In the nearby park

My first Kindermusik class

I left daycare at 4pm and attended this music class at 5pm, what a busy day! The Kindermusik class locates in the Northwestern University campus. Our teacher Leah has a real good voice.

My first bowling experience

Under the heavy storm day, I had lots of fun playing bowling with Pika. I could row the ball down the slid. The ball would bounce in between two side bumpers and eventually hit the bottles.

a Lego enthusiast

I "can be" a good helper on building castle.

At the Chicago Botanic Garden

We are frequent visitors to the Chicago Botanic Garden because I can always find newly blossomed flowers and seasonal botanic shows here. I will never be tired of coming back again.

Do you like my new hair style?

At the Morton Arboretum

It was a very nice, typical late summer day. I enjoyed lots of fun in the section of the Children's Garden.
A handful of sand.

Good-bye Nanny!

Today is the last day that Nanny Chen is with us. She has taken care of me since I was 1.5 month old. Very kind to me and I love her very much. Wish her best of luck back to China, and hope I will see her someday in China.

First day at school

Today is my first day at school. Mom took me to YMCA Child Care Center in the morning, and stayed with me in the playground. After an hour, Mom kissed me goodbye, and left. I started crying before she even walked away. I did not want to eat, and cried on and off for the rest of the day there. I held my water cup so tight that I felt I was not totally out of place. When Dad came to see me at 2 pm, I was still sitting on the chair sobbing. He then took me home and I felt very happy. I know I will do better later, but I just missed mom, dad, Chen Nainai, and home so much!

Mother's note: Today is Jolene's first day at school. After I left Jolene in the day care center and returned home, I cried for an hour! I cried when washing her bottles, I cried when seeing her bed, I cried when standing by her dining chair... I guess I am not really stronger than Jolene. :)

Wisconsin Dells - Day 3

We went for a short hiking at the Mirror Lake State Park, then went to see the famous stand rock. It was a wonderful holiday trip.
Into the deep woods at the Mirror Lake State Park.

The best companion during the summer - a compact cooling fan

Strange sandstone formation

At the Stand Rock scenic site, we observed a nature bridge from sandstone, beautiful Wisconsin Lake besides and most excitingly watched a show of a dog jumping between the rocks.

Wisconsin Dells - Day 2

We went to the Riverview Park and Waterworld. Even though this was not the most exotic one, but they were less crowded and had more kids facilities around my age. In the morning, we played in those wet facilities (water pools) and in the evening, we played in those dry facilities (rides).


Sorry for the poor video image (white out). It was shot by our underwater camera, so the lens was exposed to and in and out of water and got dirty easily.

Wisconsin Dells - Day 1

During the Labors Day weekend, we went to splash and had great fun at the Wisconsin Dells . It claimed to be "The Waterpark Capital of the World". It is really true! This town was created to be the heaven of kids of all ages. Today, we first checked in our hotel - ALAKAI which had its own water playground facility.

Welcome to Jolene's Zoo

This is a great gift from Uncle Ian and Auntie "Bao-Bay".

A Late Summer Afternoon Dream

Playing in the nearby park

In our courtyard

What a wonderful afternoon! We had lots of fun in our courtyard.

Evening concert at the Ravinia

We arrived the Ravinia park at 7pm and had a nice picnic before the piano concert began at 8pm. During the concert, it was all dark and quiet, what a great experience.

Watching mom playing Wii fit

Uncle bought us the Wii fit and mom tried first. She didn't seem to have a good balance score, oops...

My dear uncle and auntie are visiting

We had a nice day trip to the Mt. Baldy at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore under a perfect sunny and breezing 80F weather. Water was a little bit cold today, but I still enjoyed it very much.

Riding the mini John Deer

This late afternoon before dinner was supposed to be my swimming time at YMCA, but due to the maintenance work in the pool, I played at this kids room which was another great experience at YMCA.

One after another

I lined all those CDs up from the shelf by myself. What a creative work!

Day trip at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Lunch at the cafe

Bonsai exhibition

A Teddy bear

While we visited Ravinia's gift shop, their manager asked a photographer to take some pictures of me for their monthly newsletters, in return he gave me this Teddy bear.

A wonderful day at Ravinia concert

My breakfast bill... whoops

Attending a higher level course

Since I am over 22 months old, I am switching to the level of 22 months to 2.5 yrs of age class. In this course, I am learning more complicated skills and play with new and bigger friends. Of course, I felt a little bit uneasy in this new environment on this first day.

Get up early for the new class

Summer in the park, 2008 vs. 2007

Skokie water playground

It was not a typical hot summer day and we all enjoyed very much in this Skokie water park. We will definitely come back again soon.


We used the ViviCam 6200w camera which takes great underwater pictures at a very reasonable price.

New trick, take a look!

At Mom's new office

New Opening!!! Mom finally found her small office near home so she can concentrate on her job. She shares this office with her temporary office assistant - not me :).

Pay great respect to sixteenth President Lincoln

We visited the Lincoln Presidential Museum in downtown Springfield, IL.

At the gift shop

In a playground near Lake Springfield

Wildlife Prairie State Park on 8/1 and 8/2

We visited the Wildlife Prairie State Park near Peoria, IL which is about 4 hrs drive from Evanston. It was my first time to see so many bison and elks roaming on prairie like 200 years ago.