Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Blog Hiatus

It's been a while since I've been able to update our blog. Apologies about that. Life has just been so busy the past few months. Well, after burning the midnight oil for a few nights, I think I have finally caught up on late July and August posts - you can find them here:

Monday, August 27, 2007

Anniversary Dinner at the Watermark, Kits Beach

Karen and I finally had a chance to go out for dinner this past Sunday to celebrate five years of marriage. It was good to be able to have some time to celebrate, reminisce and reflect on our marriage journey thus far. And being able to do this in a romantic setting sitting on a patio overlooking the sunset on Burrard Inlet was an added bonus.

Although our marriage does have its ups and downs (anyone whose marriage is perfect, please raise their hands...?) one thing I really appreciate about my marriage is that we are able to communicate with each other about the things that matter. With the day to day duties of taking care of Erich and running a household, Karen and I had not had as much opportunity of late to do this, so this was a refreshing moment to encourage one another.

Aunt Joycelin came over to look after Erich for a few hours while we took a nice stroll down to the beach front restaurant (The Watermark) two blocks away. This year, our dinner was made all the more special because a friend of ours, Eddie Wong, works at the restaurant in the pastry department. In addition to arranging our reservation and ensuring we had a great table and server, he also baked us some fresh bread, and made us a beautiful dessert platter to compliment our already delicious meal. Thanks Eddie for helping to make our day so special. (The creme brulee was exceptional by the way!)

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Erich @ 20 months

Our little Erich is growing up to be a fine young boy. He now readily talks and we can carry on reasonably complex conversations with him. He has also started imitating things we do: for instance, his favorite thing to do at grandma/grandpa's is to sweep and swiffer the floors. It is always so funny to watch him handle a swiffer stick and go around the house pushing dust around cleaning everything!

Today, I was cutting up some boxes so that they would be easier to take to the recycling box... (er...not that we have recycling right now thanks to striking city workers, but that's beside the point). I had Erich help me take the cut pieces and put them into a giant box. He was studious taking on that task - placing each piece properly in the box and pushing them down gently. You could also see the pride he had in helping his daddy do chores. :-)

Sometimes he helps even when we'd prefer him not to. He helped unload the dishwasher today - taking and passing everything dish and plate in the washer to me as I put them away. I have never done dishes so quickly as I did not want him to hold any dish longer than necessary lest he drop and break it!

Erich also has begun to develop a keen sense of humour. The other day, he was eating some food when he decided he'd offer some to mommy and daddy.

Mommy?
he asks.

Mommy said, Thanks Erich, but you can have it.

Daddy? he asks again.

Thanks Erich, but you can have it. Daddy responds.

With a great big smile on his face as if he knew he was about to crack a joke, he turned around and said:

TV? ... No! he exclaims as he knew the TV could not eat and then sticks the food in his mouth.

He's actually done this several times each time offering us something, then offering it to an inanimate object he knows cannot eat. Hilarious!

Finally, Erich has also grown in strength. We have taken him to the playground at Kits' Beach several times now where he has climbed onto monkey bars and swung from monkey bars to our utter amazement.


Sunday, August 05, 2007

Happy One Month Isaak, Happy 2nd Birthday Elias!

We had some big parties this week for our nephews Isaak and Elias. Isaak turned one month on the fourth, and Elias turned two years on the fifth. In honour of the occasion, a portrait:

Taken on our front steps. Canon 10D, EF 50mm USM f/1.4 lens @ f/5.6, 1/10, ISO 400, magic hour. I love the slight motion blur on Isaak's arm - gives the picture character.

Happy Birthday Elias and Isaak!