Halloween

sorceress and Star Wars clone

East Coast trip and wedding - August

We had a lovely visit to the east coast (Pennsylvania and New York) for cousin Annie and Jamie's wedding.

Girl Scout's camp -September

Penny had a blast at girl scout's camp this year.  I also went and survived with 9 girls and moms in one cabin!

Back to August - first day of Kinder and 3rd!

forgot to include these pics!

Max learns to ride a bike

We took off Max's training wheels and he learned to ride pretty easily!  This happened right before school started in August.

Costanoa with mom - August

Dad went out of town, so I took the kids to Costanoa in Pescadero for two nights.  We had a great time in our humble tent cabin.  Some highlights were a shadow puppet contest we had at night and exploring the private beaches.

Visited a goat dairy farm with a donkey

First time at a U-pick fruit farm was a hit

San Diego/Comicon/Legoland trip in July

We took our annual trip to San Diego in July.  The kids loved Legoland and we had a good time visiting with Remy and family, too!

School year ends, Summer begins

May and the end of the school year was crazy for us!
There were so many events, teacher gifts, parties, etc. all crammed into the last three weeks.  I'm happy to report that we did survive by taking things one week at a time.

This upcoming week will be a major transition for Max.  We said goodbye and thank you to our long time home daycare provider who took great care of Max and nurtured his development.  Max and Penny will both attend the same full-time camp this summer ($$!). But, Penny will now be in the "big kids" room and Max will be with "the littles".

Max will need to adapt to a new environment and routine with more kids in a smaller space. He will need to eat a packed lunch (packed daily by me 😓) on his own, and make new friends.  He will also be going on field trips by bus once per week, which is a little scary for us.  This is all in preparation for kindergarten and the after school care program that he will start in August.  I am confident that Max will do okay, especially since big sister is close by if he needs a familiar face.  As Penny told him when he was an infant, "you are so lucky to have a big sister, Max!".

We took some awesome family photos recently which you can view here!

Maui Spring Break 2017!

We had a blast in Maui!  We stayed in Kaanapali at a cottage that we found on VRBO.  We didn't have the check-in instructions until we got to Maui which was a little unnerving, but after that it was smooth sailing.  We checked out several different beaches, hit the pool, and did the road to Hana one day, too.  Penny fell in love with spam musubi and saimin.  Max's famous line when he asked for dessert after having shave ice was, "it (shave ice) is not really dessert, it's just ICE!"  Minkz and I also got to meet Sheldon from the last season of Top Chef and tried his restaurants.

Penny's 8th Birthday Party

Penny's karaoke birthday party at our house was a hit!  Grandma, auntie, and uncle carried on the tradition of visiting in March, too.  The girls were well-behaved and had a great time.

Its hard to believe that this was the same girl 8 years ago....

Max's 5th Birthday Party

Max's 5th birthday party was at the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda.  We had a big party room and access to all of the pinball machines.  It was a fun time.  Max was so exhausted from running around by the end that he didn't eat a piece cake! Full album here

Tahoe trip with friends in January