The Yung Family Blog

Okay I think there is a bit of theme going on here. Terrible we don't update more often, I guess as Darren said previously we're too busy living life. Where to begin. The school year is more than half over and we're coming up to Spring Break. I guess I'll start where my last update ended. The fall was busy with birthday parties on the weekend. Mackenzie's 4th birthday was once again at Club Avivia.

Halloween was fun as we took the opportunity to take the kids out and around our neighbourhood again. Weather was warmer than usual, especially for Halloween night, lots of kids out BUT Darren and I were extremely dumbfounded at the number of parents driving following their children. Great way to reduce the carbon footprint, not to mention the waste of gas. It also wasn't raining.

We took another side trip to Seattle in November and the Christmas rush started early for us this year. We were booked pretty much every weekend beginning the end of November. We had our usual family get togethers, we got a real Christmas Tree this year and decorated with grandma and grandpa. Kids loved that. Both Mackenzie and Nathan loved opening their gifts Christmas morning and both were really patient and waited to open all their gifts Christmas morning. However, I think the highlight of the Christmas break was our 2nd trip down to the Great Wolf Lodge, again with the Youngs. This time Nathan was much more aware of his surroundings and Mackenzie was brave enough to ride some of the bigger slides with her god sister and daddy. Nathan wanted to but he wasn't tall enough. Suffice to say, we won't be going back there until he hits the magic 42". He was a very disappointed little boy but took it in stride.

New Year and Chinese New Year was pretty uneventful and that my friends was the last 5 months in a nut shell.

Now for the current update, kids are growing like weed, we are pretty sure Mackenzie has developed an allergy to tree nuts as she has had a few reactions after eating almonds and cashews and even sesame oil. We're scheduled to see an allergist for further testing and confirmation in April. For now, doctor has recomended avoiding consumption and I carry an Epipen in case. So far her reactions have been mild, she's complained of her mouth feeling funny and that she feels like she wants to throw up or recently she developed a rash around the mouth. She's taking it in stride though, she knows she can't eat nuts and no sesame oil. Mackenzie is now beginning to read and is able to do simple math (adding and a bit of subtracting). Her teachers say she's a perfectionist and prides herself and getting all her work right. We've registered her for Kindergarten at the elementary school in our cachement area and found out one of her friends from cefa will be attending there as well. She is excited!

Nathan is still as happy go lucky as ever. He's language has exploded and can even count to 10 in Cantonese and Mandarin. He's a big copy cat of Mackenzie right now. He'll even wear a dress because Mackenzie has one on, it's VERY cute! We're hoping to start potty training him soon. So far he's shown no signs of interest at all.

Both kids are REALLY into watching Hilllsong Kids Worship Videos, (thanks Uncle Vincent). They love to sing and dance with the video. Grandma recently got a Wii and Mackenzie to my surprise does really well in playing some of the sports games. She enjoys it very much, Nathan, not so much right now but he tries.

Spring break is just around the corner and this year, we will be travelling back to San Diego, CA but with my brother's family and my mom. We'll be there for a week and the schedule will be alot more relaxed than last time. Both kids are looking forward to the trip and spending time with their cousins.

Labour Day already? It feels like it was just yesterday that we were packing to head down to San Diego for our family trip. As my other half has reported on our trips this summer I guess it's my duty provide an update on the kids. After we returned from San Diego, Nathan turned 2. We celebrated with a big birthday party at the park near our house, which happens to have a wading pool, which we booked and thanks to God we had nice hot weather. My baby is now a little boy. Since he turned 2, his language has exploded, copying every word his sister says and anything he learns and picks up. He loves to sing and will learn any song after he hears it a few times. As predicted by Darren, he learned to sing before speaking. Both kids love music and I usually end up playing DJ in the car bouncing between Bobs and Lolo, Church music, Carrie Underwood and Toby Mack. Nathan recently had his 2 year check up and doctor says he's healthy and average in weight and height. He a bit flat footed but nothing to worry about just yet. He also just started loving trains and Thomas.

Mackenzie is starting to drop her nap and to no surprise, using a computer to play games on pbskids.org. I purchased a new laptop and gave her my old one. She's extremely helpful in keeping her younger brother entertained and the 2 play really well together.

Picking up from Darren's post, after Whistler we took another trip down south to Ground Mound Washington, together with our good friends Wayland and Vivian and their family. We stayed at the Great Wolf lodge. Many other friends have said that's it's a place to take kids and our kids happen to love the water. The kids had a blast. Mackenzie and her god-sister hung out all weekend and loved every minute of it. Of course the water park was good too. All in all I think the trip was way overdue for us and the other Youngs.

Few weeks after the trip to Grand Mound, WA we headed back down to Bellevue, WA to visit with Darren's cousins. This trip was with Darren's cousin Eric and his kids Maiya and Tyan. Boy did Nathan ever have fun. It was Maiya this, Maiya that. He even left me while swimming and went with Maiya. Busy weekend as we also bumped into other Vancouverites while at dinner at the table next to us too.

Both Mackenzie and Nathan are enjoying the start of a new school year at cefa. This will be Mackenzie's last year before Kindergarten next September. I shudder at the thought. Not to mention, she turns 4 this month. SIGH. Where did the time go? Darren introduced the 2 of the them to what he and I grew up watching.... The Muppets! We have Season 3 on DVD and Darren showed them the Harry Belafonte episode where he does the Banana Boat song they LOVE it! Anything that has singing and dancing will capture their attention.