Summertime shenanigans / Cal Academy of Sciences // Ellina rose

Man, it's week 2 of summer and we're already tired :p  The kids are all home and it's actually pretty nice though there is a lot of infighting and screens.  There are lots of things going on and, as they say, a picture says a thousand words so here goes..

Amy and I both volunteered for Field Day at Noble.  It's basically just an outdoor playday with various activities.  It was nice to see all the kids at school with their friends

Hard to tell in this picture but Sora
was walking around with her gang of friends

Since then it's been lazy summer days..

There is a lot of sitting around reading.. 
even when friends are over!

All three kids with Teacher Wendy at Agape

Stephen's Birthday Party at his mom place.  Sora brought all of
us, lots of fun, adult drinks and tacos too!

Barack's mom also plans lots of outings.. This was the
first down near Saratoga

.. and at Vasona Creek the next day

The first week, Kai was in this day camp at Christ Community of Milpitas (Aoalins' church) and he went with Dylan to Golfland/waterpark, the Oakland Zoo and Great America!  He had lots of fun and it was nice for him to do something on his own.  At the zoo, he got $15 and he bought ice cream for himself and a coke (for $5.50) for a random kid.  At Great America, he bought two big bags of Skittlles for himself and Dylan.  We praised him for his generosity but told him to be wise about his spending :p

Big boys off on their own :)

Meanwhile, Amy had to keep Sora and Jad occupied.
They are making banana bread here.

We rejoined Villa for the summer (probably we'll only do it for a couple of months as usual, though there will be a $110 cost for joining and dropping in two months).  It is nice to go here, the gym itself is much less crowded than 24Hr and the sauna is nice for me.  The kids love the pool and, boy, do we need it because it hit 102 degrees this week.  

Swimming with the Rongs

We also got some swim lessons for Kai and Sora.  Jad is
learning with us for now til he's more comfortable in the water

We've also been instituting our own exercise regimen of running laps around our block.  We're hoping it'll increase Kai's endurance and speed during soccer and generally get all the kids (and me) moving a bit.  Kai does two to three laps, Sora two laps and Jad one lap.  

Strong to the finish!

Of course, free time also means lots of time spent with the neighbors.  The kids have spent lots of time together playing and there are lots of communal dinners.  This one is at our house after we rotated through the Aoalins, Connicks and Casanovas .. all in one week!

Mac and cheese is always a favorite.. no vegetables
in sight

Lastly, we finagled a Wednesday with everyone off and we and the Connicks (Vic and the kids anyway) went to the California Academy of Sciences yesterday.  We haven't been there for many many years and it's terribly expensive (we joined as members so we could go again.. that's how they get you!) but it was really nice.  Not too many people there so we could just wander and take our time.  

The macaws in the rainforest biodome

In the fish tunnel.. there were some giant fish there!

Jad at the giant coral reef tank

There was a giant Bugs! special exhibit. A bit over flashy but
still very cool.  Japanese bees swarm attacking hornets and
heat them to death!

The girls on the Living Roof

I started biking to work again, now that it's not so cold in the mornings.  Because there is always something I have to get back for or maybe I have to pick up a kid from an activity, I usually get only one ride a week but it's better than nothing. 

Look, no glasses 8)

Lastly, for real this time, Chris and April has their 2nd baby.  Ellina Rose on June 10th and now there are 6 Udompanyanans in their generation.  Hope we can see them all together soon!

Picture speaks for itself.. so little..

Til next time!

Nik's eye surgery // Summer heat and activities // Kai's Jujitsu and soccer tournament // Neighborhood happenings

 Whoa, it's already been a few weeks since I last blogged.  Just got busy and with having the eye surgery, I was not using the computer for a while as I recovered.  Lots to catch up on..

I had my eye surgery and overall it went well.  I got Versed (a medication that relaxes and allows you to stay awake but also makes you amnestic to what's happening ie. no new memories.)  Similar to when I had my right eye done a few years ago, I remember being wheeled in to the OR, the anesthetist saying he'll give me some medicine and the next thing I know, I'm sitting up and putting on my clothes.  

Pre op waiting

Recovery at home, using the magnifying glass
to look at my phone

A couple of weeks later and I'm all mostly recovered.  With the fancy Extended Depth of Field lenses, I can see distance very well now and intermediate up to about 6 ft away.  Unfortunately, that leaves me with still needing glasses for computer use and reading.  Still, I've never been without glasses since I was 5 years old so it's a novel thing.  Sometimes, I'll reach up to adjust my glasses then realize that I don't have them on.  

Drugstore reading glasses for $5

The kids are not out of school til the end of this week but the summer activities have begun even as school and spring winds down.  Here are all the happenings in no particular order..

Aoalins opened their pool up!

Jad is becoming more comfortable in the water.
One of the goals is teaching him to swim this year.

Kai's soccer season ended and the team celebrated together.  The kids are really cute together and have gotten to know each other well.  The team and parents are focused on having fun with a bit of competition and we think that's the way it should be. Hopefully, we can still get some to stay on the team with Kai for next year but Niko and a few others are moving onto competitive soccer and Dylan is aging out to the next group as well. 

