Lockhart

One lazy afternoon, we turned on the TV and saw a show introducing different parts of Texas. It was called the Daytripper, and we found it very interesting. My 6-year-old son who watched the show with us, loved it, and was always begging to go the the places introduced by the host. Ever since I saw the show on Lockhart, I had been craving for some good, greasy barbecue!

This Easter weekend, I had the chance of visiting Lockhart with my family. We drove to all the "famous" barbecue places introduced on the show, and finally chose one to satisfy our hunger. We didn't really know what we were doing, and ordered our food "ignorantly". The food tasted good, but we wished we knew what we were doing while we got in line. We passed by the jail museum, but didn't go in, much to the disappointment of our 6-year-old. He was hoping to meet the ghost who craved barbecue introduced on the show.

Anyway, it was interesting! We may visit Lockhart again, and try one of the other 3 famous barbecue places.

Home for The Holidays (1)

The plane finally landed on home soil - a place she had called home for over 30 years! For 9 years she had spent the Lunar New Year in a foreign land she called her other home. She had pined for this day, and this day had arrived! A song floated in her mind as she went through the immigration counter with her 5, and 2-year-old boys. The song sounded better in Mandarin, "Holding my little baby, I'm coming back to my mom's home..." She was going to surprise her mom and dad, who had no clue she was coming home for Chinese New Year!

She knocked on the door. She could hear her little Pomeranian barking. Her mom came to the door! "We've come home for Chinese New Year!" she yelled a little hoarsely (airplane air is not kind on the throat). Mom was surprised, and pleased at the same time. Her grand kids had come to celebrate Chinese New Year with her for the first time!

The little Pomeranian seemed to sense the joyous atmosphere in the air! When dad came home, he was very surprised, but like mom, he was delighted! She looked around the house. It was decorated with festive red lanterns, and banners featuring the tiger, because it was the year of the tiger. She felt her childhood memories of Lunar New Years passed returning. It was a warm feeling. She observed her boys in her parents' house, and smiled thankfully as she thought about how much fun they were about to have, celebrating her favorite time of the year - Chinese New Year.

Ah! Kids! (6)

I find myself worrying about my kids - about everything! When they were less than a year old, I worried about every little cough, or sniffle they had. I also worried about them not hitting the milestones, like other "normal" kids.

My older boy just started Kindergarten. Of course, that opened up a whole new part of worry-land for me! Does the teacher like him? Does he have any friends? Is he doing well academically? Why does he still write D's when he is supposed to write B's? Why are his 5's the wrong way round? The list goes on.

I've also been wondering about my 5-year-old's athletic abilities. He does not seem too crazy about playing sports, or display any special abilities at any one sport. He was still riding his bike with training wheels a few days ago! This morning, my husband decided to take the training wheels off my son's bike. He held on to the bike for just a few minutes and then let go! The little guy began riding the bike without the training wheels! Just like that!

Sometimes, I really have to strip off my worry-wart outer skin, and appreciate things that seem to fall from the sky! My son is a typical 5-year-old! He's loud, and irritating at times. However, he's also growing, in so many ways, and without much aid from me! I need to count my blessings, and strive to enjoy my 5-year-old more, before he turns into a stinking teenager! Ha!

A Tribute to Rigley

I did not know you as well as the other two dogs in the family, because I was not around when you came into the family. However, I visited home enough to get to know you more. You were the most playful of the three. You were the youngest! You were fierce sometimes, towards Polo, and drew blood on a couple of occasions. You had funny teeth, and my now 5-year-old always loved doing the "Rigley teeth" to draw some laughs from others. We used a Chinese idiom to describe your relationship with Polo as "lao fu shao qi" (old husband, young wife)! We were teasing!

Did you know why I got Kiri? Before you, there was Chairo! He was the cutest puppy ever! He was so tiny, and lovable! He did have a mean streak, but most of the time, he was lovable! I could not get enough of him! Your owners were very nice, and kind to share him with me. However, I wanted one in my own house. So, I got Kiri, despite disapproval from the boss of the house - Mommy! Guess who is reigning the household now?

Anyway, I remember an incident (think it might have happened before you came) when we took Polo and Kiri to the vet for something. A man who looked kind of rough, and burly, walked out from behind the counter (where they kept sick dogs overnight), with a leash in his hand, while we were waiting outside. Leash, but no dog! He sat on the bench glumly, and started to wipe tears off his face. I wanted to cry too, and held Kiri more tightly. When your owners lost Chairo, it was very sad for us! We knew what that man was going through!

Now you are gone too - so suddenly! We are all in different places, not able to say our goodbyes to you in one place, and to weep shamelessly over you together! I thought about the man we saw outside the vet many years ago again. I did not expect it to be you Rigley, to make me revisit those sad feelings again. You might have joined the family the latest, and had not been in the family for as a long a period of time as the others, but you were loved as much as the others! You will be missed very much!

