Feb March fun times :)

I've fallen behind a bit on the blog so time to catch up!  Actually, on review of our photos, Feb and March has been fairly quiet.  Not that it hasn't been busy :)  Amy is spending a lot of time with her mom these days, helping her to adjust to a new pace of life as well as helping her organize her bills, accounts and such.  She is usually there 2-3 days a week during the day when the kids are in school while David has been have dinner there and staying over 5-6 nights a week to keep their mom company.  Good job, guys :)

Also, Amy's aunt was also caught up in an elderly fraud scheme and lost a lot of their money/assets.  We have been helping her cousin (who is in NYC) call lawyers, CPAs and law enforcement but it has been such a terrible thing for their family.  These scammers are really despicable, taking advantage of the lonely and elderly who are most vulnerable.  

Of course, with Amy gone/busy, I'm watching the kids and helping around the house more.  Jad has started soccer season and is taking spring hip hop dance with Sora.  Kai continues with jujitsu and will start school track soon.  He opted not to commit to soccer this spring but may sub in to play a few games here and there.  He is working on his attention deficit habits which can be frustrating to both him and us but important to develop skills and a good foundation for when school gets harder in the future.  Sora  has had the most change, adding on Girls on the Run (5k training) and hip hop dance while continuing with piano, Girl Scouts and gymnastics.  As you can tell, our calendar is a mess of activities 😅

Kai did go on a 4 day Disneyland trip with the middle school
advanced orchestra.. he had a great time!

They stopped at In-n-Out in Kettleman City
like we always do while driving to Socal

They played a concert at Disneyland one morning but then had
1 1/2 days to enjoy the parks

Good times with friends :)

We finally made it up the peninsula to see Bonnie and Monica.  It was nice to have lunch with them and then we stopped by Drew and Sarah's boba shop.

It was nice to see Bonnie and Monica again after many
years hiatus .. the kids didn't remember them at all :p

A stop to visit Sarah and Jordan at Kung Fu Tea
in Redwood City

Amy has also been busy with Girl Scouts cookies as usual, though she says this is the last year she's going to do it :p Sora set a new record goal of 400 boxes but ended up selling over 450!  She worked hard (with only some prodding from us :) and did a great job.

Selling outside the Safeway near our house

Our garage during cookie season :o

I also helped Jad craft some armor from
extra cookie boxes :D

Amy did her Golden Gate Trail Run 30K in Marin as well!  She did it with two other guys from our church (Chinh and Henry) and they all did great.  Such amazing stamina to run for over 18 miles with an elevation of 4000+ feet.  A bunch of other youths and men from the church also joined the 8k (about 1000ft elevation) so Kai ended up running too.  He was so fast and ended up finishing 4th overall with the only people beating him being much older in the 30-40 year old range.  He's a beast!  

Amy said it was a very pretty run through the hills in the Marin Headlands

Medal! :)  I'm just glad no one was hurt.. well, Amy did
sprain her ankle a bit but that's all better already

Kai and Amy are very proud of their run and shirts!

Other than that, just various little things here and there..

I got a (used) squat rack and can now do more exercises at home..
exercise program is going well and I'm getting stronger
though my endurance is still very weak (thanks, mitochondria)

Kids got evaluated by the orthodontist.. not much to do yet, I'm glad
our orthodontist is pretty conservative and doesn't recommend too much 

Awesome field trip for Jad's class to In-N-Out.. everyone got free burgers and got
to tour the commercial fridge and use the potato cutting device :)

There was a cold snap a few weeks ago and there was briefly snow on the mountains
near our house. Amy took them all up to see it (while I was at work)

That's mostly it for this time.  Cookie season for Girl Scouts is wrapping up but Amy has already become the coordinator for Noble's Science Olympiad as the former lead is stepping down and it would have not happened without someone stepping up.  Luckily, she has several other parents who can help and she won't have to do everything.  Still, we're so busy, I told her that I'm hesitant to add more activities on.  I think, with our limited time,  we do have to work on increasing activities that give us real joy and reducing time spent on things that are obligatory.  Still working on it!  

Sunset over Fremont

Will leave you with this great sunset picture from Amy's mom's house.  Take care, everyone!

