FYI

For your information... I always have too many pictures to post on the actual blog, so make sure to check our Photo Album for more every time I blog.

Also, below is a quick guide so you'll understand who these people are if I refer to them in my posts. We're teaching our kids to address my family in Vietnamese. The language is tonal, so there are many words that look the same, but are pronounced differently, resulting in different meanings.

Ong- sounds like owng (grandpa), Ba- sounds like ba but there's an accent that makes the tone lower (grandma), Di Dao- yee dow, rhyming with cow (auntie Dao, though Sarah is her English name), Cau Son- cow suhn (uncle Son, though Peter is his English name), Co Teresa- go Teresa (auntie Teresa).

In case you're wondering why there are so many ways to address an "auntie," that's because there is! In Vietnamese, how you address a relative is based on whether that person is on your mom or your dad's side. Vietnamese people usually address each other with titles as a sign of respect. Close friends of yours obviously wouldn't address you with a title, but titles are usually used to address people who are older than you. For example, Grace would never call one of my friends by their first names, just like I'd never address one of my parents' friends without a title. It would be proceeded by Co (auntie) or Chu (uncle) whether or not the person was truly related to us. Notice that my sister is called Di, and my brother is called Cau. These terms mean auntie and uncle, but they're reserved for those who are related to the mom. Different titles are used if the auntie and uncle are related to the dad. It must sound confusing as I try to explain, but it's actually great for figuring out how people are related! I wish the Mennonites had some kind of system like that so it'd be easier for me to figure out how everyone's related! J/K!

Despite not being a part of a Vietnamese community in Fresno and slowly losing my cultural heritage, there are still many cultural things that I would like to hold on to and pass along to our kids. Ever since Grace started learning how to talk, Jason and I have taught her to address people who are older than her as Mr. So-and-So, or Ms. So-and-So... Using last names made it sound too formal, so we've taught her to use Mr. and Mrs./Ms. with first names. That comes directly from me being taught as a kid to show respect by addressing others appropriately. With that said, to our English-speaking friends who have wondered in the past... when our kids address you as Mr. or Ms., it's a sign of respect for you!

By the way, while I'm here in Edmonton and surrounded by Vietnamese people, does anyone have any other Vietnamese-based questions?!

Family Time

**I wrote this post on Monday and didn't get a chance to publish it until now... Sorry! We've been away on a trip to the mountains, which I'll hopefully get a chance to blog about tomorrow. **

In case you didn't know, I am the oldest of 3. My brother, Peter, lives in Calgary, about 2 1/2 hours away, and my sister, Sarah, has taught in Taiwan for the past 2 years. We haven't been together since last summer. Peter drove up for the weekend with his fiancee, Teresa, and Sarah returned from Taiwan late Friday night. Jason stayed home with our sleeping kiddos so that I would be able to go out to the airport to welcome her back!

My dad turned 60 this year! We didn't celebrate until this past weekend, when all of us were able to be together again. One of my dad's favorite dishes is Peking Duck. It originates from China. Basically, a duck is cooked and served in a variety of ways. The restaurant we went to served us 3 courses. For the first course, you placed the duck meat, onion, cucumber, and carrots on a Chinese pancake. You'd drizzle a sweet hoisin sauce on it, then roll it up. Jason calls it a "Chinese burrito." The second dish uses the duck in a soup with tofu and other vegetables. The rest of the duck was served with noodles for the third course. We also ordered other dishes to round out the meal. Well, Teresa, my brother's fiancee did. It turns out that at this particular restaurant, there was a Chinese menu and a separate English menu. Everything cost more if you ordered in English. Luckily, Teresa speaks Chinese! We are heading off to Calgary tomorrow to meet up with Peter and Teresa, and then will go on to Banff on Wednesday morning. I'm kind of dreading the traveling because Grace and Jeremy still haven't adjusted to being here yet. Jeremy is typically a really laid-back, easy going kid. Grace is also usually a pretty good kid. It hasn't been that way since we got here. We've really tried to keep their schedules as close to how it is when we're in Fresno. At first, we thought it was the heat, but not much has changed even now that it's cooler. The kids share a room (they don't usually), so they are having trouble falling asleep, Jeremy continues to wake up throughout the night, both kids aren't eating well, Grace has decided to start testing us by developing an attitude, talking back, doing things she knows is wrong, etc. As great as it has been to see everyone, it has also been really frustrating. I think it'll be good to have some time with just the four of us!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans! Our family didn't get to celebrate Canada Day (though, I wish Canadians would celebrate Canada's birthday like the Americans do for their nation's birthday)... and we won't be celebrating the 4th of July either... It's such a great time to get-together with friends and family! We'll miss that this year. Summer just isn't the same!!!!

