Anna / Christian / Chloe / Aidan

Happy Birthday Chloe and Aidan

2011-06-26T16:32:00.002-05:00

As Chloe's and Aidan's birthday is on June 30th, we had their birthday party today. Happy Birthday!

This year, in addition to the obligatory water slide and bouncy in the backyard, we rented a climbing structure which was a big hit with all the kids.

A big thank you to all of Chloe's and Aidan's friends who came over to celebrate with them.

The link to all the pictures I took can be found here.

2011 Angelman Walk-A-Thon

2011-05-22T19:11:00.004-05:00

Past Saturday, we participated in the annual Angelman Walk-A-Thon. Here's a picture of Team Aidan:

We were walking on behalf of everybody who generously donated and sponsored us. Aidan is saying thank you to all of you!

Here's a picture of all the Angels that were represented at the walk in Long Island:

The walk was organized very well, with lots of food and activities. Chloe got her dose of facepainting...

As another highlight, my hobby (Angelware LLC, check out our website at www.angelwarellc.com) was co-sponsor of the local walk.

I leave you with another picture of my personal Angel (and Anna):

As always, here's a link to all the photos.

Seal Beach

2011-04-24T17:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we got back from our vacation in Seal Beach, CA. We spent a week in a beautiful house right by the beach with Anna's family.

Our house is the middle one.

The kids (Chloe and Aidan, and Alissa, Amanda and Ashley) loved playing at the playground which was just down the beach from our house:

Here some more pictures of the kids playing:

Monday we went to Legoland, which was great fun for Chloe and Alissa.

Wednesday we took an excursion to Disneyland.

And here photos of some more highlights, including seeing a seal on the beach in front of our house, and Chloe jumping in the waves.

All the photos and videos can be found here.

Christmas in Germany

2011-01-08T13:13:00.002-05:00

After a long hiatus (mainly because nothing exciting happened to us), here's some info on the recent trip to Germany. We spent Christmas with my parents and sister in Herrenberg.

The kids had a great time, especially because we had a white Christmas, and there was lots of playing in the snow involved.

After the four days at my parents, we went to Lenggries (1 hour south of Munich) for some skiing. Chloe had her first experience on skis, and she loved it:

Anna and I went skiing for two days as well, and we saw some spectacular scenery due to the interesting weather (fog in the valley, and sun on the top of the mountain):

I took many more photos and also quite a few videos, all of which can be seen here.

Skiing Anybody

2010-10-09T21:43:00.002-05:00

This morning, after we had to cancel all of our activities because Chloe was sick, Anna decided to check out the ski clothes she had bought for the kids last year. This is a preview of our trip in December where we plan to have Chloe take some skiing lessons in Lenggries (one hour south of Munich), and maybe go sledding with Aidan. Here's Chloe:

And here's Aidan. The only sharp photo I could get of him was while he was lying on the floor:

And here are both of them together:

Our Montana Vacation

2010-09-12T18:54:00.004-05:00

Finally, with a one-week delay, I'm getting around to creating this blog entry about our vacation in Montana the week before Labor Day.

Anna rented a georgeous 5000 sqft house on the side of a mountain outside Kalispell, which is 1/2 hour drive from Glacier National Park. We stayed there with Linda and our friends Stephanie and Ray and their daughter Cambria and son Logan.

Cambria and Chloe got along extremely well and were pretty much inseparable during the stay.

As for activities, one of the highlights of the trip was a one-hour horseback ride on a mountain path. The kids especially loved it.

Another great day trip was a boatride on Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.

We stopped on Wild Horse Island for a nature hike:

Ray and our boat captain were looking very hard for some wild animals, but we were not that lucky.

Lastly, we also drove into Glacier National Park, and went on a 3-mile hike to see the Hidden Lake, which went very well considering we were hiking with 3 5-year olds and a 9-month old.

Here are family pictures of the Pache/Hsu's, the Yee/Chiu's and of Linda.

And here's the link to all the pictures on flickr (warning, there are 386 photos!).

Happy Birthday Chloe and Aidan!

2010-06-30T08:24:00.002-05:00

Today (Wednesday) is Chloe's and Aidan's 5th birthday. They had their birthday party this past Sunday.

Note Aidan wasn't around when his cake showed up, because he simply did not want to leave our waterslide / puddle pool.

The highlight of the party for Chloe though were the pony's we had rented:

The folks that came with the ponys also brought a sheep, a pig and two bunnys:

As Sunday was a super-hot day, clearly the waterslide was the main attraction though:

Thanks to all our guests for coming. Chloe and Aidan had a blast and were very happy to be with all of their friends. Here's the link to the remaining pictures.

Last Vacation Post (Vienna)

2010-06-25T20:20:00.002-05:00

This is my last post of the European Vacation. After Berlin, we visited Vienna. One of the highlights of our trip was the famous amusement park, the Prater:

Here's Anna and Chloe on a rollercoster ride:

...and Anna and Aidan in the bumpercar:

One of the other highlights of Vienna was a horse-carriage ride through the city:

Lastly, we visited 'Schloss Schoenbrunn':

I think Chloe liked dressing up more than Aidan...

Last but not least (again), here's the link to all our vacation photos.

Vacation (Berlin 2)

2010-06-21T22:44:00.002-05:00

This is my second (and last) post about the Berlin leg of our vacation. The other great thing we did was that Ursula took us to the place where she goes free-climbing in the summer. First she showed off her skills:

And then we got Chloe into a harness. Here's a test if it holds her properly:

So she was ready, and off she went:

She did really good and thoroughly enjoyed herself. Here she is afterwards with proud daddy:

And if you missed it in the previous post, here's the link to all the pictures.

Vacation (Berlin)

2010-06-13T20:38:00.002-05:00

I will be publishing a few posts regarding our vacation which ended last Sunday and led us to Berlin, Vienna and Duesseldorf. First of all if you want to see all the pictures upfront, go here.

We started our trip in Berlin. We stayed in a rented apartment across the street from my sister's place. Here are our kids suffering from jetlag on day 1:

The two highlights of our trip to Berlin that I took the most photos of were our visit to the Berlin Zoo, and Chloe's first freeclimbing experience.

Here are Anna, Chloe and Aidan in the zoo:

Chloe loved the elephants...

...and the petting zoo:

Aidan enjoyed the texture of the leaves...

...and staring contests with auntie Ursula:

Oh, and posing in front of the stone gorilla:

OK. That's enough for today, next post will be about Chloe the climber.

Chloe's May Show

2010-05-19T19:10:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday Chloe's school was hosting their annual May Show where every class does a performance. All the performances were great, and here's a video of Chloe's class. I'm sure you'll recognize Chloe, she's the reindeer coming out of the door last:

I also took some photos. Here are some of the preparation prior to the show:

And here are some pictures taken after the show. This is how it mostly looks when I'm trying to get a picture of Chloe and Aidan together:

Chloe the hula girl:

Both of them:

And here's the link to the remaining photos.

Walk on Manor Beach

2010-05-06T12:22:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we had Anna's parents and aunt/uncle/cousin over. As a proud tradition, we drove over to Manor Beach Park which is a nice part on the Larchmont shore of the Long Island Sound.

Here's Chloe with her grand-dad:

Aidan with Anna (and the leash-teddy):

Anna's parents:

Aunt Grace and uncle George:

...and cousin Katherine being silly:

And here the link to the remaining photos.

Scary Friday

2010-05-03T10:16:00.002-05:00

Now that I have a few days of distance, it's easier for me to write about what happened on Friday night. Around 10PM, Anna called me into Aidan's room, where he was obviously suffering from an extremely severe seizure. He was foaming from his mouth, his breathing was irregular, his body was shaking and twitching, and he was not approachable. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, so we called 911 right away. A few minutes later we had paramedics and police in our house, and they took Aidan and Anna in the ambulance to the hospital. They sedated him and put him on an IV. I woke up Chloe and we drove to the hospital to meet up with Anna and Aidan. By the time we arrived Aidan was sleeping peacefully. After consultation with the doctor, Chloe and I went back home, and Anna stayed with Aidan. He woke up around 5AM on Saturday morning, at which time Chloe and I picked him and Anna up and brought them back home. Aidan was fine again, and we ended up having a great weekend (more about that in a later post). However, this was a stark reminder how quickly the seeming normalcy of our life can be interrupted by really scary events. There was no specific cause to Aidan's severe seizure. Let's hope it'll be a while until something like this happens again!

