Welcome to the Nings

Happy Birthday Simon

2011-04-19T01:03:00.000-07:00

Today was Simon's Birthday. We're currently on vacation at the Ning Family timeshare at the Marriott Ko'Olina Beach Club in Oahu, Hawaii. He's been looking forward to this day for the last 3 weeks. He LOVES a good birthday party. He's been to a lot of birthday parties and he just couldn't wait until it was his very own.

Last night, we told him that today was finally his birthday. After telling him we were going to have a party for him, he said, "We can't have a party. There are no balloons, birthday cake, or party hats." Shortly after putting him to bed, Kelvin went to Target and Safeway to get balloons, ingredients for a birthday cake, and party hats.

After a cheese burger for dinner (his favorite), we came back to our room to show Simon the streamers, balloons, presents, cake, and party hats. He looked around, ran around giddy, and announced, "This is the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!"

Here are some of our favorite memories of Simon over the last 4 years.

Simon...you've been a great son. We have enjoyed our time so far being your parents. We love you so much. Enjoy your best birthday ever!!!

Love Mom and Dad

The Ning Housing Update

2011-04-18T00:39:00.000-07:00

So, for all that have been wondering, we are a bit homeless. We are taking this all in stride. Here's what's happened in short:

- Feb 7: First Home offer Rejected (Both Kelvin & Susie saw the home)

- Feb 12: Palo Alto house is empty; Ning's headed to So. Cal to visit family

- Feb 19: Moved our single car load of stuff to Susie's Parent's place in Phoenix

- Mar 9: Second home offer Rejected (Only Susie saw the home)

- Apr 13: Third home offer Rejected (Only Kelvin saw the home)

On 2 of the 3 offers made, we were tied with the winning offer...we just don't have 20% down.

We are saving money, and enjoying our time visiting family in Phoenix. The kids have finally settled into their environment, but every once in awhile, Simon will ask, "Can we go to Simon's house?"

Kelvin still commutes to Palo Alto during the week and thanks to the generosity of great friends, he is able to make lay his head down in a home rather than in a rented room. Susie enjoys time with her family; she has been doing so many craft projects. We'll have to put them all out on display soon to show just how much she has produced.

We thank you all for our prayers. We are at any given day, at least 45 days away from moving back to the peninsula. Susie has to deal with Kelvin gone 4 days out of 7, and Kelvin has to deal with only sleeping at most 4 days in a row in the same bed. We know that the Lord is watching over us...we wouldn't have decided to take this route on our own. The Lord definitely wants us to move on and get onto other things and this was the way he had in mind.

Current search areas:

- Southern portion of Willow Glen, San Jose (better schools)

- Rose Garden, San Jose (Gorgeous neighborhood)

- Cambrian / Cambrian Park, San Jose (bigger lots, better schools)

- Campbell (better schools)

We'll see how many offers it takes before we actually land something. We'll keep you all updated.

Where do we go?

2011-01-30T10:06:00.000-08:00

So, with the winds and rains of December, we started finding wet spots in the carpet in the boys' room. After pulling away the carpet we discovered a bit of mold in there.

Beyond our wildest dreams, the LandLord decided to evict us in order to fix the problem. So now we have found ourselves wondering the age-old question: Rent vs. Buy!!
Renting in Palo Alto is either paying $3000/mo for a comparable home, or stepping down to an apartment and paying nearly the same that we're paying now. We've toyed with leaving the area and have recently considered an area in San Jose called Willow Glen.

It's a cute little tree-lined street area and with the recent burst of the housing bubble, housing has actually started to get affordable. Schools you ask? Well, downtown isn't so great. Apparently most of the kids there get farmed out to private schools. But the peripheral (especially southern) parts of Willow Glen actually have great schools. What's the age and gender profile of the area? I found this online. (I know, very nerdy).

Apparently most of the residents are our age, and there are young kids. We encourage our friends to join us in the search for housing in San Jose. It's sad to leave Palo Alto, cool to try to find a house, even cooler if our friends could join us. :)

Unfortunately, in the meantime, we still have to get out of our home...so Kelvin's going to be a road-warrior and visit the wife and kids in Phoenix while looking for suitable housing in San Jose. If you spot a Ning in Phoenix or in the Bay Area...take the time to say "Hi" before they move again...

Wish us luck...

What's better than a juicy turkey for Thanksgiving?

2010-12-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

BACON!!!
It didn't really matter that Cary came home from Quantico for Thanksgiving...we had Bacon on our turkey...basted with honey.
Yummy....
Let us know if you want the recipe.

Happy Birthday Miles

2010-12-04T08:48:00.001-08:00

This year, Miles turned 2 years old. We still can't believe at times that we have 3 boys so young. Simon really loves blowing out candles, so we had to keep him out of the way or else he would (again) blow out someone else' Birthday Candles. Good thing Miles was only interested in the M&Ms on top.
All the kids loved the cake.

They had their own little table in the kitchen to enjoy their food.

Here are some pictures over the years of Miles. We thought he looked more like Simon...but over time he developed into his own little man.

We love you Miles. Happy Birthday and may you continue to bring us joy.

Happy Anniversary

2010-11-09T22:07:00.000-08:00

On October 30, 2010, Kelvin and Susie celebrated their 6th year of marriage. We've gone through 2 wards, delivered 3 beautiful boys, and endured 4 companies, 4 years of schoolings, 2 homes, 2 TV upgrades, 3 international vacations, and we're still madly in love.

Annual Pumpkin Patch Trip

2010-11-09T22:03:00.001-08:00

It was time for the Ning Family annual trip to Farmer John's pumpkin patch in Half-Moon Bay. I think Miles was really able to enjoy it. We chose to go on "Bernese Mountain Dog" day but after meals and naps we only saw 1 dog there. Apparently there were over 100 that showed up throughout the day.

Darth Vader

2010-11-09T21:58:00.000-08:00

No introduction necessary....

2010-11-09T21:44:00.000-08:00

Titus is following the steps of his brothers by getting big...quickly... He's no longer our little infant. He's got just enough hair to do a faux-hawk.

We all definitely our little guy in the house. He fits right in with the other two and soon will join them in their games.

Simon and Miles

2010-11-09T21:32:00.000-08:00

Simon's got a fan club. He has a couple of little girls that think he's the coolest thing ever (besides his cousin Grace). Haley Hatch has got a "HUGE" crush on this boy. She gets the giggles whenever he's around and both of the parents think it's hilarious to see them interact. We told Simon to give Haley a hug and she was just ecstatic.

Simon and Miles are starting to really enjoy each other's company. They're both still very different people but they've learned how to play and have a lot of fun.

Miles does the craziest stuff some times when we go in and check on him. Apparently he went and read books and played Tennis after we put him to bed.

Kelvin went and represented the family at a masquerade party. It was supposed to be a fancy party but he ended up looking like the crazy butler.

Not sure how this video will look, but here Kelvin not only looks like a giant inside of this small trampoline, but he's got the boys bouncing around unable to stand on their feet.

Summer Wrap up.

2010-10-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

So, the following people have made personal requests for updates:
- Karisa Winkel
- Lindy Burgon
- Lillian Ning
- Lanie Wilkinson
- Tannya McFarland

This next hour of writing and editing is dedicated to all-y'all...I do have to say, that comments on our posts really do help encourage us to keep writing. :)

Here's the Ning Summer wrap-up:

SUSIE'S BREAK WITH TITUS AT LAKE POWELL
The Daniel's were upset again that Kelvin couldn't make it to Lake Powell. With a change in jobs (again) he couldn't pull away. :(

Titus enjoyed time with mommy and all the attention from grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

THE BOYS AT HOME
I think Susie and Kelvin can both admit that Simon's the easiest to take care of out of the 3. Miles however has been really getting his personality in. He's always been slightly allergic to chocolate, but it's been hot and hard to deny him the occasional chocolate ice cream cone.

It doesn't matter who it is, Miles has had the innate desire to just sit on top of them...especially when watching TV.

Grammy came out to help for a couple of days with the baby. It was great to have her here.

Miles can't keep his hands off of Titus. None of us are sure what this means in terms of his relationship with Simon. Simon will come by and give an occasional kiss to Titus, but Miles seriously gets excited when he sees Titus; to the point where he'll roll on top of him and wake him up.

Danny and Liz were some of the first to come by and visit us at the home. I think Danny looks like an old pro with Titus.
Not only will Miles not leave Titus alone...but he and Simon can't keep their hands off of Titus' toys.
As Kelvin was leaving one job and going to another...the Ning family took a week off to drive south, visit family, and relax.

The first stop was in Monterey, then a quick drive down to Pismo Beach. Simon absolutely loved the water. Kelvin had to chase him down just to make sure he didn't go too far in.

Miles liked it...sort-of...but after awhile I think he just started to get cold.

We did a quick visit to see Nate and Cari Owen (Susie's Sister). Sadly enough, the only kids there was Mile's twin cousin Annie. They had tons of fun hanging out and playing together.

Kelvin decided to wait awhile for Grace to come home...he fell asleep on her bed. :)

Next...it was off to Grandma and Grandpa Ning.

Grandma was especially excited about taking the boys for the first time to Disneyland. This is Miles' first ride ever. He enjoyed it...just a little.

We weren't sure what to do about all of the Disney characters. It was end of summer and the place was packed!!! We stuck to the rides...and Simon learned the true meaning of "waiting in line..."

Simon couldn't get pulled away from the rides.

It got hot...and we had to get the boys some Slurpee.

We really wore out Grandma and Grandpa.

Titus Samuel Ning

2010-06-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally decided to name the boy:

Titus Samuel Ning...

We love you Titus, and can't wait to see if your hair goes blond in a couple of weeks.

Introducing, the latest edition to the Ning Family!!!

2010-06-08T01:11:00.003-07:00

Yup...that's right...another baby. With Simon being 3 years 2 months, all of the boys are exactly 19 months apart from each other.

This morning it was a bit surreal, waking up, tending the boys, having a huge breakfast, putting them down for naps, then going to the hospital to deliver.

Here I am with our OB Dr. O'Callahan. I was waiting outside the doors while Susie was getting prepped for surgery.

Kelvin gave Susie a blessing prior to the procedure to make sure everything would go well. And, as expected, everything did. We haven't named him yet (taking suggestions) but he came out 8lbs 3oz and 20 inches long. Here I caught him with his feet still inside. He looks like he dove out.

Here he is getting washed up. He has a bit of a soft cry, but would not open his eyes for hours. He has Kelvin's nose, Susie's hands and toes, and for now, his hair is dark brown.

Here's the proud papa.

About 40 minutes after delivery, Susie is looking great!!! At the time, she couldn't feel her legs, but she was feeling good.

Having 3 boys, 3 years and 2 months apart will certain mean we'll need multiple fridges and cooking classes in the home may come early so that they can help in the feeding process. They may all be in High School together and for sure all of them will be in College together.

We are very proud of our children, and love them all so much. They are truly the great source of joy in our lives. Thanks for everyone who has helped us so far...more to post once we pick a name. :)

Uncle Taylor gets married...

2010-06-08T00:49:00.000-07:00

That's right, Taylor is officially off the market. As my single's ward Bishop said years ago to our Elder's Quorum, "Let's face it gentlemen, we're all a bunch of 5's looking for 10's." Tay found himself a 10.

Can you tell what the wedding colors were?

Simon enjoyed doing his favorite game of all with his cousins...

"Come and get me!!!!"

Aunt Denise made it to the wedding and also was able to see her grand-daughter Maggie.

At around 7pm, Miles decided he was done for the night. He couldn't use words, but the look he gave me was sufficient.

