Phoenix's 6th grade class trip and Halloween

Phoenix left for her 5 day class trip on October 21st. Keith had the pleasure of driving her to campus for drop off in the morning.  Later in this post I will write in detail the happenings of her trip. 

Phoenix has been on an art kick again and the day before she left she did a couple of pieces. This one is with oil pastels and she gave this to Axel to put up on his wall in his room. 

When I was taking a picture of her artwork on Axel's wall, I ran across fun pictures that Axel took with Liya on his desk.

On October 24th I had the privilege of being a group chaperone for  Rubix's class field trip to the San Jose Tech Museum. 

He was very excited since I was unable to go in 1st or 2nd grade because they only had a few field trips and his teacher's used the pop sickle stick method and my name was not drawn!

We had Ariv and Caliber, along with Sriya and Alice in our group. Here are the happy boys on the way to the museum. 

The kids were so excited when we arrived!

We went straight to the robotics section because that was number one on everyone's wish list. I was really lucky to have such a good group of kids who stuck together and were good about moving on to different exhibits. 

Here is Alice, Ariv and Sriya's robot. 

And Caliber and Rubix's robot with spinning fish and all!

We were at the museum from 9 am to 2:45 pm so we had time to watch the hour long IMAX production on Cities of the Future! It was really entertaining and educational. 

After the movie we headed back downstairs to finish seeing the exhibits. The Gravity wall was another fun exhibit that all of the kids wanted to partake in. 

Before we headed up stairs we made sure to get a group photo!

Rubix enjoyed this interacting anatomy exhibit.

The day ended with the kids making colored algae. For some reason Rubix did not want to do it, but half way through their 30 minute science experiment he decided he did want to join. 

He was so incredibly sad about his choice, but he was unable to join because I gave his spot away to another classmate. He was preoccupied with this game that was killing bacteria to save the good cells. 

Here he is on the way home, so sad and upset with his choice. He took his sadness all the way to bed and told me, "I don't know why I didn't just go and make the algae."

Right after we returned from the field trip Rubix and I headed to Axel's cross country meet. We made it just in time to watch the Varsity girls race and then Axel's race. 

Axel had a great start! He got right up at the front with the crazy fast and tall Menlo kids. 

The start

He stayed with three Menlo kids for the first half a mile and then decided a 4:30 pace might be out of reach for him to hold. 

Half a mile in

He made a smart decision and let the three Menlo kids go. He stays in no man's land for more than half a mile before he got caught by the pack of 8 boys behind him. You can see Axel in no man's land behind the front 4 and in front of the pack of 8.

3/4 of a mile in

 Axel getting caught. 

1.25 miles in

You can see Axel battling during the  hills portion. I unfortunately messed up my last two videos so you do not get to see his incredible finish. He ends up getting an incredible time of 16:45.5. He got nipped at the line by a Sacred Heart kid who came in at 16:45.2 and he had such an incredible last 800 he finished 8th place, beating his team leader by 2 seconds! I really wish I had it on video because I was so proud of how he raced. He tested his limits by going out hard, settled in and then finished off the last 1200 speeding up to finish the last 800 had a 4:30 pace!

1.5 to 1.9 miles

Axel told me on the way home that he decided to let all of fears and anxieties go before the race and just go out and see what happens. Well, it worked! This is the pace he needs to qualify for states!

Now back to Phoenix's trip to Camp Newman in Santa Rosa. The week was broken into 3 different days and the kids rotated through each of these days. The first day for Phoenix consisted of the long hike, exploration at looking at the results of the fires and some fun nature activities. You can see Phoenix right to the left of the teacher who's back is to us. 

Another picture on the hike. 

And one more of the hike with her back to us. The white sweat shirt around her waist and the pink backpack. 

They learned how to make dye's of different colors from nature, which Phoenix really enjoyed. She is not in the picture below, but this was one from the album and it was one of the things she mentioned that she really enjoyed. 

The second day consisted of a trip on the ferry to Angel's Island. The learned about the Chinese Exclusion Act and how they were treated as they stayed at Angel's Island. 

Of course, some time along the Bay was also apart of this day's adventures. 

The third day consisted of staying at Camp Newman to work together as a team to perform different tasks and ropes courses together. None of these pictures have Phoenix in it, but I thought it would be nice for her to have some pictures to remember the trip by. 

This was a great one where they had to walk together as a unit. 

Here two people had to work together to get as far as they could along the narrow ropes. 

And can you guess, the highlight of the trip for Phoenix was the high ropes course. She went to the top twice and said, she only looked down once, which was a mistake. 

At night they had different activities each evening and the last day they did skits together. This was the last picture I found of Phoenix in the schools photo album of the trip. 

They also learned how to make fire naturally. No fires were actually lit, but the vice principal said much fun was had, regardless. 

