Akiva's Updates

Akiva has some changes after coming back from San Diego.

We came back on Thursday night and that weekend Akiva took off his support wheels from his bike. He practiced with Jesse until Jesse didn’t want to bend over to hold Akiva’s bike on Sunday. That Sunday was very hot. I got very tired and impatient when I was helping Akiva. Jesse and I thought he wasn’t ready.



During weekday our babysitter who is short and good squatting skill helped Akiva. By Wednesday, Akiva was able to ride a bike by himself. All our neighbors wowed at him. Now he is so comfortable he can ride with one hand and the other hand waved at me. Now at least two grand moms are convinced to take off support wheels and practicing with their grandchildren.



Jesse has been encouraging Akiva to ride the elevator by himself. Before we left for vacation, he never would do this. Then just recently, after Jesse and Kenaz went downstairs first, Akiva followed in the next elevator by himself. Later that day he brought his girl-friend up to the apartment to play (her mom was annoyed because it was her dinnertime and she didn't go home). Now he also can use the key to lock and unlock the front door, which is difficult because the lock and door-handle are heavy. All of a sudden, he has a lot more independence. But he still likes to sit in front of the TV with his fingers in his mouth. So we are not worried about him running away. Yet.

We're back!

When we returned from San Diego, we were a little too busy to put the last post up right-away. Then the Great Firewall of China started blocking access to Blogger. Now I'm using a free, not-very-good VPN service called Hotspot Shield. Its add supported and so very annoying, but atleast now I can post. Anyway...


The kids made new friends with Sammy and Lilly.



I had an operation on my sinuses. I'm not going to get into the details of how and why. But anyway I am now a little healthier.



We went to SeaWorld twice. Actually, Haga and the boys went four times... Haga LOVES Shamoo.



We had more family dinners. Great-Grandma was a little bit surprised by how wild my children are.



Dinner was always great. One night, Rachel made Guacamole. We had that as a topping for BBQ steak and salmon and salad, with that rice-shaped pasta dish on the side. (the following pictures were taken by Akiva...he is following in his father's footsteps into being a professional food photographer).







Our flight home was relatively easy. The kids slept a while and when they woke up, generally speaking, the didn't fight.



When we arrived, the "silver people" (yes...obscure Jefferson Airplane reference there) boarded the plane to take our temperature, make sure we don't have Swine Flu. At the time, I was still coughing a lot. So everyone around me was nervous...not because they thought I had the flu, but because they didn't want to get quarantined with me.