Sleep-Over

2010-04-12T19:42:00.004-05:00

So this weekend we had a major event. Chloe's friend Elizabeth from school stayed over Saturday night for a sleep-over. Chloe was so excited she literally was sitting in front of the window Saturday afternoon awaiting the Upton's arrival:

Elizabeth and Chloe had a great time. They went to bed around 9, but were still heard giggling and chatting until at least 10PM, when they finally fell asleep. Here's a picture of the girls:

The next morning, when the Upton's came to pick Elizabeth up, all kids had a great time playing in the backyard. The hammock was a great toy:

The kids also had fun with the various riding toys:

Last but not least here's a photo of me with the kids on Sunday at the World Financial Center (and yes I know I need to get a haircut):

Some more photos can be found here.

Easter

2010-04-04T11:52:00.002-05:00

Today's Easter. So first we went to church (first time this year!). Then the Easter bunny hid some Easter eggs in our back yard and Aidan and Chloe searched (and found) them all. Here are two videos:

A few more can be found here.

Water...

2010-03-30T16:04:00.002-05:00

And it finally happened. We had a totally flooded basement today. It was a matter of time, considering the age of the house and the extent of the recent rainfall we had here.

First a picture of the basement. And no, we don't have a reflecting floor, that's a solid four inches of water:

After trying for 15 minutes to get the water out via an empty garbage can (what was I thinking!) I went to the local hardware store and bought this little guy:

So now I'm creating a little man-made lake in our backyard:

Meanwhile, it keeps raining. This is our front walkway:

By now, the water went down by maybe an inch. Three more to go. Keep your fingers crossed for Mr. Pump:

Time Flies

2010-03-29T13:40:00.001-05:00

Just found these photos from 2 1/2 years ago:

Addition

2010-03-28T19:22:00.002-05:00

I'm becoming quite lazy blogging. So here are some photos about an addition (not to our family, to our house). We're almost done, we have moved in pretty much and are very happy with it.

Here's our new master bedroom:

And here's a peek preview of our new master bathroom (there's still a little work left, and we're awaiting the shower door):

But Anna and I are not the only beneficiaries. Aidan has gotten a whole new room of his own as well:

He of course is sleeping on the bottom bunk. Chloe actually now likes to have 'sleepovers' in his room and is sleeping in the top bunk.

Chloe is benefitting only indirectly. She has her room back which was, for the past three months, filled with our furniture and clothes.

Last but not least, here's a peek of our sitting area/office which you have to walk through to get to the new bathroom/bedroom. I took the photo while we're still organizing, so lots of stuff on the floor:

Snowman

2010-02-21T16:16:00.002-05:00

We still have some snow left from our few snowstorms this Winter which Linda put to good use. Last week she had a friend over with two other kids, and they built a snowman. Here are some pictures:

Here's Chloe enjoying the swing:

And Aidan eating a little snack:

Birthday Party

2010-01-13T12:44:00.002-05:00

This month is birthday month. Chloe and Aidan are invited to three parties. The first (Sarah and Ellie's) was last Saturday. Here are the birthday girls (they're twins):

The party was in Mamaroneck. Lots of physical activity had everybody enjoying the event:

Chloe did some rock-climbing...

...and tried out the parallel bars:

Aidan enjoyed the dancing will all the other kids around:

And here are the remaining pictures.

Bescherung 2

2010-01-03T09:08:00.002-05:00

(Bescherung - I don't think there's a good English translation, but it's the event of handing out presents during Christmas in German)

...and it's the second because we didn't bring the presents we had for the kids to Vegas. So we had another present-hand-out-event on Tuesday night. Here are some pics:

Aidan likes his dinosaur and megaphone:

Chloe loves her new baby. It eats and drinks and pees and poops. Sounds like lots of fun...

Anna with her new stand-up freezer:

How did Anna know I was such a huge Seinfeld fan? (It's the complete box set)

And Linda is happy with her Friends DVD's and new handbag:

And here's the link to the remaining photos.

Christmas in Vegas

2009-12-30T20:48:00.002-05:00

This Monday we got back from a week-long trip to Las Vegas. We stayed in Anna's parent's house in Henderson. Our activities included a trip to the strip, many family gatherings,a visit of Avatar in IMAX 3-D, and some gambling for Linda and Anna. And of course, all-you-can-eat-buffets.

Here are Chloe and Aidan:

Here's our (real) Christmas tree:

Here's Chloe with her great-grandmother:

Group photo of everybody (prior to Katherine and her family's arrival):

Anna, Chloe and Alissa having a blast (I think because of the tickle-me-ernie toy):

Here are the youngest members of the Hsu/Na/Wang clan:

Isn't that laugh infectous?

As always, here's the link to the remaining photos.

Addition

2009-12-16T22:41:00.002-05:00

We had, for a long time, wanted to add another bedroom and bathroom to our house. After extensive consideration, we figured the middle of winter would be the perfect time to do so. As a result, this is how our house is looking right now:

And here the view from our backyard:

We still have our Christmas lights out though to make it at least look a little festive:

Wandern

2009-11-22T20:38:00.002-05:00

(That's German for 'hiking')

I used to do that a lot with my parents and sister when I was a kid, and I guess now that I'm a parent I'll do it to my kids...

Last weekend we had as beautiful a Mid-November day as I can remember. So Anna suggested we explore the 'Leatherstocking' trail near where we live.

The foliage was in full force, and we all had a great time.

I'm sure we'll do this again (maybe next year). Here as always the remaining photos I took.

Pinkalicious

2009-11-15T20:05:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, we went into the city to see an Off-Broadway show.

We went with Linda, and also joining us were Chloe's classmates Elizabeth and Michael with their brother Daniel and their parents. Of course this was mainly an event for the girls:

Here's Chloe with one of the stars of the show, Mrs. Pink:

Here are the Upton's after the show on the way to a Sicilian restaurant where we had a nice and relaxing early dinner (even though I'm sure it wasn't as relaxing for the other patrons to have five toddlers running all over the place).

Here are the remaining photos.

Catch-Up

2009-11-09T20:06:00.002-05:00

So this is the last of my catch-up posts. In early October, my sister was in the U.S. to visit us. Here's her and Linda with the kids:

And here she is trying to contain Aidan:

The other two events were the Harvest Festival of Chloe's school where Anna and I had duty selling drinks:

And lastly, one weekend, Cherry came to visit us, and we had some fun at the playground...

And as always, here's the link to the other photos.

My Birthday

2009-11-03T21:39:00.002-05:00

No congratulations please, it's been almost a week. However as I was lazy posting, I'm now catching up and moving back in time. Last Thursday we enjoyed a very nice dinner with our friends Heike, Axel and Lennart.

Afterwards, we went to visit the great Jack-O-Lantern Blaze, which was an outdoor exhibition of thousands of carved pumpkins.

It was a lot of fun, and everybody enjoyed it, especially because the weather cooperated and it was nice and mild. Here's everybody (except Chloe and Lennart who were too short to be on this photo :-) ).

And as always, here's the link to all the photos I took.

Halloween

2009-11-01T16:30:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was Halloween. Our neighbours had closed their street for a street party, and invited us. Here's us in our costumes:

We had a great party, and contributed our bouncy-castle for the kiddie's entertainment. Here's a video with Aidan trying to maintain his footing (video taken with my new Canon T1i):

Here's Anna in her full costume:

There were plenty of young girls, so at times the street looked like princess-central:

And here are all the photos I took.

