Aaron in Dallas

Aaron's time in Dallas involves a lot of crying, tantrum throwing and clinging, so there is relatively less to write about. He likes to play the drums as he enthusiastically banged on Vivian's Chinese drum and the drum set in Uncle Richard's basement. He also likes to drink out of his new Cars sippy cup and to play with Cousin Lucas' toys. It's the first place he runs to when he reaches Aunt Cindy's house, which he has visited only twice. He already knows his way around. He also knows his way around Uncle Richard's house too, because during an hourlong tantrum there, he ran around the house to every room about 5 times. When he returns to my parents' house, he is unhappy too because his sleep deprivation kicks in around that same time each day. Apart from that, he does seem to be having a good time :p

Jerry in Dallas 2

On the second day, we were invited to a pool party at Uncle Richard and Aunt Trea's place. Jerry loves to swim, although he is insecure without his armbands. He was lying on the inflatable water bed when Vivian asked if she could flip him over. He didn't understand the English, so she attempted Cantonese which came out as "Can I push you?" Thinking that she was going to push him on the water bed, Jerry said yes.... After he got flipped over, he flipped out and exclaimed that he would never swim again and started to cry. It seems that Jerry is going to learn a lot on this trip :D

On the third day, Uncle Danny asked Jerry to teach him English, claiming that he did not know the language himself. To this Jerry replied: How can you not know English, you are an American? To that, we laughed our heads off.

Jerry in Dallas 1

We have been in Dallas for 4 days and it's been fun (not counting the sleepless nights). Jerry, in particular, has been enjoying himself immensely.

For our first meal in Dallas, my Mom and the Aunties/Cousins graciously prepared potluck at my parents' home, so that we can eat in the comfort of home whilst getting to meet everyone all at once. Jerry had been really excited about this trip and he was impressed with what he had seen, the great expanse of space and the fairly big house that he would stay in for the next 5 weeks.

We met the cousins one by one, and although Jerry had been in Dallas before, it was when he just turned one, so he was not familiar with everybody. He was also not familiar with the games that the older cousins played and when he saw them engage in a pillow fight, he became quite agitated. He was so concerned for cousin Eric's safety to the point that he felt he had to step in. So, he yelled at cousin Nicole and Vivian Bew Yee and even banished them from the room on account of them "hurting" Eric and being naughty. I explained to him that they were playing and that nobody was really getting hurt, to which he replied: This is just my first day here, so I didn't know ah-ma.

Traveling with an entourage...

After months of anticipation and weeks of preparation (I started packing at least 10 days in advance...as everyone knows, I'm part Lam, so pre-packing is perfectly natural), we finally made it to Dallas.  Before the flight, our main fear was Aaron's behavior on the planes and/or airports.  We also feared that he would throw a tantrum when he discovers that his dad won't be going.  That stems from his mini-tantrums in the mornings when Kelvin leaves for work or when we try to go out without him, particularly difficult week leading up to the flight.  

The entourage included Christy, Andrew and me.  Obviously, we were the entourage to the Lau Bros.  To our great surprise, relief and joy, both legs of our flights were uneventful and almost "enjoyable".  Aaron willingly walked through HK immigration without a fight (he did look earnestly for Daddy and even called out several times).  We had planned not to officially say "goodbye" so as not to trigger any unwelcome emotions.  We had breakfast without incident and boarded the plane to Tokyo for the first leg of our journey.  We had bought a portable DVD player especially for this trip to keep them entertained on the flight but we also knew that the planes would have inflight entertainment.  The Disney Channel came to the rescue and definitely kept them entertained for the most part of the journey.  

When we reached Tokyo, it appeared that we didn't have much time to transit, so our original plans of ramen, dan dan noodles, rice balls etc were all dashed as we had to dash our way from AA counter to boarding gate.  Again, Aaron was well-behaved and in a relatively good mood.  Needless to say, Jerry behaved best of all.  Unfortunately, AA was not showing any cartoons, except for Monsters vs Aliens, which Aaron watched, but Jerry was too "scared".  He watched some sitcom from the Disney Channel, and ended up watching it about 5 times.  As I mentioned, we had brought a DVD player, so, around 1/4 into the flight, I decided to take out this "lifesaver" to entertain the brothers.  "Ta Da"!  I intended to show one of Aaron's faves, Bear in a Big Blue House, but the player would not turn on, then Andrew spotted the fatal mistake...there was no battery pack!   !>_

Before I left HK, I had conscientiously plugged in the thing to "charge" the battery.  Little did I know that I had not inserted the bloody thing!  Actually, my first reaction was: Did someone take it?? Thinking back, it was a truly ridiculous situation.  Luckily, despite the lack of more entertainment, Jerry and Aaron managed to be entertained by the onscreen shows and their coloring books.  When they slept, they managed to share 2.5 seats out of our 4 in a row and slept for abt 5 hours.  They also managed to eat the airplane meals, Aaron ate just white rice, but that was good enough.  Best of all, we had 2 of Popo's salted chicken to share between us, neatly separated into 4 Ziplock bags complete with Viva! kitchen towels and plastic gloves.  

The only real trouble during this journey was in the line to Dallas immigration.  Aaron was overtired and getting extremely cranky.  I had them both on their leashes but he kept trying to run away.  That struggle was witnessed by everyone in line and other kind travelers tried to distract him, but to no avail.  After what seemed like an hour, we finally made it through to claim our baggage and got out asap.  Finally, when we met up with my parents and DKF and DKM, it seemed like we had made a major achievement.  The car-ride back home was comfortable and stress free and the boys enjoyed their rides in their borrowed car seats from Cousin Lucas in the borrowed van from Auntie Kwan.  

Dallas, here we are! 

So You Think You Can Dance

Occasionally, my boys dance it out!