Susie's sister Annie made cupcakes for the event. They were delicious...especially all the frosting.

Congratulations Tay and Kelcie. It was a joyous event we are all so proud of you both.

Mormon Helping Hands

2010-06-08T00:44:00.000-07:00

So, apparently, on May 8th, all of California's LDS wards were involved in a service project beautifying State and Federal parks. For the Palo Alto 2nd Ward, we were in charge of selecting the project. We chose to remove invasive weeds from the Baylands.

Specifically, we were to remove all mustard plants, anise, and Italian thistle.

Simon enjoyed himself and the crew definitely loved playing while they worked.

Here's a group shot of all of us who participated in the event. With a lot of transient families going through the event, we probably had upwards of 45 people helping throughout the morning. It was a fun morning spent doing service with friends.

Simon turns 3

2010-06-08T00:19:00.000-07:00

For Simon's 3rd Birthday...we decided not to do a party. First of all, April was a busy month for the Nings, and secondly, he doesn't really care.

Instead, we took him to eat Dim Sum and put some candles on an egg custard which he loves to eat with a spoon. He does great blowing out candles.

We found ourselves in Phoenix for a wedding, and we took Simon to visit his Uncle Tay. Tay assured us that his room was kiddie proof and then he emerged with his wake-board. We didn't think he could do anything with it, but all by himself, he figured out how to do this...

Easter Games

2010-06-08T00:02:00.001-07:00

This year, we were fortunate enough again to be invited to the Annual Kokanovich Easter Egg Fight. How do you fight with Easter Eggs you ask? Well, here are some steps below:

Step 1: Boil and decorate some Easter Eggs. Here the lovely Julie Smith is showing off her paisley designed eggs she made using some old ties she found.

Step 2: Pick an opponent

Step 3: Attack your opponent's egg by hitting it once with yours

Step 4: Check to see which egg has been cracked. The person with the "whole" egg wins and moves on to another round. (see images below)

It was a fun event. Kelvin never makes it past the first round. He's tempted to do a Design-of-Experiment to see which factors makes the egg more indestructible.

During the party, Simon found a Pith hat. Seriously...it's a cool looking hat. Funny thing is that the pith hat was an adult's hat...and it seems to fit Simon's head quite nicely.

Several times during the activity, Miles was confused for this kid. I think there's a bit of a resemblance.

Miles spent most of the day going up and down these stairs.

Simon and Miles...

2010-06-07T23:51:00.001-07:00

Miles is really starting to show his personality a lot more. He's being more playful and a bit more of a ham for the camera.

Simon has ALWAYS been a bit of a clown...

This is a classic look from Miles...he gives us this same look every time he's about to do something we probably would not approve.

Here Simon is at Happy Hollow (San Jose) with some of his close friends Luke and John Carlston. He seriously loves roller-coasters. He couldn't wait for "Simon's Turn" to get on the ride. It's so great to be able to provide so much joy to your kids.

Here is a rare moment where both Simon and Miles enjoyed eachother's company in such tight quarters. Of course...splitting a Jamba Juice between the two of them didn't hurt.

Closing 2010 with the Boys...

2010-02-22T20:52:00.001-08:00

Reminiscent of the "Binky Mule" entry, I guess it's either a genetic trait, or something all kids do when they're teething. Here Miles is harboring an entire binky in his mouth. Lucky for us, when he turned 1 in November, his gift to us was no more binky. :)

Funny thing, this is actually Simon smiling for the camera.

After taking this picture, I think Rosa is now officially recognized as family.

We loved having 2 boys...and for those who didn't know, in early June we're going to have a 3rd boy!!!! We'll see if we can get a boy name picked out...those things are tough. Kelvin's horrible at coming up with names. Susie is threatening to name the boy all by herself.

Ward Halloween Party

2010-02-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

This year, Kelvin decided to push a last-minute Trunk-or-Treat Halloween activity. Apparently a lot of people showed-up for a Bring-your-own Dinner event as long as their kids could wear costumes and get candy from the parking lot. Susie spent a lot of time making Simon's costume...can you guess what he was?

That's right, he wouldn't wear it. I won't say what it is, just in case next year Miles decides to wear it. I'll give you a hint though, it went in theme with Miles' shark costume, and Kelvin and Susie's matching "Discovery Channel" t-shirts.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-02-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Of course, every year we go to Farmer John's pumpkin patch in Half-Moon Bay. Though in years past they used to allow us the chance to go out to the field and cut the pumpkins from the vine. I think from all the years of irresponsible visitors, they've stopped the tradition and now it's just like any other lot full of pumpkins.

We're not sure if Simon realizes this is his 3rd time at this particular pumpkin patch, but he definitely knew what to do with the wagon.

As in years past, Simon continued to just climb on top of the pumpkins.

Miles got into the season by pulling the wagon around.

Simon and James

2010-02-21T13:04:00.000-08:00

One of Simon's best friends in Palo Alto is James. Those 2 are about 5 months apart and they just chase each other around, wrestle, and do just about everything together if they could. Here they are at Seale Park under the playground. From this "Stand" they will sell anyone interested sand-ice-cream cones.

While Kelvin is at work, Susie will go to the beach during the summer with James and his family so the boys can play. It makes the day go by quickly and the kids absolutely love the sand.

Miles is becoming one of those kids who just eats sand. I never knew what happened to the sand once he eats it, but now I do.

Farewell to the Orange Truck

2010-02-21T12:57:00.000-08:00

At the end of the summer, we were sad to say good-bye to the Orange Truck. This used to be the signature icon of the Ning Family in the SF Bay Area. People used to see the truck from afar and say, "Look, there go the Nings!!!"

With 3 cars in the family, it was time to get rid of 1. Though we tried posting it for weeks in the Bay Area on craigslist.org, we decided to take it to CarMax where they gave us a fair price for it. Of course we took it to the dealership in Phoenix, and Susie was able to take the boys on a road-trip to visit family. First Stop was the Owen's in Santa Barbara.

Simon loves playing with Grace. When he saw this picture (months later) he still said her name because he remembers how much fun she is.

Miles was able to spend some time with his twin-cousin Annie Owen (both born on the same day). Can you tell which one has a red-head for a mother? Oh wait...they both do.

It was a hot day in Phoenix when Simon went to visit his Great-grandmother "842". He was glad to have his sun-hat and eat Ritz crackers.

Lake Powell

2010-02-21T12:48:00.000-08:00

In August, we did the annual Robinson Family trip to Lake Powell. The boat wasn't as nice as Uncle Gordon's last year, but Kelvin still was able to get a better trip than in years past. The Daniels from Utah were able to make it again and to make matters worse, instead of 1 water weenie, there were now 2.

We did do a little wake-boarding, but by far, the most fun was jumping across and pulling people off the inner-tubes.

I don't know who had the bright idea of dedicating 1 of the 2 water-weenie's as a "Kid-Safe" ride. We had all of the kids on a single tube and of course they all fell off and most of them screamed for a little bit...Ben however decided he was "underwater for like 10 minutes" and wanted everyone to know about it.

Fun had by all.

Hawaii with the McFarlane's

2009-07-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, we went to Hawaii. We own a timeshare out in Ko'Olina on the island of Oahu. It's located about half-hour west of Honolulu. It's an ideal location because it's not near anything touristical, but if you need anything it's only a quick drive away.

Here are all the kids (except Miles) that went on this trip. Yes, that's Lena Latour. She's a great friend and her parents agreed to have her come along with us on the trip. So, if you count it up, that's 6 from the McFarlane's, 4 from the Nings, and Lena makes 11 people in a 2 bedroom resort. Luckily, there was plenty of room and we spent most of the time at the pools.

I don't know who had the wise idea of sending Susie and Tannya to Target shopping together. They were gone for HOURS and when they came back, Crew and Simon had several matching outfits. As you can tell, Simon got tan, but crew pretty stayed white.

There were several pools at the resort...2 main pools which had various features. One pool had a beach walk-in and was only 10" deep which made it perfect for Simon and Crew to just crawl around. There were at least 6 hot tubs. If you ever felt crowded, you could just walk over and jump into another one. Another pool had a cave, waterfall, and a slide. This is Paige coming down the slide. The older kids really enjoyed this one.

Simon of course had arm floaties on. We brought a floating island for Miles to sit in. That way we all could enjoy time in the water.

Crew and Simon really enjoyed playing with eachother. Crew, being able to you know, speak...would ask where Simon and Miles were all the time. Here they were chasing waves out at 1 of 4 private man-made lagoons.

A 10 minute walk down the beach brought us to the Ihilani Hotel which had an exotic fish pool where we went and saw very color fish, hammer-head sharks, and sting rays.

There were all sorts of activities that you could do there. Everyone who could swim, went out on a catamaran ride one morning and saw dozens of dolphins, snorkeled and also saw giant sea turtles. Every morning you could also walk over to the Ihilani to feed the tropical fish which were trained to show-up there every morning for food.

Depending on his mood, Miles would some times just look at us all from the stroller while we enjoyed the water. He was a trooper.

Simon always wakes up at 6:30 PST. Being 3 hours earlier, we were worried that Simon would wake-up at 3:30am, so we kept him up really late the first night. He still woke up at 3:30 the first night, then 4:00, then 4:15, then 5:00, then 5:30, 5:30, 5:30, then we went home. He would routinely head out to the living room where Lena was sleeping and climb all over her.

After the first couple of nights, she requested that we not have him head out there until at least 7pm. We caught her several times pushing a nap in the afternoons.

We all had a wonderful time. We were able to go out in the evenings and spent some quality time as adults in hot tubs, dining at Roy's, and watching Wolverine in the theatre. It had been a long time since we spent this much time with all of the McFarlane's. There were free/open BBQ pits outside the buildings which we probably should have taken more advantage of. But there was a CostCo, we went to see the LDS Temple in Laie', and went body surfing at Hukilau beach, at Shaved ice, shopped at the Swap Meet, walked the Alamoana Mall...and we never walked in Waikiki. Very fun and relaxing trip.

Chillin'

2009-06-12T13:06:00.001-07:00

Kelvin's parents came into town and helped out by watching both Simon and Miles. As usual, Miles got pretty messy after dinner. Instead of taking a bath, Miles decided to accept the chore and treat it like a hot-tub.

Susie also wanted to mention that if Miles keep up his figure, he'll need a "Bro."

We all love Miles. We'll try to post more of him and how big he's growing.

Timeout

2009-05-28T00:32:00.000-07:00

Simon got a couple of minutes in his room for this one.

Jackson Hole

2009-05-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

So, it's been awhile, but I'm now reporting on our family trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming. The flight was good practice for our trip to Hawaii. In retrospect, we probably packed too much just for the flight. We were separated also on both ways because apparently you can't have 2 lap children in the same row on the plane; something to do with the number of people vs. number of oxygen masks. Most of the passengers were really into the kids. There was one passenger who made it a point to get out of his seat, walk back, and tell us not to have Simon play with his toy that quacks like a duck until we touch down again. Once we touched down, several passengers encouraged Simon to commence maniacally playing with the quacking duck. :)

We loved watching the boys play with their cousins. Miles looked so happy...we were worried about him getting cold.

This was probably what Simon wore 85% of the entire trip. He was always about 5 minutes away from being ready to hit the snow.

Miles and his Cousin Annie Owen were both born on the same day. We call her his twin-cousin. Kelvin prefers the term "Twin-co".

Simon also spent some good time bonding with his Uncle Tay. He loved sitting on the chair with anyone who would watch Bolt.

