Spring Break Day Days 5 & 6

Evan lucked out on day 5 when grandma called and offered to take him to the movie Monster vs aliens in 3-D. I went to work and Ian stayed home because he landed a couple of dog feeding/walking jobs for some neighbors. He was stoked to earn some money. At the end of the day we decided we would take Ian to a dirt bike race in Ukiah and that we would take the trailer and camp overnight. Sounds fun but I knew that the trailer was a mess after the winter and it would need some serious work not to mention getting food and packing. So first thing in the morning on Day 6 I start my list and packing and all of a sudden I realize that Evan not only has Black Belt training but he also has a competition on Saturday! DUH. So It was actually easier now that just Wayne and Ian were going. I got the trailer ready for them and packed up some food and off they went. They caravaned with some friends whose boys were also racing. I sent them with the camera and hope they remember to use it! I'm sure their having a blast.

Green Day and SB day #4

Well, when I asked how the concert was the overwhelming response was "LOUD". We've been to so many concerts and many of them are loud but it's seems like recently the one's we've seen were not so I didn't send Ian with earplugs, bad mom! Wayne was feeling pretty bad about it too. But besides that they said it was "really long" and "really good". Apparently the band played their whole new album cover to cover(see above program) than came back and played for about another hour. Wayne said the first part was a little strange because he or anyone else for that matter knew any of the songs, but overall said the new album sounded good. The whole concert was filmed too. He also said the Fox Theater which has just reopened is beautiful maybe that's why they chose that venue to film?.
So that was Tuesday. On Wednesday went to work and the boys slept in, Grandma came over to check on them, they hung out until I came home for lunch then I took Evan to his friends and they went to Kuk Sool Won together. Because it's Spring Break the school is having "fun" week. Yesterday was twins day so Evan and his friend dressed alike. I should have taken a picture it was too cute. His friend is here for a sleepover (3rd time this week :) and I'm going into work later this morning. Ian is working on getting some people together for a ride this weekend, I hope he can work it out. The weather is suppose to get warm and I think we're all ready for that!

Spring Break Day 3

In keeping with our Japanese theme, yesterday Evan requested a "special" dinner in his honor. So off we went to the Japanese food store to buy what we needed to make sushi and somen, his favorite. Our Japanese exchange student actually taught us how to make somen which is a cold noodle soup, he brought everything to make it from Japan but no matter how many times we make it, it never tastes as good as when he made it for us. Anyway, after a short stop to Trader Joe's Evan announces he's starving and I remember a noodle house across from the Japanese food store, of course I've never been there because no matter when you go there is always a line outside. So I'm thinking this place must be good and it's only 11:15am we'll check it out. When we get there we're surprised to see no line, oh, because the place doesn't open until 11:30. So I tell Evan lets run in the store and get the things we need and when we come out it should be open. No kidding we came out of the store a couple of minutes later and there was a line! The restaurant wasn't even open yet and the girl is outside taking orders. So we get in line, the restaurant opens and we sit down to look at the menu. Guess what? They only have ramen nothing else and it was by far the best ramen we've had. We'll definitely go back.
Today we're off to Planet Granite to do some rock climbing and tonight Ian and Wayne are going to see Greenday at a little theater in Oakland called the Fox theater. I guess Greenday has been playing these little venues and announcing it just the day before. The tickets went on sale yesterday at 5pm and sold out in a matter of minutes. A good friend of ours works for Another Planet so he had tickets put into will call for us. The Fox is a pretty small place so it should be fun.
The photos above I scanned today:
Ian, me and Grandma Yamane 1997
Wayne, Ian and Evan 2001

