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This journal is about raising identical twins.Eighty Sixth month
Previous entriesNote: This page may contain Chinese text in Unicode encoding. Some web browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer 5) can display the text without any user intervention if the fonts are available. Some web browsers (e.g. Netscape) will display the Chinese text only if you switch Character Set under the View menu to Big5 traditional Chinese.
Monday, Sep 6, 2004 (7y+1m)
The twins are seven year and one month old. Today was the Labor day holiday. Daddy and the twins had a day off. We had lunch with Aunt Elaine and grandma Chui. We went grocery shopping for a BBQ dinner. We invited Claire and Terence's family to our house for dinner. We picked up Claire on our way home. She played with the twins before dinnertime. Terence's family spent the weekend at Lake Tahoe. They just came back before dinner. The twins played with Claire by singling our Terence. Terence was of the wrong gender and wrong age to mix in. We set up some cartoon to keep Terence entertained. We later set up some children song karaoke to keep the kids busy after they finished their meal. The adults had the BBQ dinner in the backyard where it was cool. It had been extremely hot at 100°F temperature for the past three days. Only the night was cool and comfortable and it was perfect for an outdoor dinner. Due to some planning error and the failure to control the intensity of the fire, the food took much longer than planned to cook. Since all the kids had school the next day, the party lasted longer than we planned. Nevertheless we enjoyed an evening of outdoor dining. The twins went to bed with no bedtime story.
Tuesday, Sep 7, 2004 (7y+1m+1d)
The twins returned to school after a 4 day long weekend. Mommy took the twins to their first tennis lesson after school. It was a group lesson with around 10 kids in the class. It was again a very hot day at 100+°F temperature. Mommy said the twins did better in following instructions when it was a stranger telling them what to do. They also went to their art class in the late afternoon.We finished last night's BBQ left over for dinner. The twins didn't finish their homework earlier before their tennis lesson. They finished up after dinner.
For bedtime story, the twins offered to their stories. They were stories their Mandarin teacher told them. One story was about the teacher's name in homonym. The other was about the teacher's experience with a kitchen fire when she was a kid. Joanne topped it off with a story that she made up. She said a kid ate so much food that the extra food came out from the belly button. The food then rose into the sky because the people in heaven needed to eat too.
Wednesday, Sep 8, 2004 (7y+1m+2d)
The twins went to school as usual. It was a hot day again. Mommy and twins hid in the library to avoid the heat before their abacus and piano class. Mommy bought take out food for dinner. For bedtime story, we read about the Greek myths and the gods and goddesses.
Thursday, Sep 9, 2004 (7y+1m+3d)
The twins went to school as usual. They had tennis and ice skating lesson in the afternoon.We sent them to bed after they finished their homework and piano practice. For bedtime story, we read more about the Greek mythical creatures like Pegasus and Pan. We also read about Pandora's box. Within one minute after daddy walked out of their bedroom, they started snoring. They must be exhausted after the exercises in the afternoon.
Friday, Sep 10, 2004 (7y+1m+4d)
The twins went to school as usual. In the evening, mommy's ex-high school friend Michelle invited them to her birthday party. The twins went with mommy. When they returned home, the twins were sound asleep. We carried them into their beds and changed them into pajama.
Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 (7y+1m+5d)
It was the 3rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack. The twins didn't remember much except that some bad people burnt down a building.Mommy invited two of her cousins to lunch. Kay, Dave and their kid Megan arrived on time. When we called Ken and Emily, we found that they had forgotten the engagement and they were eating lunch. We proceeded with lunch without them. Ken's family arrived after we were already playing in the yard. Ken's mom also came along. Matthew, Alissa and Megan didn't take long to play together with the twins. Alissa and Megan found a treasure of toys in the twins playroom. But they were disappointed when most of those toys were out of batteries. Ken set up a long jump event inside the playroom. Each kid jumped off the top of the toy chest and Ken kept a marker at where they landed for each kid. The kids also played badminton and tennis in the yard. The guests left after 4:30pm.