The tickets to Jackson Hole were pretty cheap. Ski season was already at the tail end, and the snow was melting rapidly. This made the snow around the cabin a bit slushy but also perfect for sledding. Grace and Ben were sledding along the grounds of the cabin. Kelvin caught this video of the two just outside the dining room window. We all suspect that they wanted to maintain the element of surprise by not seeing where they were sledding. In the end, I think Ben got the bad end of this trip.

Simon is famous for putting "a lot" into his mouth. Whenever he can't hold all the food in his hands, he'll put some in his mouth, then grab the rest with his mouth. At a young age, he was able to put a whole binky in his mouth. This time, he stuffed an entire hard-boiled egg in his mouth. I don't even know if I can do it.

Here's a close-up of the event. He had to push the egg in front of his teeth in order to chew. We all would follow him around the house just to see the progress.

On one of the sled trips, we found this on Simon's forehead. It scabbed over nicely but we all were wondering how he got it.

Then we went through our film collection and thought to ourselves, "Maybe this was how he got it."

We all had such a great time with family. Simon loved walking around on the snow. He loves eating ice, so he often got out and would just start eating the snow. No matter how intense the sled ride, he would always get up and start walking back up the hill.

From this slide, you can hear Simon screaming with pure joy down the hill.

The car at the end of the sled ride was actually Susie's Mom. Don't worry, she saw Susie coming down the hills.

We loved the trip. Simon did such a good job on the plane. Miles was a dream. He was definitely loved by all at the cabin.

Simon turns 2

2009-05-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it's been 2 years since we received Simon. Last year we had a combined housewarming/birthday party...a bit more formal. This year we invited those who were in the area and that kids who played well with Simon...really trying to keep it small.

We focused on Simon's love for chocolate and fruit, and made him chocolate cookies with fresh whipped cream and fresh fruit.

It was a hot day, and thanks to Target, we were able to get a $7 "Slip-n-Slide" which he absolutely loved.

For everyone else, we made some of our famous BBQ Ribs, corn on the cob, and people brought some great salads. Simon really likes his corn...so he separated himself from all the attention to enjoy it himself.

We love that Simon...he continues to entertain us.

Shoes anyone?

2009-02-23T00:37:00.000-08:00

It is not a secret...Kelvin can shop with the best of them. He can shop Susie to the ground and still be looking for a great bargain. Over Christmas it was time to purge a couple of pairs of shoes. Shown below are 18 of the 21 pairs of shoes Kelvin currently owns. After pulling them all out, he had to decide on keeping just 15. The 6 pairs were sadly sent off to good-will.

The Boys again....

2009-02-23T00:32:00.001-08:00

As you can tell, Miles has been putting on the "LBS". We had a problem trying to get him to sleep during the months of December and January. Apparently, his throat had not quite fully developed, and so he "gasps" at night trying to breathe if he sleeps on his back. What worked the best was swaddling him up and either sitting him straight up on pillows (as shown below) or on his belly (I know...but weren't we all raised sleeping on our bellies?)

Simon still is pretty much oblivious to the new child. He doesn't mess with him, but he does find playing with our shoes and all of Miles' toys quite amusing.

Here he is wedging himself into the Bumbo...he seriously had to tip over to get himself out.

Cary and Simon

2009-02-23T00:27:00.000-08:00

In January, for Cary's birthday, the Ning-clan went to the San

The Bacon Weave

2009-02-23T00:16:00.000-08:00

So, credit needs to be established first. Kelvin first received a link to this concept from Charles Notley whom he used to hometeach in the Stanford Single's Ward back in 2001. The idea sounded like something we all could not pass-up during Christmas. The original link content is what could be described as, PG-13.

Because of the way the bacon was shaped, Kelvin ended up doing a 6x7 sized square of woven bacon.

Kelvin thought it would be tough the flip the assembly but it was fairly easy with a pair of chopsticks (those asians...so typical) The original link had this cooked in the oven.

The cheese melting and the smell was just to die for.

Rolling it was fairly easy. It was folded such that it could be as long as it could be.

As you can see in the close-up...all yummy goodness. They were quite good. Everyone had a little piece for breakfast.

Christmas 2008....Multiple Family Events

2009-02-22T23:43:00.001-08:00

Despite everything going on, we couldn't pass on getting a Christmas Tree. We finally chose a spot in our dining room. The stars added a nice touch. We enjoyed it for the 2 weeks we were home in December.Simon's feet are, well, HUGE. Many times, when he has his shoes on, he runs and isn't use to them being so big, so he trips and falls forward like sliding into homeplate. This time it happened on the sidewalk in front of our house, and we traveled around with a nice scrape on his nose.

Christmas Eve and morning was spent with the Nings. Everyone had Christmas PJ's.

While in Phoenix, we had a couple of special opportunities:
- Christmas with family
- Witness the sealing of Nate and Cari Owen
- Witness the sealing of Baby Annie to the Owen's
- The blessing of Baby Annie.

The sealings and the blessing took place on the same day at the Mesa Temple. The sealing was in the afternoon and we had the best seats in the house. From our vantage point we could see across the altar while baby Annie was held in place by her Grandma Robinson.

Immediately outside, we had everyone gathered for the blessing of Annie. Here we had the Great-Grandmothers.

I don't even know how to caption Sam's expression.

Susie wearing Kelvin's coat standing with her brother Tay (he's currently not dating anyone, that we know of)

We would have thrown some pictures of Grace, but she was shy. Ben however, was just all smiles for the camera.

The boys getting bigger...

2009-02-22T23:35:00.000-08:00

So, we are getting used to having 2 boys in the house. Simon still enjoys his bath.

Miles is definitely getting bigger...all attributed to the "straight cream" mommy's providing.

Simon finds his Nose

2008-12-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

For nearly 2 months now, Kelvin and Susie have been asking Simon, "Where's your nose?" to no avail of getting a correct response. Usually he just gets frustrated and hides his face. Today though, he finally started pointing the right direction.

What part of his face should we have him point to next?

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

This year was Kelvin's turn to do Thanksgiving. Susie is usually the head-chef with Thanksgiving, but with the recent delivery of Miles, she took the role as "Back-Seat" Chef.

Cary had a couple of buddies who needed a place to celebrate Thanksgiving. Kelvin made enough food for leftovers for a week.

Kelvin always makes the pies. This year he even made a great flaky crust for all of the pies. We made a couple too many considering the group in attendance.

Adjusting to having #2

2008-12-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

Miles has been a blessing to our lives. We've enjoyed his mild demeanor and how much he just sleeps. He eats every 2.5 to 3 hours, but he doesn't cry super hard about it. He cries the hardest while his diaper is being changed. Otherwise, it's mostly a cat-cry.

Here's what he does best for now...

As Susie gets some much needed rest, Kelvin is left taking care of Rosa, Simon and Miles.

How is Simon adjusting? He squirms and giggles when we bring Miles over to him. He doesn't feel any loss of attention...yet. Simon is completely weened off of the binky, but then we found him doing this with the rice pot lid. Simon does pick-up Miles' binky now and then, but he mostly only plays with the handle.

Rosa also is enjoying all of the old equipment that we've pulled out of storage. Rosa enjoys sleeping in Miles' day-bed. If we want her off of it, we end up placing large objects in there to deter her entry.

Introducing: Miles Robinson Ning

2008-11-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

Well, Kelvin finally caved in and decided to do the name talk. The talk was brief as we all loved the name Miles Robinson Ning. We all felt that the name matched so well with Simon. Thanks to Paula for the suggestion. Robinson, of course is Susie's maiden name. We've toyed with alternatively calling him "sonny"

Kelvin's parents came into town to see Miles in the hospital. They have been such a great help as they just adore Simon and take him back to their hotel every morning at 7:30 for breakfast. This gives Kelvin and Susie some time to relax since Simon is such a handful. :)

We adore both of our sons...it's so amazing how much, and yet how little has changed to our routine. Simon is concerned about Miles whenever he's crying...he'll grab the closest parents and take them to him. Simon at times will be caught staring at him.

And now we are Four

2008-11-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for the short version of the story, then here are the details, and enjoy the pictures:

Date of Birth:
- November 20, 2008 at 12:35pm
- 6 lbs 11 oz
- 18.5 inches

For a more elaborate story...you can continue to read...otherwise, just call if you're looking to visit. We should be here until Sunday.

Susie and the new baby have battled pre-term labor for several weeks. The first 2 times they gave her a shot of terbutylene to calm the muscle contraction. The third time they figured something stronger, like Morphine. The 4th time it was Vicadin. Our doctor said that the next time they would throw in the towel and deliver the baby.

Thursday morning (Nov 20th) Susie had contractions for 2 hours that morning, but again, upon getting strapped into the hospital bed, all the contractions stopped. The doctor again was hesitant to continue because the contractions had stopped. The delivery was already scheduled to be on the following Monday. We felt like we wanted to move forward, but didn't want to be so shaky on the decision. We prayed together and asked for a polarizing event; something that would definitively tell us "wait" or "deliver." After a couple of minutes of no additional contractions, the doctor came in to check on Susie and she pointed out that her previous C-section scar was in a lot of pain. The doctor said that was the magic symptom; for fear of tearing thru the old incision, we should deliver the baby. It was the perfect answer to prayer.

This is the beautiful Susie shortly after birth. Her lower half was still not moving...but seriously, she looks amazing.

Here is the new addition with the proud parents. Seriously everything went so smoothly.

We are not joking when we say...the baby looks just like a mini-Simon. He's 2 weeks early, so a little bit lighter, but can you not see the resemblance?

Our first visitor was also Simon's babysitter for the last couple of days. Cary's had a crash course in tending to a toddler. He was relieved when Kelvin came in to help put Simon down to sleep.

We are all super-excited to have him finally in our family. He is such a sweet child. We were caught a little bit off-guard so we're struggling thru our list to get a name for him before we leave. Susie has been blessed with a speedy recovery and we all look forward for a very appropriate Thanksgiving next week. We appreciate all the prayers and support and look forward for visits.

Happy Birthday Kelvin!!

2008-11-21T15:59:00.000-08:00

The 18th was Kelvin's official birthday. Susie did a great job of trying to down-play anything big. The plan was to have Lindy come by the house after work and watch Simon at 4:30 so Kelvin and Susie could go and watch the New James Bond Movie (Quantum of Solace) which was actually really good. After the movie the plan was to bring back some take-out and enjoy some games with the Burgons.

I came back and apparently there was a big group of close friends for a surprise party. Susie made Kelvin's favorite banana cream pie at Paula's house the day before. Susie genuinely surprised Kelvin...kudos to her!!!

Amazingly, this bowling pin made its presence again at the Ning House. This is the birthday bowling pin from Pacific's Sea Bowl. It originally belonged to Jared and Kelly Salter while they were in San Francisco. Kelvin won it from them in a bowl-off. It later went to Jared Peterson for his birthday, then to Kelvin again, then Geoff Benton (from whom the Nings suspect gave it back)
Thanks so much for the love expressed by all the friends. Facebook really kept most people up to date on Kelvin's birthday. Thanks again also to all those who were able to make it mid-week to drive down from San Francisco. The evening was definitely memorable.

Getting ready for the new baby

2008-11-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

Susie has always been one to see when things need to get started, in preparation for upcoming transitions. She received a helpful push over the phone from Tannya to start pulling out all of the clothes we have in storage for Baby #2.

This included bringing in boxes and boxes of clothes, burp clothes, diapers, and equipment. Simon thought we just brought in a bunch of new toys. He decided to help by pulling out all of his old baby socks, and sitting in the basket.

Gas in Palo Alto < $3 (just barely...)

2008-11-03T09:33:00.001-08:00

Technically, $2.99 9/10 is still below $3, but this is the lowest it has been in a long time. As it got lower and lower, I kept holding out until it did get below $3.

