Kai's 9th birthday weekend

 Basically, this past weekend was just Kai's birthday celebration.  I think he had a lot of fun and I am glad that we have such a good boy as the oldest kid in the family.  We all have something to work on, myself included, so we'll keep at it but, all in all, Kai is pretty awesome.

Friday was Kai's actual birthday and he was excited.  He went to school and there his friends celebrated for him which I think went well though he didn't have a separate party for them.  He came home and immediately went to playing the switch because he had received Super Mario 3D world (from Brandon).  I'll just list all the video game stuff he got here: Super Mario Party (from Ethan), Super Smash Fighters Pack (from Niko) along with Piranha Plant fighter (from us).  

Now we have almost all the fighters!
(that really matter :)

We then went to our usual neighbors art class and then had joint dinner at the Casanovas.

Kai is not actually in this picture but he got in the bounce
house a bit.. still not too old for that

Friday night, Amy went to work so I had the kids Saturday morning.  We all accompanied Kai to his jujitsu class where he is prepping for a tournament next week.  He's not as good at technique but he certainly grapples well for his smaller size.  I have to keep encouraging him.

Jujitsu training

We skipped the soccer game for the day and then later went to Big Al's where the neighborhood parents and kids came for pizzas, fries and arcade games!

Happy birthday, Kai!

Sora was very proud of her Doodle Jump win

Daddy duties: helping Jad with TMNT

All three playing Halo Fireteam Raven

Can't leave the adults out of the party!

Fit almost everyone into this pic :)

After that we went to Amy's parents house for dinner there so they could see Kai as well.  Amy's mom made us a nice dinner but we couldn't eat much because we had eaten too much junk food beforehand.  Aiya. Gotta eat healthier.. after this weekend..

Sunday, we went to Church and it was nice to see everyone there as usual.  I'm always impressed with how organized LSCC is and I am glad that we can use that as a means to help other churches.  After that, the Kongs, Rongs, Shaws and Ngs came over for lunch and to top off Kai's weekend.

Everyone in the backyard

At least, we got them out for part of the time before devolving to video games.  

The boys on the couch playing Nintendo while the
girls + Jad are upstairs (with nerf guns :)

I think Kai had a good time this weekend with all the celebrations going on for him.  This better not set a precedent for Sora and Jad!!  Entire weekend celebration.. sheesh!

We finished the evening by eating leftovers with the neighbors

I got my negative COVID test result today and paid the extra co-pay for my cataract surgery which is coming up on Thursday.  Hopefully all goes well!  I'll leave you with this image of the blood moon eclipse from yesterday.  Til next time!

Hard to see on a pic but still very cool

2 weeks back / Sora / Kai / Jad / Amy / Nik

 Hard to believe it's already been two weeks since we got back from Thailand.  The first week back was a bit of a blur with jet lag.  We all adjusted a bit better this time and it took about 3 days to get our sleeping hours right though probably about a week of generally feeling tired.  

After being back for some time, I certainly miss traveling.  Going anywhere with three kids certainly has its stresses but it was so nice to see new places and try new foods (or old foods from my childhood).  That coupled with just the freedom from work and some aspects of responsibility for two weeks was amazing.  It certainly makes you question why and if we all have to work so much (the answer is no!) That as well as my mom being ill, makes me think that we have to take advantage of the limited time we all have.  I have to get more physically fit as well to combat the ageing that will wear down over time.

The other thing to making life better, of course, is changing your mental attitude and mindset.  On the trip I read this book called A Return to Love (still working on it).. it's kind of a new age-y take on Christianity and the basic concept, as I understand it,  is that God is less of a sentient entity but more of an all encompassing love.  By embracing that love, it can heal you and improve your life.  It does sound a bit hokey when I write it out but there is a lot in it that makes more sense to me than the traditional God and some good concepts in general that could be applied to life.  Mental and physical health.

Ok, enough musing and back to the pictures!

We landed on Thursday morning and we knew we had to keep the kids up to fight jet lag so Amy actually took Sora to gymnastics as usual that evening.  This picture is actually from later actually when there was a picture event.  

The pictures were way expensive but Sora
does look great in them

Kai also went right back to his soccer game on the Saturday after we got back.  He's enjoying soccer and actually it's only a couple more weeks til it ends.  I think he like the team aspect the most (he's actually talking to both teams most of the time on the field) and I'm glad this can help him develop in that area.  He also wanted to participate in the tournament in a few weeks so that's a big plus.

We were spoiled last year for semi-professional pics 
at every game.. but this one was pretty good

Jad did well with his transition back to preschool.  But after being back for 3 days he had a fever!  We were worried about COVID, of course, and he stayed home for 2 days but the fever resolved in about 36 hours and he never had any other symptoms.  Whew! 

Thank goodness, Amy was able to 
be home to take care of Jad.  Until..

...Amy got sick this week!  Hers was more of a runny nose upper respiratory illness but she also tested COVID negative.  She has been sleeping a lot and today is recovered almost 100%.  Actually she went on a 9 mile trail run so she's probably pretty good :)

Running around Alum Rock Park

Before Amy got sick, we did manage a lunch date to get Lanzhou
hand pulled noodles.. Pretty good!

Mother's day was also last week.  I did ask Amy what she wanted but she dclined so I got the kids up early to make breakfast for her.

Pancakes and fresh squeezed lemonade.. Kai cut the
pieces to say "I love U"

I think she was pretty happy with it

We also went out to dinner with Pam and Amy's
mom to celebrate with them!

As for me, I've been quite busy since getting back.  On landing in Japan between flights, a friend texted me about a terrible incident in our ER and I learned more when I landed back in California.  I've been helping to coordinate our response with the other doctors in our group and that's taken up a lot of time. Hopefully, this event, while tragic, will bring our work family closer together and lead to some changes for the better.  

This weekend, we're planning to celebrate Kai's 9th birthday.  Hard to believe he's already getting so big.  He's a great kid, even if he's got some faults.. but heck, we all do :)

Going through the monsoon rain in a motorcycle jeep

Til next time!