Kai's Jujitsu / Kids are doing ok / Vic's Surprise Birthday Girls' weekend / The dads survived / Happy Chinese New Year

Let's see what's happening this week..

Kai is continuing with Jujitsu.  I'm really proud of him.  He's not a big kid, just like I am not a big person, and I know it's not easy but he's a hard worker and is very scrappy :)  I think if he keeps up with BJJ, it could teach him a lot about discipline, self control in addition to the skills of BJJ itself.

A bit of sparring action

Sora is also working on her piano.  She really likes it but has a tendency to become frustrated when it isn't perfect.  This is a tendency she has when she does a lot of things.  When frustrated, she starts to whine a lot and this builds upon itself until she is crying or distraught and can't do anything anymore.  We keep telling her that the way to improve at something is to practice or just keep at it as becoming frustrated or angry isn't going to help and usually just makes things worse.  But it's also easier to see it from the giving advice side and she's only 7 so we'll keep working on it.  

Jad is doing well as usual.  He's so happy go lucky and is generally a joy, most of the time.  He does need to work on not crying / yelling / punching (playful) when he doesn't get what he wants but usually responds well to correction.  Just have to remember not to give him too much attention for bad behavior.  

Otherwise, the kids are doing well overall.  There's always a bit of a thought about whether we are doing enough to push them but Amy and I both agree that they need time to be kids and they are happy so we're not asking for much more at this point.  Hopefully, we can develop the "soft" skills like discipline, self control, patients, empathy and resilience so they can use those when they are older to succeed.  Not that we're doing a particularly great job but that's what we're working on anyway :p

The big event last week was Vic's birthday party celebration.  Kegan had been planning this for months and the plan was for Vic and the moms to go on a weekend trip to Napa while the dad's kept the kids at home.  Anyone who is a parent knows this is a difficult undertaking already but everyone planned and kept it quiet (we didn't even tell the kids for fear they would let it slip.)  Kegan arranged with Vic's assistant and boss to give her the day off but also to put fake meetings on her agenda. The pièce de résistance was that Audrey would fly up on Thursday night to surprise Vic and then they (Vic, Amy, Audrey, Kendra and Kristy) would go on the trip from Friday to Sunday.  

Thursday night we all arranged to have dinner outside on our driveway (a weenie roast!) which was a lot of fun actually.  We also had to delay a bit as Audrey wouldn't arrive until about 720p.  Luckily, the meeting about the RCC crosswalk was that day and Amy also had to take Sora to gymnastics so she was late getting back.

I didn't get great pics of that evening for some reason but there is a video of Audrey arriving (couldn't upload to blog.. file size excessive apparently) that Amy took.  The uber pulls up and stops, the rest of us are pretending we don't know who's arriving, Audrey gets out in a mask and Vic has no idea who she is.  Audrey walks towards us with a suitcase and says "hi' and Vic replies with a curious "hiiii.." but then Audrey takes off her mask and Vic is like "What?!?"  Audrey then proceeds to reveal the rest of the surprise and, after a brief moment of disbelief, it was great.

The moms left the next day after the kids were off to school.  It would have been great to have Trang go as well but she was being careful with Terry's mom coming back to stay with them.

Things started with a pedicure

They had a chef come in a cook them
dinner on Friday night

Workout to burn off some of the food

Wine tour to Viansa and Homewood on Saturday

Very stylish (and a little drunk :)

Saturday dinner at The Girl and The Fig
(Vic's favorite apparently)

Sunday breakfast at Murphy's

Stop at Dirty Girl Donuts for a sweet treat 
on the way home

Overall, the girls had a great time and we were glad we could give them that time to get away.  Now for the dads..

I enjoyed the few hours of solitude to myself on Friday while the kids were at school then the kids came back and we had art class. 

Peggy and Wally worked on colored outlining

Friday night, we all made spaghetti dinner and ate outside at Terry & Trang's 

The kids got a bit of extra Switch time

Saturday, the connicks came over and we had donuts for breakfast and then lounged for a while.  After lunch we went for a bike ride up to the playground in Alum Rock with everyone.

Nice day!  We had nine bikes + one trailer
going at one point..

Kegan, Alex and I played Seven Wonders and Diplomacy 
while the kids played in the afternoon

Dinner was with tri-tip and tater tots.  Kegan sous vide the tri-tip and it came out perfect medium rare!  Sunday we all got back together and had a pancake breakfast with bacon and strawberries before I took the kids to church.  The moms got back right as we returned and there were many hugs :)

Pancake breakfast!

