Catchup post for early Feb / Small group movie night / RCC snow trip

All right, lots of catch up for the last two weeks!  

The weather is unseasonably warm for early Feb.  For some days it was 80 degrees out, which makes for wonderful outside time but makes us worry about drought and how hot the summer is going to be.

At least the creek is up and running again even if it is a bit mucky..

Jad enjoying throwing rocks in the water

We had a nice movie night with our small group.  We are still outside here but I think soon we will be able to stop masking.  COVID numbers are down and the county is considering rescinding mask mandates for both indoor and schools.  We watched Laputa Castle in the Sky, which was quite enjoyable with the Hsiehs, Kimballs, Harts and Ngs.

New screen setup courtesy of Rich

Also, Eden's birthday, which we
celebrated with cupcakes

The Casanova's hosted a super bowl party (which I missed because of work).  Thanks for the great food, Alex!

Kids did not watch much football :)

Valentine's Day celebrations

Amy and I went out for a quick boba date

The kids got lots of candies at school.  They are still at an age where we can make them give Valentines to everybody in their class but at some point, we'll go beyond that.  Sora made special Valentines for Wally, Barack, maybe Caleb too :)  but the kids definitely like getting the Valentine's for than the actual treats as the candies are still sitting on the table untouched.

Jad was sad he didn't get as many Valentines as his siblings

We are so happy that our friend Billy and his wife, Michelle, are pregnant and expecting soon.  We gave them our old pack and play and some toys.  We're trying to phase out of the baby items as Jad gets older.  That pack and play served us well for over eight years though!

So long and be good to the next kid!

Matt and Nicole came up for a visit over President's Day weekend and Amy's mom decided to do a banquet for them as they never had a wedding celebration with our extended family up here.  It was at Mayflower and we had a pretty good 10 course Chinese Banquet.  It was Nicole's first time and I think she mostly enjoyed it, though I don't think she tried all the foods (like the jellyfish or the fish maw..)

Kids were very well behaved at their table

It was nice to see Amy's mom's side of the family.  Lots of
small kids now that we'll have to playdate later

Speaking of family, my mom's brother and sister visited her in Chiang Mai for a few days.  I think it made her happy to see them.  We're looking forward to seeing her next month!  Chris is going to visit next week.

My Aunt Eng and mom

My brother helping my mom during a swim

The kids continue to have fun doing random stuff.  Here they are making a tent city in front of our driveway with the neighbors.

RCC tent city :)

Recent visit to the library playground which
the kids still enjoy

Kai and Sora out for a hike with Amy
while Jad is in school and I'm at work

Micah came over for a playdate and Elysia popped
by as well so they all played Outfoxed (before video games :)

Sora and Noe are enjoying gymnastics.. It's quite likely that 
nothing will result out of this expensive class but they certainly
are having fun 

The kids were off of school for "ski week" ie. Feb break so we planned a trip with the the neighbors to go up to the Aoalins' cabin at Dodge Ridge, which is south of Tahoe and basically a less famous, less fancy, less expensive ski area (as compared to Tahoe).  It actually had not snowed for a month but then we heard it would snow on Tuesday all day so we decided to go up early on Monday evening to avoid any road problems.  The Aoalins were so nice to host all of us and everyone had a great time.  Maybe we can do it again in the summer for fishing!

We woke on Tuesday morning to fresh snow!

Breakfast of champions

They had a lot of fun just sledding down the driveway

Sora catching snowflakes on her tongue

Jad making snowballs

A pic with the Aoalin boys

There was also plenty of inside time with video games

The adults also enjoyed some down time and good company

The next day we went tubing at the sled park

I don't even know where Jad got these sunglasses..
First time on the magic carpet :)

There was also a small area where the kids could play 
and throw snowballs.  Terry and the kids joined us for the day too!

Overall, an excellent trip and a nice little getaway.  I'm glad we have such good neighbors.  On the way back, we stopped at Rosniyom Thai which does a pretty good job.  Makes me hungry for Thai food and look forward more to our trip in April!

That's it for now.  Til next time!

Spotlight on Kai / Early morning runs / Day dates / Elysia's and Victoria's birthdays

 A pretty quiet last week.  Let's see..

Kai recently asked to sleep in his own room.  Part of it might be that Jad sometimes wakes up early in the morning and cries, waking everyone up, but also it may be that he's starting to feel a little older.  He's moved to sleeping in the front bedroom on his own and doing very well actually.  The room was (and is) slated to be Sora's eventually when she got old enough to be separated from the boys but for now, it's a good refuge for Kai.  

There's an LED color changing light in there so
Kai likes it either blue or green for sleep

Kai has been enjoying jujitsu and we think it's still good for him.  He often doesn't pay much attention and isn't very careful (in a lot of things actually), which is very frustrating for Amy and I but lately, we've been trying to shift focus from telling him what he's doing wrong to telling him what he can do to change his behavior and improve.  It's a small shift but I don't want to be cutting him down all the time and instead want to focus on empowering what he can do to change.  It's a hard shift and we're still working on it.  He's really a great kid, we want him to feel that way even if there are some improvements to be made.  Man, parenting sure is hard..  In many aspects of adulting, I feel like I'm doing well but this is something I can improve, for sure. And also in caring for my parents..

Still rollin'

I'll leave Kai with one more pic.  Even though he acts like he's older sometimes, he's still very silly and still enjoys lounging in the tub and pretending to dive with his goggles :D

We'll miss this when he gets older, for sure

Now I have to throw in a picture of Sora, who usually prefers showers nowadays.  She's super cute but still has to work on her reactions when she's frustrated.

Cutie

Amy has been running with a small group of friends she found on Strava.  Norm and Kelly get up early in the morning about 3 times a week to run around Miliptas and it's nice for Amy because it's close by to our house.  Amy has been trying to run with them once a week, usually going out around 6am so she can get back before the kids are up.  She's got really wonderful discipline, though she said recently that she's "addicted" to running ie. if she doesn't do it she feels down.  Hey, there are far worse things to be dependent on :)

An early run in Alum Rock park

These are the kinds of pics Amy brings 
back from her mornings

Amy and I got out for a quick lunch date on Friday last week.  We checked out the taco truck which is parked a the Shell gas station at Sierra and Piedmont.  Pretty good! (though the portions are a bit small).  I'm glad that Amy and I can sneak out for dates occasionally :)

Tasty tacos and consume dip for berria

This past weekend was Elysia's birthday and she had a bug themed party!  It was really fun with the Beetlelady (she's apparently a PhD entomologist who also does children's parties :) who brought out both live creatures and props to teach about little critters.

Captivating for youngers and elders

Sora held a praying mantis with 
very cool leaf mimic wings

Jad enjoyed the feet of the giant millipede

First time holding a tarantula for me!

We had a nice outdoor dinner
with the firepit afterwards

The celebrations continued to yesterday, which was Vic's actual birthday, with RCC neighbor dinner to finish off the food from Elysia's party.  We are super lucky to have such great neighbors who can celebrate and spend time together :)  Happy birthday, Vic!  (thanks for reading our blog :)

Mini chocolate and dessert wine
(from Sonoma) tasting

I'll leave you with a pic of the kids for this week.  The creek is flowing for now but not for long if we don't get more rain soon!

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!