I had not paid below $30 for a tank in a long time. We hope that airline tickets start to reflect this change soon.

Proposition 8

2008-11-03T09:28:00.001-08:00

The State of California has Proposition 8 on the ballot. This measure simply says that the "Definition of Marriage shall be between a Man and a Woman." We believe that this is an important measure to pass in order to protect traditional families for us today, and for our children.

To show our support, we had a lawn sign put-up.

It was slightly obviously that a lot of the kids (with their parents) did not stop by our place for candy because of the sign. We have a lot of candy left-over if someone wants to come by and get some. The next morning, we noticed that somebody came by and trashed the sign.

Fortunately, I had 2 other signs in my trunk for just this occasion. :)

Halloween Turtle

2008-11-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

This year, we have a lot more shots of Simon in his Halloween Costume. At the annual Trunk-or-Treat, we actually saw another little kid dressed in the same costume from BabyStyle. This year, he was a little Turtle. He kept the hat on for a little bit, but then, it had to come off.

Since the event was next door, Uncle Cary came by to enjoy him in his outfit. Simon eventually learned to love lollipops and also 3-Musketeers.

2008 Baby Gap Casting Call

2008-11-03T09:03:00.001-08:00

Well, once again, we decided to try Simon's chances at the 2008 Baby Gap Casting Call. Last year we tried, but we he really couldn't sit-up that well. Obviously, we think he's the cutest thing ever.

The rules state that the pictures submitted had to have been taken within the last 3 months. The only good pictures we had were from the pumpkin patch, so most of them were from there. These were the pictures we submitted.

This last shot, Robert Bradshaw took while at our house. He took more photos which are on the link.

I guess what's next is we'll find out in early December if the official judges put Simon in the final round. From there, it's a public voting frenzy to see who wins. If he's up, you better believe we're advertising with links for all to vote (appropriately).

Simon, Wagon and Pumpkins

2008-11-03T08:56:00.001-08:00

Well, once again, we went to our favorite pumpkin patch in all of the Bay Area: Farmer John's Pumpkin Patch. They're in Half Moon Bay and they not along HW92 where all the crowds are. They do NOT have pony rides...but what's great about them is that they actually GROW their own pumpkins. Most of the other places actually pick their pumpkins somewhere else, and truck them in. This patch lets you have a wagon and cart out into their fields and pick pumpkins off the vine.

Simon loved the wagon. He also loved finding us after romping around on his own for awhile.

Last year, Simon couldn't walk, so we dragged him around in the wagon the entire time. This year, he either wanted to be pulling the wagon...

..or pushing the wagon. Either way, he had control.

We had a fun time. We met Geoff, Emily and Annie Benton. Becca Peterson came also with her sister who was in town. It was good to see the folks from SF again.

Robyn Kessler Photos

2008-09-23T09:08:00.001-07:00

I just thought I'd share a link to some pictures that Robyn Kessler took for us. She's a great friend of ours from the SF Sunset Ward who has her own photography business.

She took these photos 5 mo ago at our home in SF before we moved to Palo Alto. What I'm amazed at is how much Simon has grown, and how much we've forgotten about how he looked with just those 2 bottom teeth.

Thanks Robyn...the pictures look great.

Here's the Link

The Emperor's new bed

2008-09-05T18:44:00.001-07:00

So, in anticipation of Simon getting ready for a "Big Boy" bed, Susie and Kelvin have decided to train him early in getting in and out of his own bed and sleeping without a rail. We converted his crib to a toddler bed, and hopefully he'll be ready for the Big Boy transition before the new baby needs to be in the crib.

So far, he averages 1-2 fall-outs a week. It's pretty funny...but we shouldn't be laughing about that.

Simon Discovers Tools

2008-09-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

Simon recently started to be able to use a fork and spoon. Still a bit messy, and sometimes he resorts to just using his hand.

Lake Powell, San Juan Capistrano & Yosemite

2008-08-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

LAKE POWELL
So this year, Susie was able to go to lake Powell with her family. Kelvin stayed home with Simon but Simon had his Grandma Ning come to help out. The boat was Sam's Cousin's time-share (Gordon). The boat was immaculate; probably the nicest house boat the Robinson-Daniels clan ever stayed in. Susie was able to spend a lot of time doing what she loves most...read.

Every day, the meals were assigned out for both preparation and clean-up. Once your day was done, you could enjoy the week without pressure. Here are Sam and Susan at the upper-deck kitchen preparing a meal.

The houseboat had a couple of jet-skiis on the back. There were 2 speedboats, an inflatable trampoline, and of course, water wienies.

Everyone had their time behind the boat. Wake-boarding, and Wake-surfing. Of course, since Susie is pregnant, this is what she spent her time doing on the boat.

Did I mention this was the nicest house-boat they've stayed on? It's better than the Ning House in Palo Alto.

Here's the entire clan that went climbing in a slot canyon.

It was a super-fun trip. A great relaxing trip for the adults as well since there were no kids allowed. The lake level was at the highest it's been in several years. Evenings were spent playing games, watching movies, and laughter.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
The Robinsons had no rest as they had back-to-back vacations scheduled. Susie flew into Orange County to meet her husband and child which she dearly missed. Kelvin drove down with his Mom, Lillian and Simon and stayed a couple of days in Pasadena. There he helped assemble a tricycle which he loved. He would do laps in the living while Lillian pushed.

Kelvin and Simon left Pasadena and went to meet Susie and her family in San Juan Capistrano. This was the longest Susie had been away from Simon. She missed him so much. Kelvin was really glad to see Susie too.
The beach house was located on a private road just off the Pacific Highway. The backyard opened up to sand and all of the cousins could play with the pile of sand toys. Storms over the last year brought in a lot of rocks along the shore, but the kids still managed to make it down to play in the water.

Simon loved playing in the white water as it washed up to tickle his feet. Mommy or Daddy would lift him up so that the water would only go up to his knees.

Davis' favorite game is either you chasing him, or him hiding and then jumping out saying "Boo!!" Kelvin caught him with his camera while he was eating; Once Davis saw the camera, he began to shift into stealth mode.
Grace lost her tooth while she was at the beach. She was so excited because it was her first. The tooth-fairy made a special trip from Arizona to give her a special treat. I think she was more excited that the tooth was replaced with something else, rather than what the tooth was replaced with.

Tay celebrated a birthday while the family was out there. We all went out to dinner and came back to a party for him which mostly consisted of cans of silly string. Tay celebrated his birthday by having all his nieces and nephews shoot Brit with the silly string.

YOSEMITE
After having a couple of days to restock the fridge, do some laundry, and sleep in their own bed, the Nings were off again. This time we went to a place where Susie had never gone before: Yosemite. Part of the draw for Susie was not just the great company (Burgons and the Johnsons), but the fact that she could see Yosemite without actually back-packing or camping. We stayed at a cabin about 30 minutes outside of the entrance to Yosemite Valley. The cabin shared its backyard with a golf course.

Simon woke up early, every morning. One morning, we took him out to the golf course...but he had only 1 thing in mind...

...chase the deer that were grazing on the golf course.

The deer had other plans in mind...

We did eventually drive into the valley. Kelvin had made some critical packing errors, so the day was mostly filled with lunch, walking around the valley, and carrying a tired Simon back to the car. We were able to get some great views of Half-Dome.

Don't let this picture fool you though...with all the stuff to see on the ground, Simon didn't really like being slung to his daddy's back all afternoon. He submitted a lot of formal complaints before turning back to the car.

August was filled with a lot of family and friends. We can not think of a better combination of pure joy than to take family with us to enjoy nature's wonders. We are so grateful for the support our family gives us, especially at this time while the family is expanding.

Yellow or White?

2008-08-05T23:29:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Geneology - Blank family tree

Introducing...our newest Brother-in-Law

2008-07-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

While we were on Vacation with our family. we began to learn more about our newest Brother-in-Law, Nate Owen. Apparently he is featured on the website www.provolengends.com with this picture.

So what do you guys think?

Welcome to the family Nate!!

UPDATE:
For those who were fortunate enough to see this site while the photo was still posted...you were the unlucky ones. For those still interested in seeing it, I can send you a "Censored" version...or you can try your luck finding the original posting on the World Wide Web.

Simon will have a little...

2008-07-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

Brother!!! That's right...we're having another boy. We are so excited. I'll admit, we were both shocked at first; this second pregnancy has been so different from Simon that we all had just assumed it was going to be a girl. (Carrying high vs. low, feeling a lot sicker, craving different foods, etc.)

Daddy is so excited that he doesn't have to buy all new clothes. Mommy is still insisting on redecorating the baby room and getting some new clothes. We were all ready with a name for a girl, but now we're back to square one.

Caution! Some imagination required for this last picture.

Rinconada Pool

2008-06-26T20:40:00.001-07:00

The city of Palo Alto has a lot of parks. The Palo Alto 2nd Ward organized a group of families to go to Rinconada Park where they have a kiddie pool. Most of the pool maxes out at 18 inches deep. One section is like a beach; little kids can walk out and gradually get deeper into the pool.

Simon and his Mom had so much fun at the water park. Kelvin was able to stop by for a bit during lunch to play too (He just rolled up his jeans and walked into the water). Simon couldn't contain himself.

We were all amazed that eventually Simon walked up chest deep. If he fell over in the shallow end, he would try to stand-up by leaning forward and pushing his hands on the floor. This of course meant that he would start to drown himself. It was really funny to watch...of course we didn't let him drown.

After a big lunch and a 2.5 hour nap, we went to the Farmer's Market in Los Altos where we had some rotisserie chicken, roasted potatoes, and topped it off with a Nutella and Bananna Crepe. Simon had a full day...so we finished him off with some milk and a movie. Mom and Dad were tired of watching Shrek 2, so we forced him to watch Monster's Inc.

First Hair-Cut

2008-06-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

We decided enough was enough...time to cut Simon's hair. The last straw was probably how much food would get stuck in his hair when he was done eating. Below is one of the last shots of his original baby hair.

We had debated about taking him to some place...but Kelvin insisted he could cut it. In the bathroom sink he went. He fussed a bit but eventually we got it cut. He probably lost more hair than has remaining.

After dinner, Simon went to watch his favorite movie, Shrek 2. We watch it from beginning to end maybe twice a day. He can just sit there and watch it over and over again. He likes Shrek 1, but he absolutely loves Shrek 2. He gets all gitty when he sees the blue screen on the TV which says "DVD Loading."

Tide Pools

2008-06-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

David and Michelle Parker invited us back up to join them at the Tide Pools at Moss Beach. We had been there before (Kelvin proposed to Susie there). We also went on a trip there when Jane Dukes offered to be the group docent. We met the Parkers and Mark and Paul Kokonovich's family to enjoy the morning.

Paula took a lot of great pictures of us on her new Nikon camera (Thanks Mark).
Simon had a great time looking at all of the marine life. We carried him thru the reefs because it was so slippery. Simon had a bit of trouble negotiating the sloping sand shore.

Afterwards we found mexican restaurant in Half-Moon Bay that was pretty good. We got there before the motorcyle street gang arrived.

Head first

2008-06-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

Simon loves the park right around the corner. He'll go all by himself and just walk up and then down the slide.

I wish I could take credit for teaching him this, but it was really Susie who just let him do it all by himself.

Google-famous

2008-05-27T21:45:00.001-07:00

Every once in awhile...I would go to Google and type in my name to see how many of the hits were actually me. Right out of school, there would be a hit every once in awhile, but today I checked and...

Kelvin Ning = 14 out of 20
Susanna Ning = 4 out of 10

The link for Susie that was awesome was her publication in 2007 was featured in a blog.

