Photos: Cheese Shop in Dayton, Washington

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Lydia and Auntie MayLee



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Lydia and Auntie MayLee are gazing at the field where goats are eating grass.

Note: "Monteillet Fromagerie, the first farmstead artisanal cheese facility in the Walla Walla Valley of Southeastern Washington is a destination for folks who love fresh goat and sheep cheeses paired alongside award winning wines crafted locally. For animal lovers, visiting the dairy flocks is a must, guarded by Tino, Jolie Neige, Lucille and Brava, the four Great Pyrenees, and Marti, a Boarder Collie." (source: http://www.monteilletcheese.com/)

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Lydia, SiowFong, Auntie MayLee, and Ma Wee are walking towards the field where the goats are.

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Goats

Note: "The other farm menagerie, including chickens, ducks, lambs, goats and many cats, coexist on the 30 acre farm located along the Touchet River (pronounced too-shee), which is the shortcut route that the local Nez Perce Indian tribes showed Lewis & Clark on their return trip." (source: http://www.monteilletcheese.com/)

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Lydia and her dad

Note: All of these pictures were taken on June 10, 2010 at the Monteillet Fromagerie, which is located at 109 Ward Road in Dayton, Washington.

Photos: Walla Walla

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Auntie MayLee and Lydia

Note: Whenever Auntie MayLee or Ma Wee comes to visit us, we set aside a few days for vacation to new places. This year's trip began in Walla Walla, Washington, an area of the country that is well-known for its apples and sweet onions, includes the Palouse, continues to Hells Canyon (in Oregon), and ends in Yakima, Washington.

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Lydia is standing at the main post office.

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Lydia is standing on a landing of a train.

Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures with her Canon G11 digital point and shoot camera during her morning walk with Auntie MayLee and Lydia on June 10, 2010 in the area surrounding the Best Western hotel in Walla Walla, Washington.

Photos: Pool Time with Daddy

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Lydia is high stepping into the water.

Note: As this is Lydia's first exposure to the pool this year, she was somewhat tentative about getting into the pool.

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"My legs can float" must be what Lydia is thinking here.

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Lydia is getting ready to stomp the water.

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Daughter and father

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Dad is lifting Lydia into the air.

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A full hoist

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Dad is holding Lydia while she kicks her legs in the pool.

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Lydia is smiling after all the fun she has had in the pool.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on May 9, 2010 at the Best Western motel in Walla Walla, Washington.

Photos: High Tea

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"Three Generation Picture"

(left to right): Ma Wee, Lydia, SiowFong

Note: "Pour pour" (maternal grandmother in Chinese), granddaughter, and daughter

Living room

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Group portrait of three families: Chews (including Yaps), Chins (including Wees), and Poons (including Kaos)

(first row, left to right): Eden Poon, Ma Wee, Vaughn Poon, Lydia, MayLee Wee

(second row, left to right): Frank Poon, Wee Kao, Steven Chew, Tammy Yap, SiowFong, and Tom

Dining room

Note: In Malaysia and Singapore, high tea (which is sometimes called afternoon tea) is a popular tradition, and because Ma Wee, SiowFong, MayLee, Steven Chew, and Tammy Yap came from that area of the world, Ma Wee, SiowFong, and MayLee invited the Chews and the Poons to our home for high tea at 4:00 PM, which would be followed two hours later by supper.

Photo note: Although lighting bounced from the ceiling usually works in most homes, doing that here with the maize colored ceiling would have changed everyone's skin color to an extra warm, tanned appearance because maize is a dark yellow hue. To not modify the natural appearance of everybody's skin tones, the light for this portrait was provided by a portable flash unit mounted on an 8 foot tall lightstand whose illumination was diffused through a white umbrella. After the picture was framed and focused, the camera was placed in self-timer mode for five seconds, which allowed Tom to get into the picture. Three or four pictures were taken to increase the odds that at least one of them would turn out well given the number of people in this image.

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Away from the adults, who are upstairs, Vaughn (almost 10 years old), Eden (5 years old), and Lydia (almost 4 and 1/2 years old) are playing together.

Library

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Chocolate tarts with a lemon glaze and cherry topping

Dining room

Note: Whenever Auntie MayLee visits our home, she bakes a number of things for our guests, Lydia's day care staff, and Lydia's father's coworkers.

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Coconut ball

Dining room

Note: "High tea is an English meal that gained popularity in the 1600s, especially among laborers. It was often substantial, contrasted with other types of tea where a few cakes might be served. High tea was often called meat tea because hearty dishes were served, perhaps meat sandwiches, or hot cooked food like meat pies, and Welsh rarebit. Cold meats, bread, cheese, crackers and a variety of desserts like cakes could make up part of the menu." (source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-high-tea.htm)

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Chui kuih

Dining room

Note: This is a steamed rice flour cupcake that is topped with dried radish

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Pandan chiffon cake

Dining room

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Table for high tea

Dining room

Note: All of these pictures were taken on June 5, 2010 in our home.

Photos: Paramount Park

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Lydia is slowly climbing the part of the playground equipment that resembles a DNA helix.

Note: This is Lydia's first trip to Paramount Park this year.


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Contented Lydia

Note: Both of these pictures were taken on May 31, 2010 at Paramount Park in Shoreline, Washington.

Photos: With Aunty MayLee

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Lydia is riding a personal seesaw as Auntie MayLee observes.

Preschool Sunday school classroom at Shoreline Community Church

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Lydia is recounting for Auntie MayLee the Sunday school lesson she learned as she explains the characters on the storyboard.