Amy's dad // LSCC Winter Retreat // Misc

 First post of 2026!  Unfortunately, we started the year with Amy's dad's passing.  He has been struggling with Parkinson's for a long time, over 15 years, and passed on January 11th.  He was in the hospital and surrounded by his immediate family.  He never wanted to be kept alive on machines and feeding tubes so they respected his wishes and he died peacefully.  The last two weeks have been hard with adjusting and planning for the memorial service and burial.  I've done my best to take care of the kids and keep normal things going while Amy has supported her mom and brothers. 

A classic picture of dad and the kids 

Amy's dad loved going to Benihana for his birthdays so there are a whole
series of these through the years :)

The memorial service was this past weekend and it was very nice.  Lots of people came to remember him, some told stories about his accomplishments, the Amy's mom and the kids all spoke.  Hopefully he's in a better place now and resting peacefully.

Bonnie and Matt sang a couple songs while Amy gathered the pictures for the slide
show, set to "In My Life".  Very poignant and a beautiful tribute.

Otherwise, we celebrated Christmas at home and with family.  We tried to keep it to a minimum but the kids still got lots of presents.  They will get one from each of their siblings, one from us, one from the grandparents and one from Santa.. sometimes additional ones here and there.  

Silly kids with their presents.. a huge nerf gun for Jad, Keeper of the Lost Cities books for 
Sora and Pokemon Cards for Kai, among other things

Jad did get a fitbit step counter

After watching, Physical Asia the kids have been more inspired to exercise so we were doing more runs and cross training.  It's been too busy the last couple weeks but we should get back to it!  Kai and Sora are doing it too but they don't like me taking pictures of them as much..

Pull ups!

Push ups

I thought this funny AI rework of Amy and Jad at the track
was very cute

We did go to to Tahoe for a few days for our church winter retreat.  There was a big fear of snow storm this year but we slid in right between storms and it was pretty good.  There was some snow on the ground to play in but we didn't have to put on chains so that was a win.  Always good to see the friends in a different environment and we also met several people that we have not really spoken to much before!  Kai and Sora had a lot of fun, stayed up late for NYE but many of Jad's friends were not there so he did complain that he was bored.

The clear days were quite pretty

Snow play with the girls

Ice skating boys

Emma looks so much bigger than Sora 
in this picture :D

It began really snowing on the day we drove out

Other random stuff..

We did make it to Xmas in the Park but it was rainy
that day so not the best experience

Colton, Jad and Orion at Starbird for school fundraiser

Sesame III finishing his cereal

Girl Scouts outing

Sora enjoyed her horse ride, even if it was just in a barn

Amy has been playing Stardew Valley with the kids..
usually, I'll sit behind them and enjoy reading my book :)

Amy started brushing Sesame's teeth .. it's going
better than we expected (because the toothpaste
is flavored, I think :)

Amy is still training for her 30K in a few weeks (though the last couple weeks were a bust).. 
she's wearing her new hat Michelle got her from Australia!

That's about it.  Some sadness in this post but what can you do?  We are not meant to live forever, so all we can ask is that we leave something of value behind and people who we've loved and love us.  

Amy and David driving their mom, along with Auntie Alice and Uncle Ming.  Amy
thought it was a funny role reversal from the younger days.

Til next time, everyone!

Thanksgiving // December Happenings // Kai, Sora, Jad performances // Retina what?!?

 It's Christmas eve today and the last post of 2025!  :)  Hope everyone is well and having a good holiday season.  We might even get an uptick in viewership as our Xmas cards have our blog on them!  

We had already had a joint birthday party for Sora and Jad so Sora's actual birthday was pretty low key.  She invited Wally and Barak for a sleepover and they camped in a tent in our living room.  They played cards and stayed up late talking and had lots of fun.  

Mid-November was pretty quiet otherwise and then we were off on Thanksgiving week break. 

Amy took Sora to see Wicked: For Good..
apparently it wasn't as good as the 1st half

We've also been in Japantown SJ a lot because of Jad's dance class so we have wandered around the cute little shops there as well as admired some of the murals.

Here's a neat daruma doll

Mural outside of Moment, a cute collaborative
shop between 4 artists

Thanksgiving itself was good.  With her mom and dad both being ill, Amy wanted to spend time at home so we had a lot of family time (though there was a conference on the Big Island that I was eyeing :).  David was around and Matt, along with Nicole and Lukas, came up from OC as well.  

Jad really enjoys being a big brother to Lukas

Huang siblings!  David carving up his delicious smoked turkey

Sunny's (and Uncle Jensen's) families came over as well

The Friday after Thanksgiving, we went to David's house to hang out.  The kids got to check out his workout setup in the garage and we also saw all the work that he put in to replace the hardwood flooring, driveway, etc.  

