2012: Christmas snow fun day

2012: Cobcob SK's Class Photo - 5 Years Old

Everytime I see Raeya or her photo, the connection just come in, and I know she is my goddaughter.  I am really proud being Raeya’s godfather, and will be there for her and love her. Pray that she will grow up health and happy in God’s love.

Note: Doreen and I sent Jacob to his godmother's home and had our anniversary dinner last week.  After that, we decided to spend time doing something we love together, we dropped by a store just to shop for our precious goddaughter’s Christmas gift. See how special she is to us.

Love and Merry Christmas,
干爸

2012: Practice Goalie for the first time - 5 yrs old 9 mths

Finally, it will be Jacob's turn to play goalie next weekends. Ty was the goalie in the past weekends.  He was awesome. He wanted to be a goalie just like his dad. We took over the goalie equipment after the Sunday morning's practice. Then, we went to public skating to try out the equipment in the afternoon. 

We had some difficulty figuring out how to put this thing on him. Asked a couple of guys in the locker room, but they weren't sure how to tie it up. It took us almost 30 minutes to put the gear up.

We didn't know that we put the right pad on the left foot and the left pad on the right foot. We went ahead and practice skating and a few "goalie" slide on the pad.  Until 2 hockey dads pointed out the problem. 

This is the recording with the pad on the wrong sides.  :-)

Jacob's hockey team photo: The Stormtroopers.

They are all Senior Kindergarten and Grade 1 kids around our neighborhoods.

Cobcob's new GREEN skate shoe laces - 5 yrs old 8 mths old

Mommy and Cobcob spotted his teammate Ty was having green shoe laces. They think it is cool to have this kind of colourful shoe laces on his skate too.

We bought Cobcob's a used skate from PlayItAgain Sport. The shoe laces were already worn out with broken top. We thought it is time to get him a cool one too, but had no idea where to find it. I first though of dyeing one for him, but we later found Dollarama selling the black/yellow stripe shoe laces for $1. This one from Dollarama didn't last, the shoe lace top gave up in 3 weekends. Bad quality!!!

Had a chat with Ty's dad during practice, he told me that I could found the colourful shoe laces in PlayItAgain Sport. Hmmm...  PlayItAgain Sport?  I didn't know that it also sells new accessories other than selling used sport stuff.

Cobcob loves his new shoe laces. It is always fun to skate with a shinning shoe laces.

2012 Family Lego Fun

We bought the Imaginarium LEGO Activity Table for mommy's daycare during the Black Friday weekends. We are planning to surprise the children with the LEGO table when they come back after their Christmas break.

The table will be placed in our living room at the ottoman's spot. We will move the ottoman to Jacob's bedroom.

The table has double-sided play with a LEGO Building Surface on one side or Solid Wood in a beautiful finish on the other. It will serve as children's LEGO platform or as an activity table.  The good thing of this table is that the Building base is compatible with the traditional block as well as the Duplo block. We only allow Duplo block in our daycare. (Note: Duplo blocks are twice the length, height and width of traditional Lego blocks, making them easier to handle and less likely to be swallowed by younger children.)

Ok... Before the children see the table, let's the fun begins at our family time .....

Jacob's first Hockey game

Last Sunday (Nov 25, 2012) was Jacob's first Hockey game. We were pretty excited about the game. His best friend Isaac even came to our home and slept over so that he could go to the game with us on the next morning. To celebrate his first game, I sewed his last name on his jersy the night before.

Kanata Storm Troopers VS Stittsville Sixers @ Scotiabank Place. Loss 0-15. What an exciting day. They got to see the Senators' dressing room and gym room after the game. As soon as he came off ice after the game, he said: "They are too strong, are they K7 ?". (Note: Kanata's 5-6 yrs old IP has 8 teams, K1 is the beginner, and K8 is the most advance. Jacob's team is K6.)

Too bad they are facing a very strong team on their first games. They only started 2 months ago. They will get better by the end of the season. :-)

Cobcob 6am's hockey practice - 5.5 yrs old

It takes a strong determination to be an athlete! It is his choice and he wants to be on ice at his 6am practice.

2012: Preschool Swimming Crocodile (Level 4)

Jacob has passed his Preschool Swimming Level 4 lesson!!! (which required him to swim 10m in order to move to Level 5.) Good job, Jacob! His daddy decided to make him a video to celebrate his achievement.

