California, Here We Come

Our happy girl at the happiest place on Earth!






We made it! Sydney's first official visit to Disneyland. She was definitely in awe. She laughed, she cried, she slept, she ate, she did everything we asked and more! Her first ride was It's a Small World, of course. She bounced in her seat to the music.

Here she is waiting in the Small World line, anxiously.



Here she is dancing to the music before getting in line to ride it again. She provided other guests with some entertainment.



She also rode the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, the Winnie the Pooh ride, the Teacups, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (which, by the way, is very confusing), the Jungle Cruise where she actually saw the elephants, and she enjoyed the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room and Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. Our only regret is not riding the new Finding Nemo submarines, which averaged a 2 to 3 hour wait. Forget that!

Here she is with Grandpa Joe on the Jungle Cruise.



The big moment - meeting the Mouse. He was kind enough to get down to her level and even returned her blowing of a kiss, with sound!



Here's a nice break for the parents.



Sydney's first ice cream sandwich. Note the envious Maddie in the background who is lactose-intolerant.



Here's the Joe family portrait at California Adventure.



Sydney also got to spend lots of time visiting her mom's relatives. She probably met over 50 people ranging in age from seven months old to mid-80s!

Here she is playing with her cousin Maddie in the backyard of Grandma Joe's cousin.



Sydney discovered bubbles!



Here's Sydney's first experience in a swimming pool. She loved it. No fear at all. Uh oh!




Sydney got her first taste of In-N-Out Burger's french fries. Needless to say she scarfed them down. But who doesn't?

Well, She Was Just 17...You Know What I Mean

...Months old, that is! Our baby girl is 17 months old today. That's 1.42 years, according to Brian's calculations. Mama and Baba celebrated by going to a matinee ("Ratatouille") without her. She would have been disappointed with the movie anyway, as we certainly were. Oh well. All was not a total loss as Grandpa Jim the sitter informed us of a new word she started using today - "wawa" (that's water to you and me, not to be confused with the sound effect for our disappointment, "wahh-wahhh"). Just a couple of days ago she started saying "hi" to us in the car. Brian turned her carseat around so that she is facing forward, and now we look at her in the rearview and visor mirrors as she looks back at us and says the sweetest "hi" you will ever hear.

Sydney has taken a liking to our shoes and slippers. Since she knows where to find them, she will fetch them for herself and attempt to place them on her feet.

Here she is in Brian's slippers.

Mama's flipflop didn't quite make it...

But her Birkenstocks work!

Here's Sydney with our neighbor, Connor, who is in middle school. That's Peanut the dog behind them.

Sydney likes everyone's bling.

Brian got a nice birthday present last week (an iMac!), and Sydney helped open it. Note the straining and flexing of our little one.

Good thing the computer is out of the box, as this 21-pounder may do some damage.

And finally, our watermelon lover who doesn't know the meaning of "pace yourself".

We'll report more after our trip to see Mickey! (Oh and Grandma and Grandpa Joe and Uncle Mike and Auntie Desiree and cousin Maddie too.) Happy Independence Day, everyone, from our family's newest American citizen!

Happy Baba's Day

Note the blurry feet, swinging with glee.

Brian and I joke about never thinking we'd ever see this day. And now it's passed without much fanfare! Our little family has been sick this past week. Brian brought home a cold with coughing and sneezing and congestion (probably from some germ-ridden middle-schooler) who passed it on to me, who also got a fever. Sydney somehow avoided the coughing and sneezing and congestion but got the fever, just for a short while. Needless to say, we are getting ourselves back to normal just in time for school to get out for Brian this coming Thursday. Father's Day was uneventful but at least we got some rest. Thanks to Grandpa Jim and Grammy Kathie for taking care of Sydney on those sick days when Mama couldn't!

Here's where Sydney liked to lay for a while when she had a fever.