The twins did abacus exercise before dinner. They were doing 2 digit multiplication already. Their abacus class was way ahead of their own school in the level of the math material.
After dinner, daddy took the twins to the ice skating rink to let them practice what the teacher taught them. Mommy stayed home to rest because she had a busy day entertaining the guests. We watched some Hong Kong drama on video tape. The twins commented that one of the actress looked ugly. This proved that beauty is in the eye of the beholder because the actress was once elected Miss Hong Kong. For bedtime story, we read about more Greek mythology.
Sunday, Sep 12, 2004 (7y+1m+6d)
We got up late in the morning because daddy and mommy watched some late night video tapes last night. The twins were up on their own for a while before us. We were out of our house by 12:30pm. The twins fought to wear a pair of nice looking shoes. Jasmine lost and she was not happy.We went to lunch with Evon & Ronald. We waited outside of the restaurant for over 30 minutes because half of the restaurant was blocked off for a wedding reception. We moved next door and had lunch elsewhere. Jasmine and Joanne sat separately because Jasmine was mad at Joanne for wearing the nice shoes. But before we left the restaurant, Jasmine was happy again because Joanne switched shoes with her. After lunch we went to a Japanese supermarket which held a food festival from Hokkaido. A food company from north Japanese was in town showcasing some traditional Hokkaido food, snacks and desserts. We spent some money in the food items. We bought some crab sushi and bentos to bring home as dinner.
We then visited Ronald & Evon new home. They bought it 3 months ago, but they had not moved in yet. They were still shopping for furniture. Their new house was literally a mansion. I bet it was a at least 5000 square feet house on an one acre lot. The house was built four years ago and it was never lived in. It was probably too expensive for most people. The seller dropped the price eventually after a few years to lure a buyer. When we drove through the electric gate, Jasmine said she saw a house like that in her dream. As we first walked in the front door, shiny marble floor paved the entrance, two stairs curved around a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. That reminded us of the grand ballroom in the Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Daddy and Joanne danced under the chandelier, just like in the cartoon.
The house had 5 bedrooms with a full bath each. The library was covered with cherry in-wall bookshelves and drawers, desk. Even the ceiling was covered in cherry wood. The library included a fireplace, a fridge and a bookcase made for installing a TV. It had 6 and a half bathrooms in total, 4 fire places throughout the house. The kitchen has a 36" subzero fridge next to a 36" subzero freezer and granite countertop all over. When we took a tour in the backyard around the pool, Joanne ran around the yard and fell down on the stone pavement and hurt her knee. She cried a bit when mommy checked on the abrasion on her knee. It was time that we went home.
Joanne fell asleep on the way home, probably her crying earlier tired her eyes. We let her sleep in the car after we parked the car into the garage. Jasmine wanted to stay in the car to keep Joanne company. Daddy asked her to come out to ride the bicycle on the driveway. She later asked daddy to take her to the cul-de-sac so she could paddled faster.
We invited Ronald and Evon to come over to our house for dinner. They also bought the crab sushi bento. So we just shared and tried each other's purchase. Mommy also prepared some udon noodle which was the kids' favorite. After the dinner, we shared the Japanese dessert we bought in the afternoon. The guest left before 10pm because they needed to return to their old house which was about an hour away.
The twins took their shower, brushed their teeth and got ready for bed before our guests left. For bedtime story, Jasmine repeated a story her teacher Ms Ma told her. It was about a boy wetting his pants in class. Daddy read more Greek mythology about Daedalus and Icarus and his waxed wings melted under the hot sun..
Monday, Sep 13, 2004 (7y+1m+7d)
The twins went to school as usual. In the afternoon, mommy took the twins to the dentist office for their semi-annual cleaning. The dentist said they had a lot of plague on their teeth. They needed to do more flossing. Joanne already had one molar at the back. Both her old front teeth were still in place, but a new one was also growing behind them. As a result, her teeth were pushed outward a little. Mommy asked the dentist if the two old teeth should be pulled out. The dentist answered that it would be up to the kid. Of course, Joanne said a firm no. The dentist also suggested that we should seek an opinion from an orthodontist.The twins worked on their homework and practiced piano when they returned home. They finished their work on time today. They spared some time playing with their hula loop. Jasmine had been the hula expert since 15 months ago. Joanne was very excited because she finally could do the hula loop. She actually woke up daddy yesterday morning to show her new trick. Of course, Jasmine pointed out what Joanne did wrong. She showed Joanne that her head was bobbing along with the waist. She only need to twist the waist without moving the upper body.
They chewed some bubble gum. Joanne was able to blow bubbles with the gum. Jasmine had not been successful yet despite daddy's detailed instructions. For bedtime story, we read about Arachne and Athena and the origin of spiders (or arachnids.)
Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004 (7y+1m+8d)
The twins went to school as usual. In the afternoon, they had their tennis lesson. In the late afternoon, they went to their art class. They practiced piano after dinner.Mommy asked the twins to read the multiplication table as bedtime reading. They were not too enthusiastic. We turned the reading into a pop-quiz. Daddy said two single digit numbers, the twin told the product. For some numbers they took a pause of two seconds or so to tell the answer. For some, they can respond right away. To be able to do multiplication, they needed to memorize the 9x9 matrix. They still needed a lot of practice to do it without any pause.
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004 (7y+1m+9d)
The twins went to school as usual. They went to piano class in the afternoon. Mommy needed to attend the "back to school" night event at school. Daddy picked up the kids and Benjamin from their piano class. Took them to McDonald's for dinner and Coldstone creamery for dessert. After we came home the kids worked on their homework.They went to bed early without bedtime story.
Thursday, Sep 16, 2004 (7y+1m+10d)
The twins went to school as usual. They went to ice skating lesson in the afternoon. They finished homework early today. They got to play a much as they want before bedtime. They went to bed without asking for a bedtime story.
Friday, Sep 17, 2004 (7y+1m+11d)
The twins went to school as usual. After school, Annette and Tiffany came to play with the twins. Daddy got a toothache for the past few days. Daddy left work early when the toothache turned into a slight fever, a splitting headache and chills. Annette left before 6pm. Tiffany didn't leave until 7pm. The twins went to bed without bedtime story again.
Saturday, Sep 18, 2004 (7y+1m+12d)
Daddy got up early in the morning because of the toothache. It is hard to get back to sleep after being waken up by the pain. The dentist was not available until Tuesday. I needed to survive for a few more days on Advils. I tried some clove oil to numb the pain. The remedy was not too effective because it lasted only a few minutes at a time and repeated use brought on clove oil poisoning symptoms.Joanne was reading her comic book on Super Diaper Baby. Daddy handed her the first book of Calvin of Hobbes and told her that it was the best comic book she would ever find. Though daddy had the books for years, this was the twins' first time reading my collections. The books were in boxes since we moved over two years ago and back then the twins were too young to read comic books.
After breakfast, we went out to the Moon Festival in the neighborhood park. Mommy had a duty shift there to hand off flyers to the passerby on the school's bilingual education program. The place was set up with many booths for different businesses, religious organization, and even a Kerry/Edwards campaign team. On one side of the park, there were many air-inflated slides and jumper houses for the kids. We spent $20 for the tickets. The twins and Patricia had a great time climbing the obstacle course. In one of the rounds, Jasmine fell down and scuff her chin on the rough surface of the inflated plaything. She cried for a few seconds. After daddy checked that she was not bleeding, she returned to play on daddy's encouragement. She was brave doing that because her wound was painful for the rest of the day.
