Thankful

This a note for Sydney.

Syd, just a note that I'm writing because (as you probably will learn) if I don't write things down, they don't happen.

We were lucky enough to have Gong Gong and Po Po visit for the last week and a half. It was great having them at the house (which feels way too big and empty without more people). I can say that it's always amazing to spend time with them. Most people find their in-laws somewhat intolerable, but I think that I'm lucky to have such great in-laws.

In the time that they were here, there were a LOT of high-end chinese dinners and dim sums, parties at relatives, and plenty of trips to Richmond. But at the same time, it's amazing to see how much heart they have, how much they enjoy the simple things in life, and how they will do anything for you and your mom (and subsequently me... :)).

Some highlights:
- Po Po and Gong Gong brought a stove, a ton of toys, and gardening tools from Edmonton; not to mention that we did a major Costco run as well.
- Po Po planted 4 trees in the backyard which look great, and trimmed all the trees and bushes in the front yard (with mommy). It's night and day in terms of appearance, completely gorgeous. She has a real eye for gardening-goodlooks.
- We stacked Gong Gong's monster trick full of weeds and branches and dumped them off at the green depot. I should have taken a picture...
- Gong Gong, Po Po and I cleared out the disgusting, rotting "barn" shed in the backyard. Good grief, there were so many bugs and spiders... mom would have freaked.
- Gong Gong made enough food for a month...
- Po Po and Gong Gong were up every morning at 5:00 a.m. waiting for you to get up. You had a blast with Po Po entertaining you during diaper change. In general, you were attached to her like crazy.
- You also learned the answer to "who loves Sydney?" You answered "dada - mama - goo-goo and pupa." It was awesome.

So thanks to Gong Gong and Po Po for visiting. I hope that we can convince you to move here soon. :) You can live in the other basement suite, and we'll build an extension for Ong Noi and Ba Noi. The lot is big enough, that's for sure.

:)

P.S. Those dang weeds grow back so fast!

March Videos

April 3: Daddy's best day at work ever

The best day that I've ever had working. Being the lead marketing guy on the NHL franchise paid big for the first time on April 3rd

March 29: A day at Granville Island

What was suppose to be a fairly routine car appointment ended up being a half a day outing in Vancouver (that cost us $700... that's a separate story in terms of brake lights that didn't work). Anyhow, it was an opportunity for us to walk around Granville Island and relax the weekend before moving out of the condo.

By pure coincidence, we ran into Auntie Maria and Uncle Gord at the market court, who happened to be in town for the Car Show. Truthfully, I think that Auntie Maria would have been happier spending the day with you versus going to the car show. We missed cousin Alanah, hopefully we'll catch her on the island soon.

Big News! Sydney, you had your first restaurant made lunch at Dockside! Woo-hoo what a big girl. Mommy and daddy went there for lunch, and as usual you grabbed one of the menus and started flipping through it. That's when we thought that we'd roll the dice with a kid's lunch meal for you. You've eaten off of our meals before, but we've never ordered a meal specifically for you. Just remember, your first ever restaurant meal was at Dockside Restaurant where you had a view of the water, giggled at flying seagulls that would swoop by, and pointed at boats saying "bbu-bbuu". Lunch was some yam fries followed by a hefty serving of mac and cheese (which you didn't finish).

Love you!
















s

March 15th: Popo and Uncle Kirby visit

A semi-annual event in the Chan-clan. Uncle Kirby and his good-work-buddy Tom often make a semi-suicidal snowboarding trip out to Vancouver/ Whistler every other year. The schedule this year (which was similar to years previous) was drive from Edmonton to Vancouver from Thursday night to Friday morning straight, drop off unnecessary gear at our place, drive up to Whistler for a day of boarding, come back to our place for big eats and to crash, out early morning to Whistler again, back at night, ride off against the sunset on Sunday. Yes, pure mandess.

This year, they had an extra passenger in the car (Popo) who came to visit Sydney. Sydney enjoyed her first shoe shopping experience (uh-oh) trying on a number of different shoes and window shopping at the mall. She also had fun entertaining at dim sum, cooking up meals on her Fisher Price kitchen and "feeding" it to all her guests, and playing tag team drums with Uncle Kirby.

Thanks for visiting you three! Negitoro Cone at all you can eat Gen Sushi... yummy.

March 9: Auntie Tanya's Birthday

Busy busy month... 150 pictures and videos downloaded... yikes.

First stop, celebrating Auntie Tanya's birthday. She and Uncle Rob are into third trimester... exciting. Always a blast hanging out with Grandpa and Grandpa Italiano, pigging out on homemade gnoochi (the best I've ever had), spending time with the Robs and Milo, and being around a full and hearty dinner table. Bon appetito.