Boba Fett.. hahahahaha

Kai recently discovered temporary tattoos.  He made me put a sea otter on his arm then asked for Boba Fett on his belly though he didn't know who it was.  Later that night, he said, "who's this guy?" pointing to his belly.  I said, "his name is Boba Fett" and Kai said, "Boba Fett?!?  Why, because he likes Boba?" then proceeded to laugh for about 2 minutes straight.  The next morning he was still chuckling when he was changing his shirt.  Hehehee..  so much for the most famous bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe :)

Rewind (Part 3): July heat, Independence Day, and illness

We returned from Vancouver and it was immediately back to the usual: work and a busy summer full of activities. We helped celebrate Marco's birthday; the kids loved the balloon and face painting lady, and monopolized a lot of her time during the party.

Costco pizza and balloon animals, what more do you need?

Amusingly, a few days later, we saw the exact same balloon and face painting lady at LSCC's Fourth of July party at Lake Elizabeth. Since there are so many kiddos at LSCC, our kids didn't even make it to the front of the line, so they amused themselves by playing in the not-so-clean creek by the picnic site.

Fourth of July ended up being a double-header. We attended LSCC's celebration in the morning, but Kai was running a fever, so we ended up leaving early. Kai got a second wind after a brief nap, so off we went to Rock Canyon's annual summer bash which was already in full swing. The kids loved the kiddie pool set out on Jack's front lawn and Sora loved jumping around the bounce house set in a neighbor's driveway. The kids even decorated their bikes and trikes for a Fourth of July parade! And since Sunny and his family live nearby, they dropped by to join in on the fun.

Time for the parade!

Drift trike races with a toddler handicap. Sora cost Nik the race when she refused to get back onto the trike.

However, we paid the price for our Fourth of July excess. By the next day, Kai was sick and I cared for him at home for the next two days. Fortunately he wasn't too sick, but it was just enough to keep him at home.

The next weekend, we went to two baby showers: the first, celebrating Jenny and Danny turned into an impromptu pool party as all the kids decided to escape the summer heat by taking a dip in the pool. I had been hoping that Sora had escaped from getting sick, but after the baby shower, she started running a temperature. By the next day, she was well enough that I thought it would be okay to take her to the second shower celebrating Joanna and Peter. It was great to see the MSJ crew, though since Nik was working, managing two kids on my own was a bit chaotic. Kai and Sora enjoyed playing with Auggie's toys and watching his tablet!

Bumpin'

However, we again suffered the consequence of too much weekend fun and for the next four days, I took care of Sora at home. Spiking high temperatures at night and constantly coughing, Sora was much sicker than Kai and we were worried enough that I took her to the doctor to make sure she was okay. She was such a champ and had a chest x-ray taken without too much incident, she even wore the seemingly draconian pediatric immobilizer that Kai would not have tolerated that at all!

When the kids are sick, no one wins.

Such a champ!

Yogurtland as a reward

In the midst of Sora's illness, there was a brush fire in hills behind our home. We started hearing sirens in the early evening, and many of our neighbors went outside to watch the fire crews. Since Nik wasn't at home and I was caring for Kai and Sora on my own, I stayed indoors with the kids to get them through dinner, though hearing the constant rumbling of helicopter rotors was an understandable distraction. By the time dinner was over, the fire was mostly under control and we emerged to watch and wave to the helicopters taxiing back and forth to drop water on the hills.

Fortunately, after Sora's doctor visit, she finally started getting better. But unfortunately for me, caring for two sick kids back-to-back was enough to get me sick. So I ended up being sick for the next week. The kids haven't been sick since that horrible bout of illness in July and fingers crossed that everyone stays healthy, since it was absolutely miserable for everyone.

