Filed under: Uncategorized
Yesterday ended the annual May birthday week for the Chiu family. Beginning last Tuesday (as it should) with mine, Ennyn woke up asking, “Mommy, what time does your birthday start?” After attempting several times to answer with “right now” or “today” only to see her frustration grow at me not understanding, we finally figured out that our little extrovert and party-girl was asking when the party would be. Since I’m not the kind to like big parties with me as the focus we hadn’t planned one, but apparently needed to now.
It was the first time in five years that Yucan and I could celebrate each of our birthdays, a week apart, kid-free during the day. We enjoyed the quietness and stillness or uninterrupted conversation, time and space as we walked around different parts of San Diego and ate a birthday meal. While we knew our girls would be jealous or want to come along but couldn’t because of school, we reminded them that mommys and daddys need time together in order for families to be strong and them to be even happier.
My birthday overlooking the ocean at Solana Beach
Of course, as adults and parents, the focus of the week was on Enna’s 5th birthday. This was the first year we actually had a party and held it at the local park, inviting all her circles of friends from neighbors, playgroup and church to classmates and karate friends. We bought clay flowerpots, seeds and brought soil and markers for kids to decorate pots and plant seed as party favors. We booked a bounce house with a slide that was a hit for both old and young, including my 60-something father.
Grandpa Ho in his first ever bounce house.
My parents ordered an Asian-style baker-sized cake (lighter and with fresh cream for frosting), packed it in ice and drove it down four hours from Bakersfield. The things grandparents do for their only grand kids!
Birthday girl and her cake
Happy girl eating "happy cake"
Ennyn - our crazy little party girl.
Here’s to another year…
1 Comment so far
Leave a comment
Mrs. Chiu, your kids have grown up so much! I’m glad you had a wonderful time celebrating your family’s birthdays.
I’ll be in Tanzania from June 3rd to July 31st learning Swahili at the University of Dar es Salaam as a summer extension of my Swahili studies this past year. I’ll be taking classes there in the morning and volunteering at an orphanage in the afternoon.
July 31st, I fly out to Nakuru, Kenya, where I’ll be working with Theatre-Against-HIV/AIDS, a group that raises awareness about the disease through theatre (hence its name). What’s exciting is, I received funding from Princeton to do a film project in Kenya, so not only will I be participating in skits with the locals, I’ll be making a documentary about the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa! You must remember my passion for filmmaking from our freshman year Romeo & Juliet project, for which we (Sammy, Stella, and I) made a music video.
I’ll be flying back to the states on September 3rd, after a full 3 months!
And then it’s back to school for me.
It’s awesome that your daughters want to go there, although as you mentioned the shots and pills you have to take can get cumbersome. I have to take pills to prevent malaria (which, unfortunately, is infamous for side-effects such like hallucinations and psychotic dreams) every day while I’m there…
I’m really excited! and scared… haha. I think this is a wonderful opportunity to really stretch my boundaries like never before.
Daniel
Comment by Daniel Song May 21, 2010 @ 5:48 pm