Vansen Bedtime 2017-09-05

Vansen Bedtime 2017-05-21

League Champ

That's what domination looks like.

Real Last day of Kinder

Last day of Kinder. She learned a lot, but might be most proud of this: 

Her first day on the playground, she couldn't even make one link. Now, after hundreds of hours of practice and calluses as thick as turtle shells, she's doing spinning tricks and skipping rings like a ninja warrior. 

There's a metaphor in there somewhere, I'm sure....

I wasn't even thinking of walking her into the yard this morning, but Debbie mentioned that she was going to, so I was inspired. And I'm so glad I did. 

The first half of the year, all Kinders had to be walked in. It gave the parents a chance to watch the kids play and chat with one another. We met some cool families in the 'hood that I'm sure we'll see over the summer. 

The second half of the year, they allowed Kinders to be dropped off in the loading zone- logistically a lot easier, but not nearly as social. I hadn't walked Huelan into the yard in quite a while, so this morning was fun. 

I'm actually not sure what was more emotional for me- her first day of school or her last. 

Kinders' Last Days

Oh my it's been such a year! Huelan took the transition to Kindergarden pretty easily, and she spent the year learning a ton, making friends, and surprising us at every turn.  As a family, we had a great year at the school- Liz and I made some new friends and even Lawrence gained some playmates.

The Kinders celebration consisted of Ms. Savage saying a few short words about each student followed by a slide show of pics she'd taken during the year.  And of course there was food.

Hard to encapsulate how we feel about finishing the year... all the parents talked about how time flies in the blink of an eye while the kids run around oblivious as ever to the passage of a(nother) landmark year.  Gotta love Kinders.

Piano Party

Huelan has been taking piano lessons since sometime in January, and this is her first "Piano Party," which is basically a hippie term for a recital.  There were about 20 kids of varying levels, including Sofia and Milo, the sister & brother who she takes her group lesson with.

The first 6-8 weeks were almost torturous- we nearly pulled the plug on the whole endeavor because Huelan just did not want to practice at home (I have a feeling that it was partially due to Milo and Sofia being a few weeks ahead of her, causing her to feel remedial).  But then something just clicked and she started seeing progress, and now she loves to show off her new songs and improvement in the ones she's been practicing.

As someone who has never had an aptitude for playing music, even this modest display of talent (perhaps more so the fact that she stuck to it) makes my heart swell.

Also, Chappell of the Chimes is breathtaking, and we decided that's where we want to be laid to rest. 

Sunday

Weekend mornings are the best. 

(10 mins later they were trying to take each other's heads off.)

High School Grad!

Today was kind of a nutso day. 

Sophia's graduation was the main event, and Liz went along with much of the family. The kids and I went to gymnastics, followed by Lila's birthday party at Fairyland, which was kind of unstructured, which kind of makes it difficult when I've got both kids. 

But we survived and made it to McCormock & Kuletos right on time for lunch. Which was beautiful- it could not have been a nicer day. But both kids (and I) were kind of worn out a bit by then and there was some of the requisite crankiness. Nothing we couldn't handle though! 

Giants vs. Rockies

I had to stand next to these dumb trophies, but at least we saw the Rockies score a record13 runs in an inning. 

First Daddy Daughter Dance

About a million little girls in an elementary school cafeteria hopped up on licorice, popcorn, & fruit punch. 

More fun than it sounds.

In all honesty, it was set up way cooler than I was anticipating. Lights, balloons, and a decent spread of apps. It was mostly the younger cohort of girls (though Camille, the 5th grade buddy made it), but they were having a blast. The conga line went for about a half an hour. 

At the end of the night, many of the girls got on stage to Macarena, Whip, & Nene- it was incredibly cute. 

Playoffs

Been another sick season- can't believe that we've been able to see this team play upclose. 

Vlad and I went to game 5 of the Semis, which started 15mins late because they presented Steph with the MVP trophy.  Game 5 also ended up being the closeout game, so it was a pretty good night. 

Beyonce

Beyonce puts on quite a show! The show creeped up on us, as we've been really busy since I got Liz the tix for Valentines Day. But we made all the arrangements for kid care and picked a casual (and delicious) ramen spot in San Jose. G & Reva ended up getting tix last minute, too. 

She announced that her favorite song from the Lemonade album is All Night, which is also the song I picked as my favorite, song. I'm cool and tasteful like that. 

Production was awesome and E-40 and Too Short warmed up the crowd. Sweet show, even if we did have to miss game 1 of Warriors vs. OKC (OKC won). 

Dr. Mimi Ly!

Well, this was an awesome day!  For as long as I can remember, Mimi has been working toward being a pharmacist.  That probably had a lot to do with Dad, who always wanted one of his girls to be a pharmacist....  The amount of hard work, diligence and dedication can't be understated.  And she did it!


More pics here

Tomatoes

The bush went in May 1- hopefully we got the right variety this time!

Lovely Day for a Nature Walk

The kids both complained about the walk, and we didn't get too far, but they did enjoy the picnic and the tree climbing.