It's getting hot in here (summer continues!)

Let's see what's happened since last week...

My older brother, Joe, and his family came to visit.  It's always nice to see the cousins together.  They might take a bit to get used to each other but they get along really well.  Ryan is 11 years old now and he's gotten really big.  I wonder if our kids will be that big some day :)

The cousins.. just gotta 
add Tad and Elli

Amy also got Vienna to come over and teach the kids some Chinese.  I think they enjoyed the lesson and, hopefully, this will kick start a new language for them.  I've also got to use this Rosetta Stone subscription I got last year..

Attentive students

Water Woes.. Earlier last week, I had realized our water bill was $800 for the last 3 months (normally, ~$200).  They sent an inspector out and he found a leak under our bushes in the main water line from the meter to the house.  We had our water shut off for a day until we found someone to repair it.  $4k.. sigh.  The kids did get a taste of not having running water when we had to flush the toilets with buckets for a bit.  I made them watch a documentary about people in Africa carrying water to their villages :)

It was our turn to host the monthly RCC Garage party last week and it went great.  Lots of new neighbors showed up.  Both David and Janet as well as David and Alyssa came to meet everyone.  Susie and Pius had to pass because they got COVID.  Speaking of which, the Connicks got COVID this week.. we're missing our frequent dinners and drinks with them.  So far, we've been lucky though I'm probably the most high risk in our neighborhood.

Being neighborly in our driveaway

The swimming at Villa continues.  Luckily, the Rongs have joined as well as Ethan and Eliza will sometimes comes to play.  

Ethan and Kai

Jad is getting more used to the water but 
still needs floaties for now

Our small group also came over to the house to watch a movie in the backyard last Saturday.  It's getting dark so late now that we couldn't even see anything til about 8pm.  We watched the Goonies but then the younger kids thought it was boring/scary so they went inside to watch Sing 2.  Silly 80's comedy with racist jokes and all :p

Notice our lawn is brown as we've been 
conserving water 

On Sunday, we joined the Valley Crew at Cedar Mountain Winery in Livermore for a nice lunch hangout after church.  Ray knows the owners so they gave us a special tour of the winery.  Very small actually but they still bottle 120k bottles each year.  Super nice to see everyone!

Silly pic

Lastly, the kids had sports camp this week, again through Christ Community of Milpitas.  They are enjoying it and Amy gets a few hours off in the morning to herself. Kai and Sora are doing soccer and Jad is doing general outdoor games.

Outdoor sports time!

I'll leave you with this pic ..  We're still looking pretty good after three kids and many years together.  Here's to many more! :p 

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!