July = Visitors!

July was one crazy month of visitors coming and going, family and friends, but its fine by me to play host to great visitors.

For Evan's birthday, we got to see Andrew and Liew and Andersen, Abbey and Da and Brennan and Clayton, and David and Alexis. I posted a pic of Evan's strawberry guava cake in a previous post. Evan loves strawberries, and pretty much picked off all the strawberries and left the cake and frosting behind! I decided to make it a kiddie pool party since we'd been having insanely hot and humid weather this summer. The kids, mostly Brennan and Evan, loved splashing around in the kiddie pool and getting the non-swimmers wet. I feel like a schmuck, cause in my busy-ness playing hostess, I didn't take many pictures! Here's a link to the Zhou's site and of the pics they took of the kids splashing around.
I don't have pics of opening presents either cause I was busy video taping... but "Thank you for the gifts!"
Half the people I invited never showed, but I think, in the end, it turned out just right for Evan.

Mark's old childhood buddy Brian came for a visit too. Its becoming a yearly thing now for us to get together and travel. Last year we went to Taiwan together. We drove up to NYC for a few days and did touristy type stuff cause Mark and I haven't done it the last 2 times we've been. Evan did pretty well in NY given the extreme heat. He's in love with "choo choo trains, choo choo!" So he was in train heaven getting to see and ride on the subway everyday, everywhere, all day long. Simple pleasures.
We stayed at the Marriot at Newark airport for super cheap. The only downside was that it takes us a while to get into NYC on bus and train.
Someone please explain to me why Newark is SO ghetto and SO nasty? You'd think that being in such close proximity to NYC that it would be at least OK. But it makes SE DC look like paradise! Anyway...
I never get bored of NYC. I always like to imagine what life would be like to live in one of those grand old townhomes next to central park and have some fabulous design job. I can dream.
On the drive back, we stopped in Philly for, what else, Pat's Philly cheese steaks. There's a whole other language you speak just to order, of which Mark has figured out. So that's 5 languages he speaks now?

Here's some pics we took. Brian's pics of course are WAY better, and I'll have to post them separatly cause mixing his with ours would be wrong. :)



Brian stayed a little longer with us to see more of DC and play with Evan. Brian got well aquainted with Evan's "mickey mouse" trick. Evan made up his own sign for Mickey Mouse one day. And also has been on a kick to teach people sign too. So he's been teaching Brian how to sign his own sign for Mickey Mouse. It consists of taking your thumb and forefinger, and placing them on either side of your/someone elses nose and pinching while saying "Mickey Mouse" at the same time. Silly boy. I think Brian's got a pic of Evan giving me the "mickey mouse" demo.

Liew and Andrew and Andersen came up for our monthly temple trip and to celebrate mine and Liew's birthdays. I like when they come cause it gives us a chance to trade babysitting so we can go to the temple too. Plus they keep us on track to visit the temple at least monthly. :)
I've also come to really appreciate how Liew is always right there with me in the kitchen, cooking or cleaning. And she's willing too! That's something I don't see everyday. And she always goes above and beyond what she needs to do. She's the guest, but everytime I turn around she's loaded the dishwasher, or wiped down the dinning table, or put leftovers in tupperware and in the fridge! I don't ask her to do any of this and I'm always amazed she knows what I needed to do. And its not just meal times. She keeps an eye out for Evan too, along with Andersen. When we're over at their place, I know I don't even come close to doing as much as Liew does.
Liew, I don't know where you get the energy, and you're so quick too, for housework and you have so much patience with the kids, and keeping an eye out for them, like you have "eyes on the back of your head", I really admire you.

So, that's about it for July. Stay tuned for a post about our trip to Seattle (where I still am right now), meeting up with Jerin and Wami and Taisei, and Mark's 10yr high school reunion.

I can't believe its almost the middle of August. Where does the time go?! The baby is gonna be here before I'm ready for it.

*sigh*