Monday, May 26, 2008

Boulder Boulder 2008

It is traditional for Alan to do the Bolder Boulder every year and this year he wanted his son to have his first Bolder Boulder record.

As I wasn't sure that i was going to be able to make the 10k distance with Tyler on my own, Alan made the ultimate sacrifice and did his own 10k run and then made his way back to the starting line(not the same as finishing line) to redo the 10k with Tyler, Armen, Steffen and I.


Alan and *ahem* Steffen after their run..


As it turned out to be a cold day, we bundled up Tyler real good.

There were 54 thousand runners this year and the place was bustling!!! Took us a while to even get to the starting line.


Tyler distracted by the people around him.


Weather got worse as we walked on - check out the dark clouds!

I don't know how Alan and Steffen managed to run 10k and THEN walked 10k coz walking it once just about killed me and i was lagging behind most of them time! I guess it helps to be fit!!!


Was I happy to see the finishing line!!!!

After the race, we met the rest of the group and watched the Memorial Ceremony at the stadium while freezing in the bleechers. Didn't take us too long to realize that the ceremony wasn't that exciting and we went to get some food to fill our cold, tired and hungry bodies.


All of us taking refuge under our umbrellas in the rain

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Memorial Day Picnic

We had a picnic last year on Memorial Day and it turned out to be fun and relaxing. So we decided to do it again this year with less food and hassle. A very last minute email was sent out to invite the badminton group, but only the usual suspects showed up.

I brought Popeye's Fried Chicken and Steffen made his infamous tomato pie with less salt and the rest brought some fruits and sandwiches. I was happy when arrive at the park to find our old spot was still available and so we parked our butts promptly under the tree.

Alan and his new boyfriend arrived all color coordinated

We had bought Tyler a new hat, so it was a good opportunity to try it out.
What do you think of Tyler's hat?

We had Enrique last year who brought lots of picnic games, but he didn't make it this year so we only had frisbees. Some people made some effort with the frisbees but gave up after Note was sent into the water a couple of times. The group also decided that i should learn "skootering" and had a good laugh at my pathetic effort to make any speed.

I may look cool, but i was pissing in me pants!

With only so much to do, this what we did most of the day - NOTHING

Sophia managed to join us with her parents - Vivian and Scott. Tyler and Sophia both had fun trying to assert their dominance by snatching toys back and forth. Kids...

No.. i think that's MINE!

Anyways, the party was cut short when Note managed to cut his toe while running around in the grass. A bunch of us took him to the urgent care to be cleaned up and his host family came to get him.

I had a nice time not doing very much. And Tyler, despite our best efforts to keep him out of the sun, managed to get a little sun burn. I tried to cool him off with a wet towel that night.


My little goof ball!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Hectic weekend continues...

On Sunday, the MLC gang met up again for an early short hike. We must like each other a lot, I tell you. We got to the C house for a quick breakfast at 9 am before we head to Betasso Preserve, just outside Boulder. Well, perhaps "quick" is not that appropriate.. but i digress..

This was our first official hike of the year. We hope it is the start of many more hikes for this year. I was just telling Alan that between his bike accident and my pregnancy, we have 2 yrs' worth of summer to catch up on!


The MLC gang hitting the trail..

The hike was nice as the weather was too hot. Tyler managed to stay awake almost 3/4 of the hike and finally nodded off in his Bjorn in defeat at the end.

Then for lunch, we met up with Armen and Tomoko for a spot of Creole which was nice but again filling. On our way home, during some quick shopping, Veronica called to invite us over for dinner. I offered to bring some steak that we just got from Costco.

We were having a great time sitting in their beautiful backyard when i got a call. It was my friend Zach from CA telling me he was on my way to our house! OMG!! I need a new brain. I totally forgot he was coming to town this weekend. I mean, I invited him over for dinner a few weeks ago and totally blotted it out from memory! Aiyiyi... Veronica and Adam were kind enough to accomodate one more guest, so Zach arrived and everybody was happy and we had a great time and had some lovely steak, outdoors and all.


Zach and the Contos in their beautiful backyard

OK, so, warning to all. Please call and remind me that you're coming to town if you're visiting me. You may end up knocking on a house with nobody in it!! And I'll start using my calendar feature more...



Zach and Tyler having fun!

The weekend is over and i still have a bunch of housework undone. Hmm... having fun and being responsible is not as easy as I thought. Maybe I'll catch up next week.. Having fun is just more.. umm.. fun!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Another hectic weekend..

I was planning for a quiet weekend. But somehow, it sorta went the other extreme.

After some last minute planning, the MLC (Mills, Lutz and Chandrasekara) gang decided to do an English night by first eating some English food at the Wildflowers Tea House and then watching The Commitments. We had a myriad of English food ranging for pasties, shrimp cocktail, yorkshire puds, cheese and onion pies to fish and chips, steak and kidney pies, beef and onion pie and even Spotted Dick! In other words, real English food. Oh, and my favorite Pea and Ham soup!