And the plot thickens....muahahaha

Palo Alto Foothill Park

2008-05-06T22:06:00.001-07:00

So, Palo Alto has a private park only available to its residents. Foothill Park has a gorgeous, huge open field at the bottom that you can apparently reserve for camping as well. This last weekend, the weather was great so we drove out there to have a picnic.

Simon enjoyed his turkey cold-cuts while trying to stab his hand into all of the other packages of food out on the blanket.

Simon started to walk around on the uneven surface and really started to get the hang of it. Once he started to get comfortable...

We decided to play a game of Football

20 Months Apart

2008-04-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the proof:

We are technically 8 weeks and 3 days into Baby #2. This means the baby should be due some time around the beginning of December (Crew's birthday is 12/1). Susie is terrified of a VBAC so we'll probably pick a day in week 38/39 that will be convenient.

By the calendar, Simon would be 2007, and the new baby would be 2008...but they're on opposite ends of the Calendar. Cary and Kelvin were only 10 months apart (both born in 1975)...that would have been insane. (Kudos to Grandma/pa Ning)

We had a big pool at my office trying to figure out gender and hair-color which I'll eventually start-up again soon. But here are some of my thoughts regarding Pros and Cons for gender. Feel free to add comments for additions or criticisms.

Baby Boy:
- It'd be great for Simon to have a brother to romp around with
- We wouldn't have to buy any clothes for a long time
- Males are considered lucky in Chinese Culture
- We wouldn't have to save for college AND for the wedding
- Less drama overall

Baby Girl:
- Susie would lose her fear of having all boys
- Grandma Ning would be completely ecstatic (she still would be fine with a boy...)
- She would need all new clothes
- Who are we kidding...we'd have to fend off all the boys when she turns 14
- Simon would be able to look out for her

Behold...he walks

2008-04-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

So, it's been quite awhile now that we've known that Simon could walk. He's done 1, maybe 2 steps between furniture, but he always looks for someone to offer his right hand a finger before he really starts to walk anywhere far.

This was kind of annoying for awhile since you ALWAYS had to be there for him to find a finger just in case he needed to move...if you weren't there, he wouldn't be happy.

Of course, on Saturday, he really decided to take off on his own. He's very secure and is walking quite well as you can see in the video.

Simon turns 1

2008-04-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Well, we've finally hit the 1 year mark. At his last check-up, here were his stats:

25.5 lbs (90th Percentile)
32 inches (95th Percentile)

We invited a small group of people, and family to come by and do a housewarming / Birthday party for Simon. The Ning grandparents gave Simon this nifty red wagon. It comes complete with a canopy, seatbelts, and backrests. Simon's here with his greatest new friend, James from the PA1 Ward. Seeing as I changed jobs (maybe I'll post about that later...) I had a couple of days off in between and Susie wanted to build Simon a sand-box. We downloaded plans from Lowes.com and off I went. Jared came by and offered a hand. Apparently, none of my other friends are all that great with a hammer. I felt sorry for the left-handed Jared as he used the rotary saw designed for right-handed people. Oh how the lefties suffer.

Susie made a really simple cake...or should I say assembled a really nice cake. She used the ever-so-hard to find Nabisco Chocolate wafers and layered whipped cream between and on top. She then covered it with M&M minis. Obviously, Simon has never seen a cake that he could eat, so when he saw the M&M's, he went TO TOWN on those little guys.

When he was out of M&M's, he finally got down to business with the cake.

As his proud parents, we could never have anticipated the joy this single baby has brought into our lives. We feel blessed that our Heavenly Father chose us to be Simon's parents. He is always so happy and easy to enjoy.

The Binky Mule

2008-04-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

If Binkies were ever illegal, Simon could make a great mule. Susie called me while I was at work saying that Simon had stuffed the entire binky into his mouth. I told her, "of course, that's what he always does." She said, "No, he stuffed the entire binky, including the retainer and ring."

Now there are pictures to prove it.

Paige McFarlane's Baptism

2008-04-06T09:44:00.001-07:00

This is the McFarlane Clan Right before we left for the church.
We took the opportunity to take a family picture as well. Yes, Simon is wearing his Easter outfit.

Yes, this was a San Francisco reunion. It was so good to have everyone gathered around like this. All the kids were running around and we were all able to pariticpate in the confirmation of Paige as a member of the church.

We want to make a special note and say how proud we are of Paige's decision to be baptized, and allowing us to come up and participate in this special occasion. For those that are unfamiliar with the LDS faith, here is a link regarding this ordinance.

Visiting the McFarlane's

2008-04-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, we took up a trip to see the McFarlane's. We took off on Thursday at 2pm and assumed that it would take 9 hrs to get to Eugene. We forgot that we were starting an hour south of San Francisco. We ended up arriving at around midnight. There was a note to have us just enter in the front door. We looked around and Rob came out of the restroom carrying his laptop surfing Ebay. (Sorry Rob, had to mention it)It was good to see the girls and Crew. We had a lot of fun making making funny faces and solidifying eternal friendships.

Simon and Crew were like best buddies. Rob and Kelvin did a lot of errands with the boys which was probably easier than taking the 3 girls and their cousin McKensey.

Yes, that's right...Rob is cooking.
Look for the purple bag, they're DARK. They taste so much better. We finished off several bags while we were there.

The only thing that would have made this weekend better, is if the Wilkinson's came down. Unfortunately they were deathly ill and we were all so sad. Apparently Abby and Emma cried for an hour saying, "But you promised that we could see them!!!" We all nearly cried for an hour also when we got the voicemail. We'll have to make other arrangements to see each other again.

Simon the Farmer

2008-04-06T09:28:00.001-07:00

I know, we haven't had any other pictures of our new place, just pretty much Simon playing in the dirt. He is slowly becoming a red-neck

Easter Hams

2008-03-26T22:07:00.001-07:00

Simon's first Easter, and Grandma Ning wanted to make sure he was dressed for it. Several weeks ago she asked for a couple of measurements, and whipped up this great looking linen suit. His Uncle Cary wanted to check out his new Spring duds so we brought him over for some pictures. The lighting was bad, but I couldn't resist showing how happy he was to get his pictures taken.
Easter morning, the Easter bunny left Simon a box with 5 plastic eggs, each with a single dark chocolate M&M. We taught him how to shake and open them to find the chocolate surprise. He had a couple other toys, but his latest trick is now making an echo sound in anything he can put his mouth into.

Palo Alto, 94303

2008-03-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

So, we did the move. Thanks to all the boxes and the painful process of downsizing, we have discouraged several people from wanting to move. Yes, we also successfully moved the project car out of the garage before the Benton's moved in. :)

Based on our address, the church group we would be attending is the Palo Alto 2nd Ward. Susie and I joke around and call Oregon Expressway the dividing line between the Billionaires, and the Millionaires. We've enjoyed it so far, and the church members have been so warm and inviting. we still dearly miss our friends in San Francisco.

Simon is enjoying the backyard (Yes, we have a backyard) and he is learning how to play in the dirt. His latest trick is the crab-walk. He is so close to walking. He can stand-up on his own, and prefers to hold to your finger with his right hand while you escort him wherever he wants to go.

As you can see, Simon has also learned to eat dirt.

We hope to enjoy this area as much as we did San Francisco. Things have changed since the last time I lived here; Susie found the Dairy Queen accidentally and now all is right with the world. Hopefully all will be in place in the next couple of weeks.

For those looking for a new address, let me know, and we'll send it out to you.

The Nings leave San Francisco

2008-02-24T21:03:00.000-08:00

Well, we did it! We found a place closer to Kelvin's work (15 min door-to-door). We've moving back to Palo Alto on March 8th. For several months we've been looking for something that would allow Kelvin more time with Simon. He ends up leaving for work 15 minutes after Simon wakes up, and coming home 15 minutes before he sleeps.

We'll be paying more for a smaller rental house, but it has 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, and a big back yard. I'm trying to get my project car ('74 Triumph Spitfire/GT6 project) back on wheels so that I can at least tow it with me.

It has been a long struggle since we have so many great friends in San Francisco. The Sunset Ward has been the closest we've felt to a ward since growing up in our respective homes.

Even though we're really not that far away, we've decided to make a list of things we'll miss up here. For those who also left their hearts in San Francisco, please feel free to add to the list:
- Food (Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Thai Crab house, within walking distance)
- Friends
- Ferry Building, Farmer's Market
- Golden Gate Park (2 blocks away)
- Ocean Beach (7 blocks away)
- Shopping
- Telling people about the weird cold summers
- The Sunset Ward (Bishop Curtis et al.)
- Church Basketball on Tuesdays (Kelvin still may come up to play)
- Irving Street Food
- Union Square

30 seconds unattended

2008-02-24T20:56:00.001-08:00

Since we've "baby-proofed" the house, we've been letting Simon roam around the house and pretty much own the place. Since we're usually in the living room when this happens, the only things we watch out for are the computer cables, Rosa's litter box (which he stuck his hand into a couple of days ago).

Yesterday he crawled into the bathroom. He usually beats on the seat like a drum. He was quiet for 30 seconds and we found him pulling out all the tissue out of the box.

He does the same thing with the wipies...he just pulls them out one at a time.

The Dan Tyminski Band

2008-01-08T23:47:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to see the Dan Tyminski Band. They're a blue-grass band with a lot of talent. Kelvin was especially tired, but Susie absolutely loved it.

Probably the most entertaining was the dancing. The venue changed due to the weather to "The Independent" on Van Ness. Needless to say, there was a lot of people really loving the music. It reminded me of this video clip that I have...especially the "Whitey Hop"

Simon's First Christmas

2008-01-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

Well, here's Simon. We have a little chair that attaches to the table. Here he sits patiently (rarely) waiting for food to come. We took this chair with us as we traveled to Pasadena and Phoenix for Christmas this year.

Below is what we really ended up doing most of the time in Pasadena. Susie read a book. I watched a bunch of movies with my brother and he ended up surfing the web as much as he could.
Simon wants a piece of the action. Gnawing on things is his favorite. It's the best.

We discovered that Simon really likes the swing. There was a park around the corner and we stopped by as often as we could. Grandma Ning tried to "Shanghai" the boy out to the park before he had his lunch.
With driving and work schedules, we ended up doing Christmas at the Ning home on Christmas Eve. Simon, of course, had no idea what was going on. But he loved the toys and especially his bath ducks.

We then headed to Phoenix. We drove straight thru and it seemed quicker. Probably because there were a lot of mini-cities along the way. Susie started to get nostalgic and remember trips she would take with her family across the same highways.

Marco and Polo tried to take advantage of as much sun as they could. It was quite cold...and they tried to keep their bellies warm.

Simon pretty much knows when the camera's pointing at him. He either sits and smiles, or he charges. This time he charged. He has a little bit of rug-fuzz on his chin.

The Robinson Tree was large and incharge.

With every passing day, the angel on top of the tree would learn just a bit further forward.

Santa gave us a Dyson Hand vacuum for Christmas. Davis loves cleaning so here he is vacuuming up the fake snow from the floor.

I didn't think I was this bad

2007-12-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

61%

Wii Birthday and Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it was my birthday. And because Cary and I are so close in age, we are actually both the same age now for the next couple of months.

Susie bought the new Nintendo Wii for my birthday. I was told to act surprised. :) I do the finances and I saw the bill on the credit card about 3 weeks before the big day. Our solution to this is to have Becca buy it, and Susie just writes a check later.

As you can see, Simon liked playing with it too.

The Daniels came down from Utah for Cari and Nate's wedding...and to hang out with all of us during Thanksgiving.

For several days, Sam had the pool warmed up and everyone had their time in it. Here's Jordan mid-air doing a forward flip. Kind of looks like he's sitting in a chair.