After we used up all the tickets, they went to the playground. On the way there, we stopped by the center stage to watch some Chinese opera for a few minutes. The twins got bored very soon. They spent quite a long time in the playground. On the way back, we stopped at the stage again to watch a Caucasian woman singing a Mandarin song. Given the twins were in a Mandarin bilingual program, many of their Caucasian classmates also could speak Mandarin well. So it was not a big deal to the kids, though the singer received an enthusiastic applause. We then returned to mommy's booth awaiting her to come off duty. We left the park a little after 2pm.
Since our car was parked far away, mommy said she knew the way out from the back of the park. It turned out not a shortcut at all. Though it was nice to stroll around the neighborhood, the twins complained about being tired. When we finally found our way to the main road, mommy and the twins sat on the side of the road while daddy fetched for the car. When we were almost home, daddy decided to take a detour up the hills. Daddy drove by the nice neighborhood sometimes ago and notice some deers there. Lo and behold, we spotted some deers in someone's front yard as expected. When the twins came off the car and approached the driveway, the bigger father deer with an antler hopped away into the hill slope. The mother deer and a baby deer ran the opposite way. We watched the two deers from a distance, the mother deer also poked her head above the bushes to watch us.
Daddy had seen a family of dears out in our own front yard once, but that was late pass midnight. Since our house was not on the hills, it was kind of rare to see the deers. However, our neighbors who live here for almost 20 years told us that the deers often walk down our street because it was a short cut from the hills into the creek. We probably would see more deers if we went out to the front yard more at night. These people in the hills had to live to deers in their front yard even in the middle of the afternoon. It is fun for a while, but it would be a chore to clean up their poops. Because for household with children, it wouldn't be safe to live around the deers due to possible Lyme disease from their ticks.
We returned home and the twins did some music homework. Daddy's headache and chills returned at the middle of the afternoon. I took couple of Advil pills and went to bed. The twins woke me up around dinner time. We went out the dinner. The food was delicious but was loaded with MSG because daddy got the Chinese Restaurant syndrome, such as shortness of breath, quick heartbeat etc. Chinese food usually made daddy drowsy, but today food must be heavily laced with MSG to produce the much stronger reactions.
The twins played a little after dinner before they went to bed. They didn't ask for a bedtime story again.
Sunday, Sep 19, 2004 (7y+1m+13d)
We went out to lunch with grandma Chui. Mommy stayed home due to her bad mood. The twins requested the grape jelly drink after lunch. Grandma looked at some of our recent photos on the computer screen. Daddy took grandma home at around 4pm. Daddy's toothache attached again. Daddy rested in bed in the afternoon. At 6pm, we went out to dinner with Nicholas, Annette and Isabelle's family. Nicholas' dad Tim returned from Taiwan for a business trip and would stay with the family for a few days. It was Isabelle's dad Jonathan's birthday. We collectively bought their family the dinner. After dinner, we stopped by Annette's home for about an hour. We got home at around 10pm. It was time for bed.
Monday, Sep 20, 2004 (7y+1m+14d)
Daddy got up several times in the night waken by the toothache. At 7:30am, daddy called the dentist office, found out their office hour. Without making an appointment, daddy arrived at the dentist's door at 8:30am. The dentist took an X-ray and checked the swelling under the gum. He concluded that the cracked tooth that was scheduled to be filled tomorrow had already gone bad. The infection reached under jaw and caused a swelling under the tongue. The pain was caused by the swelling. He immediately walked me next door to an endodontist specialist. The dental surgeon did a root canal for me in 1996, he also pulled out all 4 of my sideway embedded wisdom teeth in just 45 minutes years ago. The root canal was scheduled at 11am. After eating a light breakfast, I returned to the dental surgeon's office to wait. While wait, I overheard the receptionist who made appointment with patients telling the callers that the earliest time slot would be Thursday. I felt so lucky that I could squeeze in his tight schedule with just 2 hour notice. I didn't think I could survive for another few days of pain.At 11:30, the operation started. By 1pm, I was out of the clinic. Due to the strong local anesthesia, I had the most relieved 1.5 hour in the past 10 days despite the drilling sound and burning smell of the filling material. The dentists said the pain will come back after the effect of the drug faded away. Before the pain came back, daddy went for a gas fill up at Costco. Went in to buy some construction paper for the twins, I also picked up the "Home on the Range" cartoon for the twins, and a Snow White costume for Joanne. Daddy bought an electric guitar for himself too.