Preschool Sunday school class at Shoreline Community Church

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Aunty MayLee is reading a book about Heidi to Lydia.

Living room of our home

Note: All of these pictures were taken on May 31, 2010.

Photos: House, May 30, 2010

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Relaxed Lydia

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Family picture in the living room

(left to right): SiowFong, Lydia, MayLee, Tom, and Ma Wee

Note: We are standing under the 14 foot high ladder that is being used by the electrician as he installs the sloped can (recessed) lights for the cathedral ceiling.

Note: Both of these pictures were taken on May 30, 2010 at our future new home.

Photos: Gifts

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Mom, Lydia, and Auntie MayLee are smiling as they look at the gifts unpacked from the suitcases that the various members of Wee family gave to Lydia.

Downstairs landing area

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Lydia's favorite present was the purple dress that Auntie MayLee gave to her, and she wore it nearly the entire day after MayLee showed it to her.

Upper landing area

Note: Both of these pictures were taken on May 29, 2010 in our house.

Photos: Ma Wee and MayLee Arrive

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The arrival board shows that the plane on which Ma Wee and MayLee were passengers had landed.

Ma Wee and Auntie MayLee were coming to Seattle from Tokyo on a United flight.

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Lydia is waiting patiently for the arrival of Ma Wee (whom she had not seen since the fall of 2008) and Auntie MayLee (whom she had not seen since June 2009).

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Auntie MayLee, Ma Week, Lydia, and SiowFong are walking towards the appropriate luggage carousel.

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Lydia sits near Ma Wee as both of them wait for Lydia's dad and MayLee to retrieve the check in baggage.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on May 29, 2010 at Seattle Tacoma International Airport when Ma Wee and Auntie MayLee arrived (Ma Wee from Singapore and Auntie MayLee from Melbourne, Australia).

Photos: With Grandpa Al, May 2010

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Grandpa Al Crane just said something to Lydia that made her laugh when he was playing with one of her toys.

Note: With Pa Chin, Ma Chin, and Ma Wee (Lydia's grandparents) living out of state, it has been a blessing that Grandpa Al is able to spend time with Lydia on most Friday nights throughout the year.

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Lydia smiles often when she is around Grandpa Al.

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Grandpa Al just sent the bunny on the tricycle towards Lydia.

Note: After she receives the toy, she will send it back to him.

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Reading time

Note: Lydia loves seeing pictures in books and having someone read them to her.

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Grandpa Al is reading Bad Habits to Lydia.

Note: Jenny Chen, one of our friends who had children (Evelyn and Samuel) before Lydia came into our lives, highly recommended The Berenstain Bear books to us if we ever had young children because of the wholesome, practical lessons in those books about everyday events to which youngsters can easily relate. SiowFong and I enjoy reading these books to Lydia, and she loves the stories that are written by Stan and Jan Berenstain. In addition, a few of the fifty plus books in the Berenstain Bear series are available in Mandarin.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on May 28, 2010 in the living room of our home.

Photos: BBQ at Ballands

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Lydia and Lydia -- the outdoors version

Note: One of the other parents at the party has a daughter named Lydia also.

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Hammock fun

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Along with another little girl, Lydia is enjoying playing on the hammock.

Note: Lydia's first encounter with a hammock was about two years ago in Hawaii.

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Lydia in repose

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Lydia and Lydia -- the indoors version

Note: Lydia is looking forward to the day when she can have a sister, and whenever we go to places with other children of her age, Lydia loves to play with and to talk to them.

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Lydia, the Balland's dog, and Timothy Guo

Note: Timothy is one of two sons of Amy Guo, SiowFong's good friend and colleague.

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Alison Wallace, one of SiowFong's best friends and coworkers who has two elementary school aged sons (Kelvin and Rohan), is carrying Lydia.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on May 22, 2010 at Alain Balland's home in Bainbridge Island, Washington. Alain is one of SiowFong's colleagues, and he invited some of his coworkers and their families to his home for an informal barbecue today.

Photos: House, May 22, 2010

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Wearing her galoshes to protect her pants, Lydia is standing in the regraded back yard.

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While Lydia is posing for her mom as her mom takes pictures of her, her dad is meeting with the electrical and siding subcontractors this Saturday morning for some final revisions on the exterior lighting.

Note: With respect to outdoor lighting that is attached to a home, the electrician's job is to run the wire to the right spot, and the sider's job is to fashion a light block, through which the wire will run, from the exterior trim material. The white squares on the siding, such as the two flanking the patio doors, represent the light blocks.

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Lydia and two earthmovers

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Lydia is standing in the front yard while David Homavand, the owner of Pacific Exteriors, is examining his crew's work.

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Lydia watches as Grant and Noelle Eggebraaten play catch with a baseball in the back yard.

Note: Grant and Noelle are the children of Todd Eggebraaten, one of the electricians who is working on the home and a principal of E & E Electric.

Building note: Our excavator, Erik Wickman, added slightly over 100 cubic yards of dirt (enough to fill 10 dump trucks) to the back yard and regraded it to lessen the slope between the deck and the rest of the yard.

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Lydia is "all smiles" for mom as she sits on the unfinished deck.

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Lydia is waving "hi" to her mom while standing on a boulder that Erik Wickman, the excavator, had hauled away the large debris from the back yard this week.

Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures on May 22, 2010 at the site of our future home using her Canon G11 digital point and shoot camera.

Photo note: Because of its portability, low weight, and good image quality, SiowFong prefers using the Canon G11.