Back in my Homeland

Well, here we are! We've been playing it low-key since arriving here in Canada on Tuesday night. The flight from Fresno to Seattle was awful- Jeremy cried almost the whole time. Both kids did better on the flight from Seattle to Edmonton. The kids did great as soon as they saw my parents. Thank goodness- no stranger anxiety! However, due to getting in at midnight, Wednesday was kind of crazy with naps and all of that. We pretty much did nothing- just laid around and watched TV. My mom made me my favorite Vietnamese dish for dinner. It's called Bun Bo Hue, a spicy noodle soup that originates from central Vietnam. Yum! I guess it can't be considered completely authentic since I don't eat pig's knuckles and stuff like that. I'm sure some of you just got totally grossed out reading that last sentence! Ha!
On Thursday, Grace woke up to a treat. My dad bought her some "Timbits" from Tim Hortons for breakfast. I'm not quite sure why Canada has such an obsession with Tim Hortons, but like all other Canadians, we love it too. In case you didn't know, Timbits are the middle ball part of donuts. They come in cute little boxes and since they're so small, you can't help but end up eating quite a bit! The main thing we did on Thursday was go to get Grace enrolled in swim lessons at a local recreation center. We've decided once again to put her in a "Parent & Tot" class because of the amount of coaxing that still has to take place for her to get in the pool. The course description says that one of the goals will be to gradually decrease the parent's involvement to encourage the tot's self-confidence and independence. Those lessons don't start for another 2 weeks, but we'll definitely keep you posted. Jason and I planned to go out last night for bubble tea, but the kids had major problems falling asleep. I think it's the heat. At least in Fresno, everyone's prepared for the heat- we have a whole house fan and air conditioning... Not so much here. It was TOO HOT for the kids to fall asleep. They were dripping sweat, even with fans on. We put them to bed at 8pm, and they were still up close to 11pm. Yikes! At least these days occur only every few weeks. It's supposed to cool down in these next few days.

Today, we did our first "touristy" thing. We went to the John Janzen Nature Center. It's located along the river valley, and offers programs, events, exhibits and information to encourage awareness and understanding of nature in an urban setting. I remember going there on a field trip as a kid. Our visit today was appropriate for Grace, but Jason and I were unimpressed. In fact, so much so that I'm not even going to bother putting a link for you to check out. Oh well, at least we can cross that off on our list of things to do. After visiting the center, we ate lunch and went on a short 1km hike. It turned out to be really calming and peaceful, and we made it home in time to put the kids down for naps. I will definitely try to post as much as I can about our trip, so check for updates!

Checking out pond life

Grace checking out a garter snake up-close
Watching honeybees in action
At the trailhead
Along our hike

Penner Family's Colorado Reunion

We were in Glenwood Springs, Colorado all of last week at the Penner Family's Bi-Annual Reunion. We had an amazing time, but since we forgot our camera's battery, couldn't document any of it!

The kids were great on our flight from San Jose to Denver. From Denver, it was still another 2.5 hours of driving. We arrived on Monday night to Glenwood Canyon Resort. It's right on the Colorado River. Our cabin was wonderful, and what a joy it was to see Jason's family again. On Tuesday, we all went to Glenwood Canyon's Hot Springs Pool . Jason enjoyed the waterslides, and even I got in the cool pool (the hot springs were way too hot). The highlight was Grace working up enough courage to finally fully submerge herself underwater! She did it repeatedly, when we asked her to, and also on her own initiative. (Unfortunately, every day since we've been back, we've had to coax her into the pool again- anyone have suggestions for us on what to do?!) Wednesday was the highlight for most of the family. They went whitewater rafting! The water was supposedly really high, so we didn't let Grace go, worrying that she'd chicken out at the last minute. So, I stayed in our cabin with Grace and Jeremy while Jason went. He had such a great time! Later that night, our parents watched all of the kids, and we were able to go to Glenwood Canyon Brewpub with some of Jason's cousins. When we got back, we played board games late into the night- totally fun! Thursday came, and while Jason went golfing with his cousin and uncles, I attempted to go hiking with some other cousins and both kids. We forgot to bring our carrier for Jeremy, and with our borrowed carrier and our little chunker, it got too hard. The hike was apparently 2.4 miles roundtrip to Hanging Lake, but within that was an elevation climb of 1000 feet. I returned down the steep path on my own after making it more than a quarter of the way. I only made it as far as I did thanks to Wyndy's help! The family continued on with Gracie, and all afternoon, I worried about whether or not she was able to do it, and about whether or not she was whining and complaining the whole way. Everyone got back with nothing but praise for Grace. She made it with help from many people such as Uncle Chris, Auntie Jen, and Grandma and with minimal whining. Looks like we need to do more hiking as a family! Friday came, and with sadness, we said goodbye to everyone. On the highway back to Denver, Jeremy started having trouble breathing with coughing spasms that sounded awful. Worried, we decided right off the highway to take him to see a doctor. We ended up having to take him in to the ER in Frisco (which turns out, is actually a really quaint town). He had a fever of 103 degrees, and while chest xrays showed nothing to explain his severe coughing, it was discovered that he had gotten another ear infection despite already being on an antibiotic. After several hours, he was released. We flew down the highway through rush hour to try and make our Denver flight. We barely made it- we were the last ones on the plane and they closed the door behind us. We sat back, relieved to have made it. Our moment didn't last because Jeremy was irritable the whole trip. Midway through, he actually threw up... He was facing us, and his vomit ended up on both of us, some of it leaking through our seats to the woman sitting behind us! Ay ya ya... Anyway, after landing in San Jose and our drive home, we walked through the door right before midnight. And that, was our Colorado trip.

