreaded homework!). That, I guess, also explains why I haven't been updating the blog as much as I'd like to. But I'll do my best. :)

Still on the busy summer months of June and July, here are more snapshots!


Fairy Tale: I bought two really neat doll kits from Seiyu in Singapore and thought it'd be a fun project for Kayla and her cousin. The kits were for kids over the age of 8 so I naturally assumed it'd be a piece of cake. We brought them along on our trip to Tahoe two weeks ago and decided to work on them with the girls. It ended up becoming a two-hour long adults' craft session. The parts were so tiny and hard to glue together, but both Kayla and Emily were really patient. They got to draw the faces on each of their dolls and gave them names as well. Kayla named her ballerina "Rosie" and Emmy chose "Sarah" for her princess (which by the way was a lot harder to put together!).

The cousins happily playing on the sand in pretty Pope Beach, South Lake Tahoe.

Just a random shot taken at home. Kayla acting coy.

Kayla's always been good when it comes to food so I've never had to coax her to finish her food. But still, I thought it would be fun to surprise her from time to time and made her some Happy People rice balls the other day, complete with fish sticks and edamames. Yum!

Chef Kayla: We got her a tiny secondhand Chef Barbie kitchen set off Craigslist. It talks and has smart chips embedded in the food so Chef Barbie can give step-by-step instructions on how to cook! Needless to say, she's been busy throwing dinner parties for all her furry friends.

Zoo-fari: We took her to the SF Zoo in June and met probably one of the best behaved kids (or baby goats). This lil darling quietly stood there and allowed Kayla to hug him or her for at least a minute or so.

Art even a child can appreciate: Kayla was drawn instantly to this sculpture of geese and insisted we take a shot of her on it.

More Pretty Princesses

Here's more footage from the camp. :)

The Animal Dance

P.S I like her penguin impersonation best!

Wave, Stomp, Nod Your Head...


Say "Freeze!"

Precious Princess

To indulge her princess obsession, Kayla attended a one-week Tiny Tots Princess Dance Camp at the nearby Gilroy Community Center. It wasn't anything fancy, just a bunch of little girls having lots of fun for an hour every morning. They danced, learned crafts and on the last day, got to show off what they've mastered to some very happy parents. :)

I've half an hour worth of videos but uploading all of them will take forever. Here are some of my favorite moments. I'll try to upload more when time allows. Meanwhile, enjoy!

Sweet Summer

There's so much to love about summer. Picnic-perfect weather (except for those crazy high 90- degree days), fat, juicy, freshly plucked strawberries, the return of friendly farmers' markets, a ton of kid-friendly activities and so much more.

We've been pretty busy the past weeks. Kayla started her KinderTots Dance class (hence the cute lil tutu!) and she's loving it. We also signed her up for a Princess Camp which runs an hour-long daily for a week. If I haven't mentioned it before, she's all about princesses now and can rattle off the names of all the Disney princesses. Besides that, we've been to lots of fun playdates with other little girls and most recently, we took her to the SF Zoo to see her favorite Fisher Price Little People in action. (pics and videos to follow).

Kayla's more active than ever and her pretend-play abilities are getting more amusingly amazing. She narrates her adventures, sometimes as she's drawing them out. She's getting more creative with things she finds and sees and words she learns and hears. But the thing I love most is listening to her conversations with "Sockie" (basically a sock over my hand). I'll try to get a video of it soon!


Fresh strawberries from a farm nearby. Kayla and Daddy at Shoreline Park in Mountain View.


Playing tag with Emmy in gramma's gorgeous yard. Kayla's become quite prolific at drawing faces. They have hair, eyes and a mouth!


My favorite ballerina!

A Roaring Good Time

Here are some snapshots from our trip to Singapore. We didn't really take that many pictures, partly because we were too busy fighting the hot, humid weather. Besides, lugging Mikey's bulky camera around was quite a chore. Time to invest in a credit card-thin digital cam. :)

Enroute to meeting Aunty Tanya, Kayla insisted on going to McDiddy's. You can't escape those golden arches wherever you are. And yes, we forgot to take a picture with Aunty Tanya! Ugh.

Zoo-fari: We weren't planning on going to the zoo this time round, but since there was a new children's rainforest park, we decided to check it out. Here's Kayla with GongGong and PoPo (and an ice-cream cone!)

We celebrated Gong Gong's 60th birthday at the National Service Resort & Country Club's recently renovated bungalows. These chalets were suprisingly modern, clean and pretty spacious. The resort also had a nice kiddie pool where Kayla and her cousin Darrell spent hours splashing in.

Sizzling Sunset: The gals decided we should go to Sunset Grill & Pub (yes, way out in the boondocks) after Mike remarked that the ribs were some of the best he'd ever had. So along we went to feed ourselves and mozzies at the same time. The wings were yummalicious but everything was just OK. But at the end of the day, it's the company that counts and it was great fun hanging out with ladies! And Kayla's smile says it all!

Picture perfect moments: I love the shot of Darrell and Kayla.

With Aunty Lynn at QianHu where Kayla fed koi for the first time!

Pix Mix Sequel

Here are more recent snapshots, mostly Jan through March 2009. Enjoy!


The perfect pout.

At the tot lot across the street, or what Kayla calls the train park.

Digging into her yoghurt dessert.

Whatcha looking at?

All eyes on the cake... Grandpa's 70th birthday cake!

Emmy and Kayla - I think this belongs to the previous post. It's from her 2nd birthday in November. :)

Pix Mix

I've been meaning to blog about our trip to the Lion City but I've been facing some serious "techinical" issues. My videos refuse to upload and the photos, I'm told, are "temporarily unavailable." So until these problems sort themselves out (hopefully soon), here are some way overdue snapshots of the young'un.

All set to paint the town red on her 2nd birthday (November 08!)

Kayla and Chuck E., her favorite rat on earth.

Emmy demonstrating Gift Unwrapping 101.

All dressed up for baby Caitlin's birthday party. Play pretend piano!

Christmas at the Chuns!

Her Classic Cheese Pose.