At around 3pm, the twins came home from school. Joanne was excited to see the costume. She originally asked for a Sleeping Beauty costume, but we could never find her size. She immediately put it on. Jasmine put on her Cinderella costume too. Before they arrived home, the twins asked mommy if they could play tennis in the afternoon. Mommy asked them if they still wanted tennis. The twins said in unison, "We want to play princesses." They spent the whole afternoon in their costume even when they did their homework. They had a fight when Joanne scratched Jasmine's hand. Jasmine said she did it on purpose. Jasmine cried for a while. When daddy lectured Joanne that was not nice to make others cry, Joanne cried too. That made daddy the bad guy too.
At around 4:30pm or so, daddy's toothache returned after all the drugs wore off. The pain was unchanged despite the root canal operation. The dental surgeon prescribed a course of penicillin which would stop the infection and eventually eliminate the pain. I was kind of disappointed that the root canal didn't at least reduce the intensity of the pain. I took the pills and went to bed. The pain woke me up again at 6:30pm. The twins were already watching their new DVD. After some pills and dinner, the pain subsided at 8pm or so. The twins were enthusiastic in daddy's electric guitar. They both spent some time strumming the strings with a pick. They went to bed early by themselves. But mommy yelled at them when they couldn't stop talking in bed.
Tuesday, Sep 21, 2004 (7y+1m+15d)
The twins went to school as usual. They had tennis lesson in the afternoon. They played princesses in their costume again after dinner. When they get on bed, they fell asleep within minutes. Mommy said the tennis in the afternoon helped them fall asleep fast.
Wednesday, Sep 22, 2004 (7y+1m+16d)
The twins went to school as usual. They had abacus and music class in the afternoon. They went to bed after they finished their homework.
Thursday, Sep 23, 2004 (7y+1m+17d)
Today is the autumnal equinox. Day light is getting less everyday until the winter solstice. The twins went to school as usual. They had tennis and ice skating class in the afternoon. They finished homework before dinner. They could played to their heart's content before bedtime. The twins played and Joanne laughed so hard that she fell on the floor hitting the carpet with her hands. She wrote at statement on a piece of paper that said: "Dear carpet & floor, Sorry I apoligise because I punch you so hard 7 times. I promise I will never do that again."
Friday, Sep 24, 2004 (7y+1m+18d)
The twins went to school as usual. Mommy and twins went to target. The twins picked a bottle of mouthwash for daddy. In the evening, the twins wanted daddy to demonstrate how to use the mouth wash. Jasmine made a collage picture for daddy. It was on a piece of blue construction paper. It had an island and a palm tree taped to the background via zigzag fold of paper. A dolphin taped on the same way. The zigzag fold of paper allowed the attachment to wiggle around like they were bouncing on a spring. A paper airplane taped in the sky. A paper boat taped to a paper tape that passed to through a hole on the paper. By pulling the tape from behind the picture, the boat would bob up and down like it was on ocean waves. There was another paper tape which upon pulling brought up a drawing of a mermaid above the ocean waves. Jasmine said Joanne helped her make that mermaid.
Saturday, Sep 25, 2004 (7y+1m+19d)
The twins woke up before 9am. Daddy and mommy lingered on bed until about 10am. Mommy made breakfast for them. But Joanne said she want to have lunch early because she was hungry despite the breakfast.We went to lunch with grandma Chui. Just as we sat down at the restaurant, mommy cousin's Ken called. He said Matthew was having a birthday party at a gymnasium in Alameda today. He learned from great grandma that we would be in the neighborhood. He wanted the twins to come to the party too.
