LA for Thanksgiving

We hadn't been to Southern California since Spring 2014.  We made plans to spend Thanksgiving with Diana and John, and see friends/family in So.Cal.

Instead of Disneyland, the kids were excited to go to Universal Studios.  They wanted to Harry Potter land, which was amazing.  Diana, John, Bill and I took the 3 kids - Mason 9, Audrey 7 and Layla 9 (Diana's brother Michael's daughter).  They kids got along super well, and were fast friends running around from ride to ride.  It was pretty busy at Universal on the Monday of Thanksgiving week, but the kids lasted until closing time (8 pm) and rode most of the rides towards the end of the day.  They also discovered the single riders line, which allowed them to ride the Harry Potter ride 3 times in 45 minutes (it took us 1 hour and 20 minutes of waiting in the morning).

On Tuesday, I took the kids to Michael and Helen's house to play with Layla, since everyone else was working that day.  Helen and I took the kids to Santa Monica pier for more rides!  $75 for 3 unlimited rides for the kids, which they did on their own, as Helen and I sipped our coffees.  Great deal!

John and Diana hosted a great Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, delicious Korean Kalbi instead of turkey.  Helen, Michael, Layla, and my uncle and aunt, with the afternoon of eating, watching football and playing board games.

Traffic in LA is horrific.  I remember why I sworn never to move back to LA.  It took us 2 hours to drive to Universal on Monday, and I was stuck with the kids on 405 for 2 hours coming back from Helen's house.

It is a short trip (Sunday through Saturday morning), and hope we will be back next year once Disneyland's Star Wars area opens.

Catch up blog entry

Google no longer supports the Blogger App on iOS, making blogging from my phone very difficult.  It was already hard to find time, and having to do it on the computer makes the blog entries very few.  I still would like to keep it up if I can, documenting our milestones over time, and hoping some day the kids would read these with enjoyment.

Status updates -
MASON is busy with hockey 5 times a week, and leaving only time for 1 swim team practice a week and the occasional swim meet.  He is also taking piano, Mad Science at school, and Chinese on Sundays.
AUDREY is still in swim meet, tumbling, cooking classes at school, piano and Chinese on Sundays.
GONG GONG and BUBU help almost daily.  With my work schedule and trips, they help with dinners, grocery, picking kids up and taking them to the various activities.  We couldn't do this without them!  We are grateful they are in good health and willing to help.
BILL is still working from home, but with his new boss (Garreth) and company being acquired (Informa).  He is also heading up the software team deploying sites on the old platform and developing a new one.  He may have more trips to NY and London ahead.  He keeps a good cadence with our personal trainer Dylan, and plays hockey when he can.
CECILIA - I will end the year about 5K miles short of 100K miles on United.  If I didn't take so many flights on Delta, I would have gotten there.  But happy with my work, the team and many opportunities ahead.  Aside from working hard, I do take time off and take advantage of the unlimited vacation days I have.  By end of year, I would have taken about 5 weeks in total.  I try to find time to run and do yoga on the weekends.
SASHA, our fur baby, is getting older.  We think she was around 2 when we adopted her, and we have had her for 12.5 years.  She is losing her hearing and bark has gotten very loud.  She is also constantly hungry and her teeth has deteriorated, needing extractions.  But she still seems happy and she is not in any pain.

Chris Williams

We got back to Denver on Sunday night, and Bill had Monday off (Columbus day).  I went into work, and on Tuesday morning left for a short trip to SF. As always do, I texted Bill when the plane landed, while it was still taxing to the gate.  He normally texts back to ask how the flight was.  But this time it was different. 

Right after I texted "landed", he didn't text back, instead he called me.  I picked up but couldn't hear him, so I hung up.  He called back again, but again I couldn't hear him.  Now he texted "call me as soon as you get off the plane".  It was clear there was an emergency.

We were at the gate now, but there was still a number of folks in front of me.  That morning the plane was a 777, and although I was sitting in the front, I wouldn't get off for at least another 5 minutes.  I texted back "what is going on?  Is it Sasha?"  I asked that because she was due to go to the vet that morning and be put under to get her teeth cleaned.

Bill text back "no, not Sasha".  Now I'm freaking out as thoughts of kids and parents went through my head.  Then Bill texted "Chris Williams - he hung himself".