We got a visit last Saturday (the 9th) from cousins Mark and Anna Quan, who were in town for a wedding. Coincidently, the groom of the wedding they attended happened to be the brother of a teacher at Brian's school. Thanks for the outfit and the soccer goal! She's on her way!

Here's proof for all that Mark and Anna were here:

Here's Sydney and Baba just chillin', watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Sydney just likes the first minute and the last minute of the show with the music and dancing.

Here's our little noodle princess:

Sydney fits perfectly in our laps!

New words Sydney says these days include "hat" and "hot". She still picks up little tiny bits of crumbs and trash, but they don't necessarily go right into the mouth; she brings them to us to throw away. One of her favorite foods is edamame, and she has taken a liking to raisins, which Mama can't believe. Speaking of Mama, she seems to have replaced the word Baba with Mama and now calls both of us Mama. Oh well. There you have it. How apropo, for Father's Day!

Let's Get Together, Yeah Yeah Yeah

Last Sunday Sydney got to go to the Oregon Zoo for the second week in a row! But this time, we didn't even bother trying to see the elephants because we were there to meet up with most of our travel group. In retrospect, we probably could have just met at a park. We only managed to see a few zoo animals due to all the visiting and catching up with our friends. We did manage to get former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, who was there that day, to take our picture below. Thanks to Tim for being brave enough to ask him.

Here's Group 98 as we are known at our adoption agency. Left to right are us, Paul, Lydia and Maya, Ama, Joanna and Zanna, and Inge, Tim and Natalie. We're sorry that Janet and JoLi couldn't join us as they live in Naperville, IL.

Here are the Fu girls as we sometimes refer to them; they are from Fuzhou, Nanchang. Of course, this is one of the best shots we could get as they are all very active and happy now! (Even though it looks as if Sydney is being nonsocial...) Think how far they've come since the red couch photo in Guangzhou!

Maya just couldn't contain herself.

That's a little better...except for Maya. She refuses to be held up by Sydney again!

Sydney and Zanna are learning to share. Zanna has Sydney's sippy cup and vice versa. Looks like Sydney wants both.

Maya: "Love your shoes. Where did you get them?"

Sydney: "Why are you touching my foot?"

Stroller buddies...

It was great catching up with everyone there. We all have a common bond that will never end.

In other news...

Here's Sydney gathering pinecones on a recent visit to the Round Lake trail in Camas.

Sydney continues to grow and surprise us every day. Recently she is saying "nana" for banana, "umpa" for Grandpa, and I even caught her saying "Sydney" one morning as she pointed to herself. She has rediscovered watermelon and says four syllables (baby babble) to represent one of her favorite foods. We figure it's because they grow watermelon in Nanchang. This morning on our walk with Ellie, she held her pinched fingers to her nose, as I was pooper-scooping and saying "P.U., stinky poo-poo!" She has seen me do this before and loves to copy. She also picks up little bits of trash or crumbs and brings them to us to throw away. Our budding environmentalist?

Visitors from the East

Whew! After a nice long weekend visit from Uncle Dennis and cousin Anna from Pennsylvania, Sydney's sleep clock seems a bit off. She has gotten up twice this week about an hour and a half earlier than usual. Of course, this made her a bit confused and she immediately fell asleep a couple of hours later. Perhaps she is trying to be on East Coast time with her uncle and cousin.

Here she is waiting at the airport for them, with Grammy's diet Coke:

We had lots of fun hanging out with Uncle Dennis and Anna.

Here we are just chillin' at Grammy and Grandpa's:

In the computer room.

Uncle Dennis has a big mouth!

He makes funny sounds......and plays with food.

I think I like him!

Here we are at the Oregon Zoo:

I call this one "Cowgirl Cousins"....

Just start singing the William Tell Overture and Sydney will start galloping in place.

Once again, not looking at the elephants.

But I did like pushing my own stroller around. And I always like petting the sheep.

Here we are playing mini-golf. Sydney is in charge of ball collection.

Here we are just hanging out at our crib. (That's baby homie talk for home.)

And finally, here's one for Grammy: