From the monthly archives:

September 2015

Somehow they just knew…

by Papa K on September 30, 2015

I had a long, busy day at work today.

Somehow these two goofballs knew that this was exactly what I needed 🙂

The Littlest Goofball

The Littlest Goofball

The Slightly Bigger Goofball

The Slightly Bigger Goofball

Partners in Laughter

Partners in Laughter

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Me & My Shadow

by Papa K on September 28, 2015

Saturday was a beautiful day in the city. We decided to head down to swim class a little early and hang out on the grass. We ate some popsicles and then the girls ran around.

We’ve mentioned this a few times, but Lauren copies everything Maile does these days. She’s a little shadow. This video captures it pretty well…

They played like this for 15-20 minutes – Maile running around, realizing Lauren was copying her and just making up games and goofing off seeing if she’d keep up. Sometimes the copying results in tears (when Lauren can’t quite keep up -or- Maile gets tired of having a constant shadow) – but that wasn’t the case this time – so Christine and I sat on the grass in the sun and watched these two have fun. We could have done it all day long 🙂

(Click here for the video.)

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SF Aloha Run 2015

by Papa K on September 27, 2015

Today was the SF Aloha Run – a really nice 5K they organize to support a Japanese community center here in SF. In addition to the 5K, they have a “keiki” run of a mile for kids 6-10 and a 100 yard dash for younger kids. We thought it’d be fun to sign the girls up.

Maile and Christine ran the mile – and they absolutely rocked it. Lauren ran the 100 yard dash and came in first place in the 2 year old heat! (She had some great coaching from her big sister).

Here’s Maile in the homestretch of the mile – check out that speed!

And here’s Lauren doing her 100 yard cash – just absolutely focused on that finish line 🙂

I think we have another thing where the girls are taking after their mommy – and we couldn’t be happier 🙂

(Dad note: technically this wasn’t Maile’s first race – back in 2013, she did a fun run out in Oakland. Remember that?)

Mommy and the girls ready to rock (Lauren was being shy, but gave us a nice view of her racing number)...

Mommy and the girls ready to rock (Lauren was being shy, but gave us a nice view of her racing number)...

Mommy and Maile right before the start.

Mommy and Maile right before the start.

On the run...

On the run...

A post-race Maile showing off her medal...

A post-race Maile showing off her medal...

Coach Maile giving Lauren a post-race pep talk!

Coach Maile giving Lauren a post-race pep talk!

(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)

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Math with Maile: Lines & Dots

by Papa K on September 24, 2015

Maile came home from school today all excited to teach us a new method she is learning for adding up big numbers that you can’t quite do in your head. She grabbed a piece of paper and showed us how it works. It’s pretty cool – I don’t personally recall learning it quite this way before.

After she nailed it a few times, I asked her if we could video how it works…

We had fun after dinner seeing if I could stump her with different problems (I got her once, but she got it the second time through…) School is definitely getting pretty fun this year 🙂

(Click here for the video.)

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90% of the time the girls play wonderfully together. The other 10%? Well…

Christine reports that this video captures what the ride home from school is fairly often.

Here we see one of the Lauren’s favorite songs playing on the radio.

Maile is singing along.

Lauren doesn’t want Maile to sing along, because she “can’t hear” the song. Cry, cry, cry.

Maile suggests maybe she can’t hear the song because she is screaming … and continues to sing because, well, she knows its annoying Lauren a bit.

And around and around we go.

(Dad note: in fairness to the girls, its a long day at school – they are definitely tired and hungry by the time we are headed home.)

(Click here for the video.)

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Kongfu Fan Dancing with Maile Girl

by Papa K on September 21, 2015

Last week Maile started an after school class learning the Kongfu Fan dance. Kongfu Fan is a traditional Chinese dance that is over 2,000 years old. There are 52 movements in the dance. Here is a good video:

And here is one of the 52 moves that Maile learned today:

Strike a pose, now let's get to it...

Strike a pose, now let's get to it...

This year, the teacher gave all the kids a fan to bring home to practice with – Maile was pretty excited to show us her fan dance moves. Here’s a taste of what’s to come…

(Click here for the video.)

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Lauren’s 1st Ballet Class

by Papa K on September 20, 2015

For the past couple of years, she’s patiently watched as her big sister danced and performed. She took in all the moves. She attempted to copy everything she could as they pranced around the house. She wore the ballet shoes and hand-me-down tutu just to get the feel for them.

And then on Saturday morning, it was finally her turn. Lauren’s first ballet class. She was beyond excited.

First, she learned how to spin…

Then, she tried to learn how to point her toes in an effort to get into first position…

(I have a feeling we’ll come back to that one and get a good laugh one day.)

And then finally, she danced…

(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
(Click here for the third video.)

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#tbt – My Sister is HILARIOUS!

by Papa K on September 17, 2015

95% of the time the girls play together amazingly. Lauren absolutely worships Maile.

5%, okay maybe 10%, of the time things go down hill a bit. Typically this involves Lauren playing with some toy or stuffed animal that Maile hasn’t even glanced at in 3 years and all of a sudden, Maile decides to lay claim to it and insisting on playing with it again.

But most of the time, we still get a lot of this (from 2 years ago – 2013)…

(Click here for the video.)

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Jiating

by Papa K on September 16, 2015

Maile’s school started a new program this year called, Jiating (Family in Chinese). Maile has her own family consisting of children in the various grades – there is a 3rd grader, a couple second grader, a couple 1st graders and a few kindergarteners. They’ll play and work together over the course of the year with the cross grade groups. Maile’s family is called the Pandas.

For their first activity, they made a rock garden – they painted rocks – right up Maile’s alley!

Maile showing off her painted rock!

Maile showing off her painted rock!

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Happy Rosh Hashanah!

by Papa K on September 14, 2015

We hope all of our Jewish family and friends are having a wonderful Rosh Hashanah! We celebrated last night with some apples and honey and a delicious roast chicken meal that Christine put together. Maile led us in a recap of all we should be thankful for and Lauren, of course, followed her lead (Mommy is high on the list as she should be 🙂

Rosh Hashanah family picture (Maile 6 and Lauren 2.5)

Rosh Hashanah family picture (Maile 6 and Lauren 2.5)

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