Our 2024 Holiday Letter

Wishing you a happy holidays and wonderful 2025 full of adventure, fun, and new learning!  2024 has been quite a year for the Lapena family :) 

Alexis is now in 7th grade at SSPP (Saint Peter and Paul) and turned 13 on Dec 15.  She celebrated with her good friends from school.  They played an escape game - Timeliner at Fisherman Wharf, then had dim sum at Begoni Bistro, our favorite place in Chinatown and finished the party at our place for gifts and games.   

Alexis loves her  middle school and made such good friends.  Her bestie is Joanna (the girl to her right in this picture) and they do everything together - dressing up as twins for Halloween, sing in the Xmas show, playing games at school, helping each other study.  She is also thriving in school being on the Principal's honor roll.  Besides school, Alexis plays with SF United in competitive soccer.  She plays right wing and dabbles into striker position as well and is also starting to make good friends there.

Isabel is in 11th grade at Sacred Heart Cathedral, SHCP and is 16.5 years old (Wow where did it time go???)  She is blossoming into a strong, confident young woman.  Don't get me wrong.  She has all the teenage angst and attitude as well, but in between those moments, she is simply amazing and is growing into her own.   

She selected four AP or Honor classes + 4 regular classes; a heavy load.  I actually tried to talk her out of one of the AP classes, but she refused.  I'm happy she is already such an independent thinker.  She also has a strong group of friends from school - Gabby and Matthew being her primary besties and all nerdy brainiacs.

She was looking forward to another year of competitive soccer, but life had other plans as she tore her ACL and meniscus during a scrimmage in late July.   With the new free time from soccer, she joined choir, a robotics competition, and helped her Filipino club win first place in the Parol design contest - Filipino Christmas lantern.   She just had a four hour surgery on Dec 20th and is now recovering at home.   There was a lot of pain and groaning coming home and then I was amazed when she got on her crutches, all of a sudden, to go to the bathroom the same night.  She is a tough cookie.   It will take 9-12 months to recover.  2025 will be an interesting year.   I know Isabel will rise above it and make it a great year!

Jaime and I had a very fun year traveling. We are truly blessed to be able to do this..   

- 5 days in Puerto Vallarta just the two of us

- 10 days in Oahu with the family for spring break

- 2 weeks+ just the two of us in Europe - Rome, 3 cities in Croatia, and then Lisbon. First time flying business class cross continental - we are not going back to economy :-)

- Long weekend in Las Vegas to visit Jaime's parents

- 9 nights in Miami and Montego Bay in Jamaica.  This picture is from Dunn's River, a day trip to Ocho Rio, Jamaica.  Weather in November was quite nice. We lucked out and avoided most of the ring.  81 degrees

- I went solo long weekend in Houston to visit my parents in December.

I love planning travel so cannot wait to see where we will go in 2025.  Priority will be for Isabel to visit colleges and also spend time with my parents perhaps on another cruise. 

Work wise, things are stable and the pay is supporting our lifestyle well.  I am practicing putting work as my 4th priority in life.  It's mostly working.  I work regular hours and don't really think about it on weekends and have unlimited vacation :-).  It's been good to be able to contribute but be mostly detached.  In my free time, I still dance with my bayclub group and also go salsa dancing.

Jaime work is also going fairly well in building something that can really scale long-term.  It will just take a bit of time.   He still teaches Escrima every weekend and now is going back to Capoeira and boxing.  

We are both broadening our views of life beyond work - what really makes us happy in the second half of of our lives and also how to focus on the most precious aspect - family, freedom, and health.  

In 2025, we will look for more ways to enjoy life, slack off productively, and have purpose all at the same time.  We know it's possible!

Early Xmas party with Alondra, Sofia and michael

We celebrated early Xmas with one of jaime cousins - michael, Alondra and Sofia. We went to STK for happy hour in our matching pyjama pants and came home to open presents for Lexi

Happy 13th birthday to Alexis

A very happy 13th birthday to Alexis. Now I have two teenager girls. Ahhhhh. She had so much fun with her friends from school
- we did escape game
- we had dim sum for lunch
- we played games and opened presents at home
- then our cousin came over for a second party and Xmas celebration. ❤️🥰🤗

My parents summer 2024 visit

This happened last minute. We talked last Monday and they were here by last wed and stayed until Wed :-). Was lucky to get a very good deal on direct flights with miles.