Bad me...

2009-10-20T13:49:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in so long, so here's a Chloe and Aidan photo until the next real post (may be this weekend as we're going to the Fall Harvest Festival of Chloe's school).

How Do You Like Them Apples?

2009-09-27T14:23:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we went apple picking to an orchard in New Jersey. We had a good time because the weather cooperated, and we had great company. Here's all of us but Jay who took the photo:

Besides apple picking, there were also many other attractions, including pony rides. I like Chloe's form. Doesn't she look comfortable?

Here are some more random shots:

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And as always, here's the link to all the photos.

It's Only Rock and Roll

2009-09-11T15:06:00.002-05:00

During our recent vacation in Ocean Grove, Chloe had a great time playing with our neighbor's daughter Mia. A highlight of their collaboration was this great rock and roll performance, complete with the most amazing sand-shovel guitar play ever...

2009 09 Mia and Chloe Performance from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Vacation / End of Summer

2009-09-07T07:15:00.002-05:00

This year we decided to spend the end of Summer in our house at the New Jersey Shore in Ocean Grove.

Anna's parents were there for the week as well.

We enjoyed a week of going to the beach, having good meals, mostly in Asbury Park, and frequent trips to the playground.

Last but not least, Chloe enjoyed playing with our neighbour's daughter, Mia. Here's them relaxing in front of a DVD after a tough day of playing.

Here are a few more pictures I like:

And here are the remaining pictures.

Orlando Part 2

2009-08-22T08:34:00.002-05:00

OK, after Sea World and a week of Angelman Conference, we spent Sunday at the Magic Kingdom.

Here's the proof:

We got to see lots of characters running around the park:

Here's Aidan at the begin of the day:

...and here in the afternoon. "Another ride?"

Chloe checking out what Minnie Mouse has in her fridge:

And here are all the photos.

Orlando Part 1

2009-08-11T09:20:00.002-05:00

Our trip to Orlando has been over for a week, and I finally managed to upload the photos yesterday. I'll do a little multi-part posting. I have to stretch the posts about the trip because nothing exciting has been happening since we got back (which is good I guess).

As you know our main purpose of the Orlando trip was to attend the Angelman Conference. However we did a few side trips, the first of which led us to Seaworld. Here's a picture of an impressive water-based creature:

And here's another one:

Oops. I think I linked to the wrong photos. Here we go:

Here's the family while we were watching the Shamu show:

Here's a link to the remaining photos. This link includes the Disneyworld photos. No peaking please as those will be subject of a consecutive post.

Angelman / Disney Preview

2009-08-03T20:36:00.002-05:00

We're just back from our trip to Orlando where we attended the Angelman Conference and spent a day in the Magic Kingdom. Here's a photo as a preview to a more detailed posting once I recover from the trip. See if you recognize anybody...

Carnivale

2009-07-06T11:37:00.002-05:00

Friday evening we decided to visit a local carnival. The proceeds went to the local fire department, and it was in a beautiful location (by the Long Island Sound in Mamaroneck).

Chloe and Aidan got to go onto a few rides, and they had a great time. The most amazing thing was the difference in Chloe's courage from a few months ago when we went to a similar carnival in Pennsylvania. At that time, she was very afraid of most rides, and would only go if Aidan came as well. This time, she wanted to go on every ride, alone or not. Here's her and Aidan together:

She's almost too big for this one:

And here she's by herself on a rollercoaster:

I also made a video of that very rollercoaster ride:

2009 07 Chloe in Rollercoaster from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

And here are the remaining photos (some taken by me, some by Linda).

Happy Birthday Chloe and Aidan

2009-06-28T19:54:00.002-05:00

In a proud American tradition, we celebrated the 4th Birthday of Chloe and Aidan before it is actually happening (they turn 4 on June 30th). We hosted a garden party on Saturday in our back yard. Thanks to Anna's purchasing abilities we had acquired an inflatable water slide and an inflatable bouncer. So only the weather had to cooperate for the party to be a success. Considering that it had been raining for about 2 months straight we ended up super-lucky with the possibly first dry day of this summer.

Our guests were a mix of Chloe's and Aidans classmates, friends and neighbours. All in all we had 15+ kids and their parents. The water slide turned out to be the biggest hit.

All in all, we hope everybody had a great time. We were thankful that so many of our friends showed up. Here's a family picture including current and past child care.

And here is a link to all the remaining photos (some taken by me and some by Linda).

Pepsi Sculpture Park

2009-06-21T17:56:00.003-05:00

We maximized a rain-free period of day's Father's Day to visit the Sculpture Park at Pepsico Headquarters in Purchase, NY. Here are a few pictures (shot with the iPhone 3G NOT S).

Vacation - Leg 3 (Duesseldorf)

2009-06-05T08:16:00.002-05:00

We spent the last few days staying with my very good friend Matthias in Hilden. I hope he had as good as time as we did, considering that we caused a slight discoloration of his carpet as well as some trouble with his neighbours. The highlight of our stay was that I could go shopping at Peek and Cloppenbug in Duesseldorf, where I can find clothes that fit me well.

But kidding aside, the highlight of our stay was of course the BBQ on Saturday which Kai and Martina hosted. It was great to see so many of my German friends together, and cool to meet new babies and kids.

Here are a few highlights.

Everybdoy's enjoying food, drink and great weather:

Great to spend some time with my goddaughter Jadine (Matthias' little girl):

Matthias looking quite comfortable:

The rest of the photos can be found here.

Vacation - Leg 2 (Paris)

2009-06-03T21:10:00.002-05:00

To continue the vacation post, the second leg of our recent Tour de Europe was Paris, France. It has to be said that vacation with the kids certainly is different. We spent a lot of time on playgrounds, and also made a park (Jardin de Luxembourg) a daily trip. That park was a children's delight. They had a huge playground, pony rides and a carousel so the kids loved it.

As for sightseeing, we pretty much walked everywhere. The kids walked at times, but mostly got a ride in our double stroller which worked out well.

Here are a few highlights:

At the Louvre:

Picknick in front of the Eiffel Tower:

Aidan's first pony ride:

Mommy gets a kiss, and Chloe attempts to smile:

And here is a link to the remaining Paris photos.

Vacation - Leg 1 (Herrenberg)

2009-05-29T19:50:00.002-05:00

Our vacation was so long (for American standards) that I have to split the post into three. First we visited my parents (and sister) in Herrenberg. We had a nice few days with visits to the local playground, to Boeblingen and to downtown Herrenberg. It's always nice to be in Germany when the weather's nice.

Here's the day of our arrival. Anna's not quite over the jetlag yet...

My sister showing off her winning smile:

Chloe is always helpful:

And here's the link to the other photos. These are not all photos as I'm having problems with the upload to Flickr, but I'm working on it.

Vacation

2009-05-25T16:31:00.002-05:00

We're back from our vacation. While I'm still uploading and weeding out photos and videos, here's a preview of what's to come:

Chloe's May Show Rehearsal

2009-05-12T20:51:00.002-05:00

Chloe's school has a May Show next week. Unfortunately we won't be able to be there which Chloe is pretty disappointed about. However, Anna made it to a rehearsal today and took the following video. Her class is performing a Polish dance, so I guess the music and singing is a Polish song. Chloe is wearing the black pants and purple top:

2009 05 Chloes Dance Rehearsal from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Exciting Weekend / Random Picture

2009-05-10T19:14:00.002-05:00

Friday we all played outside in our backyard, and also finally got to meet our neighbors a little better. They have a four-year old (Henry) and a seven-year old (Katherine). Hopefully we'll be able to spend more time together during the summer.

Yesterday we met our friends Heike and Axel and their son Lennart (5 year old) for lunch, and the result was our first sleep-over. They were invited to a grown-up party and so Lennart stayed with us from Saturday to Sunday. We had a good time and Lennart was a super-easy guest.

Sunday I didn't make breakfast for Anna for Mother's Day, but I bought it from Starbucks. And in the afternoon my friend Mark who's getting his PHD in Cambridge, UK visited us.

