6 months into 2024

This year has been NONSTOP.  Summer started for the kids.  Adam is still taking ballet, started basketball at pick up USA and still taking piano lessons on Wednesdays.  He also started to play roblox and other online games with friends.  Thats what he does first thing in the morning.  He is also starting to get annoyed with Alice who's personality just gets bigger and bigger. 

They all participated in the Chinese competition this year, but none won. Only 3 in the school received an award.  Amber and Alice were disappointed but I know they will try again.  I was so proud that all 3 did it! 

Amber is still doing ballet twice a week.  She doesnt need to prove herself to be the best because she always tries her best.

Ashley started school this week.  On her 2nd day of school, Amber ran out with her favorite teddies - her cinnamon roll and offered it to Ashley, who was crying in my arms.  She told me to tell her that she misses her very much when I pick her up.  Everyone was sad when they know Ashley didnt want to go to school, because they have all been there. 

Ashley is still getting used to it and repeatedly said I dont want to go by myself to school.  Avery is there with her but she missed her usual people.  She is so alert and is talking so much.  We dont have Nora come anymore and its going to be tough. 

Branch, our new dog, joined us in February.  It's been tough! He bites and takes all their toys.  We threw away a good number of stuffed animals.  We decided to give him away but now no one is interested.  But he is like what we want in a few years when the kids take less of our time.  Right now, their schedule and my schedule is too much!

Amber and Adam did their June performance, which is the Coppellia.  They did so well and I am so proud of them to see them on stage.  Amber just shines and she is the most graceful and beautiful ballerina.  

So much has happened and I wish I can have more time to write.  The end of the year is just around the corner!  We sneaked in a quick trip to Maui and it was amazing.  The beaches are so clean and beautiful.  The island life there is a dream.

Fresh January

For the first time in long time, we stayed around during this Christmas holiday.   Last year, we went to Seattle and Victoria Island in Vancouver.  This year - I decided that it was best to stay around, take advantage of the slow down at work and catch up as much as I could before the new year begin.  We did everything from cutie cutie being back again  (and i loved how they all still believe, although Adam is really trying to), lots of hot chocolate (snoopy advent calendar), christmas lights at the arboretum, christmas lights on Valmont, all presents were opened and Santa's gifts were delivered.  It was really hard to plan out so many gifts and I am pretty happy with the gifts given out this year.   Our tree this year is a Chrismouse Tree, I suddenly had a obsession with the Christmas mouseys and they are so cute.  

Lately, Adam finally started to read Harry Potter again and it was all because I brought a book and read a few lines outloud.  He just finished the 4th book. 

Alice just finished her 2nd Kelly Yang book and loving it.  I think it has to do with how much Adam is also reading. 

Amber is doing very well at school and ballet, got invited to Daniella's playdate at her beachhouse which was so nice to go to during break. She is also asking a lot of questions lately like - did you know you are going to have 4 kids? How come the moon is full tonight? Their questions are definitely getting harder and harder to answer.

Ashley is talking so much.  Her favorite phrase is "I dont like it".  Also, whenever she sees me eating, she says "i want to try it". She is so adorable, its ridiculous.  She is so cute and silly.  She makes all of us laugh.  

Tomorrow Adam is going to Disneyland with his class.  Excited for the weekend to come because it's just another time for us to catch up with all the things piled up.

8 more days until Christmas 2023

 Christmas is my favorite time of the year because it feels like its a time to give closure and to reset for the new year and a reset is always good.  We are having fun here trying to get friends together one last time before 2024 arrives. Today we gathered with Scott's MISSA friends and the kids all had a great time together which was nice because they dont know each other well.  It's always good when the kids are healthy, comfortable and feeling well.  Amber, as always, got her hair done and dressed in her hawaiian dress.  We had food from King's hawaiian, egg rolls and rice krispies made with olive oil.  This was a super last minute gathering and it was nice to have people show up.  

