Happy To You, Madoc

Madoc has so many words now! And her expressions crack me up, because sometimes she forgets words. For example, for Mother's Day, she kept saying "Happy To You," all day long. And she keeps saying it. And so, of course, I must say "Happy To You, Madoc," which, if you think about it, is a lovely thing to say to anyone - because you have to smile.

Another thing Madoc loves to say is, "My daddy told me..." and then she completes the sentence with whatever it is she wants. Like "My daddy told me to eat cold banana half." She also likes asking for clarification using full sentences, like "Mommy, what is this about?" or "Mommy what is this used for?"

We were watching Curious George and Madoc told me, "My Chasey told me George is going to be okay. My daddy told me he is going to be okay, too." (Seriously? That's a lot to say.)

Mads has also started trying to read the early reader books that Chase is bringing home. At this rate, she will probably be able to read by end of age 3. She is so determined not to miss out on anything.

Her incredibly gorgeous hair, coupled with her beautiful blue eyes make her an irresistible (and oh so smart) toddler. All she has to do is bat her eyelashes (and yes, she knows how), and she's got you wrapped around her little finger (and boy does she have a cute little finger).

Now if only she could figure out how to exactly like her big sister...

Tai Po Cycling

Today we went cycling in Tai Po with friends. It was FABULOUS.




















The lovely Charlotte and Elissa...













Colin and Audrey - Ready, Steady, Go!















Too much fun! And we haven't left the parking lot yet...














You have to get up the hill first (feel the burn!) ... but after that, it's lovely!















The view ...














Zoom, zoom!












































Such a great excursion! After cycling across the dam, we enjoyed a splendid picnic - complete with hot pasta and soup. YUM!

This has to be one of the best family excursions in/around Hong Kong - but definitely not something you'd want to do in the blazing sun.

School

Chase is now reading and writing with relative ease. She does get stumped on words of course, but she powers through in most cases and seems to retain the correction days/weeks later.

I had my second parent/teacher conference yesterday and the only thing she isn't "exceeding expectations" on is throwing a ball. Because she throws it up, instead of forward. Her teacher told me she thinks she will be bored in Primary 1, which she begins in the fall. She also told me she could probably test into Primary 2, but that the down side of being youngest in the class may not be worth it - and I agree. From what I've seen with Madoc (born Dec, so youngest in class), I would say it's definitely worth arranging things so that your child is as strong a player as possible in his/her class.

I am so proud of her - she's accomplished so much. Her attitude toward learning is sunny, bright and she is highly motivated. And now she's off to the big school. And so I arranged a meeting with the guy in charge to talk about the syllabus and mandarin. Turns out she can already do what most kids achieve by the end of P1 and will probably be way ahead by September. Mandarin is worrisome because it is only 20 min a day and very basic, but I may have come up with a solution that doesn't rock the boat too much.

All in all I think her education will be decent, but I will have to come up with ways to supplement it outside of school (shocker).

Seat belt

Madoc's sense of humor keeps me rolling. This morning (I was on the toilet), she pulled out a long line(?) of toilet paper and gently set it across my lap. Then she took a step back, looked at me, smiled and said "seat belt."

Trip To US - Portland

Following are the photos from our trip to Portland. We are so grateful to our friends and family for making such a wonderful trip. I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of everyone we saw!!! Next time....

This one was taken after dinner at a good friend's house - Whit and Tara, I spared us all by not posting the pics Hubs took of the three of us. Apologies to Matt again for throwing food at him. I promise to behave myself next time.



























My dear, dear friend, Heidi who drove down from Seattle (I love you, miss you!)...













Her dad, Dave ....













Her mom, Allen, who was a strong roll-model for me while I was growing up...














Allen must have read six books to Chase... Chase wanted at least 60 more...














And then to Freya's house... She had such a great backyard, which included a little house...














A secret trail...




















Logs to jump across...














I met Freya (below) and Sarah when I was four! Now Freya has two gorgeous daughters and Sarah has two little boys and a beautiful little girl (although I somehow did not get a picture of them all together!)




















Later... a walk with Auntie Lockett...


























Time with Nana...







































































I love this picture of Chase...




















And I love this picture of Mads...














Had a super fabulous time with Grandpa Mark at OMSI...



























Chase took some pics of us back at Courtney and Lockett's place...








































And a great pic of our little nephew, Ajax! Cute stuff! We miss you!














And then the hard part.... we had to say goodbye... to Grandpa Mark...




















To Nana Cris...








































Hmmm, any similarity?














To Uncle Courtney...




















To Auntie Lockett...




















And then we boarded the plane, and tried our best to "get comfortable" for our 17 hour trip home...

Chase Wins Chickeeduck Fashion Show

Chase was invited by a friend to join in a Chickeeduck fashion show at SOGO. She actually WON the competition.

Super HUGE thanks to Claire, our gorgeous friend (she is wearing orange in photos below), for arranging this opportunity for Chase. And big thanks to our friends - Irene, Joe, Audrey and Scarlett - for coming along to cheer for Chase.

Here are the pictures from the show!

Chickeeduck