First Half of Summer 2024

Oh man, I really fell behind on the blog the past few months.  The end of the school year was really busy and then summer started and there was baseball and swimming and kittens!  So many things, no wonder we were so busy :p

A bit of beach time at Natural Bridges

Sora and Jad did Junior Giants Tball/softball with
their friends.  Lots of fun, very supportive,
free gloves and uniforms..really great program!

They even brought it back to neighborhood with
some street baseball :) look at Sora's stance!

Jad took a week of swim lessons .. he's pretty good now though
I still worry a bit about him in the deeper parts of the pool

We met with friends a few times at Villa

4th of July was jammed packed.  I didn't have to work, which was nice.  We had a celebration at our church then came back for the RCC Annual celebration.  The Connicks were gone in Hawai'i this year so the planning/execution went to Amy, Kristina and Janet.  They did a pretty good job and we had lots of fun, even if the turnout was a bit smaller than usual.  Good times!

The chili cookoff at the LSCC Office.. I was just up there serving,
Amy was the one that made the chili :)

The water balloon launcher!  Jack keeps saying we'll 
have to take over for him but, honestly, he'll outlive us all
except maybe Ed 

There was music and dancing too!

And bounce house fun!

Kai entered but Tam won the watermelon eating
contest this year.. it has been her goal for years

We also decided to foster 2 kittens.  Ever since we fostered the kittens last year, Amy has been on the contact list for the San Jose Shelter.  At the beginning of summer, there was an overload of kittens and the shelter could not take care of them all so we decided to try to help.  We got two cats - a cute feisty gray one that the kids named Felix and a smaller, less active black and white one that the kids called Socks.  They had both been kept in a small plastic box at the shelter and the staff there barely had to time to care for them aside from putting food and water in their tub.  Felix settled in quickly and was quite playful but Socks was very weak and Amy noticed that he had already been losing weight the last few days, in contrast to his brother.  Amy contacted the shelter immediately and started very intensive feeding and care for Socks but unfortunately, he just got weaker and weaker and died less than a week at home.  We were all very sad but we did tell the kids that we did our best and we were able to give Socks a caring home for the last days of his life.  We did find out that Socks had Feline Panleukopenia which caused his weakness and diarrhea.  Felix seemed to be immure and continued to grow quite well become almost too crazy at the end of the month as he would claw and climb up our pants in his excitement.  Eventually, he returned to the shelter and we found out that he was adopted a few weeks later.  Amy and the kids were sad about Socks, especially Sora, but I think with the chinchillas passing away before and fish as well, it helped them to understand that these things are a part of life and all we can do is the best we can. Rest in peace, Socks, and take care, Felix.

Sora and Socks

Amy with Felix.  She's wearing scrubs
because he's quarantined to protect Sesame

There were also various trips around the bay area.. 

Hiller Aviation Museum with the Aoalins

We also took a trip to Rosevile to visit the Casanovas in their new place.  They have such a party pad with games of all types in their living room and a pool out back.  Sure, it was 110 degrees but actually it made the pool nice and warm :)  Sad to have them move away but at least now we have a place to visit in Roseville/Sac area (we call it RCC North :)

The ladies relaxing in the pool

Air hockey!  Skee ball!  Basketball!

When it's too hot in the daytime, then you swim at night!

Sora and Jad also did a week of VBS at CCC.  Kai has aged out but he volunteered ot help and had fun prepping the snacks for the rest of the kids.  Everyone also did one week of sports camp at CCC.  No SAM camp this year but hopefully it'll return next year.

That's pretty much it for the first half of summer.  We were so busy (especially when the kittens were with us) and just trying to make it through to the last 3 weeks of summer and our trip to Portugal and Spain.  Next post about the trip.  Til next time!