 The office is also wrapping up for the year.  Looks like things are falling into place except we still dont have everything we need to fulfill all our backorders.  Our new building is going to be fun and there is still a lot of work to be done.  We managed to squeeze in a trip to Cabo on the first week of December to treat our nutcracker dancers after the weeks and months of practice for their performance.  

Ashley is now 2 and 2 months - she is really enjoying and aware of all things Christmas.  She met Santa and didnt like him at first set - although she loves waiving to him at a distant.  We saw the firetruck Santa three times last night.  She loves watching Christmas lights and has enjoyed lights since Halloween.  Her fascination and her understanding with the world is fun to see.  She picks up things quickly and cannot ask her to do things.  She will always do what you ask as long as you give her time.  She will eventually be ready.

Ashley's Update

 In another month, Ashley will be two! I am so excited that she is becoming more and more interactive.  She loves playing with her sisters, she is always asking about Jie Jie, Gor Gor, Ambers, Baba when they are not around.  She is not happy to say good bye to me in the morning when Nora arrives, as long as she had a good 10 hour sleep.  She is sleeping through the night.  The routine now is that I put her to sleep and Scott sleeps with her until it's time to wake up.  This school year, Adam is very ambitious to wake up early so we are all earlier, I make their lunches and leave by 7:30AM.  Adam gets really anxious to get to school early and the sisters all follow his timeline.  He can be very pushy and gives everyone a rude awakening but he is getting better.   

We dont have soccer anymore but Adam is enjoying to play baseball.  He is so good at it and I really want him to try to be in a league.  He is still doing ballet and piano.  Amber is now in level 3b and the both are taking a role in the nutcracker.  Alice loves talking about her friends and is recently saying her heart out in her showers all Taylor Swift songs.  She is currently playing Fearless on the piano and it's a slow start.  

Alice asks all the right questions and she is so smart but she doesnt know it yet.  Adam is starting to play Zelda, Amber is always surprising me with all her best intentions.  She is one who remembers about her ballet shoes, ballet class, homework, and helping me all the time.  She blows kisses and gives me a distant hug when she leaves to the school.  These are the days I just want to remember forever.  As much as I dread dropping them off and picking them up from school - I love how we get a chance to talk in that 15 min ride in the morning.  

As we are planning to move to our new location in Glendora, we might try to change schools because it is too hard to pick them up.  We ll see though...

Ashley right now still is a great eater.  She loves to build, loves to play with cars and loves Doreamon ever since we bought that diaper in Japan.  She is loud, loves to scream and screams louder when she dislike something.  She sings, a lot.  She loves Tearing up my heart, let it go and trolls songs.  She loves watching TV with them and I love it when she says "Mum-mum" when we go to any restaurant.  

Love these two together.  Ashley adores her big brother.

This little chicka is the cutest.  I loves me kissing her and I love to call her mika maka.

Last of Summer 2023

 The rest of the summer flew by with a wedding (Tammy's), birthday party with water slide (Chelseas), summer school, Jolie's birthday party, soccer camp with Gautum, night at a tree house in Brea, Yakult factory, Bradbury night out, and our Japan and Hawaii trip.  The kids did their part with work and I worked and just made sure they are all staying active.  

Our Japan trip finally happened after months and months of planning.  I think we did everything right except me not adding Ashley to Zipair until the very last minute which ended up into a very costly ticket by Hawaiian airline.  We also arrived in Honolulu on the day when Maui was indulged in flames by the heavy wind.  Luckily we were not affected (except our kayak tour got cancelled).  

The highlight of Japan was the Mt Fuji climb with my brother and Adam.  We started the morning with checking out of our airbnb and going to the ANA air hangar tour - then renting a car to drive to Hakone and made it in time to the last bus to the Fujinomiya trail (5th Station) to begin the ascend at 5PM.  Made it to the hut at 10PM and slept until 1AM/2AM and slowly got everyone up to see the sunset glow at 4:15AM.  We reached the summit by 6AM and started the descend at 7AM to the Gotemba Trail and arrived at the Gotemba 5th New Station at 12:45PM.  By then - your mind and body just want to reach the end  and basically started to question things like "are you ever going to make it out of here?"