After lunch, we dropped off grandma Chui back at her home. We headed to Alameda. Due to his last minute notices, we were 2.5 hours late. We were just in time for the birthday cake and the pinata. The twins were the oldest kids in the party. They were the last to hit the pinata. The kid before the twins cracked the pinata open and all the kids swamped the fallen candies. Though we were late, the twins still got to use some of the gym equipment like the high-low bars and the trampoline.
We went to grandma Ling's place after the party. Cousin Natalie and family arrived just few minutes after us. The twins played with Natalie for awhile.
Daddy taught the twins how to make some paper helicopters. Instead of playing with the one she made herself, Joanne grabbed Jasmine's. When Jasmine fought to take hers back, Joanne ripped it up into pieces. Jasmine cried. Joanne was sent to a time-out for her mean behavior. Daddy told Joanne that only bad people would be mean to others and made others cry. I asked her if she remembered how the wicked queen in Snow White turned out to be. She remembered that the bad queen turned into an ugly witch before she died. Daddy said we didn't want our kids turned into a witch so she had to learn to be nice.
We returned home after dinner. We invited Terence's family over for some dessert and fruit. Terence played with the twins. They tied some strings to "rescue" their dolls from downstairs to the second floor. When it was time for them to go, Terence said he was not ready because he needed to rescue the bears.
Sunday, Sep 26, 2004 (7y+1m+20d)
We went to the 19th annual Pacific Coast Fog Fest in Pacifica near San Francisco. We were there around lunch time. Before we entered the city, we drove through fog as the name of the event indicated. The Fest was just a regular street fair with music and booths for art and crafts and other merchandises for sale. We were attracted to it because of the sand sculpture we saw in the ad. It turned out that there was only one sculpture in the whole fest. The twins were not disappointed because there were many inflated games for kids. They were actually run by the same company that was present at the Moon Festival event last week. The twins liked the jumper house the best. They were grown up now and they did more than just jumping up and down. They did tricks with their jumps, like splitting the legs, tucking and holding the knees in the air etc. The new tricks they did today were landing on their knees and butts and then recovered from the fall and continued the jump as they bounced up from the surface.There were several stages with performance. We stopped at one to watch some belly dancing. It was supposed to be the fog fest, but the fog lifted in the late afternoon. Mommy didn't enjoy the afternoon sun. She returned to the car to take a rest. Daddy and the twins continued to see a car show. We arrived at a school ground at the end of the fair. The city held the 22nd annual Fall Family Fun Fest at the school ground. The twins joined the activities until closing time. We left and got back home before 4:30pm. Mommy got a headache from the afternoon sun. She took a nap while the twins did their abacus exercise. Today's exercise was division by 3. Joanne's work was okay. Jasmine got 12 wrongs in her first 15 answers. Daddy gave up on the checking and asked her to repeat the exercise to double check the answers.
After dinner, we watch the movie "Hidalgo" on DVD. The twins were interested because it was about a Mustang. The twins loved the movie Spirit which was also about a Mustang. Joanne wanted to go to bed at 9:30pm about two third into the movie. They needed to get up in the morning for school. So Jasmine was sent to bed too. Jasmine wanted to see the end of the movie. But daddy told her to watch it again after school tomorrow if they would finish homework early.
Monday, Sep 27, 2004 (7y+1m+21d)
The twins went to school as usual. In the afternoon, uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle arrived from Hong Kong. They went to grandma's home first. Daddy picked them up for dinner in the evening. After dinner, they came to stay at our home.
