Yay, this week I get to spend in sunny San Diego with my sister's family! I was super-super tired on the flight down -- I've been desperately low on sleep for the past two months, and these few days I have to scramble like mad to mark a ton of papers and exams. I even had to bring some of the marking with me -- about half the weight in my bag is papers! A "working vacation", as my brother-in-law puts it; I have 48 hours left to submit final grades online.

But of course, the moment I arrive at their home, all of that gets put on the back-burner when I get to play with the kids! When Qing-qing was smaller, she complained that her overly-affectionate older cousin Elise would squish her flat ("ya bian-bian") with her bear-hugs. Now that QQ's a bit older, she's passing on the legacy by squishing her little brother and squishing me! DD, meanwhile, just loves his toy cars, of which he's got approximately two gazillion -- and even that's not enough!