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This journal is about raising identical twins.One Hundred and Eighth Month
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Thursday, Jul 6, 2006 (8y+11m)
The twins are one month from 9 years old. They had swim lesson in the morning and music lesson in the afternoon.
Friday, Jul 7, 2006 (8y+11m+1d)
The twins had swim lesson in the morning. Daddy had a colonoscopy done in the morning. The after effect of the sedative drug kept daddy in bed for the rest of the day. Ashley and Jasmine W. came to play with the twins in the afternoon. They had a slumber party and stayed overnight.
Saturday, Jul 8, 2006 (8y+11m+2d)
The girls got up 6am in the morning. They entertained themselves with video games after mommy cooked them some hot breakfast. Our 2 year old plumeria from Hawaii started to bloom for the first time. Though there were many buds, but only 2 and a half flowers bloomed today. Jasmine W's mom was a Hawaiian native. Naturally, one of the two plumeria blossoms was given to Jasmine W. for her Hawaii heritage. Ashley got the other one. We went out to dim sum lunch with Christopher's and Terence's family. Ashley's parents came to pickup up the girls in the afternoon.We went to Terence's home for dinner in the evening. Christopher's family Siu Ling, Ronald and Evon were invited too. The kids played video games. The adults played mahjong. Mommy only won one game for the whole night and she was so frustrated that she finally wanted daddy to take her place. Since we didn't gamble, we stopped keeping score towards the end of the night. We left past midnight.
Sunday, Jul 9, 2006 (8y+11m+3d)
Due to the late activities last night, we let the kids sleep in. Daddy got up at 10am to watch the World Cup soccer final game, France vs. Italy. Ashley's mom called and said they would go to see Disney's "Cars" at 1:45pm. We decided to join them. Daddy set up the recorder to record the overtime of the World Cup final when we left the house at 1pm. Ashley's dad decided to stay home to watch soccer. Britney and Melisa's dad and daddy accompany the kids to watch the movie. The moms went to watch Pirates of Caribbeans. After everyone came out of the theater, we went shopping in the Great Mall. We went to dinner together in Milpitas. After dinner, we went to Jasmine W's home to watch the Wimbledon Tennis final. Jasmine's mom recorded it earlier and said the final game Federer vs. Nadal was well played.
Monday, Jul 10, 2006 (8y+11m+4d)
The twins had swim lesson in the late morning.
Tuesday, Jul 11, 2006 (8y+11m+5d)
The twins had swim lesson in the late morning. Jasmine W. and her mom came in the afternoon and they stayed for dinner. Since Jasmine's dad was out of town on business trip this week, they spent a lot of time with our family.
Wednesday, Jul 12, 2006 (8y+11m+6d)
The twins had music lesson early in the morning. The twins had swim lesson in the late morning.
Thursday, Jul 13, 2006 (8y+11m+7d)
The twins had swim lesson in the late morning.
Friday, Jul 14, 2006 (8y+11m+8d)
The twins had swim lesson in the late morning. Jasmine W's and Ashley's family came to play with the twins in the afternoon. Daddy came home to babysit the kids. The moms went to Ashley's aunt's country club in the evening to play tennis until 10pm.
Saturday, Jul 15, 2006 (8y+11m+9d)
Mommy were interested to check out a country club in the neighborhood. The twins were quite thrilled to ride a golf cart around the club. Mommy was not interested because they have too few tennis courts. When it is time for dinner, the twins requested Za Zang, a Korean chain store serving home made noodles. Mommy bought them a music book from the Disney movie High School Musical a few days ago. Daddy showed them how to use the MIDI sequencer to do computer music. Joanne tried a few bars and gave up. Jasmine was diligent on doing her MIDI sequencing from the High School Musical sheet music.
Sunday, Jul 16, 2006 (8y+11m+10d)
Mommy took the twins to Rachel's birthday party. The party was held at her family swimming pool. Daddy went to lunch with grandma Chui. We went to play tennis in the park in the late afternoon. We played until 8pm. We didn't have dinner until 9pm.
Monday, Jul 17, 2006 (8y+11m+11d)
It was a very hot day, temperature went over 100°F. The twins had swim lesson around noon.
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 (8y+11m+12d)
It was a very hot day again. The Bay Area Air Quality Management Board announced that it would be a "Spare the Air" day which means all public transportation would be free all day. The free ride encouraged more people to leave their cars at home so that there would be less air pollution on the road. The twins went to swim lesson around noon. They went shopping at Target and they went to the grocery store to buy beef steaks for dinner. Daddy worked overtime past midnight.
Wednesday, Jul 19, 2006 (8y+11m+13d)
The twins had piano lesson in the morning. They had swim lesson around noon. In the afternoon, they went swimming at Ms Dong's swimming pool. Ms Dong was the twins' first grade teacher. She recently moved into a new home with a nice community pool. Ms Dong would take a year off because they plan to have another child. Jasmine swam lap, mommy encouraged Joanne to do the same.Ashley came to our house after her summer school. After dinner, mommy helped Joanne pulled out her tooth by using a thread of dental floss. Joanne told mommy that she just wanted the tooth fairy to give her money because she wished for other things before, but those wishes never came true. Daddy worked overtime again and came home after midnight.