Pizza party!

Kai joined a jujitsu tournament for the 2nd time.  This one was much bigger than his first one and must have been intimidating but I'm very proud of him for doing it.  There were four kids in his size / belt class and he took 2nd place!  Organization could have been much better and we had to wait almost an hour past his allotted time to go but he did great.

Lining up for the mats

On the podium!

Sora finally finished up in her yellow level gymnastics class and moved up to join Noe in the green level class.  She's very happy to be with her friend and advancing forward.  Also very proud of her.

Stretch..

Jad had his preschool graduation from Agape (though he's also still in school til the end of the week).  I think it was a bit poignant for Amy to see him finish there, as we've had all three kids go through.  Thanks to Bea, the teachers and her amazing family for starting our kids out right. 

The line up

Proud mom and the little guy

We were a bit behind on the summer camps this year.  Kai is signed up for 2 weeks of stuff and Sora and Jad for just 1 week.  We rejoined Villasport so we'll probably be using the pool a lot and hanging out locally.

At the old fishing hole.  There weren't many fish but
the kids still managed to catch a bunch of fry.

Amy took the kids cherry picking in Gilroy

She also took them ice skating at Shark Ice.  Sora loved
it as she didn't get to ice skate at the winter retreat last year

Matthew and Nicole also visited recently.  Just for a few short days to celebrate Amy's mom's birthday and see everyone.  It was nice to see them and they made us all a great Peruvian fish stew for dinner.  

A visit to our house means video games with the kids

Kai kickin it with Matt

Speaking of kicking, Kai also did a weekend soccer tournament with some of his team.  They played great their first game with Kai really pushing hard and getting in there with the ball (won that game 3-0) but didn't do as well and last the other two games.  Very proud that Kai pushed himself and did his best!

Good job, Vipers!

With summer fast approaching, the time of day dates may be on pause for Amy and I, so we got in a movie. Watched Everything Everywhere All at Once, which was really good!   Great performance by Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan (Short Round and Data!) which did a great job intertwining family relationships, choices and regrets, the universal search for meaning and comedic too!  

We were 2 of 5 in the theater

Lunch date at Antipasto's
(steak sandwich was merely ok :)

The houses in our neighborhood have also been turning over as the old generation downsizes or moves away.  There have already been five new neighbors recently.  Coincidentally, our new neighbor, Janet, knows Chris as they used to work together.  They accidentally received one of our pieces of mail with Chris Udompanyanan on it and Janet was super confused.  Very funny :)

Chris, guess who moved in next door

New neighbors also (hopefully) means more kids to play with.  David and Janet have a 1 1/2 year old names Josh, who Jad has taken quite a liking to.  We think it's because he's always been the smallest of the neighborhood kids so he needs someone to order around and show the ropes too.  Casey is younger too but since he's almost as big as Jad, I think he didn't listen much.  Josh is still impressionable and doesn't have an older sibling to boss him around (yet :)

Jad showing Josh how to use the car
ramp in T&T's backyard

Vic and Kegan are also remodeling their bathroom so all the neighbors took advantage of the dumpster they had rented and got rid of all our big items.  I was going to dump Amy's 30 year old bike in there but Vic sent it out on the Buy Nothing San Jose group and it was picked up immediately.  Amy was a bit sad but felt better that it was going to someone else than the dumpster.  

*Sob* .. don't worry, time for a new bike!

To finish it off, a couple of random pics.  Viet visited the area for a conference.  It was nice to see him in person (he looks the same :) even if we game together about 3-4 nights a week.  He also gave me some of his old shirts that no longer fit.  That's a special friendship where you can give your old clothes to the other person, especially for dudes.  Looking forward to when he moves back to the California even if he's going to be in OC.

Falafel and banana shake for $11.. not bad!

I'll leave you this time with a picture of Sora playing the piano with Dali.  I never got to play any sort of instrument or take lessons when I was a kid (too poor) and I'm glad that we can provide this for our kids.  Kai said he's interested too so may start lessons soon. 

Til next time!

Kai's 9th birthday weekend

 Basically, this past weekend was just Kai's birthday celebration.  I think he had a lot of fun and I am glad that we have such a good boy as the oldest kid in the family.  We all have something to work on, myself included, so we'll keep at it but, all in all, Kai is pretty awesome.

Friday was Kai's actual birthday and he was excited.  He went to school and there his friends celebrated for him which I think went well though he didn't have a separate party for them.  He came home and immediately went to playing the switch because he had received Super Mario 3D world (from Brandon).  I'll just list all the video game stuff he got here: Super Mario Party (from Ethan), Super Smash Fighters Pack (from Niko) along with Piranha Plant fighter (from us).  

Now we have almost all the fighters!
(that really matter :)

We then went to our usual neighbors art class and then had joint dinner at the Casanovas.

Kai is not actually in this picture but he got in the bounce
house a bit.. still not too old for that

Friday night, Amy went to work so I had the kids Saturday morning.  We all accompanied Kai to his jujitsu class where he is prepping for a tournament next week.  He's not as good at technique but he certainly grapples well for his smaller size.  I have to keep encouraging him.