Yoel: Our new sponsored child from Compassion Canada

2002: "Not Fair" lesson - 5 yo

Jacob started saying "Not Fair" when he is not getting what he wanted.

He has been so loved. We have been teaching him to appreciate everything around him and to show gratitude toward his life. I think it is time to remind him about what we have today.

One Tuesday in October last year, when his mommy went to workout at Good Life, Jacob and I were having "No electricity" night for 2 hours. We turned off all the lights in our house, only lighted up 2 candles. Well, there was really not much we could do. Therefore, we started talking about how people lived 100 years ago. They had no electricity, that means they don't have electric lighting at their home like we have today; they couldn't watch TV nor playing Wii games; they didn't have cars or transportation system like we have today; They didn't have tap water at home, they had to bring bucket to the lake or river in order to bring water back home; They didn't have toilet in their home, they had to go outside to use the toilet in their backyard (if they are lucky to have one).

The topic interested him, and he asked a lot of questions. That night on, he started to reliaze he has so many things that others don't have. He continue to learn how to be content on what we already have, not to feel "Not Fair" on what we don't have. We simply can't have everything we would love to have.

Ah Chui, Johnny and Ricky

Among all dogs we had, Ah Chui was our family BEST FRIEND ever. she guarded our Kuala Kedah home. According to papa, she once saved us from burglary once our family slept in Kuala Kedah “home” in one of the school holidays. She had the best ending. She was very old when she died. Papa even cried when she passed away. Johnny was my best friend. But one day he was so sick until he couldn’t even walk or move. Mama had to bring him the vet. I went to the clinic with mama that day. As soon as I knew the vet had to put it down, I was so sad and went straight to the car. Mama stayed with the vet and saw him passed away. Mama cried on our way home. Ricky was a black dog, with a lot of dog fleas. Mama somehow came out with a solution to kill the dog fleas, by soaking Ricky in the sea water in Kuala Kedah. She did it a few times, and it seems worked. However, in the last time, when mama did it again, she was so busy and forgot about the tide. Ricky was drown when he was tied near water. Mama was so sad. She still regret this incident today.

Jacob已经是SK了。。

我们家最近想要做一些每年都可以做，又有记念价值，而且让孩子可以记得的事。想把它成为我们家的trandition。

我最近看到familyfun网站有这个ideal，觉得很不错，就想让它成为我们家的传统。。那就是每年小孩第一天上学时，给他拿着去年上学的照片拍照。刚好去年Jacob第一年上学时，我们有帮他拍照，所以希望我们可以保持这个我们家的传统。。以后肯定会是个美好的回忆：）

IP Hockey practice - 5.5 yrs old

Jacob has been dreaming of playing ice hockey since he was 3 years old. We made him wait until he is 5 to join the minor hockey league in our city. This is his first year playing ice hockey. The Initiation Program just started this September. He is loving it. He is wearing Number 1.

A story of 5 little Pumpkins - 5.5 yrs old

Jacob said he wanted to tell daddy and mommy a story of 5 little pumpkins he learned from school.

Long awaited birthday present - iPod5

Finally, it was announced on Sept 12, the new features are way better than we wish for.

Say goodbye to my short live Kodak PlaySport waterproof camcorder

I felt a bit "unwilling" as I threw the camcorder into the garbage bin this evening. Well, this camcorder had helped me captured a lot of priceless memories. I even "retired" my Canon HD camcorder because of it.

Bought this camcorder in March. It was meant for our trip to Mexico and all the water fun in the summer. The camcorder was a strong well-built camcorder. The waterproof aspect of this little gadget was unbelievable. It was sucked into the lazy river filter and stay under water for a few hours before the maintenance crew helped us to retrieve it when we were in Mexico.

In May, Jacob jammed the SD slot when he was playing with the camcorder. He fully inserted the SD card in wrong direction forcefully. We were not able to pop out the SD card from outside. With little choice I had, I opened up the camcorder to retrieve the card. The pop out mechanism in the SD slot has already damaged, but I figured out the camcorder will still work with the SD card correct inserted. I can still read the content via USB cable.

I may have caused some damage during my first fix attempt. The camcorder continue to work well for a few months, until it experience read/write problem to the memory card. This time, I opened up the case again. Retrieved the old card, replace it with a new card. Unfortunately,  I accidentally punctured the case when I screwed the case.

