The month started with Rubix's return to school to participate in the Kindergarten show after his short bout with Covid. He was the owl in "Swamped". He did a great job, considering he missed a week worth of rehearsals.
Phoenix was excited to enjoy the show and miss class. She was a proud big sister!
Proud parents of Mr. Rubix!
Had to get one photo with his cute smile!
Rubix and his buddy Reese.
Rubix and Yash.
Rubix and Arick!
A patient of mine gave me Iris bulbs and they bloomed throughout the month of May. They are so beautiful!
Axel had his track meet. He did absolutely amazing! Here he is with his long distance running partners for the 800 and 1200 meter events. Liam and Johnathon and Axel!
Axel got 3rd in both events out of all 8 schools. The most important thing was that he had amazing personal best times during both events. He did a 2:35 for the 800 meters and a 4:12 for the 1200 meters. We were so proud of him. He looked like he was flying and like he had been racing track for years. He ran smart races, drafted when he could and kicked it up at the end to pass boys in the straight away. Although I wasn't able to see the 800 live, since that was on Friday night and I was home with the younger two for piano lessons and bedtime, I was able to watch the 1200 the next morning, though.
Rubix read his first "bigger" or "smaller chapter book" during the 4 hour meet.
You can see as the morning cool air blew off, so did his jacket and he read and read until his book was done. He did cheer on Axel for his events, but otherwise, was enjoying being an independent reader for the first time.
On Saturday, May 7th night, after Axel's track meet, Keith and I took Rubix to the Earthquakes soccer game. A coworker gave me 3 tickets for helping her son get back to his baseball season after having a bout of back pain.
He has so much fun and all he wanted to do was watch the players play soccer. Even during warm ups, he wanted to sit and watch them. He was absolutely exhausted since we had to wake up at 615am to get Axel to his track meet at 7:15 am up in Atherton.
Mother's Day was a lovely day of cooked breakfast and a bike ride and time with the kiddos. I am not sure why we didn't remember to take pictures. The next week I only worked on Monday at work and then I was off on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I took advantage and hiked Mission Peak with a friend who wanted to check it off her to do list, before moving back to Australia.
Tanya and I had such a blessed morning praying together and sharing the beautiful scenery.
Wednesday I was busy getting meals together and cleaning the house and packing as I worked from home on Thursday and left for San Diego that afternoon. I enjoyed a fun course on Strength and Conditioning which will allow me to sit for another 4 hour certification exam to become a Strength and Conditioning Specialist. This additional certification will allow me to treat athletes more as Kaiser becomes more stringent on their policies in the coming years. On the way home, I was worried I wasn't going to get a seat on the plane because I had a special "savers ticket". Well, not only did I get a seat, I got moved up to first class! It was the only seat on the plane left, so I really lucked out. Too bad the flight was only 50 minutes!
It was a beautiful night to fly and I was glad to get home, even if it was nearly 11pm at night.
My neighbor gave me a Cala Lily last year and it finally bloomed. I really need to transplant it and find it a permanent home. I was so excited I didn't kill it. These are my absolute favorite flower!
Last weekend the kids did their first long course USA swim meet. Axel only did Saturday, as he was leaving for his 7th grade field trip the next day, but Phoenix and Rubix did both days. I am not sure why, but swimming looks so much harder when you are swimming 50 meters, rather than 25 yard distances. I have videos and might upload them later. I just have to shrink the file size.
Axel left for his 7th grade National Parks Trip, bright and early on Sunday the 22nd. I dropped him off at 6:52 am at SFO. Here are a few pictures he sent me.
That evening we had Arick and Reese's families over for a BBQ.
It was a little odd not having Axel around, especially this first day, but as the week went on, I felt better and better about this situation. He communicated so well and called me almost every night. He really earned my trust by communicating so well. I was so very proud of him. Rubix had an absolute blast with his friends. It was nice to see him playing and getting along with them.
Goodnight Arick!
Goodnight Reese!
This Thursday we had the pool party after school. The only picture I managed to take was Rubix eating dinner. If you ever want to know....the boy can eat. He cleared this plate of one burger and one hot dog and a handful of cucumbers. He is quite the eater, but he does burn a lot of calories with how active he is.
Thursday at school and Friday and Saturday night this week, Phoenix had her dance show that she has been working hard for. It was really fun to see how excited she was to dance. I really enjoyed watching her giggle the entire time she was dancing during the show.
I was really proud of her because it takes a lot of courage to dance in front of other people.
Here she is with two of her friends, Caitlyn and Nicole. They were in the other 3rd grade girl dance.
Strike a pose!
Proud Mama!
Proud family! I was lucky to have Axel's close friend Shamik's mom and dad pick up Axel and Shamik at the airport since we were at Phoenix's dance show. Axel pulled up just after we got home at 8:30pm. It was so nice to have him home. I would hate to admit it, but I slept horribly all week, and as soon as he was home I slept better. Funny, how that worked!
Rubix came home on Friday saying he wanted to start playing an instrument. He asked to play the flute. I tried to give him his first lesson and he got very frustrated, so Phoenix decided she would teach him the piano. He spent about 2 hours the past two days learning how to read the notes and play a couple of simple songs. Here they are on Saturday.
Yesterday night I took Axel to his friend, Sanjith's birthday party. He had a blast playing with his friends and hanging out.
I was proud of myself for staying and socializing for 3 hours. I was absolutely exhausted!
Here is Phoenix teaching Rubix how to read music today. This was after they spent 3+ hours together at another birthday party. Keith took the two of them to Rubix's classmates party at the park. I told him, I couldn't handle two birthday parties in a row, so Axel and I were able to hang out and enjoy some quality mother/son time.
Here they are after the 45 minutes of learning how to read the music, putting it into practice. I was so impressed with both of their patience!
