Our First Family Campout

We went camping with some church families yesterday and it was such a fun experience. Traveling brought me such a healing power to my cabin fever. :) I could feel my sensory mind changing as soon as we were approaching the country area. My son and I both fell in love with the campfire. His favorite thing was throwing sticks and marshmallows in the fire. He loved the glowing sticks and playing with his little friends. We were blessed with nice weather so everyone enjoyed the starry sky and bright, clear moon. Baba is not a fan of camping but he made it through the night. He's fortunate enough to have his buddy help with the tent and spending some time playing Xbox with him. Yes, his friend brought all the equipment to the camp site. They really enjoyed their game time and I was just glad that he seemed to be in good spirit most of the time. He even took care of our son in the middle of the night when he had night terror. Oh, his scream was fierce in the dark, silent night. I felt bad that we might have awaken a couple of poor souls but our sweet friends were very understanding.

Breakfast was so delicious with pancakes, sausages, bacons, eggs and fruit. I could stay in the woods forever, bathing in the sweet smell of the phytoncides from the trees. We will definitely do it again and again....

Happy Reading

Mama-I have been teaching our son to read using this book "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and he finished lesson 20 the other day. I asked him how we should celebrate and he decided a chocolate cake would be a great idea. He helped me make the cake and decorated it all by himself mostly. You might be able to see the number 20 on the cake, which was done with my help. He put some candles on the cake, which he really enjoyed putting on every cake I made. We sang the song "Happy Reading Day to You" and then he blew the candles vigorously. He has been loving the simple stories he can read by himself. He loved to discuss about the stories he read and we had great time together.

Happy Birthday, Son!

He turned 4 two weeks ago. He was so excited and telling everyone about it. He started the day with a huge yummy pancake made by Baba.

He had the superhero party at church with his dear friends. They made blue kryptonite to restore their powers and went through the superhero training course. They also played a game aiming the green arrow target with flying balloons to sharpen their super power skills. He really enjoyed playing with his friends and was so happy to receive all the toys from them.

He's really into Transformer so he got four new ones from his grandparents and aunt and one from his friend. He also got more action figures from his uncle. Now Mama has homework to do to figure out how to transform all these cool Autobots and find more space for the new toys. Two parties were quite overwhelmed for him and Mama. He was so overtired at the end of the day but we were grateful for the wonderful day we had and for all the people who celebrated with us.

Yoga Training Part Two

When Baba was on the computer the other day, I said to him, "Your neck is out of alignment. Bring your head back to align with your shoulders." After that, I chuckled with a sense of accomplishment. How interesting people change with the things they learn. I would not pay much attention to body alignment a year ago. As a yoga teacher, I learn about human body. Besides the physical body, I also try to discover the subtle/astral/spiritual body.

I grew up at church and learned about not judging others by their appearance. Studying yoga philosophy helps reinforce this quality. Very Often we describe ourselves using such terms like, "I'm tall. I'm rich. I'm beautiful" Are these the right description for our true self? After peeling off the physical layer of "I", which is the body, how would we describe ourselves then? This is very interesting when we think this way with our spiritual eyes. It is so easy to lose ourselves in this material world. The things we see, the people we know, the life we create can all become the obstacles to discover our true self. We become what people see in us, we become what we create for ourselves, we become someone that we don't really know or like. So how can we distinguish our true self from all the other forms we see?

First, we have to have faith, to believe that the true self exist. We have spiritual body that will exist through eternity. This true self has unlimited potential to become like God.

Second, we find a path to help us. For some, it could be studying the scriptures, praying to God; for others, it could be meditation, practicing yoga. No matter what we choose, it takes a sincere heart, steady and long-lasting effort to progress.

After we see our true self, even just a glimpse; after we taste the sweetness of God's love; after we realize the energy that flows beyond our physical eyes, WE SERVE. We serve ourselves, we serve others and we serve God.

Gradually, the little light in us will shine brighter and brighter. It brings us wisdom, tranquility, happiness, contentment and love.

Now I see people differently. When I come across someone, I would try to get to know the person inside of him, instead of the one I see outside. I feel I am in a different world when I do that. It makes me feel good. I see more and I feel more. I feel less confusion and my mind is calmer.

Butterfly Show

We went to the butterfly show and it was an incredible experience. He always likes to chase the butterflies everywhere and this time he could touch them. He was very gentle with them. There were one birdwing and one peacock pansy butterfly got very attached to him and didn't want to leave him. It was a beautiful scene to see him dancing with the butterfly.

He made this butterfly at the library and got display at the show. He was not happy that he could not take it down and play with it. He was not thrilled that I asked him to pose for this picture as you can tell. ^_^

After the show, we went to have picnic at Eden Park. This raccoon was behind the retaining wall. He took this picture. The coon took off as soon as he stretched his hand to pet him!

Yoga Training Part One

The first thing some friends asked me was, "Did you lose some weight?" Sorry I had to disappoint them with a no. Actually my triceps are getting bigger. I can do yoga push-ups quite perfectly I believe. ^_^ Most people think yoga is about exercise and that's not wrong at all but there is a lot more in yoga. I learned the true meaning of yoga through my training and I'd like to share with you what I have learned.

"Yoga is the stopping of the mental fluctuations of the mind stuff." said Patanjali. The mind flies to every direction all day long and most of us can't control our mind. Yoga is about focusing the mind and bring stillness and calmness to the soul. Meditation is a great way to achieve yoga. However, it's hard to sit for a long period of time if you don't have a healthy body. This is where the postures (asanas) come from. By performing all these yoga postures, our strength, flexibility and general health is improved. So all these practices are preparing the body to meditate and bring the mind to tranquility and balance.

Of course for people who are not interested in meditation, they can still get the benefits of doing the asanas(postures). I learned to focus on my own practice. It does not matter if I can or can not do certain postures. It's the feeling I have while I'm practicing that matters. We often try to compare or compete with others in real life. The result of that is unhappiness and endless desires. We only need to focus on ourselves. Concentrate on our own practice and then we will grow and improve.  

Valentine's Day

Holiday celebration is really not my forte. I saw people come up with so many fun ideas to decorate the house or make beautiful crafts. I decided to just have fun no matter what I do. We went out to pick a nice tree branch (we had lots of them on the yard due to the wind storm) to make our little Valentine tree. We cut some valentines and decorated them with stamps and markers. He really loved the stamps and tried many times signing his own name. We hung the valentines on the tree and pointed out each one of them with love and excitement.

He kind of planned our Valentine's Day with a trip to the museum to see the Dinosaurs. He really enjoyed that. We had a great time watching Dinosaurs Alive at the OmniMax and will definitely be returning to see the full Dinosaur exhibit with him.