Winter Break in San Jose
Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!We had a fun time back home for Christmas. Emily made a daily schedule to make sure we didn't get bored, but we ended up following parts of it here and there.
We saw friends:
Sean and LaReen had a time share near the south entrance at Yosemite that they had to use. So we went up and joined them. You can see our view from the window on the right. While Daddy Sean and Christian went skiing, the rest of us stayed at the condo, ate, played the wii, slept and walked around the Bass Lake. We drove over to Fish Camp - the closest town - and ate pizza. It was great bonding time for Taisei and Lukie. The had such a fun time playing together, Taisei wouldn't go to bed at night.Mmm. Eggnog!
Wii fun!
The next weekend, we met up with the Adaniyas and Luangraths for dinner. Taisei and Lukie were delighted to see each other again. We tried to eat at Tanto, but the manager was so rude to the kids that we left and went to Todai. That was a perfect alternative - the waitress was awesome, and we could just relax and eat at our own leisure. Thanks to Sean for treating!
(I stole your picture, LaReen!)
I got to see high school friends, some that I haven't see for many years. Emmy, Steve, Ken, and Becky. All my high school friends seem to be super successful. I guess that's how they can afford to live in the Bay Area. :) We had dinner at Ariake - amazingly low prices for Japanese. (*5 dollar rolls? Chirashi sushi with all kinds of fish for 12 bucks? Wow! Maybe not the highest quality, but not bad either)
We got to see Kaori, Andrew and their new baby, Cole. What a BIG BOY! The cool thing is that Kaori and her family have now moved into the neighborhood (where I grew up, anyway). But I realized that we don't really know where to eat in the Almaden area. We always drive over to Milpitas or Saratoga. So when Kaori asked for suggestions, the only place I could think of was Ariake! Duh.
We hung out with family:
We had Chinese buffet and then got to see Gina and Ricky's brand new, posh house. All the grass was artificial - very cool!
Of course, Taisei received gifts. We all received gifts. Too many gifts. Taisei's already at an age where he has associated Christmas with gifts. We have to figure out a way to make Christmas less about gifts, and more about the reason for the season. More than one or two gifts, and we can't even keep track any more. Right? Please share with us any suggestions/traditions you have to help keep Christmas in perspective for the family.
We're all laughing here b/c I think Taisei pushed
the button and then was goofing off with Adele.
This ended up being the best shot!
Two main things we followed off of Emily's agenda was a temple trip and a kayaking trip. The trip to the Oakland temple was cool because we did service for family members on the Yu-side from over 500 years ago! My dad knew stories about several of the names. I learned the name of the man who brought our family to Taiwan. But I forgot. I'll post some geneology posts when I find out again. While we were at the temple, Taisei had a great time with Emily and Aaron. They took Taisei on a bike trailer and on a bike seat for his first time and he loved it. We have since bought Taisei a helmet for the next time he gets an opportunity to ride again. He asks all the time, "I want a bike!" Here's Taisei and his cousin, Samuel.
The kayaking trip was pretty cool. My dad rented two two-seaters for Me/Wami and Emily/Aaron. We kayaked in a place called Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing. It's in the middle part of the Monterey Bay, somewhere between Carmel and Santa Cruz. I'm not exactly sure what the geographical name of such an inlet into the ocean is called, but we basically paddled right by the ocean and went inland about 2 miles.
The water flows inland or out to sea depending on the tide. I do know that the place is an estuary - there were animals everywhere. We were supposed to stay 100 feet away from everything, but we couldn't get away fast enough from all the harbor seals, sea otters, and birds. We saw a sea otter crack open a giant clam with a huge rock from point blank range. Cool! Emily's got way better details about the birds and other animals at the bottom of her post here.The red in this picture is our actual path.
Taisei was crazy:
Some parts of this trip were rough because Taisei had just started his "terrible twos." I thought that the terrible twos was a myth, especially since Taisei was already in his late twos. But I have now seen it with my own two eyes. The terrible twos are REAL. He became unreasonable, rebellious, and short-tempered. I found myself even rethinking my fatherhood abilities. It got so bad, it even got on grandpa's nerves. I didn't know that grandparents were capable of getting mad at grandchildren. Now that we're back, Taisei seems to have calmed back down greatly. It's very true that kids need their familiar routines and regular schedules. I'll try to blog about Taisei's recent developments in more detail here. Overall, we had a great time.
If we missed you (my Cal and high school buddies) on this last trip, we hope to be able to see you next time!
