Arms up

More thrills on roller coasters for little K-bao, this time at her beloved Happy Hollow.

As one can see, K-bao now has no fear on these rides, and in fact insists on riding alone. Her video below from this past weekend should be contrasted with her last recorded video on the Pacific Fruit Express at Happy Hollow, at age 4, when the first few seconds of the drop still had the capacity of inspiring a little bit of fear (unfortunately, as one can see below, sister C-bao wasn't quite as happy with the experience).

Chinese

K-bao is not quite at the point yet where she grasps the fundamental importance (not to mention future practical usefulness) of being fluent in Chinese. And yes, the K-folks know that that realization may not happen for another 15 years. A long road ahead indeed.

While she entered preschool with Mandarin as her dominant language, after spending most of her waking hours at school in an English-language environment with English-speaking friends for the last three years, English has clearly become her default. That train is unlikely to turn around without more direct intervention.

Nonetheless, the fact that sister C-bao only speaks Chinese is reason for daily practice. In addition, she has obediently acquiesced to the K-folks' requests that she practice her characters once in while. Thus far, she has learned a couple dozen, earning her numerous stickers in the process. K-Pop recently picked up some additional practice material in a Taipei bookstore. Hopefully the parental resolve - and student discipline - will persist in the years ahead.

Tiger Trek

As we know, K-bao loves her thrills. Here she is at her beloved Oakland Zoo, riding the famous Tiger Trek rollercoaster, hollering and giggling with glee. And yes, K-Pop was also responsible for perhaps more than his fair share of hollering as well.

A moment in time:

Stow Lake

A few weeks ago, K-bao had her first experience on a rowboat, at Stow Lake at Golden Gate Park.

While sister C-bao exhibited more caution in the boat - not helped by K-Mum's cries of "We're not going to make it! We're not going to make it! Let's say our last prayers!" - K-bao watched K-Pop for all of a few seconds before she insisted on trying her own hand at the oars. Of course, some of that impatience was likely driven by exasperation at K-Pop's less-than-efficient rowing.

K-bao discovered that controlling the boat was a little harder than it looked. An oar or two might even have slipped into the lake during her short-lived stewardship.

Unfortunately, K-Pop was too busy trying to maintain his balance and not fall into the water during this little adventure to take any pictures or videos, so no documentation has been preserved for future reference. In any case, while the K-folks aren't ones to draw any premature conclusions, let's just say that no one is banking on any future crew scholarships.

Bethel

While visiting Bethel Church in Redding recently for the first time, K-bao attended Sunday School and was given some prophetic words while being prayed over.

The words she received resonates well with everything K-Pop and K-Mum know about our little 5-year old:

• "Powerful leader!"
• "Brings life"

Classmates who prayed for her added:

• "Sweet" (while visualizing a pink balloon and cotton candy)
• "Beautiful"
• "Kind and loving"
• "He [God] loves her"
• "Love and joy is who she is"
• "Nice to people"
• "Evangelist!"
• "Royalty!"

Below are the notes gathered by her Sunday School teachers and given to us afterwards.

Splash Wars

K-bao visited Aunt Carol, Uncle Will and Co. (J-Cuz, K-Cuz) recently in Redding, CA.

While Redding has its many charms, mild weather is not one of them, and K-bao battled 105 degree heat all weekend. Like a hot hippo, she sought out cool water in which to simmer down, and ended up spending 80% of her weekend in the pool.

Here she makes a grand entrance, courtesy of a live launch pad (a.k.a. Uncle Will):

"Cowabunga!"

In the water, K-bao amused herself by diving for rings, playing aquatic football, paddling around with her floaties, and splashing her cousin Justin (thereby setting off several rounds of Chan-Hu wars - which, for the record, the Hu's claim victory in).