Kai soccer camp and Sora's art class / Climbing wall progress / Going away dinner with Mei Li

 Kai had soccer camp with Niko and Ethan for 4 days this past week.  Normally, we wouldn't sign him up for this sort of thing (it's really expensive!) but we thought maybe being with his best friends would motivate him.  I don't think it worked.  He had fun but from the report of the other 8 year olds, Kai didn't put in too much effort.  We encouraged him and he did do better towards the end but it makes us question whether these things are worth the effort and expense.  

Joshua, Niko, Ethan and Kai, masked and ready for soccer .. 
or at least goofing off on the pitch

While Kai was in soccer camp, Sora was home with either Amy or I. It felt unusual as they usually do nearly everything together but we signed her up for an online art class which she enjoyed.  She also came to run errands with us :)

You would think she would be more engaged after a year of 
virtual learning but she was as quiet as ever

Sora came with me to get an automatic carwash 

Jad is still at daycare, of course.  He's still rather stubborn so I think teacher Wendy has been somewhat frustrated with him.  He's still our opinionated extrovert :)

During our Thursday night neighborhood hangouts, the kids are
usually running around together plotting some scheme or another

I didn't work too much this week so I had a chance to work a bit on the climbing wall.  There has been a wood shortage so prices are high and inventory is low but I finally managed to find some plywood at Home Depot.  I think I have most of the pieces now.. so it'll only be two more months before I'm done :p

Home Depot is always so cavernous and there's not much assistance..
I was lucky to get two pieces of wood cut.

Lastly, this is the last week before Mei Li moves to NYC.  We are happy that she's starting a new adventure but sad that she is moving away.  We managed to drive up to SF to meet up for a farewell dinner with Lin and Sean.

We went up a bit early and stopped by Bi-Rite for ice cream..
Unanimous approval by all!

We then met up at Outer Orbit for fancy Hawaiian food (not that good..)

..but they did have pinball machines which the kids enjoyed..
for the 15 seconds they managed to keep the ball up.. sigh

We took a quick walk and stopped by a mini park with a panoramic
overlook of the foggy (and cold!) San Francisco cityscape

It was nice to be up in the city again but honestly, we're pretty content with living in the suburbs.  Amy was traumatized with parallel parking twice!  On the drive home we all, including Jad with his best Tokelauan imitation, sang the Moana songs.  The kids initially didn't like the movie but now they love it!

This coming week, the Halls are coming to visit and staying with us!