This is Spencer doing a back-flip off the diving board. This shot looks like a frame from a Spider man movie dodging weapons.

Grace and Ben are here helping out with the dinner rolls. They helped Susan and Denise butter them before going into the pan.

Yes, you are correct, we had a deep fried turkey. We had a traditional turkey and breast as well. The deep fried turkey tasted good.

Nate actually started off the oil by making some tasty chicken wings as an appetizer. He actually fried the turkey neck as well. He said he and his dad would go around stealing necks to eat. He said it's like turkey-jerky.

Here's the thanksgiving lay-out. With the living room furniture moved out for the wedding, Susan decided to have thanksgiving served there too. Sam and I probably went thru 20 different configurations of tables before we settled on this one. We probably could have written a manual on how to maximize table space.

Of course, Turkey had its affect on everyone. I was a bit too noisy to catch Tay sleeping. Here's Drew sleeping with the pies in the background.

We made so many pies we were practically giving them away as door prizes.

Tay and nearly everyone else went to see the ASU vs. USC game. Here's Tay all ready to see the game better from his seat.

Susie and I stayed with Simon. We ended up staying up with Spencer and Jordan. We played a couple of rounds of Settlers of Catan. Susie won both times representing Team Ning.

We played again Friday night and Susie won again, making a 3 game winning streak.

It was really fun hanging out with all the family. Simon enjoyed seeing his cousins and being handled by everyone. He really was a champ. He did get a bit sick but we all had fun anyway.

Nate and Cari Owen

2007-11-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Well, congratulations to Nate and Cari. Their wedding was yesterday and it was a lot of fun. It was a purposely small crowd, although it's pretty tough to keep a small wedding party in a Mormon environment. As is the tradition amongst the Robinson weddings, the ceremony was held in the afternoon. This left us able to get nails, hair and make-up done with plenty of time in the morning.

This also left enough time for me to spend some time playing with Grace and Ben.
Here they are being silly in their wedding clothing in the trampoline. I watched them play and play and play.

Here's Simon sitting with Doug Owen, (Nate's father). Do you like his outfit? It's a pinstripe vest and pants with a body-suit button-up white shirt. He was stealing the show that night.

Here's Davis being a ham. He was watching an episode of Clifford, the big red dog for the 3-4th time since I got there.

With all the wedding stuff going on, unfortunately the Rails couldn't stay very long, and we didn't get much time to play with David and Noah. It was fun the time we did have.

Here's Susie with Grandma Robinson ("842"). In her usual fashion, she came, saw everyone, and then shortly after the ceremony, she quietly ducked out of the party.

Funny picture of Simon. You can clearly see his two teeth he's got. He still keeps us up at night because his new teeth hurt. He's eating up a storm and we don't know how to get enough calories in him so he can sleep again thru the night. We're not putting in some orajel on his gums at night to relieve the pain.

Here's Simon again showing off his smile. He loves the mirror, and he loves the camera. Really just a big flirt.

During the wedding, Nate and Cari walked out onto the back deck covered in rose petals. After the ceremony, Grace and all the other kids had a lot of fun grabbing the biggest pile they could make, and throwing it up in the air.

This picture was actually taken before the ceremony. But I really liked it. They posed on the balcony.

We wish them all the best.

If asked, I already had the perfect advise for them as a new married couple:

- Never underestimate the power of hormones.

New York and Phoenix

2007-11-18T20:00:00.001-08:00

Well, the long awaited family trip to NYC and Phoenix took a little turn. About 4 months ago, the original idea was for the family to go out to NYC for a week while I stayed at Sheraton for work. Afterwards, we were going to fly out to Phoenix for Thanksgiving; Susie had intended to go to her 10 year high school reunion the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

So, first of all, my trip to NYC got cut short and then was extended to include to work with a company out in Long Island. This was a big discouraging for Susie since my hotel in Manhattan would only last until Wednesday mid-afternoon.

Then, Susie's sister, Cari, decided to choose November 17th as her wedding day. Susie felt that her week off would be best spent helping Cari get ready. So below are some of the pictures that I took with the family on Friday before the wedding.

Grace and Ben Cason enjoying the swings out in the front. Quite frankly, I'm her favorite Uncle, really!!

The pool was heated up to 80 degrees and Simon thought it was like a big bath. He loves taking baths and he loves being out in the pool.

Susie loves taking Simon in the pool. He had a mild ear infection for which he's taking antiobiotics. So he couldn't get his head in the water. It's actually pretty funny to watch him go under. Susie wanted me to point out that Simon's left eyebrow goes up higher than his right. She claims that's the "Robinson Mark"... more specifically, she said that look reminds her of her father Sam.

Cities & Knights Victor

2007-11-05T22:02:00.000-08:00

For those that are in the know, about 40 minutes ago, I, Kelvin, won Cities and Knights for the first time in the year 2007.

The first place loser was Jared Peterson with 12 points. And pulling up the rear was David Parker with 8 points.

For those that were keeping track, we've played quite a bit this year (almost weekly) and taught a lot of people and showed them how to win. Before this day, the last time I won a game was in Mallorca, Spain, playing against Jared and Kelli Salter just before Christmas.

I would like to thank Jared and David, who recognized I was winning, and put up a huge fight to make sure I wouldn't win it by a landslide. For about the last 6 rounds, no one would trade with me, and they did all that they could to thwart what was to be my day. At least, it was not won uncontested.

All Hail Lord Kelvin of Catan...

San Francisco Wave Organ

2007-11-04T21:42:00.000-08:00

So today we did a family walk out to the San Francisco Wave Organ. If you walk out from the exploratorium to the beach and take Baker out to the ocean, there's a little finger of land that stretched out into the ocean. There are a bunch of pipes that play different notes as the waves hit along them so they change at different water levels.

I actually used the timer on my camera for the first time and took this one. We'll need to do this more often, or else, only Susie and Simon end up in the photos.

Jared Salter would like this shot because we were able to get the sailboat in the background. Yes, that's also Alcatraz island in the back.

Simon with the Golden Gate Bridge in the back.

My two favorite people.

Ward Halloween Party

2007-11-03T22:56:00.000-07:00

As you can see, we had a theme with our costumes. Simon was a shark, Susie was a mermaid, and Kelvin was a surfer (the surf board didn't quite get finished before it was thrown away). The ward Halloween party was excellent. We had on the menu:
- Brains, with eyeballs served in a blood sauce (spaghetti and meatballs in a meat sauce)
- Bread with Vampire Repellent (garlic bread)
- Battered, deep-fried fingers on a stick (corn dogs)

A little over 200 people attended and we had all sorts of games. A spook alley was constructed with the help of the youth. The Bishop had his spider room which was good for the little kids. Thomas Glenn was the "mad scientist" in the spook alley. He had to tone it down a bit after a couple of kids. This section lasted only from 5:30 to 6:00pm. We had a scavenger hunt for the kids which involved them looking for certain characters in the cultural hall and getting a sticker from them. If they got all the stickers, we would give them a bag of candy in the end (everyone got a bag regardless). There was a "toy-walk" and a pumpkin pie eating contest.

Honestly, this was our first Sunset Ward Halloween party, and we liked it. We'll have to dress Simon back-up in his shark outfit again to take more pictures.

Simon has Teeth

2007-11-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

As of October 29th, Simon woke up with a tooth on the lower jaw, front left. On the 31st, the one next to it came out also.

This explains why he's been sleeping so poorly, and feeling a little warm. As you can tell, he's now learned to stick-out his tongue. Since this occured for the first time, the morning his tooth showed up, we think the two are related.

The latest theory is that he likes to feel the tooth under his tongue, so he's really not sticking his tongue out, but just rather, feeling his tooth with his tongue.

Farmer John's Pumpkin Patch, HMB

2007-10-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Every year we go to Farmer John's Pumpkin Patch in Half-Moon Bay. No one else really has a pumpkin patch; they all buy their pumpkins and lay them around. Farmer John actually grows them out in the field and you can go out and pick them off the vine.

This, of course, was Simon's first trip to the pumpkin patch and he had a lot of fun.

Jared and Becca were there along with the Tanners. Here's Jared taking our catch from the vines back to the front lot.

Simon picking out pumpkins with Susie. He's wearing socks his Grandma Ning made for him.

Simon's first kiss is with a pumpkin

Gap Casting Call

2007-10-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

So, we've decided to test how cute our baby boy is. We have entered these pictures into the Gap Casting Call competition which you can read about here.

Here are the pictures submitted.

If Simon wins the first round of judging, then he'll be up for public voting. At which point, we will let everyone interested in voting for him know so that we can get some extra help. :)

We think he's the cutest.

The Ning's Eastern European Vacation

2007-10-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

So, it’s been awhile, but it took us…I mean Simon, a little while to actually get adjusted back to the right time zone. Otherwise, he’s been a real trooper thru all the places that we took him. We had an incredible trip visiting 4 countries in 14 days.

Day 1-3: Budapest, Hungary
We arrived on Sunday. It was interesting in Budapest. The taxi driver was INSANE!! It was almost as if he was trying to impress us by how fast he could drive. We met the Salters just in time to watch them go to church. Jared had to give a talk and Kelli had to teach a class lesson. It gave us enough time to set-up a blow-up bed in their living room and crash for several hours. Kelli was nice enough to make us a roast for dinner and that was our first day.
The next day we went with Kelli (Jared was at work) to the market. It looks like a train station but it was a planned building for this type of commerce. We also walked down one of their fancy shopping streets.
On Tuesday, we went across the Danube and checked out Castle Hill. There really wasn’t a big castle up there, but there were some ruins of some and a long history of Castles being built there. Simon enjoyed the view.

Day 4-8: Istanbul, Turkey
Kelli found this cool hotel in Istanbul. It was so small, the ride from the airport, which comes with the hotel, didn’t know how to get there. It was at the bottom of one of the hills (Istanbul is founded on 7 hills, like Rome). Unfortunately, to get to all of the sites, we pretty much needed to get up to the top of the hill to get to anywhere. After the first day, it got easier and easier.This was the entrance to the Topkapi Palace. This was the home of the Ottoman Sultans from 1465 to 1853. The Grand Sultan would hang the remains of those executed for not conforming to his views at this entrance.

One of the courtyards build for the Harem, which means forbidden…meaning forbidden for others to see.

From this vantage point, during Ramadan, the Sultan would wait for the sunset.

The Grand Bazaar. I didn’t think it was going to be this nice. I don't think anyone really thought we would spend more than half a day there. We spun around there looking at great antiques and handcrafts. We haggled our way thru and spent several a little bit of time there each day looking for better deals on specific items.

It was nice having the Salter's there. Jared is ruthless when it comes to haggling. We also were able to get group deals when we were both looking for similar items.

The Egyptian Bazaar had a lot of great spices there. Oddly enough, it was a lot harder to haggle on prices there.

The Hagia Sophia was the largest enclosed building in the world for nearly 1000 yrs. It’s the 3rd largest dome currently. Originally constructed in 537 as a Christian Cathedral until 1453 when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and it was converted to a mosque.

It's hard to portray the imensity of the edifice. We tried to imagine what types of ancient Christian services could have been held here with such a large building.

The architecture was ornate, and very detailed. The amount of work involved to put this together was amazing to imagine. The age of the building also amazed us because of how well preserved and maintained it is. Simon enjoyed all of it.

The Blue Mosque is located across the street. We were all immediately identified as Americans, and a Turkish Rug salesman helped us beat the lines into the Mosque and guilted us into walking over to his shop to get a hard Sales Pitch. The only good thing about that was that he walked us by the remains of the horse stables of what used to be the Hippodrome of Istanbul.