Thursday, Jul 20, 2006 (8y+11m+14d)
The twins had swim lesson around noon. It has been hot this week, the kid enjoyed getting wet in the pool.
Friday, Jul 21, 2006 (8y+11m+15d)
The twins had swim lesson around noon, It was a hot day. Mommy played tennis at the park with her friends and took the twins with them. Daddy joined them after work. The twins were bored because we couldn't find a vacant court to play with them. Eventually a court opened up, and daddy and Jasmine practiced tennis for a while. Since daddy elbow still hurt from the rollerblading accident, we were just hitting the balls not very precisely. Joanne couldn't play because she didn't even wear her tennis shoes. It was dangerous to run around on a pair of flip-flop slippers. We had a late dinner in Mountain View before going home.
Saturday, Jul 22, 2006 (8y+11m+16d)
It continued to be very hot. When we got back into the car after lunch, the thermometer read 109°F. It dropped a couple degrees after the car started moving. We kept the air conditioning cranking to keep cool. We went to Ben's house to swim. Daddy also joined the twins in the pool. Christopher and Joie joined us too. Even Ben's 14 month old sister came into the pool. She was unhappy when Christopher and Ben splash water onto her. She left the pool crying. All three families later joined cousin Natalie at the restaurant for dinner. The twins bought a Naruto poster for Natalie as her birthday present.
Sunday, Jul 23, 2006 (8y+11m+17d)
Daddy woke up in pain before sunrise. The hot weather yesterday caused dehydration which in turn triggered an onset of gout. The pain was as bad as the last onset almost 2 years ago. Daddy was lucky to keep the gout under control for the past 2 years. Poor uncle Ivan had an outbreak of gout every few months, it must be unbearable agony.We went out to dimsum lunch with grandma Chui. In the afternoon, we went to Ashley's house for a party. Jasmine W., Christopher and Ben's families were invited too. The kids went to play video games and watch episode of Naruto on the computer. The dads laid down in front of the TV and keep an afternoon nap. The moms played mahjong.
We had a potluck Japanese dinner. The hostess was a little disappointed when everyone started eating while standing behind the kids at the table. The hostess expected the adults to have a nice sit down dinner in Japanese style. The guests didn't mind and really enjoyed the food despite the ambiance. The dads took over the mahjong table after dinner. The party ended at around 10pm because Ashley and Brandon had signed up for some kind of summer camp the next morning.
Monday, Jul 24, 2006 (8y+11m+18d)
The twins had their swimming class around noon. They went out to pasta pomadero for dessert in the afternoon with Ashley's family. They went to Ms. Dong's home to swim in the community pool. Ben joined them in the swim. Mommy got a big headache from the heat. She lost her mind and drove the SUV with the hatch open. The garage door scrapped the rear window wiper off. Daddy worked late as usual.
Tuesday, Jul 25, 2006 (8y+11m+19d)
Daddy's gout problem continued. Joanne caught a cold despite the two week long heat wave. She got a sore throat and running nose in the morning. Mommy took the SUV to the insurance claim and repair shop, The delay caused the twins to miss today's swim lesson.In the afternoon, Joanne was feeling much better from her cold. They went to Ms. Dong's home to swim again. This time, Ashley, Jasmine W., Britney, and Natasha joined them. Mommy also swam with them. It was mommy's first swim of the season. The twins swam around mommy and asked why mommy couldn't float on top of the water and why she swam so slow. They had dinner with Christopher's family.
Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006 (8y+11m+20d)
The twins had swim lesson around noon. The day ran as usual. Daddy worked overtime and came home after dinner.
Thursday, Jul 27, 2006 (8y+11m+21d)
The twins had piano lesson in the morning. They had swim lesson around noon. The day ran as usual. Daddy worked overtime and came home after dinner.
Friday, Jul 28, 2006 (8y+11m+22d)
The twins and mommy went to the farmer's market in the morning, Mommy bought two big baskets of blueberries. Before daddy came home, the twins already finished one of them. The twins had swim lesson around noon. This was the last lesson of the two week session. The twins didn't pass swim exam for the level 4 class. They needed to work more on the stride diving and their butterfly kicks.
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006 (8y+11m+23d)
Daddy's elbow and gouty foot still hurt. Daddy went to see an acupuncturist in the morning. The twins said they dared not watch the needles poking into daddy's arm and leg. The needles didn't seem to help.We went to lunch with Christopher's family. Their family just leased a Mercedes Benz R-Class. We spent some time admiring the luxury car. We especially find the panoramic sunroof awesome.
After we parted with them, we went to a windows store to check out some window replacement options. The twins behaved well and the store clerk praised them for being so patient when we waited for our turn to see a salesman.
When we came home, daddy changed some of the old wall outlets. Mommy wanted those changed ever since we remodeled our house over 3 years ago. Daddy did a few on different occasion on and off. Two rooms were left undone for a long time. Daddy stopped the project when the battery of the powered screwdriver ran out.
Mommy prepared udon for dinner. Udon was the twins' favorite meal.
