This weekend we headed over to Presidio Knolls for the annual Chinese New Year celebration. Every year it gets bigger and bigger as the school continues to grow. It’s basically setup as a big carnival and the girls had a blast running around and trying out all the various activities. Maile and Lauren both also had performances throughout the day and they both did a wonderful job with their classmates.
(As always these videos are on the long side – posted for all, but mainly enjoyed by the grandparents 🙂
First up, Lauren and her class (Lauren is on the right side of the screen)…
Next is Maile and her class (Maile is in the front row on the left side of the screen)…
Finally, not the actual performance, but a close up of Maile and the Chinese New Year Parade crew doing their thing…
Maile and Lauren all dressed up and ready to go...
Family picture - Maile (7.5), Lauren (4) - in our Chinese New Year finest...
Taking in the show - in complete awe...
Close-up of Lauren on stage performing with her class...
Maile with two of her classmates, Gemma and Amelia
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
(Click here for the third video.)
From two years ago – sure to make you smile (other than the fact that this originally occurred at ~6:30 AM I was smiling too when it happened…)
(Click here for the video.)
Saturday was the Women’s March and we joined the festivities here in San Francisco. Christine took the girls over to a friend’s house and they spent the afternoon making signs and getting ready. We then all met down in Hayes Valley and walked over to City Hall. It was quite the scene – people every where, happy, positive energy, lots of great signs and costumes. I’m not sure the girls fully grokked it, but Christine and I both felt good about bringing them and exposing them to their first “protest”.
Maile and her homemade protest backpack with Mommy and Temple
Family shot (Maile - 7, Lauren - 4)
Maile Girl and I selfie - Christine said she really looks like me in this picture 🙂
A scene of the crowd - hard to get a sense of the size from the ground level
My two little protesters!
I’ll readily admit, that I’m not sure 10 years ago, it would have been something I would have attended, but I’m very happy that my life has changed as it has so that joining was a no brainer. I love being a dad of two little girls and married to an incredibly strong role model in Christine – and I’ll march with them where ever and whenever!
(I know, I know … 2017 has not started out well for me posting-wise. I hope to improve…)
Last weekend, we headed down to Anaheim for a quick day trip to Disneyland and to support Mommy who was running the Star Wars Half Marathon! We headed down Friday night, hit Disneyland for Saturday and then supported Mommy on Sunday morning.
We had a great day at Disneyland on Saturday. Both girls are at a great age for it – Lauren really taking everything in for the first time and being amazed by the magic and Maile old enough to enjoy rollercoasters. Yes! Maile went on every ride in the park with me – it was fantastic. Just look at the joy on her face…
Here are a bunch of other shots from a very fun weekend…
Within minutes of arriving at Disneyland, we had a Minnie sighting - got the girls in the right mood for the fun to come...
Tea cup time!
One of Lauren's classmates was there too so we spent most of the morning running around the park with them.
Jazz Hands!
Maile Girl and I getting ready for Thunder Mountain - no fear!
Action shot of Maile and I on Splash Mountain!
Lauren the Hulk!
Mommy stopped along the way to take a picture with this guy...
... and then we found Mommy!
We were very proud of our Mommy for completing the half marathon!
After the half marathon, we hit Goofy's Kitchen for one last meal and fun with the characters...
(Click here for the video.)
Auntie Elyssa & Uncle Stephen sent Lauren some fun clothes for her birthday. The best part of the gift was definitely the new shades. All the ladies had fun trying them on…
Maile Shades
Note the reflection of Lauren not totally thrilled the Maile is trying on her new shades 🙂
Mommy Shades
And, of course, the birthday girl her self (sending along some thank yous)…
(Click here for the video.)
It was a couple weeks ago, but in looking at our Hawaii pictures tonight, I was reminded how great Maile’s birthday present to Mommy was this year…
Maile's present to Mommy
She pretty much covered all the bases, although, oddly, I’m wondering if these already expired, because none of this happened this weekend 🙂
And a birthday post wouldn’t be complete with out some pictures of the girls with their Mommy as we were headed into Duke’s for our traditional birthday dinner…
Maile Girl and Mommy on her birthday
Boo!
