Mega Blocks are the Best!

If there is one toy that has outlasted all the rest, it's our mega blocks. Spencer has played with them since he was old enough to hold them in his hands. Today, he spends hours at a time building all sorts of structures, animating them by scooting them across the floor, and engaging in some pretty creative imaginative play.


Spencer poses proudly next to the "choo choo train" he built, which he named "Tyler."


Tyler is following in big brother's steps by getting an early start with the mega blocks. :)

Click here for a slide show and videos.

Ardenwood Farm

Eunice packed the kids in the car, drove across the bay, and met up with Nikki and Gaby to explore historic Ardenwood Farm in Fremont.


Site of George Patterson's original house and farm from the late 1880s, Ardenwood is part of the East Bay Regional Park District. We had a fun morning exploring the grounds, which includes old railcars, antique plows, a thriving vegetable garden, a nice shaded picnic area, and a farmyard filled with sheep, goats, bunnies, turkeys and horses. Click here for more photos from our visit to Ardenwood Farm.

New Resolution

Ryan has resolved to try to get more exercise, despite the craziness of juggling working at a start-up and spending time with our boys. This Sunday, when Spencer woke up at the crack of dawn, Ryan threw him into the jog stroller (which we have never before used for "jogging") and went for a run before breakfast.


Here, Spencer poses in front of his jog stroller fashionably outfitted in his bright orange cowboy pajamas, his Williams hoody, and daddy's jogging shoes. Ready to go!!!

Feel Good Fresh Food

Ryan's business school classmate, Amanda, has launched a great new restaurant in Berkeley. She held a friends and family party at the restaurant on Saturday. We brought the boys for their first taste of Amanda's "feel good fresh food," which was indeed the tastiest "feel good" food we've ever had. :)



The entire menu at Amanda's is great, but our favorites were the hormone-free/antibiotic-free cheeseburger from grass-fed family farms, yummy baked sweet potato fries (Spencer's favorite!), apples inventively cut into french fry-like strips and served with a yogurt dipping sauce, freshly made ginger ale, and home-baked cookies. Hard to believe, but every item on the menu was under 425 calories! Even the restaurant design incorporated environmentally sustainable practices. All the packaging was 100% compostable, the flooring was made out of sustainably harvested bamboo, and we ate our meal at a gigantic picnic table in the middle of the restaurant designed to help people connect with one another and foster a sense of community.

If you're in Berkely, you should definitely check it out. The address is 2122 Shattuck Avenue. You can get more info on Amanda's at http://www.amandas.com/index.html.

Best Friends

Eunice got some great shots of Spencer and Tyler sitting together on our futon this afternoon.


We think they're going to be pretty good friends as they grow up. :) Click here for more photos of the boys together.

SAP Reunion

With Anamarie and Ben back in town for a few days, we hosted a reunion for Ryan's old SAP crew at our place.


A lot has changed in the last few months with Ryan's former colleagues, including new jobs... and new babies. We enjoyed catching up with everyone over some yummy BBQ, homemade Indian biyrani, and baklava! From left to right: Ben, Geoffrey, Preeti, Deepak, Eunice (wearing Tyler in the baby bjorn), Spencer, Narinder, Anamarie, Ryan (holding Matthew in a carseat), Fawad, and Sanaa (happily asleep in her stroller, off camera).

Spencer and Kyle's Daycare Birthday Party

Spencer and Kyle both have birthdays in July and shared a birthday celebration at daycare on July 18th. Juanita provided a feast, including spaghetti, salmon casserole, filipino eggrolls, shrimp chips, fruit, and cupcakes.


The highlight was watching Spencer and Kyle jointly blow out candles for their respective ages on the birthday cake.

Click here for a slide show of more photos from the party.

Tyler at 2 Months Old

Tyler continues to grow in leaps and bounds. At two months he weighs nearly 16 pounds and is 24.5 inches tall.


Best of all, he's starting to smile a lot, which makes the work-out we get from carrying him around worth it!

Gong Gong (1915 - 2008)

I wanted to take up a little bit of space on our blog to pay tribute to my grandfather, Shou Chuan Tao, whom I've always known simply as "Gong Gong." He passed away this afternoon. He was 93 years old.