The food was pretty good and would have been better if they weren't overcooked.


Damith all happy with his food, before he realized they were over done!

After overfilling ourselves with food, we headed over to Steffen's for the movie and then went home to catch some sleep as we had a early start at the Lakewood Tournament.

I didn't intend to play in this tournament, but one of our players couldn't make it, so I was asked to step in. I managed to snag a bronze in Womens Doubles but broke Alan's heart when we lost in our Mixed and got a bronze instead. So, we mended our bruised ego at one of Alan's favorite Middle Eastern Restaurant and again over ate. Our excuse was, we burned lots of calories at the tourney.

Once we got home, Tyler and I took at relaxing bath together and then we both agreed that it had been a long day and perfect for an early night, and we were both konked out and snoring by 8 pm.. :)

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Tyler's 6 month update

Tyler is 6 months old! Well, a little over 6 months. I was waiting for his 6-month check to do this update so that i could get some accurate measurements from the doctor's office.

So, here's the low-down of it all:

1. He is officially underweight *gasp*!! The word actually came out from the doctor's mouth today. So, it's not just me being obsessive about his non-weight gain anymore. It is true! Though he has finally gone past the 15 lb mark and is now weighing at 15 lb 6 oz, since his trip to Malaysia, he has fallen from the 37th percentile to the 9th percentile! Alan blames it on the water he was fed while he was there, while i think it's the fact he dislikes formula milk and the fact that he falls sick every other week.. oh well.. we'll work on the weight.

2. Though his weight is a bit of concern, he has grown quite a bit length wise. He is now at 27.25 inches, which means he has grown 8 inches in 6 months. So, not too bad. In fact, he's gone from about the 50th percentile to the 70th percentile. Still a little shortie compared to his 99th percentile cousin, but who's comparing, eh??!

3. He is on to solid food. We started on cereal at about 4 months and now at 6 months, he's on to vegetables and fruits. So far he's had carrots, potatoes, green beans, bananas, apples and pears. As he's only allowed to try a new food every 3 days, it does take a while to get to new stuff. But we're hoping this new food thing is going to help boost his weight a bit! He's a little picky still but he loves his carrots and sweet fruits!

4. He is still sorta bald and doesn't have any teeth. So, I call him the "Bo brothers", you know, Bo-Tak and Bo-Geh?? haha.. Only Malaysians will get this joke!

5. His other developments seems to be on track. He's sitting up and even bounces on his bottom to try to move. Hasn't quite figured out crawling yet, though he tries really hard by pushing up his butt into the air but doing himself a diservice by shoving his face onto the floor. He showed the doctor he can transfer things from one hand to the other(apparently it's an important milestone to look for).

6. I think he's starting his more-than-just-vowel-only babbling. He's always been quite vocal with his aaaa--ooooo-uuuu chants. But he's supposedly going to start doing some bababa..dadada like babbling. I think he's got some going. Sometimes he looks at your face and starts babbling, as if telling me a story, and i always say.. "Really???".

7. He is hopefully bilingual because I've been speaking to him primarily in Mandarin. We've also started some sign language though I'm not sure he's noticing our additional actions yet. So, we'll see in a few weeks. Alan and I seem to have different emphasis as I would teach him things like hungry, thirsty, milk, food(notice the food obsession??), while his daddy's first sign was "Daddy".

8. We think he's starting to have a little tiny bit of separation anxiety though we're praying he's not! So, we're encouraging more independent play and also other people to carry him around. But even other people are noticing that he's whining a little when he sees me walking around.

9. It's been a fun 6 months and he continues to amuse us with his goofy smiles and silly giggles.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Boulder Badminton Tournament 2008

We had our 5th Boulder Badminton Tournament today - May 11th.

We had a slightly smaller turn out compared to other years, probably due to Mother's Day and maybe other reasons. However, it was successfully ran and things ran smoothly.

I was manning the registration desk while Alan ran tournament desk. It was as usual a crazy long day with an early start. Tyler who was with us lasted a whole day without much trouble. He napped on and off during the day but often woke up when he hears daddy over the PA system. Note for next year : put him further way from the speakers!!!

We managed to also bring him more toys to keep him entertained a little longer.


Tyler with his toys..

But he was probably SUPER tired from the long day, just like us and zonked out on the love sack!!


Completely zonked out.....

Anyways, Alan and I didn't do tooooo well even though we had a hand in the draws. Must practice more i guess!!!

What Tyler does when he's left alone

What does Tyler do when Mommy and Daddy are clacking away on the computers??


He plays with Wa-wa..


He stretches out on his boppy... are you guys done yet???


He eats his favorite giraffe...


What.. i don't eat my giraffe.. oops.. hehe..

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day

It's my first Mother's Day and we'd stupidly scheduled our annual badminton tournament on that day! Doh!!! Despite my best efforts to move it, Alan had put his heart in it.

