A couple of weeks ago, my cousin Maggie & her family stopped by and stayed with us for a night, while on their way to Seattle from L.A.

I think the last time we saw them was like 6 years ago, on our wedding day, when their son was only 2 months old! We went back to New York and I think not long after, they moved to Taiwan for a little while before settling in Hawaii; so we haven’t seen each other since.

Although it was the first time the kids have met each other, I was great to see that they had no problem playing together and getting along.

The visit was short, but now that they are in Seattle and we are in SF, it will be much easier to visit them as well as my Grandpa more frequently then ever.

Of course, I’ll need to find a steady job first.

This year we did it again—we made our own turkey! Jeremy also brought over a big piece of ham to go with our 20-lb. birdie. We also added items to our menu, including candy yam & apple pie. Good thing we had 2 Elders over so we were able to finish half of the food. It took all day to prepare the meal but we sure enjoyed it.

Check out the delicious photos! Enjoy!

Two Saturdays ago, Kaitlyn was invited to her classmate Emma’s birthday party at the Build-A-Bear Workshop on 5th Avenue. Here are some photos taken on that day. Enjoy!

This past Halloween was Kaitlyn’s 2nd Halloween. Last year, she was a hot dog & she hated the outfit. Not because it’s a hot dog, but because it has no pant legs. Yes, she was only 9 months old but she was already standing up & starting to walk.

This year, she’s a cat. Although this one has legs, she didn’t really like wearing it either, but for the most part she was OK with it. It might be because she got to wear it once at a church Halloween party, a few days before Halloween. This year, we took her to Queens to her grandparents’ house & trick-o’-treated there. Our old pal Patrick was also there with us.

Here are some pix from the party & Halloween night:

If you haven’t heard, Melanie threw me a surprise party for my big 30th birthday a few weeks ago. She really surprised me this time, since she doesn’t really do things like that. But, thanks hun, it was fun!

So this is what happened. My old pal Patrick happened to come down from Boston that weekend. He stayed with us for a couple of days, so we, along with Diane & Nancy, went to Ave U & had dim-sum/lunch that morning. After that, Patrick wanted to go into the city & do some shopping. “We” tried to invite him to go to dinner with us, but he insisted on us going by ourselves. Of course, I later found out that he knew about the surprise dinner all along. Both Melanie & him were just playing along when I was trying to get him to come to dinner with us.

So we went home & decided to take a nap before dinner. At that time, I still didn’t know where Melanie was “taking” me to dinner, but it didn’t really matter to me, so I didn’t ask.

By around 6, we left the house. Since I was the one driving, Melanie had to act like a GPS, tell me where to go, turn by turn, without giving away the final destination.

So we got on the Belt Parkway, everything was fine, but then all of a sudden Mel started to complain about stomach pain. She pretended to pretend to act OK, but was soon taking deep breaths! We “happened” to have just gotten off of the highway, so I asked her if she knew of any place that has a restroom she can use, since we were at least another 15 minutes away from where she told me the next turn is. So she “suggested” Diane’s place & I said let’s call her & see if she’s home. (Of course she was!) She said no problem, but wants us to bring Kaitlyn in so that Mr Kwok can see her.

Mel jumped out of the car before it came to a complete stop. Diane was outside already. I pulled into the driveway, took Kaitlyn out, & followed Diane up the steps & into the house, & that was it——SURPRISE!

Here are some pics from that day:

Here’s a video of Kaitlyn having fun with her friend Darion at the party:

Kaitlyn certainly takes after her mom with those animated smiles & funky dance moves. See it for yourself!

*more videos on YouTube

Today Kaitlyn turned 19 months old & started Pre-K “pre-Pre-K”! It was both hers & Melanie’s first day of school. To those of you who didn’t know, Melanie is going back to work & that Kaitlyn is attending the same school that Melanie teaches at (but a different class).

We were still very tired from the red-eye flight that we all left the house @ 7:30 this morning, a little later than we were supposed to. The trains were packed and everyone was sweating as usual. As we transferred from the N to the 6 Train at the 14th Street station, we got separated.

Mel got onto the train but Kaitlyn & I couldn’t. Some guy was just hovering by the door after he got on, so I was trying to get around him. Since he had his headphones on, he wasn’t aware that there were people behind him trying to get on. Now thinking back, I should had just rammed him with the stroller! I’ll admit that I’m a “door-hoverer,” too, because I don’t love holding onto the poles. But at least I’m a responsible “hoverer!” When the train doors open, I always move out of the way & make sure that people can get on & off easily. And I’m always willing to move in to the middle when needed. But this guy just stood there, blocking half of the doorway with his 50-inch waist, 250-lb body!

Anyway, by the time—which was just 5 seconds later—Melanie realized that we were still on the platform, she turned around, and tried to get off, the train doors closed & I had to pull the stroller back.

We eventually got there. Kaitlyn was pretty happy as she walked into the classroom and excited to see other kids. She would walked up to them and looked at what they were doing. There’s this one boy (I think his name was Toby) who came in a few minutes after her. As soon as his mom said goodbye, he just started crying & screaming. At that moment, I was like “oh, no,” because I can just see Kaitlyn doing the same thing. Some time during our vacation, Kaitlyn became very clingy & attached to us at times. She would freak out when we leave her sight or when she sees “strangers” (my family, whom she has met many times).

Fortunately, she only acted shy and asked me to pick her up once (but I didn’t). When it was time for me to say bye to her, she was OK and would let one of the teachers hold her instead. I stayed for a few minutes outside the classroom looking at her through the one-way glass on the door. Although she kept looking at the door, she was calm & didn’t cry or anything—at least for those few minutes.

Hopefully she’s OK and is having a good time right now. I guess we’ll find out later today.

We’ll keep you posted.

By the way, I’ll try to start posting up photos from our vacation by Sunday, but not until I unpack first.

Kaitlyn will be 18 months old tomorrow. How time flies! She’ll soon be in school, learning how to swim, taking the SAT, going out with boys…but of course, she’ll need to be potty-trained before all that can happen.

Anyway, here’s a picture taken just 6 months ago today, when we threw her a wonderful birthday party.

FINALLY… after 2 months, the conclusion to the Ling Family Visit in May.

Our trip to the city (Top of the Rock @ Rockefeller Center, NBA Store, & Central Park)

Taking turns to take pictures with the princess (we charge $100 per picture. haha):

Their final day in NY:

We miss you guys! Can’t wait to see you next month!