And I managed not to take a single photo the entire weekend. However here's an iPhone shot of Chloe and Aidan a few weekends ago in Ocean Grove:

Chloe's First Car

2009-04-28T12:10:00.002-05:00

So we thought with Chloe being almost 4 it's time for her first car. To be more precise, Anna picked up this electric car from Craigslist for free. The only caveat was that the battery was dead. Well, $60 later we had the following experience yesterday:

2009 04 Chloe in Car 1 from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

And here is Aidan's attempt. He just doesn't manage to press the foot firm enough onto the gas pedal. Don't let the picture below discourage you, there is an actual movie.

2009 04 Aidan in Car from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

And here are two more of Chloe:

2009 04 Chloe in Car 2 from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

2009 04 Chloe in Car 3 from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Maddie's Birthday

2009-04-26T19:57:00.003-05:00

One week late, but here it goes. Chloe and Aidan were invited to Maddie's 2nd birthday party.

They had a great time. There were lots of activities.

And of course there was pizza.

And here's the birthday girl:

And here's the link to all the photos I took. Unfortunately, I ran out of SD card space before the cake was presented. In our increasingly chaotic household (or as I'm getting older) I misplaced my 8GB SD card, so I had to survive with 2*1GB, which is not that much for today's cameras. Anyway, I guess that's a good excuse to visit J&R one of these days...

Scooter Fun

2009-04-11T11:52:00.002-05:00

As I had Friday off, and Chloe was off of school, we drove Aidan to his school and then headed to Target. I got Chloe a Barbie scooter because it was on sale. We didn't get a helmet because we got one from cousin Katherine in the past. Here's Chloe trying out the scooter. The two almost-crashes indicate that she still has a little learning to do. Also note the beautiful German car in the background...

2009 04 Chloe on Scooter from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

And after Chloe was done, Aidan tried on the helmet. Meanwhile, we cleaned up what looks like an old school-desk which we inherited from the previous owners of the house, and Chloe is playing school. The Wang's may remember the car that can be seen in the background of this video:

2009 04 Aidan with Helmet from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Weekend in Ocean Grove

2009-04-06T11:54:00.003-05:00

We spend the weekend in Ocean Grove, and it was a nice one. We have all gotten over our colds, the sun was out in full force, we even managed to go to the beach. I took a few pictures with my iPhone as I was too lazy to bring my camera.

Here are Anna and the kids at the beach:

Aidan had a great time, he was playing with the sand, and at some point started making a sand-angel:

And Chloe posed for a photo as well:

The other discovery we made was the recent opening of a premium outlet mall nearby. Needless to say we went there and did some shopping. Here I'm killing some time while Anna and Chloe are trying on clothes at Banana Republic:

We also stopped at the Sony store and bought a refurbished portable DVD player. It works:

The kids are both fascinated and distracted. This will be very valuable on our impending trip to Germany and Paris in May.

Random Video

2009-03-30T06:57:00.001-05:00

I feel guilty (yet again) that I haven't posted in almost a month. So here's a random video taken when we were in the Bronx Zoo last year. It's Chloe's experimentation with gravity...

Untitled from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Photoshoot

2009-03-05T22:05:00.002-05:00

Anna 'hired' me this evening to take some headshots of her because she's going to be speaking at some conference, and she needed a photo. While at it, I took some photos of Aidan and Chloe. Here are a few that are somewhat cute:

Aidan Progress

2009-03-02T11:05:00.002-05:00

Something I want to share about Aidan: Yesterday we had one of our typical recession dinners: Anna mixes various frozen Trader Joe's stuff creatively together to create a new meal. Chloe keeps saying: 'Good cook mama' and I have to agree.

So here's a plate of ravioli, some chicken and vegetables in front of Aidan, and I'm about to feed him when he vigorously protests. I wonder, because Aidan never rejects food. Anna finally suggests that he doesn't want to be fed. So I put some food on a fork and put the fork in front of Aidan, and needless to say he grabs it and starts eating. He cannot yet target food very well with the fork himself, but he moves the fork to the plate and I have to assist with getting the food on the fork.

Next I want to help him to get some more ravioli on the fork, and he protests again. He takes his left hand and he points to some carrots on the plate. I was blown away. Not only is he feeding himself with the fork, but he's also telling me what he wants to eat next.

Unfortunately I didn't have my video-camera handy, otherwise I would have made a little film. However it was a moment worth sharing with everybody.

Ocean Grove Weekend

2009-02-21T21:30:00.002-05:00

Last weekend our contractors kicked us out of our house because they needed a weekend to re-paint our kitchen. So we decided to go to Ocean Grove. It was a nice trip, almost felt like a mini-vacation. Unfortunately it was cut short because we forgot Aidan's seizure medication. So we only stayed one night. However, Chloe was inspired to provide some dancing entertainment. Here she goes:

2009 02 Chloe Dancing from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

There are some other videos which I'll upload to Vimeo sooner or later as well. Interestingly these days I don't seem to have the energy anymore to take photos. The only reason why I take videos is because I got this cool FlipVideo MinoHD camera which is tiny and takes reasonable videos. It doesn't have a zoom, which is somewhat limiting, but to compensate for that the low light performance is pretty good, so taking indoor videos is easily possible. Best of all, it takes MP4 and has built-in USB to connect and upload video to the PC. No post-processing required. Just copy to PC and upload to Vimeo and that's it.

Playing in the Snow

2009-02-01T15:38:00.005-05:00

I had a little posting hiatus because of illnesses. First I got sick two weeks ago, and then last Saturday it hit Chloe. She had fever, runny nose and cough, but now she's almost back to healthy (a little cough is left-over). So today we went to have brunch at Balthazar's in Soho with some friends. On our drive home, Chloe and Aidan napped and when we arrived back in Larchmont, they were full of energy for some play in the leftover snow. So while we don't have any hills in our backyard, I ended up pulling them around on a sled. They had fun, even though Aidan fell off once or twice. And I got a good workout out of it.

2009 02 Sledding from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

While we're at it, I found the following video of Chloe making a snow-angel from a few weeks ago:

2009 01 Snowangel Chloe from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

And here's to show how much fun Aidan has in the snow:

2009 01 Aidan in Snow from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Swimming Class

2009-01-11T10:40:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Chloe went to her first swimming class. Last Tuesday she had to show off her skills (or lack thereof) and was promptly assigned to the beginners class (surprise!).

And so Saturday we went to the pool, and Chloe got her first lessons. There were tons of kids in the pool, four per instructor. Chloe liked it very much and she's looking forward to her next lesson.

Here are some videos:

Untitled from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Untitled from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Chris-Chris-Time

2008-12-26T17:45:00.003-05:00

It's Christmas again!

Chloe likes to call it Chris-Chris. We started with going to church on Christmas Eve at 5PM. Our local catholic church had a familiy mass. There was such a large crowd, we were in a secondary room where they had a video transmission of the mass from the actual church. It was nice because that's where most of the parents with kids were, so it was quite noisy and entertaining.

Afterwards, I made cheese fondue.

It was a little chaotic because our fondue pot was still in the basement and it took Anna and I a while to find it. But it was delicious nevertheless, and may become a Christmas tradition. Even though Anna claims that we'll have regular (meat) fondue next year.

Afterwards, we all (i.e. Chloe, Aidan, Anna, Linda and I) gathered around the Christmas tree and the unwrapping began.

Everybody was happy with their presents, and the kids finally got to bed around 10PM.

On Christmas day we just relaxed during the morning, and visited Anna's friends Abha and Wilhelm and their kids Mila and Johan for dinner.

All in all another enjoyable holiday. More pictures can be found here.

Trip to the Zoo

2008-12-14T23:25:00.002-05:00

Today we went to the Bronx Zoo. Anna purchased an annual membership, assuming Chloe and Aidan would enjoy the animals, plus we're only a 15 minute drive away.