(Nik interjecting here.. excuse me, I got sick too.. cough, cough.. for at least 2 days I had a mild cough and congestion..  For some reason, no one gives me any sympathy when I'm sick.. I think I got the black lung, pa.. :)

Sora's doctor visit reminded me that we had never scheduled Kai's four year old well check up, so Kai visited the doctor the week after everyone had gotten better. He got two shots, but did great; he only cried briefly (a delayed reaction) after the first shot.

Anyone seeing a pattern here?

We also celebrated Uncle Chris' birthday at the end of July. It was a low-key celebration at home, but the kids enjoyed making brownies (and eating them) and Chris even brought a small cake to share.

Happy birthday, Uncle Chris!

It was so hot all throughout July. We escaped from the heat by spending a lot of time outdoors, going to the library, and getting cool treats to eat (the kids love to show off their blue tongues). After seeing how much our kids enjoyed the kiddie pool during the neighborhood Fourth of July party, Nik decided to buy one and set it up in the front yard so we could invite the neighbors over.

The kids love the "Icee store" (AKA 7-Eleven)

Showing off blue mouths at a hangout with Nik's colleagues

We love our neighbors and the fact that so many families have kids who are similar in age. One day, we ended up with an impromptu outdoor water balloon fight and lunch play date!

Hopefully, we'll have more pictures like these as the kids get older!

As you can see from my camping post, our church is also a vital part of our life/social/parenting support network and it's hard to imagine what life would be like without this community. While our small group has shrunk since the Lus moved, Kai and Niko still love one another's company. Kai, Sora, and Niko spend many small group meetings zoning out together while watching TV. :P

On a rare TV-less night, Uncle Ben brought out the fire pit. Big flames + energetic toddlers = nervous parents

À bientôt, Lus!

One TV and 20 kids: all the babysitter you need

Kai is doing well at Agape's Butterfly site. Many of his friends from Ladybug have transitioned over, so it's been a relatively easy adjustment, though many mornings he still asks us, "where are we going today?" and gets upset when he finds out that he's going to school. His best friends at school are Ethan and Josiah. For some reason, Josiah calls Kai "baby bear," while he and Naomi are "papa bear" and "mama bear," respectively (kids.. go figure). Kai's handwriting is steadily improving and when we look at his coloring, we can tell that he's not just coloring things randomly anymore since he now has a sense that certain things should be a certain color. Kai remains my sweet boy and preschool drop off is full of hugs and kisses.

The preschool gang

Mad Science activity at school

Since her illness, Sora has been waking up occasionally in the middle of the nights and has developed a penchant for sleeping with me in our bed.. hopefully we can fix that soon! She is talking more than ever, and everything she says is peppered by Mandarin and song. And it's probably parental influence, but she calls everyone "guys," for example, "wait for me, guys!" which just sounds funny coming out of a 2.5 year old's mouth. My spicy Thai girl continues to be an adventurous eater, though beans and spinach have fallen out of favor. She will be "graduating" from Bright Star soon and will start attending Agape's Ladybug site in a few weeks. I have no doubt that my feisty, smart little girl will thrive as she starts to learn her alphabet and numbers.

Spicy!

Not limited to stereotypes, Sora plays with trucks and necklaces.

The kids play well together on occasion, though these days Kai will say, "I don't like Sora because she's always bothering me." Honestly, it's true. Sora likes to egg Kai on as he complains about something that she's doing, i.e., if he complains that she's singing, she'll proceed to sing even more loudly as he whines. And inevitably, even though we have a toy-filled living room, the kids always want to play with the exact same toy and the exact same time. Our biggest parenting challenges at this time are the fact that Kai is too whiny, and Sora simply doesn't listen and is defiant.

Occasionally the kids have fun together..

.. but recently, Kai's been opting out of long baths together because of excessive fighting. After Kai leaves, Sora enjoys her individual "spa time."

I confiscated the slime after Sora slimed herself one too many times.

Sora: "Hey, shouldn't you be the one doing the pushing?"

Nik and I send each other pictures of the kids when one of us is at work. Sometimes our kids will smile with their "cheese faces", but most of the time they like to make silly faces for the camera.