Halfway thru the trip to Istanbul, we found ourselves doing laundry in our bathroom. I thought this picture pretty much portrayed how it was traveling with a 5 mo old baby. We used purified water to clean out all of our bottles as well.

Beneath the city was carved out a giant fresh water Cistern. When it was re-discovered, it was drained and became a great relic to the engineering history.

On our last day, we took a taxi further down the Bosporus River to city of Ortakoy. There was a hand craft market there. We took a quick family portrait at the port among the fisherman.

Day 9: Recovery in Hungary
We came back to Hungary for a day. Basically it was to do laundry. Oddly enough, the Salter's building was going under some gas-pipeline upgrades during the exact time period that we were visiting. So, in the meantime, their hot water was not available. One of Jared's good friends, 2 stops away, was going to be on vacation in Germany. We were able to stay there a night and do laundry. Everyone eventually went there to get hot showers.

Day 10-11: Vienna, Austria

We had a couple of days to spare so we took a train ride north to Vienna. We were constantly amazed that in a 3 hour journey, you can find yourself in such a different place. Vienna was one of most favorite spots during this trip. There were a lot of reasons why we liked it: the H&M store was like the US Banana Republic, the city was clean, and the place felt like it was frozen in time from the Renaissance.

We stayed at the Marriott in downtown (great hotel) and started off to the Schonbrunn Palace. We didn’t do any tours of the inside, but we did walk the grounds and do the maze. Simon enjoyed the view from the back of the property overlooking the palace and the city. Before heading back to Budapest on the train, we made a quick stop to the Hofmann Palace as well. We definitely need to come back to this place.

Simon enjoys a bit of CNN in the morning

The train ride home was fun for Simon. He enjoyed looking out the window and smiling at the border patrol as they came into the cabin.

Day 12: Pecs, Hungary

We decided to spend this day trying to save a little bit of money and buy some leather bags from their factory in Pecs. Our final destination was western Slovenia and we thought we had this plan down pat. Roads ran slowly and the store had the bags that we wanted but they were at the same price as the ones in Budapest. Jared did some haggling and finally got a hold of the owner of the factory and had them sell us a couple of bags at wholesale prices using Jared’s personal business name.

Day 13-14: Bled, Slovenia

After a very long drive, we ended up in the beautiful lake resort town of Bled, located in the north west corner of Slovenia. Looking back, we probably should have checked a bit on the weather and dressed warmer. We all could have had another layer.

Lake Bled is famous for its cliff-hanging castle overlooking a small island with a church on it. It was rainy but we toured the castle and took a boat ride out to the island. I insisted on having one of the locals row us out on a traditional boat to the island. That was great until on the way back, it took twice as long because of the headwind and the rain which was dumping down on us. Others on the boat lent us their umbrellas to cover the kids.

Day 15: Heading Home

It was a great trip…great to see the Salters and to see so much of Europe. Simon slept most of the way which made it tough to get him adjusted to the time zone shift again, but it was more pleasant for everyone else on the flight.

Elder Tay is home!!!

2007-09-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

Well, the family travels again. This time we're headed Susie's brother, Tay, come back from serving his mission for the LDS Church. Susie had been counting down to this day for weeks. I'm not sure who was the most excited to see him: Susie? Brit? or the parents? He served 2 years in the Denver Colorado mission. Annie made the welcome home banner that was hanging out the balcony on their way in from the airport.

I highlighted the flight that Taylor took. He arrived a little bit early. I told myself he's the kind of guy that might take an earlier flight and just meet us all at the house in a cab. He told us afterwards that he had the opportunity but missed it by 5 minutes.

Sam was pretty excited to see his boy. The couple of letters from Sam showed just how excited he was to see his son strong in the gospel, and that one day we would experience that kind of joy with Simon.

Sam was the first to give him a hug at the airport. We nearly had to peel him away so others could get a chance.

Susan was just as glad to see her Taylor home. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but he got a bit taller, and his hair's a little bit thinner.

Getting closer and closer to look just like his father.

As you can tell, everyone was just really excited to see him. I saw that Sam took a camera, and everyone was poised with theirs, but I knew no one would be shooting off their camera as much as I would. So I made sure everyone got their fair share of hugs while I captured the moments.

We received a lot of congratulations from those standing around waiting also at the airport. Oddly everyone decided to gather around by the window where the bright Phoenix sun comes straight into the camera lens. :) Sam's camera also ran out of juice...so hopefully everyone gets a chance to see these photos.

Susie, Simon and Elder Tay get a chance to get reacquainted while Sam and Susan try to gather the troops together for a group photo.

You can see Grace at the bottom there, trying to help out as well. In all reality, I don't know who Grace was more excited to see, Elder Tay or Uncle Kelvin. She was really...REALLY excited to see Uncle Kelvin.

The final group all gathered together.

"I'm off to get my luggage!!"

Finally caught him on video...

2007-08-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

When I was out on a work trip, I came home and Susie had bought Simon a jumper. We had always suspected that he would like it...because when you hold him, he always jumps up and down. I was mostly just worried about the floor real estate. But as you can see from the pictures...he LOVES to jump.
We tried so many times to get him jumping...but whenever the camera points he gets shy. We hop he outgrows that...

Parties and Cellphone pics

2007-08-22T23:26:00.000-07:00

Simon Size update:
Physician Visit: August 22, 2007
Weight: 17 lb 4 oz
Length: 27.5 inches

So...it's been about a month now since the last update. The Nings haven't done much in terms of fun and exciting travel. We did have a couple of exciting things going on though. Simon had his first experience in the pool. Sadly, we didn't take any pictures of it. But a lot of friends (mostly guys) tried a lot of cool flips off the diving board. Here's Stu's brother, David, doing a back flip. He's trying to avoid hitting his head on the board so he ran pretty fast to get momentum away from the board. Yes, the pastey white guy is Jared trying to nail him with a nerf football.Cary also came up to help feed Simon. Maybe he'll place this picture up on his work computer to replace Simon's picture on the Bumbo chair.

One afternoon, I came home and met Susie and Simon at the beach. They went for a stroll. Simon really liked the beach so he fell asleep.

For "Men-richment" (Elder's Quorum Activities) we had an Iron Chef competition. The secret dessert ingredient was Oreo Cookies. Brad decided to make deep-fried Oreos which were awesome. We had to open the church kitchen windows to air-out the burnt smell...but they tasted good.

He kind of looks like Mr. Incredible. By the time I made the connection, his wife, Nancy, said people have been telling them that for quite awhile.

For awhile now, Susie's been taking pictures on her camera. Recently we bought a microSD card so we could pull the images off without actually having to send them to an email for retrieval. Susie got some classic shots of Simon in the meantime.

Simon the Frequent Flyer

2007-07-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Ning decided to come up and visit Simon. As new grandparents, they've decided to come up as often as they can to make sure they're his Favorite People to see. :)

Susie and I took advantage of the "free" babysitting and did something we hadn't been able to do in a long time: go to the Temple.

We even added some extra flare to the experience and had lunch at Zachary's Pizza afterewards. Definitely well worth the trip.

Simon had some words for Grandpa...he wanted to make sure he would be treated well.

Simon has been a bit fussy. We think he's teething. He's been a bit difficult to transfer. So Susie's here letting Simon take a quick well needed rest with her.

Simon has Susie's feet

4th of July we all flew to Jackson Hole Wyoming to visit his other grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa Robinson helped us in taking care of Simon as well.

A view of the Grand Tetons from the back yard.

A view of the 3 Creeks golf course from the back yard.

Simon's happy with Grandma Robinson

We had some problems getting home. Long delays thru Denver made us miss our connecting flight. Simon couldn't take it anymore and passed out. He's a great traveler.

Susie got a new cell phone which takes great pictures.

Simon's sitting in his Bumbo Chair.

Separated: Eugene and Ireland (Philly & Toronto)

2007-06-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

June 18, 2007 Statistics:
Weight: 13lb 11 oz (+2lb 10oz in 1 mo)
Length: 24 inches (+0.5 inches in 1 mo)

So, in January and February, Kelvin had a lot of travel for work. A grand total of 40,000 miles on United Airlines in those two months alone. By the time March came along, we were blessed with no travel until after Simon was to be born. Since his birth, no one has flown anywhere and we've been blessed for the ability to have everyone stay together.

Now, it's all starting up again. In anticipation for Kelvin's week-long trip to Ireland for work, the McFarlane's accepted the invitation to have Susie and Simon stay with them. It was a great excuse to see them again (or have Tannya see Simon again) and provide Susie some company and help while Kelvin's away.

Everything was set for an 11am departure for Susie and Simon to Eugene and a 10:58am departure to Ireland thru Philadelphia. We ended up in different terminals but Susie managed great and Simon was very cooperative. Their flight was delayed 50 minutes but they made it up in the air and they landed easily at 12:30pm in Eugene. Simon stirred a little bit but made no sign of irritation due to cabin pressure.

Kelvin however, had a 30 minute delay which ended up being a 2 hour wait on the tarmac at SFO. he took-off at 1pm (well after Susie and Simon landed in Eugene). After doing a 1hour holding pattern in Philadelphia, he missed his connecting flight Ireland by 10minutes. No other flights that evening, and the same flight the next day was already full. He and about 15 other angry Irish people looked for alternative routes and places to stay. After 5 hours of sleep at a Best Western in New Jersey (yes, all hotels booked for miles) Kelvin's currently sitting at the aiport waiting for his connecting flight thru Toronto back out to Ireland.

Simon's having a great time in Eugene. First he went with everyone to Target to go shopping. Whitney decided for half an hour that she was "Tannya" and that Simon was "her" baby. "I'm Tannya and I'm shopping at Target."

Later that evening, Rob had his chance to hold Simon while Tannya took a picture. Most of the other pictures posted are of Simon laying down. He actually looks a lot different (cuter I think) sitting up. The fat on his face gets distributed a little bit differently. Right as the picture goes, Simon opens his mouth and lets out a "rope" of spit-up. Classic.

It's tough being separated, but it's comforting to know that the Lord provides for everyone. Friends are made to serve and support us when we need it. We are so grateful for the great friends that we have and the ability that we have to support them in their needs as well. We all miss eachother but there is comfort in knowing that all will be well.

Is he Big?

2007-06-11T22:00:00.001-07:00

So, it's been this on-going question between the two of us, as to how big Simon really is. Relatively speaking, he looks rather proportional. His head is not really oversized compared to the rest of his body...nor is he super chunky. He is currently 7 weeks old and he's wearing 3 -6 months clothing. Some of his 3 mo clothing barely fit him length wise, and he can barely squeeze his legs and arms thru the holes.

We had some great friends of ours over last week. Their 6 mo old Sienna is a great little ball of joy. Jeff and I are both baby hogs. Sienna, like normal kids her age, feel lighter than Simon because she can hold her balance. Simon's more of a dead weight. We took pictures for the Salters in Hungary (hopefully they read this) when Cara realized the size of Simon's feet.

The following weekend we went out with them again and decided to take Simon and Sienna to their first movie. It was the Drive-in Theatre in San Jose on Capitol Expressway. Since it was Saturday night they already had the Swap Meet during the day and there were piles of trash pushed up against the wall (pretty ghetto). But we arrived early and noticed so many families gathered around doing tail-gate parties. We opened up the truck bed and put blankets and pillows everywhere and the 6 of us enjoyed Shrek. Simon slept during the entire movie and Sienna just enjoyed the company.