Well, I damaged the waterproof feature. But the camcorder was still working. I still able to use it to shoot video. However, we still had the last water park trip to Calypso before we concluded our summer. So, I came up with an idea to seal the camcorder with the silicon seal that I used to fix my sink. Well, it didn't work out. The device failed after a few hours in the water. My bad.

Goodbye, my little gadget. You have served me well. It is me and Jacob that "screwed" you. :-)

2012 Summer: Jacob riding bike for the first time on 2 wheels

What a memory to keep!

Jacob's First CD: Go Fish Guys' Superstar

We bought countless of kid's CDs for Jacob in the past. Although he loves the songs, he never has a sense of ownership to any of them.

Mommy started to notice Jacob likes music with stronger rhythm in the past 2 years. Until recently, mommy found a Christian band "Go Fish" that plays children's songs. We watched the Go Fish's YouTube together and thought it was good. The R&B and hip-hop style music just attracted him that he watched it again and again with our Playbook.

We secretly ordered 5 Go Fish's CDs for him online with plan to give him one CD at a time. Jacob received his first surprise CD on Aug 20. You can see his eyes brighten up, followed by jumping up and down action. He was so thrilled.

This time, it is really his own CD.  He gets to keep it, and takes care of it. Daddy instructed him to keep the CD in the book cabinet. Every morning, he would pick up the CD from the cabinet, then play the CD all day long. Yes, he hangs on the CD case all day long too. Every night, he would put the CD back to the same place.

He knows how to carefully retrieve the CD from the case and put it on our CD player. He would replay his favorite songs as he likes it. After the last song, he usually pops out the CD and put it back to the case. He would do this many times throughout the day.

He brings his CD with him to play in the car every time we go out. He even packed the CD to his backpack the night before our Calypso water park trip last weekend.

Jacob is just 5. The fever has been going on for 8 days. Daddy just wonders how long it will last. Or this is just the beginning of the never ending R&B and hip hop music culture under our roof...

Jacob's first street dance - 5 yrs old

2012 Mexico Trip: Visiting Tulum Ruins

Visit Tulum Ruins

Prior going to Mexico, from internet, we already knew that we could go to the Tulum Ruins by the local’s public transit “collectivo”. Our hotel build conseruc confirmed that at Day 1.

We met the Air Canada Vacation agent at Day 2, he tried to promote us the ½ day excursion to Tulum for USD $55 per adult and $45 per child. That meant $55+$55+$45=$155 for our family. We said we were interested to other excursions but not to this excursion as we could do it ourselves, but he tried to scare us with the long walk to the ruins. (Which I think is not true.)

At Day 3, we walked toward the Highway after our breakfast. It was about 8 minute’s walk with a 5 year old boy. We crossed the highway to catch the south bound collective. Don’t worry to much on how to stop them, they will come to you. In our case, the collective (white van) noticed us and stopped for us before we even crossed the highway. As usual, always ask for the price first. We paid 35 pesos x2 adults. Child got free ride. As expected, the collective got off highway to Akumal to get more passengers. We arrived at the Tulum archeological site in 25 minutes.

At the highway entrance, there was a ticket booth with the sign “The Official Info Center – Free Maps”. It was not the Archeological site’s official booth. It was a regular Tour Ticket Booth. As you walked in, every tour booth had the similar sign with “Official Info Center”. Talked to them if you are interested in the tour packages. They offered better price then our Air Canada Vacation agent. For instance, they offered the XCaret Excursion package with 20% discount. They take cash or credit card. We didn’t have cash nor credit card at the time, so we passed the deal and got our free map. Not sure about their credibility, but I think they are trustable. They are doing their business there, they not going anywhere.

From the highway, you can either walk (about 7-10 min walk) or take a train (20 pesos per adult, child is free, round trip) to the site. We have a child who loves train, so we took the train. We saw a lot of tourist just walked in.

At the site entrance, we bought our entrance tickets (57 pesos per adult, child is free). We spent a good 2 hours in the site touring around. We didn’t plan to swim there, but saw a lot of people swimming. The site was hot, but the short 15 minutes rain brought down the temperature quite a bit. The best spot to take ruins photo is the empty field on the hill side distance away from the ruins’ main temple. If you don’t know where it is, just pay attention to the crowd who follow a tour guide. All tour guides brought their guests to the spot to take photos.

On our way back, we stopped at the shopping area. Avoid those smaller stores first. Go directly to the supermarket next to the small stores; survey the price there to equip yourself for the real bargaining.  For example, we paid 20 pesos for a small toy for my son in a small store, but only found out it was selling for $1 USD at the supermarket. The small store tried to sell me a Tulum Ruin souvenir for $25, but the supermarket sells the same one for $11. If you think you are not so good bargainer like me, just buy from the supermarket. It won’t be wrong.