Kissy face for Baba

Angry faces

And in case you haven't noticed from the recent pictures, we're expecting #3 this November! We're excited though Nik and I are a bit leery about being outnumbered by kids. We'll just have to see how things go and hopefully Kai will grow into the role of big big brother and Sora will adapt into being a little big sister.

Finally, in July we purchased a new ride! Nothing special, but we've conceded to the challenge of having two young children, one on the way, and having Nik's Mom living with us part-time. Yes, we have joined the minivan crew and the kids absolutely love it!

Lake life

Summertime means it's time for our annual camping trip with our LSCC friends; we just got back last weekend! Last year, we enviously watched our friends set up their instant tents in five minutes or less after we had spent nearly an hour setting up our regular ole' tent, so we decided to take the plunge and invest in an instant tent. We opted to do a dry run in the backyard before actually taking the tent out on the trip. Nik was a trooper and slept with the kids in the backyard while I slept in the house. It was a little cold and the kids slept late and woke up when the sun rose, but overall, the kids did well.

Feeling somewhat prepared, we packed up for the trip. This year, our trip was at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Although weather reports indicated that it would be warm, I was perhaps traumatized by last year's cold evenings and nights, so I may have overpacked. We joined in on the caravan to the campsite, an impressive feat considering we had 12 cars! Fortunately for us, after lunch, both of the kids passed out and napped until we were almost nearly there. Once we arrived, we chose a spot and quickly set up camp. The kids settled in immediately and got right to the business of playing in the dirt. Oh camping!

When you take the kids to the mountains and all they want to do is play in the back of a pick up truck

The first full day of camping was spent at White Pines Lake. The kids enjoyed playing with inflatables, and a kayak and stand up paddle board that Papa Jeff had thoughtfully brought along. Sora contented herself with playing in the sand for what felt like hours. Perhaps it's because the water is shallow and calm, but Kai actually said that he prefers the lake to the ocean!

The inflatable crocodile was a huge hit.. until it popped the next day

Hours of fun

♫ C'mon ride the (floatie) train ♫

On the next full day, we did a whirlwind tour of Calaveras Big Trees State Park. We first briefly stopped at a scenic overlook for a group photo--no mean feat with 13 families! Then we stopped to check out the rapids along the Stanislaus River: a little anxiety provoking with all of the kids and littles, but fortunately no one fell in.. though PJC was standing at the ready just in case.

We then spent the remainder of the afternoon by Beaver Creek. The kids enjoyed playing in the cold, clear water and Nik found little creatures in the water to show to the kids. The river stones were a bit hard on little feet, so eventually the kids settled in to play in the sand.

As with last year, camp food with LSCC is a professional affair. All the meals were meticulously planned out and everything was delicious.

Perhaps it's because it was warmer this year or because the kids are becoming more independent and social, but we spent less time just hanging out in our tent than last year. The kids loved running up and down the road carrying sticks; fortunately, there were no injuries aside from a few minor scrapes. There were many times that the kids wandered off to play and Nik and I had no idea where they had run off to.

The kids found a caterpillar!

The kids loved the swing that Papa Jeff strung up

While the kids play, the adults play ;)

Hot cocoa and a morning campfire

Sleep was a challenge.. actually, I should say that sleep for Sora was a challenge. On the first night, Sora woke up screaming several times; she improved as the trip progressed, but I dare say that our little Sora now has a reputation as a screamer among our church friends. Remarkably, Kai did great and slept through it all.

Deceptively peaceful

Since the kids are older and don't need to go to bed as early, we were able to make it out for evening campfires this year. The kids loved the s'mores and on the final night we had a campfire worship which the kids loved.

Making s'mores with 31 kids is no joke

Undoubtedly, the kids will soon be asking us when we'll be able to do it all again. We had a great time and we're already looking forward to next year! :)

Obligatory group shot

Fringe benefit of camping: unlimited hot cocoa!