Evidence of a couple of things - Andrew's future potential at being a crossword/Scrabble champion, and the fact that he's been hanging out at the mall too much.

Haunted hotel?

We had a company retreat up in the mountains - the second year we've done so. Afterwards, it was only fitting to spend some personal time enjoying a bit of Colorado history. We stayed the weekend at the very old historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, the inspiration and setting for Stephen King's novel "The Shining."


We didn't see any ghosts - but we did see a lot of tourists!


Andrew hangs out on the famous front steps.


The river that flows through Estes Park is mostly fed from snow melt - the water is very cold!

Andrew is cute!

This video was taken at night after Andrew's bath. Earlier in the morning, before he went to school, I had written out "Andrew is cute" on his little magnet board. He looked at that for maybe 30 seconds in the morning, and managed to remember it all day. He spelled the words in the tub by himself...

Letters and words

Andrew has been on somewhat of a "learning" spurt lately. Although he's been reciting the alphabet for some time now, he recently has showed a whole lot of interest in reading and writing. He has been constantly asking how to spell words, and recently he wrote the entire alphabet (upper and lower case) without help. Granted, some of the letters weren't very well constructed... but, hey, he's a three year old!

He's also doing well with his numbers... he can count from 1 to 20, and from 1 to 10 in both Chinese and Spanish. He's also doing his colors in all three languages, although he's by far got the most words in English. Andrew is also able to remember his birthday, our house number, and even our home phone number!


Andrew has been doing a lot of three letter words, and has recently moved on to four letter words that he can recognize and spell. (He's the one putting the letters together to form the words.)


Andrew is also writing most of his letters without help, and can put together whole words on paper (mostly one letter per sheet...). Today he brought over these sheets and told us that he "draw Andrew Wang." At first we didn't believe him...

Shapes and colors

Andrew the frog

The big 03

Andrew turns three years old today. It's been quite a thrill - he's growing, learning, and becoming a big boy (kind of). His 36 month check-up stats still show he's small in some ways.

See the updated charts (use the tabs on the bottom of the new window to switch charts).

Be dazzled

Do you know about the Bedazzler? Andrew decides that he really doesn't need to pay the $19.95 for in order to enjoy "the fashion craze of the season." He just busts out the sticker book!

Safety first!

Despite our best efforts at making things safe for Andrew, he apparently is not happy with the fact that we let him "ride" without protecting his head. Tonight, he finally figured out what he needed to do. He was riding around the house, happily yelling "Helmet, helmet, helmet..."

Andrew the carpenter

I'm nuts about photography. The latest skill I'm trying to learn is studio lighting... and having a oblivious willing model makes it more interesting than shooting thin air all the time. Having a distraction prop also helps to keep the model interested in staying put long enough to snap a couple of photos.


Andrew: "What am I supposed to do with this yellow thing?"


"Hmm... let me think about that."


"Remember, daddy: 'Measure twice, cut once'!"


And since I'm experimenting, the only way to remember what I did is to write it down (or in this case, draw it out.) Check out this sweet little tool that Kevin Kertz put together for Photoshop that allows for easy lighting diagrams!

Los Angeles trip

We spent a long weekend in LA, close to Chinese New Year. It's the first time Andrew's spent any time in California... he seemed to enjoy the trip, but after a few days of hotel living and not seeing his friends or playing with his usual toys, he ended up telling us "I wanna go home" by about the third day. Despite that, the trip went well, and Andrew wasn't too fussy during the plane rides... he was mostly bored!


What's a trip to LA without good food? We visited Ding Tai Fung (among others!)... mmmm, steamed dumplings!


If IKEA ever decides to open a store in Denver (hello, IKEA, are you listeing?), we would probably spend many weekends there. It's a favorite place just to stroll around and dream about new looks for the house. Andrew really like this kids' chair that had a curtain that closed, making a neat hideaway!


We also visited my cousin Sabina and her family. Andrew and Sab's older boy, "Peanut" got along very well! Peanut is about a year younger than Andrew, but he is SOOO smart! Must be good genes... :-)


The trip to the LA Zoo convinced us that we need to take Andrew more often when we get back to Denver. He had an absolute blast, running around and seeing all the animals.