On the last day, we remembered at the last minute that Gracie had packed her camera, so she went around getting a few snapshots. Remember, these shots are from her perspective. Brad, Jason's cousin, was our "official photographer," so as soon as he is able to send some pictures our way, I'll post them.

Friends

We never really get to see a whole lot of our Fresnan friends in the summer. For that reason, I really look forward to and value those times when we can be with them. Some of my closest friends, the Wiens and Lee families, came over for dinner tonight. Can you argue with me? Our son is such a cutie!We're trying to build up Gracie's confidence in the water, but so far, it takes a lot of coaxing to get her in the pool.

It'll be fun to watch our boys grow up together (Jeremy- 8 months, Levi- 3 months, Micah- 7 weeks)

Grace and Charlotte enjoying some homemade ice-cream

Cousins!

We are glad that Grace, Jeremy, and their cousins, Noah, Cambria, and Corissa will be close enough in age that they can play together. Well, someday, Jeremy will be trying to keep up with them, but at least the cousins let Grace play with them. Grace has been able to spend a lot of time with her cousins lately. Last week was Noah's birthday party, and then this past week, the cousins came over and spent the day with us. We went to Oso de Oro park to play, but the kids soon got overheated. We headed home to cool off in the pool. In fact, the kids must have spent about 2 hours in the pool throughout the entire day. While Grace and Jeremy were napping, the cousins watched a movie and rested up. Before heading back home, we made homemade icecream in baggies, which the kids added toppings to afterward. Lots of fun! For more pictures, check our Family Photo Album.

Thank you, Norma and Bert

Since the summer before Grace turned 2, she has been going to an in-home daycare while Jason and I worked. After Jeremy was born, he also started going to the same in-home daycare when I returned to work. We are grateful to Norma and Bert for all they have done for our children. With summer vacation here, we thought this would be an appropriate time to say goodbye. Norma and Bert have been loving and caring, very important people in our children's lives.
We hope to keep in touch with Grace's two closest friends, Shannon and Maddy, who have grown up with her these last 2 years. We will miss you all!

Our Little Inchworm

Jeremy turned 8 months old last Wednesday! He's inching around everywhere, already getting into things. He's so curious about everything! We think his favorite person is his sister Gracie, who he easily smiles and giggles for. He's definitely eaten a wide variety of solids now, and aside from his late night snack (bottle), is eating when the rest of us eats. He's still our little chunker, and we recently had to switch him out of his infant car seat into a convertible seat (still rear-facing, of course!). He's wearing 12 month clothes, and is at least 22 pounds. He has two teeth, and we think another one is about to come in. We're kind of bummed that he doesn't need quite as much sleep as Gracie (he's an early riser), but he's pretty predictable, which we really like! Now that he's become a little more mobile, we're wondering how he's going to do on our airplane trips coming up...

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to an amazing daddy, husband, man... Jason

We love you so much!

Small Group

We're part of a Small Group that has been meeting for about 4 years. It started as a group of Young Marrieds and has evolved to Families with Young Kids. This past year, we've been meeting every Sunday to share dinner, learn, and pray together. We've been through so much "life" together... Don't know what we'd do without our Small Group!

Anyway, our Small Group came over to our house last Sunday. It was our last get-together until the new school year starts up again. The kids swam and played, and then we enjoyed a potluck dinner. We really value the friendships and bonds that we've formed with these amazing people!

In the Backyard

Our family spent some time in the yard today before dinner. Jason's excited to have a daughter who is showing some interest in both soccer and t-ball. They play outside almost every day. Today, Jeremy and I sat and watched them. Daddy showing off some of his moves to Gracie

She insisted on running around barefoot today.She actually hit the ball (but yeah, gotta work on her form)

Check out Jeremy's two teeth!

From this picture, you'd never guess that he's been pretty irritable lately. We can't figure out if it's because he's getting another tooth, because of allergies, or because he's actually coming down with a cold or something.

Gosh, it's hard work being a baby!