From the category archives:

Photos

Making Dumplings with the Girls

by Papa K on February 23, 2016

Some friends from Presidio Knolls have started a newspaper aimed at kids called Xyza. We’ve really enjoyed the first few issues – a little while back Maile started asking about the “news” – but nothing really was well targeted for a 6 year old. This is – and we’ve had a lot of fun reading through the stories so far.

For Chinese New Year, they included a recipe for dumplings and Maile asked if we could give it a shot. So Sunday afternoon we finished our Chinese New Year celebration with some good ol’ dumpling making. Here’s the girls telling us how its done…

Mommy showed the girls how it was done and then they were off...

Lauren working hard on her first dumpling...

The lineup - we got a little creative with our shapes.

All cooked and ready to eat!

Yum!

(Click here for the video.)

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Chinese New Year Parade 2016, Part 2: The Full Breakdown

by Papa K on February 22, 2016

Okay, technical difficulties have been resolved and we’re ready to share all the details of Saturday’s Chinese New Year Parade!

This was Maile’s second year participating in the parade and once again we had an absolute blast. We headed downtown as a family at 3 PM and helped the kids get ready for the big parade. It was a long afternoon – the parade itself didn’t kick in until ~6:15 PM, but the kids barely noticed – they were having too much fun taking in all the sites and goofing around with each other. Once the parade started they were all business – the practice really paid off and they nailed their dance number to Uptown Funk each of the oh 30+ times they performed it along the route.

Here’s a close-up of Maile performing the complete number during a pre-parade practice…

And here are some fun shots from along the way…

Lots of helping hands getting Maile and friends ready for the parade...

Here she is - ready to rock!

Maile and Gemma

All the Presidio Knolls kids - notice Maile looking at the only camera that matters 🙂

Family selfie right before the start...

Maile and Isobel

Maile Girl - smack in the middle of the action as always!

The picture of jealousy.

Don’t worry, Lauren, next year you’re in!

(Click here for the video.)

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#tbt Stubbed Toe

by Papa K on February 18, 2016

From 2013 – Maile works on her first marketing campaign…

Facetime. For when you stub your toe and your daddy is at work...

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We get texts…

by Papa K on February 17, 2016

Grandma Jill and Papa Mike took the girls on an adventure to Monterrey for the past couple of days. They’re having a great time – we know this because Papa Mike sends us texts throughout the day with pictures and captions as only he can provide of their adventures!

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This is your kids. This is your kids on Grandparents.

by Papa K on February 15, 2016

Maile and Lauren are two very lucky girls. Last week, while we were traveling, Grandma Gail and Papa Cal took good care of them and kept them busy with all sorts of projects and activities. This week, during school vacation week, its Grandma Jill and Papa Mike’s turn and they are kicking things off with all sorts of fun adventures.

And all along the way they send us photos so we can eavesdrop on all their fun 🙂

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Miss us?

by Papa K on February 14, 2016

Been awfully quiet around here, right? Apologies! For the past 10 days Christine and I have been off having adventures in Washington, DC and Mexico. We made it an “all the way” vacation and that meant even taking a break from the blogging – the longest break I’ve taken since Maile was born 6.5 years ago.

One of our adventures had us repelling down into a cenote (a sinkhole)!

And while Christine and I were having some awesome adventures (and lots and lots of down time!), Maile and Lauren were in very good hands with Grandma Gail and Papa Cal. By all accounts, our time away was a success. The girls had a wonderful time and Grandma and Papa really got to spend some quality time seeing what their day-to-day lives are all about.

This selfie was taken on the very last day before we came home - everyone is all smiles!

Thank you, Grandma and Papa for letting us escape – we are forever grateful!

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A moment of zen…

by Papa K on February 2, 2016

While we were waiting for our lunch on Sunday, we paused for a moment of zen…

Maile zen

Lauren zen

Mommy zen

Daddy zen

(Dad note: Christine and I are heading away for the next week and a half tomorrow. Grandma Gail and Papa Cal came in from Hawaii to watch the girls. Not sure what the posting will be like while traveling, we’ll see…)

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After Dinner Bike Rides

by Papa K on January 26, 2016

Mark it down, 2016 is going to be the year that Maile really learns how to ride her bike. And its all because she decided she wants to learn herself – so now she is motivated. A couple weeks ago, without any provocation on our part, she asked if we could go bike riding before dinner. And then a few days later, we decided to go get some frozen yogurt after dinner and she asked if she could ride her bike. She even asked if we could try riding without training wheels over the weekend!

