Camping and Hollywood

The major events of the month are the camping and visit to Universal Studio

Cub Scouts Pack996 that Max is in had another great overnight campout. The next day morning, we went out for a short hike around the area. This is the highest point where we rested.

Renee was part of the event as the sibling. Next year she will be able to join a Scouts BSA troop for girls. I have been working with other parents to make this a reality.

San Ramon is building up its downtown, with a newly built outdoor mall. We paid it a visit in one evening.

During the Memorial Day, I took Max and his good buddy, Ben, to the place where I work. In the afternoon, I took them outside and walked around the nice area.

Max started his new design for the Pinewood Derby car, named "The Max". Again.

During the Thanksgiving, we visited the Hollywood Universal Studio. This is the Harry Potter section. Renee loved it so much.

We even enjoyed the butterbeer! It came in frozen and cold.

Prep. Month

This month does not appear to have produced a lot of pictures. The truth is that we are kicking off a couple of activities (Scouts, Destination Imagination), just not picture worthy at the moment.

Max visited Oakland Museum with his Den in Cub Scouts.

On the same day, we turned around and caught the belt test in Max' kungfu class. Max passed the belt test and earned his red-and-black belt.

This is Shifu Li, who has been great for teaching kungfu for both Max and me.

Max barely made it through his Starwars song during the recital. He was happy though.

Renee did pretty well with her piece. I was impressed myself. She played Sweet Bye and Bye. 

We did the traditional visit to the pumpkin patch. This time we gave Renee and Max each $10 to buy anything they wanted. Max got a kettle corn and shared with the family.

Shasta Boating Trip and Scouting

At the beginning of the month, we rented a houseboat with a few other families and spent three nights, two full days at Lake Shasta. It was quite a trip!

We stopped at a carven by the lake. It was really pretty inside. It was cold too!

The night before, we parked our boat down there at the bay. I remember we looked up and saw this building, and wonder who in the world would live there!

We tied a rubber boat at the back of our houseboat, and let the kids get in and have some fun ride.

Max learned how to rowboat during our Canada trip and practiced during one of the Cub Scouts Den meetings. This time, he was able to jump in and enjoy himself.

As the school year starts, we signed up for our annual Popcorn fundraising again! This time, Max is one of the big brothers in the crowd, with a new uniform and all.

We also went with other Webelos scouts in the pack to the Council Webeloree weekend, a full Saturday packed with tons of fun.

Max has started learning Saxophone.

Renee is helping me build a flag stand structure for the Cub Scouts.

Max has started at a new school this year. This is his best buddy in the old school. They still see each other during all the Pack and Den events.20" ents.

Slow Month with the School Starting

August was a slow month with everything finishing up preparing for the school.

I took Max to the place I work. He played the games and pool inside the building. Then we went outside and walked around the area.

Max is getting a new uniform as a Webelos scout! We had a first meeting with the Den, which has grown into size of 10 this year.

Renee is going to the Middle School this year! She starts walking to and from school by herself this year, a huge milestone that did not go unnoticed.

Max was selected to attend the APT class so he is going to a new school too.

We visited our favorite place to feed the ducks.

Max has been enjoying the new Kungfu school that he is now in. He is working on his basic forms with the hope to be enlisted to the school team and go on competitions.

Last summer before getting ready for school

Looking back at the picture, I am surprised at the many places we visited in one month.

We went with a scout family on "white water" rafting. I use air quote here because when I arrived the starting point, pretty everyone brought a water gun. That one in the picture is the most popular one because it can shoot furthest. The kids stood in front of the raft and yelling like pirates.

We also went on a road trip to Bend, Oregon. This is the Crater Lake we visited along the way.

This is the river running through Bend and right next to the hotel that we stayed in. We went on a kayaking trip in one day and a tubing event the next day.

This is the high dessert museum to the south of Bend.

To be honest, they seem to have more of these fake things. The whole place was nice just more like a park than museum.

The lava tube was the highlight! We went underground, literally pitch black, for a mile. It was so cold and we were really grateful that the mom remembered to bring think jackets.

Here is another nice pond we visited, next to a waterfall. We didn't climb all the way to waterfall. We did see a really nice big dog along the way.

During one of the late afternoons, we rented two bickes and rode along the river bank.

When visiting this park, Renee and Max ventured down trail with me. We climbed some narrow path and got to the inside of a big waterfall.

Max attended another day camp with his good friend Ben. This year, they are old enough such that they got to spend the night at this place.

We also went down to Monterey Bay for a overnight trip.

Here is the Bed & Breakfast place we stayed at.

We visited another museum. It was small but surprisingly good.

Max and Renee had some fun outside the museum too.

Cub Scouts Day Camp

Renee finished her last year at Bella Vista with a school open house. She is going to join her old friends at Quail Run by attending Gale Ranch Middle school.

Renee also finished her lessons at the Jazz school with a recical. We were all able to tell that she greatly enjoyed the experience. Unfortunately, she has decided to cut down her classes to focus for the new year.

Max went on a Martial Art competition and won a second prize!

We also attended the annual Cub Scouts Day Camp.

Here is Renee with her unit at the Day Camp.

We got ot do some geocaching too!

Lastly, Renee got to ride the Kart by herself.

Going Global

Renee finished another year of dancing with the recital. She was really happy and got to see some of her DI friends watch her perform. She was really excited!

Max finished another year of school with the show-n-tell. He also finished 3rd grade and is going to Bella Vista next year for fourth grade and ATP program just like Renee! He will miss his friends like Ben. (Also his friend Emersyn moved to Utah)

This year marks Renee's third year competing at Destination Imagination (DI). This year her team did really well such that they scored 1st on regional, 2nd on state, and 5th during the global competition. Her team won the lottery and attended the ceremony representing California state.

When Mom and Renee were away, I took Max on geocaching trips. He found so many geocaches that there aren't any geocaches near us that Max and I haven't found. Hopefully, someone will make some more, maybe a chain of them! 

We also visited the Oakland Zoo. The animals were so cool! Renee and Max were very excited to see all the cute animals. We even saw lion fighting!

Max rode the train all by himself while at the Oakland Zoo. He had lots and lots of fun!

Renee visited the Coca-Cola museum during her trip to Atlanta, Georgia. She learned about the secret recipe to make Coca-Cola, she learned about the history. Most exciting, she tasted more than 50 flavors from around the world! (One tasted like toothpaste).

Lastly, we attended the annual Wind and Art festival at San Ramon and played with a kite. Finally, Renee and Max can fly their kite way up high without my help. Renee also got a kite burn.