Summer Winding Down

This summer is coming to a close and we are looking forward to the fall and cooling weather.

I have been lucky to have less classes this summer (since I am a tutor, I can actually be busier in the summer) and thus I have started making all sorts of plans again.

Jo has been training a lot by doing Tai Chi in the mornings and now that she just got a new bike, is primed for more morning exercise as well.  I shudder at the thought, but as long as she is happy!  She is also getting antsy in terms of finding a 'real' job other than a housewife (the pay is terrible) so she has been scouting around a bit.  If anything comes up will be partly luck and partly connections since she is trying to bypass the normal 'basic' job type scenario.  Wish her luck (I will be happy to see her get out of the house!)

Sage is growing up quick and cute as ever.  His terrible two-ness never was but he is showing signs of 'throttle-em threes' as my sister likes to point out.  However, those are rare occasions and mostly he is a great kid.

He is speaking more now and with more words per utterance, yet still prefers to use his own pronunciation and words: "Shu Shu" is still Sage (I think from my common calling him 'Super'), "Paco" is now Gramma and Grampa combined I guess and we have no idea where that came about, and a whole host of other words that we would have to translate for others.  It is fun to watch this unfold.  I graduated as a linguist (as well as Chinese major) and learning how he absorbs this is really fascinating.

Anyway, let's get to the pics!

 Just some smiles

 Bubba' Time!

 In the Science Museum (we will be going here a lot more!)

 Super Bubble!

 Their dino exhibit is actually really cool.  The video is quite nice.

 This one left Sage scared since every so often, they would move and hiss loudly

 This is Jo's new toy.  It will be awhile before I join her....

 More smiles

Gotta have a 'thinking' one - after all he is Sage....

Hope all is well! 

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sage!

Today is our 3rd anniversary of celebrating all things Sage! 

I can't believe it has been 3 years already since our lives changed (for the better).  This year is special because he is really starting to communicate more and show his true personality, which is better than being just a cute bundle of kiss magnets....

Also, I can't believe it has been this long since I updated the blog as well, so apologies for that.  

Anyway, since we decided not to go back to America this year, we still wanted to take a mini-trip, so we packed up for HuaLien, a city on the Eastern coast of Taiwan for 5 days.  We could say it was for Sage's birthday, but really it was for Mom and Dad to (try to) relax.  And to show Sage the ocean when he could actually play with it.

Here are some pics of that recent trip, plus some pics we took of his bday cake.  Vids will be on Dropshots.

We are ready for the trip!  This is sadly only for 5 days, and 70% was for Sage, 29% for Jo and 1% for me....

We made a pit stop in Taipei since it was on the way to Hua Lien, so we quickly visited Ah-Ma and Sage bonded with her well.

Sage has acquired 2 more 'sleeping friends' to add to his "bahboom" collection.  He uses the collective term 'bahboom' for all of his friends (before there were only Peter Penguin and Panda; now there is KittyCat, Mousey Mouse, and Hippo).  I assume there will be more added as we go....

Sage's first steps on the beach (after a pretty long drive).

It was hot out so Mom and Dad wanted Ice cream.  Oh, someone else wanted it as well.....

Now we are cookin'...

Actually, this is a small river from the mountains draining into the ocean, so it was good to have both kinds of water.  Here he is getting his bearings before we head to the 'big waves'...

Here we go!

We played for a long time (LONG time) and he didn't want to stop.  He loved using his shovels to play with the rocks and throw them into the waves or make little mounds.

A little dance...

Feels good!

A bit sunny tho...

Ok, time to relax in our bungalow after a hard day of playing....

Ah, after a few days in the water, all he talks about is wanting to play in the 'big blue pool' (ocean) with his shovels.  Thankfully, we distracted him long enough to have a birthday cake for him.

He loves strawberries

When we were out in Hua Lien, we gave him a gift or two each day, so it really was a birthday week for him and he scored a bunch of small presents.  Here are the remainders for his actual birthday.

Happy!

Ok, that is our update.  Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Happy 3rd Birthday Sage!