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This journal is about raising identical twins.One Hundred and Fifth Month
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Thursday, Apr 6, 2006 (8y+8m)
The twins are 8 and 2/3 year old. The twins went to school as usual. Mommy picked up Ben after school and the kids did homework together in the afternoon. Ben received a warning because his presence was causing too much distractions. If the kids couldn't concentrate on their homework, Ben couldn't come anymore. The twins went to piano lesson in the afternoon. Ben had to come along and wait in the car while the twins had their lesson.Jasmine weighed 62 lb. and Joanne weighed 59 lb.
Friday, Apr 7, 2006 (8y+8m+1d)
The twins went to school as usual. Another family friends picked up Ben for the day. The twins had a play day with Ashley and Annette in the afternoon. Annette mommy picked her up before dinner. In the evening, we went out to dinner a group of Ashley's friends. We had a big group at the restaurant, including Ashley, Brandon with their parents Anna and Winston, Jasmine with her mom Annette, Natasha with her parents Chuck and Dawn, Melisa and her dad Daniel. After dinner, we invited them to our home to have some fruits and watch some TV. The kids played games on their own. The party was over before 11pm.
Saturday, Apr 8, 2006 (8y+8m+2d)
We went to lunch with grandma Chui and Ben and Chris's family. Christopher's grandparents came to visit them from LA.After a month long rainy days, it was gorgeously sunny today. However, we stayed home in the afternoon because the twins had to practice their piano in preparation of the second part of their CM2 exam. Jasmine wanted to help changing the fish tub water, but daddy was done before she finished her piano practice. She was disappointed, but she got many more opportunities as long as we keep the fish tub.
Daddy took the twins to the piano exam. We were out of there in less than half an hour including waiting time. Jasmine said her sight reading was done poorly. Joanne just said she didn't do well. We got home just as mommy was stepping out. Mommy got a free concert ticket from Agnes and Siu Ling, they went out together for the evening. The twins spent the evening doing their next week homework. Since some parents complained to the teachers that the kids were too busy in doing homework on weekdays, the teachers started to hand out next week's homework on Friday. Several changes on the assignment was that the kids didn't have to make sentences with their vocabulary, and they didn't have to practice spelling the words. We may want the twins to continue making sentences though the assignment didn't require it. The math homework would be given after the methods were taught. In the past, the kids worked on the homework package too early before they were ready for it. The twins wanted to stay up to wait for mommy to return. When mommy returned, she was pleasantly surprised to find that the twins had completed their next week homework in one evening.
Sunday, Apr 9, 2006 (8y+8m+3d)
We all slept in in the morning. At around 11am, the twins jumped into our bed. They were joking in their room earlier, they had a good laugh when one of them mimicked how mommy talked to them. They jumped into our bed to find out if mommy heard what they said. When the whole family was all cozily cuddling, the twins sang the Barney song:I love you. You love me. We are happy family. With a quick hug and a kiss from me to you, would you say you love me too?Then they started another song using the same tune.I hate him. You hate him. Let us team up to kill Barney. With a kick on his butt and a slap on his cheek, he will die in front of me.We all had a great laugh. The twins asked if they could watch the new ICE AGE movie. Since they had finished their homework early, we granted their wish. We called several families to see if they were interested too. It turned out that all those whom we asked already had plans for the day.We had Chinese style hand pulled noodles for lunch. The twins loved the noodle, and they kept getting more. We watched ICE AGE 2 after lunch.
When we got home, the twins completed the 300 piece jigsaw puzzle. They had worked on it for a few days already, and they finished it today. They fought for the right to put in the last finishing piece. It turned out that Joanne had a piece hidden in her palm. When Jasmine noticed what was going on, she held on to the second to the last piece too. They had to resolve the conflict by roshambo. After the puzzle was completed, they broke off a few pieces so that the other twin got her turn to finish the puzzle also.
Mommy said she was tired after watching the movie. She took a nap as soon as getting home. I asked the twins to join mommy and everyone took a nap. We all got up before 7pm. We watched some TV after dinner. The twins practice piano. We sent them back in bed just a few hours after their long nap.
