Kalin Riley

2010-06-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

2010-05-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pics of Kalin. She's basically potty trained and starting to go to sleep by herself without one of us lying next to her till shes sleeping.
We try to take her out to eat once a week, and last time she ordered all on her own. She asked the waitress for pizza, milkshake, and olives...and apple juice. When shes wearing a hoodie and you tell her to be a gangster, she'll cross her arms and make angry faces.
All these photos were taken from my cell phone and I thought they'd turn out worse but i'm impressed :D
I'll post some videos soon.

2009-11-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

2009-11-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

Here's some pictures of the mountain of food we ordered. The kitchen was going to close their all-you-can-eat sushi, we figured we'd only have enough time for one order...so we basically ordered everything on the menu. I didn't get a picture with everything we got, but here's some. Of course Kalin didn't eat anything but a few bites of rice...so Darlene and I packed our faces. Oh yeah, we also had a time limit cause she had to go to Salsa class. I think thats the last time we're going out for sushi for a while.

2009-11-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

"Borderlands is a science fiction role-playing shooter (a first-person shooter with RPG elements) that was developed by Gearbox Software."

"In the distant future, several colonization ships journey to Pandora, a planet on the edge of the galaxy. The colonists are drawn to the planet in search of a better life and the prospect of striking it rich by claiming the vast deposits of mineral resources rumored to be there. After finally arriving, the colonists discover that the planet is barren of anything of significant value other than deteriorated alien ruins scattered across the land. Those who can afford to do so leave Pandora, and the lives of those who remain revolve around chaos and lawlessness. Some of the settlers seek to get rich quick by discovering alien technology, but most others are just trying to survive. After seven Earth years, Pandora's orbit brings it to the transition from winter to spring, and many horrifying creatures emerge from hibernation.
A beacon of hope for the remaining colonists emerges in the form of a mysterious vault carved in the side of a mountain. This vault is said to contain vast stores of alien technology and secrets. However, the people who discovered the vault were completely wiped out by some sort of protective force, and the only evidence of their discovery is a scattered radio transmission proclaiming the vault's majesty, but not its location."

Some people are saying this game might have a chance to win RPG game of the year, and although I thought it was very good overall, I think that the lack of a good ending for the story line, not enough interaction between objects on the map, and a few other small things that could have made it more enjoyable...it might fall to 2nd or 3rd place. Don't get me wrong...I really liked it...but with, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed 2, and Left 4 Dead 2, coming out before the new year, Borderlands should have stepped up just a bit to compete. Overall, I give this 8/10. If you liked Fallout 3...you'll enjoy Borderlands.

Good Points: Tons of guns (some are customizable), missions that don't get dull, boring, or make you do the same thing over and over (i.e. Assassin's Creed 1), Vehicles are fun to drive, upgrade, and run over the bad guys.

2009-11-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

2009-11-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

Kalin is the best kid a father could hope for. Her new favorite thing to do is jump on the bed while listening to, "fast music"...or "rock music". She even says "shout, shout", when I put on the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43D7qI9RuLs&feature=related (which she loves).
Yesterday we were watching a hockey game during dinner, and two guys started fighting. Kalin jumped up and started running around the living room yelling "fists"...then she picked up her stuffed animal Dumbo and started boxing him.
She's also so sweet, prays for any little cut,scratch or thing that she thinks may be hurting you. I'm always amazed how smart she is, while walking through the mall, she looked up at a baby clothes store called Please Mum...and she pointed to it and said "m". We're so blessed to have her.

2009-10-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

Kalin was Pooh for Halloween. She went to her friends birthday party in the morning and we went trick-or-treating in the afternoon. We got her some fire crackers, only the ones that make lots of lights but don't make any noise.

2009-10-29T00:14:00.000-07:00

2009-07-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

2009-06-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

2009-06-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

For the first time in 9 years my whole family was together, and since we still can't get along...it'll be another 9 years before we all meet again. Just kidding, I love most of them. We stayed for a week in a cottage in northern Ontario (consult your map), on a big lake called Muskoka...or something that sounds just as creepy. The place was totally awesome with tons of stuff to do, although the weather sucked towards the end of the trip. Kalin was a bit fussy with tons of people around and plus she was still adjusting to the time change, but she was still perfect She loved reaching her hand in the bucket and trying to grab the fish we caught from the lake...she was really brave cause they were slimy and stuff, there was also ducks on the lake that would swim up to the boat house and she would try to grab them as well. One night our true Canadian colors came out; Arthur, Darlene and I went out in the hot-tub to drink...it was freezing and raining, although our bodies were warm...my nose and hand that was holding my beer were numb...anyways it was great especially cause just that morning we went out on the lake to drink...and the wind was freakin' ice...so yeah that day was cold.
Oh, speaking of beer, thanks to everyone who supplied the non-stop stream of beer...it was great!! I'm sure Dar will post more pics and write something. Ok, cheers everyone.
P.S. The truck in the picture is my dads, it's totally wicked. Its a monster.