So, we celebrated it on Saturday instead.


Tyler and his hand-made Mother's Day Card

I was woken up by Tyler handing me my Mother's Day card. He even made one himself though i think he had help from the ladies at Daycare. He also got Alan to help him buy some store bought ones and Alan helped him put a picture in it.

Then I was treated to a nice brunch at Dixon's at downtown Denver. I had some super rich eggs benedict with smoked salmon and a margarita with a bloody mary twist(virgin of course). Yummm... after all that heavy eating, I came home and took a guilt free nap.. hehehe..


Yummy....

I haven't quite gotten the hang of Mother's Day and my friend told me it will take 1-2 years to figure out what i would like out of it. So, maybe next year my Mother's Day will be more exciting than a brunch and nap!


Me and my boys...

Oh, being a mother has also somehow made me quite forgetful. I actually forgot to buy cards for my mother and Alan's mom. Aiyiyi... again... first year.. I'll do better next year.

Happy Mother's Day moms!!!

Except it's Cuatro de Mayo Party

On May 4th, we had a Cinco de Mayo celebration, except it was on cuatro de Mayo. Hence the name of the party.

This idea was suggested by Sabrina our 1/2 Mexican friend. We thought it was a great excuse to have some good Mexican food and an awesome chance to welcome Spring. As the apple cherry blossoms were out and our back garden actually looked quite nice if you ignore the dead grass, we volunteered our house for the party.


Apple cherry blossom and Ben looking perplexed...

Sabrian and I doled out some food preparation duties to most guests but somehow, still ended up with A LOT of the work. Not sure how that worked out. I made some superdupercalifragilisticexpealidocious HOT green chile that I couldn't eat myself and some Mexican wedding cookies while Sabrina made, salsa(2 kinds, both yummy), Spanish rice, grilled beef and enchiladas. We also bought some pre-packaged chile rellenos, carnitas(OMG good) and tamales from Costco while some of our guests brought flan, empanadas, corn pie, bean salad, lemon bars. In other words, we had too much food. Oh, not forgetting our margarita-making-pro-wannabe Damith who couldn't churn out magaritas fast enough for raging the mob, as each batch got better and better.

Anyways, we gorged ourselves silly with all that food and I couldn't believe how little was left.

After that, it was time for the beating of the pinata, a Mexican entertainment . 20 thousand ideas were tried and tested to find the best way to hang up the pinata, only to be whacked down on the 2nd hit by Rohit! After a redo, almost everybody had a turn to try to bash the pinata. It was entertaining to watch a bunch of adults make a fool out of themselves trying to bash a papier mache bull, blindfolded, guided only by friends whose main intention was to send you the wrong way!!


Vernonica said, I'm a Latina, let me show you how it's done!


Tyler had a go at the pinata..

Soon, it got cold and dark and we retreated into the house to play Taboo which is always fun and I got lots of good laugh at the expense of Bill, our next door neighbour!

So, all in all, good party, good fun! Welcome Spring!!! Oh, and Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Here are more pictures:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcMXLRmzZtGbM

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Al's Visit

I've known Al since my Michigan State days. We took a class together once and then we worked in the same place for some time. Our friendship kinda took off after he came to fix my computer and I bribed him with fried macaroni.

Anyways, he came over for a visit this past weekend and I was treated to some yummy food that he made. It's funny that when my good friends visit, they always cook for me. Maybe i choose them for a reason, eh?

As it was a hectic weekend due to a Cuatro de Mayo party I was throwing, Al and I didn't really do much sightseeing. We just sorta spent it hanging out and cooking. Al has this awesome talent of simply whipping up stuff off his head while I'm doing the washing up. Before i knew it, there was fresh cookie with ice-cream for dessert and fluffy buttermilk pancakes for breakfast! And before he left, he even managed made his famous apple pie(close call though). I'd be a fat woman with him in my house!!

While he was here, his friend Adrian also drove up from Pueblo and I introduced them to Peruvian food!! After dinner, I left the boys to do their catching up while i caught with my party preparation stuff.

It was great to see him again.

Thanks again for visiting Al!

Our one picture together! I am really slacking off!!!

I can't believe it's May!

I blinked and suddenly it's May. And worse, it's been more than a week since I last blogged. But I have an excuse - I have a child in daycare, which means what? Yes, I've been sick again! Twice since the last blog!!!

Aiyiyi...

First there was the stomach flu(which i have no clue how i caught it) and then Tyler brought home some run of the mill cough, cold and sore throat. One dose for Daddy, one dose for Mummy!!! As Alan and I lay in bed being miserable, he wondered how a little bundle of joy could bring on so much suffering. I just wondered when our inmune system is going to catch up!

But luckily i managed to miraculously have a weekend of quite good health, which was a good thing because my friend Al from New York was in town for a quick visit. Will talk more about it in the next blog.


Here's a little picture for the grandparents.. our little germ carrier