Phoenix got off the bus and we drove immediately to her swim meet Friday night. I received multiple text messages asking where Phoenix was all week because her teammates missed her. Here are a few of her friends giving her a warm welcome after 6 days of not seeing her swim friends! (Joanna, Helen, Hope, Phoenix, Stella and Amy in the front.) 

Friday night she did the 400 IM and she added even more time than she did the last time she raced it 3 weeks previously (5:10, instead of a 5:08, instead of her PR of 5:04), which put her in a rough place mentally for the 50 fly, 50 breast and 50 back that she was signed up for on Saturday. She really only added a quarter and a half a second in the back and fly and she decided to not warm up for the 50 breast which lead to a 2 second add. At any rate, she was so upset, she spent the rest of the day "de-stressing". 

Out of the de-stressing came a master piece! I absolutely love her anime!

We talked a lot, or I should say, I talked a lot about how attitude and mindset can make a huge difference and that her times should not and do not define who she is. I explained to her the need to do things because she loves them and not for anyone else. Well, Sunday, was the happy Phoenix that everyone loves. She had an amazing attitude and she dropped in all of her events! Her 50 free is now a 28.54, her 100 free is a 101.46 and her 100 IM is a 109.51.  

Phoenix 100 IM (She is lane 3 with a black cap, blue suit)

These are all A or AA time standards, which is a great improvement! She can no longer say she cannot sprint because she is learning how by practicing them at the meets! Phoenix, Stella and Katherine are sitting on Olivia, who you cannot see in the picture. 

Now you can see poor Olivia getting squished! The girls had a lot of fun with fun spirited Phoenix around, rather than grumpy/sad Phoenix. 

Rubix had a soccer game on Saturday, so he did not attend the swim meet. He did attend on Sunday, but didn't have the best of days. He was even in the 50 free and 100 IM, but he did drop in the 25 free to a 14.55. He was racing in the 8 and under category, which means he doesn't have any competition and has to race against himself, which is much harder.  

Rubix 25 Free (He is in lane 4. You can tell once he finishes first :) )

I was able to get home in time on Saturday to go for a bike ride and then take Axel to Rancho to meet teammates for a long run. I walked with Michael and Marc's moms while the three of them plus Robinson went on a 7 mile run. It was nice to get to know the two mom's as Michael and Marc are freshman on the varsity team. 

Rubix, couldn't wait for Sunday after the swim meet to try out his new running shoes with Daddy! They went over to Old Wood to do hill repeats. Rubix even wore Axel's running shorts! So cute!

Phoenix went with her team to In N Out after the swim meet on Sunday and then Stella came over for the rest of the day to hang out. The girls had a blast drawing and playing games together. 

Phoenix has sparked Stella's desire to draw again. Phoenix drew this and then taught Stella how to shade. Stella did the "black and white" side and Phoenix did the colored side on the right. I thought it turned out well. 

Monday, October 28th, was a day off school for all 3 kids. Keith took the day off to help manage their activities while I worked. The big event of the day was Axel's appointment to get his driver's permit! 

It went smooth and they were in and out in less than an hour. Axel was a little surprised he got a couple of answers wrong on his exam, but he was happy to pass and get his permit. He has his first lesson today from 3:30-5:30pm. We learned that he has to have a 2 hour lesson to get signed off on driving with us. This was not clear until he received his permit. He is required to have 6 total hours of training by a professional, so we set up a lesson 1 month and 2 months from now with the same driver. 

On Monday, Phoenix did a little more drawing and drew this Anime character. The kids know who all of them are, but I don't :). I believe she gave this one to her Japanese teacher Matsui sensei. 

The week went by quickly and before we knew it, it was Halloween Day! I was excited to have the day off again, which allowed me to volunteer at Rubix's Halloween Party. Phoenix dressed up as Cruella Deville and Rubix decided to dress up as Axel's calculator from a few years ago. 

Here is a picture I found on the Whatsapp of Phoenix during the school's Halloween celebration at lunch. You can see Phoenix does not have the wig on. She says she wore it half the day and that she took it off for her Japanese test, which means, she wore it for her first class and took it off for her second class, which was just before lunch. Oh well! I know now to not buy a wig for her in the future. 

I dressed up as Rubix's old bat costume. 

I had the privilege of running the "pin the monster" game. I had fun spinning the kids around and watching them try to get the eye on the monster. 

Rubix did not want to do the art project and decided to play with his friends instead. 

Rubix did not have swim practice, but Phoenix did. Luckily, they moved the time up to 4 pm so the kids were done in time for trick or treating. We headed over to Helen's house and Phoenix, Amy and Helen set out for trick or treating. Amy left after just a few homes because it was her dad's birthday. Phoenix and Helen continued until Katherine joined them. 

They all had cute balloons made for them by Helen's neighbor and then we headed over to our neighborhood. 