I picked the Fujinomiya trail because it was the shortest and easiest.  (yes and no).  We also picked the Gotemba trail because it was closest to our next destination and also it was the fastest. (yes and no).  Turned out that both of these were the most challenging according to another blogger/climber.  I would love to blog more in detail of our journey to Mt Fuji either on Youtube or on my pending travel blog.  Until then, I am trying to retain as many details as I can do I can share it.

So many memories from this summer, so many favorite memories.  As much as it was a lot of work, a lot of pressure, and can be exhausting, I always look back and I never regret it.  

Week 5 of Summer 2023

 This summer is going by so fast.  The 4 kids make everything go by so fast because it's never-ending demands, doing something, going somewhere.   I am actually very impressed that I have been keeping up with this weekly blog! This past week and weekend was super eventful.  The weekend was just jammed pack with things.  I make an effort to do playdates with their friends and also downtime for them to do what they want to do. 

Thurs was rock climbing day and concert at the park.  The temperature is definitely rising now and it was hot but thankfully, the weather cools down by 6PM.  We invited Shuka and his family to go and the dad came with the 3 kids.  They had fun and we brought our picnic mats and food for everyone.  At the end, we went to the dance floor and the kids had so much fun dancing.

Friday was movie night with Iris and Daniella at our house.  We watched Homeward Bound and they liked it! The kids made pizza, Ashley got her popcorn and they watched the movie until the very end.  All the parents came to pick up the kids by 8:30PM.  

Saturday: Morning was Science Saturday at City of Hope, then Tim's daughter 1st birthday party at the Duarte Senior Center.  Then, it was wedding time at NBC.  It was busy but the time gaps were perfect for Ashley's nap and just to recoup.  We left at 9:20 and got to bring the kids back to sleep by 10PM.

Sunday: Alice got invited to a party with a water slide.  That was nice and it was interesting meeting more moms today.  After that party was Jolie's 4th birthday party which the kids had so much fun.

Week 4 - Summer 2023

When there is so much to do, times just flies.  Fourth of July came upon us so quickly and all last minute plans were just what we needed.  Adam got to drive down on Sunday with his friend and spent a night with Bryan the first night.  We drove down the next day and I was lucky to get a tent site at the San Diego Koa Resort for one night when they required 3 nights for holidays.  We packed everything in the morning and forgot everything we needed.  We basically just brought the tent, 3 pillows, 2 sleeping bags and 3 pads.  We had to leave Ashley my mom who slept at Bryan's house.  

We drove down with uncle and met with Katrina/Shawn/ Toby and Charis.  The kids had so much fun at the beach.

Ashley was rolling on the sand and loving the sand play.  The kids can probably stay in the bay water for another hour but we left for dinner after 20 mins of play.  We went to Pacific Fish Shop which was a fish shop Bryan took us too long time ago.

We said our goodbyes with Toby's family and loaded Ashley in my moms car which she cried the whole way.  We then drove straight to KOA and set up the tent by 9PM.  The kids were so excited camping.  Amber told me " I am so happy" at least 5-6 times.  Before they all slept, Adam told me he loves me.  His favorite part was building the fire.  Alice just wants to rock climb.  We set up the tent fairly quickly but Scott decided to sleep in the van since we only have 3 mats.  It was too cold for him so he was only able to sleep for a few hours in the morning.   The kids asked to come back again so we will see.

I loved how the fire woods got delivered to us  quickly but we still had to step out to buy marshmellows for the s'mores.  

The next morning, we spent most of the days at Bryan's house, watching netflix and went to the park for a little in the morning.  We drove home after the bbq and now the kids are all asleep and asking about going back to the camp again.