(Yes, Lauren is still in the “no thank you on pictures” phase…)
It was a bit jet-lagged, middle of the week and rainy – but that didn’t stop us from giving Lauren a “great day” for her 4th birthday, full of some of her favorites. From the waffles in the morning (a special mid-week treat courtesy of a Mommy that woke up early) to an ice cream capper at night (we’ll ignore the classic 4 year old-style melt-down before bed), Lauren made the most of her birthday!
Per tradition, we started the celebration a few days early while we were still in Hawaii with Lauren’s favorite cake – Hello Kitty ice cream cake from Safeway!
Last night Mommy showed off her “handiness” by putting together the bike that Grandma and Papa Boston sent over. To say Lauren was overjoyed with her new ride is an understatement – I have a feeling she is going to put some serious miles on that thing before its all said and done!
I took a few snaps throughout the day – here are some of the highlights…
Did Lauren hear Mommy stirring when she got up early to make waffles? Of course she did ... and was rewarded with some quality time cuddling and book reading before the day really got going.
Lauren on her new bike - its raining, but she can't wait to get out and take it for a spin! Thank you Grandma and Papa Boston!
After two weeks of seeing them every day, Lauren really misses Grandma and Papa Hawaii - so a breakfast FaceTime was a special treat to start the day...
At night, Lauren picked our dinner and we headed to Japantown for some noodles - we were very excited and quite pleased to have every one taking her lead...
Noodles. Are. The. Best.
And here it is. Lauren at 4. Our little tyrant of a goofball. Love her.
And the capper was the frozen yogurt. A fun end to a fun day!
Happy Birthday baby girl – we love you!
(Click here for the video.)
As is tradition, as we start a new year, I like to post Maile and Lauren’s school pictures.
First up, Lauren. You may recall last year, Lauren went with quite the pose in her school picture. This year, no fancy pose, but she just absolutely crushed the smile. This was good to see because recently in our own pictures Lauren’s smile has come across a little more forced. We’ll need to chat with the photographer to get his secret…
Lauren, Coconut Tree Class (3.5 years old)
And then we have Maile Girl, growing up way way too fast and not letting a couple gaps in her mouth get in the way of her smile.
Maile, Second Grade (7 years old)
And if you are interested in comparing Maile and Lauren at the same age – here is Maile’s picture at 3.5:
Maile's School Picture 2012-2013 (3.5 years)
We are very excited to see where 2017 takes us with these two leading the way!
by Papa K on December 29, 2016
With Lauren fast approaching 4 years old, she’s started talking more and more about wanting to ride a “real” bike like her big sister – with pedals and everything. (Spoiler alert: she’s going to be very excited when she sees what Grandma and Papa Boston got her for her birthday 🙂
The family across the street had a Paw Patrol bike for their son and all week Lauren has been eyeing it enviously. With her older sister and cousins headed to the track for some running, we decided to walk over and ask if we could borrow for a spin. They had a balance bike too (just like her red one at home), but Lauren was emphatic that she wanted to give this whole “pedals, no training wheels” thing a shot. I was game too, so we loaded the bike in the car and headed over to the track.
Our little bike rider and a very proud daddy!
Well, I think its safe to say that Lauren’s time on the balance bike paid off because I barely needed to do anything before she was up and riding without any help from me. It took her a few minutes to get the pedaling motion down and she still felt the need to stop every once in awhile, but her balance was great and within about 10 minutes she was pedaling like demon all around the track. (BTW – track was an awesome place to do some bike riding practice!)
Here’s a video pretty early on in our practice session…
And then a short while after that she was already off on her own…
Very proud of our little girl! She’ll be burning up the streets in SF when we get home for sure…
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
by Papa K on December 24, 2016
With Lauren fast approaching four, we are now in the sweet spot for Santa visits. No one is scared and every one is looking forward to him stopping bye for a quick hello while on his rounds. This afternoon the girls were playing around the house when all of a sudden there was a knock at the door…
Maile, in particular, was very concerned because Papa Cal had been running errands the past couple of years when Santa came by to visit. Luckily, this year he was in the house and got to say his hellos!
Katie and Santa
Emily and Santa
Maile and Santa
Lauren and Santa
One last group shot before Santa was off to visit some other children...
Merry Christmas (and Happy Hannukah too!)
(Click here for the video.)