We made sure to stop by my neighbor's house who has a beautiful village set up. Felicia and her dad joined us for more trick or treating fun. 

The night ended with the girls going through their candy. It was well past 9:00pm by the time everyone left and nearly 10 pm before the kids were in bed. The public schools all had their "teacher institute" day on Friday, which meant no school for them. Our kiddos still had school the next day. They were quite tired when I picked them up for school and late swim practice until 8pm, made for a even longer Friday. 

Rubix went trick or treating with Aury and his brother around Jack Fischer Park. Apparently, there were thousands of kids. Tyler, who lives there now, went through 1000 pieces of candy in 1.5 hours. After he ran out of candy, he joined Rubix and Keith. Jade and Zoe, were with their mother and trick or treated around the Harker lower school neighborhood. 

I was surprised when Rubix and Keith got back just after 9 pm. It was great for each of the kids to be able to enjoy their own friends. It is a little sad to no longer go as a family, but the kids are old enough now, where being with their friends is more important then the trick or treating itself. 

Axel did a group costume with his cross country team. They were characters from The Minions. I picked up Axel from trick or treating in downtown Los Gatos around 9:30pm. He went with a group of 8 of his cross country buddies after practice to dinner and then trick or treating. He had an especially long day on Halloween because he stayed up extra late the night before and then got up extra early on Halloween to get all of his homework done to allow him to go trick or treating with his friends. It was really weird dropping him off at school in the morning and then picking him up 14 hours later. 

Yesterday was the kick off for swim-a-thon for Santa Clara Swim Club. The kids swam and then played games. All of the girls pictured here won a raffle price. Helen and Sophia won a beanie and Phoenix and Stella won a baseball cap! Helen, Stella  and Phoenix played after practice until 1pm when the carnival closed down. I picked up Phoenix and Stella and they came over and Helen joined at 4:10pm after her cello lesson. 

Here are the happy girls saying goodbye to Helen!

They made lemon pound cake, built a new home for Phoenix's new ducks and played Chinese jump rope for hours. 

They finally left last night at 9pm. Rubix was at his friend Noah's house all day after his last soccer game. Keith went to pick him up around 7pm and they didn't get back until 9pm!

I took Axel to practice at Crystal Springs yesterday morning and he went out to brunch afterwards with members of the Varsity team. He arrived home around 1:30pm and has been working hard on getting homework done. He is also trying to heal up as he developed posterior tibialis tendonitis on Tuesday and has been running through it. I believe the extra walking around on Thursday night after hard workouts on Monday and Wednesday set him over the edge. He is icing and resting and will hopefully be ready for league champs on Friday. 

 

The kids are growing up

Phoenix has the privilege of taking ceramics as her elective this semester. She absolutely loves it. Her first projects were by hand, but her recent projects involve using the spinning wheel. She is very excited to show me her finished bowls once they are complete and ready to bring home.  

Her first project, "friendship mugs" is on display at school. The were assigned to make two mugs in order to enjoy a hot beverage with one of their friends. I believe Phoenix made "Phoenix wings". 

Here second project is this cute turtle. She was going to keep this for herself, but lovingly gave it to her swim coach for her 76th birthday!

Back on Sept. 25th Phoenix had her 3rd cross country meet.  They had "time trials" at school. Here is a picture of her with her 6th grade team mates waiting to start. Keith and I were both able to swing by the school to watch her run the 1.2 mile course. 

On Friday, Sept. 30th, the kids had the day off. I took Axel and Phoenix to the Crystal Springs running course where Axel had an optional practice and Phoenix ran to prepare for her WBAL final cross country meet that was to take place on Oct. 7th. After, I took Rubix to his friend, Ryan's house for a playdate. Ryan is the friend who has the pool and full size basketball court in his backyard, along with this ping pong table that him and Noah's dad, Dong are playing on. Rubix's friends were being somewhat dangerous in the pool, so he decided to stay safe. I was charmed that Dong was playing with Rubix. Dong coaches the soccer team with Keith, so Rubix is very comfortable around him. Noah, happens to be one of his closest friends too. 

Phoenix has decided to have fun while putting on sun screen before practice and swim meets. I thought I would include a couple of her photos. 

We had a 3 day swim meet Oct. 4-6th. Phoenix swam the mile and dropped more than 30 seconds to get a 19:09.72. She is only 19 seconds from a AAAA time, which is quite amazing. She is ranked 22nd in the U.S. for 11/12 year old girls. She had a big schedule with the 200 IM, 100 Free, 100 back and 500 free on Saturday and the 50 back, 200 back, 50 free and 400 IM on Sunday. She managed to finish all of her races with about the same time as she previously had with a good drop in the 100 free to a 101.67, just .28 off a AA time. Here she is with Catherine and Stella, two Quick Silver girls who joined during the summer break. 