I was in shock.  As was Bill.  He has just found out the news a few minutes back.  Now we were on the phone, and all the questions one would ask - how did he find out, why would he do this, how can it be true.  Bill, clearly shaken, proceeded to explain that folks from work were looking for Chris Tuesday morning.  Chris has been a friend of ours for over 16 years and worked with Bill for over a decade, very closely as they were the two lead developers.  Chris has been Bill's boss for the past 5+ years.  He has relocated back to North Carolina, so normally all the early morning work injuries would go to Chris.

However this morning, folks couldn't find Chris.  Bill then called/texted him and couldn't reach Chris either. Chris' sister Dawn and brother in law Eric were also friends of ours, who had recently moved from Colorado to Asheville NC (3.5 hours from Durham).  Someone then reminded Bill of that, and he thought it was a good idea to ping Eric to ask about Chris.

Eric reach out to Chris' wife, Jen. Jen and Chris were separated and headed for a divorce, one of the many complex reasons behind Chris's depression.  Jen said Chris missed their counseling session, so decided to go to Chris's house to check on him.  There she found him, and called 911.

I don't want to think of why or pass blame.  Depression takes you to dark places and tell you many lies.  Chris was seeking help, but over that weekend, no one knows what happened, what went through his head and why he lost hope for life.  We never thought it would end like this since he adored his children (Grover 8 and Maisie less than 2).  For them, m heart hurts most.  They lost their father forever, and suicide comes with many other emotions.

Bill was in shock, and so was I.  He didn't know who to call, as people looking for him had asked him to give them an update.  I told him to call Steve, Chris' boss, with whom Bilk had a big blowout a couple of months back over the sale of the company.  But this was bigger than any flight.  This was important and Bill needed to call Steve.  So he did.

Steve has turned out to be very human throughout this whole process.  Chris was his right hand man and he knew and worked with Chris for a decade.  He cried, but held strong as he made all the calls, sent company emails, let the new parent company know.  He checked in with Bill multiple times a day, as both worked through their emotions.  

After a couple hours in the office, I cancelled my meetings and took an early flight back to Denver.  I wanted to be with Bill.  We took the next day off to be with friends who knew Chris.  Talking about it helped.

Grieving for Bill will take time.  His work is tied to Chris, emails and calendars to be forwarded, and the usual routine their shared for many years.  

I hope Chris is in peace.  I hope his kids can remember happy memories of their dad, and not only think of how he died.  I hope Jen, Dawn and the rest of the family can unite for the kids.  

London

A few months ago, I found out I would be going to London in October for our Oracle summit.  I suggested to Bill that he should come with me.  Although I have been to London several times, I had never really spent time touring the city. He had not been to London since the mid 80s.  As he recalls, the new bond movie featured on Piccadilly was Otcopussy.

We made plans and booked tickets a couple of months ago.  Made arrangements for my parents to watch the kids for the week, and take them to activities in the weekends.  We didn't realize back then our trip would fall right on Mason's hockey try outs, which meant several trips to the hockey rink for my dad.  At the end, it all worked out with the help our hockey parent friends.

Coincidentally, Bill's company got acquired by a London based company after we made trip arrangements.  He was able to go into the Informa offices a short walk from our hotel, meet and work with new coworkers.

We maximized the weekends by leaving on Friday afternoon and coming back on Sunday.  We went to the London Eye, saw the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Buckigham palace, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, ran at Hyde park and walked around a lot.  The weather was gorgeous and we stayed at King's Cross at the same hotel I had stayed at in February, very central location.  We worked all week and met up for dinner with friends and coworkers.  I had many coworkers from the US in London for the same summit.

It was a fantastic week, and one we would love to repeat yearly if possible.  Work is likely to take me to London 2-3 times a year and same for Bill, although going together may require more planning.

Jamie and Heather

Photos from Jamie and Heather's wedding celebration a couple of weeks ago.  Great to have family and friends in town.

More work trips

Went to Virginia, and then up to NYC for work.  Here is a picture of NYC from the plane - lucked out with a quick snap as we were flying over it.  

I got to visit my friend Julia and her new baby Isabella!  It was a wonderful treat.

Earrings

Audrey had been talking about getting her ears pierced all Summer.  We finally made time and researched where to go around our house.  Instead of the traditional Claire's locations, I wanted to find a piercing/tattoos place.  

After finding one with great rating, we went not realizing they would need documents with Audrey's age, parents names and our documents for consent.

The lady that did her piercings was great with her.  The process was super clean, precise, and painless!  She loved the results.