We had the great opportunity of helping Jane Dukes out with housing for a week while she was transitioning out of the Bay Area. She was pretty intent on getting a picture of Simon smiling which we enjoyed. I tried getting some earlier but it's tough to get the timing down right. Jane was pretty diligent and out of many attempts, got a couple which were pretty cute. Simon indeed is getting to be funner to play with now that he's starting to try to hold his head up and is tracking people. His smiles are unpredictable, but for now it's usually when he's done eating, right after he poops, or when he makes some cool sounds.

McFarlane Memorial Day Weekend

2007-05-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

Simon was weighed in yesterday at 11lb 14 oz. It's only been a week since his last weigh in so he's put on 13 oz in 7 days. We'll continue to trend his weight gain.

So, the McFarlane's came to visit the Bay Area this Memorial Day Weekend. Rob, Tannya, Paige, Grace, Whitney, and Crew. We wanted all 6 to stay at our place, but we had 2 things going against us:
(1) That's a lot of people added all at once in a single house
(2) Whitney and Paige were just getting over a cough

The girls wanted to see the Parker children and the girls stayed there and we had Rob, Tannya and Crew at our place. As you can see, Tannya really liked having Simon to hold. She had him during all of Relief Society as well (except for when Whitney came in looking for an escort to the potty).

We really enjoyed having the McFarlane's over. It had been way too long since we last saw them. The girls are getting bigger, and Crew became a blonde since we last saw him. His baby chunk looks like muscles on his arms. He's rolling over quite easily but can't quite get his bum up to start crawling.

These pictures were taken this morning. Simon's been sleeping about 3-4 hours thru the night. After he feeds he tends to fall back into milk coma but only after some precious moments awake.

30 days = Eyebrows & Acne

2007-05-22T02:43:00.000-07:00

May 21, 2007 Statistics:
Weight: 11lb 1 oz (+2lb 15oz)
Length: 23.5 inches (+2 inches)

Last Saturday was Simon's big 30 day celebration. A lot of tantrums and fits were thrown (by Becca) when we told people in San Francisco that Simon was going to be blessed at the Ning Family home in Pasadena. With the 30 day celebration scheduled, it was tough trying to get everyone gathered together twice in such a short period of time.

On his 30 day birthday, there were two things were noticed different: Eyebrows and Acne.

For his blessing, we had immediate family available gathered at the Ning Home in Pasadena. Grandma Robinson accompanied the group on the piano as we sang Hymn #304, Teach Me to Walk in the Light. Grandpa Ning opened us in prayer. Simon then began a huge fit which was inconsolable. We ended up doing his baby blessing whimpering in the background. Simon was blessed by his father, and supported by great examples of Priesthood Holders. On both sides of the family, Simon is the first grandchild to be born in the covenant.

For the 30-day Birthday Celebration, the Ning Grandparents arranged for family and friends to gather at a Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Alhambra. Grandma Ning prepared a little Chinese Outfit for Simon including a little hat with the queue in the back. They're pictured here in the outfit. His hat was pretty big as was the rest of the outfit. He looked super-cute in it and hopefully he'll be able to wear it this October for Halloween.

Traditional Red Eggs were served. Cari enjoyed those the most.

The Rail family drove up and Simon was able to meet his cousins for the first time. Davis and Noah get bigger and bigger every time we see them. Visually, Noah changed the most in size...they're both really good eaters.

This is Noah having fun with his plate.

Recently, Davis has been using a pair of training chopsticks. Here he is with a fashioned pair of training chopsticks. He was able to pick-up a salted peanut from his plate with them.

Unfortunately, the Rails had to leave before all of the dinner was served. Everyone enjoyed having them around.

A birthday cake was brought in which looked like a baby blanket with Simon's name in the middle.

Here's some of the dinner party. Thanks to Aunt Bobbi for sending us this picture.

Susie and I are constantly amazed and we feel so grateful for the love and support from our friends and family. We can feel the love and prayers that go out to us. We are truly blessed to have Simon.

3rd week...Fussy

2007-05-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

So...we would have posted sooner, but I've been waiting for a better time to post. We've been struggling with our sleeping schedules this last week. Simon is the best...but when he looks straight at you and cries from 3 to 5 in the morning, you've changed his diaper 3 times, he's not hungry, and won't take the binky...you really test the love.

We've started making greater sacrifices to not disturb Simon when he sleeps. There's nothing worse than getting him asleep in the perfect position, and then waiting to see how long it takes before you can transfer him to the bassinet. Sometimes, it's not worth the risk of transfer, and we just crawl up into whatever position we find ourselves in. Rosa likes to still find her perfect little spot in the mess of it all. We have here a fine example of Susie taking one for the team. She pretty much took the opportunity to take a nap with Simon, and Rosa fell in where she could.

We've been getting ready for his 30 day celebration down in Pasadena with all of our family. So far we have invited our Aunts and Uncles and we should be pretty full at the tables at that point. We plan on having the baby blessing done in my parents' home in Pasadena this Saturday (the 19th). Cary's flying in after his Elder's Quorum camp-out...we're driving down Thursday afternoon.

We've got a couple of other pictures. A couple of things that we try to do to keep him calm is swaddle him in a sling (some times I like to carry him in it and tell him, "Simon, I've got your a$$ in a sling") The other thing we do is take on a long ride in his car seat. As you can see, some times he doesn't look like he's going to enjoy the ride.

Getting Home and Adjusted

2007-05-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, Simon is now officially 13 days old. Leaving the Hospital was quite an ordeal. We were pretty much ready to go after spending 6days/5nights in that one room. Susie's Mom continued to stay with us until Thursday afternoon which was a great help. My Mom arrived on Sunday night and will be staying with us also until Thursday afternoon. Both have been excited to get to know their new grandson and help him recognize their voices.

Simon has been doing a lot of sleeping. It's been pretty fun to be able to see him awake and play with him before he starts asking for food. As mentioned before, he lost weight in the hospital (very normal, even expected) and put on 3 oz before he left. Last Wednesday, April 25, he already gained enough to get back to birth weight. He has his pediatrician visit this morning so he'll be weighed in again. I'm guessing somewhere around 8lb 14oz.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but Simon has a very cute "snort" when he cries. He tends to also get the hiccups quite a bit which kind of makes him cry too.

Sleep? I've been sleeping great. I think Susie's been getting more than we expected as well. Simon sleeps about 4 hours straight during the evening which means Susie only has to wake up on average, once a night, to feed him. How long will this last? We continue to accept prayers on our behalf. The prayers can either be in the form of helping Simon continue to sleep this well, or that we as parents will have the stamina to keep up with him. :)

I've got several pictures here of Simon sleeping. We've tried to get different pictures put together so they all don't look the same. The two above were actually taken while Simon was still in the hospital. The pictures below were taken last night. He likes to sleep as if he were in a roller-coaster: arms straight up. Enjoy the pictures!

Day 2-3: Recovery

2007-04-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Simon has been a sweet little child here at the hospital. All of the nurses here have been so great with us here. They've especially been kind to help us change the diapers; if we suspect a dirty one, we push the button and they'll come in to change. (We just have to take advantage of this while we can...) Simon's cries are not really harsh, just very much a mild protest; when the nursery brings Simon back for feedings, (another plus, free babysitting) we can recognize his mild cries as they come toward us down the hallway.

Simon of course has had quite a few visitors:

- Grandma and Grandpa Robinson have been by daily to see how his faces changes. Cari had to go back to Phoenix to see after her little ones too. Unfortunately, every time she tried to hold Simon he had to be fed, so all he did was cry for her. :(

- Uncle Cary, and Grandma and Grandpa Ning were having their chance to see him too. Simon is the first grandchild on the Ning side. As you can see, they're all very excited to see him.

- We had other visitors as well. Michelle Parker brought Abigail (twice) and Zach to see Simon. Zach especially liked his visit because he got a Peek-a-Pooh keychain from our nurse Kim. (apparently they're all the rage). Unfortunately, no pictures yet of Michelle with Simon. Becca and Jared Peterson came by to say hello as well. Jared has an aversion to holding newborns, especially while at the hospital. We did get a picture of a very happy Becca holding Simon.

We took some additional shots of the boy...we hope you enjoy them. I'll try not to burden this site of too many pictures that all look the same. We tried to get some pictures at different angles, and poses. Once again, we'd love to have visits. We leave the hospital Monday morning. Please, just call ahead of time to see which time is best.

Day 1: And now we are Three

2007-04-19T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally did it...there's three of us. In short, he's healthy, Mom's healthy, and these are the stats:

Simon Andrew Ning
8 lb 2 oz
21.5 in
Thursday, April 19, 2007
3:13pm
California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA
Emergency C-Section (Either take it as is, and enjoy the pictures, or read below)

So, we scheduled to be induced on the 19th, and checked in at 9:30pm on the 18th. Susie wasn't dilated so they gave her three doses of misoprostin to help along. At 9:50am, Susie's water broke without any induction necessary. As her contractions started to get more intense, we all started taking bets as to when he'd be born...and the nurse (Tori) guessed around 8:30pm. I was optimistic and guessed 6:30pm.

At around 11:30pm, contractions got pretty intense. Susie asked for a Priesthood blessing and I didn't have my oil. I called around, and decided the quickest way was to buy some olive oil at the closest store (Union 76 Gas station). The biggest impression from the blessing was that the Lord had given us modern technology to help us. Susie was blessed to react well with all of the medication administered, and that the Lord had provided all the knowledge and medication necessary to have a healthy child. About half an hour later, an epidural was placed. The Anaesthesiologist was great; he was gentle, patient, and very clear on his instructions. Susie then became a different person. She was able to sleep for quite some time, rather than just 3 min naps (between contractions).

A little after 2pm, Susie was feeling great, and her parents and sister (Cari) showed up from Phoenix. We chatted for about half an hour. The nurse came in and was a bit concerned about the fact that the child's heart rate would be at 158 bpm and then drop to 90 bpm during contractions. They were hoping that adjusting sleeping positions, oxygen, or infusing saline in the uterus would help bring his heart rate back up. After attempts in all of these were tried, nothing improved and we were encouraged to do an emergency c-section.

Everything went quickly from there; nurses asked the family to pack all of our stuff to move into recovery. I changed into a semi-sterile gown and waited outside the OR until they called me in. The greatest thing Tori did was push a bolus of the epidural 5 minutes prior. It was just enough to allow the anaesthesiologist to block up to the chest. Otherwise, Susie would have had to go under general. They asked Susie if she needed anything; she answered, "My husband." I got in after she was on the table, and the drape up. Within minutes, the surgeon was in. I stood up to see as they pulled the head, and pushed the body out of the hole (it was cool). Baby Ning was cut loose, and then taken to get cleaned up a bit. On the cleaning table he pooped twice, I cut the cord (super thick, needed two clips) and then he was brought over to the new Mommy who could only turn her face and breathe on him.

We got him all cleaned off of his outer layer of white paste, and strolled him past his grandparents and aunt who were waiting down the hall. We all commented on his bright red lips and his dark hair. I then watched them wheel him into the nursery to be weighed, measured, cleaned up, and given his first shots.

Mommy was recovering quickly and when Baby Ning was done, he was brought in to see everyone together. You couldn't see Camera Phones come out any quicker. Pictures were taken and flying out the window to the nearest cellular tower to places all over the country. After his first feeding, we moved everyone up to the 4th floor for our room.

We've enjoyed the visitors, prayers, and phone calls. Everyone here at the hospital commented on how calm we were and we attribute it to the blessing given, and the Spirit which calmed us and reassured us that the Lord was blessing us thru the talents of those around us. We are truly a blessed family.

Those who want to get a hold of us, we'll probably be here at least thru Sunday, possibly Monday (because of the c-section). Feel free to call our cell phones after 8am. If you want to visit, call and we'll tell you where we're located, where to park, etc.

Kelvin, Susie and Simon