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This journal is about raising identical twins.Eighty Fifth Month
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Friday, Aug 6, 2004 (7y)
It is the twins seventh birthday today. Hing and Lucy dropped off Terence at our place in the morning. Terence would come to the twins birthday party today. After lunch, they went to Build a Bear Workshop for their birthday party. Daddy took off from work to join their party. Each kid built their own stuffed animal. Some picked bears, two picked unicorn and one boy picked a green frog. Each kid put a heart and a birthday wish into the twins' bears before the bears were stuffed. They also recite the Bear Promise that they would take care of their new stuffed friend as their #1 pal. After the bear workshop, they moved next door to Cold Stone Creamery for the birthday cake. They returned to the store to buy some accessories for the bears. The twins received the following gifts:
From Gift Benjamin A pair of Hello Kitty Purses Nicholas & Patricia Hello Kitty toiletry sets Karyssa Hair play
Book-Great Undersea Search
Stickers with animalsAshley Two sets of Cliksets Jerry & the art teacher Two ceramic mushrooms Tiffany Water bottles
Shirts
SocksClaire Gift money & cards Annette Origami book
Cartooning KitIn the late afternoon, they went to their art class. Aunt Elaine bought the twins a nice dinner. Grandma Chui and Aunt Elaine came to our house to watch the video footage from the party in the afternoon.
Saturday, Aug 7, 2004 (7y+1d)
We got up early and got ready. By 9:30am, Annette's and Nicholas' family arrived and we took off together towards the north. We arrived at Windsor in Sonoma county at around noon. It was too early for us to check in to the time share resort. We decided to take a round trip to the coast. We stopped at the Sonoma Coast State beach. The twins fell asleep and daddy stayed in the car to let them sleep. The other kids played a little on the sandy beach. They couldn't get into the water because the ocean waves were too strong. In fact, there were warning signs on the beach that said it was the most deadly beach in California. When we returned to Windsor, the twins woke up and asked why we didn't go anywhere. They didn't believe that we went to the ocean while they took a two hour nap.After we checked into our 3 bedroom unit, the kids went to the pool. We swam until mommy and Debbie summoned us for dinner. After dinner, Annette, Alex and Joanne stayed to watch DVD. Jasmine, Patricia, Nicholas went to the recreation center to play ping pong. Debbie came to get us around 10 pm.
Sunday, Aug 8, 2004 (7y+2d)
After breakfast, the kids went for a ping pong game. Then they went of a swim in the pool again. We headed towards Sonoma Traintown and had lunch in Santa Rosa. Jill decided to cut short their vacation with Annette and Alex. Annette needed to go home early because she would start her Cheerleader summer camp tomorrow.Nicholas, Patricia and the twins took the miniature train ride. There was a petting zoo at a stop in the middle of the ride. The twins fed a llama and some goats and sheep. They also rode a kid-size roller coaster twice.
We returned to Windsor. The kids returned to the pool until dinner was ready. Mommy bought dinner from KFC. After dinner, Debbie took the kids to play ping pong. Their game was cut short when other people waited for the table. The kids returned and played Go Fish before going to bed.
Monday, Aug 9, 2004 (7y+3d)
We packed and left after breakfast. We went to Kendall-Jackson winery on our way home. It was an obligatory visit. Since Sonoma county is famous for vineyard and winery, we couldn't leave Sonoma without at least one stop at a winery. None of us could drink, we needed to drive and the kids were old enough for wine tasting. The kids enjoyed visiting the great gardens next to the vineyard. They checked out different kinds of grapes in the vineyard. They were enthusiastic in finding different vegetables and fruit in the culinary gardens. There were various varieties of strawberries, olives, pears, peaches, eggplants, lettuces, tomatoes etc. It was a very educational trip and the kids enjoyed running around in the garden too.We continued our way home and we stopped at Mill Valley for lunch. We went to Muir Woods National Monument to see the Coast Redwoods. We were home at around 6pm. We had a quick dinner before the twins watch some TV.
Daddy's cousin Allan and his family came to visit from LA. They had been in San Francisco and Emeryville for the past couple of days while we were on vacation. They went to Sonoma Traintown today and arrived at our house at around 10pm. Since the kids didn't have school, they stayed up late and played with their cousins. Amanda took over the reading during the bedtime.
