Father's Day, birthdays, summer school, 4th of July, Kids Camp and more!

It seems like we just started the garden and that school just ended, but it is already mid July and we are just 2 short weeks away from our summer vacation to Tahoe. Keith has been off of work for 2 weeks and Axel's last week of Algebra I Honors summer school is next week!

The week after school, Carmen and I took the kids to Shoreline park. My 3 kiddos were happy as always to hang out with Ms. Carmen and her daughter Kristen. We flew kites, had a picnic lunch and ....

Axel and Kristen kayaked while the 4 of us rode on the paddle boat. 

Although Carmen and I started paddling, the two young ones couldn't wait to paddle too. 

They did a great job of getting us almost back to shore!

Axel and Kristen had loads of fun on the kayak. They made a good team and flew around the pond. 

Axel has been busy with summer school. This is his 5th week and he is rocking it. He is nearly getting 100% in the class. He has only missed 8 points on all of his tests. It seems a little crazy, but he has a 99.6% in the class. He has 3 more units and his final exam. It has been a great experience for him and he has loved being in school over the summer! He says it is exactly what he needed after a year of remote learning.

Phoenix and Rubix have been having swim lessons. They did 3 weeks and have one more week left next week. They both are improving and they are PRing in most of their events. The swim team is having virtual races, which means that they are timing the kids events during practice and then ranking them amongst their peers. The cool thing is, they will receive ribbons, which is especially rewarding for Rubix who has been on the swim team for two years now with no true racing and no ribbons. He ordered a ribbon book from the swimathon and he can't wait to put his 1st place ribbons in it. The kids have been working hard for 4 months now improving their endurance, fitness and technique. 

Phoenix and Rubix have moments where they get along beautifully. Here is one of them where they are walking their dogs/ animals with leashes that Phoenix made for them. 

In mid June, the kids went to their first bday party at our new neighbor's house. 

It was very exciting to attend. They enjoyed painting and playing outside. 

It was nice of our new neighbor to invite all 3 kids. 

The kids surprised Daddy with a beautiful poster for Father's Day! 

In late June we finally had our annual cleaning this year. They got postponed and we had to conquer and divide. Keith took Phoenix one day because of a schedule conflict and I took the boys 2 days later. 

The boys patiently waiting for me as my teeth were cleaned. We were happy that there were no cavities this year as last year, Rubix had several filled. We have been very diligent at using fluoride toothpaste and mouth wash, along with flossing the kids teeth nearly every day. It has been a little difficult since we ran out of flossers. Getting my hands in their mouths is no easy task. I am looking forward to my much needed Costco trip next week.  

The kiddos surprised me with a lovely poster on my bday. They did the entire poster and put it up, all while Keith and I were on an hour and a half bike ride. That is pretty fast for my kiddos to do an art project. 

Keith planned for us to go over to the Gunnions for my bday. It was a lovely evening where the kids were able to play and I was able to relax and enjoy good food and good compnay. 

It was the first time for us to go as a family to a friends house for dinner since the pandemic.

Rubix enjoying a popsicle after swim one day. I can't remember exactly when this was, but I love his cute calm self. 

Marshall Lane play ground has been open for a couple of months and we finally made it over there for afternoon fun. The kids enjoyed playing wall ball and on the play structure for the first time in a year or more.

For the 4th of July, we went to my friend Tiffany's house. It was so fun to swim and visit with her. The kids had snow cones after dinner. 

They also did sparklers before we had to head home. 

We went from no social gatherings to several in a matter of weeks with all of the celebrating. It has been really nice, but now I am getting nervous with the increased Covid cases that maybe we are being too relaxed. I think we are going to throttle back until the little ones are vaccinated and try to be a bit smarter. 

Here Kristen and the kiddos are having quite the water balloon fight. We have had several water balloon fights with friends. Over the past couple of weeks. 

The kids are reading a ton. Phoenix is reading the most and eating up books. 

On Daddy's bday we were able to get a few more photos. I loved the sign the kids made me so much, it is still up. 

Daddy had a lovely day and we enjoyed a bike ride, swimming and tirmasu. 

On July 9th, we had junk day and were able to get rid of a few things. It is always sad to throw things into the land fill, but it is nice to finally get rid of the crib and other things that I couldn't seem to find a new home for. 

This week is Kids Kamp at church. Here is Rubix. 

And Phoenix.

Fun water games, where the kids get to learn to work together to achieve a common goal. Here Phoenix is quickly filling up sponges with water and passing it to her team mate. 

Snack station and Rubix showing me Ramsey who taught the kids we can do all things through Christ Jesus, who strengthens me (Philipians 4:13)!