Going back to our hotel, we missed an outgoing collective. We were greeted by a driver with an empty collective. Again, ask the price first. It will not leave until it is full with passengers. Full means full.  We waited about 25 minutes inside the collectivo (with AC on) until he got all 14 passengers. 

We spent 140 pesos for collectivo, 40 pesos for train, 114 pesos for entrance ticket. In total, we spent 294 pesos. About USD$23. (Compare to $155 plus tips with the Excursion from Air Canada Vacation.)

2012: Happy Birthday to Daddy

I had a very good Birthday “Eve” family party celebration last night. This morning, I opened my eyes to see Jacob jumped up to my bed, kissed me and hugged me, and handed me his hand-made Birthday card. He then asked me to lay down on my tummy, he then opened playbook with my favorite news app and put it in front of me, and did a 5 minutes massage on my back. He is sweet, isn't he? :-)

Of course, I had a special banana waffle breakfast from Doreen. This afternoon, when I opened up my lunch box.... there was a love note for me too... In the evening, we went out to eat my favorite 椒盐软壳蟹、鳕鱼dinner.

That midnight, Jacob had an accident and wet the bed. He woke up and went to our bedroom for help. Daddy woke up, but got refused, he said he wanted mommy. This morning, mommy asked him why he refused daddy's help, he said "今天是爸爸的生日。我不要他太辛苦，他已经很辛苦了。所以我要你帮我。“

Hmmm.... Hope that 年年都有今日、日日都有"今日"的treatment。 :-)

Jacob and Phonics

Jacob has been recognizing letters and learning phonics with daddy since he was 3. Daddy came out with a lot of fun phonics games and projects. That helps a lot when Jacob goes to JK and start to learn popcorn words from his teachers. Jacob is learning his popcorn words by sounding them out in phonics terms, blending the sound-spelling patterns.

As of today, we spend 1 hour in reading bible almost every night before bed time. (No forcing at all. He begs daddy to tell him bible story every night. I guess daddy is a good story teller.... LOL.) We will read the bible together. Jacob will read the words he recognizes, and daddy will read the words he doesn't know. In many times, daddy came out with a very simple analogy to match his level to help him understand the story. Sometimes daddy came out with some projects. (ie: learning God's people's "special tent" with a Tabernacle model). Fun and creativity never end at our home. They always inspire us to laugh, learn and to grow.

For the bible reading part, this is the biggest opportunity daddy have: Daddy would blend in our moral views, our family values and our Christian faith.  Daddy sow the seed, and water it every night. Jacob accepted Jesus at 4 years old.

Jacob's Party Time song - 5 yrs old

Jacob sang party time song before our regular family party time. He made up the lyrics as he sang.

 

Jacob's voice message for daddy at work - 4.5 yrs old

2012 Mother's Day

Jacob and daddy celebrate Mom's Day frequently. We just want to let her know how special she is in our lives.  This year, we have made our Mother's Day extended and became a Mother's Day Week celebration. Our celebration started with our secret project....

Wednesday Night

Saturday Morning

Saturday Morning

Saturday Night

Celebrating Mother's Day at Panda Buffet Restaurant. We originally planned to have our dinner at the Taste of Japan, but it didn't open when we went there that evening. So, we went for our plan B.



@Home.  Jacob sang "A Mom like You" to honor his mom.

A Mom Like You

God made you special
He made you just for me
He gave to you a heart so true
To love me faithfully

So all my life I'll honor you
And thank the Lord above
For giving me a mom like you
To cherish and to love

Sunday Morning

We have potluck at church on Sunday afternoon.  Mommy no need to cook this time.  Daddy and Jacob cooked Tomatoes Fried Eggs 西红柿炒鸡蛋. Jacob helped to cracked the eggs into a big bowls.