Tuesday, Aug 10, 2004 (7y+4d)
Daddy returned to work about a 3-day long weekend. Mommy got up early to prepare breakfast. The twins and the visitors stayed in bed until quite late. They had a late breakfast before going out. They planned a tour to the Dreyer's Ice Cream Factory. They found out the hard way that the tour had been canceled for years though the information on the Internet and their answering machine was obsolete. They changed their plan and visited Oakland Chinatown. They had a very late lunch.When daddy came home, we went out to play tennis in the park with Aunt Ivy, Cousin Amanda and Andric. Daddy served a ball that hit Jasmine's chest. She cried for awhile, but she forgave daddy after the pain was gone. We ordered take-out food after the tennis game. It was 9:30pm when dinner was ready. They were fine because they had a very late lunch, only daddy was starving.
Grandma Chui, Aunt Elaine, Allan and his mom played few rounds of Mahjong. Allan's mom stayed overnight with grandma Chui. The kids stayed up past midnight. They went to bed with no bedtime story tonight.
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2004 (7y+5d)
Daddy went to work as usual. Mommy took our guest to lunch. They went shopping in Gilroy outlet center before heading back to L.A. Aunt Ivy bought them a pair for Care Bears. The twins said they missed Amanda already.We read about Paul Bunyan's tall tales for bedtime story.
Thursday, Aug 12, 2004 (7y+6d)
Daddy went to work as usual. Mommy and twins stayed home all day. The twins practiced piano and did abacus exercise. Daddy cut short the work day because of a painful onset of gout in the left foot. We read about Paul Revere at bedtime.
Friday, Aug 13, 2004 (7y+7d)
The twins went to art class in the afternoon. When daddy started the bedtime reading on the birth of United States in 1776. The twins were causing a lot of disturbance. Daddy stopped and announced it was the end of the reading. Jasmine said it was a short story that only lasted 20 seconds.
Saturday, Aug 14, 2004 (7y+8d)
We slept late in the morning. Jasmine wanted mommy to make her blueberry pancake. We went out to lunch at a pancake house instead. Then we shopped for school supply at Target. Daddy also bought a set of Scrabbles. We returned home to play the new game. Mommy went into the garage to do some cleaning. Jasmine quitted when Joanne had a big lead on the score. The twins helped mommy to sharpen 4 dozen pencils before taking them to school. They burned out the electric pencil sharpener. Daddy opened up the machine to investigate. It turns out that a thermal fuse was blown because they ran the machine for too long. Daddy went out to Radio Shack to find the replacement part. It was not an electrical fuse that limit the current. It was a thermal fuse that broke open when temperature exceed 90°C. None of the electronic stores carried such device. Daddy returned home empty handed. Daddy bridged the gap with a regular wire instead of a fuse. It was a risk that might burn out the motor in case of an overheat. I had instructed the twins to feel the casing whenever they used the sharpener. The overheating this afternoon was protected by the fuse, but the next overheating will probably melt the motor.The twins reported their weights. Joanne weighed 43 lb and Jasmine weighted 42 lb. Joanne said she didn't feel well today and she pooped 4 times. She tried her best to explain her lighter weight. For best time story, we read about the revolutionary war and the liberty bell. The twins remember the bell from our east coast trip few months ago.
Sunday, Aug 15, 2004 (7y+9d)
We slept late in the morning. We had a quick lunch before getting ready for Benjamin's birthday party. Ben's party is held at the clubhouse near his apartment next to the pool. The twins had swam in the pool many times before. They changed into swimming suits, and apply suntan lotion on each other. Mommy even asked daddy to change into swimsuit to serve as a lifeguard on the pool side. When we arrived at the party, we found out that it was a dry party. Everyone knew about it except mommy who took it for granted that the party must be wet when it is held next to the pool. The twins were so embarrassed that they refused to go into the party for they were the only kids in swimming suits. Mommy returned home to fetch them a pair of skirts. They changed in the car and joined the party. They started by making a tube of colored sugar power. The entertainer of the part was a mad scientist. They each received a small can of mad science slime at the end of the party. Most of the parents stayed out of the party. Daddy returned home, but mommy stayed as a helper.Ellen and her husband dropped by the visit us after the party. They were shopping for a TV and they wanted to talk about how to pick the right kind. After they left, we went out to dinner. When we came home, the twins played ping pong with a rubber ball they bought yesterday. Jasmine shared her ball with Joanne after Joanne lost her under the soda. Joanne called it Jasmine's sixth toe because Jasmine often stuck the ball between her toes to make it look like an appendix.