I have to say that we did quite well for ourselves with only one moment of lost temper over the weekend.  Still something I have to work on.  Maybe consider walking away when the situation gets too frustrating or angry.  We all have something to work on.

Yesterday was Lunar New Year.  We celebrated with dinner at Amy's parent's on Sunday but heard some obligatory fireworks on Tuesday night.

Happy New Year from Jad!

This kid is such a ham.. I don't know
where he gets these poses from

Amy and I also had a day date Tuesday while the kids were in school.  We went to see a movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home, something we hadn't done since before the pandemic started.  The movie was pretty good, some funny moments mixed with some poignant moments and good cameos.  

Nearly empty theater

Lastly, plans continue to be made to visit my mom.  It's complicated because of COVID as we have to have our itinerary laid out with plane tickets and hotel reservations (including COVID tests on days 1 and 5) then we have to apply via the Thai Consulate for the Test and Go program.  That and arrange for COVID tests 72 hours before departure (and hope we get results before we leave).  On my mom's end, she trialed a nursing home while my dad was away for a few days and Joe was sick.  It was ok but not ideal and I think Joe is going to try to find a helper who can come into their condo instead.  Hopefully, that will work out with my dad, who is also have more trouble as he gets older.  What can we do but keep on going the best we can.

I'm putting a picture of my mom here from the nursing home.  I don't think she's actually happy but they did catch her when she was smiling.  She's back home now with my dad and Joe.

Til next time, everyone!

Lunch time exercise // Rotary playground // Tree work // Kai Jujitsu // Visit to the ER

 Not too much going on this week..

Since the beginning of the year, with the Omicron spike, I haven't been going to the gym much and trying to exercise at home is always very difficult.  Hopefully as the weather gets nicer, I can start to bike to the clinic again but for now I'm trying to incorporate exercise into each clinic day by doing push-ups, sit-ups and squats.  It's not perfect but does get me moving in a day when I'm mostly at the desk.  The hardest part is getting going at the beginning of lunch hour when I'm hungry but I'm trying to allay that by eating a snack at 11am.  Let's see how long I can keep it up!

On the yoga mat on the office floor

I was away at work this past Saturday so Amy took the kids out to the Rotary playground.  We haven't been there for a long time (it was also closed for much of the last 2 years) but it was a lot of fun for them.  I remember we would always go there, then go to Petsmart to look at the animals, go to Sweet Tomatoes  (we miss you, unlimited buffets!) to eat and then Trader Joe's for groceries and lollipops.  It was a whole day thing :)

Strike a pose, kids!

They loved the merry go round

There was a crazy wind one day this past week and a number of things got blown around our yard.  One of the trees in our front yard, which was already mostly dead, had a big branch break off. It didn't fall but is suspended in the branches and quite hazard.  Yesterday, our helpful neighbors showed up and we tried to push it down to no avail.  While that probably means it's stuck up there for good, we are hiring a tree service to take down the whole tree.

This will make quite a story later
when Kegan shows up in the ER :D

Randomly, Sunny and Pam got puffy jackets for all the kids and also for the grandparents.  So nice!

Bunch of Puffins!

Kai also started back into Jujitsu this week.  He had to be convinced to go to Lute but Amy says that when he got there he quite enjoyed it.  I'm glad and hopefully, it'll help him with discipline as well as self control as he continues to get bigger.

Back to rollin'

Lastly, Amy's dad fell yesterday.  While Amy's mom was out, he apparently thought it was a good idea to stand up on a toolbox and try to replace the furnace filter.  Amy rushed over and it turned out he was ok but she took him to the ER at Washington Hospital.  I must say it sounds like they are more backed up than we are and it took from 7pm when they arrived to 1am before he got a head CT, stitched up and discharged.  Luckily, everything is ok.  It's nice that we live so close to Amy's parents and can help them out.

Gotta get a shot for the 'gram 

Til next time, everyone!

Jad home for the week / Neighborhood Campfire / Switch update / ShawUdom day / Mom's condition

I think we're in our third school week of the new year.  Kai and Sora are doing well though we are getting emails everyday about some positive COVID case on campus.  Agape closed for a week because of a positive case so Jad was home all of last week.  We're lucky that one of us is always home so it didn't disrupt our routine too much but it was tiring to have him home all day.  As noted last week, Jad loved it though.  I think he's always had Kai and Sora around and rarely gets to be home or with us without them so this was a big treat for him.  We also tried to take advantage and take him out to a few things that Kai and Sora used to get to do when they were younger and we had more bandwidth for like Emma Prusch Farm and the playground.

