Saturday, February 28, 2009

Acton and Aquarium again

Last weekend we went out to the Acton Discovery Museums and the Aquarium again. As you might imagine, it was a weekend of cooking. Or maybe you might not have guessed that.

First up was the Acton Discovery Museums. We went to the kitchen first.

Here's a sandwich for you, Mama
Here's a burger for you Mama.

She liked it better than the last meal I made for her at home.

Owen made mama lunch
Tomato sandwich (tomato-bread-tomato) and turtle

Aki and the grapes
Aki had some lunch too

Later we went up to the boat room and Aki had fun crawling through the submarine tunnel.

Aki crawling through the tunnel
Where am I going? Where's lunch?

The next day we went out to the New England Aquarium.

Aki making fish stew
Aki made some fish stew. Hi fish stew!

Making fishies at the aquarium
And we made some fishies too

After a long weekend of cooking we were pooped!

Resting with Myrtle
Resting with Myrtle the Turtle

Monday, February 23, 2009

NYC 2.3 (Escape from New York)

Monday was the President's Day. To celebrate, we went to Chinatown.

Can I make her proud?
On the way there, we saw this sign. I hope I can make her proud

Statue of Lin Ze Xu in Chinatown
Then we went to see the Statue of Liberty Lin Ze Xu

It was chilly out so we went to warm up with some hot dim sum.

Aki drumming with chopsticks at dim sum
Aki is ready for some eating or drumming. Probably drumming.

After dim sum, we went to look at the stores.

Mama pig necklace
I think mommy would look nice with one of these! Daddy?

Fung Wah Temple
Here is the big Chinese Buddhist temple, right next to the Fung Wah bus company. Daddy says it is very convenient. Buy $15 ticket to Boston, go next door to temple, pray bus does not have accident, get on bus.

Mahayana Buddhist Temple
Mommy praying inside the temple

You can have a fun morning with the stuff you can buy on the street in Chinatown:

Socks and underwear
First, put on socks and underwear

VCD $1
Then make an mushroom omelette

VCD $1
Maybe watch a movie or a dozen

Steamer baskets and hot pot
Then make some dumplings and hot pot for lunch!

Chinatown is right next to Little Italy. Not much was open in Little Italy. There weren't many Little Italians either.

I breaka you face
What does breaka you face mean, daddy?

Back in Chinatown, we went to ice cream. Mommy was excited because they had durian flavor.

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
Panda?!! Who would make ice cream out of panda?!!

Owen and mama enjoying durian ice cream
Daddy said durian is like ice cream already so what's the point of having ice cream ice cream? I don't know, I liked it. Daddy refused to try it. Now I know he can't force me to try anything I don't want.

Right after this we had to hustle back to get our stuff and get on the train for Boston. We had a great trip to New York again. I hope we can go back soon!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

NYC 2.2 (No sleep till...)

On Sunday we woke up in our much nicer hotel than last time. It was nicer because mommy and daddy got a one-room room this time instead of the two room setup. This way me and Aki got to keep an eye on them while they slept.

Owen hugging Aki
Hugging Aki.

Aki slept in her crib, but this was really my bed! It transforms into a sofa. I kept asking daddy to "make it separate" or to pull it out so I could get back in!

After breakfast we caught the train to Brooklyn! Doesn't that sound like a cool place? It's about 200 miles away, as far as I can tell. We had to take the green train then the yellow one then the gray one.

Empty station except for video guys
Here's where the green train stopped running and we had to take the yellow one.

Eventually we got to Brooklyn. It was worth the wait! They have a great children's museum.

Aki looking up
Things were looking up

Water fun
For water fun

Drumming
And drumming


After lunch there, we went to the building part of the museum.

What do I do with these?
What do I do with these?

Ah, like this?
Ah, like this?

Owen and his fish
I built some fishies

Building blocks
And some buildings

Owen made trains out of blocks
And trains

Kids' names in blocks at Brooklyn Children's Museum
And names. Mommy helped me with this one.


Finally it was time for nap so while mommy and daddy pushed us to a new place, we slept in the stroller.

When we woke up, we were in a theater watching some very strange dancers. I've never seen dancing like this in my life!



More about this dancing here.