At bedtime, the twins were not really enthusiastic because we have been reading about US history for the past few days. Daddy picked a story about the half chicken which is a Hispanic folktale. Daddy asked the twins if they wanted to pick a book to bring to the Yosemite trip tomorrow. They said no, and they could play cards instead.
Monday, Aug 16, 2004 (7y+10d)
Nicholas' family gathered at our house at 10:15am. We took off at around 10:50am heading for Yosemite National Park. We arrived at the rental place at around 6pm after we stopped several times for photos. We also stopped at the Bridalveil waterfall. We hiked up the trail to the base of the water fall. The fall only had little water, it was blown around really like the veil of a bride. The base was rather dry with a few puddles of water and a few streams. We climbed the rocks till we reach the face of the cliff under the fall. There was a pool of water and and a tiny 5 foot water fall. We took some pictures before descending the rocks back to the trail.Kevin's family also arrived at around the same time we did. Kevin was Jasmine's classmate in kindergarten. He was not in the twins' classes in first grade. When they go to second grade this fall, he would be one of the twins' classmate again because there will only be two second grade classes that run the bilingual program this fall. The rental place had three bedrooms and each family took one.
We had a nice hotpot dinner at the rental place. The kids played some billiard ball and they also some card games before going to bed. The adults watched some Olympics before retiring for the night.
Tuesday, Aug 17, 2004 (7y+11d)
We got up at 9am. After breakfast, we went out to Curry Village's bike rental place. All the kids had brought their bikes with them. Only the adults need to rent the bikes. Daddy had the rollerblades. Kevin's dad Stephen decided to stay behind to prepare the raft. The moms each rented a bicycle. Daddy led the way with all the kids followed behind. After we had rode for less than a mile, daddy was called back on the walkie talkie. Debbie was not familiar with the foot brakes on the rental brake. She failed to control her speed and her front wheel bumped into Joanne's rear wheel. To avoid a collision, she turned to the side of the path and crashed. She injured her left knees. A driver saw the accident, he stopped and offered to give a ride to the medical center. Mommy went with Debbie, that left two rental bikes with no rider. Daddy led all the kids back to the car while Kevin's mom Meena stayed with the bikes. Stephen drove his minivan to the site of accident to retrieve and return the bikes.After the kids took a beverage break, they helped Stephen pump air into the raft. They each took turn to pump 20 stokes and then rotate to the next kid. The raft was ready after three rotation of six kids. Stephen said that for the adults to bend down to pump, it would have broken our backs. The kids were just the perfect size to operate the pump. Besides their energy and enthusiasm was unmatched. We took the raft to the Merced River. The kids had a great time riding the raft down a few tiny rapids that were about one foot high each. The river was quite shallow near the "rapids", it was about knee deep for the kids. At the bottom of the rapids, they all jumped off and helped drag the raft back upstream. After a few runs, they returned to the deeper end of the river where the water was quite calm. They took turn paddle the raft around the calm water of the river. They later settled at the sandy beach on the river bank. They dug a hole on the beach and filled it would water. When they stirred up the sand on the bottom of the hole, it looked dark brown in color. The twins told daddy that they were making coffee. At this time, mommy and Debbie had returned from the medical clinic. They sat in the shade on the river bank and watch the kids in play on the opposite bank. The river water was very cold, though not freezing. The cold water was okay to swim in, but once the twins stopped moving, they shivered in cold. They had so much fun that they didn't mind shivering.
We returned to the rental place and barbeque chicken and beef short ribs. All the kids had a big appetite after a full day of exercise. There was no leftover from dinner. We took a strolled in the neighborhood after dinner. We arrived at an opening to see some stars when the sky started to darken. When we returned to the rental place, we played some cards, pool and watched Olympics on TV.
Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004 (7y+12d)
We left after breakfast. Debbie stayed behind because of her injured knee. Nicholas and her sister Patricia rode with us. We went back to the bridalveil fall. Kevin's family didn't took the hike with us the other day. Our kids were excited to do the rock climbing again. This time even Patricia climbed to the top of the rock pile. She stopped in the middle two days ago because her swollen finger hurt too much. She was stung by a bee in Benjamin's birthday party back on Sunday. We took many family photos and video before descending.We went into Curry Village for lunch. We ordered two large pizza and we had no left over.
We returned to the same water hole as yesterday. We spent a few hours doing the same thing as yesterday. The kids never had a moment of boredom. There was one nervous moment when Stephen let all six kids jump into the deepest part of the river which was about 10 feet deep. Then he rowed the raft to the shore. I was watching from a far and I was totally surprised why he would keep his eyes away from the kids when they tried to swim ashore. Even though all of the kids had taken swim lesson this summer, they were not safe in deep water. Just about then, Joanne started to yell for help. She was out of air, but she managed to stay afloat. Both Stephen was far from her. I was also out of reach of her. I started to yell for help also. Within half a minute, Kevin's sister Jackelyn swam toward Joanne and saved her. Jackelyn was wearing a life jacket so they were quite safe together. When I asked Joanne why she would jump into the deep water, she said she though she could swim along the raft and she didn't know the raft would leave her behind. I gave the twins a lecture and planned to give more when we got home. We left the water hole early because we had other plan.
We returned to the rental place and cooked dinner. We found that Debbie had a 102°F fever which indicated that her wound was infected. After dinner, we drove up to Glacier Point. We arrived before sunset. Along with many tourists, we watched how the half dome changed color throughout the sunset. We stayed behind to wait for the stars to show up. The kids paid more attention to the mice that came out of the cracks of the rocks at twilight. They also had fun playing with their flashlights. Joanne was bored and she complained that she wanted to sleep on mommy's tummy. Since everyone was lying on the rocks, the tummy served as good pillow. Mommy called off the stargazing party because the kids were impatient. We left Glacier Point at 9:25pm before it was totally dark. We could still see the silhouette of the trees against the dark Western sky. The kids said they have never seen so many stars in the sky including the Milky Way. But daddy told them they have not seen the real starry sky yet because we left before it was pitch dark. As soon as Joanne got back on the car, she asked daddy to play a DVD on the video system. Daddy was mad at her. I told Joanne there was no way I would play the DVD because we cut short our stargazing because she said she wanted to sleep. If she really wanted to sleep, she didn't need to watch DVD. I ordered the twins, Nicholas and Patricia to take a nap on our drive down the mountain. When we returned to the rental place, only Joanne and Nicholas didn't take a nap. We prepared some fruits for the kids. They played some card games and pool and watch some Olympics before going to bed.
Thursday, Aug 19, 2004 (7y+13d)
We spent the morning packing and cleaning up the place. We accompanied Debbie to the medical clinic to check up on her wound. Because of her fever yesterday, the doctor gave her a shot of antibiotics. The kids played in the woods outside the clinics while we waited. Since the doctor wanted to observe Debbie's reaction to the medication, we all went to lunch. We had pizza for lunch again. Jasmine ordered a hotdog, though she only ate half of it and saved some space for pizza. We bought two hotdogs for Debbie and Meena who were at the medical clinic. Since we were heading to LA, we said goodbye and parted our ways. Their return trip took half the time of our LA trip. They could afford to stay a little longer before taking off. Since Debbie was not in a condition to drive through winding mountain roads, Stephen would be their driver on the way home.We arrived at LA after 8pm. We found a restaurant for dinner before going to the cousin's. The twins' cousins were waiting anxiously for our arrival. Daddy's cousin Allen was in New York on a business trip.