We had a nice sunny day, and we got to see some live reindeer, as well as other animals. It's not as huge as the San Diego Zoo of course, but definitely worth the visit.

In addition to having a nice time all around, we were treated to a surprise performance of The Nutckracker while we're having lunch in the Zoo Cafeteria.

Find more photos here.

Christmas Decoration

2008-12-09T21:29:00.003-05:00

This is truly the reason why we decided to move to the 'burbs. We can put lights out at Christmas-time:

Anna insists that this is not over the top, and actually quite stylish because we have all white lights...

...and who am I to disagree with my wife.

We also have our Christmas tree indoors decorated at this point. Look closely at the picture and see if you notice something:

All the ornaments are on the upper half of the tree. Anybody care to guess why that is?

Snow

2008-12-09T21:27:00.001-05:00

We had some snow over the weekends and bundled up the kiddos for some backyard fun. We also had a special guest. Cherry stayed with us over the weekend.

Fire Again...

2008-12-08T09:53:00.003-05:00

To top off an ultra-relaxing weekend, I made a fire again yesterday. This time I splurged and bought the extra-expensive wood from Home Depot ($8 instead of $5). It did make a big difference, the fire burned nice and high, and at the end only ashes were left.

Fireplace from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

By the way, if you click on the 'HD is off' icon you get a link to the HD version of the video on vimeo.com.

St. Nikolaus Update

2008-12-06T08:20:00.001-05:00

...and it looks like Anna and I were nice too. When we woke up this morning we found the following in our dining room. Thanks so much for that, Linda (aeh I mean St. Nikolaus).

St. Nikolaus

2008-12-05T21:42:00.002-05:00

Traditionally in Germany, December 6th is St. Nikolaus. All children put a boot in front of the door on the evening of the 5th (or when it's cold inside the door), and the next morning they either get some candy if they were nice, or a tree branch if they were not nice. I told Chloe about that today and she was so nice to put a shoe out for herself and for Aidan. Needless to say they were both nice so this is what's going to expect them tomorrow:

Dirty Dancing

2008-12-04T20:47:00.005-05:00

So today Chloe showed me a dance she was tought by Linda a while ago. First, here's Chloe all by herself:

Chloe Dancing HD from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Of course, Chloe wanted Linda to dance with here. Here we go:

Chloe and Linda Dancing HD from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

And lastly, here's one of Aidan:

Aidan and Chloe from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Fire!!!

2008-12-01T21:43:00.002-05:00

That's right. We had some interesting fire experiences in the past week. First, Friday a week ago a house on the next street burned down, we could watch it from our bedroom window. It was a sad display. So a few days ago I replaced all smoke detectors in our house and also bought a fire extinguisher. Remember to check your smoke detector batteries!!!

But now to the real reason for the post. To stay with the theme of fire, we finally gave our fireplace a try yesterday:

I had bought some firewood and firestarters from Home Depot, and it all worked reasonably well. Of course the firestarter burned much nicer than the actual wood, but eventually the wood caught fire as well and we had a nice fire going for a while. Aidan was not able to penetrate the mesh doors of our fireplace cover, so it was a safe experience for everybody. Here you have Aidan sitting in front of the fire:

And here are some more photos.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T12:43:00.002-05:00

We (which these days includes Linda, our Au-Pair) went to Havertown to Anna's parents, and the Na's showed up as well.

Uncle George did the honours with the turkey, which was prepared by a Larchmont restaurant, and all we had to do was warm it up. It was delicious:

The afternoon entertainment was provided by the Wii, where Linda proved to be a quick study, and Katherine was giving me a run for my money as the unbeaten Tennis champ.

Some more pictures can be found here.

New purchases

2008-11-23T17:29:00.003-05:00

We're doing what we can to keep the economy humming. We're buying stuff. Does it matter that it's second hand stuff from Craigslist? Anna had two good finds recently. First we got a Step 2 playground for $150. Disassembled, it fit into our gas-guzzler just fine. And last week, she found a Little Tikes Playhouse for $25. She drove to Connecticut after work and disassembled it herself in the dark in her dress clothes.

So finally today, thanks to help from Heike, Axel and Lennart, we assembled both the playground and playhouse in our backyard. Here they are:

Also, as we are still decorating our walls, so for one wall we were inspired by my sister who always decorates with pictures in random frames. This is our attempt at this:

A few more pictures can be found here.

What A Historic Day For America!

2008-11-05T12:01:00.001-05:00

Enough said...

Halloween

2008-11-02T17:21:00.002-05:00

This year Chloe was a fairy, and Aidan a knight. We were invited to a Halloween party of friends of our neighbours. It was lots of fun. Because the weather cooperated so nicely, the kids were playing outside. Unfortunately around 7PM Chloe and Aidan both got cranky, so we had to depart prior to the trick or treating. I didn't get a chance to take too many pictures, but here are a few:

These are all the kids that were at the party:

And here's Chloe playing in the tire swing after it got dark:

The remaining photos can be found here.

Apple Picking

2008-10-26T20:08:00.002-05:00

Today we went apple picking to an Orchard in Westchester. Credit for the idea goes to Anna. We were there with our friends Jay and Pamela who brought their 18 months old daughter Maddie, and our friend Heike with her 5-year old son Lennard. We spent the day selecting some pumpkins, had some yummy doughnuts, and Chloe and Lennard got their face painted. Last but not least ventured into the apple trees and picked some apples. Granted we were a little late in the season, so it was not easy finding some trees that still had apples on them, but once we did Anna, Pamela and Lennard were in their element. Everybody had a great time, and the 65 degrees and sunshine made it a great day all around. The only damper on the day was that about 20 photos into the day my camera battery died. It's a rookie mistake, and I think a spare battery may be on my list of presents for my birthday or Christmas (hint, hint...).

The remaining photos can be found here.

Our Vacation Part 2 - Germany

2008-10-23T21:31:00.003-05:00

Of course, as mentioned in the previous post, the main reason for our recent European vacation was my father's 70th birthday.

We had a great time in Stuttgart, and Chloe and Aidan were happy to see Oma and Opa again.

We spent our time enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. Also of course we had a nice birthday lunch on the 11th. We went to the same Restaurant where we had the lunch after the twin's christening. It seems that we're developing quite a tradition of our kids falling asleep in restaurants:

Here are a few more random pictures:

Finally, here are the remaining photos of the Germany leg of our trip. I now also addressed the previous upload problems and you can find all photos from the Mallorca loeg or our trip here.

Our October Vacation (Part 1) - Mallorca

2008-10-19T17:46:00.002-05:00

Earlier this month we went on a 10 day trip to Europe. Our first stop was a beautiful Spanish island in the Mediterannean, better known for being the main host of the German, English and Skandinavian equivalent of spring break. However, we stayed clear of the beaches and resided in a beautiful Golf Hotel, the Arabella Sheraton. Even though we didn't play golf, the amenities were great. The kids loved the playground and indoor swimming pool, I loved the free wifi in the lobby to play with my iPhone, and Anna liked the comfortable bed in our room. Below the view from our room:

We spent our 5 days visiting the aquarium which was great, a nice yacht harbour and the capital of Mallorca, Palma. Below a few random pictures:

The remainder of my photos are here. I had a problem with the uploading so I'll add the remaining photos soon.

Also soon I'll follow-up with part 2 of our vacation which was in Germany, celebrating the 70th birthday of my dad.

Angelman Research Grants

2008-09-19T14:19:00.002-05:00

As a follow-up from the Angelman Walk-A-Thon and as information for everybody who so generously donated money I wanted to post the following email about which reseach grants are being financed with the money:

Angelman Syndrome Foundation Announces 2008 ASF Research Grant Recipients

The Angelman Syndrome Foundation, Inc., established in 1989, has a long-standing history of funding high-quality, innovate research specific to the causes and therapeutic treatment of Angelman Syndrome. Since its first $10,000 research award in 1996 the ASF has funded over $2.5 million in research projects, a majority of these funds ($2.24 million) in the last three years.

