39 not 40

My birthday was this weekend and we celebrated it with Bill and I going to a new small Asian fusion place with fantastic ramen called Uncle on Friday night, and great hike of Royal Arch in Boulder on Saturday and on Sunday my parents cooked us some delicious noodles.  

My Mom likes to count ahead in the Chinese way of counting birthdays.  So, she tells me I am already 40!  I refuse that notion.  I will be enjoying each day of my 30s to the fullest.  However the truth is I don't mind getting older, but I mind feeling older.  I will try to continue my commitment to exercising, eating healthy when possible or in moderation, and enjoying each day.  Cheers!

First day of school

It is very early, but school started today.  Mason is in 1st grade and Audrey in pre-K at Broomfield Academy.  We dropped the kids off and stayed for their first day Pledge of Allegiance and introductions.

The kids seemed to have a good first day.  Mason loved the Tokyo Joe's lunch we ordered through the lunch service they have at school (every day of the week they have a different vendor). Audrey wasn't happy with it and complained that she didn't have a lunch box like the other kids.   Tomorrow, we will bring our own lunches since neither kid is a fan of sandwiches.  On Wednesday they will have Noodles and company (spaghetti and meatballs, mac'n'cheese), Thursday Wahoos (nuggets and chips) and Friday pizza.  We only have to pack snacks and a water bottles for those days.

It will take a few weeks to settle into the new school routine, when to pack lunches, when to bring swimsuits and their extra curricular activity schedules during the week (dance, swim team, Chinese, piano).  We are grateful they are at the same school and similar schedules, so there is only one drop off and pick up, but it is still hard to keep up sometimes with their schedules, our work and other activities we want to do.  Need more hours in the day and more weekend days to rest please!

 

Ya Ya's visit

Ya Ya came to visit for a few days.  Since it was the kids last week before school started, I took a couple of days off and Bill took one day off so we could all go to Colorado Springs for the day.  With kids, Brantley, my parents all in our minivan (7 of us) we headed to Colorado Springs on Thursday.  We visited the beautiful Garden of the Gods, stopped by Manitou Springs for lunch and took the cog rail train to the top of Pikes Peak.  Unfortunately the clouds had moved in and there wasn't much of a view from the top, but the view from the train was beautiful and a unique experience.  After the train ride, we stopped by the Broadmoor (a great resort and oldest hotel in Colorado) and had dinner before heading back.  We had a wonderful time and highly recommend the trip.

On the way back, we encountered some heavy rain South of Denver.  Horrible visibility, torrential down pour and hail!!  It was quite scary for about 20 minutes driving through it and we even stopped twice under overpasses for a break.

He next day, showers in Manitou Springs caused the mudslide that left one confirmed dead and 2 missing.  CNN showed a scary video of cars being carried down what looked like a river in the middle of a road.  The very road we took the day before!!  Luckily we were there Thursday and not Friday.

On Saturday we went to Wash Park to run around, walk Sasha, throw the ball and relax.  We finished the trip with a stop at the famous Bonnie Brae ice cream store.  What a wonderful few days.

 

Who is the tallest of them all?

Funny conversation at gymnastics last Saturday.  As the parents watched and waited for their daughters to be done from gymnastics class, one mom said to another mom in front of me:

Mom 1: How old is your daughter?
Mom 2: She just turned 5 in May
Mom 1: Wow, she is tall for 5.  She is only 5?
Mom 2: Yeah, she is very tall.  I joke that she got it from me.  (clearly not since she is maybe 5' 2" and a little chubby)
So, I ask Mom 1: Which girl is the her daughter?
Mom 1 points to the girl next to Audrey: That one standing there in black.  (she was next to Audrey and the same height if not a little shorter than Audrey)
I say to Mom 1: Do you see the girl in purple dots next to her?  That is my daughter, she turned 4 in April.
Mom 2: Wow, she is only 4?
Mom 1: She is TALL, she is the tallest one of them all. 
Mom 2: How tall is her dad?
Me: Normal height, about 5' 11"...  we should check the milkman... (everyone laughs)
Me: Yeah, I don't know why I bother bringing her to gymnastics.  She will be an Amazon woman.

Elitch Gardens

Today was the perfect day for Elitch Gardens and one of the last chances to go before school starts.  It was not too crowded, not too hot (still hot, but bearable in the low to mid 80s) and there were no afternoon thunderstorms in the forecast.  

Mason is over 49" and talk enough to ride most of the thrill rides.  Audrey is over 42" and tall enough to ride most of the family rides and some faster rides.  I'm tall enough for all the rides, but too chicken (my stomach as strong as it was in my teenage years going to Magic Mountain).  

Mason and Bill went on the big Twister II roller coaster, Tower of Doom (over 200 ft drop - I was scared for Mason and tried to convince him to "save" the ride for next year) and Sidewinder (forwards and backwards both ways through a loop).  In addition we all went on the Spider (spinning ride that almost made me lose my breakfast), Dragonwing and Ghost blasters, went up the observation deck (great view of Denver and mountains) and the kids did more kiddie rides.

I've learned from previous visits, so we set rules of no candy, no toys, no little games we needed to pay extra and no carrying kids around (if they got tired, they could sit down or we could go home). 

Olympic dreams are born... heh

Mason and Audrey are wrapping up Summer camp and private swim lessons this week.  Their school will start on August 12^th and they will have swimming as part of their curriculum, but won’t be as often as during the Summer.  Here are the videos their swim teacher sent us.  Amazing progress in 2 months.

Mason (freestyle and backstroke)

Mason (breaststroke)


Mason (Butterfly)


Audrey


Audrey (on her back)


Audrey (working on her breaststroke)