Tuesday, Sep 28, 2004 (7y+1m+22d)
The twins went to school as usual. They had tennis lesson in the afternoon. Mommy prepared hot pot for dinner. After dinner, we went out to the backyard to admire the full moon. It was the Mid Autumn Festival tonight. We had fruit and moon cake while we enjoyed the moon. The twins and uncle Ronnie made a poem that said,"It is so nice tonight. The moon is shinning so bright so we can see all the mice. My pina calada has too much ice. Thats why I don't need any more sprite..."They liked it so much that they wrote in down on a piece of paper and ran upstairs to make several copies for their friends.
Wednesday, Sep 29, 2004 (7y+1m+23d)
The twins went to school as usual. Mommy dropped off uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle at Santana Row and Valleyfair mall. They had abacus and piano class in the afternoon. We went to Todai for dinner with grandma Chui, aunt Elaine, uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle. Everyone were so full from the buffet that we postponed the cutting of the birthday cake. After the twins finished their homework, their shower and we watched some TV after dinner, Mommy cut her birthday cake. Before we took pictures and sang the birthday song, Joanne pulled the ribbon off the cake. Uncle Ronnie told her that she did it too soon and helped her put back the ribbon. Joanne was upset and ran off to cry. Everyone had to wait for her to get a group picture. Even when we managed to get her into the pictures, she wore a sad face for mommy's happy birthday.
Thursday, Sep 30, 2004 (7y+1m+24d)
The twins went to school as usual. After school they went to practice ice skating with uncle Ronnie. They had their ice skating lesson after their practice session.We had dinner at home. Mommy cooked half the dishes and aunt Elaine bought half in take-out. After dinner, the twins wanted to see daddy and mommy's wedding video. They had never seen the tape before, they recognized many people in the video including uncle Ronnie and their cousin Raymond from Canada. They had a good laugh when they saw cousin Natalie at age 3.
Friday, Oct 1, 2004 (7y+1m+25d)
It was the National day of China. It was a holiday in China and Hong Kong. However, we have no holiday in the US, the twins went to school as usual. Uncle Ronnie, with aunt Michelle and grandma Chui went to visit a childhood neighbor that he had not seen for a decade or two.We had a power failure starting at around lunch time. It lasted until after 11pm.
In the evening, we went out to dinner with Nicholas, Annette and Kevin's families. After dinner, all the families went to Nicholas home so that the kids can play. Since we had no electricity at home, it was the best arrangement. Daddy returned home alone and get out all the candles to light up the house. There was not much to do without electricity, no TV, no light, no nothing. Daddy went to bed early. At around 11pm, uncle Ronnie returned immediately followed by mommy and the twins. Within a few minutes of their return, the power returned too. The twins cheered. Daddy resumed his sleep. The twins went to bed after washing up.
Saturday, Oct 2, 2004 (7y+1m+26d)
After we had a late breakfast, daddy and uncle Ronnie went out to buy a birthday cake for grandma Chui. We picked up grandma on the way home. When we got home, aunt Elaine had also arrived. We then went out together. We headed toward Sausalito. On the way, we stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge's vista point on the Marin County side. We took some pictures and continued to Sausalito. Mommy wanted to stop for a late lunch because we all had only a light breakfast. By the time we are done with lunch, it was 4pm. We continued to our next stop which is the San Francisco Bay Model. We were all disappointed when we found that the visitor center closed at 4pm instead of 5pm as advertised on their website. We headed back to San Francisco. On the way, we stopped at the Marin headland that overlooked the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. They walked to the headland to see the Golden Gate Bridge from above. Mommy wanted to stay in the car, but as the twins ran off after uncle Ronnie, mommy followed. As soon as mommy stepped out the door, her hat flew off the cliff due to the extreme high wind. Daddy accompanied grandma in the car.After we crossed the bridge, we went to Golden Gate Park. We took a hike on the man-made island on the man-made Stow lake. We left at dusk and looked for a restaurant in the Richmond district. Uncle Ronnie bought us a nice dinner to celebrate grandma's birthday. On our way home after dinner, the twins fell asleep. We carried them inside and tried to wake them up for grandma's birthday cake. Jasmine was willing to wake up with reluctance. Joanne refused to wake up, that made daddy mad. I scolded her for ruining mommy's happy birthday a few days ago and she tried to do it again to grandma. After I forced her to tell me if it was a nice thing to do, she got up and became a nice happy baby. The twins sang birthday song to grandma in Mandarin and English. Jasmine even played the song on the piano. We had cake and peach which symbolized longevity in Chinese culture.
