Waipo and waigong have left the building

Unfortunately it was time for waipo and waigong to go back home to China by the middle of July. It has been great to have them here with us and get a chance to get to know each other. Most of all I'm very happy that Maya, waipo and waigong got to know each other so well. I'm sure one of the reasons that Maya have grown and developed so well is all the love and care that waigong and waipo have given her. Every morning they took Maya for a long walk, gave her a morning massage/exercise and showered her with love and attention. Same procedure every afternoon/evening.

We really miss having waipo and waigong here and I'm sure Maya miss them even more. We hope we can go visit them in China early part of next year so Maya get to see her grandparents soon agin.

Gay pride

We took Cindy's parents to gay Pride in SF to check out the crazy parade. They thought it was great fun.





Check out the background a little closer. Waipo and waigong thought it was really fun and wanted to make sure we got it on picture.

A day at the beach

Before waipo and waigong left we took them for another drive along Pacific Highway and spent the day at the beach. We had a really nice picnic and enjoyed the sun and the water. The rip current was really strong and we witnessed a rescue right in front of our eyes. The park ranger told us it was the 8th that day so he shut down the beach and no one was allowed in the water anymore.

Maya loved the sand and water. She didn't mind the ice cold water at all and she didn't want to leave the water.

Maya and waigong watching the waves:


Closer dad!!





More!!


This sucks! I want to play in the water!


Drying off with waigong:

Art exhibition for waipo

Maya's waipo(mormor/grandma) and waigong(morfar/grandad) are both extremely active and healthy. They have both gotten themselves more involved in the local community than either mom or dad has been for the last 10 years. Waigong is a retired professor and couldn't resist teaching a class in Chinese literature at the community center for the last few months.

A few weeks ago, waipo participated in a Chinese art exhibition with a few of her water color paintings. She has been painting for many years but took classes here to get to know people. The whole family was there to show support and check out the exhibition. It was a great mix of kids, adults and seniors showing off their artwork. Some of it was really very good.

Maya with waipo and waigong:

Weekend outing

Despite dad's jet lag, hang over and the gloomy weather we made an excursion to Roaring Camp in the Santa Cruz mountains over the weekend. We missed the first train departure so we had to wait around for another 2 hours to catch the next one. Dad was not very thrilled.... However, we looked around in the little cowboy town and hiked up a nature path to look at the majestic redwoods.

Maya, waipo, waigong, dajiu (uncle) and mom were very excited to ride the train. Due to the drizzle in the mountains they kept the steam train in the depot and ran a small diesel engine instead.

Maya and mom in the rain:


Waipo and Maya on the train:


A happy and content Maya after visiting the dining car:


Sleepy after a long train ride:

Maya 6 months old and yet again new numbers are in.

Maya turned 6 months last week. The week before last, we had our 6 month check-up with Maya's doctor. Maya is doing very well and continues to catch up with full-term babies. She is now 80th percentile when adjusted for her premature birth and 50th percentile compared to full term babies at 6 months. So Maya is now exactly average for a 6 month full term baby, amazing progress and Dr Rosen was very happy (and so was mom and dad). Our little Swedish/Chinese meatball was 61cms(24 inches) and 6.72kgs(14lbs 13 oz)!! She has grown so much the last two weeks that she is now too tall for 6 month clothes and we have stepped it up one size, to 9 months.

Pictures of Maya on her 6 month birthday:




This weekend we went to see the Aztec New Years Celebration at the Hispanic University. Unfortunately it wasn't the Mayan New Year but we'll try to catch that one next :-). Amazing costumes and loud hypnotic drumming. The whole area was infused with sage smoke and it was actually very interesting to see despite daddy being very sceptical at first. Maya slept through the whole event and wasn't bothered at all by the loud drums.

Out and about in the rain

It's been raining a lot in California lately and we have been locked up in the house all the time so about 2 weeks ago we braved the elements and went out for a walk in Shoreline Park. It was raining but it was nice to get some fresh air. We got to try out the rain cover for the stroller and it worked great. Lots of birds were out and we saw a Great Egret sitting right by the path we walked.

Picking oranges

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

This year our orange tree has been extremely productive. We have tried to get rid of as much as possible by forcing visitors to take oranges home. We finally bought a juice press so that we at least can use some of all the fruits. Waigong has been busy harvesting the tree with the help of waipo and Maya.

Reading with waigong

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Originally uploaded by MattiasC

Maya loves to read books and morfar/waigong loves to read to Maya. A perfect match!

This time though, Maya had already fallen asleep in waigongs arms and was sound asleep.