It's already the middle of Nov! My excuse is that October was super busy, ok? :p Let's get to it!
A few kids activities to round off Sept before we get into the busy Oct :)
Sora went to Girl's Scouts Camporee. Every year, there is a 2 night sleep over weekend and the girls make swaps (little trinkets / flair) that they trade with other troops. Amy went this year and they had a lot of fun. Sora should easily be ready for sleepover science camp
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| Girl friends crafting |
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| The theme was Alice in Wonderland this year |
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| Sora's troop |
Jad had a soccer tournment with his Arsenal Black team and they had a 1-1-1 win-loss-tie so that was pretty good. Jad is still enjoying soccer and wants to keep at it which is fine with us. I keep telling him he has to eat more so he doesn't get pushed around. I always thought that soccer was a less physical sport but in the comp league they can get really pushy.
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| Arsenal Black 2025! |
Kai did great with cross country this year, ending as either the 2nd or sometimes 1st place runner on his school team for his group. He also continues to grow closer to the BYF young teens group and really enjoys hanging out with them.
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| Dinner for Caleb's birthday sleepover |
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| To the park for Nerf wars |
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Kai finishing one of his races.. you'll notice he lost a shoe
but thought it would take too long to put on so he just ran
to the end without it.. aiya :D |
Amy continues to be consistent about her running. Her friend Michelle does a lot of international marathons and that has inspired Amy to keep up with her own training. She's amazing and I'm glad the kids got her mitochondria and not my janky ones :)
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| Amy and Michelle on a morning run |
Cruise time :) For our school fall break this year, we took a cruise to Vancouver with Amy's family. Her parents like cruising but it has become more difficult with her dad's worsening Parkinson's. He doesn't feel comfortable traveling on a place anymore but wanted to visit Vancouver where his sister and her family live so we basically took the cruise to get there. Matt and his baby came along as well as David though Nicole wasn't able to make it due to her school schedule. Amy spent much of the cruise helping her parents so I had the kids most of the time. It was nice but by then 6th day, I was just about ready to get off :) Lots of family time, pretty good food (if not spectacular), some gym time, movies, kids club, visits to Seattle and Victoria as well for sight seeing. Good times!
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| Passing by Alcatraz on the way out of SF bay |
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| First of many meals in the buffet |
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The port is right by Coit Tower.. we're on the top
of the stern deck where there is a small mini golf course |
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| Just went under the Golden Gate Bridge |
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| We played board games some days |
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| Ate a lot of free soft serve |
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| Kai had to train for his XC final the week after |
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View from the parent's balcony room .. the rest of us
stayed in internal rooms without windows |
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The famous Butchart Gardens .. Amy and I went last in 2014 when Kai
was a year old and her parents had not been in over 20 years. |
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| Cute picture of Sora and Popo |
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This may be a Xmas card worthy photo ..
downtown Victoria |
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| Coming back to the ship at night |
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Our 2nd stop was Vancouver. Amy's aunt and her family picked us up and we drove to
her grandmother's grave site. I think it made Amy's dad happy that he could visit again. |
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Much of the rest of the day was spent at their house playing,
eating and catching up. Their backyard is ridiculously large :) |
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| Sora and her cousin Kaitlyn celebrating the 67 meme |
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Kai found a rubber ducky and was being silly..
can you spot Jad photobombing? |
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| One of the kids took this photo of us and the Vancouver skyline |
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| The whole family |
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Funny enough one of our neighbors was on the cruise and
they brought along their nephews |
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3rd stop was Seattle.. here is the famous
gum alley near Pike's Place Market |
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| Jad adding to the wall |
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I took some inspiration from Jeff
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It was a nice day so we
walked to the Space Needle |
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| Google AI generated anime style of above photo |
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This was around the park at the base of
the Space Needle |
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We were by ourselves here because Lukas had to go
back for a nap and Amy's parents didn't feel
like walking around town |
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The six-seven meme will have died down by the time this blog
is published but it was silly while it lasted |
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| Dinners were sit down and slightly fancier than buffet.. unlimited desserts! |
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| Our mini date where we just walked around the boat.. |
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| .. then went to 80's music trivia night |
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| Matt and David took their parents dancing.. Lukas too! |
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| Why does Jad look so silly (dad too) |
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| A bit of hot tub time, though it was generally too cold for swimming |
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Pulling back into SF harbor on the last day, we caught
a really nice sunrise |
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Quick stop for coffee before dropping off Matt and Lukas at the airport..