2009-06-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

Our little princess turns 1 years old!

2009-04-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

   photo 4: stuffing her face...
   photo 3: Licking the chocolate iceing off...
   photo 2: "blowing out her candle"

photo 1": She was so excited to hear everyone sing happy birthday to her, I think she liked that part more than the cake...

2009-03-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Today we started teaching her to eat with a spoon, and she did so well by herself, it’s so cute she’ll pick up the food in one hand and then put it on the spoon…ha…well at least she gets the concept… she knows how to say these words clearly now..”hot, bye, hi, Bible, no”, when she see's the Bible for preschoolers she picks it up and starts singing... "Bible...Bible" cause whenever I read it to her I start singing "the bible the bible the word of God for me"...

She washes her mouth by herself… and loves brushing her teeth..we’re not having such great progress with the potty training though…she loves playing chase/hide and seek with everyone in the house...

It’s 2 days till Kalins first bday… she’s grown so much so fast…. I made a school curriculum for her… she so smart, I want her to learn all she can…I think we’ll make her a dog cake…as she loves dogs… oh it’s sooo cute, for the last few weeks she’s been making a beat box beat sound…

2009-02-25T12:13:00.000-08:00

Kalin weights 9 kgs now, is eating a lot more food, is still basically bald and her first real word(besides mama and dada) that she understands what she is saying is the word "hot". Because we sleep right in front of the heater our "headboard" (a big mirror) gets a bit warm if you touch it, so we always tell Kalin that it's hot. So the other morning when she woke up she put her hand on the mirror, took it off quickly, looked at her hand and said "hot" a few times.

Another cute thing is everytime she hears a telephone ring she puts her hand to her ear and says "hello" (well... it's more like..."ahhhooo")

She's also able to do the actions to the first part of "open, shut them...give your hands a clap", and she also likes "round and round and garden" and "this little piggy". The above pic is her first time in a swing...the bus stopped (on the way to Bulgaria) and there was a playground across the street. She loved the swing.

Sorry if this blog is way too ditailed about Kalin's every move, but it's also serving the purpose as a log/diary for us to keep tract of and maybe she'll also be interested when she is older.

Oh if anyone knows of some good educational baby videos let me know, as she has the Baby Einstein seris memorized already.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

Another Christmas photo

2009-01-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

Kiran got soccer shoes, beer, snacks...etc.. and I got wine, wine glasses, hat and scarf etc... I love the people we live/work with, they are wonderful! Christmas breakfast and dinner were amazing, too much food to list here, the Lord is very good to us. Oh a little Kalin tidbit, she took her first steps the other day! Our little chubs is growing up so fast!

Kalin's first Christmas!

2008-12-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

Kalin stands up all by herself now. She got a dolly and playdoe for Christmas!

2008-12-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

This was Kalin's 2nd time out of Turkey, 1st time to Bulgaria, this time to Greece. ...which didn't look much different than Turkey, but hey it was cool. We woke up early in the morning to catch the bus, of course everyone was all goo goo gaa gaa over Kalin. Everyone was offering her cookies and mints and stuff, which promptly went into our bellies...yesss... That's one thing I really like about the people here, they just LOVE kids! When we arrived in the afternoon, we walked around a bit, got some lunch (donor/gyros things), then we had some nice greek pizza for dinner. The town was like a party town or something, cuz nothing opened until like 5pm and they stayed open till like super late, clothing stores and all.
Our hotel was right next to a club, and the music didn't stop until like 4 am... now if we were still young that wouldn't have bit a problem...but since we are old tired parents now.... it was quite disturbing... (heheh)
Anyway, too bad we couldn't stay longer, it would have been nice to walk along the waterfront.
Kalin wasn't too fussy on the trip...as long as we were singing "Old Mc Donald had a farm" ...I think everyone on the bus learned the song...

2008-12-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

Kalin loves watching her school videos while on the potty... she also loves pulling herself up so she can stand up by herself as much as possible.

2008-11-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

By Dave Barry, Miami Herald (back column)

One of these days, a police officer is going to pull me over for driving erratically. He will suspect that I am driving while intoxicated, but he will be wrong. In fact, I will be driving while being a little teapot.

I am often a little teapot while driving. This is because when my 20-month-old daughter is in the car, she demands to hear her favorite CD, "Traditional Children's Songs From Hell." At least that's what I call it. It's one of those CDs with those old songs that we are required by federal law to expose our children to, because they connect us with a time when we were a simpler, happier, much stupider nation. Consider "Old McDonald." It starts out fine: "Old McDonald had a farm." But then it goes to "E-I-E-I-O," as though the lyricist had a bunch of extra vowels he needed to get rid of before moving on.

