late spring update

The weather couldn't be more perfect: sunny, 70s, light breeze.

After several weeks of "cooperation", "helping out", and "being good," Binbin finally finished his chart of alternating alphabetic letter stamps (a-b-a-b, c-d-C-D, e-F-E-F, g-h-G-H)! Hooray! His big reward: a shopping trip to Target to pick out a new Mistika Bionicle put-it-together-yourself, Lego-style action figure! Binbin stuck to his initial choice: Tuma.



If you would like to know more about him, go to: http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=8689

So, that was the super-exciting activity Friday evening. On Saturday, we decided to return to one of our favorite camping spots, Lake St. George. Binbin was helpful in the morning, as we had lots of stuff to pack: tent, sleeping pads, begging, chairs, food, campstove, and more. We don't travel lightly when we camp. Binbin added to the weight by insisting on bringing three of his action figures: Gali, Tahu, and Tuma. Of course, Monkey, Blanky and Blanky came. And we also brought books for bedtime reading. Jack included a surprise: a new comic book about Transformers.

On our drive up to Liberty, we made an annual pilgrimage to Liberty Tool (home of zillions of ancient and old tools for woodworking) and to Liberty Graphics (home of many cool T-shirts, which the print for the common ground fair and for patagonia, but importantly for us, home of one of the three shirts that Binbin consents to wearing). Jack snagged a chisel, and I a sweatshirt printed with the dinosaur motif that is one on of Binbin's three shirts. And, amazingly, Binbin *wore* the sweatshirt!

We had campsite #12 in the middle area, as the lakeside spots are reserved months in advance. But it was nice and private, as we didn't have immediate neighbors. There is a brand new bathhouse at the site, very nice. And the playground has been finished! We struck camp, played at the playground, built a fire, ate hot dogs, marshmallows, and smores, then crawled into our tent to sleep. On sunday, we went canoing on the lake, exploring several of the islands, bonking the buoys, and having an all around good time.

Winter seemed to last forever, then it seems we blinked and spring arrived. We've been taking advantage of the warmer weather, and getting outdoors to do lots more stuff. Just this past weekend, after Chinese school, we headed over to Dave and Irene's for one of their semi-annual hotwings parties. This one coincided with the running of the Kentucky Derby. Betting was done by way of drawing horses' names. $1, $5, and $10 pots of pure luck. Jack entered each pot.

Then we took a break to see a couple of games in the Robocup Open at Bowdoin college. Yup, the Robocup. where university computer science teams go head to head writing code to operate robots that play soccer. Bowdoin's team, the northern bites, didn't have much luck. Against UPenn, each of Bowdoin's three robots seems to have suffered a physical injury that prevented further play. That left three UPenn robots moving at molasses-in-winter speed to score the one and winning goal. There was precious little action (robots were prone to fall over and had about a one in two chance of righting themselves), but lots of drama!

Then a return to the hotwings party to watching the running of the roses and to see if Jack's luck paid off. Musketman was our horse for the $10 pot. He led much of the way, but fell off to place third. But, as our luck would have it, no one drew the winner or the second place, which left us $100 richer! Baby's gonna get new shoes! Or, a new bionicle toy!

Here are a few snapshots to fill in some of the gap since our last post. First, a record of Binbin's cake decorating skills.






by the time he finished, Mama's cake was covered with little colored star candies from the San Diego zoo, Skittles, and gummy bears. We bet we know what you're thinking: Deee-licious!

And, below, in a rare moment of being with the group is Binbin pictured with his "Snapdragons" Chinese school class.

our book club

It's seems like a good time for a "what we're reading" update, especially as Binbin's taste in books has changed dramatically over the past few months.

Binbin: graphic novels and comic books such as Spider Man, Bionicles, and Flight. Ricky Ricotta's Might Robot and their various adventures fighting enemies from outer space. Stories about Elephant and Piggy by Mo Willems. Dr. Seuss' "If I Ran the Circus."

Jack: "1942" and "Uncle Henry's"

De-nin: academic novels: "Stoner" and "Changing Places." for my Song Dynasty painting seminar: Valerie Malenfer Ortiz's dissertation on "Dream Journey", Lothar Ledderose and Peter Sturman's respective studies on Mi Fu and calligraphy.

I should also note that Binbin's favorite games have changed, or changed in character. Hide-and-seek is still fun; so is the "scary waffel" chasing game, but in the latter case, various weapons, such as swords and guns fashioned from screwdrivers and eggbeaters are necessary accoutrements. We also play with the blow-up bunny: you punch it against the refrigerator or toward an opponent, and wait for it to bounce back. Binbin also does "daredevil" tricks on the horsey, too.

Binbin's view

Is Binbin a budding artist? You be the judge. Here are a few snapshots that he took recently:


The Parental Units




Untitled (My Chair)



Untitled (Mobile Solar System)



The Parental Units, 2

winter's second or third to last hurrah...

I'm posting backwards in time. There are from February, I think. Winter lasts seemingly forever in Maine, and so you have to find activities appropriate to the season. These can range from making snowmen..



to shaking off branches heavy with freshly fallen snow..



to baking cookies and rolling chocolate truffles (yummy!).

in living color

Last Saturday was amazing...that first day that really feels like spring. We took advantage of the gift of sunshine and warm air, and headed out to the beach for a picnic.



Then, Binbin decided to look for snails. We dug a home for them in the sand, and gathered a mommy snail, a daddy snail, and a baby snail. There! Now they are all happy!



Binbin and Jack climbed across the rocks.



Sunday was nearly as nice, and we headed south to Old Orchard Beach. It has more of a California or Ft. Lauderdale feel. The crowds won't be here for months yet, and so the pier is closed and the carnival rides, too. But we had fun, playing our scary waffel game and throwing sticks into the surf.

coming to a monitor near you...

a new post about Binbin. We've been running here, there, everywhere, and have not paused to write a post. We haven't even paused to download photographs (127 and counting still on the camera). But when we do, and I promise it will be soon, we will have sensational stuff for your viewing pleasure.

This past weekend, for example, we went to the beach at Reid State Park and spent a gorgeous noon-hour clambering over rocks and gathering snails so that they could be a "family." The next day, we went to the beach again! This time to Old Orchard Beach, where the boardwalk was boarded up, but the sandy expanse stretched far to the horizon north and south, and people numbering in the tens jogged or strolled or sauntered about. No crowds to contend with. I remembered the meaning to a phrase I'd been uttering to candidates visiting our campus: Maine is a beautiful place to live.