After aunt Elaine and grandma went home, the twins went to bed on their own. We chatted till 2 am in the morning because uncle Ronnie would leave the next morning. When uncle Ronnie went to bed, he found a note on his pillow from the twins that read, (sic)
"From Jasmine & Joanne, Even though you looked at me change my clothes and look at me taking a bath. i'm going to call you a theif or ediet for your rest of your life. if you say no come up to us we will say "sorry". and bring up this paper and this one {with an arrow pointing to another card} Jasmine will take care of it.The note used an arrow to point to another card that read, (sic)"From Joanne and Jasmine, Can we call you ediet or theif because you saw Jasmine naked 2 times?"We later found out that in the past few days, Jasmine ran from the bathroom to the bedroom naked after she took her shower. Uncle Ronnie walked up the stairs and saw her twice in her buff by accident. We later told Jasmine that the incidences were unintentional. It was actually her fault because she never listened to our advices. We always asked her to get dressed before leaving the bathroom. Jasmine protested that she didn't mind, but Joanne wrote both the notes. The notes embarrassed uncle Ronnie, though he was glad that the kids were open to express how they felt. It was important that the misunderstanding was clarified upfront.
Sunday, Oct 3, 2004 (7y+1m+27d)
Jasmine woke up early in the morning because we told her yesterday that uncle Ronnie and aunt Michelle would leave for the airport in the morning. She got up before they left. Joanne stayed in bed and she asked daddy if she could stay home instead of going to the airport. Mommy made her get out of bed because she couldn't stay home alone when we went to the airport together. We dropped off them at the airport. Before we got on the highway, Jasmine shed a tear, she said she missed them already. Joanne had no feeling what so ever. When she wanted to stay home in the morning, we could tell she was not going to miss anyone.After a light lunch, the twins did homework and practice piano. After their homework, they popped a CD into the player and listened to music while reading Calvin and Hobbes
In late afternoon, they went out with daddy to play tennis while mommy went grocery shopping. They went to the playground after some other players waited for our court. Claire and her mom would stay over with us tonight for they were repairing the hardwood floor at home. Claire would be better off to stay away from the chemical fume at home. So we invited them to dinner. We had sukiyaki just like hot pot but in Japanese style. All the kids were sent to bed before 10pm. Claire's dad returned home to protect the home despite the fume.
Monday, Oct 4, 2004 (7y+1m+28d)
Claire and her mommy had breakfast with the twins in the morning. They left before the twins left for school. The twins went to school as usual. They played on the lawn at school and their pants and shoes turned green. When mommy asked the twins to take a bath, Jasmine disappeared. Later mommy found Jasmine in her bed. She was tired and headed straight to the bed instead of the bathtub.Claire and Sharleen came to dinner and they stayed over again after dinner. Claire slept with her mom last night. Tonight she slept between the two twins.
Tuesday, Oct 5, 2004 (7y+1m+29d)
Claire and her mommy had breakfast with the twins in the morning. They left before the twins left for school. The twins went to school as usual.Mommy had a toothache and she had a root canal around lunch time. Jill picked up the twins for us after school.
Claire and Sharleen came to dinner and they stayed over again after dinner. Joanne wanted mommy to set up a bed for her in a different room. She said she couldn't sleep because Claire put her legs over her. Claire slept next to Jasmine.
Wednesday, Oct 6, 2004 (7y+2m)
The twins are 86 months old.
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started on Oct 6, 2004