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This time of craziness

New addition March 19. After hearing someone do it on NPR I wrote my hairdresser on Facebook and offered to pay for 5 haircuts in advance. Erin fainted yesterday and really scared me, we think it is because she was dehydrated – she has a broken knee. I’ve been the caretaker and that is okay but I am grateful that Reggie made an effort to give me some space to recover a little. 

March 12? Here are two stories during the strangeness that is our new normal. Continue reading “This time of craziness”

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Chengineering 3.8.2020

Elia and Curie were playing with the tall tower and, well, “deconstruction” happened, so we decided to build a mansion out of the two previous towers. The end result is our best work yet, as high as the previous tower, but now on four base plates, with 20 rooms but still one bathroom. Elia wanted to blow it up with a Nerf gun, but we convinced her to keep it up for one night.

Chengineering 3.8.2020 Part 2. The kids wanted to get the train set out and even cleaned a space in the living room voluntarily. So Albert carried up the tracks (the kids brought up the trains – only spilled once) up from the basement. We were tired and wanted to say”no” but how much longer will the kids want to play with trains?

Albert explained to Curie the mechanics of entering and leaving a circle and they got to building. Curie was interested in building, but Elia just wanted to play, so Hero was on the track pulling coal as the”Master of the Railway” and the strongest engine before it was done. Albert, of course, got sucked into building the elevated portion of the track.

When going to bed we asked which was better, building the Lego mansion or the track, Curie said “both,” Elia said “the Lego mansion,” which incidentally still stands on the dining room table. Here’s to cherishing while we can.

Two things, another thank you to Suephy, Ed, Jared, and Dylan for the train set, and you forget how little the girls are until you see them on something like the little couch.

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Chengineering February 14, 2020

Erin and the girls won’t let Albert take apart the 6 story tower we built at Christmas (on the left) so it lives with Curie’s Hogwarts clock tower and Lego Friends townhouse to play with. You may know that Albert has been under a bit of stress as of late so he spent a few hours making a 9 story companion piece while the girls slept – it is good therapy for him. The top is a Taj Mahal-ish gazebo, a spinning and turning windmill, a secret room, and a tower. We’ll see if it survives getting furnished tomorrow.
Chengineering February 2020 Part 2. This morning with more decorations, if you look at the right hand picture, you can see the advertisements and some of the new walls. The center and left show the scale next to the old tower, with the Hogwarts clock tower on the left and the Lego Friends townhouse on the right. It is much harder to see all the little playgrounds and things the girls have built around the buildings #nolegomodels #freebuild #timewiththekids
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Elia loses a tooth!

Unexpectedly Elia loses a tooth! She is 6 and it is normal, but because Curie was only 5 in kindergarten, it seems so much sooner. Also it wasn’t wiggly and just came out (on Twizzlers). And we think she swallowed it. Curie is going to help Elia write a note to the tooth fairy tonight to explain the situation. Congratulations Elia! (Oh yeah, both girls are wearing Albert’s coat together. They were cold.

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Photographer’s Eye: History and Heritage

Topic: History/Heritage. The story goes that I am related to the second baby born on The Mayflower, Peregrine White. BTW Erin’s family was offended when I referred to this as “the boat.” As in “let’s go over to the boat.” BTW it is the Mayflower II a reproduction of the Mayflower. BTW the Plymouth Rock is pretty disappointing.
Topic History/Heritage: An incense urn at my mother’s (and father’s?) ancestral temple in Dajia, Taichung, Taiwan. 鎮瀾宮 Jenn Lann Temple also known as Mazu-bo (Mazu temple) which opened in 1730. Mazu is the deified Lin Moniang, who is revered in fishing villages like Dajia as the goddess of the sea.

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NICU 2019

“They say you never want to be in NICU, but you are grateful if you have to be.” Curie and Elia are NICU alums spending 4 days for Curie and 18 days for Elia. We go every year to say thank you and bring chocolates, even though in Labor and Delivery most of the staff has turned over – people like our friend Emma have long moved on. Analise, Ray, and James are still at NICU but we went after 9:00 PM so we didn’t see them. This year the Labor and Delivery nurses were all at the nursing station and asked the kids their ages it was so nice to interact with them, at least one of them remembered us from past years. At NICU, the lady let the kids into the front doors into the foyer and also asked them their ages. For some reason we take a family picture in the security mirrors in the hallway when we go, so here is this year’s – we Chens have a lot of traditions.