Jujitsu training

We skipped the soccer game for the day and then later went to Big Al's where the neighborhood parents and kids came for pizzas, fries and arcade games!

Happy birthday, Kai!

Sora was very proud of her Doodle Jump win

Daddy duties: helping Jad with TMNT

All three playing Halo Fireteam Raven

Can't leave the adults out of the party!

Fit almost everyone into this pic :)

After that we went to Amy's parents house for dinner there so they could see Kai as well.  Amy's mom made us a nice dinner but we couldn't eat much because we had eaten too much junk food beforehand.  Aiya. Gotta eat healthier.. after this weekend..

Sunday, we went to Church and it was nice to see everyone there as usual.  I'm always impressed with how organized LSCC is and I am glad that we can use that as a means to help other churches.  After that, the Kongs, Rongs, Shaws and Ngs came over for lunch and to top off Kai's weekend.

Everyone in the backyard

At least, we got them out for part of the time before devolving to video games.  

The boys on the couch playing Nintendo while the
girls + Jad are upstairs (with nerf guns :)

I think Kai had a good time this weekend with all the celebrations going on for him.  This better not set a precedent for Sora and Jad!!  Entire weekend celebration.. sheesh!

We finished the evening by eating leftovers with the neighbors

I got my negative COVID test result today and paid the extra co-pay for my cataract surgery which is coming up on Thursday.  Hopefully all goes well!  I'll leave you with this image of the blood moon eclipse from yesterday.  Til next time!

Hard to see on a pic but still very cool

2 weeks back / Sora / Kai / Jad / Amy / Nik

 Hard to believe it's already been two weeks since we got back from Thailand.  The first week back was a bit of a blur with jet lag.  We all adjusted a bit better this time and it took about 3 days to get our sleeping hours right though probably about a week of generally feeling tired.  

After being back for some time, I certainly miss traveling.  Going anywhere with three kids certainly has its stresses but it was so nice to see new places and try new foods (or old foods from my childhood).  That coupled with just the freedom from work and some aspects of responsibility for two weeks was amazing.  It certainly makes you question why and if we all have to work so much (the answer is no!) That as well as my mom being ill, makes me think that we have to take advantage of the limited time we all have.  I have to get more physically fit as well to combat the ageing that will wear down over time.

The other thing to making life better, of course, is changing your mental attitude and mindset.  On the trip I read this book called A Return to Love (still working on it).. it's kind of a new age-y take on Christianity and the basic concept, as I understand it,  is that God is less of a sentient entity but more of an all encompassing love.  By embracing that love, it can heal you and improve your life.  It does sound a bit hokey when I write it out but there is a lot in it that makes more sense to me than the traditional God and some good concepts in general that could be applied to life.  Mental and physical health.

Ok, enough musing and back to the pictures!

We landed on Thursday morning and we knew we had to keep the kids up to fight jet lag so Amy actually took Sora to gymnastics as usual that evening.  This picture is actually from later actually when there was a picture event.  

The pictures were way expensive but Sora
does look great in them

Kai also went right back to his soccer game on the Saturday after we got back.  He's enjoying soccer and actually it's only a couple more weeks til it ends.  I think he like the team aspect the most (he's actually talking to both teams most of the time on the field) and I'm glad this can help him develop in that area.  He also wanted to participate in the tournament in a few weeks so that's a big plus.

We were spoiled last year for semi-professional pics 
at every game.. but this one was pretty good

Jad did well with his transition back to preschool.  But after being back for 3 days he had a fever!  We were worried about COVID, of course, and he stayed home for 2 days but the fever resolved in about 36 hours and he never had any other symptoms.  Whew! 

Thank goodness, Amy was able to 
be home to take care of Jad.  Until..

...Amy got sick this week!  Hers was more of a runny nose upper respiratory illness but she also tested COVID negative.  She has been sleeping a lot and today is recovered almost 100%.  Actually she went on a 9 mile trail run so she's probably pretty good :)

Running around Alum Rock Park

Before Amy got sick, we did manage a lunch date to get Lanzhou
hand pulled noodles.. Pretty good!

Mother's day was also last week.  I did ask Amy what she wanted but she dclined so I got the kids up early to make breakfast for her.

Pancakes and fresh squeezed lemonade.. Kai cut the
pieces to say "I love U"

I think she was pretty happy with it

We also went out to dinner with Pam and Amy's
mom to celebrate with them!

As for me, I've been quite busy since getting back.  On landing in Japan between flights, a friend texted me about a terrible incident in our ER and I learned more when I landed back in California.  I've been helping to coordinate our response with the other doctors in our group and that's taken up a lot of time. Hopefully, this event, while tragic, will bring our work family closer together and lead to some changes for the better.  

This weekend, we're planning to celebrate Kai's 9th birthday.  Hard to believe he's already getting so big.  He's a great kid, even if he's got some faults.. but heck, we all do :)

Going through the monsoon rain in a motorcycle jeep

Til next time!