Back from Memorial Day Weekend

"Is that you? Is that really you?" they both shouted. Okay, maybe not, but Tai reunited with Mia at the Oakland Zoo last Friday and they had a good time watching the giraffes and elephants romp around. Heck, in this spontaneous moment that was photographed by their fathers a few dozen times, they did seem happy to see each other again.

Friday night it was off for the weekend to the mountain town of Dunsmuir, where our friends own a vacation home. Here's Tai at play with Silas . . .

. . . and his sister Alina . . .

. . . and their parents Stephen and Anissa in the snow!

And here's Tai at the local fish hatchery, watching the trout swim.

Finally, on Monday, Tai wished his Auntie Uyen a happy birthday!

"Dishwashers"

I meant to post this last month. Tai took to crawling on the dishwasher door, just like someone else 33 years ago.

Oceans Away with Only a Photo Album

Continuation from "This Is Not Goodbye, This is See You Later"


On some quiet afternoons when she was supposed to be napping, she instead reached for her picture book, which was lined with memories of her other home, recalling the people who entered her life at one point or another. Many a day, the book flipped open to a photo of her horsing around with old pal Tai. "Those were good times," she whispered to herself.


Of course, Mia had no way of knowing that an ocean away, for days on end, Tai also looked forlornly at his puffy photo album and his own picture of Mia and him laughing carelessly into the evening. Often, he would tilt his head back and stare in the direction of the heavens and ask, "When? When will she return? And when she does, do I buy her a balloon?"

Camera phone photos from last week

We took visiting grandparents to Pyramid Brewery, where Tai instinctively opened his mouth for the bottle.

Tai on Hawaii time.

Tai chats with Caleb while eating pita bread at a church picnic.

Tai's first Mother's Day spent with his mom visiting his grandma's gravesite for the first time.

Happy Mother's Day!

You can also see the beginning of Tai's bottom two teeth.