June 2023 Part 2 (Outings With Friends, Summer Fun, College Orientation, Manny's Trip, Prayer Meeting)

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program for those connected to me on social media. My Facebook was taken down for a bizarre reason and without warning, maybe due to a bot mistake or a hacker. I filed an appeal and am trying other routes.  

Back to the blog:

Finishing up here with June 2023, the end of the school year and beginning of summer. I tried to do some fun things with the kids, sort of like a staycation. Some of that was because Isaac felt wistful not having traveled much in his childhood. A lot of being at home was of course due to Covid, but we had other issues like scheduling. I went to the park a LOT with Isaac to play ball. I wish Lucas could join us, but he never wanted to. At least the boys played board and card games at home. It had been a long time since they played anything together. 

I also focused last summer on getting Naomi ready for college. She had an overnight college orientation. I attended the parent portion of it, which I thought was pretty inspiring and helpful. Despite touring the better dorms, she still opted to live in the older, cheaper ones. It made for an interesting (and smelly) first year.

I also signed Isaac up for his first camp in a long time, a slime-themed science camp. It didn't go that well because 1) Isaac knew a lot more about slime than the instructors did 2) false advertising 3) one instructor who yelled a lot for no reason. He also didn't know anyone else there. I think that really turned him off to these kinds of class camps, so he was not keen on doing it again this year. He wasn't wrong--it was overpriced and they didn't do much of what was listed in the description or shown on their website.

Lucas graduated from online middle school with all As, but I think he got really burned out as a result of it. Maybe it was the pressure, the hours on the computer each day, and all those check-in meetings. Naomi sometimes says she wishes she could go back and tell herself that middle school grades don't matter.  

Manny went with his college friends to Las Vegas for a few days. I don't remember everything they did, but sounds like it was fun to catch up. I went to lunch at Mendocino Farms restaurant with some friends from church and also dinner with my friend O. at Left Bank Brasserie. Also, I took Naomi and one of her close friends out to a Japanese-Italian fusion place to celebrate their graduation. All were places I hadn't been before. I love to try new places, and all three were good. Speaking of food, Naomi and I also attended a food festival (I think Night Market). It was good, but the lines were long and the food was expensive. We had a good run of going to these. Not sure we'll go as often anymore, especially when we hear from Manny how much cheaper the food is in Taiwan.

Last but not least, and not pictured, is a prayer meeting I went to that really changed my view of myself and my view of the Holy Spirit. I tend to not be comfortable around people who pray "in tongues," but I was invited to this meeting by a friend to visit with a pastor from Kenya, who seems to know exactly how to pray for people and knows what is going on with us without our saying. He was a engineer turned pastor, very down to earth, and very passionate for Christ. I come from a cessasionist background (who don't believe the gifts of healing, tongues, and prophecy are applicable today), but I continue to meet people, especially from other countries, who seem to have the supernatural gift and who have seen miracles come from their prayers. 

I was skeptical, but I went and got in line. The main thing he prayed for was something I was really struggling with at the time regarding my family, and really he just read my thoughts and prayed for them. How I explained the situation didn't even cover much of that. Again, I tell you, I am really skeptical about these types of prayer meetings and heightened spiritual "feelings," but this wasn't like people falling on the floor and writhing or anyone asking for money or forcing themselves to babble to pretend they were spiritual. It was just him reaching out to people one-on-one and gently speaking to and praying for each of us. He is friends with my friend who invites him to the U.S. every now and then. He had told her and her husband they would have a baby in old age, years after they were done, and it would be a boy. They laughed if off, and then it happened the following year. It certainly opened my eyes to an aspect of spiritual gifts I hadn't really witnessed before. I thought back to two other recent and significant times in my life where people prayed like this for me, and everything they said was true or became true, and these were very specific things that could have taken many paths. I think I still lean cessationist, but I have opened my mind more to the possibilities, and considering nothing in the Bible said these gifts would cease, I wonder if I'm actually wrong about this.

S's mom took him and Isaac to Winchester Mystery House and then to Shake Shack

Coach in my lap. Don't fall asleep, I have to get up!

Lunch hangout at Mendocino Farms with our church small group.

Cecille got me this Hello Kitty UNO set. So happy they included Pochacco!

Night Market with Naomi. I think this was sugarcane juice.

Sharing a box. Our cats love love love the boxes.

Kicking the soccer ball around with Isaac

Lucas and I attended a historical talk and art/artifacts exhibit given by Donna Gatson. 

Dinner with my friend O.

Naomi trying out her new (used) guitar

Dinner after church at Pasta Market

Happy Father's Day!

