Dropping off Kai

Today I dropped Kai off at the turnaround for his school.  Previous to this I had always walked him in to the yard but because it was raining today and we had Jad in the car, he said I could just drop him off at the curb.  I watched as he got out of the car on his own, opened his umbrella and smiled to himself.  I opened the window and said , "bye, Kai" and he waved back before heading through the gates.  I felt something inside and, for a second, I thought it was sadness that Kai was growing up, becoming more independent and not needing us as much.  I have been feeling a bit this way as Jad just turned two and isn't quite as much of a baby anymore.  But then I looked and realized that it was actually more of a feeling of pride that he was growing up, becoming more independent and not needing us as much.  The same things really but somehow it made me smile for the rest of the morning.

Goodbye, Skinnay

Last night as Nik got ready for bed for the night, he went to feed Skinnay and found that he had died. It was anticlimactic. There was no middle of the night rush to the veterinary ER and late night vigil as we waited him for him to pass, as there had been with Chubs' death three years ago. Nik just found him: cold and stiff in the corner of his cage. I immediately felt guilty that our oft neglected pet died alone in his cage with while we were unaware of it. Nik is convinced that he couldn't have been dead for more than 24 hours, but it's anybody's guess and I feel bad for not noticing it earlier.

It's strange. In the midst of the the day-to-day craziness with the kids, Skinnay occupied such a peripheral space in our lives, so I didn't anticipate the sadness that I felt and perhaps as it was with Chubs' death, I feel the weight of my guilt for being a neglectful chin parent. Once upon a time "our boys" as we called them were a big part of our lives. They regularly ran around a little enclosure that we had created outside of the cage since Nik was worried that their cage was too cramped and we would get boxes from the post office for them to chew and explore. Once we started having kids, caring for them fell to the wayside. Now that Skinnay has passed, I can safely say that we aren't planning to have another pet for a while--I can't handle the guilt of feeling like a neglectful pet owner.

Meeting Skinnay for the first time almost 11 years ago

Our boys used to have the run of the house

Fulfilling the Chubs and Skinnay stereotype: Chubs on the top with the pellets and Skinnay on the bottom with the hay

I'm sad that Jad probably won't have memories of him, he only recently started saying "Ski-nay" and "Cheer-o" since he loved giving Skinnay treats. We debated whether to tell the kids before breakfast this morning and decided to just do it. Kai's inital reaction was, "can we have another pet?", though he got teary later on. Sora was more immediately sad. We then showed the kids Skinnay in the shoebox that we had placed him. The kids patted him and Jad waved to him and said, "bye bye Ski-nay."

The kids and I took Skinnay to the Humane Society in the afternoon to have him cremated. Kai and Sora took turns holding the shoebox on the car ride to the Humane Society. The staff had us sit in a quiet room to say goodbye and the kids had a chance to hold him and pet him one last time. The kids were alternatively sad and being their normal playful and goofy selves, I had to repeatedly remind them to treat Skinnay's body with care and that he was not a toy since he was a pet that we had loved. I can only assume that this was a part of them processing his death.

I know it's a bit macabre to have a picture of Sora holding Skinnay after he passed, but I just felt bad that I didn't have any recent pictures of him

It's probably for the best. After Chubs' death, I had always worried Skinnay would be lonely and whither away, but he didn't.. for three years, he kept at it on his own: loving his hay, running on his wheel, and begging for Cheerios when we gave him his food after the kids went to bed. I know that it's problematic to anthropomorphize animals and give them human attributes and emotions, but he must have been lonely. Sadly after he passed, I looked through all my photos and realized that I had only taken one picture of him over the course of this past year.

Nik had noticed that he had been losing weight recently and is convinced that his passing was simply a case of him getting too old. Perhaps.. but it's still difficult for me not to feel somewhat complicit.

Goodbye, Skinnay. I remember your acrobatic escapades of jumping out of your fenced enclosures and that one time that we left your cage unlatched and you ran amok in our house, chewing the baseboards and Nik's paperbacks. I'm sorry that we didn't take better care of you in the end, but hope that somehow you've been reunited with Chubs and that he's letting you use him as a body pillow. We'll miss you, buddy.

Kai Is still cute

Kai is six and a half now and he's in this a very in between stage.  He wants to have independence but also wants attention from us.  He wants to be with his friends but also wants to assert himself.

Today, Amy found him switching the seating around at church so he could sit next to Niko.  😁

Kai's first visit from the Tooth Fairy

For at least the past month, Kai's two bottom front teeth had been wiggly. We've seen his friends and classmates loosing teeth left and right, so it was high time for Kai to loose some teeth. On Saturday, the tooth on the right finally came out. I unexpectedly a little emotional.. our little boy is growing up!

With his haul from the Tooth Fairy. He didn't find the dollar immediately and was initially disappointed when he woke up, but found the dollar with some help from Nik

And here's a throwback.. *sniffle* ;_;

My chubby, smiling baby with only two teeth (circa Dec. 2013)

And they're off!

Today was Kai and Sora's first days of 1st grade and TK, respectively. It was an early wake up, but the kids did great in spite of any reservations they might have had before today. It was a little challenging with the back-to-back drop offs at different schools, but I'm glad that Toyon and Noble aren't too far from each other.