Monday, Apr 10, 2006 (8y+8m+4d)
The twins went to school as usual. Mommy continued to pick up Benjamin after school. He had to follow the twins to their dentist appointment. All the kids had finished this week's homework over the weekend, so the waiting in the dentist office didn't affect their school work. His dad picked him up before dinner. His dad will be away on a business trip tomorrow, so he wanted to treat Ben for a special dinner.The twins got some topical fluoride treatment from the dentists. Mommy applied to their teeth in the evening. The fluoride stayed on for half an hour. The twins didn't like its taste and got ride of it as soon as the half hour was up.
Jasmine lost one of her lower teeth in the evening. Daddy helped her bag it up so that she could tuck it under her pillow.
Tuesday, Apr 11, 2006 (8y+8m+5d)
The twins went to school as usual. Bonnie went to Hong Kong to see her mom. Deanna and Addison were in their spring break at home without their mom. Mommy took them out to lunch because they were very bored at home. Mommy picked up Benjamin and the twins after school. He was going to stay overnight because his dad was out of town on a business trip. The kids took turns on the piano to practice.Daddy had to work overtime till 10pm. The twins and Ben were asleep when daddy came home.
Wednesday, Apr 12, 2006 (8y+8m+6d)
The twins went to school as usual. On the way home, they were chatting in the backseat of the car as if mommy was not there. They was gossiping about other students in the class. They said Rachel used her umbrella to keep Ansel dry in the rain. Then they were oouhing and arrhing about it. They even had a secret gesture (biting like a tiger) to means someone having a crush on another person. At age eight, they should not be talking about crush on the opposite sex. I guess the modern kids watched too much teenager shows on TV.Joanne asked Ben if he believed in Santa Claus. Ben said yes. Then she asked if he ever question the fact that Santa's handwriting look exactly like the parents'. She advised Ben to check Santa's handwriting next Christmas. The fun of Christmas diminishes when the kids get smart.
The twins and Ben went to piano class in the afternoon. They received the results back from the CM2 exam. Jasmine got 88/90 and Joanne got 81/90. Jasmine was second place in their class of six student only one point behind the top student. Joanne was at the fourth place and Ben was at the last place. He said that his parents made him very nervous about the exam.
The twins requested KFC for dinner. Ben had no objection to that. They took shower after dinner. Ben's dad returned from his business trip arriving on the 7pm flight. It was past 9pm when he picked up Ben. When the twins went to bed, Jasmine moved to Ben's air mattress in the guest room, Joanne slept in a sleeping bag next to her. Daddy asked if mommy approved of this "slumber" party. Jasmine said since mommy didn't let out the air from the air mattress, that meant she would have no objection. What a logic! It was nice of them to come up with different ways to entertain themselves even while sleeping.
Thursday, Apr 13, 2006 (8y+8m+7d)
The twins went to school as usual. Mommy picked up Ben and the twins after school. The twins had piano lesson in the afternoon.
Friday, Apr 14, 2006 (8y+8m+8d)
The twins were 8 year, 8 month and 8 day old. The twins went to school as usual. Mommy picked up Ben after school. The twins and Ben played in the afternoon and they practiced piano. His dad stayed for dinner before taking him home in the evening.
Saturday, Apr 15, 2006 (8y+8m+9d)
We planned a ski trip with Sean's and Ashley family leaving the next day. It was a fine day today. But the forecast said it would be rainy the next day. Since Sean's family doesn't have a 4 wheel drive, we predicted they would have trouble driving up the mountains in bad weather. So we decided to car pool with them. Instead of loading the luggage in the rain tomorrow, we took care of the luggage today. We dropped off some of our luggage at Ashley's home. We picked up some luggage from Sean's family.
Sunday, Apr 16, 2006 (8y+8m+10d)
It was a rainy day. We got up in the morning and out of the door at 8:30am. We picked up Sean's family at their home. Then we headed towards the mountains. It was pouring on the way. We arrived at the restaurant in Sacramento for lunch at 11am. Ashley's family joined us at the restaurant.We continued our way after lunch. The highway was under chain control starting at Applegate. All cars and trucks without 4 wheel drive needed to install snow chain before proceeding. Since we had 4 wheel drive, we passed the checkpoint without stopping. Sean's mom said she would not be able to pass the check point because she had no experience driving in snowy condition. The traffic was slow due to the snow on the ground and the bad weather along the way. We eyewitnessed several cars spun out to the side of the road because they drove too fast. We drove below 30mph all the way just to flow with the traffic at a safe speed. The trip from Sacramento to Squaw Valley took more than 4 hours. The same trip usually takes less than 2 hours in good weather. The long trip was not a problem for the kids because they enjoy a marathon of Pink Panther cartoon at the back.
