Golfland with Small Group / Lester's and Paige's birthdays / Wei's bachelor party

 A mostly quiet week with just some small celebrations :) 

Amy and I snuck out to a lunch date at a new Ethiopian place..
pretty tasty though the injera was too bubbly and a bit sour

We went to Golfland with our small group..
Sora quite liked the golfing actually while Kai ran amok with Niko

And we got a bit of game time in the arcade

It was Lester's birthday and the usual neighbors celebrated with a homemade guava cake by Kristy.

Guava cake goes well with whiskey.. who knew?!

Wei's bachelor party didn't happen because of COVID so we made it up a bit by taking him out to SF on Friday night.  Ray, Minh, John and I took him to Alexander's steak house.  Great steaks.. very expensive :)

I ended up crashed out on the couch in their hotel room.. 
A while since I slept away from Amy and the kids

I walked out the next morning to BART while
the boys went to a windsurfing class

Haven't ridden BART in a while either.. nice that it
reaches all the way to Berryessa now

The kids have been having art class on Friday afternoons with Peggy.  They are enjoying it and this week they worked on 3D creations.  

Just a cute picture of Amy and Jad

The biggest event of the week may have been Paige's birthday party.  Alex and Kendra got a big bounce house with slide and apparently the kids went crazy for hours (I was at work, unfortunately).  

Bunny cake!

Sweaty Kai on the slide

It's like a mini rave in there with the jumping and glow sticks

Sora bumped her 4th loose tooth out while jumping!

Overall, a nice week.  I'll leave you with this.. got some photos from Matt and Nicole from their wedding..

Looking good, dude! 
(at least that's what Amy says :)

Have a good week, everyone!

Kai's First Soccer Game / Sora's First Gymnastics Class / Phase 2 Climbing Wall / Evelyn and Liam Sleepover / Amy's Dad's birthday

Activities are back in full swing this week!  Kai is back in soccer and enjoying it, especially as he is with Niko and Dylan on his team.  He started off slacking and joking a bit as usual but our coach, Allen, seems pretty good this year and has been working hard to motivate all the kids.  Kai has been picking up the pace and getting into it.  The Vipers had their first game this past Saturday against the Hammerheads and lost 1-0 but seemed like everyone had a lot of fun. 

Is he smiling under that mask? :)

Sora also started going to gymnastics with Noe.  Again, it's nice that she has a good friend that she can go with to try a new activity.  She really enjoyed it and is looking forward to going back.  Too bad gymnastics is so pricey (more expensive than other sports) but who knows, maybe we'll have a Suni Lee in our family :p

Looking very cute in her outfit

Can't post about Kai and Sora without mentioning Jad.  He hasn't been up to much except school but is learning his letters and numbers and manages to put on his shoes correctly about half the time..  

This one is still getting by on his cuteness

Amy has started training more intensely for her half marathon in November.  This morning she ran 5 miles and then sprints for speed.  Amazing!  I finally finished the climbing wall phase 2 at our house.  It took months of planning and work (probably a more handy person could have done it in a couple weeks) but I'm pretty proud of it.  The kids are enjoying it quite a bit.  

Yes, it's over the stairs.. don't worry, perfectly safe.. mostly :p

Even Evelyn got climbing when they visited

Which is a nice segue way into our sleepover.  It was Yukari's birthday this weekend so the Shaws dropped off their kids for a sleepover and had time to themselves.  The kids really enjoyed having their friends over and I think this was the first time, we had friends sleepover.  They didn't even bring a Switch!

In addition to climbing, the kids also took
a ride on the zipline

Dinner time!

We even took a walk to Tim and Dali's and invaded their yard

Of course, they all wanted to sleep in the same room

Lots of fun :) I'm glad we can do this for them and let them enjoy childhood with their friends. 

Just to finish off, we also celebrated Amy's dad's bday this Sunday!  The kids made a nice piece of art for him and we celebrated with David .. and cake!

The big 74 :)

Til next time..

Topgolf with the Dudes / Phase 1 Climbing Wall / Wally's Bday / RCC Labor Day Weekend

Lots of fun activities this past week..

The dads in our small group managed to get together and we went to Topgolf.  It's huge and basically like fancy bowling except with golf.  We had a lot of fun, found out several of us (not me) are quite good at golf.  

Got almost everyone but Ben had to work :(

That silly Derek..

