Easter Sunday!

We had a very blessed Easter Sunday. Church was very moving as we learned about the importance of Jesus' resurrection and then witnessed 4 young adults being baptized. Thank you Jesus for all that you have done for us!

We were then supposed to pick up Nena and take her out for lunch, but when we got to her home, she had prepared a surprise feast for us! We felt so blessed; we had missed her food so much! (Nena is now 2/3 done with her chemotherapy and this past weekend, she felt well enough to cook for the first time in months! She is doing great, praise God.) And Daniel did great at Nena's house and got to sit at the table like a big boy!

Later in the afternoon, Daniel participated in his first egg hunt with his dear little friends Devesh and Enya. I was amazed that he understood exactly what he was supposed to do and managed to find quite a few eggs all on his own! Later, we all watched the kids open their eggs and enjoy the sweets (and some funny little toys). Daniel really enjoyed his first ever "Reese's cup" - some things just don't need much of an incentive to be eaten! :-) The kids then later were a bit hyperactive (results of the candy?) and enjoyed running around! We are so thankful for these neighbors who have become special friends to us all!

Photos of the surprise Easter lunch at Nena's:

Here are some highlights of the egg hunt we had for the kids (for more photos, see the slide show below):

The kids running around after all the sugar!

Cherry Blossoms!

Today we decided to be adventures and took the Metro into DC to see the famous Cherry Blossoms! (It was Daniel's first time on the Metro!) Several people warned us that it would be crazy with so many people and yes, they were right! :-) The most challenging part was getting in and out of the stations, but I think we all coped well. We went with our friends Evy and Bianca and Daniel's little friends Marcus and Jaiden. We also got to take some nice photos, though the weather in the early morning was overcast - it started getting sunny as we were leaving... Oh well, lots of new memories to cherish!

Here are some highlights of our trip - check out the slide show below for more! :-)

Our sweet friend Evy and her two sons: Marcus (age 2) and Jaiden (age 1)

Going with Papai to a less crowded area...

Yes, here I'm free to run!

It finally got warm and sunny...but we soon had to go home...

Gymnastics!

Hi Loved Ones! It's been a hectic time around here...so much is going on and it's been hard to find time to blog. But I'm back tonight and I wanted to update you on something really fun that I have started doing with Daniel: Gymnastics! A few weeks ago when Grandpa Boon was visiting, we went to a gymnastics hall not far from our home and we just fell in love with it! For only $5, I can take Daniel to enjoy a proper gymnastics facility for a whole hour. He loves all the different things he can do (each time we go they have different things set up) but his favorites are: running down a long trampoline and sliding into a a pool of foam cubes (I'm sure there is a proper name, I just don't know what it is! :-)). Wednesday is the best day for us to go, so I have rearranged my work schedule so that can take Daniel. He just loves it and it's so worth it! We've been there now 3 times and each time we go, Daniel gets more and more confident. It's such great exercise for him too (and for me, keeping up with him!) and we usually get a great nap out of it! :-)

Check out some photos and video I took of him last week. At the end of the video, you will see how courageous he is!

Spring Is Here!

Spring is finally here! After such a cold, snowy and long winter, the birds are singing, the leaves are starting to come back, some flowers are popping up, and we are enjoying being outdoors again! It feels in some ways like life is coming back; how happy we are to be able to be outside again. Daniel is enjoying it the most: going for walks, learning to ride his tricycle, drawing on the sidewalk and stairs with chalk (he can now identify the different colors!), enjoying the park (he is so independeint at the park now, climbing and going down the slides all on his own), spending lots time with his neighborhood friends, playing on the deck... it's all just so much fun.

Here are some photos of Daniel enjoying the beginning of Spring:

CAR!

For more photos, please click on the slide show below. We also recently spent a fun day with my cousins Josani and Manuela and their daughters. Daniel got to meet Lili, Manuela's 4 year old, for the first time and fell in love with her baby doll - he's going to be an affectionate father one day, just like his Pa. :-)

In Love With "Apa's" Hat

Grandpa knows that Daniel loves hats, but he didn't expect his brand new hat to be hijacked by his grandson from the moment he bought it! :-) The boy wonder fell in love with Apa's new hat and wore it often. The funny thing is that we discovered Daniel loves to look at himself in a mirror when wearing a hat - we think he likes the way he looks! Oh no... what will he be like as a teenager? :-)

"Apa" showing Daniel in the mirror what he looks like with the hat on.

Daniel couldn't always see himself but he kept trying to look!


He even checked himself out in the glass of the oven! Vain?!

He often played with the hat on... We have to admit, he did look cute! :-)

Looking at himself in the mirror... again!

Lots of fun times playing with "Apa"

We are missing you "Apa"!

Special Walk with Grandpa

These photos record Daniel's last walk with Grandpa, before he returned to Malaysia that same day. It was an overcast day, but Jonny took some great photos of them together. Daniel just loves his "Apa", I will never forget how he would cuddle up to him whenever he wanted something that we wouldn't give! :-) He just knows that "Apa" loves him very much...

Visit To Papai's Office With Grandpa

Grandpa and Jo left yesterday and we are already missing them... No matter how often our family come and go, we just don't get used to not having them here and it's always hard for the first few days to readjust to being "just us" again. Oh well, we now just need to do our best to being grateful for all the days that we had together and to look forward to the next family reunion!

Grandpa and Jo, thanks so much for coming all the way from Malaysia! We enjoyed having you with us! Daniel has already asked several times about "Apa" but seems to understand and remember well that you left with the suitcases to the airport; he is doing well.

This past Saturday we visited Jonny's new office for the first time! Jonny has already been working there for 6 months (and is really enjoying it, praise God!) but this was the first time any of us had visited. It was so nice to see his cubicle and lab and to show Daniel where Papai works. Daniel had a blast! Big open spaces, long corridors, tall stairs; it was like going to an amusement park for him! He just ran around squealing; so much fun!

Check out the slide show below for photos of our visit. After the visit, we had a nice lunch at an authentic Chinese restaurant recommended by our friend Linnan - it was good! Daniel ate his first fortune cookie that said "You could prosper in the field of medical research"... uhm... very appropriate we thought after the visit to his Papai's lab! :-)

Daniel's 2nd Birthday - Part 3

This past Saturday we had a party to celebrate Daniel's birthday with his little friends from our neighborhood and Church. It was so much fun - we all had a blast! Jonny and I thought long and hard about whether we wanted to have a party and we were sure we did, but we did not want it to be stressful. So we decided to have it at Gymboree and it was so worth it! The first hour there was a gym class for the kids which they loved, followed by pizza and cake. We didn't even have to set up or clean up, it was just wonderful! Check out the slide show below (if you click on it, you will be taken to Picasa and you can download the photos). But before, here are some of the highlights...

P.S. A now funny fact about this party needs to be recorded: We had to cancel the party on Friday because the 3 of us were really ill! But amazingly, by Saturday morning we were all better so we decided to try and book everything again that we had canceled (venue, cake, and balloons) and praise God, we were able to! And thanks to all our friends who were gracious enough to still come after being told only a few hours before that the party had been canceled...this will live forever in our memory! :-)