Natalie slipped and hit her cheek on the coffee table and got herself a shiner.

We spent 4th of July at Jiang Yee’s house. It was a potluck, so there was all kinds of food, including my favorite: Burmese! The kids got to play with fireworks and then we watched a spectacular fireworks show put on by a local park that we got to see perfectly from the backyard.

Burmese curry

Birdie and Uncle Chubber even surprised me with an early ice cream birthday cake! It was yummy!

While in LA, we spent an afternoon at Hermosa Beach. When we got there it was overcast and kind of cold, but eventually the clouds burned off and it was a really beautiful day!

Snacking on chicken nuggets

The kids went for a walk/run on the pier

And met a shark

Natalie and Tyler had fun collecting sea shells. Natalie had the most.

We got free tickets from the Disney volunteer day event. The kids were so excited about going to Disneyland!

One of the first rides we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean. Natalie knew what it was from last time and refused to go on it because she was too scared. But Tyler didn’t remember so he was willing to ride. He got scared but didn’t cry. After that, on all the rest of the rides, he would ask 2 questions before going in:
1) Is it dark?
2) Does it go down?

While in LA, Natalie complained that her ear hurt. We found that the back of her earring had somehow gone INSIDE her ear and was jammed in there. It was infected and she wouldn’t let us touch it. In trying to convince her to let us deal with it, I told her that if she didn’t, her ear would get really infected and she would have to go to the hospital and I might not have a baby anymore. Her reply was, “Well, you still have Tyler.”

Eventually, David just held her down and grandma pulled it out. There was alot of screaming, but it was the only way.

We spent last week in LA for a quick summer vacation. One of our first activities was a grunion run at Long Beach. The kids were really excited to go to the beach at night to catch little fish! Unfortunately, after 2 hours of waiting, there were no grunions, but the kids had fun anyways.

Auntie Diana & Auntie Karen brought snacks and the kids got to make smores!

Natalie turned 6 today. She had a small party at Petroglyph in Willow Glen and invited 5 friends from school and Monique from our old neighborhood. The kids had fun painting their pieces. Natalie chose a dolphin jewelry holder and Tyler chose a soccer ball coin bank.

After the kids were done painting their pieces, we had pizza and cake!

The cake was an oreo and chocolate cake

The girls showed off their new sunglasses they got in their goodie bags

Tyler had an end of year celebration at his school on Friday. The two Pre-K classes had a special performance on the school yard. Each class sang a song and then each child was presented with a certificate of achievement. Afterwards, there was a BBQ.

Tyler’s teacher, Ms. Annemeike

Willy graduated from high school on Thursday. The graduation was in the evening on their footfball field. Afterward, we went to Krung Thai for a yummy dinner celebration! Natalie and Tyler don’t realize she will soon be off to college and we’ll only see her on major holidays and school breaks!

Last weekend we went to the Foster City Are & Wine Festival. The kids wanted to go to Big Uncle’s apartment so we decided to make a day trip out to Foster City.

We got some bbq chicken and garlic noodles

The kids wanted to ride a kiddie rollercoaster, but they wouldn’t let Tyler ride without an adult because he was too short. I was too cheap to buy a ticket to ride with him but a random lady in line offered to let Tyler ride with her and he agreed to ride with her too. Natalie was going to ride alone, but a little boy came and sat with her.