Day One: Washington DC

Last year, my grade level partner, Michelle, convinced me to join her in applying to participate in a Teaching American History (TAH) grant through Clovis Unified and Fresno State.  I was reluctant, but knew that it would be beneficial for my 5th graders, so I applied.  Even though it was through Clovis Unified, our grade level (Mike, Michelle, and I) got accepted.  Participation would involve one Thursday evening and one full Friday every month for the school year.  At our first meeting, we received the news that this would be the last year of funding for the TAH grant.  Part of the grant would involve an all-expenses paid trip to Washington DC and Virginia to visit the places that we'd be learning about.  I felt like I had won the lottery!  Excitement has been building for months and the day finally came- my cohort of 30 teachers and I had an amazing time visiting the East Coast over Spring Break. 

We flew out of Fresno bright and early on Monday, March 25.  Most of our day was spent traveling.  By the time we got to Washington, we were pretty exhausted.  However, most of us still decided to go on a night tour of Washington after dinner.  Our charter bus dropped us off at most of the monuments where we got a chance to see each one up close and learn about each one.  I was awed and thrilled to visit the:

 Vietnam Veterans' Memorial (it was dark and sadly, my other pictures of the wall with names didn't turn out)

 Washington Memorial in the distance, Reflecting Pool

 Lincoln Memorial

 Korean War Memorial

Martin Luther King Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Most of us hadn't realized that the bus tour would involve us getting off the bus at each monument.  If I had known, I would've brought my camera! The few pictures I did get was with my phone.  It was also freezing cold and drizzling outside, so we didn't stick around each monument for very long.  It was amazing to get to see "history!"  There isn't really anything in Fresno that has as much history, so I was very excited. I'm amazed at the symbolism attached to each memorial.  For example, the MLK Memorial stands geographically between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials (the 2 presidents most people associate with rights for all people) and there are 38 soldiers at the Korean War Memorial, which stands for Korea's 38th parallel...    It was a great start to what would be the most wonderful week!

Jeremy's Preschool Easter Activities

Over this past year, Jeremy has asked me several times why I haven't attended any of his holiday parties.  They always take place during my school day and with the number of days I've had to take off due to sickness, it has been hard to take any other days off.  He asked me again a few weeks ago, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.  Knowing how important this has been to him, I knew it was a priority for me to come to his Easter activities. 
Last week, Jason's mom was able to come to Jeremy's school to help him decorate his Easter hat.  All of the kids got to show off their hats in the preschool's Easter parade.

 Afterwards, I got to watch Jeremy at his free choice daily learning centers.  It was interesting to see that most of his time was spent reading books and coloring pictures.  I have to share a funny story here.  Jeremy and his friend, Jackson were coloring pictures and Jackson wanted to give me one of his pictures.  He wanted to write my name on it, and Jeremy quickly came to his aid.  "M...A...M...A..."  I came home that day with a picture to Mama, from Jackson.  How cute is that!  I am so bummed I forgot to take a picture of it! 
After their centers, each class also held an Easter Egg Hunt, and the kids performed 3 songs for the parents.  I had to leave to return to school by lunch time. 

At dinner time, Jason asked Jeremy what his favorite part of his day was, and he said, "That Mama came to my school for my Easter stuff."  This completely warmed my heart! I am so glad that I put aside my work to put him first, and I know I need to do that a lot more.

St. Patrick's Day

Last year, we got together for diner with the Wiens family on St. Patrick's Day.  Aaron made a delicious meal of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes.  I asked him a few weeks ago if he was going to do the same thing this year.  Thankfully, he said yes!  So, this year, we once again got to enjoy a delicious St. Patrick's Day meal. For dessert, Aaron made a Guinness Chocolate Cake with a Bailey's Cream Frosting and Grace and I made some chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting for the kids. 

Since the oven was already warmed up from baking the chocolate cupcakes, I let Grace try some baking on her own.  We had some ripe bananas so she chose to bake some banana chocolate chip muffins.

Grace and I used to bake a lot. With busy schedules, it just isn't easy to find time to bake anymore. It was really fun for me to watch Grace bake!  She was able to do it without any help from me.  Yet just another sign that she is growing up!

Chuc Mung Nam Moi

This past weekend was Lunar New Year, and for the first time since Jason and I have been married, we got to celebrate it in Little Saigon in Orange County!  Little Saigon has a huge population of Vietnamese people.  Imagine a place where EVERYTHING is in Vietnamese!  The thought of celebrating Vietnamese New Year (Tet) with other Vietnamese was very thrilling.  Not only did I get to experience it for myself, but the fact that I also got to introduce our kids and Jason to such a special event, made it even more significant.  In addition, this was the first time that our kids would get to meet my relatives! 

