Bocce!

On a recent weekend trip to Uncle Calvin's for barbeque and cake, K-bao had her first exposure to Bocce Ball. It turns out Xiao Jiu's building complex has an outdoor bocce court with an artificial, mini-golf-like surface.

After dessert, of which K-bao had more than her fair share, we ventured out to the court and split into teams. K-bao got the rules quickly, and surprised everyone with her skills. In fact, despite a rather unorthodox bowling style, in 2 of the 3 games we played, K-bao delivered the closest ball to the jack of any contestant. All while playing in a flowy white dress.

Naturally, after hitting that kind of winning streak, it was hard to drag the little one off the court. ("Just one more game? Please? Anyone?")

Here is the beaming bocce ball winner.

For the Love of the Game

K-bao had the pleasure of hosting the K-Grandfolks several weeks ago for a short visit.

Naturally, K-Grandpops immediately got roped into K-bao's latest love, Uno, and found himself on the carpet with the little one hashing out Skips, Wild cards and +4s.

"Love is patient, love is kind," K-Grandpops must have been repeating to himself throughout the afternoon.

Self Esteem

The dresses have arrived!

K-bao, along with sister C-bao, will be a flower girl at her Aunt Catherine's upcoming wedding.

Once the dress was donned, of course, the overconfidence ensued.

Uno Madness

K-bao has earned a few dollars recently, via a generous Tooth Fairy, a variety of chores and some memorized scripture. One of her first investments was in her Aunt Christina's charity run, to which she committed $2 (and, to her credit, would have given virtually her entire savings before her Aunt scaled her back).

The other major purchase - costing her $5, the majority of her bank account - was in a pack of Uno cards. Yes, that's right. A blast from K-Pop and K-Mum's (mostly K-Mum's) past. And since that fateful day, the family has whiled away many a long hour strategizing on skips and reverses, throwing down Wild cards, and dropping the dreaded +4 grenade. As the K-folks have learned, no Uno session is complete until K-bao asks "Can we play one more game?" and is turned down at least four or five times.

Uncle Chris, Aunt Lynn, and visiting out-of-towner Uncle Dave each got a taste of the Uno craze this past weekend, when all were roped into a marathon session with K-bao at Golden Gate Park. Forty minutes and multiple deck re-uses later, an exhausted Uncle Dave finally emerged victorious from the single game. K-bao's first response? "Just one more game? Great, I'll shuffle."

Game On

Let the record show that, after a single weekend of practice with pop-up PUGG soccer nets (acquired at what is undoubtedly an 85% gross margin from the Sports Basement), little K-bao scored four goals in her weekend soccer match.

K-Pop was volunteer coaching / refereeing the game and so couldn't go overboard with enthusiasm, but nonetheless thought it appropriate to throw his arms up and and bellow "GOOOOOOAL" each time the ball hit the back of the net.

Here K-bao puts on her game face before the match:

"I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee"

Sisterhood

K-bao has grown significantly in her "big sisterhood" over the past year. 

While she has always enjoyed entertaining and teaching her sister, more recently, she's taken on a greater caretaker role. On weekend mornings now, for example, she will often usher sister C-bao - both of whom are pre-7 a.m. wakers - into her room to play blocks for an hour or more to let the K-folks get another hour of rest.

"You know I put a "C" on it so you wouldn't knock it over, right?"

One recent Sunday, sister C-bao was clearly feeling anxious about being dropped off at her Sunday school class; her normal volunteer teacher wasn't there. K-bao, who was watching from the door before going into her own classroom, rushed in to comfort her sister. "I got it Dad," she told K-Pop confidently, "you can go now." K-Pop smiled and returned to his service. Afterwards, he discovered that K-bao remained by her sister's side through the entire morning, choosing to stay behind rather than go join her own peers to ensure her sister was comfortable.

Going through the daily lotion and sunscreen ritual together

While her sister can still drive her to the brink, and she certainly isn't beyond appropriating C-bao's snacks from time to time through a combination of charm, deceit and dexterity, to the K-folks' delight, by and large K-bao is a protective, loving, playful force in her little sister's life.

Feeling comfortable