Life on an Island

2020-9-20

14-year-old at bedtime:

I have a confession to make. Sometimes I feel bad and I just take it out on you. It's not because of you. It's just because you're there.

2020-10-20

14-yr-old: You said we were mistakes.

2019-5-29

Mom's reading a novel, and the 13-year-old walked in to the room.

Mom: If you find yourself really liking a girl like you never felt before, and then find out that she's from a family that emphasizes their high social class as being the top 5% of the world, what would you do?

13-yr-old: I would eat duck, eat skittles, and drink orange juice.

Mom: What about the girl? Would you do anything about her - persist, give up or ?

Since a friend's sudden passing in December 2017, I have not touched this blog till now. There were so many feelings that I needed time to process in solitude, the shock at the loss of a vibrant life, the inexplicable feelings about time gone, etc. etc. Eventually I just kept reading novels, immersing in and learning from others' stories and experiences, keeping life simple. Time doesn't stop for anything or anyone, so aging goes on and kids grow, now looking taller than me.

These toddler days in Michigan in 2008-2011, especially in comparison with their current stage of teenage growth, seem so idyllic and far away like a dream.

We just came back from a wedding in Michigan, now in May 2019, 11 years after we moved there for our postdocs. We arrived in Ann Arbor two days prior to the wedding in order to visit all the places we frequented for family activities including the botanic garden and arboretum, Huron River Park, and places we lived.

We really missed the sunflowers in front of our old place and along the road to the Domino's farm. However, none remains today.

Wonder why they got rid of these beautiful summer companions, which now only live in our memories and images.

February 16, 2018 Chinese New Year

Mom to 11-yr-old: Your head seems much bigger, almost the size of mine.

13-yr-old: But too bad there's not much inside, just fluff.

Mom to 11-yr-old (glaring at 13-yr-old): Your head seems to have grown.

13-yr-old (sniggering): It is swollen with his ego.

之前用MacBook的Safari怎麼都進不了自己的部落格帳號,真是嚇到了,擔心之前所有資料都遺失了.雖然沒有什麼特別的文章,但是小朋友過去說的話一點一滴,在他們成長的這麼快的時候,總是覺得很珍貴.

暑假已經過完了現在是秋天.  

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving.

What we're thankful for --

11-yr-old: presents, video games, food, and books

The 13-yr-old and the 11-yr-old have been fighting in the summer time. Before the younger left for camping for 3 days:

11-yr-old: I hope you get blown up!

13-yr-old: I hope you get eaten by a bear!

Mom: 

  Park in the early summer

2017-5-11 at night past bedtime

Kids: We want to watch the cartoon (as per every night on "Our Family") before bed!

Mom: It's too late today!

10-yr-old: Tonight is the last night you can hang out and watch the cartoon with me as a 10-year-old!

12-yr-old: YES YES! last night of him as a 10-yr-old.

4-17-2017

Me: You took the most cheesy part of the bread!!

12-year-old: (licked through the piece) Yup.

10-30-2016

10-yr-old was playing and jumping in parents room.

Nails

Today the soon-to-be-12-yr-old, sitting in the washroom when mom made her cut her nails, suddenly confessed:

"Everytime I cut my nails I would feel a little guilty because I remembered that once two years ago, I was angry at my brother and I was out for revenge. So when I cut my nails I did it in his room and spread my cut nails all over his floor in his room. That night, he was jumping over the floor saying how the floor was prickly. It was really funny to me at that time but ever since I felt guilty about it."

Booger

Mom asked the soon-to-be-10-yr-old to make a confesstion too now big sister did one. He said he has a lot of it but he won't. Mom made him do one.

Today we went to Mill Hill for a walk. Mill Hill has a very steep hill, but after getting through it the view at the top is nice.

When the car arrived at the park parking lot,

Mom: Did anyone else bring water?

Kids: No, too heavy.

Mom: How can you not bring water for a walk?

One day in Cirrellion City a guy called Chad was washing the dishes in his small apartment building. He did not like it there because it was very small. He also had to sleep with his little brother Coco. Coco always screamed at his teddy bear because he thought it stole his gummy bears but actually he ate them without knowing. Their mom was really awesome exept that she slept a lot. It was very rare when she was walking around. She was nice because she gave special treats when Chad least expected it. Then there was his dad who was mostly working. He worked at the plumbing toilet factory. It was a very common job. You just go around to a house and plumb around and unplug it. There family had two pets, one was a cat and one was a parrot. The cat was always chasing the parrot.

While he was washing the dishes he heard a clunk sound. It was very loud, then Coco ran right up to him and said that somebody had dropped his own ipod. He yelled ''what the heck Coco'' and stormed out of the room, the onn he did not hear was "somebody" . His cheeks were all red and it looked like he was a explouding volcano ! He was very angry.    

(To Be Continued)

Coco was sad because he was not the one who dropped it. It was Chad' s best friend Gerald. Gerald was actually a theif but no one new that. A lot of people liked Gerald and never thought that it was him. A lot of people were complaining about there things being stolen. They all thought it was a boy named Stormy because all he ever did was bully people. Gerald wanted to steal Chad's ipod but accidentally knocked it over. Chad picked up his broken ipod and thought I do not think Coco would do that because he has never done anything like that before. Then he saw the open window and thought to himself, I thought I closed this window earlier. Then he saw a piece of a ripped cloth  and said is'nt this Gerald' s shirt? Then he thought this was the only shirt he had seen in this whole city and it was on Gerald...

(To Be Continued)

Today at lunch I played hockey and  hurt my hand. It was when X accidentally slid his hockey stick right up mine and both of our sticks clashed against my hand. It hurt a lot. X said sorry but G said i faked it till i showed him my huge cut. We had assembly because M is leaving the school.. He has been working at our school for over 8 years . I can not believe that N is in Mexico! He gets a lot of sun and we get clouds and rain. I also want him to come back soon because he does not know that M is leaving the school. He will be sad because N likes M. He will be like this. He would not like to hear the news. J has been very quit but he keeps saying he is fine. Something is going on with him. It is weird.