May (30+ Clubbing Date Night, Church BBQ, End-of-School-Year Activities, Soccer Class, Memorial Day)

Just hopping on here to not fall too far behind again. On to May 2025 with a lot of happenings. On the home front, we had trucks come to tear up the plumbing next to our and others' homes, so it was a lot of noise and dirt and having to park my car further, but hopefully this fixed all the sewage problems for the townhome units across from us. 

Speaking of home, my neighbor came up to me one day to tell me a suspicious man was wandering around near our home. We flagged down some officers passing by, and they spoke to him and he left. They were actually patrolling the area because of a reported scammer who had been going door to door and collecting people's personal and financial information. He came to our door oddly enough a little after the other man had been by our home. This was the first time our security camera footage was requested, and I was able to show it on my phone to the officers, who actually apprehended the man a little while later as he was making another stop nearby.

On a lighter note, Manny got tickets for this 30+ clubbing event (i.e., it started and ended early, and guests could leave early), so he went clubbing for the first time, and I went for the first time in 20+ years. They played a lot of older songs, even from the 70s and 80s. It's all secular music, so not for some of my friends who don't listen to that. The waitresses were also very skimpily dressed. It was fun, though, especially the lights and bubbles. We were out by 6 pm and ready for dinner. We had a delicious Mediterranean meal. Manny picks some really good places.

The month of May meant the end of sophomore year of college for Naomi, so we moved her out of her dorm. Unfortunately one of the two elevators was down, and she lived on a middle floor, so that meant the working one would fill up before stopping on her floor. It delayed us quite a bit, but thankfully we made it. Afterward Manny took us to eat at a Korean-Japanese fusion place. We celebrated the end of the year and Naomi's admission into an intensive and elite graphic design BFA program at her school. She worked hard and did an amazing job on her portfolio. I really would love to share her portfolio with you here, but it's private for her. Out of 400 design students, about 100 apply to two rounds of applications, and only about 25 are admitted at the end.

May was also the end of the year for Lucas's sports class, and the final year for the coordinator. She did an amazing job, and now there are four of us who have taken over to split up all the hard work she did alone. I got her some flowers, but she truly deserved much more, and I feel bad that we didn't do more to show her appreciation. I even only remembered the flowers because my friend had mentioned prior to that how when her child's school music teacher retired, no one really said or did much to celebrate it. I had actually coached for most of the year, and it seems like it will be the case again this year. I would say I enjoy it, but I would rather someone else do it. There were two months last year that another mom coached, and I was really thankful for the break. Our last sport of the year was soccer. Lucas improved from the previous year and got to be goalie a couple of times and did great.

At church we had a discipleship group potluck that was pretty huge and there was a ton of food. I brought a brunch casserole and some black bottom cupcakes that were leftover from the homeschool end-of-year picnic the day before. We sat with three men, and we went around the table talking about what encouraged us about the person next to us in the groups we were in. 

A couple from church also hosted a pre-summer barbecue which was really wonderful. The wife's father was out there grilling. Lucas came with us, but the other kids just wanted to play video games, instead of outdoor games, so he ended up just eating and waiting around for us. I have an indoor grill from my Pampered Chef days that I used to make some food for Memorial Day. I haven't made big meals as much lately, but felt I should that day. 

I took the boys to see Thunderbolts, which I liked. It was a little dark, but also covered themes in a way I hadn't see before in an MCU film (and I've seen almost all of them). The boys liked it. None of them were the original main characters, more like outcasts, but being together they had some form of community. And that's something we don't often realize how much we need. It's hard to come by for today's younger generations. I'm thankful for the communities and circles we do have. For myself personally, I sometimes think I don't deserve my closest friends, but we've stuck by each other through thick and thin.

On a side note, I participated in an AI study at Facebook. I received at $100 gift card, but my primary motivation was to inquire about getting my old account back. But sadly there wasn't anything the AI dept could do.

Getting ready for our soccer drills

I was going to give away this old basket, but Pluto took a liking to it

Memorial Day

Celebrating Naomi's end of school year and getting into the specialized graphic design program

Goodbye to Naomi's second year dorm room

About to find out an elevator is out of service

Can't publish too many photos, but there were probably about 80 guests

Dad grilling some veggies before getting to the protein

Potluck brunch desserts

Some of the potluck entrees

Coach with the Rubik's cube

Mother's Day roses from church

Gelato

Mediterranean dinner with Manny

In da club

This was at 3 pm lol

Thunderbolts with the boys

Soccer (Lucas kicking the ball in the middle). It's hard to coach and take photos at the same time, so I don't have as many this year.

I was at Facebook to beta test some AI

Thank you, Coach S, for all your hard work! I still slouch too much.

November 2022 Part 2 (Manny's birthday, Thanksgiving, More Outings, More Coach)

We celebrated Manny's birthday at home with a Chinese and Mexican meal and also had a fun Mexican dinner with our small group (sometimes called life group, community group, or formerly bible study--it's basically a smaller more localized church fellowship group). At this point I don't remember what we got him for his birthday present!