We checked into the Village hotel at Squaw Valley. The three family shared a 3 bedroom suite with 3 full bathroom and a full kitchen. After dinner, the moms took the kids to the jacuzzi in the spa area. The jacuzzi was outdoors, and it was fun to sit in a hot tub with the snow falling from the sky. The kids had a great time throwing snowballs at each other while soaking in the hot tub. By the time they were done, the hot tub was only warm because much snow melted into the tub.
Monday, Apr 17, 2006 (8y+8m+11d)
We were waken up by the snow removal equipment in the morning. After we cooked and ate breakfast, we hit the slope. Natasha and another two families were staying in the same hotel though they arrived since Saturday. To our surprise, the highcamp would not open until 11am because there were too much snow from last night. They needed to make it safe before they could open the chairlifts. At base camp, only one beginner run was open for the ski school. The other open chairlifts were all for intermediate and advanced skiers. The kids didn't mind playing in the snow and had a snow fight until highcamp opened. Sean's mom and all the kids except Natasha and Ashley little brother Brandon stayed behind for the snow play. The rest of us went up the "red dog" chairlift. We all came down the intermediate run with no problem except Natasha's mom hurt her knee when she tripped and tumbled in the deep powder snow. We got back just in time to take all the kids up to highcamp when it opened at 11am. Little Brandon made it down okay too, but he was so exhausted that he quitted after just one run. His mom took him back to the hotel room for the rest of the day. He could have enjoyed the day more if he stayed to play in the snow and ski with all the other kids.We spent some time in the beginner's areas because Sean's family was not ready for immediate runs yet. After awhile, the twins wanted to ski more challenging trails. So we parted with Sean's family and we came down the "Mountain Run" back to the base camp. All the kids did the 2000 feet descend just fine. At the bottom, Joanne wanted to try the "red dog" chairs. But Jasmine didn't want to do the intermediate run. So we split our way. Joanne followed daddy to the red dog chairs. Jasmine followed mommy back to the highcamp. Joanne came down the intermediate trails with no problem. But she was so exhausted that she quitted afterwards just like Brandon did. Daddy couldn't ski when Joanne decided to quit. We returned to the hotel room half an hour before the ski area closed. Daddy was too lazy to get back to the slope again for just half an hour of skiing. Mommy and Jasmine skied the high camp until the ski area closed at 4pm. They came down the mountain run again while Sean's family rode the gondola down the mountain. Mommy's sore throat got worse, and she decided to rest in bed early.
All the kids went to the jacuzzi again before dinner. This time, it was before sunset and we took some pictures of the kids snowball fight in the hot tub. The kids returned to the hotel room to take shower while the moms prepared dinner. After dinner, Natasha's and her friend's families joined us at our suite. The kids from six families played together while the adults enjoyed beer and red wine and chatted around the dinner table. All the kids were girls except Sean and Brandon. Sean performed some magic tricks with a deck of cards and impressed the adults and the girls.
Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006 (8y+8m+12d)
Today is the 100th anniversary of the great earthquake that destroyed San Francisco in 1906.All the moms and Ashley decided not to ski today. The kids wanted to play games in the morning. So the dads went skiing on their own in the morning. Natasha's dad and Ashley's dad went to ski the KT-22. Daddy started out late and skied the Mountain Run once before rendezvoused with Ashley's dad to ski the Siberia Express. We skied 5 to 6 runs before coming down the Mountain Run back to the lodge for lunch. Natasha's dad want to maximize his skiing by going solo because their family needed to leave early today. Since they started on Saturday, it was a 4 days ski trip for them.
By noon, the moms already packed up with cars and had lunch ready. After we all had lunch, we checked out from the hotel room. The two dads led the five kids to ski the rest of the day. We started to ski the Links several times. When Sean and Mellenie managed better, we moved to ski East Broadway a few times. When it was about closing time, we all skied down the Mountain Run to the parking lot.
The moms were all ready to help the kids return their rental equipment. We headed home before 5 pm. The trip down the mountains were very smooth. The kids continued to watch their Pink Panther cartoons. We arrived at Mikuni Japanese restaurant by 6:45pm. We had a nice Japanese dinner before heading home again. We dropped off Sean's family before 10pm. When we came home, we all took shower and were in bed before 11pm. That concluded the ski trip. Though there were still plenty of snow on the mountains, we were not sure if we would take another ski trip before next season.