Friday, Aug 20, 2004 (7y+14d)
We had a quick breakfast then we headed to the California ScienCenter. Between the parking lot and our destination, the twins saw the Pavilion of Wings which was a butterfly zoo. We went there to see some beautiful butterflies. We continued into the ScienCenter. The cousins did the rock climbing. The twins wanted to do it too but they didn't wear proper footwear for the climb. They were very disappointed. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the museum. After we dropped the cousins back to their home, we proceeded to Irvine about an hour away in LA rush hour. We visited Kathy and her son Derek. Ricky was in Singapore for a business trip. Their son Raymond had a ball game with friends and we didn't get to see him. We went out together for dinner. The twins had a great time playing with Derek. Derek was a college freshman this year and he wanted to study biotech engineering. He had played with the twins every time we visited. The twins liked to play with him even though he is 10 years older. We left at 10:30pm. We got back to the cousins' in about 45 minute in off-hour traffic. The twins' cousins stayed up to wait for our return. Their dad came back from New York in the evening.
Saturday, Aug 21, 2004 (7y+15d)
Andric had to get up early to attend his martial arts class. Mommy and aunt Ivy took Andric to his class and they went shopping while he was in class. The rest of us woke up rather late in the morning. We ate just a little for breakfast to leave some room for lunch. The kids picked Island Burgers as our place for lunch.The kids all jumped into the pool for a swim in the afternoon. The twins spent a lot of time on the water slide. They even slide down head first. They also jumped off the diving board, though they only went in feet first. They also swam to the bottom of the pool to retrieve objects. Jasmine didn't do well, she came out for breath too soon even of a 4 foot dive. Joanne did quite well. In one particular instance, the object fell to the deep end of the pool. Joanne volunteered to retrieve it. She failed to sink fast enough for the first attempt. When Jasmine wanted to try, daddy offered to give her a push downwards. She didn't want daddy to touch her. She failed to swim down. When Joanne tried again, daddy gave her a downward shove. She made a few more kicks and retrieved the object from 9 feet under water. That rather surprised me because even mommy wouldn't be able to do the same dive.
While uncle Allen was preparing the BBQ grill for dinner, the kids wanted to ride their bikes. Andric and the twins started on their bikes and latter Andric switched to rollerblades when he saw his sister Amanda doing it. Daddy joined them in rollerblades too. It was not easy to do with a gouty foot. The left turns were okay, but the right turns were made in agony.
Uncle Allen's own cousin Dickson and his daughter Alexis (nickname dou dou which means tiny pea) were invited to the dinner too. Alexis and the twins got along very quickly. Actually this was the second time they met. We went to SeaWorld together a year ago. Her father let her stayed overnight so all four girls could have a pajama party. We don't know if Alexis is the twins' cousin or not because they are not related by blood at all. Amanda and Andric are the twins' second cousins because they shared the same great grand parents. We all stayed up till 1am before going to bed.
Sunday, Aug 22, 2004 (7y+16d)
We all got up very late in the morning. Alexis' father rejoined us for lunch at Todai Seafood buffet. We had been to several Todai restaurants in North California but most of them were disappointing. This Todai at Beverly Center had excellent food. Outside Beverly Center, we saw a Maybach luxury car outside a burger place. The chauffeur was waiting in the car on the roadside while his masters ate lunch inside. We saw exactly the same situation outside a restaurant in Santana Row before. The Maybach costs $300,000 to $350,000 a piece. It is more expansive than someone's home. It is nice to know that it is not limited to the people in Beverly Hills. Someone in North California also enjoy such luxury.We went to the Hard Rock Cafe to buy some T-shirts. We did some shopping at Beverly Center after lunch. Mommy and aunt Ivy took off in a different direction. The dads and kids went to SONY Style, a pet store, the Sanrio store. At SONY, the kids huddled over the robotic dog Aibo. Aibo was quite happy with the kids attention, it kept wagging its tail. At the pet store, the kids patted the bunnies and a guinea pig. They looked at many puppies in the display cages. The twins particularly liked the Dalmatian which was fighting with a white Labrador Retriever almost non-stop. The kids concluded their shopping spree at Sanrio. Mommy was quite successful in picking up some sale items for the twins' winter wardrobe.
