Whoa, it's already 2025! The end of the year passed quickly as the kids were home for winter break, with Christmas preparation and a trip to Tahoe with our church and now we're into the new year. Like my brother, Joe, says, now that we're older, health is the highest priority. I've been trying to exercise more and being able to do some strength training while at the clinic is also really helpful.
Let's see, what was happening on RCC in Dec..
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| AT had all of the neighbors and friends over for his birthday |
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We found an abandoned rat (+cage) on the street. Amy's suspicion is that someone got one for
a Xmas present but then decided they didn't want or couldn't keep it. Lucky, the Connicks like rats! |
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| Also went to Dustin's (not actually in the pic) house for his birthday :) |
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Amy ran up to the top of Mission Peak..
who carries this tree up there?!? |
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We also met up with Amy's cousins in Mountain View. It was
nice to see them again. All the 2nd/3rd? cousins here :) |
We also went to Winterfest at Great America. Apparently, it's the last time they will have this event, as Great America is planning to close in the next couple of years. It was still very pretty and we had a chance to see the ice show which was pretty cool.
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| Just us by the tree |
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Our kids don't love roller coasters (Kai the least) but we
still went on the Woodstock Express because Jad asked for it |
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| Silly singing reindeer |
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They had ice skating, costumes, aerial silk dancing and
acrobatics.. pretty good show actually |
As usual, we went to Tahoe with our church for the winter retreat. It was pretty low key this year with mostly just social and down time. There wasn't much snow at South Lake but there was some if you drove up the mountain a bit. We spent a lot of time playing board games and crafting but also did some sledding, rock climbing and ice skating.
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| Very beautiful.. the lake is nice too ;p |
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| The pre-teen boys had lots of fun playing together |
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| Jad sending it |
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| Tim and Jad in the snow |
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Kai doing a bit of climbing. Sora went too but
chose to not actually participate. |
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| Sora spent a lot time at the bead and bracelet crafting table though! |
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| Everyone spent a lot of time on screens or Switch |
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Ice skating! Sora is actually taking a class
for a few months this winter at Sharks Ice |
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| There was some whiskey and wine tasting for the adults as well. Good times! |
We drove home on New Year's Eve and stopped by to see Raja on the way. He's getting better little by little and when we were there, he was giving a talk to the VA while lying on the couch. Mentally improving at least even if the physical recovery seems slow. After a short visit with both him and Ravi, we were home by mid afternoon. The kids were able to take a nap in the car so they were ready for staying up til midnight! Sora was especially passionate about this so we let them all stay up. Adults played board games while the kids ran around.
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| David came over too.. Team David destroyed the rest of us in Catan |
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| 2025! 2025! 2025! |
There was another Alum Rock Fun Run as well so Amy made Kai and Sora go with her. The Connicks came along so everyone ended up running it. Kai finished first at 25' 04" which is pretty amazing for 5k / 3.1 miles. Amy came in next at about 28' then Kazu at 32' 30" then Sora at 36' (I think) then Elysia and Victoria. Kegan would have probably been pretty fast but he has a back injury.
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| Before the run pic |
It did get the kids so enthused that they all ran to Eagle Rock the next day, which is about 3.5 miles. There was more stopping and walking that time but still amazing. I'm so glad the kids got Amy's mitochondria :)
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| Hanging out at Eagle Rock after the run |
That wraps up 2024 and the start of the new year. I'll leave you with this cute picture of Amy when we had a chance to go to lunch last week at Bigspoon when the kids went back to school :)
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| Good banchan! |