In addition to the kangaroos, koala bears, zebras, lions, gorillas, orangutans, elephants and giraffes, there were a flock of flamingos, whose color made for the best pictures of the day.


We also visited the KidSpace museum in Pasadena with the family. It was a nice facility, although there were a number of outdoor areas that were closed because it was raining pretty hard (a rarity in SoCal!). I'm really happy to see that Andrew's attention span has been increasing... he actually sat and painted for over 15 minutes without getting bored!


What's a trip to LA without a family portrait?

Disney Live!

Andrew attended his first "cultural" event recently. OK... it wasn't really a cultural event, but the Disney Live stage show was held at the Denver Opera House... does that count?


Andrew had a blast seeing all his favorite characters on stage, including the Little Einsteins (kinda freaky when real adults dress up as little kids...), Mickey and the gang, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Handy Manny with his tools.

The shopping cart

Whenever we take Andrew out shopping, he inevitably runs around the store and we end up chasing after him rather than getting any shopping done. Well, it seems like there's a small parenting trick that I had not learned until now - the kid-friendly shopping cart. I was amazed that Andrew (and Michael) actually sat in the shopping cart for more than 15 minutes, pretending they were driving the cart. Thanks for the tip, Kelvin!

Analytical Andrew

Andrew has really been surprising us over and over in the past few months. He is becoming more and more analytical, and is getting better with all of his skills. Not only is he learning to sort shapes and colors, but he is also progressing in learning his numbers (counting 1 through 20, and now backwards, too), his alphabet (can recognize uppercase and lower case letters), and he's even learning how to spell his name!

Here are some things he's been doing recently:


Back in May, he put finally learned to put all his blocks in order, and build something that's even bigger than him!


Then we noticed that he's beginning to match colors.


He's always been fascinated with patterns, and here he puts things in a straight line.


Somewhere along the way, he's learned that the vowels are different than the consonents. He picked these letters all by himself, and put them in order! What's even more surprising? He next went and got "Y" to put at the end!

Happy Halloween!

Andrew attended the Fall Festival at daycare this year as a little dragon...


Mama and her little dragon.


Andrew: "What? I have a tail?!"


Andrew dragon meets Katie monkey!


Even fierce little dragons have to stop and eat dinner.

EY Summer Picnic

Ernst & Young usually holds an office get-together in the summer, and it's been a couple of years since we've been back to Washington Park. The turnout was great, and there were a TON of kids running around!


Andrew decides that apple-flavored milk tastes better than apple juice or plain milk on their own. Andrew's dad is understandably disgusted at that display!


Running around in the park, AND ice cream? Does it get any better than this?


Andrew's favorite part of the whole picnic.

Elaine's birthday

We were invited to celebrate baby Elaine's first birthday! Andrew had a great time hanging out with his friends Elaine, Michael, and Rachael.


Kelly and Janelle put up a wading pool in the backyard, and all the kids had fun splashing around - perfect for the hot weather we've been having.


The stars of the evening -- Kelly, Janelle, and baby Elaine.

Grandparents' visit

Andrew's grandparents came for a visit in July. They spent a week in Colorado, and was able to take a scenic drive through the Colorado Rockies while they were here! On top of that, we got to do a bunch of things around home, including taking Andrew for his first basketball practice...


Andrew goes in for the score!





We also celebrated Grandpa's birthday while he was in town!

Independence Day BBQ

We had a BBQ at Kelvin and Adah's house to celebrate the 4th of July. This year, the holiday fell on a Wednesday, which makes for a short workweek! The weather had been in the 90's all week, but it did cool down a bit today, just in time for some outdoor fun!


Grillmaster K works the lambkabobs.


Time to explore!


A tricycle made for two?


Future model Michael.

Pot o' gold

Oh how I wish it were true. On a stormy summer afternoon, it felt like you could literally reach out and touch the rainbow from our back yard.