Ah! Kids! (5)

Older brother is just 4, but he thinks he knows a lot more than Mom, Dad, or other adults. The other day, Mom took him and Little brother to a tennis tournament Dad was running. It was a very important tournament, for up, and coming young tennis players with the hope of turning professional one day! Mom warned Older brother that Dad was working, and he was not supposed to bounce tennis balls against the fence surrounding the courts, or make too much noise. Older brother did not bounce tennis balls against the fence, but he did play with a tennis ball, and bounced it on the ground.

An "overly-concerned" dad was accompanying his son to the tennis tournament. He saw Older brother bouncing the ball on the ground, and told him to be quiet. Older brother was very offended. He came to Mom, and complained about the dad who told him to be quiet. The dad who "shushed" Older brother was sitting opposite Mom, and heard Older brother's complaint. Mom could not help smiling, as she explained to Older brother again about the importance of the tournament to the players, and that we should respect the players' (or their attached parties') wishes. Older brother was still upset, and asked Mom again, "But why did that man ask me to be quiet when I was not making noise?" The "man" of course, was also amused as he heard Older brother's question. Perhaps he thought he went overboard, or for whatever reasons, he tried to make Older brother feel better. He asked, "Young man! Which grade are you in?" Older brother did not understand his question, because he was not in any grade yet. He went to pre-school! The man was a little surprised when he heard Older brother was not even in kindergarten yet. He said, "You speak very well. You don't speak like a 4-year-old!"

Anyway, Older brother was still not happy with the man for asking him to be quiet, when he WAS quiet. Mom finally took Older brother away from the courts, to a place nearby where he could bounce his tennis ball as high as he wished, without upsetting any parents.

Dog Lover?

I do love dogs - some! Really, especially little cute ones! I know, I'm a selective dog-lover! Well, I did not grow up with dogs. I did finally get my own puppy, when I was a very "mature" adult. Even then, my mom would not speak to me for a few days, because I did not respect her wish not to get a dog. I was, after all, still living with her. For the first few weeks (or months), I had to bring her over to my sister's apartment when I went to work, so that my mom would not have to take care of her in my absence.

I got a really cute Pomeranian! My mom finally broke down and started paying my puppy some attention. Who could resist a puppy - especially a Pomeranian that was cute as could be? She stole my mom's heart! After I moved away, she became my mom's dog. It broke my heart not to be able to bring her with me. She was not in the most perfect health, so I was afraid she might not survive the long plane ride. My mom had also grown so attached to her, I did not have the heart to take her away from her. The night before I left, my puppy could not sleep. She kept barking at my packed suit cases!

I was very sad to say good bye to her. However, I get to see her now, every summer when I go home for a visit. She still answers to my call, but my mom is the apple of her eye. She loves my mom, and gets jealous when my mom holds her grand kids!

Anyway, we have some new neighbors. They own a dog, which does not seem very "friendly", in my opinion. One day, I was going to my car, in my own drive way, when this dog came dashing towards me, and barked at me! His, or her owner, was standing across the street. She just stood there, and let her dog bark at me, in my own drive way! I might not know too much about dogs, especially big ones, but I definitely did not sense any friendliness in it! I just stood still - with fear, wondering what I should do. The owner saw what was happening. I was wondering when she would call the dog away. It took her a few lazy minutes, to drag her body over, and say in a nonchalant tone, "She's (or he) friendly!" In my heart, I was saying to myself, "Yah right! Just get her off my drive way!" The dog apparently did not mind her owner very much. It took her a while to "obey" the girl's command. Well, I did not want to make a big deal of the matter, and put it away from my mind.

Another day came when I was driving my kids home. I vaguely heard some barking when I drove into my drive way. I was not paying much attention to the barking because I was focused on getting my car into the garage, without breaking any side-view mirrors (er mirror - one was already broken). Anyway, I got out of the car, and my neighbor's dog came barking and dashing onto my drive way again! I did not want it to bite my kids, so I closed the garage door, just in time to keep it out! It stood outside my garage door, and barked at us for a good 5 minutes!

Call me a selective dog-lover, but I definitely do not like my neighbor's dog! I do not like to be intimidated by a neighbor's dog in my own drive way! I am sorry for the dog because her owner does not care enough to train her, and keep her from causing annoyance to others - on their property .

Ah! Kids! (4)

Older brother just started attending Chinese lessons about 3 weeks ago. He loves going to class for different reasons. He likes skipping his nap, and he loves being with people (even though they speak a language he does not quite understand yet). A week before Chinese New Year, I started playing Chinese New Year songs in my car. Older brother can sing some of the songs now, not getting most of the lyrics right, but it amuses me to no end!

I'm doing a better job of speaking Chinese to Little brother, maybe because he has almond, single-lid-eyes like me! He has acquired the talent of clapping his hands lately. However, he will only respond to the "command" in Chinese. It's really funny when Dad asks him to clap in English, and he just stares at him blankly. Dad asks Mom to say the "command" in Chinese, and his little hands will come together in a clap! Mom hopes Little brother will soon be able to obey the command in both English and Mandarin though!