Feeding some chickens at Emma Prusch.  He
had a blast :)

At the library playground

While there, they saw Sora and Wally at Noble.
They look like they are in jail :)

After two weeks, we were itching to get back together with our neighbors so we did an outdoor dinner at our house.  It was really nice to see everyone again and we were kind of good about wearing masks some of the time.  

RCC campout complete with bonfire!

Roasting marshmallows on an open fire..

Eventually the kids did make it into our house .. it's nice
to have things more normal again

The Nintendo Switch has been mostly successful.  It has given us a bit more leverage especially for the Kai and Sora as timeouts are less useful for them.  They are pretty happy playing Smash Bros for now, but we'll probably have to get more games soon.  It's also nice that it's so easily portable..

Getting Gung Gung and Uncle David into
the brawl too!

We had 3 days off this past weekend for MLK birthday and we hung out with the Shaws.  Ansel brought the kids and we piled into the minivan for a day trip to Santa Cruz.

There are some advantages to the minivan, though
it was still a tight squeeze with all the car seats

Our first stop was the Mystery Spot!  We had always heard of it and Amy had been as a teenager but it was pretty cool.  Smaller than I thought, more of just a shack rather than a whole house, but it was really cool to see all the weird gravity distortions with us standing sideways, balls rolling and water flowing uphill.  Apparently, it's called a Gravity Hill and they are combination of optical illusions to fool your brain.  Pretty cool and the kids had a blast.

Looking good, Kai.. I like how Jad is trying 
to find his footing in the background too

Sideways pull-up

Our funny guy guide Henry telling jokes
Jungle Cruise style

Free bumper stickers for everyone!

Afterwards, we went for a quick hike in the mountains.  The kids are much faster than I am already and I'm very proud of them.  Gotta get my own cardiovascular health up.  I am trying to incorporate more exercises into my clinic days.  That's a couple of days a week of some exercise at least.

Wandering around the mountains

Our third stop was the beach.  At first we weren't sure if we had the energy but Amy decided to push for it and it was great!  We went to Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz and it was a warm day.  The kids had a great time running around and digging up sand crabs.  

Just another winter day in California

Warmer than we thought it would be

We finished up the day with dinner back at the Shaw Shack where Yukari could join us.  All in all, an excellent day with friends, new experiences, kids hanging out, physical activity and good catching up!

Lastly, Joe made it to Chiang-Mai finally after a long flight and stopping in Bangkok for COVID testing.  My mom isn't doing well.  Her alzheimer's is progressing and she's having trouble walking and swallowing now, mostly just eating soft foods.  It will likely slowly get worse from here so we're going to try to go visit her in April.  There are some sad feelings but they are compartmentalized from the day to day.  What can we do?  It's life.

She's happy here with Joe

Pandemic goes on.. and on.. :(

 Since last week, things have just gone down hill with the pandemic.  Cases are exploding and the hospital is super busy.  Our ER is overflowing and the census hasn't gone below 50 in at least 2 weeks (keep in mind we only have 45 beds in the ER.)  We're doing the best we can and have chosen to keep away from Amy's parents, larger gatherings like church as well as our neighbors.  Tam got COVID and their household is locked down.  We're feeling the isolation..  We did have a zoom lunch with the entire Huang family this weekend.  Matt and Nicole both got COVID and are doing well now but Nicole did lose her sense of smell (hopefully, it comes back soon).  David was sick but it wasn't COVID.  Amy's parents are hanging tight.

That spike is ugly..

It was hard decision whether to send the kids to school or not but, in the end, we decided to do it.  One, I think an asymptomatic person wearing a mask likely has a very low viral load and isn't at high risk of spreading COVID and two, I'd go crazy with them at home :)   Kai and Sora have both done well at school though Sora's friend Caleb tested asymptomatic positive.  Jad has been fine too but someone at his school got COVID so Agape is shut down for the week.  Jad is really enjoying his time at home with us and I think it'll be hard for him to go back to school next week.  

I thought we were done with distance learning :(

Agape sent an activity packet for Jad

Amy has been cooking more because we have been stuck at home and we also want to introduce more Asian tastes to their palettes.  

Amy made yakisoba

Eggs and leeks, Char Siu and Choi Sum (?)

I made friend rice and basil chicken but didn't capture that on camera :)

We have also been doing more indoor activities, like playing board games and pretend sword and nerf gun battles.  

A bit late on the gingerbread houses..

but the kids weren't complaining.

Jad even did much of his own this year.

Sora is still doing piano and Kai also gets to go over and play with Brandon at the same time.  Brandon is such a nice kid and hopefully, he'll be a good influence on Kai.