Of course #3 had to be a part of the action

Toyon Tiger!

Looking pretty happy with her very own desk

Little apprehensive about lining up..

.. but warmed up as he talked to Nora in line

Home, sweet home

Our final day in Tokyo was a long one. We needed to check out of our rental, so after breakfast we let the kids watch TV so I could pack everything up. The kids watched the Let's Go Pikachu playthrough that Kai has come to love (future gamer, no doubt), while Jad was very fortunately fixated by a Japanese equivalent of Sesame Street.

We finally got everything ready, checked out, and had the hosts hold our bags so we could explore unencumbered by luggage. Our plan was to go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. We walked to the museum via a nearby park that we had never explored because of the heat. The park is memorial to those killed during the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 and the Bombing of Tokyo during WW2. The kids enjoyed the pond and meandering paths. We also walked through the memorial hall which was a sad testament to the devastation caused to Tokyo by the earthquake and WW2.

We then escaped the oppressive heat and humidity by ducking into the Edo-Tokyo Museum. The museum, focusing on the history and culture of Tokyo, features a full-scale replica of the Nihonbashi Bridge and detailed miniatures. Although touted on Tripadvisor as a "good place for kids", I think they must've been referring to much older kids since the museum barely captured our kids' attention. We opted for a few photo ops with the kids instead of really looking at any of the exhibits; it seems like an interesting museum.. maybe we'll try again when the kids are older? :P

Fun photo op in the museum lobby. I have no idea what they were promoting, but the kids enjoyed it!

Impressive full-scale replicas

Transporting three kids in a palanquin is no mean feat

I got angry with Kai after he wouldn't stop being silly.. so pouty Kai is showing us how wood block prints are made

Really neat and detailed miniatures.. I wish I had had more time to look around the museum, but difficult with restless and whiny kids, so next time!

We had lunch at the museum restaurant. I have to say that the fluffy and freshly fried katsu curry that we had at the restaurant was way better than our usual grocery store katsu curry bento. :P The kids were just excited with the big bowl of fries we ordered (which was promptly devoured) and the unlimited juice.

A definite upgrade from the katsu curry bento from the grocery store

On our way back to the hostel, we wandered through a small traditional Japanese garden. It was a nice diversion and the kids enjoyed the numerous turtles in the pond, though we struggled to get Jad to take his afternoon nap. He eventually passed out in the stroller and we rewarded the kids for persevering through 90 degree heat and humidity with a Pocari Sweat.

The kids loved Pocari Sweat. Kai and Sora called it "Poo-cari Sweat" and would then laugh hysterically to themselves. Kids and potty jokes -_-

After that we picked up our bags and it was one last walk down the small road near our hostel and over the bridge that we walked across every day during our stay in Tokyo. It was a relatively short walk, but carrying luggage in the afternoon heat was difficult and both kids were fading and nearly spent by the time we made it to the subway station, but we made it!

Walking across Umaya Bridge one last time.. watch out for bicycles!

On our way home!

We arrived at Haneda Airport relatively early for our evening flight, but fortunately there were ample distractions to keep our kids amused.

There was a 7-Eleven to grab snacks (Jad is graciously sharing his ice cream with Sora in this pic)..

.. photo ops..

.. an expansive observation deck..

.. even a large RC car race track!

We had one final katsu dinner and then it was off to the gate to grab our flight home.

Started digging in before I remembered to take a picture

The flight home was much smoother than our first flight from SFO to Tokyo. On take off I got to see fireworks on the Sumida River. I've never seen fireworks from the air and I was sad that our trip just missed overlapping with a hanabi festival, so it was great to be at least able to see them from the air. The kids fell asleep relatively easily and while Jad was a bit more difficult, he slept relatively well (relative to last time :P) with Nik in the carrier.

Sora started looking tired while she was watching Tangled for the fourth time. She turned the screen off on her own, took off her headphones, and asked if she could go to sleep o_O

Kai was a bit more of a struggle.. I challenged him to close his eyes and be quiet for 10 minutes (taking advantage of his competitive streak) and he fell asleep across my lap pretty soon afterwards 

Which bring us to now. The kids are jet lagged, they've all woken up in the middle of the night for the past two nights and the first day back home, they slept in until 11 am. But we're getting back to our usual routines, we sent Jad to daycare late this morning and we finally have some groceries in our fridge, so things are starting to feel a little more normal now.

As Nik mentioned in a previous post, I'm not sure if we'll attempt another long international trip until at least 2-3 years from now; the kids are still really young. Also, we'll probably avoid travel during the summer months if we go to Asia again.. the weather at this time of year isn't the best and really put off any attempts to do any meaningful sightseeing. That said, I am proud of our intrepid little travelers and I am glad that the kids had a lot of time to visit with their grandparents and extended family in Thailand. I am also glad that our kids had a chance to be exposed to a little bit of Asian culture outside of the States. Although they are Americans, they have Asian faces and I have some guilt about not being able to pass on much Asian culture to them with my own ABC upbringing, so this is the least that I can do for them.