There are, of course, the facts of his life: Born in China on October 7, 1915. Met and married my grandmother. Raised four children. Worked as an accountant. Escaped to Taiwan during the communist take-over of the mainland. Immigrated to the U.S. upon retirement. Lived with my family in St. Louis for many years. Helped take care of me after school. Finally settled down in Los Angeles.

But those are just things he "did." What made Gong Gong special - and what I will always remember him for - was the force of his personality, which he had in abundance.

He was a man of impressive vocal range. The original source of the "Tao Loud Voice" (which several of his children and grandchildren have inherited), Gong Gong could be heard a block away belting out "Yi er san si! Er er san si! San er san si!" on our front porch during his morning tai chi routine. If he didn't want us to do something, he would wave his hands and bellow, "Lo! Lo! Lo! Lo!" (his attempt at pronouncing "No"). And whenever he got excited, he would shout, "Me ter me ter chang!" I still have no idea what that means, but I associate it with a big grin on his face. In contrast, in more recent years, when I would visit he would hold my hand, saying quietly, "Eu Eu lai la" (Eunice has come to visit), and we would sit next to each other in companionable silence for hours. This is an equally precious memory to me.

Gong Gong was a man of great dignity. Even in his later years when it was quite painful for him to move around, if he heard I was coming to visit, he would spend several hours putting on a suit and tie so he would look presentable for the photos he knew I would inevitably take. Of course, being "dignified" involved not showing his teeth in photos, so I had to devise crafty ways to catch him smiling after he thought the photo session was over. :)

He cared about my well-being. No visit would go by without Gong Gong telling me I wasn't wearing enough layers (even during an LA heat wave), that it was dangerous to drive at night, that I shouldn't talk to strangers, that I should eat more vegetables, that I should guard my wallet while traveling... Most of the time, I could only understand a few words of what he was saying because of his thick Hu Bei accent, but the fact that he cared about me was clear.

Gong Gong was a man of special talents. Despite being a traditional (i.e., non-cooking) Chinese man, he somehow knew how to make the best scallion pancakes I've ever tasted. He also had an incredible green thumb. Growing up , it always struck me as odd that such a loud, forceful man could find so much pleasure quietly watering and nurturing plants. I think he loved the daily discipline that gardening requires and took great joy in watching things grow. Even when he moved to an apartment and no longer had a yard, he filled his balcony with plants of all colors and sizes. Last but not least, he is the only person I ever met who could out-nap me. No surprise since I'm sure I inherited my impressive talent to nap anywhere, anytime from him. :)

What I appreciate the most about Gong Gong, however, is that he welcomed my husband with open arms, despite huge cultural barriers. The first time Ryan and I visited him as a couple, he studied an English script for days before our arrival so that he could shake Ryan's hand and say, "Hello. Sorry, my English is not very good. You are welcome in my home. Come sit." Gong Gong then put Ryan through several tests of strength, including one which involved Ryan trying to push him over. He even taught Ryan some of his favorite circulation exercises (tapping the top of his head with his fingertips and hitting his thighs with a balled up fist). And in the end, he honored Ryan by choosing a wonderful Chinese name for him: "Ni Rei En" (which means good fortune and blessings).

When I look back, it is clear that Gong Gong influenced the course of my life. He and my grandmother made it possible for me to have a safe, caring place to go home to after school every day, and I had countless opportunities to hear stories and lessons from his life back in China and Taiwan. It is no coincidence that I have spent the last eight years working at Experience Corps, a non-profit connecting older adults as tutors and mentors to children; and it is no coincidence that I have such a strong desire for my own children to know and love their grandparents.

In writing this blog, I looked back at the photos we have taken of Gong Gong over the last decade and put together a slide show of some of my favorites, including a video clip of Gong Gong holding Spencer at 8 months old. I hope these are images that Spencer and Tyler will treasure when they are old enough to listen to the many stories I have about their great-grandpa.

Gong Gong lived loud, and died loud - never afraid to speak his mind. I will always remember him as a spirited man of great strength and great love for his grandchildren.

Click here for the slide show and videos.