Manny also took me dancing for the first time ever. That was pretty bold of him, and I truly appreciated the surprise. I like dancing, but don't get too many opportunities to go anymore. This date was one for the books!

Manny, Lucas, Manny's friend Chris, and I went to see Wakanda Forever, which I thought was pretty good as far as the current phase of Marvel movies goes. I think they treated Boseman's passing as well as they could. I wonder how different the movie might have been had he not passed away. I think the themes of minority division and the impact of colonialism were important ones to touch. Some perhaps narrow-minded people joke about anything with minorities in prominent roles as too "woke," but this is representation for groups and cultures that fall under the radar too often. And hopefully it's a motivation to truly look into history and understand our faults and not repeat them. I don't think it's unpatriotic to do so. 

In other entertainment news, Duran Duran, a big part of the soundtrack of my childhood, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They actually were eligible I think even in the 90s since they started in 1978. They continuously were snubbed, but as more acts from genres other than rock became part of the Hall of Fame, they joined as well. This meant that for a little while they'd be playing large arenas again, but occasionally they played smaller venues like once for charity to benefit cancer research, in honor of the original lead guitarist who could not attend the ceremony due to Stage IV cancer.

Thanksgiving was nice. We got the Popeye's cajun turkey again (expensive, but it's what everyone likes). You have to order head, get it frozen, defrost, and roast. I tried to take it easier this time, but it was still a lot of work. We also had ham. I made some butternut squash soup, and Naomi made her annual sweet potato casserole. One of her friends whose family doesn't really celebrate Thanksgiving joined us as well. A number of people from our church also helped distribute Thanksgiving meals at our former church's food pantry program. It's good when we can work together to help serve the community.

Coach continued to be adjusted to the family. We were told at the time that he was between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 years old, so he was either older or younger than Pluto. At this point, having seem him grow, we believe he's younger than Pluto or about the same age. Either way, he followed Pluto around and mimicked him, and he's become like the little brother. 

One sad note though was that Manny started getting allergies, and he hadn't been allergic to Pluto so we didn't know. One of the questions on the adoption form related if we'd get rid of the cat if anyone had allergies, and I'd said no and meant it. Additionally, it would have broken Naomi and Isaac's hearts if we did. So it made it difficult for Manny. Some people get shots and the cat allergies go away, but it would require a lot of time commitment, but I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I tried vaccuuming and cleaning often, spraying, the air filter, but Manny continued to flare up. I'd read online that over time many people's cat allergies diminish as their bodies adjust, and I guess I was just really hoping that would happen (fast forward many months, and Manny found some supplements which at least help with the flare-ups and redness--we're still working through the nasal reactions).

The second cat we never knew we needed

Laptop cats usually fit on the laptops, but our cats are quite large and cover them completely

Watching Wakanda Forever

Naomi put together some charcuterie

My silly veggie platter

Thanksgiving dinner is served

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, one of my childhood memories

Giving out turkey (and chicken) dinners for Thanksgiving

Coach's favorite bed for a while, a cardboard packaging insert

Duran Duran inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, long overdue, and it included a poignant letter from the former member who could not make it due to cancer

Isaac just keeps wanting his hair longer and longer

He used to wear his Iron Man mask to pet Pluto, I think in case of scratches.😅After we got Coach, Pluto wasn't so territorial anymore.

Coach sits on Pluto often

Happy 47th to our Superman!

Chinese and Mexican food. I made everythnig except the fish in the pan

Went with a chocolate ganache cake from a different bakery. Sadly gave up on Copenhagen, which used to make great cakes.

His big yawn looks like a snake about to strike

Kisses

At the Blue Pheasant for a surprise dancing date!

At Rita's for some delicious frozen custard

He doesn't eat much meat, but always down for a corn tortilla quesadilla!

It was so loud in this restaurant we were shouting the entire time and Isaac sadly had a headache for two days. But it was super festive and delicious!

Cheers! ¡Salud!

may misc:

Ok, one more and I will finally get to June and July:

Isaac and his Hello Kitty.  I think being Asian, I don't find it so unusual for a boy to like Hello Kitty.  He likes cute things and cats, and she is definitely both.

Spelled about what/who he was thinking of.  😊

Lucas kept playing with his fingers, so I told him to go check out finger tutting, which he'd never heard of.  He comes back 15 minutes later and has learned an entire routine.

Pistachio pudding cake--devoured quickly by my family.

Popsicles on sale at Costco.

Taking the boys to the park.

Another park day.

Loves to run.

Lucas's early birthday present from Grandma--a telescope!

I've been washing the towels with a environmentally-friendly detergent, but Manny said the towels didn't smell fresh, so I rewashed them all, and Isaac folded almost all of them.