Mommy's new Happy Mother's Day mug

Cobcob 学写中文名 5 years old

怀念敬爱的李恩至伯伯

怀念敬爱的李伯伯：
李伯伯实在给我看见一个忠心爱主服事者的好榜样。11年前第一次教主日学是李伯伯带着我。他是主教，我是他的助教，让我有机会在他身上慢慢的学习。记得当了好几年的组长的我觉得好累，听到当时快要到八十岁的李伯伯说他只想当组长，激励了我对主服事的态度。李伯伯知道我有背疼，两次邀请我到他家帮我按摩，而且帮我买按摩器及按摩膏。李伯伯不仅教导我要爱弟兄、更以身作则教导我如何去爱我们的弟兄。

虽然李伯伯到天国，我们将永远怀念他，直到那天我们在天国再相见。

主内
吴建广敬上

My hockey son - 5 years old

2012: Bridlewood Soccer team

Jacob loved his first soccer practice from our neighborhood this evening. Guess what!  Jacob school's classmate Tairyn and Genevive are also on the same soccer team. Teran's mom is the team coach!!!

We got our team T-Shirt, then did some warm up, then learned how to control the ball with both feet, then learned how to throw the ball with both hands, then learn how to shoot on goal, followed by a mini 3-3 game. We spent time to have some snack after the game.  It was a fun day!

2012: Museum of Nature on Earth Day

Having fun with our fingers

2012: Baking fun with mommy

Playing hockey with daddy - 4 yrs 11 mths

This is a typical street hockey game we have in our driveway after work but before our dinner. Sometimes just Jacob and me. Sometimes neighbor's kids would join us. In Jan-Feb, Jacob and I played in the outdoor skating rink with real skate.

Cobcob speaking English - 5 yrs 0 mth

Cobcob was playing Angry bird with his best friend Finn. His English has improved a lot. He is bilingual in English and Mandarin. He also learns French from school. ie: In his kindergarten, he attends English class with Mrs Morneau for one week, then French's class with Madame Descotteaux for another week, alternatively.

We also observe a big improvement from him on the social side in the past 6 months, after he goes to school last September. Good job, son!

10th Annevarsary

十年了。非常感谢上帝保守我们的爱情，赐福我们的婚姻。

一直都喜欢圣经箴言31章的才德的妇人。多年前，我在圣经这章后面写着“主阿！求祢为我预备伴侣。 30/11/99” 。 那么多年后一直都为这事感谢神。

31:28 他的儿女起来称他有福．他的丈夫也称赞他、

31:29 说、才德的女子很多、惟独你超过一切。

4 Course Dinner @ Le Cordon Bleu Bistro at Signatures Restaurant.

谢谢Yaqian、Jihong 帮我们照顾Cobcob。

Cobcob and daddy's Ikea project

Cobcob had been a great assistant to daddy in a few Ikea's projects this year. He helped daddy to read the manual and to prepare all the parts needed for assembly. We have completed 3 Ikea projects this year. We enjoyed our father and son project together. Great bonding time us while mommy is working out at the GoodLife Fitness in the evening.

Cooking with mummy in the kitchen

Cobcob's faith through his drawings - 4yrs 10mths

 "Cobcob 看到草地上有橘子，很开心。。有蓝天。。人都很开心因为主耶稣很爱我们"

"Cobcob看到地上有苹果，很开心。。人都很开心因为有主耶稣。不过，有人看到主耶稣被钉在十字架，很伤心。"

Cobcob 今天终于有机会下黑道了

Cobcob 今天终于有机会下黑道了。 (After ski lesson #7 and a lot of practices at 蓝道, plus his request for more challenging terrain)。他跟着吴飞叔叔的后面，爸爸跟在他的后面，慢慢的滑下黑道的陡坡。吴飞叔叔故意S-Shape的大大圈的慢慢滑下去。他还蛮镇定的跟着，也没摔跤。问他还想在玩一次吗？ 不想，脚酸。 可惜iPod不在身边，不能拍Video.
Note: Trail Rating:(a) Green Circle/绿道 (b) Blue Square/蓝道 (c) Black Diamond/黑道 (d) Double Black Diamond/双黑

Happy Valentine's Day to my wife

It takes a million people to complete the world, but it only takes you to complete mine.

Love,
kk

Ski 2012 - Cobcob 4yrs 10 mths

Cobcob第一次下绿道 - After lesson 3
 

Cobcob 第一次下蓝道 - After lesson 5
  

Meet the Stanley Cup during NHL's 2012 All-Star Weekends

搞怪的小孩

2012: Daddy's good helper assembling Ikea's shelf - 3 yo

Mommy was away working out at Good Life. Yes, you are daddy little helper to assemble mommy's daycare shelf for all the toys. You helped daddy reading the manual and handing me components as we built up the project.

Skate 2011 - 4 yrs 8 mths