They had fun running around the trampoline too..
I joined but was quickly exhausted :)

That's about it actually for this week.  Joe is going to Thailand to visit my parents because my mom's condition seems to be deteriorating rapidly.  My dad says that she can't walk well any more and sometimes chokes on food (both of which are signs of later stage Alzheimer's.)  The COVID situation there isn't helping either as she's not able to see people or exercise like she used to.  Hopefully, Joe can give us a full assessment and plan.  I'm hoping to go in April so I can see them too.

Til next time, everyone!

Happy New Year! / Switch time / Amy 1000 / Playdate with Micah / LSCC Snow trip

 Happy New Year!  Here's to hoping 2022 is better than 2021 and we make our way out of the pandemic.  

One of the big things that happened last week was that the Nintendo Switch arrived.  Amy and I had decided that they were old enough to get it finally after many years of holding off and them watching and playing on friends' consoles.  We've tried to be moderate in their screen and video game time and I think we've not been too extreme in either direction.  I actually ordered it from Target back at the end of Nov and went to pick it up to stash in our closet but then, about a week before Xmas, the OLED switch became available on Amazon.  After some deliberation, I decided to return the regular one and order the OLED.  The only catch was that it wasn't going to arrive until Tuesday the 28th.  The kids were super excited, especially Kai who is our gamer, and were very patient.  Then on Monday night, we got a notice that it would be delayed (oh man!)  Still the kids were patient but we were worried it wouldn't get to us before we went on our Tahoe trip on Thursday the 30th.  Luckily, it finally arrived on Wednesday evening :)  The kids loved it, of course, even if they only have one game so far..

When we were notified, Kai went out to 
the street to wait for the delivery..

The joy on his face

First play of Super Smash Brothers!!

On the opposite end of the activity spectrum, Amy also completed her goal of running 1000 miles in 2021.  She was really pushing it to the end but she did it!  She always talks it down but what a  great accomplishment .. great work, love!

The last run to 1000!

Kai also had a playdate with Micah.  We're so glad that they still enjoy time together.  Micah is such a cute and innocent kid :)

They got to play on the Xbox because the
switch had not arrived yet

While I worked for much of the week, Amy packed and borrowed snow clothes (and boots, etc.) so we could pack for our LSCC Snow Trip.  With the outbreak of the COVID omicron variant, we were a bit unsure about the trip and there had been heavy snow the week before, but this had been in the plans for many months and we decided that we would still go and just pray/keep fingers crossed for good weather and health.

Someone showed me this picture before we left and
we almost cancelled

But actually it turned out not to be too bad.  The storms stopped on Tuesday and roads were cleared by Wednesday evening.  We had a very smooth drive and didn't even need chains.  It was clear the days we were there until we drove back on Sunday, again without problems, and started snowing again this week.  Luck or divine intervention? :)

There was still an impressive amount of snow

The snow was all powder, having just fallen the week before, and very soft.  It was very thick in places and made it hard to walk around.  I think if we were big ski/snowboarders it would have been great but it actually made it harder to play in the snow because Jad couldn't even walk around without sinking and snow kept getting into our boots.  

Kai and Liam throwing snowballs

All three bundled up

Selfie!

The other problem were the other people who were there.  Usually we have so many families going on the snow retreat that our church takes up the entire building but this year we had less people so there was enough room for another church to be there as well.  Unfortunately, they were not as good about masking, broke several of the facility rules, often walked through our area and even took some of our food.  If it wasn't pandemic time, it wouldn't have been a big deal but it made us weary of the common room and cafeteria and I hope that it didn't contribute to anyone getting ill.

We spent a lot of time with the Shaws

Sora tried to go ice skating but the rink was sold out.  The kids ended up mostly running around with each other from room to room, playing nerf guns or on various screens.  We did go sledding one day which was fun but Vivian (Drew's 3rd) did a header into my upper back which I'm still recovering from.  Luckily, she was fine.

Jad and I on the sled before heading down

It was very pretty with all the snow covered 
trees and icicles

Jad was so exhausted after 3 days of nonstop
fun that he passed out during dinner on the last day

We made it home safe and sound and no one has been sick yet.  We'll keep fingers crossed and prayers for this week as the kids return to school.  There was a debate about whether to keep the kids at home (the Connicks are keeping theirs out for the week) but we decided as long as they are asymptomatic and keep their masks on, that we would send ours.  Hard, doesn't seem like a right decision, just more how comfortable each person feels.  Darn pandemic.. Hopefully, things improve this year.

Sunset over the lake