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9 comment(s):
What a fun break! Ailing was potty trained at least at home, but since we went back to DC for the holiday, it kind of going back for a while and that worried me deeply. She had fun with other kids and family members.I was afraid that she would be unhappy when she was at home without all those people nearby. To my surprise, she is happy and she sure does love to have routines without her realizing that. She was spoiled a little though, and now she fights for what she wants. We have another problem to resolve. :(
By
Amber(怡文), at
1/14/2009 6:31 AM
I think kids all go through this stage. They're already testing our patience at 2 years old! I found that it was time for me to get more consistent and more clear about the rules. Ailing's about to have another big change. Good luck!
By
Jerin, at
1/14/2009 9:32 AM
That Christmas picture just makes me laugh to look at it. We were getting so frustrated with the kids, and yet they took the best picture! You can really tell we're all laughing hard.
Kenny Lee has twin girls?
Fish Camp and Bass Lake! We have pictures on our blog from our trip there last year.
Christmas suggestions. We have a few nativity scenes. I never thought they were cool growing up, but now they are great. Adele loves to play with them. We try to talk about Christmas every family home evening night in December. I made her Mary and Joseph dress up clothes (That's the thing Taisei was wearing at our house). Aaron won't even pretend Santa's real, because he wants her to know about Jesus. Although we still do Santa, he just doesn't pretend he's someone else. We learn alot of Christmas songs. Next year I am going to make her give away some of her toys FIRST, so she can understand more about giving. Oh, I made her buy some presents with her "own money" that she earned. But yeah, it was frustrating that she kept wanting to open more presents.
I thought I was lucky that Adele skipped her terrible two's, until she hit two and a half, and BOY was she terrible. You're right about consistency. I noticed a little flexibility is important too. Sometimes I was so firm on my rules that it only fed into a worse tantrum. I was torn between being inconsistent or being unbending. But in the end it all worked out, and I know you will do a great job. Familiarity does help for sure, Adele's tantrums also ended when we left Fremont. By the way, Taisei never had tantrums when he was with us alone, just when his parents were around. They really are trying to push the limits at that age. Adele did the same - she usually only had the explosive tantrums around her parents.
By
Aaron and Emily, at
1/14/2009 12:16 PM
Come to think of it, that's true. I have never seen a tantrum in my 2-hours of nursery each Sunday. And most kids only act up when their parents are in the room. Interesting how that is.
By
Jerin, at
1/14/2009 2:13 PM
So... Trrible two is ture huh? I heard so much about it.. Good luck. I guess Little H still has a little more time for that. Huhhhhh.
By
Fuku_chan, at
1/16/2009 11:38 AM
HEYYYYYY Wami and Jerin!!
It's Charlotte Tateoka. I met you guys through Irene and all of them my freshman year at BYU. I'm the ABJ; maybe Wami remembers that. Anyway, I'm visiting Irene in France right now and she showed me your blog. YOU GUYS HAVE A KID!!! He's sooooo cute. soshite nihongo shabereru ne. sasuga Wami. kare wa hontou ni kawaii. 10gatsu dendo kara kaete kita. sendai dendoubu datta.. hontou ni yokatta. it's great seeing what you guys are up to.
By
Charlotte, at
1/17/2009 5:32 AM
Hey Jerin,
A small part of this post got me all interested in your family history. I would love to read more about the man who brought your family to Taiwan. Looking forward to that post.
Good job successfully potty trained Taisei!
By
Unknown, at
1/17/2009 4:58 PM
That eggnog pic of Taisei and Luke is so cute. I can't believe how big Sean and LaReen's kids are getting.
You guys always play hard when you travel :)
By
Esther, at
1/17/2009 10:24 PM
How fun to read your new post! Well, it has always been! I'm glad you guys had a great Christmas in California. It's always nice to visit your family and some old friends, and to spend lots of awesome time with them! Too bad we didn't get to see you guys when we were in Utah in December. We totally missed each other! Next time we definitely need to get together when we go to America again or when you guys come to Taiwan! Hahaha... : )
Taisei looks so darn cute with his "Eggnog" mustache! Sorry to hear about Taisei's terrible twos. Rainny started her terrible twos really early, like shortly after she turned 1 and it's always been difficult for us since then. I think all kids will naturally grow out of it-it's only a matter of how soon or how late. That's why a lot of people always say "being a parent is not an easy thing" because you have all kinds of different challenges at different stages. All we can do is try our best to do what we should do, and I think you mentioned a very important thing in the parenthood-"to be consistent!"(That's what Adam has always been telling me...hahaha!)
Well, we really miss you guys and Hiro a lot! Hopefully we'll get to see you guys again soon!
By
Nicole, at
1/19/2009 7:59 PM
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