In 2008 the Angelman Syndrome Foundation announced two calls for research proposals. The first call for proposals was targeted specifically for behaviors in Angelman Syndrome. The second call for proposals was broader and more general in scope. After thorough review by the ASF Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) the ASF Board of Directors unanimously approved over $800,000 for 2008 ASF Research Grant funding:

Dr. Chris Oliver

University of Birmingham

Edgbaston, Birmingham , United Kingdom

Establishing the basic principles of effective intervention for difficult behaviour in Angelman syndrome

$78,497

Dr. Ype Elgersma

Erasmus University Medical Center Ratterdam

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Are the neurological symptoms of Angelman Syndrome reversible? An inducible mouse model for Angelman Syndrome

$76,600

Dr. Lynne Bird Dr. Terry Hutchison

Rady Children's Hospital University of California San Francisco

San Diego, CA San Francisco , CA

Levodopa/Carbidopa treatment of children with Angelman Syndrome

$68,565

Dr. Yong-hui Jiang

Duke University Medical Center

Durham, NC

Explore epigenetic therapy of using histone deacetylase inhibitors in the Angelman syndrome mouse model

$98,450

Dr. David Segel

University of California Davis

Davis, CA

Towards gene therapy for Angelman Syndrome using artificial transcription factors

$76,055

Dr. Eric Klann

New York Univeristy

New York, NY

Neuregulin-dependent alterations in glutamate receptor function and LTP in Angelman Syndrome model mice

$78,788

Dr. Michael Ehlers

Duke University Medical Center

Durham, NC

Restoration of neocortial plasticity in a mouse model of Angelman Syndrome

$95,000

Dr. Benjamin Philpot

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC

Restoration of neocortial plasticity in a mouse model of Angelman Syndrome

$95,000

Dr. Larry Reiter

The University of Tennessee

Memphis, TN

A combined molecular and electrophysiological approach to understanding cerebellar defects in Angelman syndrome

$77,866

Dr. Ronald Thibert

Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, MA

The significance of EEG findings in Angelman Syndrome

$58,256

Congratulations to these esteemed researchers and to their institutions. ASF is proud to partner with these researchers and clinicians as together we join forces to find the causes of the symptoms and characteristics of AS, effective therapeutic strategies and the eventual cure for Angelman Syndrome. A lay summary of each of these projects will be made available shortly. Watch for further announcements regarding these ASF-funded projects on the new ASF website scheduled to launch this fall.

The ASF will be announcing additional calls for research proposals this fall and again in early 2009.

Dr. Charles Williams Fred Pritzker Eileen Braun

ASF SAC Chair ASF President ASF Executive Director

New House - Really!

2008-09-15T20:45:00.002-05:00

Was lange waehrt wird endlich gut. This is a German saying and it can be translated as: 'Finally!'. I finally managed to get around to taking some photos and posting them of our new house.

This is the front:

And this is the back:

And this is the side (and the driveway and the garage and our cars):

And this is the other side:

I also have a few photos of the inside.

Most importantly, this is the family room (aka play room, aka chaos room):

This is our living room (dislaimer: we still have to replace the fireplace cover and find a different place to dry the children's towels):

And this is our dining room:

Of course the most important factor of the house (for the kids at least) is the yard, so here it is:

And last but not least here's what Aidan thinks about the new house:

Our New House and Other Events

2008-08-24T21:17:00.003-05:00

Recently I promised to post some photos of our new house after the move. Here are two:

As you can see, we are still busily unpacking. Bot on the second photo you can get a glimpse of our backyard.

Also we added a new family member on Thursday. Linda from Germany arrived and will be our Au Pair for the next year. Here's a photo of Linda with Anna and the kids:

Lastly, I made an (almost) $3K mistake today. Something so incredibly stupid that you may imagine it only happen in movies. I put my Canon XSI with my 24-105 F4.0 L lens mounted onto our car roof while buckling in Chloe and Aidan. Then got into the car and started driving, only to hear a loud 'bang' in the next curve. After we stopped I found my camera on the ground. The lens hood had popped off but was still in fine shape. The camera has some dings at the bottom and the battery cover looks a little damaged, but it stays closed. I had an UV filter on the lens and the glass of the filter had disintegrated. However the lens glass is still fine. The lens has a ding on one side where the UV filter (and lens) are bent a little, so that I can't unscrew the filter from the lens. However functionality of the lens doesn't seem impacted. It still focuses and zooms fine.

Below a few pictures I took after my camera fell from the roof of our car while driving:

I like this facial expression of Aidan:

These last pictures have been taken at Manor Park in Larchmont, which is by the Long Island Sound. Very beautiful park and I'm sure we'll go back frequently.

Controversy about Movie 'Tropic Thunder'

2008-08-12T10:15:00.001-05:00

This is the op ed piece that appeared in today's Washington Post in regards to the movie Tropic Thunder. The author is the current Chairman of the Special Olympics.

What 'Tropic Thunder' Thinks Is Funny
By Timothy Shriver
Monday, August 11, 2008; A15

I've been told to keep my sense of humor about the film "Tropic Thunder," which opens this week. Despite my requests, I have not been given the chance to see the movie. But I've seen previews, read about it and read excerpts of the script. By all accounts, it is an unchecked assault on the humanity of people with intellectual disabilities -- an affront to dignity, hope and respect.

Consider this exchange:

Ben Stiller's character: "There were times when I was doing Jack when I actually felt retarded. Like really retarded."

Robert Downey Jr.'s character: "Oh yeah. Damn."

Stiller: "In a weird way, I had to sort of just free myself up to believe that it was okay to be stupid or dumb."

Downey: "To be a moron."

Stiller: "Yeah."

At another point, about acting like a person with intellectual disabilities, they say:

Stiller: "It's what we do, right?"

Downey: "Everybody knows you never do a full retard."

Stiller: "What do you mean?"

Downey: "Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, 'Rain Man,' look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Count toothpicks to your cards. Autistic, sure. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, 'Forrest Gump.' Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard."

I worked with the Farrelly brothers on a film on this topic. I know about edgy comedy. I'm also told that movies are equal-opportunity offenders.

So here's an equal-opportunity response to the equal-opportunity offenders:

People with intellectual disabilities are routinely abused, neglected, insulted, institutionalized and even killed around the world. Their parents are told to give up, that their children are worthless. Schools turn them away. Doctors refuse to treat them. Employers won't hire them. None of this is funny.

For centuries, they have been the exception to the most basic spiritual principle: that we are each equal in spirit, capable of reflecting the goodness of the divine, carriers of love. But not people with intellectual disabilities. What's a word commonly applied to them? Hopeless.

Let's consider where we are in 2008. Our politics are about overcoming division, our social movements are about ending intolerance, our great philanthropists promote ending poverty and disease among the world's poor. Are people with intellectual disabilities included in the mainstream of these movements? For the most part, no.

Why? Because they're different. Their joy doesn't fit on magazine covers. Their spirituality doesn't come in self-help television. Their kind of wealth doesn't command political attention. (The best of the spirit never does.)

Sadly, they're such an easy target that many people don't realize whom they are making fun of when they use the word "retard." Most people just think it's funny. "Stupid, idiot, moron, retard." Ha, ha, ha.

I know: I could be too sensitive. But I was taught that mean isn't funny. And I've been to institutions where people with intellectual disabilities are tied to beds or lie on concrete floors, forgotten. I've heard doctors say they won't treat them. I know Gallup found that more than 60 percent of Americans don't want a person with an intellectual disability at their child's school.

I've talked to people with intellectual disabilities who cry over being insulted on a bus. I've received too many e-mails from people who are devastated not by their child's disability but by the terror of being laughed at, excluded and economically devastated.

It wasn't funny when Hollywood humiliated African Americans for a generation. It's never funny when good and decent human beings are humiliated. In fact, it is dangerous and disgusting.