Do those pulls ups, Kai!

The first weekend of December, Amy and three other neighbor moms went to Napa to celebrate Kristina's birthday.  There was a lot of relaxing and wine and lots of fun was had by all :)

Several hour tasting at the Castello :)

I had the kids at home.. look at all those healthy
items I cut up for breakfast! (They didn't eat them :)

Then all the dads got together and had dinner to share the burden.  Some were playing Magic TG,
others played video games or watched Avatar 2.. good times

I'm going to save the medical stuff for the end so I'll just round out the erst of this month with a potpourri..

Kai continued with wrestling and, we think, came to enjoy it.  He did great in his weight class (82lbs) and went on to win sectionals then lose the county level.  He also was 1st in one of the tournaments.  I never thought it would be something our kids would do but, hey, we'll roll with it.  It's also easier when the other parents are really awesome.  I think he's going to do it again next year.  Great job, Kai!

Take down!

Proud of his medal

Amy has continued to run to train for her 30k next year.  She has been taking Kai along sometimes to keep up his endurance for XC and sometimes we'll go to the track as a family.  That's what I get for marrying a runner :p

Top of Mission Peak

All the kids are great runners.. Jad is the most enthusiastic 
and will be fast when he gets bigger, I think

Sora had a violin perfomance with her school orchestra.  She probably won't stick with it as she is already doing piano but wants to try choir when she goes to middle school next year.  This girl is growing up fast :)

She's in front, just to the right of the conductor

We have been watching Physical Asia, which is silly and fun.  These 
athletes are just ridiculously strong

Dancing after their team won an event :)

Jad's dance class ended and he had a big performance.  I didn't realize but it was a really big event and probably about 250 spectators and 20 different dances from the various classes at the Get Down.  There were a lot of adult dancers too which was inspirational for Amy and I.  Jad did great and we're proud of him for performing in front such a large audience. 

Sora helping with Jad's last practice.  She is interested in 
taking class next season!

On stage with Coach Tarhata and Mojo..
I love his baggy street clothes

Everyone taking the bows :)

Not to leave Kai out of the performance art, here he is doing the Winter Show with Advanced Orchestra.  He's looking forward to going to Disneyland next year with the orchestra friends.

Looking good, Kai

Ok, now for the bit about the retina.  I was doing some decline pushups one day and suddenly had floaters in my right eye, which is a concern for a retina problem, especially since this eye is very near sighted and I had had cataract surgery in it.  I went over and saw the ophthalmologist right away and also the retina specialist the day after.  They said that it looked ok and there were no visible injuries and to monitor for now.  A few days when by (I still took care of the kids while Amy went to Napa that weekend) and it seemed ok but one day, a little dark blob developed in the corner of my vision.  Unfortunately, it rapidly grew and though I went to the eye clinic right away, by the time I saw the retina specialist, more than half of my vision in that eye was gone.  He confirmed a retina detachment and we planned for surgery the next day.  It was a bit scary, even though my right eye is not my dominant eye, as this was a complete loss of vision situation.  If this had happened in my left eye, which is more dominant, I think it would be devastating and I wouldn't be able to do much at all.

The surgery was fairly easy and went generally well.  They removed the vitreous in my eye, put the retina back on the back of the eyeball and lasered it into place.  Amy picked me up and I had to keep my head face down for 24 hours to help the air bubble in my eyeball prop up the retina while it healed.  It was hard to be face down for everything but I managed and the kids helped.  Follow up since then has been generally good and things are healing now.  I think I'll end up with about 80% visual acuity with some image distortion in this eye vs previous.  By itself, it's not terrible and, in fact, I only took a week off and am back to work already.  Some headaches but I hope that'll improve.  Still, it does make one feel old when body parts begin to fail. Sigh, c'est la vie, I suppose.. what can you do but take care of yourself as best you can :)

On the way home post op

Face down is not comfortable but you
can still look at your phone at least

After post op check.. everything is still swollen
but internal parts are in place

My current visual field

That's it for now.  Hopefully everyone has a wonderful holiday season and celebrate whichever holiday you celebrate with loved ones and friends.  We'll be mostly home and with family and neighbors through the holiday with a short trip to Tahoe for new year's.  I'll leave you with this picture of the neighborhood boys goofing around in AT's garage 

They like to take off their shirts :p

Take care, everyone!