Happy 4th, Father's Day and more

The summer is flying by. It is hard to believe that we have already completed an entire month of summer break. Our days are long, but the weeks and months are fast. We are consumed with swimming and friends, but did enjoy a weekend without a swim meet for the first time since school ended. 

I can't begin to describe all that has happened, but I can say I am excited to have completed my last work goal and should have much more time to designate too all of the kid "stuff" that I have been putting off. I sat for the strength and conditioning specialist exam last Friday and am happy to say that I passed. It is a huge weight off my shoulders and I am looking forward to finishing and starting scrap books that date back to 2018/2019. 

Here is a fun picture that Phoenix took of Axel peeling his egg. Apparently, he was able to peel it in one big sheet. He was pleased with this accomplishment and Phoenix was amazed, hence why she had to document the event with a picture. 

Rubix and Phoenix have completed 3 weeks of summer school at Challenger. Phoenix's highlight is art. They do art every day and this was one of her master pieces. She states that she is not very happy being there and that it is a waste of time, but I think she is getting a lot out of being there. She is disappointed because she only has 3 girls in her class and one of them leaves early and another reads all of the time during recesses. 

Rubix also states that he is not happy going to summer school, but he has a handful of Harker friends who are going there that he gets to play with every day. His reading has improved immensely and he appears to be getting faster with math, so all in all it appears to be good for them. 

Axel just completed a 2 weeks writing course and is looking forward to starting a 2 week computer programming course with Java. He is also working on completing the game he coded as it is his goal to put it on the Google store by the end of the summer. We will see if he is able to reach his goal. 

When the kids have time, they have been playing games, with their favorite being Monopoly or Mancala. Rubix is often the banker as he is pictured here counting and handing out money. 

After a year, we finally made it back up to see my best friend from high school, Tiffany. It was a very cool day with a high in the low 60s. The kids still played in her heated pool and hot tub while us adults sat next to her heater and watched them play in the water. 

When the other kids went inside after dinner, Rubix decided to make an interesting basketball course, like "Dude Perfect".

Once it got cold enough, we all went inside and enjoyed cotton candy and more conversation. 

Axel had fun making cotton candy for everyone after Avery made it for her and her sister, Charlotte. 

Yesterday, Rubix's new buddy, Jack, joined us at the track. After Rubix's "track" workout, where he ran a 1:35, 400 meter lap for the first time, he played soccer with Jack. 

Phoenix also PR'd with a 1:34, 400 meter lap.  Axel continues to speed up with his track workouts and is loving seeing the hard work pay off. 

Today we did a 5 mile hike with Axel's friend, Nicole and her family. Here we are at the turn around point and Axel and Daddy decided to be silly.

Group photo!

The view. 

Happily hiking down the mountain!

Axel made lunch and decided to use the cookie cutter to make fun quesadilla shapes. 

Phoenix was a bit upset about math, but she appreciated the interesting food her brother made her. 

June was all about friends and swimming. Here is Phoenix with her friends Melissa, Ashley and Angela. She had such a fun time hanging out with them at Angela's swim and racquet club. 

Here is Rubix helping out a new swimmer with the relay. It is funny how our little 6 year old is a "seasoned" swimmer and can help out older and bigger kids who are less experienced. 

Phoenix enjoying the social aspect of the swim meets. She loves swimming and meets because she loves hanging out with all of her swim friends. The girls really do have such a great time. 

Rubix primarily plays with Arick, who is his classmate. Here they were playing soccer on the tennis courts. 

This is Phoenix and her best swim buddy, Kyla. The are like 2 peas in a pod and have such fun together. 

Axel's friend Nicole has bunnies who had 4 baby bunnies. 

The kids had such a treat meeting, petting and watching these cute little creatures. 

Here is Phoenix with Angela on a playdate the first week off from school when I was on vacation with them. Angela is her new best friend from school this year. It is so good to see her make new "best friends" because she really did not like being the 3rd wheel with Kyla and Ashley her long time "best friends since preschool. 

Stingray tatooes!

Rubix and Arick!!!

Axel hanging out with the "girls" having a blast talking with them. He enjoys himself more with them as the 3 boys his age just play video games on their phone and often swear a lot. It is fun to see him blend in and have fun with non Harker kids. 

Happy Father's Day. Daddy had lot of homemade gifts from both Harker and Challenger! He was happily surprised with the goodies. 

Rubix reading a Box Car Children's book at our last swim meet. He was determined to finish the book and decided to read instead of playing! It is so much fun to see him grow and mature!

Axel and I run together and I have him doing strengthening exercises the same two days he runs. Here we were doing the foam roller after a run because our quads were sore. Keith thought it was fun to capture this on film. I do enjoy my one on one time with Axel. He is such a great kid.

Axel often hangs out at Nicole's house because her mom is helping with pick ups from Harker summer school. Apparently, Axel helped fix this and Grace was very pleased. 

Junk day is coming up so I am working on going through the attic and pairing down on items we do not need. I happened to come across this nice suit Jacket that Axel really wanted to purchase in 2nd grade. Rubix put it on. Too bad there is a glare on the picture of Axel wearing it. It is fun to see Rubix in Axel's clothes. 

I have so many great videos of the kids swimming. I will try to post them soon so you can see how much they are improving. 

Phoenix had another virtual piano recital, I taught again in Oakland and she has all 8 of her baby teeth extracted that the orthodontist requested. Her double row of teeth on the tops and bottoms is almost completely gone as the teeth extractions made room for them to come forward. Phoenix has really grown and matured with these teeth extractions. 

Rubix started a math club and signed up for soccer in the fall with Jack, his new buddy. 

July will bring more swim meets and Challenger summer school ends at the end of July. 

Axel will do the Java camp and then a 3 week intensive math camp that ends August 5th. Keith will travel to Boston the first week in August and we will meet Keith in Chicago on August 6th where we will enjoy several days in the city before spending time with family in the suburbs. 

Keith has been busy with work as he continues to settle into his new role. He is currently leading the move back to Milpitas and is looking forward to being on old stomping ground for 6 months before his group is suppose to join the rest of ADI on the Maxxim campus at Rio Robles. Besides this move and all of the work he has put into organizing it, the other big news is that he will be travelling to Japan in the fall. He will also be assistant coaching Rubix's soccer team. 

Happy 4th!
 

The month long sprint to the end of the school year!

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!