This film is all that and more. DreamWorks went so far as to create a mini-version of Simple Jack and posted it online. The studio has since pulled it down, realizing it had gone too far, even in an age of edgy, R-rated comedies.

So, enough. Stop the hurtful jokes. Talk to your children about language that is bullying and mean. Ask your friends, your educators, your religious leaders to help us to end the stubborn myth that people with intellectual disabilities are hopeless. Ask Hollywood to get on the right side of dignity.

I hope others will join me in shutting this movie out of our lives and our pocketbooks. We don't live in times when labeling and humiliating others is funny. And we should send that message far and wide.

The writer is chairman of Special Olympics and a columnist for washingtonpost.com's On Faith discussion site.

We Made A Book!

2008-08-05T08:15:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was our last monthly meeting with our Early Intervention therapists. We had some snacks (courtesy of Cherry and Karee) and Champagne. I made the faux-pas to offer Champagne to our two(!) pregnant therapists. Sorry about that.

As a thank you to everybody, Cherry and I had been taking pictures over the past weeks, and I have converted them into a small book. We gave each of our therapists one as a thank you:

You can see some more detail of the book if you click here. Click on the 'Book Preview' link under the image to see a few pages of the book.

3 Weekends at the Jersey Shore

2008-07-30T23:02:00.003-05:00

The past three weekends were fun because we spent all three of them in Ocean Grove at the New Jersey Shore. It was great to get away from the city, and also nice to invite some friends to spend these weekends with us.

First weekend we had Pamela, Jay and Maddie there for the day. Also Anna's parents stayed the weekend. And as always Mia (the daughter of our neighbour's) came over to play as well. She alctually quite enjoyed picking up Maddie and carrying her around:

Here's everybody having fun in our pool. I wonder what's catching their attention. Certainly wasn't me taking the photo:

That evening, the neighbouring town of Bradley Beach had a firework (no idea what the occasion was) and I went there with the kids. Even though Chloe was quite scared and I had to hold her on my arm most of the time, I managed to get some photos:

This is an evening shot of our block:

The following weekend, we had our friends Yanli, Rich and Rachel stay for the weekend, and on Sunday we were also joined by Boo, Dave, Ty and Josh. They brought this really cool bubble maker which produced the largest bubbles:

Last but not least, this most recent weekend we had my colleague Heike with husband Axel and son Lennart staying with us. In addition, on Saturday John and Ana came by with their son Sebastian. We met them at this year's Angelman Walk-A-Thon. Sebastian's language skills were definitely something for us to aspire to for Aidan.

Here are Sebastian and Aidan in the pool. They both looooooove water:

And here's Lennart, the future Michael Ballack:

I took a few more photos and they can be found here.

Chloe Playing Wii

2008-07-17T19:17:00.003-05:00

A few months ago I bought the Diego game for the Wii for Chloe. She tried to play it but wasn't really that good yet with the control. Recently she rediscovered it again and now she can control it much better:

Untitled from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

And while I'm posting videos, here's one of Aidan hanging out at his favorite spot in our apartment (on top of the A/C unit):

Untitled from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Chloe and Aidan

2008-07-02T05:17:00.003-05:00

Monday was Chloe and Aidan's 3rd birthday. So on Sunday we hosted a celebration in our apartment. Anna had planned the entire party around the 'Save the animals' theme.

There were animal balloons everywhere (plus Dora and Diego balloons). In addition, every guest received a stuffed animal which they had to stuff and dress themselves. Everybody seemed to have a great time, including the birthday kids:

You can find all photos I took here.

Great Aidan Pictures

2008-06-20T07:09:00.003-05:00

Cherry (our nanny) took the following picture of Aidan yesterday (with her cellphone):

Indeed, Aidan did fall asleep in a Fresh Direct delivery box.

And while I downloaded the picture from her cellphone I found the following one which must be a few months old, because our kids don't use binkies anymore:

Staten Island Children's Museum

2008-06-17T05:28:00.005-05:00

On Saturday, we decided to venture beyond our borough and visit Staten Island. My colleague Tim lives there and told me good things about the local Children's Museum.

Aidan had a blast (and a splash) because they had an outdoor exhibition with some water play elements. It was good that we had a spare outfit, because he was soaking wet after he was done playing with it.

Tim's son Colby liked the water as well but was a little more cautious:

Meanwhile, Chloe was practicing for her career in Radio:

They also had a great construction exhibit, where Tim volunteered to take a picture of Anna and myself.

Find all the other photos I took here.

2008 Angelman Walk-A-Thon

2008-06-09T09:29:00.008-05:00

I have a lot to catch up on in terms of events, because I was kind of lazy over the past few weeks. So here's the first in a series of catch-up-entries. On May 17th, the 2008 Angelman Walk-A-Thon in Philadelphia took place.

First and foremost, thanks to everybody who donated money to this worthy cause. It means a lot to us. Secondly, thanks to our fellow co-walkers:

Our friends Yanli and Rich came over from New York, Uncle George, Aunt Grace and Kathrin joined from Fort Washington, PA, and Anna's parents showed up from Havertown, PA. Last but not least Cherry joined us from Brooklyn, NY.

It was a very hot day, and what was special about this year was that Aidan actually walked part of the day. But he got tired quickly and was very happy to be pushed around in the stroller for the rest of the day.

One of the problems we had last year was that Chloe didn't want to walk and didn't want to be pushed in the stroller, so Anna and I had to carry her most of the way. This year she was in a much better mood and walked almost the entire 5K. She did slow us down considerably though so we ended up arriving at the end of the pack, and I have a new nickname for her: 'Sloe'

One of the most exciting things about this year's walk was that we met John and Ana from Jersey City. Their son Sebastian has Angelman and is almost exactly Aidan's age. As Angelman is so rare, it's nice to have somebody so close by.

Lastly, I took many more pictures, and they can be found here.

San Diego Zoo

2008-05-20T10:36:00.002-05:00

We're out in Laguna Beach on a one-week vacation with Anna's family. Yesterday we spend a day at the San Diego Zoo. Here's one of the animals we saw:

And here some pictures of Chloe and Aidan:

More photos to follow next week when we're back.

Tourists

2008-05-11T15:16:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we had a great day being tourists in New York City. We visited a showroom of a kitchen and bathroom remodelling firm in midtown (to get inspired for the changes we plan to make to our new house). After lunch at a local (and only mildly overpriced) restaurant, we decided to hit Times Square. At first, we went to M&M's World. We visited the wall of M&M's, and Chloe got a small bag of pink, purple and light blue M&M's for $5.

Afterwards we fought our way through masses of people to the Toys R' Us. They have an indoor ferris wheel, and we decided to ride that. Aidan and Chloe had a lot of fun.

Our House In The Middle Of Our Street

2008-05-09T06:00:00.003-05:00

We're made some progress in our biggest event of the year (the move from NYC to Westchester). Even though it's only a cellphone photo, here's our new house:

Unfortunately the car in the piture is not our's, that belongs to the current owners.

On another front, we have found a school both for Aidan and for Chloe. Chloe will be going to a half-day program at a nearby Montessori School. And for Aidan, we visited an ABA School in Yonkers yesterday and really liked it. ABA stands for Applied Behavioural Analysis and is a special teaching method mostly used for autistic kids. We had expected that Aidan would go into a class with one teacher for every two kids. To our great surprise, the school we visited offers one-on-one classes and they told us Aidan would qualify for one of those. We're keeping our fingers crossed until his admission is confirmed, but we're very hopeful.

Today we're meeting with two more architects to discuss the addition we are planning. Our next step now is to find us a German Au Pair starting in August.

Oh, and whoever knows the band that wrote the song I am quoting in the header to this post wins a night of babysitting with Chloe and Aidan :-)

It's Super Aidan...