Appirio Pizza Party

With several remote Appirio employees in town for a training, Ryan's company decided to throw an impromptu pizza party, with spouses and kids invited. So, Eunice packed Spencer and Tyler into the car and made the arduous 7-minute trek over to Appirio's San Mateo office to show the kids where daddy goes to "work" each day.


The Appirio crew, enjoying pizza and beers.


The highlight of the evening for Spencer was playing foosball against his dad. He showed some serious promise for a two year-old!

Pajama Play Date

Alonzo and Phil both left town for separate bachelor parties in Vegas, so we invited Grace, Nikki, and the kids over for dinner and some play time before getting the kids bathed and into pajamas for the night.


Gaby says, "Cheese!"


Last bit of fun before bedtime...

Eunice's 33rd Birthday

Eunice turned 33 on July 11th!


This may seem like an odd photo to post for Eunice's 33rd birthday, but it represents the reason we were able to get out on a Friday night without kids to grab a delicious dinner at B Street and Vine before catching the movie, "Wanted" at our local movie theater. Big thanks to Phil and Nikki for taking the 3-kid challenge. They managed to put both Gaby and Spencer down to sleep, then fed Tyler a bottle and lulled him to sleep in a sling. The kids were happy, and so were we!

Playgroup at the Oakland Zoo

Eunice, Spencer, and Tyler headed to the Oakland Zoo with some friends that have been getting together every Tuesday morning over the course of the summer for a play date.


We made a brief stop at the Children's Zoo where we saw some cool bats, playful monkeys, and friendly goats, but were soon distracted by the amusement park rides at the entrance of the zoo and spent the rest of the time riding on roller coasters, trains, and cars! Despite the heat, we all had a great time. Click here for a slide show and videos.

Spencer's Radio Control Car

Juanita, one of Spencer's caretakers at his daycare dropped by to give Spencer a special birthday gift: his first radio control car!


Spencer couldn't wait to take it out for a test drive.


Good handling on the road...


...able to maneuver around debris... It's a keeper!

Mill Valley Outing

On Saturday, we headed up to Mill Valley with Susan and Jim to check out Adam and Rachel's new place.


We grabbed lunch in downtown Mill Valley while catching up with some old b-school friends, had a visit from Nancy who brought more birthday gifts for Spencer, helped Adam and Rachel put together their first dinner for guests in their new home, and watched Spencer woo women partying next door with his bongo playing! Click here for a slide show and videos.

Spencer's 2nd Birthday

It's hard to believe that two years have gone by since Spencer's entrance into the world on July 4th, two years ago. It has been fascinating and fun to watch him grow from a baby into a little boy.


We started out the day by getting Spencer dressed in his trademark "Born on the 4th of July" t-shirt and having Susan read books to Spencer and his bears. Once Adam and Rachel arrived, Spencer tried out his cool new balance bike. We went to Nini's for brunch on their back patio before heading home to make sure Spencer got in a "disco nap" before his big party. Click here for a slide show and videos from Spencer's birthday morning at home.

Later that afternoon, we headed over to the Gates' home in Belmont for a fantastic birthday party, complete with yummy BBQ ribs and cornbread, fun in the pool, a dip in the jacuzzi, games in the backyard, summer sangria and Nichols family margaritas, a boisterous rendition of "Spencer's song" (aka "Happy Birthday to You"), two homemade birthday cakes (a banana bread cake for Spencer, and a chocolate cake for good measure!), gifts, glow-in-the-dark necklaces, and of course, fireworks! Special thanks to the Gates for co-hosting such a memorable 2nd birthday party for Spencer. Click here for a slide show and videos from Spencer's Birthday BBQ/Pool Party.

Music in the Park

Susan and Jim arrived from San Diego on July 3rd - just in time to head to Central Park in downtown San Mateo for the summer "Music in the Park" series.


We called up a bunch of friends to join us, packed up a gourmet picnic dinner, and found a perfect spot under a palm tree to enjoy some dixieland jazz - the perfect way to end a Thursday evening!

Click here for a slide show of our evening at the park.

Spencer Performs for Tyler

Spencer is showing some musical proclivities these days. One of his favorite things to do is to play drums for his little brother. When he doesn't have his bongos nearby, he improvises with tuperware and chopsticks. Click below for a video of Spencer performing for Tyler.