My mom and dad finally got their second AZ shot.. Yay!  While it doesn't completely protect them from COVID, it'll help if they it.  Hopefully, the case numbers in Thailand go down and I can visit them soon.

Not too much reaction from the 2nd shot
for mom or dad :)

I finally finished phase 1 of the climbing wall and the kids were very excited about it.  Sure, it's probably not super safe, being situated at the mid point of our stairs, but there's a small risk in everything :p

Screwing the plywood on the 2x4's

Kai flying up the wall

Sora going to the top!

Jad getting in on the action too

We also had a neighborhood street party for Wally's birthday.  This was the last big event before he moved and all the friends came to help celebrate, including Lupita!

Big smiles all around

Originally, the neighbors had all planned to go to the Aoalins' cabin in Pinecrest for the weekend but with the Caldor and Dixie fires still going, the air quality was just poor and we didn't want to be stuck inside a cabin all weekend.  Instead, we opted for a beach day on Sunday and water balloon / dinner party on Monday.  It was a lot of fun.  I'm glad we have such awesome neighbors.

Start of our beach day.. it's hard to get 13 kids
to look at the same camera

Our own little tent city near Seacliff beach

Jad helping to bury Kai

Wally and Rachel joined us as well

After a full day of playing in the sand, most of the neighbors headed back to RCC but we went to visit Wally's new house. Rachel had said that he was having a bit of trouble adjusting so we figured a visit from his bestie might be helpful.  David's (Rachel's bf) house is situated right in the woods, near the end of a one lane road into the hills.  A very peaceful and neat place, if a bit isolated.

Wally and Rachel's new place has a cool back deck

Labor day Monday was hot!  By noon, it was already 90 and we were all pooped out on the Connicks' driveway.

I wasn't kidding..

The kids got into bottle flipping, which was
easier than I thought

and there were water balloons

and popsicles

and swimming at the Aoalin pool

and a potluck dinner to cap it all off

As I have said before, we're very thankful to have such awesome neighbors.  I mean, occasionally, there's a dead guy found on the street but that's a rare (mostly) event.  Seriously, unfortunately, someone pulled over and parked and never got out of his car. He didn't even get noticed by someone until the next morning :(  

Kids were like, "why are all the polices here?" 

I don't want to leave on such a sad note though so I'll leave you with this picture that my family sent to me a few days ago.  This is from when we visited Disneyland many many years ago.  Times were simpler (at least from our point of view) back then and it cost $25 for a ticket.  

Three brothers

Sora's tooth / Matt's Wedding / misc

To start off the week, Sora lost one of her upper teeth.  It's been waggling for a while so we're glad it finally came out.  One more loose one to go!

Just in time to be flowergirl for..

Matt's wedding!  Yes, the big wedding was last week and it was great fun.  It's the first formal event the kids have gone to and they did pretty well.  

Marina did Sora's hair and makeup

Dressed up in our finest :)

Sora was very excited about her role

The boys, on the other hand, were up to their
usual goofy selves

The beautiful couple!

After dinner, the kids hit the dance floor
and had a great time

Amy's parents and David with Matt and Nicole

Love it when Amy dances too

Jad loved the flashing lights and lasers

Overall, it was super nice and we are very happy for Matt and Nicole.  Hopefully, we can visit them and they can come up to see us often.  Best wishes for them in their life together!

The day after the wedding, Jad also wanted his
nails painted because Sora had hers done..

The rest of the week was clouded (literally) by smoke from the Caldor fire, which is burning east of Sac.  Our air quality was moderate most days, a bit worse on a couple, but it wasn't as bad as in Sac.  Raja and his family almost came over because ash was raining down on their house and aqi was over 300!

Jeff and Gloria were in the bay area for a few days
and we managed to meet up for an hour at a nearby playground

Jad playing in the fountains at Villa

I had a lot of evening shifts in the ER this weekend so
missed this dance party at the Connicks 

We're settling in the routine of the kids being back in school.  No COVID positive notifications yet but we know this is going to happen.  Actually, after the wedding, I had a mild runny nose but, thankfully, tested COVID negative.  Fingers crossed that Kai and Sora can get their vaccinations soon.

Both my mom and dad got their 2nd AZ vaccination this week.. yay!

Lastly, with the kids at school, I was able to make some solid progress on the climbing wall.  Hopefully, one full section will be up by the end of the week.  As a side note, I would probably say to avoid doing woodwork inside your house unless you have a shop area :p 

Holds are bolted in!

Til next time!