Sunday, Jul 30, 2006 (8y+11m+24d)
We went to see the movie Monster House in a Real-D theater. Jasmine W. and Christopher's family went with us. Jasmine W. said she didn't see one quarter of the movie because she covered her eyes at some scary scenes. Joanne said she hid her face 3 times and she missed may be 10 seconds of the movie.. Our Jasmine said she covered her face a few times, but she peeked through between her fingers, She also said the 3-D effects were not very exaggerated, because she expected more things would fly out of the screen. However, she agreed that the 3-D glasses made the movie very real and clear. Daddy felt differently because there were many scenes where the 3-D effects were quite obvious.We had an afternoon snack break at the Cheesecake factory restaurant. Jasmine W. rode in our car when we returned home. The moms originally planned to play tennis. Jasmine's mom changed her mind at the last minute because she was sleepy and wanted to take a nap instead.
Daddy finally completed the project and replaced the last old wall outlets in the house. Mommy was glad because the project had dragged on for more than three years. Jasmine W. played with the twins until her dad came to pick her up after work. Her dad worked overtime today and didn't join us at the movie.
Monday, Jul 31, 2006 (8y+11m+25d)
Mommy went out to run errand in the early morning. When she came home, daddy was ready to leave for work and the twins were still in bed. The housekeepers came to clean the house, yet the twins were reluctant to get out of bed. The twins are done with their swim lessons and mommy didn't sign them up for more. So they wouldn't have any scheduled activity. Everything would be impromptu this week. The twins and mommy had lunch with daddy. They went shopping at Stanford mall after lunch.
Tuesday, Aug 1, 2006 (8y+11m+26d)
The window contractor came to give us a free estimate in the morning. The twins went swimming in Rachel's pool in the afternoon. They came home after dinner. Daddy worked overtime as usual and arrived home at the same time as they did. The twins were wondering how daddy looked like with a moustache. Daddy mentioned there was one in the photo album. They enthusiastically went through the photos. They were laughing at how funny each person looked when they were young. Daddy said the light was too dim for Joanne to look at the album, since Jasmine was looking over the shoulders, she could turn on more lights. But Jasmine said, "No way I would do that for Joanne." Mommy helped Joanne to wiggle a loose tooth.
Wednesday, Aug 2, 2006 (8y+11m+27d)
The twins and mommy got up early in the morning to play tennis with Jasmine W. and Ashley's moms. Mommy picked up the SUV from the repair shop. After Jasmine W. and Ashley came off from their summer camp, they came to play with the twins in our house. They went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Daddy worked overtime again and came home as the same time as they did.While we were watching TV, Joanne dug into mommy's purse. Mommy told her that it was not nice to be so nosy about other people's stuffs, Joanne tried to counter the accusation. She said, "This was the first time I did this." Mommy stared at her in disbelief. Joanne modified her statement, "May be the fifth time..." Mommy still didn't believe her. Then Joanne added, "... this year." What a confession!
Joanne said she had a nightmare last night, she said Orochimaru hit her tummy in the dream. Then she had a tummy ache today. She wanted to sleep next to mommy tonight because she was scared. Then Jasmine complained she was scared to be alone in her room.
Thursday, Aug 3, 2006 (8y+11m+28d)
Mommy found that Target was selling the Tamagotchi at a discount price below $15. The twins asked for that before, and we told them we would not buy one for them because they were overpriced at $28 a piece. Jasmine bought one, but Joanne decided to buy an iDog instead at the same price. After they played with their new toy, Joanne doubted if she made a wrong decision. Even daddy believed they should have both bought the Tamagotchi because the toy was able to connect with another copy. Jasmine's Tamagotchi could not connect to Joanne's iDog. We told Joanne that even if the decision was not good, she still needed to live with the consequence of her own decision. She said that she still liked her iDog because it could dance to music. Daddy worked overtime as usual.
Friday, Aug 4, 2006 (8y+11m+29d)
I didn't take note and forgot what they did.
Saturday, Aug 5, 2006 (8y+11m+30d)
We left the house in the morning. Hing took us to the airport. We took a 3 hour flight to Los Cabos, Mexico. We arrived at the hotel in Mexico still in time for lunch.We made friends with another family on the shuttle bus to the hotel. They took the same flight as ours, and they were from Oakland. The couple had two daughters, Taylor at 13 and Kendall at 7.
Daddy took a nap in the hotel room in the afternoon. Mommy and the twins went to the pool. The twins said they didn't like to swim close to Kendall because she always tried to grab them. Kendall didn't know how to swim and she was too short to stand up in the pool, so she tried to use the twins as her life support. Since the water was too deep for the twins also, they needed to tread water all the time. They could barely stay afloat on their own. Though Kendall was younger than the twins, she was chubby and probably heavier than the twins. When a heavier kid held on to them as a buoy, they could sink and drown too. Daddy told the twins to keep a safe distance from Kendall next time so that she could not drag them down to the bottom of the pool.
Ashley's and Jasmine W's family were supposed to join us a few hours after our arrival because their flight was couple hours behind ours. However, they hadn't arrived when we went to bed.
Sunday, Aug 6, 2006 (9y)
The twins are 9 years old today.
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started on Aug 22, 2006