First post of 2026! Unfortunately, we started the year with Amy's dad's passing. He has been struggling with Parkinson's for a long time, over 15 years, and passed on January 11th. He was in the hospital and surrounded by his immediate family. He never wanted to be kept alive on machines and feeding tubes so they respected his wishes and he died peacefully. The last two weeks have been hard with adjusting and planning for the memorial service and burial. I've done my best to take care of the kids and keep normal things going while Amy has supported her mom and brothers.
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| A classic picture of dad and the kids |
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Amy's dad loved going to Benihana for his birthdays so there are a whole
series of these through the years :) |
The memorial service was this past weekend and it was very nice. Lots of people came to remember him, some told stories about his accomplishments, the Amy's mom and the kids all spoke. Hopefully he's in a better place now and resting peacefully.
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Bonnie and Matt sang a couple songs while Amy gathered the pictures for the slide
show, set to "In My Life". Very poignant and a beautiful tribute. |
Otherwise, we celebrated Christmas at home and with family. We tried to keep it to a minimum but the kids still got lots of presents. They will get one from each of their siblings, one from us, one from the grandparents and one from Santa.. sometimes additional ones here and there.
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Silly kids with their presents.. a huge nerf gun for Jad, Keeper of the Lost Cities books for
Sora and Pokemon Cards for Kai, among other things
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| Jad did get a fitbit step counter |
After watching, Physical Asia the kids have been more inspired to exercise so we were doing more runs and cross training. It's been too busy the last couple weeks but we should get back to it! Kai and Sora are doing it too but they don't like me taking pictures of them as much..
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| Pull ups! |
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| Push ups |
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I thought this funny AI rework of Amy and Jad at the track
was very cute |
We did go to to Tahoe for a few days for our church winter retreat. There was a big fear of snow storm this year but we slid in right between storms and it was pretty good. There was some snow on the ground to play in but we didn't have to put on chains so that was a win. Always good to see the friends in a different environment and we also met several people that we have not really spoken to much before! Kai and Sora had a lot of fun, stayed up late for NYE but many of Jad's friends were not there so he did complain that he was bored.
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| The clear days were quite pretty |
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| Snow play with the girls |
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| Ice skating boys |
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Emma looks so much bigger than Sora
in this picture :D |
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| It began really snowing on the day we drove out |
Other random stuff..
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We did make it to Xmas in the Park but it was rainy
that day so not the best experience |
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| Colton, Jad and Orion at Starbird for school fundraiser |
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| Sesame III finishing his cereal |
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| Girl Scouts outing |
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| Sora enjoyed her horse ride, even if it was just in a barn |
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Amy has been playing Stardew Valley with the kids..
usually, I'll sit behind them and enjoy reading my book :) |
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Amy started brushing Sesame's teeth .. it's going
better than we expected (because the toothpaste
is flavored, I think :) |
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Amy is still training for her 30K in a few weeks (though the last couple weeks were a bust)..
she's wearing her new hat Michelle got her from Australia! |
That's about it. Some sadness in this post but what can you do? We are not meant to live forever, so all we can ask is that we leave something of value behind and people who we've loved and love us.
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Amy and David driving their mom, along with Auntie Alice and Uncle Ming. Amy
thought it was a funny role reversal from the younger days. |
Til next time, everyone!