Wednesday, Apr 19, 2006 (8y+8m+13d)
Daddy returned to work after taking two days off for the ski trip. The twins are still in their week long spring break. Mommy stayed in bed most of the day recovering from her sore throat. Mommy had to cancel a play-day with Benjamin because she didn't want Ben to catch the sore throat from her. The twins and Ben had the same music class in the afternoon, Ben's dad offered to drive the twins to the class too. Daddy bought takeout dinner on the way home from work so that mommy could take a longer rest.The twins were done with their home work. After they practiced piano, they were allowed to watched Naruto.
Thursday, Apr 20, 2006 (8y+8m+14d)
The twins stayed home for the spring break. Benjamin was dropped off at our place because his mom was still in Singapore. They played various games during the day. The twins had their music lesson in the afternoon. Ben's dad picked him up before dinner.
Friday, Apr 21, 2006 (8y+8m+15d)
The twins stayed home for the spring break. Benjamin would spend the day with Christoper, so the twins would play with someone else today. They had a bicycling day with Shannon and Jocelyn's family. After the exercise, they left the bikes at Jocelyn's home and went to Valleyfair mall. Then Jocelyn's family came to our house with a rental copy of King Kong. They delivered the twins' bikes back to us. The kids watched the movie before dinner. They said it was a scary movie especially the parts on the island with eerie creatures. We had dinner with Jocelyn's family in the evening. After dinner, we went to Jocelyn's home to pick up Shannon's bike. We delivered the bike back to Shannon. We went in to let the kids play together for awhile. We also spent some time singing karaoke. We left at 11pm.
Saturday, Apr 22, 2006 (8y+8m+16d)
We went to Millbrae for a special dim sum lunch with Christopher's and Benjamin's family. Ben's dad said it was worth the long drive and more costly bill because the dim sum was special and delicious. We returned home and later the twins went to Jocelyn's 13th birthday party. They had the party at a miniature golf place at the Great Mall. The twins later said daddy should have gone with them because the place was fun with glow in the dark golf balls and decoration.
Sunday, Apr 23, 2006 (8y+8m+17d)
We went to lunch with grandma Chui. The twins picked to have Ramen. When we got back home, Ashley came to play with the twins. We invited Shannon too, but she couldn't make it at the last minute after her ice skating practice.
Monday, Apr 24, 2006 (8y+8m+18d)
The twins returned to school after a week long spring break. Mommy picked up Ben and the twins after school. Ben and Joanne were dropped of at the music teacher, for Ben had his music lesson in the afternoon at the same time as Jasmine's eye doctor appointment. Mommy took Jasmine to the eye doctor for the semi-annual post surgery checkup. Jasmine eyes were perfectly okay, even her surgery caused astigmatism was cured despite she didn't wear her corrective eye glasses. We wondered if she had worn her glasses as recommended by the doctor, her vision might not have adjusted back to normal. Jasmine would have two more semi-annual visits.The kids finished their homework and piano practice early. When daddy got home, they were playing a game called Spy Dogs. They said they made up the game themselves. It was nice for them to be creative in their games.
Ben and his dad stayed for a hot pot dinner. They stayed to watch "Deal or No Deal" on the TV before returning home. Jasmine wanted daddy to change the water for the fish tub. She helped to rinse the sponge filters. She said she was brave enough to get her hands dirty with the fish poops. Joanne on the other hand refused to touch the poopy water.
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2006 (8y+8m+19d)
The twins went to school as usual. Ben's dad took care of Ben today. Uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle visited from Hong Kong. They spent the afternoon running errands, going to DMV, banks, library etc. We went out to have dinner with them in the evening. They came to our house after dinner to use the computer. Their flight was long and they didn't have a good rest for over 20 hours. They went to grandma's place for the night.
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2006 (8y+8m+20d)
The twins went to school as usual. They had piano class in the afternoon.
Thursday, Apr 27, 2006 (8y+8m+21d)
The twins went to school as usual. They had piano lesson in the afternoon. Ben and his dad stayed for dinner and watch some TV before returning home.
Friday, Apr 28, 2006 (8y+8m+22d)
The twins went to school as usual. Ben's dad picked him up before dinner time. We went to our favorite Malaysian restaurant for dinner with daddy's family: grandma Chui, aunt Elaine, uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle. We stopped by grandma's place for fruits after dinner.