Daddy is the group leader for Rubix's group. He is doing a great job of leading his group of 5 year olds. It was no easy task. 

He gets an award for trying to learn the dances too!

Here are more cute pictures of the kids from day 3 of camp. Rubix with his hat he made. 

Rubix "dancing" during freeze dance. 

Phoenix patiently listening to the game instruction as the kids passed the nerf noodle with their arms (no hands) and their legs. So fun!

Daddy teaching the boys during snack time.

Phoenix making another necklace. 

Rubix stacking more cups!

Day 4 they did a wrap up at Vascona park where the campers and families were able to do a free train ride. Rubix was ecstatic to say the least.  

What a blessed week. We have so much to be thankful for. I am elated as I am finally done with my extra work. I only have 2 more Saturdays to work and then we will be off together for a couple of weeks and then I return to a normal work schedule of Monday through Thursday. I am hoping it will be okay for the family. I am also it will be better for myself as I will have Fridays to get all of the chores and shopping done and be able to have the full weekend to spend with the family. 

I should be able to start posting more regularly again. I hope to post after our Tahoe trip, but may find time to post a quick blog on our visit to Sacramento next weekend. We are looking forward to seeing GG and then visiting the Jolleys and Gma Susan and Gpa Brian. Until then happy summer!

Mother's Day, In person Learning and much more!

 I have been meaning to write a blog for weeks. I have been beyond overwhelmed and am so glad to finally be writing about the past 6 weeks. The kids were called back to school on April 19th. Phoenix started full time and Axel went every Monday for 3 weeks and then every Wed. and Thursday for 3 weeks. It was a little bittersweet that he had his last day of in person on Thursday as his last couple of days of school next week will be virtual. Here is Axel with 2 teacher appreciation gifts he sewed. One for his Math teacher and one for his Japanese teacher. Can you guess what they are?

If you said Pi and a Carp, you are correct. The Carp represents a special day in Japan where they celebrate the children and this day was happening right after teacher appreciation day. 

I had wanted to take pictures of the kids since Rubix's birthday. It didn't work out, week after week, but when my mom asked for updated pictures of the kids for Mother's day I made it top priority. Early on Sunday April 25th I made the kids get dressed up after breakfast and take picture. You can view a few below. 

I think they turned out pretty good, coming from my phone. It was really nice to send a picture collage instead of flowers to the three Grandmas. I should have sent them to the two great grandmas but I was frustrated that they were not going to arrive on time. I ordered them 2 weeks in advance and they were still late!

Phoenix has absolutely loved being back at school. The only real issue is that with all of the mask wearing the kids are not allowed to drink in the classroom. She was going most of the day without hydrating or eating for that matter and would come home with a headache and exhausted. It didn't help that we had multiple weeks of 80 and 90 degrees weather at the end of April/ early May. 

Rubix has been a champ staying at home. I made it appoint to start taking him to the park about 3-4 weeks ago. He absolutely loves playing with kids his age. He does a great job keeping his mask on and sanitizing his hands before getting into the car. Academically, things have really clicked and his reading his taking off. He also appears to love math and is starting to read the digital clock and understand time. He is also one of those kids who just understands reason. For example, he has been really tired and yawning because of later nights due to swim team. I explained to him that yawning is a sign the body is tired and that he will likely feel better if he gets extra sleep. He went to bed at 7:20pm and slept until 7:30am! When he woke he asked me if his body felt better. I asked him, "does it?"

Although Rubix seems light years ahead of the other kids at his age, I am reminded of his youth when he comes in the night, or early in the morning to snuggle. I captured a picture of him one Saturday morning before heading to work. It is tough for me when he come in multiple times, and I get tired, but I will honestly miss this stage when he grows out of it. He is so sweet and tells me that he will still cuddle with me when he is big, but having lived through this twice before, I know the kids change out of the little kid cuddle phase. 

Here is Rubix at one of his first park visits. We just happen to be the only ones at the park, so I let him take his mask off. The park was cool, even without kids, for the first few times, but now he will ask to go home or to a different park if there are not kids there. 

Here is another park visit, where we had a picnic in the park. Again, we were the only ones there. I was so grateful, by the time we were done eating, other kids showed up. We ended up staying for over two hours, so that was nice. 

I made Rubix take a selfie with me because it was an enjoyable afternoon together. 

The kids spoiled me for Mother's day. They cleaned the house while I was at work on Saturday and on Sunday I wasn't allowed to cook. Daddy bought me a big latte and pumpkin bread for breakfast, a yummy garden omelet from Bell tower for lunch and In and Out for dinner. We enjoyed a family swim and a nice bike ride and play together outside. 