Coach hiding

Shake Shack with Isaac

Lucas graduated from middle school

Twinning again

Isaac at slime camp

Coach nervous about being outside at first

Pluto loves it

Pluto pushes his head against you out of love

Treat for Lucas

Treat for me

Me with the mascot at the orientation

Naomi home from orientation

Mini golf with Lucas

The game of LIFE

Isaac at the workout area of the local middle school

Friendly game of Uno

Using the gift card from Grandma

Celebratory lunch for these graduates

Japanese-Italian fusion, seafood risotto with roe

My kabocha basque cheesecake

Manny and friend's weekend in Las Vegas

June 2023 Part 1 (Naomi's Graduation and Grad Nite, Family Visit)

The first week of June my in-laws came to stay with us to attend Naomi's graduation. It's not easy to travel here or squeeze into our townhome, but they will do it because they love her. And I hope she felt loved. By this point she'd come through the ups and downs of senior year, getting all A's, doing so many applications and not getting into her top choices. I do think it worked out the way it should have. She'd be attending a state school not far from here and able to transition better (and escape from the smell of pot and trash on the weekends). 

Manny's aunt came with her daughter and granddaughter as well the day after graduation. It was a very long drive, and we appreciated very much their coming by. My side of family couldn't make it. My father is now unable to really travel at all. I'm very thankful Manny's side could come and Naomi could hear them cheer, as Manny and the boys don't ever cheer, and my cheer is not fun to hear lol. I spent a lot of time baking Naomi's cake, four different flavors of cakes. The sleeping situation for Manny was not ideal. I felt bad, but I felt we had to prioritize Isaac's sleep. So Manny ended up in the living room on a deflating air mattress, and I ended up on the floor in Isaac's room. At the time, I didn't want Isaac to have a meltdown during Naomi's graduation from not sleeping. But I know it just seemed to Manny like I was giving him top priority. Hopefully there won't be a next time, but if there is, I will do a better job of prepping everything and everyone. I just really had so much to do. Naomi was also a little upset that I didn't really consult her about the food, even though it was her graduation, and went with what I felt would be most economical and feed everyone. She was fine with what I chose, but I think just being included in decisions is important to her and to Manny. It's understandable. They want to feel considered and heard. It did make for a lot of harsh words toward me about me, and I can be sensitive and get into a mental loop about it, as you can tell from my still thinking about it over a year later. Nevertheless, I did my best to keep the peace. Someone once said that most mental health problems can come from taking things too personally. I can't control what others say to me, but I can control my own actions and responses.

Naomi's graduation ceremony required four hours of a grueling rehearsal for these complicate formations, which they didn't really even end up doing. I went to a different high school's graduation, which was really informal but the students at least seemed to be having more fun. Sadly, we were not informed where she would be sitting, so we sat on the opposite side of where she was and where she would be receiving her diploma. Thankfully she did see us at the end, and her friend's mom took a video of her which was so awesome of her.

Grad Nite. Now, I don't want to complain, but this is something I don't get. Manny's school in San Bernardino I think went to Disneyland for Grad Nite, as did my college roommate's L.A. high school. And mine rented out an entire fun park (like the kind that had a water park, mini golf, go karts, and arcade back in the day). We weren't a rich school by any means and we had a large graduating class. Naomi's high school has money. Parents also would have gladly donated. But their grad nite was in their gym which doesn't even fit everyone. It was more like just a student-run carnival, which could be fun, but didn't really have much to do. Nevertheless, she got to see her friends and classmates together for the last time, which was nice. A few of them also went to Monterey. These were the friends Naomi hung out with freshman year of high school but they stopped hanging out during and after the Covid lockdowns. It was a nice reunion before they would part ways.

The cats love their cardboard boxes.

Pet loves pets.

Wasn't sure what to make for everyone, but went with sort of a surf and turf.

The grandparents treated the kids to some Paris Baguette goodies.

Isaac teaching Grandpa some chess. Isaac was really into it last year.

Like the comedy tragedy masks

We are family.

Isaac and I out with my in-laws at Black Bear Diner.

Chocolate, cookies and cream, white, and lemon cakes with chocolates on top

Had to stop the car for a goose crossing.

Aunt Bonnie

Manny got everyone Korean fried chicken

It's been a long time since I've had toddler toys around the house, but the cat ball toy (that they never played with much) will do. 😂

The cats love Aunt Dolly! My mother-in-law unfortunately is allergic, but she was gracious about it.

Toast to the graduate!

Photo with Manny from my pov

She's all done!

That's Naomi in the middle. We spotted her by her boots.

Naomi and M.

Naomi and A.

Fishy fishy at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

I cropped her friend M. out of the photo so I wouldn't have to strike the eyes again lol

Her freshman friend K.'s parents took everyone for a post-grad road trip.

Pluto loves the boxes, too. He likes to get in one every night and be carried around in it.

Naomi with a fresh coconut juice. I thinks he was visitng her friend Y. at work.