Saturday, Apr 29, 2006 (8y+8m+23d)
We went out with the family for lunch. After lunch, we went shopping at Costco. When we got home, the twins wanted to go to the park. Uncle Ronnie and family stayed to use the computer to check email. Daddy went to the park with the twins. They brought along a frisbee and a pair of ball thrower scopes. Jasmine also rode her bike, but Joanne preferred to walk. At the park, we played ball and frisbee, the twins played in the playground for a while too. Jasmine rode around the park on her own with daddy watching from a distance. The twins took a shower before dinner.We had dinner at home. Daddy's family stayed to play mahjong until almost 1am. The twins stayed up to watch TV for a while, but they went to bed on their own with it was about their bed time.
Sunday, Apr 30, 2006 (8y+8m+24d)
Mommy didn't get a good sleep in the night. She wanted to sleep in for the morning. Daddy and twins went to pick up uncle Ronnie, aunt Michelle and grandma Chui. We went to Millbrae for a special dim sum lunch. In the afternoon, we went to UC Berkeley. We walked around the campus for a while, took some pictures. We went under the Sather tower to listen to a carillon recital. We rest and had something drink near the student union. Uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle took a walk into the Telegraph Ave's shops.After we left the campus, we went to the Tilden regional park steam trains. We took a train ride. But we later learned that we missed the Golden Gate Live Steamers weekly meet by a couple of hours. If we had arrive before 3pm, we would have seen the tiny model trains running or perhaps a ride on the tiny trains.
On our way home, we stopped in Fremont for dinner. When we tried to call mommy to see if she wanted to join us for dinner, we found that she went shopping with aunt June. We returned home at 8pm after we dropped off grandma and uncle Ronnie to their home after dinner. But mommy didn't come home until 10pm. The twins was in bed but they were not asleep yet because they wanted to see mommy before sleeping.
Monday, May 1, 2006 (8y+8m+25d)
It was May day today, aka Labor day elsewhere around the world, though the US Labor day is in September. Immigrants across the nation protested against the new proposed anti-immigrant laws by taking a day off. Though daddy and mommy were immigrants to the US, we didn't take part in the "A Day Without an Immigrant" movement.The twins went to school as usual. Ben's mommy returned from Singapore, mommy didn't need to pick him anymore. The twins wanted to measure their height. It turns out that Jasmine grew about one mm in the last two months. Joanne shrunk by one mm. I wondered if the square rule I used against the wall was crooked or the wall was not straight. Of course, it was also possible that the twins really were done with the current round of growing tall for awhile. Jasmine weighed 62 lb. and steadily growing heavier. Joanne was still a few pounds behind.
Daddy's family came to our place for dinner. They brought many takeout food. After dinner, daddy helped uncle Ronnie practice his driving skill in aunt Elaine's car. The twins were already asleep when we came home at around 10:30pm.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006 (8y+8m+26d)
The twins went to school as usual. Joanne received a script on a school play called Cinderella's kitchen. She would play the role of the Fairy Godmother #2.
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 (8y+8m+27d)
The twins went to school as usual. They had piano class in the afternoon. Daddy worked overtime. Jasmine called daddy to say good night. The twins were already asleep, when daddy came home at 10pm.
Thursday, May 4, 2006 (8y+8m+28d)
We hired some contractors to repair a fence damaged by the storms last month. The twins went to school as usual. Mommy dropped off uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle at the Gilroy outlet mall in the morning. Mommy returned home to supervise the contractors.The twins had piano lesson in the afternoon. After mommy picked up the twins, they went to Gilroy to pick up the uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle. Then we rendezvoused with the family at the restaurant. Uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle would return to Hong Kong the next morning. They wanted to treat grandma Chui an early Mother's day dinner.
Jasmine also received the script for the school play. She would play the role of Cinderella for the second half of the play. Joanne and Jasmine were in different cast though their plays were identical. The twins were very enthusiastic in practicing their lines with each other. The twins expressed their interest in joining the school drama club next year in 4th grade.
Friday, May 5, 2006 (8y+8m+29d)
Today is Cinco de Mayo (the Fifth of May) aka the Mexican independent day. It is a big festival among the big Hispanic population in the US.
Saturday, May 6, 2006 (8y+9m)
The twins were 8.75 years old today.
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started on May 17, 2006