The kids all made such lovely gifts. I felt quite loved. 

Blessed!

I know I mentioned that Rubix got into Harker, but they sent him a tshirt that was more like a dress. Keith somehow managed to get him to try it on, but it will only be worn by Axel or myself for years to come. Axel had a similar experience with a speech and debate sweatshirt that is an adult small. It is big for me and ginormous for Axel. 

About 5 weeks ago we planted new veggies. We have beautiful lettuce that is delicious, cilantro, carrots, cucumber, peppers, zucchini, acorn squash and pumpkins. the carrots are not doing great and the onions were a total bust! Not even one onion grew. Here is Axel cutting our first lettuce to add to our turkey sandwiches for lunch. 

Super big news is that 2 days after Axel became eligible for the vaccine, he went to a youth night at Levi stadium and got his first dose. He will be fully vaccinated next Thursday, June 3rd. To make it fun for him, we asked one of his good friends, Kristin to go with. 

They really had a fun time on this very memorable day. He was a little tired but overall did really well with little side effects. We are hoping he will have a similar response to the second dose, as Daddy Keith had a rash after his second Pfizer dose. It didn't occur for almost 2 weeks and has been hanging out for almost 2 weeks. Apparently, this is not uncommon.

Over the past 4 weeks, Rubix has been working hard at learning how to swing. It only took a couple of weeks and it really clicked. He can start from a complete stand still and get pumping quite hard. He is so incredibly proud of himself. He also tried the monkey bars and managed to do almost the whole thing, until his hands became so slippery he fell off as he was trying to put his foot down. Unfortunately, this has deterred him from pursuing this more. He states he wants to wait until he is older. 

The pool has also started to allow the kids to use some of the play equipment, foosball and pingpong table. They plan on opening up to 6 families at a time during peak hours in June with the possibility of it opening up more as the summer progresses. Families are really excited to socialize and interact more with other families while swimming. Since Daddy Keith has taken over membership director, there has been a lot of great changes for the positive. The kids just finished their first 2 months of swim and will start their 2nd 2 months of swim along with stroke lessons for the younger two. Swimathon is coming up and hopefully a mini meet. We will have to see if the swim director is going to come on board with the mini meet, but the coaches and Keith are working hard to make this happen. 

The coolest thing that happened this month is that our new neighbors moved in. It has been awesome as their girl is 18 months older than Phoenix, but they get along superbly. Phoenix is invited to Arna's birthday party next month, which is even more exciting. Arna has a little sister Nyra, who will be 4 in July. 

Phoenix and Rubix have moments where they are the best of friends. Phoenix can be so loving and sweet to him. She loves to teach him and build forts for him. I love moments like these. 

Another super cool thing this past month is that Phoenix had the privilege of having dance outdoors at school for a couple of weeks and then she was able to perform her dance routine in person as well. This was her first dance show with the full outfit we had to buy. Lets just say, I am glad that I haven't had to buy her outfits before, and I hope it is only once a year. I can't believe how much it costs and that they pick out shoes, hair accessories, tights and all! We are suppose to get a link to watch the dance show next week. It was really fun to see how excited she was to "perform."

She continues to play the piano and has another virtual recital coming up June 12th. We are uncertain if it will be like last time where they send out the link to family, as several performers will be in person.

It is hard to believe the school year will be over next week. Axel will be taking Algebra honors this summer and taking Japanese lessons with Daddy's sensei on Friday nights. He is a little nervous about doing an entire year of math in 6 weeks, but I think he is ready for the challenge. 

Here are the boys eating lunch that Axel made them, macaroni and cheese. I thought it was cute how they were quickly eating to see who was able to get seconds. Axel kept telling Rubix, we get to eat seconds because Phoenix isn't here, so eat up. They essentially each had their own box of macaroni and cheese since Axel made two boxes for them to split.

I am not sure if I will post in June. I will likely wait until after Keith and my birthday, the 4th of July and the course I teach on the 11th. It really is amazing at how much I have had to work over this past year. I am looking forward to ending this pandemic schedule in 2 months and returning to Mon- Thursday work schedule. I am hoping I will be able to leave work at work and minimize all of the extra I have to do at home, but.....if I get the opportunity to create and teach an upper quarter MSI course, I do think I will say yes and take on that challenge as well. Once the lower quarter and upper quarter classes are created, it should be much easier teaching in the coming years! I feel so blessed, but at the same a little burnt out! Love to all my/our beautiful family and friends!