Happy 80th to my dad

Happy 80th bday to my dad. We took a bunch of his friends to lunch today to celebrate. Two cakes, flowers, balloons and an all you eat buffet lunch. Salmon sashimi was the best followed by warm sesame ball dessert.

For dinner we had the traditional long life noodles and yummy sauce my mom makes. I definitely gained a few pounds. Glad I can come this weekend and surprise my parents for his birthday.

Alexis won this on Monday

She got this In front of the whole school. She is one of two in her class.

Alexis art project on legacy

She thought to create footsteps as symbols of legacy. Pretty creative.

Alexis Christmas poem

She literally just wrote it in the last 30 min. I am biased I know but I am amazed.

Plank trick alexis and mommy

While waiting for Thanksgiving dinner at home, Alexis has time to get creative for me to help her be supergirl 🤭🥰🤗

Lei

Happy Thanksgiving

Two days of feasting starting with hot pot in our backyards with friends yesterday to today Dimsum in Chinatown and grilled branzino and jerk chicken for dinner tonight

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Smarter pants Alexis

Alexis just took the standardized test on sixth grade and she is im the top 5% for math with proficient for 9th grade math right now. Go girl. Her reading is good at sixth grade level which is also good. 🥰. She loves her new school. We are so happy for her

Alexis eating her first salmon avocado sushi

Alexis loves the avocado only sushi so far and told me she was curious to try the one with salmon and avocado. I gave her some and she loved it.

First day of sixth grade for Alexis

Today is august 23, 2023 and Alexis first day of sixth grade at Saint peter and Paul in north beach. She is a middle schooler. Yay. Growing up so fast.

Lei
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Isabel’s amazing dance performance

Isabel attended a summer dance workshop for the last 9 weeks and just had two performances this weekend.  She did such a good job.  We are so proud and happy for her.  See for yourself. ❤️🥰🤗

Isabel dance performance - Aug 2023 youtu.be

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SeaWorld 2023

We are on the first trip together with my parent post COVID in San Diego. We spent 6 hours at sea world from 10-3:30pm

Highlights are
- whale show
- dolphin show
- sea otter and sea lion show
- manta ride. Isabel and I went twice in a row
- turkey leg for $18 fed 3 -4 of us. Stuff pretzels $8 $ regular hotdog $11 and it wasn't big. Churro $11. Small dipping dots $11. I guess we are helping SeaWorld with their rescue fund.
- Alexis and I fed the sea lions as well $8 for 4 fishes and a bird stole one of the fishes from Alexis hand.
- one otter beanie for Alexis and one baseball cap for mom. smiles on their faces were priceless 🥰

Also went and had encounters with cleaner fish that nibbles on your hand and touched small sharks with two figures. All in all a very nice day 65 degrees

Tips
- they don't really check your backpack as long as it pretty small so could bring snacks and food in like a sandwich or something even though they say no outside food or drink
- going on a Monday has shorter hours but less people for rides. No need for reserved seating of front of the line pass
- buy lunch right before noon and eat it at the orca whale show as the lines are short. All visitors are already sitting at the show by 11:50am. 😬
- we bought tickets via city pass so it's $162 per adult for SeaWorld and 3 other attractions in one week.

Isabel just made this spread

For a day time movie hangout with the family. Watching wakanda forever! 😬

Isabel’s homecoming video

We made a whole afternoon of isabel homecoming dance since it's her first one in high school.  We started with a updo by Jonathan and then makeup by Tracy.  I never had this when I was a kid but I knew she would want to try it.    We also had a chance to grab pizza in between. It was really fun to help her get ready.   In exchange let me do a photo shoot of her in our courtyard. 🥰

 Even Alexis had fun as we had a chance to go to Ross while we waited and I helped her study for her Chinese test.  

Of course, being Chinese, I made sure Isabel knew how much everything cost so she doesn't take it for granted.   😂. After the dance she actually said "mom, next time I think I want to try doing my own hair and make up. It's time I know how to tie my hair in a bun and stuff! ". 🤗

Here is the video of our afternoon and her dance at the end.  Pictures with her friends are all at the end of the video. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/Fio1kpJCMIw

Lei

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Isabel 9th grade homecoming

Isabel went to her first homecoming dance at sacred heart. She said she had a great time. They had free dipping dots, donuts, caricature artists, phone booth and of course dj. All for $20 a ticket.

She went with her best Zoe who goes to a different school. They had fun. It was from 7-10pm at her school. Very tight security especially around liquids which was great.

Isabel is 14 and 5'6" already. She looked fabulous. Many thanks to agnes who lend her this very stylish dress.

My Europe Trip Experience

I just got back from Europe and am happy to report that the trip was an amazing experience! 

In Denmark, my team won the b-bracket cup and it was a great warm-up tournament for our bigger competition in Sweden. Compared to Cup No.1 in Denmark, the Gothia cup in Sweden was ten times larger with 59 countries participating.

There, we played 7 teams and fought hard to make it to the quarter-finals. We lost narrowly to the best team in Norway in the quarter-finals (0-1). It was a tough loss but we gave it our best and learned to compete at the highest level.

Overall, this experience has taught me how to be independent, how to be a better defender on the field, and how to be a better team player.

Thank you all for supporting me in my unforgettable journey!