Here are some miscellaneous pictures from our point and shoot camera. I believe there are more pictures from our SLR camera but I need CS3 to see them and we don’t have it yet. So hopefully more later.

There is nothing like a sleeping baby and LiLi certainly is no exception.

Poppie and LiLi washing Poppie’s car.
I cannot get over that Poppie lets LiLi play in his car and wash it. He would never have allowed us to do that but it is amazing how different grandparents are from parents.

LiLi likes to dig and was given this whole outfit and gardening tools last year which she is finally big enough to use. She certainly likes to dig whether it be at the beach, in a sandbox or in woodchips. We have finally got the yard cleaned up of some of the giant maple tree that came down in the spring and LiLi was given a lovely house from friends who had outgrown it. She enjoys going out to have tea in the house and to swing which she could do for hours.

LiLi was quite excited by this tutu given to her by her Nana who wanted her to have something so she could twirl. Of course, LiLi has now decided that her favorite thing to wear are skirts so she has quite a few things to twirl in.

LiLi is drinking her first Shirley Temple in this picture which was my favorite drink as a child so I was happy to see her enjoying the same thing. LiLi decided to order it after our friend Fischer, who is 5 and with whom LiLi is quite enamored, ordered one.

Another picture at the zoo which remains LiLi’s favorite place to go. Most evenings, she asks me if the animals are sleeping because the zoo is closed and we cannot go. She still loves to watch the elephants get their baths. The new Africa exhibit has just opened so we will have to go soon but of course, we go about every 2 weeks.

We went to visit friends from business school on the Cape a couple of weeks ago. They had a great old farm house with a barn that was partly finished and had a great playroom. Here is a picture of LiLi riding on the rocking horse in that room.

Ok, we have been really bad over the summer at updating this blog. I got very behind on pictures and therefore did not have any pictures to put up. However, we hope to have more time now since Thom has finished business school and so we have some more time.
LiLi has, of course, been blossoming. She has become quite a talker. Of course, like most 2.5 year olds a lot of it consists of telling you what you already know(over and over again) like “This is Mommy’s car,” “That is Maggie,” “Where moon go?” These are three of her favorites and I hear them about 40 times a day. And you cannot just say “uh huh.” You have to repeat the phrase back to her at least once. She continues to learn Chinese at her babysitters. She appears to understand what is said to her and speaks back to them in Chinese for the most part but switches to English the minute I appear. However, she does occaisonally use Chinese words at home, too.
So to start the new update, we need to go back to June when we went to Nantucket. LiLi loved it because she seems to truly love the beach and has little fear of the water which is quite weird since she still gets very upset when she gets her hair washed. However, give her some ocean and she wants to go running in after being on the beach about 5 minutes. There was a pond that was perfect for the girls since it had no waves and was relatively shallow.

Lila and Nana on the beach

LiLi on the beach

LiLi on the porch

Clare

Lila and LiLi tired out or waking up. It all looks the same.

Walking to the beach

Nana and Clare

Swimming with Daddy

I can dig up this whole beach and maybe I’ll find a crab

After a long, long absense from the blog I thought I would post a few musings and pictures, most importantly. Catherine has been gone on her annual sailing trip for almost three days now and Li Li and I are having a grand time in spite of the oppressive heat. Of course I think I’m the only one bothered by the heat. Li Li keeps knocking back her Nai (milk) throughout the day, a thought that makes me a touch queasy in this heat. Li Li asks “Where Mama” at least 3 or 4 times an hour – my answer is always the same. “She’s sailing in Canada”. Li Li now smiles when she hears this and is starting to answer the question when I ask it to her. We’ll see how long that lasts.

After she woke up from her nap today we (okay I) decided to go to the dollar theater to enjoy 90 minutes of air-conditioned bliss. While Dr. Suess’ Horton Hears a Who is fine book and a very good TV special, it just doesn’t hold up to the full-length movie treatment. All the requisite sight gags and obligatory inside jokes for the parents are present along with the nice moral fable but it just doesn’t have the spark that makes it a memorable movie. Li Li seemed to enjoy it, although she started to flag towards the end and got a little scared a few times. Of all the movies I would liked to have as our first movie together in an actual theater, this wouldn’t have made the 1st cut much less the final cut. Despite it not being an Oscar caliber film, Li Li got in free because she’s two and I got about 95 minutes of holding my not at all quirmy daughter in my lap in nice quiet air-conditioned theater. All in all it was a very good afternoon.

For those of you who didn’t know I’ve switched jobs and am very happy in my new role with Motorola. I am working with Motorola’s Good Technology group responsible for supporting Verizon Wireless. School is going strong, as much as I wish I could say it was winding down, it’s not. It’s a full-speed sprint until the very end, so no coasting to the finish. Once Labor day rolls around I’ll be finished with school. Given the correlation between my graduations and tough recessions (2 for 2 – 2008 and 1992) this will probably be my last pursuit of a degree. I don’t think the US could handle a third recession.

Now here’s what you all have been waiting for….

Li Li stills naps and Catherine takes advantage of them as well, when she can.

A rare photo where we all look good.

Li Li of course looks cute and I look like well…I’ll let you decide.

I try to put up some more pictures in the next few weeks.

Aunt Christine and Uncle Josh gave LiLi this t-shirt for her birthday and although I had shown it to her father, he did not mention that he had a matching t-shirt until she wore it for the first time this weekend.