Very happy that my parents were able to visit me and escape from the heat of houston. They walked everyday on the Embarcadero 5k steps at least. We also had yummy Chinese breakfast in Chinatown once and dim sum for lunch once plus lots of cooking and learning at home.

A nice long weekend north of SF

We had a nice long weekend north of San Francisco. We stayed at a great airbnb in occidental /camp meeker and went to three places nearby

- on the way, we went to Point Reyes lighthouse - it was very windy and take 0.4 miles hike plus 313 steps to get there but was beautiful
- went to bodega bay for a nice lunch at fisherman's cove and went to schoolhouse beach. That was full with beautiful pebbles instead of sand. Kids had fun and collected a full jar of them to be used for an art collage later
- lastly went to monte rio beach and did some paddleboarding by Russian River. Only 10 min from our airbnb and a nice 85 degrees

On the way back we stop at sushi tri for a late lunch in Novato. Everyone loved it. And also found a great mango fruit and shaved ice stand to get some desserts

Overall a lovely trip with pretty nice weather.

Split Croatia june 27- July 1

This was us in split, croatia. We did many things there and really loved it. Our Airbnb was very convenient - two minute Walk to the promenade.

We did
- walking tour of Dalmatian Palace
- Full day trip to the krka waterfalls including swimming and wine tasting
- a luxurious speedboat trip to blue Lagoon and trogir
- fun night outings with dancing on a boat and meeting young Irish travelers at shotgun bar

Overall, we loved split. Food was also good and had high variety. 😋

3rd day in Rome - Vatican City tour

Our third day in Rome started with great street food. Trapizzinos for 5 euros each. Amazingly crispy bread yummy fillings.

We then did an exhausting. Skip the line Vatican city Museum tour. Was manic full of people and way too much art. Sistine chapel was a dark boxy place. I imagine it full of light and it was not. We did enjoy a few of the guides stories but for the most part was a rushed ordeal.

Day2 evening in Rome

We went to a rooftop bar on day 2 and then had dessert before a nice seafood soup and pasta dinner

Walking tour of Rome

Today started with a nice breakfast for 12 euros and then a walking tour of Rome. We went to the famous Trevi fountain and a few other hidden and main sites. All in all a great morning on our second day.

Coliseum tour in Rome.

Our expensive tour of the coliseum was worth it. Learned a lot of history of this brutal place and enjoy our tour with 20 other people. We rest after by having a light dinner of beef carpaccio, and burrata plate with fresh focaccia bread plus three drinks. Overall an excellent afternoon and evening of our first full day in Rome.

First lunch in Rome

Our first day in Rome started with fresh pomegranate juice and fresh cut watermelon then a classic lunch of veal prosciutto meatballs, carbonara and a salad in a nearby restaurant. You can literally run into a good Italian pasta or pizza place any direction we walked. I usually check Google to make sure it's at least 4 stars rating. This one was Osteria la Quercia 4 min walk from us and delicious. We then walked around our area after lunch to see some nearby site. Nap was in order before our 4 pm tour of the coliseum. That's the next post

TAP Portugal business class

First time flying TAP Portugal business class with layflat bed and very good food and snacks. It was a bit turbulent but I slept at least 4-5 hours out of the 10 hour journey

Lei’s pride dance show June 2023

This is from last June.  We are performing a different one this year in June. Wish me luck. 

Dance performance for pride june 2023 youtu.be

Sent from my iPhone

Alexis’ poetry

Alexis wrote all these poems on her own and based on learning from school. My favorite one is the last one on love. I am so in awe of her creativity. So proud of her. ❤️

Happy Mothers Day to me

Mother's Day was Sunday. I was busy taking Alexis to soccer but did end up taking her to lunch and going out to dinner with the family. Also watched a rom com called Upgraded with Alexis. It was very cute. Isabel made the first card below first 4 photos. Alexis made the second one in canva photos 5-7. Last one is bought by daddy. Jaime writes the best cards. 🥰. I am blessed.