raycyn's Xanga

Caleb at 16 Months

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:02:15 GMT

Great Wall Marathon May 17, 2008

Wed, 28 May 2008 12:53:10 GMT

After training for about 3 months, Ray ran the Great Wall Half Marathon last Saturday. Only about 3 of the 21 kilometers were on the Wall, but those 3 km were practically all stairs ... and uphill both ways. Ray could barely walk for several days afterwards. I told him he'd better take advantage of this last chance for personal physical activity before we have another little one in July.

Check Ray out in action at http://www.marathon-photos.com/index.html. Enter bib #1462.

Caleb's Marriage Arranged

Wed, 28 May 2008 12:34:29 GMT

Traditional Chinese families arrange marriages for their children at a very early age. In keeping with this tradition, we have arranged for Caleb to be betrothed to our friends Rob and Susan's daughter Esther when they visited Beijing the last week of April. Caleb enjoyed having a constant playmate and learned to be more independent. Little does he know that it's all downhill from here.

Caleb's First Snowfall - Rockville, MD

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:39:30 GMT

Starting to walk at Aunt Florence & Uncle Calvin's

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:14:36 GMT

Celebrating January Birthdays - Lauren, Uncle Calvin, Brandon & Caleb

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:14:31 GMT

Family Reunions

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:05:07 GMT

One Year and Counting

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:28:35 GMT

We just returned back to Beijing last week after spending about 6 weeks in the U.S. Ray worked for 2 weeks and then we had 4 weeks of home leave. Vacation! We spent the time mostly between Aunt Florence's, outside Philadelphia, and Aunt Vicky's, in Rockville, Maryland. We also made a day trip down to Richmond to see some good friends off as they moved across the world, to our neck of the woods over here. During this time, Caleb celebrated his 1 year old birthday, on January 5. We had 2 birthday parties for him, one in Maryland, with cousin Lauren, who is 8 days younger, and the other in Philly with cousin Brandon, who is 5 days younger. About a week later, Caleb started walking. And walking. And walking. The kid does not sit still. He is now everywhere and into everything. We know that only God is omnipresent but Caleb is coming in a close second! We now have to keep doors shut and be constantly vigilant around him. It is also getting fun because he now can understand what we say to him. He will clap his hands or wave bye-bye. But when we want him to come over or stop doing something, it's amazing how he suddenly becomes deaf. Or is it dumb....

A Perfect 10

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:32:02 GMT

Apologizes to all the Caleb fans out there for missing his 9-month old posting. Caleb turned 10 months old yesterday and, during the past 2 months, has started to develop a bit of his own personality. He now crawls with a vengeance and walks if supported. He definitely has food preferences and seems to be getting tired of the baby mush, preferring more solid foods such as cheese and Cheerios. (Maybe it's just the chee- sound that he likes. Perhaps we should try cheesecake. Or cheesesteak [blended as a milkshake?]. Or Cheetos. Anyone else have any suggestions?) He is starting to look at his books more rather than just eating them, can wave bye-bye, and loves to play. He continues to be as cute as ever with more and more people acknowledging that yes, he in fact is the cutest kid in the world. Most people are still not sure who he takes after more, his mother or father. You be the judge.

88888888

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:45:38 GMT

During this past month, Caleb got his first haircut - a joint effort by his mom and dad. We enjoyed visiting friends in Inner Mongolia and, while Ray went off horseback riding, Caleb played in the yurt amused by a hotel key card. He has 2 bottom teeth already and now has 4 top teeth breaking through his gums all at the same time. Ouch! He is able to pull himself into a standing position in his crib and is gearing up to crawl any day now -- it's going to be a whole new world after that!