The kids had some friends over for a play date yesterday. We had lunch at Five Guys burgers and then the kids cooled off in the pool. It was close to 100 degrees yesterday! In the afternoon, I took them for ice cream at a new ice cream shop called Ice Box. They specialize in ice cream sandwiches made with cookies or macaroons.

This morning Tyler treated us to breakfast a Rose’s Donuts. He found $15 in the parking lot at Chinese School on Friday.

It’s a low key Saturday night. We had a nice dinner at Yuki Sushi and then stopped at the mall to try this new shaved ice place called Mealtop. What a strange name for a shaved ice place.

When the kids started Chinese School last year, I didn’t enforce doing the homework. Especially for Tyler. I was more interested in easing him into liking Chinese School and let it be more fun than work. My goal was just to expose him to Chinese, but had no expectation of them becoming fluent, since we don’t even speak Chinese at home.

This year, Tyler has a new teacher, who seems more strict. I’ve been enforcing homework completion and so far, while sometimes a battle, its been paying off. Every week, part of his homework is to email his teacher a recording of some topic that is assigned. This week, the homework was to draw a picture of his family and introduce the family to the teacher.

We took the kids for a hike yesterday at a trail near our house. During the hike up the hill, Nat got tired and complained and Tyler felt bad for her so he helped her by pulling her up the hill. Tyler loved the hike. He enjoyed exploring the trails. The kids saw some deer nearby under a tree too.

At the top of the hill we enjoyed some snacks and the scenery.

Nat is the star of the week in her class this week. Her poster is posted on the classroom wall.

Most long weekends end up to be short weekends (at least it feels short) whenever we drive to LA. Lots of time spent on the road and then time goes by quickly when we’re having fun!

We drove down to LA for Labor Day weekend, and it went by quick! It was a hot weekend, so our fun activities were at the beach or the pool.

Nat and cousin Melanie

We got to celebrate Uncle Tommy and Uncle Steven’s birthdays with some yummy ice cream cake

The kids resumed Chinese school today. Not sure why the school decided to start on a day going into a long weekend, but it probably messed up a lot of potential travel.

The kids seemed indifferent about starting Chinese school again. At least David and I get our Friday date nights again! We had sushi tonight. 🙂

Today was the first day of school for the 2014-2015 school year. Nat is starting 5th grade and Tyler is starting 3rd grade. Both were very excited to go to school today and had no problems getting up this morning, despite being able to sleep in all summer.

Earlier this week, the kids went for a ride around the neighborhood and attached the GoPro to their bike/scooter. These are some videos showing some of their fun. Nat was riding her bike and Tyler was riding the electric scooter.

Somewhere nearby at a street corner, they came across this poll that was full of gum. GROSS!

We borrowed Auntie Kathy’s tent this weekend so the kids could camp out in the backyard. They were so excited to sleep outside even though it’s been unusually cool this week. The kids set up the tent as soon as they got it and blew up the “hamster ball” that Uncle Wen got them for Christmas. That thing fit Tyler, Nat, and Birdie! I later found out that she let the kids roll around in it IN THE POOL while she was babysitting them.

The kids roasted marshmallows and made s’mores at night

While I didn’t sleep in the tent with them, I went in the morning for a family picture!