It was 5pm when we got back to Allen's home. The kids jumped into the pool for a swim while daddy and mommy loaded the luggage into the car. The kids had a great time with the water slide except Alexis. Though she was the eldest among the four kids, she sat on the poolside really upset. She couldn't swim as well as the other kids. She felt left out when she couldn't keep up with the others.
We said goodbye at around 6:20pm. The twins took a nap soon after we were on the way. They fell asleep fast probably because of the swim earlier. Mommy took over the driving after we reached the Grapevine exit on I-5. Joanne later woke up and said she was hungry. We stopped at the junction at highway 41. We had In-N-Out burgers for dinner. The twins watched Shrek on the DVD after dinner. Daddy took turn of the driving when we reached highway 152. The twins stayed awake until we reached home barely past midnight. We sent them to bed after they brushed their teeth.
That ended the 7 day trip to Yosemite National Park and Los Angeles. Daddy asked which part of the trip the twins liked the most. They both said Amanda's swimming pool. They said the stargazing was boring. Before the LA trip a few days ago, they said they liked rafting and swimming in the river. But today, they said the rocks on the bottom of the river hurt their feet. Daddy's greatest harvest from the trip was some 30+ year old pictures we dug up from Allen's old family photo albums. We found some childhood photos of aunt Elaine. We scanned them into digital copy, so we could take a copy home. Daddy's childhood photos were not among his collection.
Monday, Aug 23, 2004 (7y+17d)
Daddy returned to work after a week-long holiday. The twins woke up after 10am. They went out to visit Annette and Nicholas' family. In the afternoon, Benjamin came to visit the twins. Mommy made them do abacus exercise. After a week-long break, they made a lot of mistakes in their abacus calculations. They had to redo all the wrong ones. Joanne was slow on doing her exercise. Jasmine finished and got to surf the net on the computer. Mommy was mad at Joanne when she found out that Joanne didn't do some pages before the vacation. Joanne had to make up for all the pages that she missed before. Mommy sat next to Joanne to make her finish her exercise. They didn't go to bed until midnight.
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004 (7y+18d)
The twins and mommy played some tennis today. They were asked to do abacus exercise after dinner. Jasmine finished early. Mommy had to sit next to Joanne to stop her from day dreaming. The twins were sent to bed at 9:30pm tonight. The school term starts again this Thursday. They needed to go to bed early in rehearsal for the regular school schedule.
Wednesday, Aug 25, 2004 (7y+19d)
The twins woke up a bit earlier than yesterday. Mommy took them to the school campus today to check the room assignment and the classroom. The twins told daddy that some of the classrooms had restrooms inside. I thought those were kindergarten classrooms. Jasmine would share a classroom with Annette and Benjamin. We had not found out who would be in Joanne's class yet. Nicholas was assigned to a combo class which meant he would be in a regular English class and then he would join the Language Immersion class on in the Mandarin sessions.Mommy noticed that she used the first grade shopping list for the stationary. She ran around different stationary stores to look for a notebook that fit the specification.
It was Annette's dad's birthday today. We joined their family for dinner at Todai Seafood buffet at Vallco fashion mall. When we returned home, we sent the twins to bed after taking their shower. School starts tomorrow and they need to get up earlier than their first grade schedule because their bilingual program moved to a different campus.
Thursday, Aug 26, 2004 (7y+20d)
When mommy raised the blind to let sunlight to enter the twins' room, the girls popped up from bed all by themselves. They were excited to go to school. It took daddy longer to struggle in bed to get up in the morning. Daddy and mommy each took a kid to school. We were about 20 minutes early. The teachers let the kids into the classrooms to explore before the bell rang. Several of Joanne's friends were assigned to her class, Grace, Seline, Ansel, Kevin etc. were in her class.After school, mommy took the kids to ice skating. Mommy signed them up for a 13 week class. The class started last week, but they missed the first class because we were on vacation. The twins would get a makeup class this Saturday.
We went out to dinner to celebrate daddy and mommy's 9th wedding anniversary. The twins had no homework from their first day of school. We sent them to bed after they took the shower.