I took this picture because we don't see Kai doing creative things as much.
He was drawing happy faces everywhere over previous writings. |
Once we got back on land, we had only a few days before Amy would leave for Korea. We unpacked, washed clothes and got back to school and work.
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Kai ran 2 miles on the track while Sora did 1.5 miles
(pretty good considering) and Jad did 1.25m. Amy is
going to make them all do XC :D |
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Mojo's mom, Tarhata, was teaching a kids hip hop class so
we signed up Jad. He's already got good moves naturally
so we figured he would enjoy it. |
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Kai got 7th place in the XC final meet..
great job, dude! |
We came home from the cruise on Sunday and on the following Thursday Amy left for Korea. I've taken more solo trips with the Usual Suspects but Amy has never really gone away on her own so I encouraged her to go with four of the other church moms to Korea. She was away for 10 days while I took time off to take care of the kids. They went to Busan, Jeju Island and Seoul. So much fun, lots of BBQ and good food, saw sights, dressed up, spas and hair treatments (no major cosmetic surgeries though :). Amy was still running almost everyday and staying up late into the night. I think she was more exhausted then me though I yelled at the kids more :p
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| Amy eating some live octopus tentacles |
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| Cheers! ê±´ë°° (\(Geon-bae\) |
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| They had A LOT of tasty bbq |
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| Jad snuck into my bed at home a couple nights |
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| Pokemon Go event on Jeju Island |
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| Plush room at the Hello Kitty Cafe |
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Amy and Cynthia in their Hanboks photoshoot at
Gyeongbok Palace |
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At home, I took the kids to the elementary school
fall festival.. almost as good as the palace |
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| Jad with blue cotton candy remnants on his face |
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| Starting trouble at the hot wheels race station |
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We bought a random Squishmallow cat bed at
Ross for our future fosters but Jad is
keeping it until we actually get some kitties |
There are hundreds more pictures of Amy in Korea but I won't post them all for you. Suffice it to say that she had a good time. For me, it went generally well. The kids were mostly good though in more stressful moments, I felt that they were so unappreciative of the efforts that we put in as parents (especially when there is only one) and did get mad a few times. I know I should be more slow to anger and give more grace, but it is not easy :p I was really glad when Amy was back so we could share our difficulties again. She took almost a week to recover from the fatigue and get back into the swing of things.
Amy got back on a Sunday, I worked Mon-Thurs and then it was Halloween on Friday! What the what?!? We were not particularly well prepared for it but I did take the kids to the Halloween store and got Kai as glow stick man costume and Jad a Grookey onesie from Amazon. Sora decided to go as a witch this year and enjoyed putting on a bit of make up.
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We and the Connicks went to the Noble Halloween parade. I am in the dinosaur and Vic and Kegan
are 6-7. Everyone loved the 6-7 and there was a lot of shouts from the students and teachers. |
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Last minute pumpkin carving right before
Trick or Treating |
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| We had a smaller group this year.. still lots of fun though! |
Right after Halloween was Jad's birthday! See, told you it has been busy :) Jad has been playing with Ahn-Toan's hoverboard so he wanted one. He asked his friend to give him money so he could buy one and I was going to get him a new one but Amy found one used for half price and he said that was ok, so we got it for him. Sora asked for rollerblades and we got her used ones too. Amy is so good about that stuff and our kids are awesome for not wanting only brand new items.
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| Family birthday celebration at the grandparents |
After Kai was done with XC, he joined wrestling with a few friends. He has done BJJ for a long time so grappling was not unfamiliar to him but, from watching, wrestling seems much more rough and intense. He said he would try it out and see. The wrestling team and coaches are very supportive and it seems to be a whole identity for many of them. I'm always afraid he will get hurt as Kai is about 80lbs so he's not heavy or big but at least they try to match you up with the same weight class. In his two real matches, he is doing very well and has good control so I think the BJJ experience helps but he doesn't know the techniques specific to wrestling.
