June 30, 2011

• Hm. A bit photo-happy and wordy this past week.

  When we came back from our Alaskan cruise, all the fieldtrips for Zach’s summer school were full. For some variety, we decided to sign him up for daycamp at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center. He had a blast! Throughout the course the week, the campers canoed to Blackberry Island (where the kids had a picnic lunch and played with tadpoles), went kayaking, learned how to standup paddle board, and did a bunch of water activities similar to the TV contest ‘Wipe Out.’

  

  His favorite day was when they learned how to sail; he was beaming when he told me about it (especially the capsizing part) and even drew me a picture at home with all the major sailboat parts labeled. Thursday evening, there was an open house, where kids could showcase their new skills. Zach took me sailing on Lake Natomas and challenged me to jump ‘lily pads’ (inflatable discs.)  I was previously concerned about the ~100 degree heat and being miserably sweaty … but after playing in the ice cold water myself, I realized it wasn’t too hot at all. And retrospectively, I’m glad I chose that week since the following week was cold and rainy! The only downside was that drop offs and picks ups were a bit tough since the camp ran from 8-3:30pm … they let kids stay until after 5pm, but most kids were picked up earlier. In all, highly recommended for energetic kids who are comfortable in water!

  

  Thursday (quick shower after the Aquatic Center open house  ) Lori, Melissa, Megan, Rachel, Sandy, and I got together with Kathy to celebrate her 39th birthday with Persian food at Shahrzad. What a delicious dinner – and I loved hearing about all my friends’ travels … from Kathy’s Machu Picchu hike to Lori and Sandy’s vacation plans later this year. I brought some cupcakes to share (My last $8 for 6 Icing on the Cupcake Groupon), but I wasn’t impressed by my selection. I wanted to try new flavors, and I probably should have just stuck with my favorites. Oh well … leftover cupcakes = saved calories, right? Happy Birthday Kathy!

  

  Friday, Sam, Melissa, Kathy, and I played Mahjong. Karen, who has been working too much overtime lately, joined us later for drinks and conversation. I told James I’d be back before midnight since I was feeling tired (my cough had been keeping me up at night) … but as usual, when my friends and I start talking … yea … didn’t get home until after 1am.

  

  Saturday, James took Calie to gymnastics class. Since I still wasn’t feeling 100% (damn allergies), we opted to take it easy most of the day, with no real plans until the evening. For dinner, I took the kids to Sam’s house while James went to JP’s Hawaiian themed summer party.  With the anti-salmonites out of the way (Melissa was at a wedding), Sam grilled wild Sockeye for me, Karen, Kathy, Rachel and our families. We had a “choice” of a citrus vinaigrette or creamy dill sauce. Choice in quotes since I obviously took a heaping scoop of each!

  

  I brought a salad to share, as this summer, Intel has been hosting farmer markets Thursday afternoons. Excellent for a midweek replenish of  local organic produce. Thanks to Sam for inviting us!

  

  Sunday, the kids went to their swim lessons, followed by more swimming at Evie’s 2nd birthday. The kids had a great time in the water; the weather was perfect, and I love that they are getting more opportunities to swim.

   

  I was very impressed by the 2-tier butterfly cake that Jigme made for Evie … what a  labor of love! Happy 2nd Birthday Evie!

   

  

  The past 2 weeks also included a few work events. Last Tuesday evening, after the F2F, our staff went out to a bar for socializing/networking. I opted out of the poker game, but did play a few rounds of pool. Despite taking tips from my coworker (use a napkin when shooting?!), I lost miserably. On Friday afternoon, the whole site was invited to a work celebration at Dave & Busters. James and I enjoyed a yummy (but unhealthy) buffet and played arcade games. My numerous eye exams proved to be good practice for a child’s apple catching game. Since Zach’s daycamp ended at 3:30pm, we left early to pick the kids up.

  

  This Tuesday was “Kids to Work” day, and it was the first year Zachary was old enough to attend. Each child could register for 1 workshop, but everything was filled before I could sign him up. Luckily, we got in a Robotics (Mindstorms) class via waitlist. Their mission was to program a robot to go down a specific path, dump candy into its repository, and bring it back to home base. Zachary’s team was close, but did not succeed.  They got candy at the end anyway.

  

  I also took Zach around a conference room, where they had hands-on science experiments and demos. Zachary made a marshmallow tower, used Borax to make a bouncy ball,  experimented with conductivity, learned about vortexes, and saw a can crashing, cloud creating, and marshmallow shrinking demo, showcasing the impact of air pressure.

  

  Then it was lunch in the cafeteria with both me and James (and a few of my coworkers.) There were other events, but they required parent participation. Since Zach didn’t seem that interested in the other events, and James/I didn’t plan on being out of the office (we both had meetings lined up), we made it a half day event and took him back to summer school after lunch.  After work, we joined Ki, Sara, Melissa, and their families for a impromptu BBQ at JP’s. In addition to burgers and hotdogs, JP’s mom made yellow curry over rice … perfect for a cold rainy day! And while I probably shouldn’t have (exercise has taken a backseat lately), I indulged in chips laden with artichoke jalapeño dip and a hearty slice of cheesecake. Kids were entertained watching ‘Tangled’ and playing games of UNO. Thanks John for hosting! 

  

  I’m loving all the fun events, but it’s making the summer go by WAY too fast – I can’t believe we’re almost in July already!

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