Friday, Aug 27, 2004 (7y+21d)
The twins went to their second day of second grade today. It was a very hot day today. Mommy said it was over 100°F. Daddy was not aware of the heat while sitting in an air conditioned office. After school, the twins went to Rachel's home. Rachel's family invited the twins to their pool for a swim. The twins later told daddy that Tiffany could swim down 12 feet of water to retrieve items from the bottom of the pool.Bonnie stopped by to drop off something for mommy. Mommy asked them to stay for dinner. Since it was a long and hot day, Bonnie welcome the invitation. They went out to buy grocery and take out food. We had a nice dinner. Deanna and Addison also enjoyed playing with the twins. They stayed for some TV and Olympics before they went home.
Saturday, Aug 28, 2004 (7y+22d)
We woke up late in the morning. We sent the twins to the ice skating rink to let them make up for the missed class over a week ago. The twins were pretty good in following the instructor's instruction. When daddy showed them how to skate before, they didn't listen at all. This proved that kids listened to teachers more than to parents.We had lunch with grandma Chui at a restaurant next to the rink. The twins was invited to Grace's birthday party. Grace was Joanne's classmate, but Jasmine was invited also on Joanne's request. The party lasted from 3pm to 5pm. Mommy said it was so hot today that she felt that she was in a Sauna. The kids were well hydrated with popsicles and drinks.
We had a early dinner. We returned to the ice skating rink to let the twins practice what they learned in the morning. On the day of lesson, they could skate free. Jasmine pouted and quitted in the middle of the session. Mommy took her back to the car because the rink was pretty cold. In the car, she took mommy that she was not happy because daddy didn't take care of her on the ice. She got a lecture from mommy. When she followed instructions from the teacher, she didn't expect the instructor to take care of the kids. When daddy was giving instructions, she didn't listen, she just wanted to be taken care of.
Sunday, Aug 29, 2004 (7y+23d)
We went to cousin's Natalie's home. Their house was burglarized last week while they were on vacation in Las Vegas. We came home after dinner.In the evening, we needed a recent picture for their school record. Instead of digging up an old photo, we decided to take a new one. The twins refused to wear a dress for the picture. They were excited to take a good picture, they also held their favorite toy in the pictures. After a series of shots, the twins got to pick one for school. We then printed a copy on a computer printer. With digital photography, we could do it at the last minute.
Monday, Aug 30, 2004 (7y+24d)
The twins went to school of course. Brandon & Ashley came to visit the twins. They played in the backyard for a long time. They played hula loop, jump rope, flying airplane, badminton and other ball games. Jasmine weighed 45 lb. Joanne weighed 43.5 lb.
Tuesday, Aug 31, 2004 (7y+25d)
The twins went to school as usual. Mommy took the twins to play tennis in the afternoon. They come home just before dinner time.
Wednesday, Sep 1, 2004 (7y+26d)
The twins went to school as usual. They went to abacus & music class in the afternoon.
Thursday, Sep 2, 2004 (7y+27d)
The twins went to school as usual. Daddy came off work early today. We took the twins to their ice skating class. Daddy and mommy only watch on the side of the rink today. After the lesson, we went to the fund raising book fair at the kids' school library. Joanne bought two books on Captain Underpants. She said they were similar to the Super Diaper Baby she read in her school library before. Jasmine picked a Mary Kay and Ashley book and a poster of polar bears. They each owned a stuffed toy polar bears from the Coca Cola store in Las Vegas. They called them Polari and Poli respectively. The twins played in the playground with their classmates. The kids are supposed to have a family picnic at the school ground after the book fair this evening. However, due to the ice skating class earlier, mommy didn't prepare anything for the picnic. We went to to dinner with Annette's family instead. After we returned home, the twins did some abacus exercise before going to bed. Since they would have a school staff learning day the next, the kids had no school. Mommy allowed them to stay up an hour later than usual.We resume bedtime story after a long hiatus. The twins said they didn't want bedtime stories when we went on vacation in Yosemite National Park. We didn't read bedtime stories since then. We read about Peco Bill as part of the American tall tales series.
Friday, Sep 3, 2004 (7y+28d)
The twins had no school today. It was a school staff learning day at school. The twins were awake when daddy went to work. Mommy was still asleep. Daddy asked the twins to sleep more because they didn't need to go to school. The twins said they wanted to read the books they bought at the book fair yesterday. They sat in bed to read their books.After mommy got up, she took the twins to Gilroy. They joined Annette's family for lunch and some shopping at the outlet mall. They stayed home for the rest of the day to do homework.
