Christmas in Miami 2010

We had a lovely time in Miami this year to celebrate Christmas with Gong-Gong, Po-po, Uncle Kevin, Auntie Christine, cousins Jules and Chloe, Bo-yei (aka Uncle Henry), and other family and friends. Very bummed to discover that we were having too much fun at our visit with Auntie's Andrea and Ana, and baby Natalie to document with pictures! But below are some memories in no particular order.


Luca hanging poolside with his sand toys. I think he looks like a little Thai boy in his towel sarong.


The Chakravarti grandsons (sized Large, Medium, and Small) on the Fong Throne. All three of them rocking the bed head look.



Daddy got to introduce his brother and sons to Coach Shula and take a picture with the Superbowl Trophies. Luca was much more impressed with their very cool ferris wheel and christmas decorations, Chloe was happy that she got cookies; Nico was annoyed that we wouldn't let him crawl around, and Rishi slept thru the whole thing!

Luca adores his cousin Chloe next to the Christmas tree at Indian Creek.

Nico palling around with Gong Gong at the greek restaurant:

Wisdom at the kitchen table from Uncle Henry,PoPo, Auntie Jackie, Uncle Bill and Gong Gong.

The very loud and hysterical turkey carve off.

An ill Nico shows little patience for one of his gifts from Bo-Yei.

This year, we gave out matching Fong Family Sweatshirts. Doesn't everyone look nice? And so practical for Miami!

Jules and Chloe looking all grown up...

Luca and Chloe on the airplane ride at Santa's Enchanted Forest. They schemed and planned together while waiting for the rides about how they were going to yell at each turn.

Running around at Bal Harbour Mall.
(isn't it weird how Chloe is always wearing pink, and Luca is always wearing green? Seriously, if you look back at old posts in this blog this is always the case!)

Christine's lovely family at Rustic Inn.

Nico hanging out with Bo Yei.

Luca Turns 3!

Our little boy is already 3 years old...he's had so much change in his life in the past year with a new baby brother and a new school and we are very proud of what a sweet little boy he is turning into. Here are some highlights of the past year.

Luca Turns 3! from Agnish Chakravarti on Vimeo.

Nico's Annaprashan Ceremony

We recently visited Papu Kaku in Chicago to meet L & N's new baby cousin. While we were there, we celebrated with Nico's Annaprashan ceremony.

This ceremony is a Bengali tradition that marks the first time that a baby eats solid food (Nico has already eaten solids, but this time he ate payesh, a rice pudding).

Here is a video of the ceremony - Nico's was short and sweet in comparison to his brother's. First, his uncle feeds him the rice pudding. Then he chooses from among several items out in front of him on a plate - a book, pen, some coins, and some dirt - that indicate his prospects in life. If he chose the book or pen, he is supposed to become a scholar; the coins indicate wealth, i.e. becoming a merchant or businessman; and the dirt signifies becoming a land owner. Watch to see what he picked...

Nico's First Solid Meal

Catching up on some old videos...here is Nico enjoying (sort of) his first solid meal. It's a zucchini that his Dad grew in the garden.

Holiday Photos from Judith!

I'm very depressed that the last post from us was 'End of summer" and now we are shooting straight into snowy pictures! But, nevertheless, here's a new gallery of great photos that Judith took of our family during the first snowfall. As usual, Luca loved the snow, but sadly, Nico doesn't like it :( he makes a very cold sound and was generally miserable...not that you can see from the photos!

http://fernstromphotography.com/viewing/?slideshowID=111657

The password to view the gallery is Nico. Enjoy!

End of Summer

Sadly, the end of summer is already here (actually, did we even have summer this year)? This was by far the shortest and least enjoyable summer since we moved to Seattle 7 years ago...at best we got 6 weeks of real sunshine this year and are already back to cool fall weather.

But here are some pictures of the boys from late summer...we'll continue updating...


Helping with the zucchini harvest.







That's a giant zucchini, not a tiny baby (mommy probably wishes it was the other way around).



Early morning jam session. Luca has started putting on one his baby Mozart toys, brings out a drum and then saying that "I'm going to play a Chinese song"....then starts another song and says "Now I'm going to play a Spanish song"...we have no idea where this is coming from...



As much as I would like to retire, something tells me that I don't exactly have the Jackson 5 going here...



Nico on lead guitar, with strangely apprpriate hair.

Thamma's Visit

Thamma came to visit while Mommy was away for work...we were working too hard to take too many pictures but we had lots of fun!

Some happy snuggles.

Laundry time.

More playtime.

Face grabbing.

On the last day Nico gave Thamma a big hickey on her cheek as a going away present.

Playing Catch-Up - Summer 2010 So Far

It's been a really busy summer - so busy that we've barely had anytime to get all of our fun pictures onto the blog. Here are a bunch of pictures all at once.

Nico has been spending most of the summer playing with Ayi during the days.

As you can see, they've been having lots of fun.





Meanwhile, Luca has been putting in lots of long hours at the office...here he is getting picked up at quitting time.






Sometimes Han Han Guh Guh comes over to play...we love that!



Nico has been a more active boy these days...he loves a nice soothing bath.



Getting excited about spending more independent time.





"Did I just do that?"



We've even been traveling this summer. Here's Luca with his friend OJ, taking in an especially good episode of Dora. They last met when they were about 6 months old.



Playing in Central Park.



We've also been having fun with our PEPS friends. Nico is still on the sidelines for the most part, but he is getting more interested in everyone.



Lot's of fun water play.






Luca has started soccer practice at both school and on the weekends.



Daddy gets a work out too...



Here is the entire Toddler class at pre-school making a mad dash down the hill.







Showing some good form on dribbling skills.



Taking a well deserved break.



Uniforms and everything...





Water activities have also been a big part of ther. After spending much of June in the 60's and 70's, summer finally arrived and it was hot enough to venture out to water parks.











And the beach.