Growing up with a little of both and the lessons learned along the way
From the monthly archives:
You’ll need to wait until Sunday to see this year’s costumes, but thought it’d be fun to take a stroll through Grandma Gail’s creations over the years…
2014 - The Bees
2013 - The Unicorns
2012 - The Flower
2011 - Maile Elmo
2010 - Curious Maile
2009 - Totoro
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On Sunday, we went with some of Maile and Lauren’s classmates to the Pumpkin Patch at Nicasio Valley Farms. The girls had a lot of fun running around with their friends – and we brought home some killer pumpkins that we are looking forward to carving this upcoming weekend!
So. Many. Pumpkins.
How about this one?
Heavy.
Maile and her friend Aiden haven't quite figured out the wheel barrow...
Dudes. You are doing it wrong.
Cutie pumpkin for a cutie pie...
Lauren and Elena goofing around...
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On Saturday, after dinner, Christine and I noticed Lauren and Maile sitting off by themselves reading and coloring. There was so much craziness going on around them, but they were perfectly content and quiet with each other focused on their respective projects. Christine and I got a good kick out of it – not sure if the picture conveys, but it was quite sweet.
Sisters on the quad...
... hard at work 🙂
Perhaps a glimpse of the future on a TBD college campus…
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This weekend was my 15th Stanford Reunion – kind of crazy to think it has already been 15 years. On Friday night, Christine and I headed down solo and had fun catching up with old friends. On Saturday, we took the girls down for the day and had a great time running around campus. They really put on a fun event for the whole family – we had a blast spending time with Nerd Nation!
Lauren Nerd
Maile Nerd
Daddy Nerd and Maile Nerd
Lauren Nerd and Mommy Nerd (Lauren Nerd is in the 'avoid pictures if possible' phase...)
The hot dogs were delicious (and cute!)
The girls got their portraits done - Lauren kept a close eye on things...
... and then did her best to sit still when it was her turn (which was super hard to do.)
And, of course, plenty of fake tattoos.
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It looks like Maile won’t have to worry about her daddy reading her journal…
Maile's journal in Mandarin
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This picture was in the school newsletter today and I absolutely loved it. Lauren is the girl in the center with the flower dress.
Coconut Tree students carefully observe ants around the olive tree.
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One word: bubbles.
The amount of joy a little soap and water brings is just amazing. A good way to start the week…
Clearly this is Lauren's happy place.
I wonder if one day she'll see these pictures and remember?
Man, I hope so 🙂
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
(Click here for the video.)
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This past week, my sister Elyssa and Stephen celebrated their second wedding anniversary. Reminded me that their wedding was our first as a family of four – and boy did we have a good time dancing up a storm!
Daddy and Maile all dressed up and ready for Auntie's wedding!
Mommy and Lauren - taken a few minutes before Lauren passed out for the ceremony 🙂
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Last week Lauren got a mild case of Hand Foot Mouth. We took her to see the doctor and while we were waiting she was serenading us with some of the new Chinese songs she’s been learning at school. (As a side note, pretty crazy how fast she is picking up the songs!)
Christine and I got a kick out of the fact that whenever she wanted to change songs, she “swiped” herself to the next tune. Maile thought every screen could be tapped and touched. I guess for Lauren she just thinks life, in general, can be swiped.
(Click here for the video.)
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At school, Maile’s first grade class has been learning about maps – so when our good friends told us that they had been going out geocaching with their boys and they had really been enjoying it, we thought it might be the perfect activity for us. What is geocaching? “Geocaching is the real-world treasure hunt that’s happening right now, all around you. There are 2,729,753 active geocaches and over 6 million geocachers worldwide.” Here’s a video that explains it:
Sure enough – there are tons of caches all over San Francisco. Maile and I did a test run down in Japantown on Saturday and then Sunday morning we went out with some friends for the real deal in Golden Gate Park. The geocaching app basically turns your phone into a map/compass and the kids had fun taking turns guiding us around as we looked for the treasures. Once we found them, the kids could exchange little trinkets and sign their names. It was a cool experience for the adults too – we found some new parts of Golden Gate Park we had never been to before.
If you want to check it out for your self, go here: https://www.geocaching.com/
Here’s a video of Maile finding her very first geocache in Japantown – as you can see the caches aren’t all hidden in the woods – they are apparently all around you!
Maile with her very first cache!
Making it official with her signature...
We're on the hunt!
Getting closer...
Checking out the loot...
(Click here for the video.)
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