Some random photos and videos from the month of June 2019, when we weren’t traveling to America and whatnot.
Hanging with Jayden and Jonnie at a sand pit:
Dancing:
A riding toy on a trip back to the old shopping mall where his preschool was:
Some taekwondo fun:
More from Nyan’s summer 2019 sojourn to the American heartland — a.k.a. Grandma and Grandpa’s place!
Sparklers
Nyan had never played with sparklers before, so we took care of that on this trip. He loved them, and they quickly became a regular part of our evening routine.
Fun with Uncle Mike
One evening we met Uncle Mike and Aunt Sarah for dinner at this big place that has all these games, including tabletop shuffleboard. (We think that’s the proper name?) Turns out that Nyan was very good at it:
There was also a lot of foosball, on an outdoor patio as a summer thunderstorm rolled in:
And some fun outside rolling an old tire around:
Kite
Grandma and Grandpa bought a kite, so we spent one breezy afternoon prepping it and getting it airborne! It was a lot of fun, until it got tangled in a tree (not pictured).
There were some missteps at first:
But we got it up in the air before long. Well, for a moment anyway:
He got it!
Rabbit
Grandma and Grandpa’s friends Dave and Bernie have a pet rabbit, Bun-Bun. Nyan always enjoys a visit.
Travel
It’s not easy to get from Singapore to Iowa; it involves three airplanes and anywhere between 25 and 30 (or more!) hours of travel, including more than 20 hours actually in the air. It’s worth it, of course, but it’s not the easiest.
But it does give one lots of time to take pictures! Here are a handful, taken at various airports and on various airplanes, including a few at the airport as we were saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa at the end of the trip. On the inbound trip, we were lucky enough to have Daddy’s friend Phil come out to O’Hare airport on a lengthy layover in Chicago for a meal and a catch-up session; Daddy and Nyan were beyond punch drunk, but it was fun — see video below. And also see a video of Nyan excitedly strapping in for the last flight before our final arrival in Iowa!
After school let out in mid-June, Nyan and Daddy hopped aboard a plane bound for Tokyo.. then Chicago.. then finally (after some 28 hours) Iowa, where they spent two-plus weeks hanging out with Grandma, Grandpa, and the rest of the clan. Let’s see what they got up to!
Uncle Scott
One of Nyan’s favorite things to do in Iowa is visit Uncle Scoitt and Aunt Maggie. They have a big grassy yard for him to run around in… and best of all, Scott has a huge wood-working workshop!
So he spent a lot of time in there, building a nice little box.
Great Grandma
We spent a lot of time with Great Grandma, including hanging out at her apartment…
Goofing around with her walker…
And feeding the fish in the pond outside her apartment:
Model Train
Nyan also spent a lot of time down in the basement with Grandpa, working on the model train layout.
Chicago
Nyan and Daddy drove over to Chicago for a couple days to visit Daddy’s friends. Nyan had a blast hanging out with other kids, the adults, and (especially) Pearl the dog — his first canine love!
Nyan and Pearl:
Hanging out on Chicago streets with Daddy, Uncle Phil and Uncle Todd:
Being goofy:
Random photos:
Dogs and being goofy:
Dogs and adults:
Miscellaneous
Some random pictures, and a video of a playing Nyan, taken at various points across our US travels:
Our neighborhood Decathlon, the sporting goods chain store, lets you try out pretty much all the equipment right there in the store. So whenever we stop by to pick up whatever, we always spend lots of time playing around, as we did in June. Check it out:
Messing around in the kayak:
Working on his dribbling:
Working on his free throws:
Bouncing:
And finally, a little rock climbing!
June 2019 saw the end of Nyan’s Year 3 — that;’s the equivalent of 2nd grade to the US; not sure what it would be in the UK, sorry! Here he is on the first day of school (August 2018) and the last (June 2019)
Some pics from the waning days of the year. Here he is around the apartment complex, waiting for the bus or happy to be home at the end of the day:
Some shots of his classmates:
And various moments around the school:
On one of the last days, Nyan’s teacher tipped us off that he was to receive a “certificate” of merit, for making excellent progress in his Mandarin class, during a full-school assembly. Nyan didn’t know about it. So Daddy went to the assembly, hid in the back, and took a shaky video of the award.
Well done, Nyan!
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