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Kai (blue) practicing his holds
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| Wrestling team.. some of the 8th graders are huge! |
A week after Jad's birthday is Amy's birthday and then Sora's birthday a few days after that. We usually hold a joint birthday party for Sora and Jad, especially as many of their friends have sibilings that are also 3 years apart. It has worked well but I know that in the future, they may choose to do different things. Sora is having a sleepover this year with her best friends this week.
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Neighbors and school friends.. rainbow jello by uncle David
and brownies by Amy |
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Jad on his hoverboard.. it's not intuitive at first but after some practice,
it does get easier.. I learned to ride it so I think anyone can |
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| Got a bounce house which is still fun for the kids |
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| On the day of the party, Amy had signed up to run a half marathon too. I got everything ready (and took Jad to a morning soccer game). She did great on the run.. 3rd in her age group, I think |
We still try to stay involved with the kids when we can. There aren't as many volunteer opportunities for Kai and Sora anymore but Jad still has lots of field trips. Amy took them to a musical at the Children's Music Theater in San Jose Downtown and I got to take Jad to Levi's stadium.
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They watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid musical.. friends
Olivia and Hazel were part of the cast and Jad also saw
Vish from kindergarten there |
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| My first time at Levi's stadium |
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| It seats 65k people but the field felt really small. I guess it's just a standard football field but, on TV, it looks like there is a lot more room between the lines and stands. Those are grow lights they use to stimulate the real grass to grow between events. They spend millions on grass alone. |
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| Jad simulating Dwight Clarks' "the catch" |
We had a small accident with the van with the van recently as well. Basically, I was driving in the middle school parking lot, going straight at 5mph, along side some parked cars when one pulled out right into the side of our car. It was driven by an 80 grandma of one of Kai's wrestling teammates so the exchange was friendly and I think their insurance will take fault for it so not a big deal. Still, it'll be a pain to bring it in for repair. Last time, we fixed a dent on the van, it cost about $9k and it wasn't this bad so I think this will cost a lot to repair. Oy vey.
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| Ouch.. |
For Amy's birthday, the kids were off school for Veteran's day so we took a family day trip to Marin. It was a beautiful day and we could see clear across the bay so that was really nice. Amy and I were thinking that Santa Rosa/Marin would be a possible area we could retire to once the kids go to college. It seems a bit less busy than San Jose but still with a lot of diversity, good food and outdoors stuff but that won't be for a while yet.
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| The Golden Gate Bridge on the way there |
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The Marine Mammal Center.. really a neat place
where they help injured seals, sea lions and study them |
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The animal holding enclosure are behind us and you
could see them with binoculars |
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| SF overlook near the headlands |
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Family jumping pic that Kai took.. Amy looks like a
video game character :D |
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| Mini hike at Muir Woods.. so peaceful |
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| We then busted up Mt. Tam to catch the sunset. The last bit was a steep 0.3 miles so I wasn't sure if I would make it but eventually I got up there |
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| A very clear day with great views |
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| The fire lookout at the top |
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We finished the day with dinner at Maragume Udon in Stonestown. We first at this udon in Hawaii years and years ago but now there are a few places around the bay area. Pretty tasty.
Happy birthday, Amy! |
That's it! This was a long one but I'm glad I finally caught up. Over the past few weeks/months, we have let the kids watch the MCU Infinity Saga. These early Marvel movies were so good (though with a bit too much cursing)! Each were building the characters and adding to a cohesive whole. Sora really got into them the most, cried at the sad parts, cheered at the exciting ones and loved it when the women got to play bigger roles. Kai and Jad liked them too though not quite as invested. On Amy's birthday, we drove home after udon and the kids asked to stay up late and watch the rest of Endgame. Really great conclusion for the series :) I'll let them watch the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies later (though I still think Andrew Garfield was a better Spider-Man) but they can choose what MCU movies they want to watch after on their own.
I realized this poster only shows the
characters who weren't "snapped"
I'll leave you with a picture Lin sent us of Pebble. It's nice to see our former foster doing well :) Til next time!
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| Pebs! |
