Our vacation from last month continued at the beginning of the August even though we didn't have a concrete plan for the second week. It turned out great and I think we will have more two-week vacation in the future.
Max likes to pose with his "scissors hand" gesture no matter how much I tease him. Sure enough, his little buddy found the teasing to be amusing and started doing it too.
We went to the garden in Victoria. The kids sure made a lot of noise there. We tried to contain them as much as possible and moved along as quickly as we visited one place. They enjoyed the quick tour very much.
Renee liked this little pond very much. It was quiet at the beginning, with an old couple sitting at the bench opposite to this one in the picture. But quickly, the kids discovered that if you run along you can get to the other side of the pond and calling this way. Within half a minute, the area is fully of 10 kids running back and forth calling to each other. I didn't dare to look at that couple at all.
Somehow I like this picture very much. Renee also did a few flips and cartwheel on the grass behind it while we waiting for everyone to catch up and take a break.
We took a one-day break after coming back from the cruise. Then we visited the San Francisco zoo. We have not been here for a while because we didn't really like it. It is always hard to find parking and the animals are ok. But today since it was a work day we had a great time.
We visited the petting zoo. Renee and Max seemed to have lost their confidence with some of these animals.
A good group picture with everyone making the funny faces.
Renee and Max even found a peacock walking around, probably looking for food.
The day after, we took a trip to Yosemite. We did not do a lot of hiking around. But we did hit the popular spots and even saw deer from up close.
We didn't make reservation ahead of time. In the late afternoon, we drove south and got outside park to find a place to stay. For a while we were afraid that we won't be able to find one until it is all dark. But we lucked out and found this very cool place built right on the side of the rock. It had two patios and exclusive access to an area next to a creak running by.
Renee and I explored the area outside the back of the house. I climbed down to get further while she waited and watching.
I went further...
further...
... and ever further until I found a place where I could go across the creak. It is amazing that the whole area can only be accessed from the abck of the house that we stayed.
Next day we first drove to the Glacier Point and took some nice pictures. I hope one day Renee and Max can climb the half dome with us.
Max was playing around and fell on the rock. He cried a bit but quickly recovered. Renee loved the picture above that I took and would not stop talking about it. So Max asked to have one taken too.
We then drove to the Mariposa Grove to hike a bit. The trail here is really good. We didn't take the tram tour but hiked up to see the trees.
This is as far as we reached. In the future, we will come back and see how far we can really go.
After coming back from Yosemite, we went to Bodega Bay. We were hoping to get a horse ride, thinking it would be easy on a workday. It turned out during the workday they wouldn't have that many staff so it is only harder to get a ride. Nevertheless, we had a great time playing on the beach. I ever saw a guy playing two stunt kits with both hands.
During the weekend, Max caught up with his old pal Mitchell in the park.
After two more weeks at home, the school starts! This year, Max is going to school too! I am guessing that he has been looking forward to it because that is where the sister does in the past two years.
Max was enrolled to the emersion class, learning Mandarine as well as English. Renee was on the waiting list and she finally got in this year too. I didn't care about it before. But after spending many hours and energy telling them to speak Mandarine while inside the house, I am happier with them getting opportunity to speak Chinese at school.
On the first day, it was a short day. I stayed and picked up Max at the front of the school.
Max went with mom to Boomers and played some golf.
Renee went with me around the town, watched a movie and fed the duck while waiting for the movie.
Renee also went with me to a volunteer work, where we prepared food for homeless. She did a good job cutting the beans.
At the civic center, Max showed off his newly-learned skill: monkey bar!
As the soccer season coming to an end, Renee's team got together for dinner to celebrate. The moms put pictures together and created a album as a gift to the coach. We are really lucky to have a great coach, who taught himself everything on the training.
I went as a chaperone with Renee and her two other classmates to see a play: the Wizard of Oz.
Max gets funny sometimes and makes silly moves.
I took Renee and Max to the Exploratorium, where we located a geocache near by. Unfortunately, the Exploratorium was not open on that day. We ended up going to the Fishermen's Wharf.
They really liked the new comet structure outside the Exploratorium.
Renee lost her first tooth! She wrote a lovely letter to the tooth fairy asking for a million dollars. Tooth fairly tried very hard to handle the delicate situation and gave her one dollar. Renee said, "one dollar can still be useful."
As a family tradition, we bought the Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving.
As usual, we built Christmas tree with lights!
Renee and Max had a lot of fun decorating the tree.
We took a picture as a proof that we were ready for the holiday!
