Los Angeles Trip

We went up to LA this past weekend to visit Mai-anh and Tran since they were dying to play this board game with us called Cities and Knights (Settlers of Catan) and also see Orion. They practically begged us to come over and offered to cook for us, clean the house and lock their cat, Toonces, in the bathroom the whole time we're there. We were able to sneak in 5 games. We have a running tally of the wins and at the end of 2009, the person with the most wins will receive the title of "2009 Settlers of Catan champion." Amy was the 2008 settlers of catan champ.

In LA, we also walked down the promenade and saw some street performers and took pictures along the beach. At the end, he was exhausted! Daddy was a little tired too from carrying him in the Baby Bjorn the whole time. He is getting heaver and heavier! Tran made us some shabu shabu (sp?), which is basically "hot pot" for dinner.

It's hard to catch one of his bright smiles because once we take out the camera, Orion immediately stops smiling or talking (whichever he was doing) and stares at it with curiosity. So this picture was hard to get, although we see him smiling like this all the time.

With Chinese New Year's coming this week, we may head up to Temecula for a family reunion again. The little boy sure is traveling every weekend!

Little old person

We received quite a few comments that our baby looks like a little person - very mature looking for his age. I guess we agree and if you get to know him, he does things you would not fathom for a 2-month old. One time we were talking to each other and joking in a loud voice and Orion just started babbling and he got louder and louder as our voices grew. He just wanted to be heard and wanted to participate in the conversation too. Another time it must have been too loud for him to sleep because he woke up just to scold us and went right back to sleep after the scolding. He is just so alert and aware of his surroundings.

For the first time, we took him to Balboa Park and he loved the stimulation. Speaking of Balboa Park, Body Worlds is coming to San Diego (Balboa Park) in March. Anyhow, it was wonderful to see Balboa Park through his eyes and it made the park more exciting and new for us too.

Now that Amy has returned to work, grandma has been watching Orion and she says so far he's been very well behaved. It's been hard for Amy to be at work all day and away from the baby since she was so used to staying home with him these past 3 months. We both take videos of him and watch them at work when we miss him, but nothing beats the real thing of holding the little bundle in your arms and being able to kiss his chubby cheeks. Each day is so precious and full of new discoveries with him.