Spring Break Day 1

I'm sure your sick of seeing my old post by now so here's a little update. Ian is feeling a bit better after coming down with "the crud" that has been going around. He has motivation as we're going to our friends today for an Easter party. These are the people we went on the cruise with and are so much fun to be around. They have a beautiful house on 60 acres so the kids ride there dirt bikes and have tons of fun running around outside. They also have a pool and hot tub. It's a kids paradise. Before we go down to the party Evan has a Pan Moin competition at Kuk Sool Won. The kids are broken up into teams and have weekly tournaments for a few weeks and the team with the most points wins. This will be the 3rd year he's been in Pan Moin.
Yesterday, the 1st day of spring break, Evan, my mom and I went to Japantown in San Francisco. I hadn't been there in awhile so we had lunch and walked around . It's so beautiful, the Cherry Blossom Festival is this weekend and next so they were setting up tents and getting ready. Evan loves all things Japanese so he had a good time, he had a huge bowl of Udon and a California roll for lunch. Ian was up and around by the time we got home. Hopefully no one else comes down with anything and we can enjoy our time off.

It finally happened

I got the flu. I had been feeling a bit tired on Thursday night so I decided to take a shower before American Idol came on. I sat down with Evan to watch and I couldn't make it through the show. My arms were aching as was my neck and joints. I went to bed and woke up Saturday I don't even remember Friday. I missed our friend Travis' funeral service on Saturday but couldn't imagine sitting through a 2 hour mass when I couldn't even sit up. Wayne went for us and said it was nice to see all of his (Travis') friends there for him. So now I'm anxiously watching the rest of the family hoping they don't also come down with it. I was thinking that this year was a late season for the flu than I remembered last year the boys both had it over spring break and I almost canceled our trip to Disneyland. We ended up going anyway and made the most of it. Working in a orthodontic office is kind of like working at a school the kids come in sick all the time. I like the old preschool rule, 24 hours fever free before returning. I want to thank Mike and Lynn for the movies. Yesterday I watched Transformers, Big Fish, Legends of the fall and Mr. Destiny. Wayne was the best caretaker ever! Keeping the boys busy while I slept and rested. I'm going to attempt to function today, mainly grocery shopping. Evan is on an all day fieldtrip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He loves that place! Their going by coach so I decided not to go. Which is a good thing considering the headache I still have.

Cross Country

Ian did get to do his first Cross Country last Sunday even though it was cold and wet with periods of hail and wind and bits of rain mixed with sun. There were a ton of racers, I think over 60 in his class alone. They line them all up according to race experience, racers that have come in the top start first, then 30 seconds later the next group (Ian's group) then 1 minute later another group starts. It's very time consuming to get them all ready. The dad's all stand out with their kids and give them pep talks and final advice. The kids wear a little device on their chest protector that records their time and number at the checkpoint and posts it on a board so that you can see how they are doing. Most of the course is in the mountains so you can't see them until they come to the checkpoint. Ian did 3 laps and averaged 22 minutes on the 6 mile course. He placed 29th which was great for his first time. The winner averaged 17 minutes per 6 miles. So now Ian knows what he needs to do to move up. I have to admit I was nervous and relieved that he didn't get hurt. He's already for the next one and we'll be there to cheer him on!

Evan kicked and broke

Weird title I know, Evan was involved in a fundraiser today at his Kuk Sool Won studio. He raised money for the Diana J. East Breast Cancer Foundation named for the mother of one of his teachers Sheri. Basically he got people to sponsor him either for a flat rate or per kick. He broke 25 boards and kicked 1680 times! A number of the kids broke 100 boards! Most of those kids didn't stay for the kicking part. I'm sure they went home to ice their hands! The event was 4 hours long and Evan kicked for 1 1/2 hours strait! It was a fun, low key event and a great way for the kids to be involved in something bigger than themselves. They should all feel proud. The day has been drizzly and cold so we decided on watching movies and having popcorn for the rest of our day. Tomorrow we meet Ian and our friends the Andrieni's (who have Ian with them) down in Hollister where if weather permits we will watch Ian in his first Cross Country motorcycle race. I hope the weather holds out for him, he desperately wants to do this. Hopefully my next post will include Ian's standings in the race. Stay tuned!