Phoenix's 50 back

Phoenix's 100 Free, PR

Rubix had an amazing swim meet. He dropped in every race and managed to get the Far Western short course cut in every event he had in long course. He did the 500 free on Friday in 6:18.87. On Saturday he did the 200 IM, the 50 breast, the 100 Free and the 50 Fly. On Sunday he completed the 200 Free, the 50 back, the 100 IM and the 50 Free. This is after he played soccer Saturday afternoon, after racing 4 events in the morning. He was tired on Sunday but managed to finish off the weekend with a 50 free of 32.25. This is almost a one second drop and puts him just .26 seconds away from an age group time cut, which is a huge improvement! Here he is with his friend Daniel Li, who also just joined from Quick Silver. I think we are up to about 30 swimmers that came over from Quick Silver.

It was cold in the morning for the swimmers, but nice and warm/ hot in the 90's in the afternoon. 

Rubix's 50 Breast

Rubix's 50 Free

After all of the mileage racing over the 3 day swim meet, Phoenix had her WBAL cross country championship meet on Monday, Oct. 7th. It was 100 degrees out and she was quite tired from the long weekend of racing. 

She wasn't able to race as well as she had during the 1st WBAL race at Crystal Springs. She added a minute, but was glad to finish. She managed 14th out of the 60+ girls, but she wasn't happy as you can see from the picture below. She skipped swim practice after so she could rest. 

On Wednesday, Oct. 9th, Axel had his first WBAL cross country meet at Crystal Springs. He ran well and finished 8th overall. He took off more than 30 seconds from his last years time.

He lucked out and had much cooler weather than Phoenix had, with temperatures in the high 70's/low 80's. 

You can watch the videos Keith captured of him racing here:

The start

Cardiac Hill

The finish

Phoenix and Rubix received their new Santa Clara t-shirts. I thought it was cute how Phoenix tied a knot in her shirt because it was big. I had her roll up the sleeves so make it an official "flash back" to my childhood style. 

On Saturday last week the team had a birthday celebration for Coach Luba. It is crazy to think that she is 76 years old! Phoenix gave her the cute turtle that she made and made a turtle card to go along with it. I did not get a picture of the turtle she painted, but it looked exactly like the ceramic turtle she made in class. 

Last Sunday, we were given tickets to go to the Warriors pre- season game. I thought Keith was taking the 3 kids, but Axel kind of freaked out at the last minute and said he had too much homework and stuff to do. 

So instead, I went and Axel stayed home. We absolutely love going. The seats are incredible, the Warriors, even their preseason team is incredible and the food is delicious!

The team played great and I was really impressed that their non starters play such a fast fun game. They crushed the Pistons. 

Rubix brought this home finally. I love how cute he is in this picture of himself!

This past Friday, Axel went with his team on a road trip to Fresno! They ran in the Rough Rider Invitational on the state championship course. Here he is with the team. 

Axel managed to finish 38th out of 297 runners in the Varsity small school category. He said he felt pretty bad with allergy stuff, but I think he ran well overall. We weren't able to attend, but our friend Albert (the one who gave us the Warrior's tickets) was there watching his daughter. He kindly took these two photos and sent them to us. 

Rubix has just a few more weeks of soccer. They won this past Saturday, so the team went to DQ for ice cream!!

Here is Rubix's goal!

Rubix's goal

Yesterday Axel also had the homecoming dance. He was asked to attend the dance by a girl in his English Honors class. Her name is Liya. He decided to make her corsage and his boutonniere by folding origami flowers! I absolutely love how they turned out!

He is so incredibly talented! It took him a couple of hours, but he did it!

I ordered him a new suit. He is officially an xsmall men's size!!!

Axel with Phoenix!

Axel, Phoenix, and Rubix.....cute boy looking through the door?!

I love these kids!

Let's not forget Daddy-O!

Axel and Liya. She was a bit awkward and nervous, but Axel and her had a good time together. 

Her beautiful corsage!!!

Flowers she brought for Axel....so funny!!!!

 Tomorrow, Phoenix leaves for her 5 day class trip to Camp Neuman. It is going to be a little odd to only have 2 kiddos for the week, but that means I have more time to exercise and cook dinner. I only made a meal for tomorrow so that I can go for a bike ride after work. Yeah for me!!!

Axel has his 2nd WBAL cross country meet on Thursday and the little ones have a 3 day swim meet starting Friday. Phoenix's neck hurt today and she has been fighting a cold, so we are unsure if she will end up swimming Friday, or next weekend at all. I am hoping she is all better. She has the 400 IM on Friday. She is suppose to get back at 3:30pm and race at 5 pm, so we will see. 

The other big news is that Axel is getting his driver's permit, so make sure to check back in a few weeks for more fun Szolusha updates and photos!