Yesterday was Alex’s first day of preschool. We had already visited the school several times over the summer, so Alex was familiar with the teachers, the classroom, the playground, etc. and we were confident that he would be fine. We talked a lot about it (well as much as you can talk about it to a 2-year-old) and Alex seemed very eager and excited to “go school”.

We were the first of Alex’s class to arrive. When we entered the classroom, Alex promptly let go of my hand, waved to his teachers, and ran right up to the shelves where the toys were kept. He was grinning ear to ear. Great, I thought, isn’t this what I wanted? I watched as other moms arrived holding little ones who didn’t want to let go.

We all hung around for a little while as the kids got settled in. When it came time for the parents to leave, there was inevitably a lot of heartwrenching crying and screaming. As for Alex? I walked over to him to say goodbye and barely looking up from what he was doing, he says to me, “buh-bye mama, see you later”!

He’s getting more and more like his father every day.

Sorry for the long hiatus… I guess we were just too busy enjoying the summer. Tons of photos to post. Maybe someday I will get to them (or maybe not).

In other news, Rich recently surprised me with a new MacBook Pro to replace my old beat up PC laptop. Sure, some women get swooned with jewels or flowers or romantic getaways… but I get computer hardware! I’m not complaining though, as I am truly a geek at heart and I *HEART* my new Mac.

Had I known about it I would never have agreed to spending so much money on a laptop for myself and probably would never have made the plunge of switching from the PC to the Mac. But although it’s been a little bit of a struggle changing my old PC ways of doing things, I am definitely hooked. I guess you could say I have drunk the apple flavored kool-aid (sorry, Bill!)…

I hope you like the little “movie” I was able to put together with minimal effort using iMovie ‘08 on the Mac. More movies to come, for sure…

Alex squeals with delight upon discovering the pure joy of running through the sprinkler on a scorching hot day.

Alex performs a dramatic rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”…

My cousin, Theresa, graciously invited us to a family barbecue at her home this past Saturday. Almost all of the “Wong family” cousins (on this side of the globe at least) were in attendance, along with respective spouses, moms, girlfriends, kids, and a pup. There was even an official announcement of a new family member on the way… (Congratulations Kylene & Dain!)

Alex was shy at first upon seeing so many unfamiliar faces. But he warmed up quickly and had a great time being entertained by his big “cousins” Kaitlyn and Karolyn. He was also the happy recipient of lots of cool new toys, clothes, and books. Thoroughly exhausted, Alex conked out as soon as we hit the road and did not wake up till the next morning. (Yay!)

As it’s not often that we are all together at any given time, there was no shortage of fond reminiscing, storytelling, and raucous laughter. I still feel like we are all kids again when we are all together. It’s good to know that no matter where our busy lives take us, we will always be connected because we are Family. I hope that as the years pass and our families grow larger we will continue to make the effort to reconnect now and then.

We all had a great time, as evidenced by these photos.

Thanks again, Theresa, for putting this together!