We drove down on Saturday morning and went to my Aunt 6's(Di Sau) house in Lake Forest (in Vietnamese, we call aunts/uncles based on their birth order and whether they're related to your mom or your dad).  That night, my aunt and uncle hosted a traditional New Year's Eve meal with my mom's older sister, Aunt 2 (Di Hai), and younger brother, Uncle 5 (Cau Nam).  My cousin Andy came over, as well.  I loved it- Vietnamese foods that I haven't had in what seems like ages... With the exception of this chicken, lol!    

 A delicious family-style Vietnamese meal

One tradition that we have tried to do every year is to give our kids li xi, which are envelopes containing lucky money.  However, our kids made out big this year since they are basically the only kids on my mom's side and everyone gave li xi to them.

 Our kids with my cousin, Andy

 Aunt 6, my mom, Jeremy, Grace, and Aunt 2

 Di Hai, Di Sau, my mom, Cau Nam

 Authentic bowl of pho, which I got to enjoy for breakfast on New Year's Day (Vietnamese eat pho anytime of day)

 We loved the atmosphere- we got to enjoy many lion dances and the kids thought it was so cool to hear the loud popping of the many firecrackers that were lit everywhere!

 A very well-known Vietnamese mall called Phuoc Loc Tho. Not too long before this picture was taken, there were thousands of people crammed into this area watching lion dances and firecrackers going off.

Grace saw girls wearing the traditional Vietnamese ao dai and begged for us to get her one.  She wore it out of the store and even the 4.5 hours in the car that it took to get back to Fresno.

On our way back to Fresno, we were able to reconnect with my cousin, Quyen, who now lives in the San Fernando Valley.  We had a great time catching up and getting to know his wife. 

It's the Year of the Snake... Wonder what's in store for us?!  Happy New Year- Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

Hockey Night in Fresno

 

It's very weird for me that my kids don't know a whole lot about hockey. As a Canadian, I grew up during the "Oilers Dynasty," knew every stat, kept up with players' lives both on and off the ice, and even kept a hockey scrapbook! Our kids got to go to their first hockey game a few nights ago.  Grace's school gave away tickets to the students, and we were able to get tickets for a dollar each to see the Fresno Monsters play Fairbanks.  We met up with Randy and their kids, and we also brought Charlotte along.  We enjoyed the game (despite the Monsters losing), but what made the game memorable was how the girls didn't even make it through the first period before Grace and Charlotte took out their books and began reading.  I thought this was just hilarious!

High Honor Roll

I am a proud mama!  I can't help but think back to last year when Jason and I were trying to figure out what to do about Grace's schooling.  It was actually this time of year last year when we found out that she qualified to go to Manchester GATE.  I was worried about how she'd do with increased rigor and expectations in the midst of a class full of high achievers... Well, 1st semester just ended and we are so proud to know that not only is Grace doing well, her teacher says she is one of the kids setting the bar in her class.  She earned High Honor Roll with a 4.0 (straight As).  Things seem to have fallen into place- she's loving her school, her teacher, learning, and her friends- thank goodness!

    She earned a Manchester GATE pin (and supposedly will receive a certificate at a later date).

Bee of the Week

Jeremy was his class' Bee of the Week this past week, and he was so excited!  He got extra attention all week- he was the special helper, got to bring a special treat for his classmates, and bring a "Show and Share" item.

He also got to bring home their class "pet," Buzz, and take him everywhere we went.  We had to document his adventures with Buzz.  Here are some pictures:

 Playing outside at church

 Playing the Wii (Jeremy is just starting to learn how to play some of the games.  We most recently got Star Wars, which is more appropriate for Grace's age, but he's really eager to play, too)

 Hanging out with friends

On MLK Day, we joined some friends at Skywalk, a trampoline arena. 

 That particular day was so beautiful outside, we walked out to Fig Garden Village for lunch.  Grace rode her scooter and Jeremy rode his bike.  Loved the family time we had that day!

In addition to the usual privileges, there was more excitement because his class also celebrated the 100th Day of School.   

Such a fun week in preschool!

Happy New Year!

We welcomed the new year with some of our closest friends at the family's cabin at Shaver Lake.  We've been celebrating with this same group of friends for many years, but this is our 3rd year staying at the cabin with all of our families.  We had 10 kids and 8 adults- that's a lot of people in one cabin!  We had an awesome time!

On New Year's Eve, our kids are still young enough that it wasn't a big deal for them to stay up until midnight.  We simulated a countdown, and celebrated with kid-made hats, poppers, glow-in-the-dark necklaces/bracelets, and horns (amazingly, Gabriel and Annelise didn't wake up with all of our noise)!

 After the kids went to bed, the guys had their annual blind test beer tasting.  Altogether, there were 12 beers.  Each bottle was covered up and the guys scored the beers according to taste, aroma, appearance, and overall drinkability. In the end, the Coney Island Lager won 1st place.  The girls chatted, drank wine, and snacked on appetizers and Jill's New Year's fritters. 

There was a lot of snow this year!  The kids (and adults) had a blast building, playing, and sledding!

I hope we can keep this tradition for many more years to come!