For bedtime story, we read about John Henry and his hammer against the steam drill.
Saturday, Sep 4, 2004 (7y+29d)
Daddy and mommy worked in the garden in the morning. Mommy did some trimming. Daddy transplanted the Stephanotis from the pot into the backyard. We brought the Stephanotis from Hawaii. It was a vine and it grew to 8 feet long looking for something to climb on. It wouldn't have a healthy grow staying in the pot. Transplanting it to the backyard may kill it because a tropical plant might not survive the chilly night time temperature of North California. Either way it would have problem, I just let nature take its course. If it didn't survive, $3.99 was not a big deal. We bought two Plumeria cuttings from Hawaii too. They were growing indoors very nicely in the pot. Plumeria can grow into 20 feet tall big tree. I just wanted a small house plant that produces fragrant flowers. It usually takes a plumeria plant in two years to flower. The plants started growing since May, there still 20 months before the results start to show. Daddy then spent the afternoon doing some house repair. When we remodeled the house two years ago, the contractors left some work unfinished. They were supposed to replace some light-switches for us to make the house look uniform throughout. Three of the rooms still had the old style switch for the past two years. Daddy finally got them replaced.The twins spent the morning doing their abacus homework. They were taking much longer than they were supposed to. Jasmine rushed through her work, but she got more than half of the multiplication wrong. Joanne procrastinated. She spent over half and hour to do just two calculations. Daddy sat across the room to observe what she did. She was busy getting up to fetch a drink, went to the bathroom, sharpened a pencil. Mommy was not happy with the outcome. She set the kitchen timer to 15 minutes. She told Joanne she wouldn't like the consequence if she couldn't finish the page before the timer went off. Joanne finished her work in 10 minutes. It proved that she could do it when she put her mind to it.
We went out to dinner at Tony Romas. Amazingly, it was the first time we ate at this restaurant though we passed by many of them often. After dinner, the twins received their rewards for working hard on their abacus homework. They got a shopping spree at the Build A Bear Workshop. The twins shopped for outfits for their "babies." Jasmine even bought an inflatable sofa for her bear.
When we returned home, daddy and mommy watched a movie on DVD. The twins played with their new purchase until they were tired. They went to bed on their own before we finished the movie. Obviously, there was no bedtime story tonight.
Sunday, Sep 5, 2004 (7y+30d)
We went shopping at Costco. The twins found some Disney princesses costume there for Halloween. They only managed to find one of the right size, all the other were way too big. We also had lunch there before we left. We went to Target for some shopping. We checked out the selection of costumes. We bought some stationery. Joanne wanted to buy a "My Scene" doll. When Jasmine bought her Chelsia doll months ago, Joanne bought a "My Pony" instead. Now Joanne wanted a Delancy doll also. Both daddy and mommy didn't agree to buy the doll for Joanne because she already go a "My Pony" before. We told Joanne to put the doll back on the shelf. While we went shopping for other things, Jasmine put the doll back in the shopping cart. Joanne yelled, "What are you doing?" because she knew she could not have the doll. Jasmine replied, "I just want you to be happy!" Though a defiance, it was a lovely gesture. We made an exception and let Joanne have her Delancy doll.On our way home, we saw an open house at the cul-de-sac where the twins practiced their bicycling skills. We went in there to check out what our neighbor was selling. To our surprise, the house was heavily remodeled like ours. Actually, the floor plan was identical to ours except it was a mirror image. They also moved the kitchen wall like we did. They moved it by two feet while we moved it by one. So their new kitchen was a lot bigger than ours. The kids loved the swimming pool in the backyard. The deck was built to look like a fisherman wharf with the pool looked like the harbor beyond a heavy shoreman's rope as the fence.
We watched the movie Italian Job on DVD while the twins played with their My Scene dolls. When they were tired, the twins went to bed on their own without bothering us.
Monday, Sep 6, 2004 (7y+1m)
The twins are seven year and one month old.
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started on Sept 8, 2004