We had some fun in posting a posed picture of Bill and a check in from the tattoo/piercing store.  Got some shocked comments before we clarified it being a joke.  LOL

42!

As I posted on FB after receiving many birthday wishes throughout the day:

Thanks for all the birthday wishes.  Blessed to have all of you, my friends, family, and coworkers, in my life. Small part of me wishes I was a little younger, thinner, more spontaneous as I used to be...  But with age also comes the freedom of caring less about what others think, putting up with less BS, enjoying more the friends that have stuck around all these years, and being more true to myself.  #cheersto42

2nd grade and 4th grade

Both kids are at the same school this year!  Hooray!!

Mason started at Hulstrom in Ms Oakman's 4th grade class and Audrey in Mrs Harris' 2nd grade class.  So far, Mason loves hot lunch and is adjusting well, making new friends.  Audrey was happy to see her friends after a super fast Summer.

Alaska with Disney

Although my parents had already been to Alaska, they were willing to go again with the kids, as they wanted to take them in a Disney cruise.  We are not so into cruising or Disney, but a cruise is a great way to see Alaska, a place both of Bill and I wanted to see.

We booked earlie this year, late in comparison to when you have to plan Disney cruises.  But luckily we were still able to find 2 veranda rooms next to each other.

The cruise left from Vancouver, but we flew to Seattle and drop up as it was so much cheaper.  We got to see my parents old fiends of over 50 years (Edward and Wendy) in Vancouver before we left.

Disney does have its advantages.  Kids could roam by themselves and check in and out of the kids area.  We had the same servers for dinner all week, and dinner was always sit down and rotated through the 3 different dinner restaurants.  Kids were very comfortable with Konrad and Ystevan.  Everything onboard was great for the kids and families, and it didn't feel too crowded and it was very clean (they would give you wipes literally at every entrance).

Alaska is beautiful!  We had 4 stops: Tracy Arm glacier, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan, and 2 days at sea.  We did a train expedition in Skagway, and Bill and Mason also went zip lining.  We went on a whales and glacier expedition in Juneau and lucked out in seeing whales bubble feeding, a super rare and close encounter.  And we went to see wildlife and bears in Ketchikan, and also lucked out in seeing 4 bears, 2 of which were Cubs playing in the rivers and catching salmon!

I hope the kids remember their experiences!  

Granby with the Comellas

My friend Julie and her daughter Lexi came to spend 2 weeks.  First week in Denver, we enrolled the kids at the camp in the Butterfly Pavilllion.  We did that camp last week, and remembered the kids enjoying it, and it is super close to our house.

Julie helped take the kids to camp and pick them up.  They were originally signed up for half days only, but they liked it so much we switched 3 of the days to full days.  They held Rosie the tarantula and ate bugs!  Audrey tried the cricket chocolate bar and Mason and Lexi at a meal worm!  Yuck!

We followed the week in Denver with 5 days at Granby Ranch after John arrived on Saturday.  We took the kids to the Snow Mountain YMCA, where Mason will be spending 5 night at his first overnight camp in a couple of weeks.  It is filled with activities from pool, to synthetic snow tubing hill, horseback riding, archery, climbing walls and more.  We watched the 4th of July parade at Granby, fireworks, and toured Winter Park and Grand Lake.

The week had its ups and downs with kids getting along and fighting, talking and being quiet, crying and laughing, rain and sunshine, stress and relaxation.

Here are some pictures.

Mason is 9!

Mason's 9th birthday celebration was at Water World this year.  We planned it last minute (2 weeks ago) and as his bday is so close to 4th of July, lots of friends are out of town.  Because we had a small group, we choose Water World.

The Water World near us (15 minutes away) is one of the biggest water parks in the US.  We had never been and kids are finally big enough to go on any slides and rides that they can stomach.

We had about 7 kids in addition to our own.  The old kids were braver and stayed together.  The girls, Audrey, Lexi and Tim's sister Julia stayed in the less adventurous areas.  Everyone had a blast! Parents were exhausted!  Mason declared it was the best birthday party ever.

Updated stats from well visit:

56 1/4 inches - 92%ile

74 lbs - 79%ile

16.4 bmi

Cannes

Pronounced "can", not "cans" or "con", is a lovely city in the French Riviera that is famous for hosting the Film Festival and the advertising week.  Adweek actual generates 80% of the city's annual revenue, above and beyond film fest because the latter normally attracts locals and tourists on a budget.  Adweek on the other hand, is a week where all the advertising channels, technology companies are there to impress partners and advertiser brands, wining and dining them to endless bottles of rosé and seafood, building massive areas on the beach for their events (FB is said to have spent $2 Million on the beach/pier), and every yacht is rented all week for parties.  Yes, it is a boondoggle and I got to join the small 25+ oracle data cloud folks this year.