2008-04-22T22:40:00.002-05:00

We had some fun this morning. First of all Aidan was still in his sleeper. Next he got some food and thus the bib. After eating, we turn the bib around so he doesn't chew on it. So now he's Super Aidan (the bib is his cape). Lastly, Chloe browsed through the closet and found his swim suit and asked what it was. Instead of explaining I figured I'll just put it on Aidan (over his sleeper). The result is what you see in the picture below. Enjoy!

Chair Spinning Fun

2008-04-16T20:04:00.002-05:00

It's great how the simple things make Chloe and Aidan happy. Spinning on an office chair is one of those things. Enjoy the video!

Aidan and Chloe from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Something different

2008-04-03T21:01:00.002-05:00

The last few weeks were so busy that there would be lots to post about, but I simply didn't have any time to do so. So while I'm catching my breath and gathering the energy to post about those events (my sister's visit in the US, us buying a house in Westchester, us renovating our apartment for impending sale), I thought I'll post something completely different.

Recently, Chloe got a hold of my Canon Point and Shoot camera, and started frantically taking pictures. Here are some examples:

WOW!

2008-03-09T13:03:00.003-05:00

This posting has been long overdue. Aidan has made fantastic progress in terms of walking in the past couple of weeks. The proof is in the video below:

Untitled from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

Thanks go to a large degree to our great physical therapists Julie, Kim and Effie and of course also to your best nanny ever, Cherry, who is practicing and exercising with him all the time.

Chloe the Political Analyst

2008-03-02T21:29:00.002-05:00

Today I asked Chloe some key questions about this year's hot topic. What you need to know is that Chloe calls Aidan 'A-A':

Untitled from Christian Pache on Vimeo.

There you have it. Anna (i.e. mama) will win the Democratic nomination (and I didn't even know she was competing), and Aidan (i.e. A-A) will be our next President. Can't be any worse than the current one, that's for sure.

Schnee (that's German for Snow)

2008-02-24T18:20:00.003-05:00

We actually finally got our first substantial snow in NY this winter. Chloe and Aidan had lots of fun on our balcony playing.

Our nanny, Cherry, was outside with them:

Here another picture (through the window):

The next day we went for a walk. Much of the snow on the streets and sidewalks was already gone, but a nearby park still had some. The little pink dot on the right of the picture is Chloe playing.

Random Stuff

2008-01-29T21:41:00.000-05:00

I feel guilty because I haven't blogged in two weeks. So here are some photos of recent events (and non-events).

First of all, our friends Pamela and Jay live in a building with a swimming pool, so they invited us over, and Aidan and Chloe had a blast. Chloe can actually swim. With the floaters on her arms and under her, she moves around the pool by herself.

Next, another proof that the packaging is the most fun whenever we get something delivered. Boxes can serve as train cars for example. Also note the words on the boxes, which prove that our kids are still fresh...

Lastly, a picture of Chloe while enjoying a jogurt. With her new hairband, she does look like somebody straight from the 80's:

Haircuts

2008-01-13T23:05:00.000-05:00

Today we got Chloe's and Aidan's hair cut. A few months ago, when we were in need of a haircut for Aidan for the Vegas wedding, we found this nice place on 29th Street. Not only is the 10th haircut free, but they give us a 50% discount on the second cut if we bring both twins at the same time. That's important because I simply can't believe how expensive children's haircuts are.

However, they're doing a great job distracting Chloe and Aidan and getting the job done, and the haircuts are always nice.

For Aidan, he's distracted with a bucket of toys in his lap, and some Sesame Street on TV. Plus sitting in a racecar doesn't hurt either:

Chloe was distracted by a lollipop and Dora:

Christmas The Sequel

2008-01-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

As promised, some more pictures from our Christmas celebration in Ocean Grove. Below a picture of everybody together:

Here an outdoor Chloe and indoor Aidan portrait:

And lastly a picture of yours truly and the kids:

And if you click here you can find all the remaining photos I made.

Christmas in Ocean Grove

2007-12-26T16:52:00.000-05:00

This year we decided to celebrate (and host) Christmas in Ocean Grove. Our guests were Anna's parents and the Na's.

Chloe, Aidan, Anna and I arrived on the 23rd and set up the Christmas tree.

The Hsu's and Na's arrived on the 24th. We incorporated some of my family traditions into the celebration. We had a nice dinner, and afterwards presents were exchanged and opened. Everybody also got a 'Bunte Teller', a plate with mixed Christmas (gingerbread) cookies. As you can see, overeating is definitely part of this celebration. The only tradition which we did not follow was the type of dinner. Typically, in Germany, we have Fondue (kind of like hotpot).

In terms of presents, we all got a few, and Chloe and Aidan got a ton! This includes a funny red riding animal which Anna bought for them.

The 25th was a beautiful day, and we went for a nice walk on the beach. I will post more photos this upcoming weekend once we're back home and I have my faster Internet connection back. This will include a nice group photo in front of the Christmas tree.

Major Milestone

2007-12-15T23:55:00.001-05:00

Today one of our kids experienced a major milestone in child development: Chloe had her first McDonalds Happy Meal:

Aidan wasn't quite as excited, which is understandable because he didn't get a toy.

However, and just to pre-empt any concerns that our kids are getting unhealthy food, they of course drank the apple juice and no soft drinks. They ate the chicken nuggets, and had some fries as well.

Hotpot

2007-12-01T22:17:00.000-05:00

I would have liked to post about Thanksgiving, but I was sick and we had to cancel our plans. So nothing to report there.

On Saturday afterwards though, our friends Pamela and Jay invited us to a hotpot dinner. I had never attended one (even though Anna swears I have). It was great fun.

First of all, Pamela and Jay live in a georgeous apartment in Battery Park City, with great views of the Hudson River and of New Jersey.

The food was good and interesting. I had plenty of pork rolls, but stayed clear of the shrimp. They were still alive, and every once in a while one tried to jump out of the bowl...

Everybody was having a good time, including Maddie, Sophie, Chloe and Aidan.

I posted some more photos here if anybody's interested.

Halloween

2007-11-09T09:14:00.001-05:00

IMG_8870
Originally uploaded by cpache.

Another (late) halloween picture here...

Old Car / New Car

2007-11-04T19:37:00.001-05:00

We got our first car in New York in 2001. It was an impulse-buy, mainly caused by Anna's relatives offering us their 1994 Toyota Camry. It's been a great car for us and served us well.

However, with Anna's new job and her requirement for a daily drive, we wanted to upgrade to something newer. Also, as a native German, it was considered treason for me to drive anything but a German car. So after some research (which we mostly ignored), we decided to get a new (used) Volkswagen Touareg. So far, it's definitely been Fahrvergnuegen, and we have not regretted it. It's very good looking and comes with a host of luxury features which we enjoy. Chloe likes it too. Everytime we ride in it she says 'New car' and 'Big car'...

We haven't sold the Camry yet though, because we may soon be in a situation where we'll need more than one car. But that's another story for another blog entry...

Halloween

2007-11-01T21:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Halloween. Aidan was a Doctor, and Chloe a Princess:

We went trick or treating with some neighbours and their kids, first in our building, and then around the neighbourhood.

It was a lot of fun, except for the fact that Chloe got scared about some of the other costumes and decorations (skeletons) and insited of being carried from that point on. This is a picture BEFORE Anna had to start carrying her:

Find additional pictures here.

Michael and Jennifer's Wedding

2007-10-22T18:44:00.000-05:00

Last week, we went to Las Vegas for a Mini-Family-Reunion of the Hsu/Na/Wang/Pache clan as well as (and primarily) to attend the wedding of Michael to Jennifer. We had a great time, and the event was well documented. Find the link to the photos I took here. Sorry for it being Chloe/Aidan/Anna-centric...

Here a picture of bride and groom:

The church they got married in is truly beautiful:

This is the dress that Chloe was supposed to wear as the flower girl at the wedding:

And this is the dress she actually wore (after she had a meltdown of epic proportions on the morning of the wedding where she categorically refused to wear the green dress). In addition, Anna ended up being the flower girl because Chloe fell asleep during the ceremony, despite the fact that it was beautiful and not very long...