It turned out that we were in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, which was fine by me since there was lots of cool stuff to see.

Aki in children's gallery
Here's Aki in the kids' gallery

Aki contemplating the sign
Aki contemplating the meaning of this sign


Aki and daddy went upstairs while mommy and I were doing some drawing. Here's one of the things they saw:

Doormat: Welcome (Green), 2000
A doormat made up of many many little people. It's by a Korean artist who does that kind of thing.

After the museum we walked over to see a friend of daddy's from college. He and his wife have a dog, who was very friendly. I wanted to pet him, but I was kind of scared, so I asked daddy to pet the dog for me.

Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY
On the way to the friend's house, we saw this scene from Knuffle Bunny Too

Our family heading home after a great day in Brooklyn
Heading home after a great day in Brooklyn

Yay Brooklyn!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

NYC 2.1

Last weekend we went back to New York City again since we had so much fun the last time.

Saturday was Valentine's Day and we took the train down. We didn't get there until the afternoon so there wasn't too much time to do things. We all went to the Sony Wonder Technology Lab where we got to play with lots of computers.

Sony Wonder Tech Lab
Here's mommy and me editing a video

I also got to play a Madagascar video game for 5 minutes. Or did I get to watch daddy play for 5 minutes? I forget which.

On the way to dinner we saw a bunch of giant statues of kitties and bunnies. Mommy was very excited about this find.

Hello Kitty Statue
Mommy says this one is Hello, Kitty. Apparently Kitty shoots water out of her eyes when it is warm enough outside.

Mommy with statue
This one is My Melody.

The statues were made by some guy who likes Hello Kitty.

Later on the walk to dinner we came on this scene. This is a store with lots of fancy cars inside. This guy was begging the people inside to let him buy a t-shirt. It was not quite their closing time, but the doors were already locked. I guess the inside people didn't want to wait until 5 to get to Valentine's Day.

4:55, outside the Maserati store
I hope he got a good Valentine's Day present somewhere else

Finally we got to dinner.

Heading to Gyu-kaku for dinner
Mommy says this is one of her favorite restaurants from back in LA. I don't remember LA too well.

The boys
Me and daddy in our booth


Sweet Aki
Aki showing off her teeth

Portrait of Aki by Owen
I took a portrait of Aki. She moves really fast.

Mommy and daddy enjoyed their dinners. I enjoyed my asparagus.

Grilled asparagus
What I had for dinner

Oh, I almost forgot. I also had these beautiful white globes of sweetness that melted on my tongue... Daddy said they were called marshmallows.

Toasting marshmallows
Making the globes

Owen enjoying his smores at Gyu-kaku
Eating them in a cracker. I think I was supposed to put chocolate in them, but I ate the chocolate while the marshmallows were cooking.

Owen eating molten marshmallow
Forget the crackers, just give me the good stuff!


We had a great Valentine's Day in New York, and the next day was even more fun! Stay tuned!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Mama designed a hat!

Mama was inspired by this hat to make her own spiral beanie. It's clearly not the same, since she used a different type of yarn (worsted vs. bulky), but it'll be a nice "spring" hat. She's going to publish the pattern for free download on Ravelry, so everyone can make it if they want to. It's her first time writing a pattern, so if you find an error, let her know!

Spiral beanie - close up

Owen and I had a blast in the Big Apple, although we spent all of Sunday in a new city called Brooklyn visiting museums and meeting daddy's old friend. More on the trip later. Too sleepy and tired now. Time for bed. Night, night!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Valentine's Day 2009

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! In honor of my first Valentine's Day, mommy and daddy are treating us to another trip to NYC. When we get back, Owen and I will tell you all about it.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of us from the Valentine's Day Party we went to last weekend.

Owen putting together his mailbox
Owen putting together his mailbox to collect his valentines.

Aki eating craft materials
Daddy helped me decorate my treasure box for my valentines.

Aki eating blueberries at the Valentine's Day party
I loved blueberries...

Aki loves the shaker eggs
... and egg shakers.

Owen was busy all week making Valentines for his friends at school.

Owen busy signing Valentine's Cards
Big brother busy signing his name on the valentines.

Owen with his cards
Owen with the finished valentines.

Hugs and kisses,
Aki