Tonight we went on another bike ride with the girls after dinner. Good times and good to get out a bit as a family even in the midst of our busy weekly routine.

Good times on our after dinner bike rides to get that fro yo!

Its a good lesson for Christine and I – sometimes, things just come when they are ready. There’s no timeline for these things. I have always felt a little bad that city living made it a little harder to provide easy opportunities for the girls to pick up things like bike riding – but I think the reality is that they’ll come around, but perhaps on a different schedule than I remember from my childhood. Nothing wrong with that – lord knows her Chinese is better than mine was at her age 😉

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A Fun Weekend with Auntie Elyssa

by Papa K on January 25, 2016

We had a fun visit with Auntie Elyssa this past weekend. She was in town for work during the week and they she popped on over to stay with us for the weekend. Maile and Lauren loved having her around and they made the most of their few days with her keeping her busy with all types of activities.

One of the highlights was that Auntie got to see the girls at their dance class – they were very proud to show her everything they were learning (including a first pass at their new dance routines). I think its fair to say it brought back memories for Auntie 🙂

On Saturday afternoon, Maile and Auntie made an awesome scrapbook – it was a project that Maile had been looking forward to doing for a few weeks now ever since she got the scrapbook kit for Christmas. She’s very proud of her book and enjoyed the quality time with Auntie.

The girls did a nice job of letting Auntie sleep in a little bit (with the help of the iPad 😉 and all in all, I think Auntie got a good taste of what weekends are like around here. We can’t wait for her to come back and visit us again soon!

All smiles spending time with Auntie Elyssa!

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Annual Questions for Lauren (2016 – Age 3)

by Papa K on January 12, 2016

(We got this idea from friends of ours, Angie and Gabe. They came up with a list of questions that they started asking their son when he turned 3 years old. They ask him the same questions every year and see how the answers change. We’ve doing this with Maile for the past couple of years and now its Lauren’s turn!)

Lauren on her 3rd Birthday

Here’s a video of the session (with full transcript below):

(Dad note: hat tip to Christine, the best Lauren translator in the business!)

1) Where do you live?
Grandma

[Where is your home?]
Here!

2) Where do you go to school?
Next to my house

3) How do you get to school?
Have to go in the car

4) Name the members of your family.
Daddy and Mommy and Maile and Lauren

5) What is your favorite color?
Pink

6) What is your favorite toy?
Baby

7) What is your favorite food?
Noodles with sausage and milk and water and grapes [e.g., what we had for dinner tonight :)]

8) What is your favorite fruit?
Watermelon

9) What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
Rice Krispies

10) What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?
Pancakes

11) What do you want for your birthday dinner?
Cake and cookies.

12) What is your favorite snack?
Umm… chocolate

13) What is your favorite drink?
Milk

14) What is your favorite outfit?
My pretty with sparkles

15) What is your favorite animal?
‘Raffe [e.g., Giraffe]

16) What is your favorite tv show?
Paw Patrol and Totoro

17) What is your favorite book?
Odd Squad Book [a little Maile influence on this one]

18) What is your favorite story?
Reading books

19) What is your favorite song?
Rararararararah!

20) What is your favorite game?
Minions game

21) What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?
Have fun

22) What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
Jump and play

23) What is your favorite thing to do with Maile?
Play together.

24) What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Run and play

25) What is your favorite thing to do inside?
Play toys. [What type?] Legos.

26) What is your favorite holiday?
Holiday is I like presents.

27) What do you take to bed with you at night?
Baby and bear bear.

28) Who is your best friend?
Lena [e.g., Elena]

29) What do you want to be when you grow up?
A cow.

30) Anything else you want to say?
Kelly and pig. [What’s that?] It’s just Kelly and pig. [Anything else?] Run! I want to run a marathon.

(Click here for the video.)

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← Previous Entries

Next Entries →

Photos

Making Dumplings with the Girls

Chinese New Year Parade 2016, Part 2: The Full Breakdown

#tbt Stubbed Toe

We get texts…

This is your kids. This is your kids on Grandparents.

Miss us?

A moment of zen…

After Dinner Bike Rides

A Fun Weekend with Auntie Elyssa

Annual Questions for Lauren (2016 – Age 3)

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