Couldn't he have come up with WORDS for the second line? How hard is it to think of a line that rhymes with "farm"? For example: "Thresher tore off his left arm." Or: "Slept with six goats to keep warm."

But "Old McDonald" is Handel's "Messiah" compared with 'She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain," a song apparently written by somebody with a severe case of attention deficit disorder, as we see by the highly informative first verse:

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes!

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes!

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain!

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain!

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes!"

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. Will she be comin' "round the mountain? 2. When?

I am forced to listen to these brain-shriveling songs constantly when I drive. I'm so used to hearing them that sometimes I'll be halfway to the airport, singing, "The wheels on the bus go round and round! Round and round! Round and round!" when suddenly it dawns on me: Sophie is not in the car. I can play my own music, with intelligent lyrics! (Example: "I said na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na, na na na, na na na na!")

The biggest problem with children's songs is that many of them call for actions on the part of the listeners. My daughter, who is very strict, expects everybody to perform these actions. So if we're listening to "I'm a Little Teapot," and she notices that I'm using my arms for some frivolous activity such as steering, she will repeat, "Daddy do it! Daddy do it!" until I let go of the wheel and form my teapot handle and my teapot spout. I have discovered that I can, in fact, steer with my forehead, but visibility is a problem.

But the worst song, from a driving standpoint, is "Where Is Thumbkin?" This is the one where you sing about, and display one at a time, the various fingers on your hand: Thumbkin, Ring Man, Pointer, etc. As you can imagine, this can create misunderstandings in traffic when your fellow motorists see you holding up Tall Man.

Yes, a small child can get you into trouble, and not just in a car. There is a house in our neighborhood that has a large plaster goose on the front porch. For reasons known only to her, my daughter LOVES this goose. Whenever we walk past it, she toddles up onto the porch and gives it a kiss, while I watch nervously from the sidewalk. Lately she has started insisting, with increasing vehemence, that I also kiss the goose. So one recent Sunday morning--I am not making this up--I found myself tiptoeing onto a porch belonging to complete strangers, bending over and kissing their goose. This kind of thing can lead to trouble.

POLICE OFFICER: Hold it right there, mister! Put your hands up and STEP AWAY FROM THAT GOOSE.

ME: You don't understand! I was just --

POLICE OFFICER: Wait a minute. ... You're the same guy I saw holding up Tall Man on the expressway!

But getting arrested is a small price to pay for the joys of parenthood. I know you parents out there agree. You're happy, right? Sure you are! If you're happy, and you know it, clap your hands!

I'd clap with you, but it hurts, with these handcuffs.

2008-10-15T04:38:00.000-07:00

Kalin is getting her first tooth! She is going through the teething thing quite well...Not super fussy. TG!

2008-09-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

The little poochy is 6 months now. I can't believe how much she's grown. Every day with her is a joy, we are so blessed to have her in our lives. And Kiran you are such a good father to her. I love you!

2008-09-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

Kalin sits up all by herself now. And she loves yogurt, bananas and avocado and I'm sure she would love other stuff too if I would give it to her. She's almost crawling also. I do flashcards with her, but she mainly wants to eat them. But loves it when I read from the farm animal book, she thinks its funny when I make all the sounds. She loves music and bangs her head to the music ...like Jamie used to do. She says "mama mama mama" all the time, although I don't think she knows what it means yet.

2008-08-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

2008-07-27T02:42:00.000-07:00

2008-07-27T01:36:00.000-07:00

At the beach(the Black Sea), the Grand Bazaar, the blue mosque and the Cisterns.

Sight seeing

2008-07-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

lately we've been doing alot of sight seeing(which Kalin hates). Although Istanbul is full of cultural things, kalin can't seem to get over the heat and sun that shines on her bald head. I'll post lots of pics soon as i can get them of Dar's camera.

2008-06-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

Kalin is 3 months old now. She can almost roll on her tummy, and she really likes grabbing things and putting them in her mouth.

2008-06-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

2008-06-01T06:32:00.000-07:00

Kalin likes sucking her thumb now...well it's more like her whole fist. heh..
and she makes lots of cute noises...

2008-06-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

2008-05-20T02:25:00.000-07:00

2008-05-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

kalin in her kkk/pope/quaker outfit....haha she's such a dough ball...she looks extra fat here.

2008-05-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

She's so pretty...

left: after a bath (which she hated)...

2008-05-12T05:47:00.000-07:00

Kalin smiles a lot these days, but she gets tired a few seconds later cause it takes alot of muscles to lift her cheeks.

2008-05-12T04:13:00.000-07:00

We're trying to teach her to like sitting in her chair also to go to sleep without being rocked. She really likes music, she stops fussing or falls asleep when she hears it.

2008-05-12T03:58:00.000-07:00