My main reasons for going, other than the obvious ones is to be with my friend Yvette.  She and I known each other way before our current jobs, where our teams work together.  She runs global partnerships at Facebook and has folks that work on managing our partnership.  She had know my Datalogix CEO for years.  I run all audience and data products, and FB is an important partner.  So, last year, Yvette and David (my boss) as they were in Cannes said "you need to be here next year).  So David made it happen by putting me on the list.  Yvette got us a room, which is super hard to find for the week.

I actually flew in the opposite direction (SFO) to hop on the same flight as Yvette and David.  Yvette left Cannes to join her boyfriend Kevin in Amsterdam and headed to Africa for 2 weeks as she starts her 2 month sabbatical.  

Here are some pictures from our room at the Majestic, our ODC "tent" (3,000 sq ft 2 story), FB party and more.  Lovely week!  I can't say if I would go back next year, that party scene is not my scene.  Getting too old for this and don't need to have another rosé for a while.

Turks and Caicos

We just had a wonderful vacation at Beaches in Turks and Caicos.  We booked a while ago, during the Winter.  Planning a sunny vacation, gives us something to look forward to, when it is freezing in Colorado.   As we couldn't go anywhere during Spring Break since the kids had different weeks off, we planned it for right after they finished school.  In Colorado, that happens to be right before Memorial Day, since the kids start school quite early in August.

We had heard about Beaches and read good reviews.  We looked into going to both Caribbean and Hawaii, but Beaches had better deals on flights.  Bill's Mom Helne and Grandpa Jack also joined us.  Turks and Caicos is a short 2-hour flight from Atlanta.

Beaches is an all-inclusive resort.  Having been to all-inclusive resorts, we worried about the quality of the food, crowded pools and restaurants.  Reviews rated Beaches as number 1 all inclusive family resort, and now we know why.

21 restaurants, most serving very good a la carte menus, inclusive of wine and other alcoholic beverages; 7 pools, including water slide park that the kids went to everyday, lazy river and more; miles of beach with included water activities like kayak, little sailboats, standing surfboards, snorkling, and 2 tanks of scuba excursions per day; and another of kids favorite - pool, ping pong, and Xbox lounge!

Our room in the Caribbean village was standard (2 double beds and sleeper sofa) connected to Bill's Mom's king bedroom (we should have gotten that as it came with a trundle for the kids).  But it was very central to all the activities and in a quiet location.  The staff was all very friendly.  We met a number of families who have been to Beaches multiple times (Bill met one guy who has been there 10 times and gone on more than 50 dives with the resort).  

At first the kids didn't understand what it meant to be all-inclusive.  They were calling everything "free".  We told them nothing was "free", as we had paid a lot for the trip.  So they correctly started calling everything "pre-paid"!  

Two negatives from our trip: 1. Our first day was spent healing.  Audrey threw up the night before our morning flight and had a slight fever.  I had the same GI bug a few days before, so was familiar with the progression and was certain she was going to be better in 24 hours.  She slept most of our flights (connection in Atlanta) and slept when she got in until the next morning, and didn't eat much all day. But she was fine the next morning.  Bill had a fever the next day, and spent it mostly in bed, but thank goodness was also better by the next morning!  2. Mason's eczema flaired up again.  By the end of the week, his body and face were covered in little bumps from either the sunscreen, sun, chlorine pools or combination.  We had brought his usual vanicream sunscreen, but later read online they changed the formula.  We hadn't brought his eczema cream, so will put that on when we are back in Colorado and hope his skin will clear in a few days.  And we also got a few different sunscreens to try this season.

Kids enjoyed more independence, as we would sit on one side of the pool, and they could go do the slides or go to the restaurant near by on their own.  Everything felt very safe.

Bill went on 3 dives, I took an afternoon at the spa for a massage and facial (not included :D) with his mom, and enjoyed the pools and restaurants.  We tried about a dozen of their restaurants, which ranged from decent to very good.

We enjoyed it so much, we booked our next visit before we left, and got an extra 10% off.  We booked two rooms to return with our friends John and Julie and their daughter Lexi during spring break 2018!  Can't wait!!