Camping in Yosemite

We went on our annual "dad's and kids" camping trip to Yosemite in early September with the Laser family. This was our fourth year but the first time we took Deven. Of course, Deven was Deven. He managed to lose his bike in the first hour (left bike on road and taken by rangers) and look like a coal miner within minutes after rolling around in the dirt..

But he did keep all of us entertained. The highlight of the trip was seeing Deven the fisherman in action.

Roan Turns 9!

Roan had his 9th b'day party at SportsHouse in Redwood City. Roan and about 15 of his friends got to play basketball and kickball.

Christmas

Christmas was a lot of fun for the kids with Grandma and Granddad. One too many gifts perhaps?

Meeting Santa

Kids went to see Santa in downtown San Carlos....

Yosemite Camping

We took our annual camping trip to Yosemite in mid September. This is the 3rd year that we have done the same "dad's only" trip with Roan and Mali's friends Amelie and Colby. This trip included a hike to see the Mariposa Grove in Wawona to see the Giant Seqoia trees. The road trip to and from the Bay Area included a stop at our favorite taqueria in Los Banos. Deven was very sad to be left behind -- he tried all his tricks to be part of the trip.

Deven's Third Birthday

Deven turned 3 today. We celebrated with a small gathering of friends. As you can see, Deven loves Spiderman right now (despite never watching the movie or reading a book about him). He also loves rockets and airplanes. Per Roan's suggestion, we took him to see the movie Planes in the theater yesterday. He loved it.

Sri Lanka Trip: Muthurajawela Boat Trip

While in Sri Lanka, we took a short boat trip in Muthurajawela through the old Dutch Canal and into the Negombo lagoon. We left Deven behind for this trip.

Sri Lanka Trip: Elephants in Pinnawala

While in Sri Lanka, we took a small side trip to Pinnawala to see the elephants. Mala was the most excited to see the elephants, even getting the opportunity to feed the elephants bananas.

Sri Lanka Trip: Beach time in Hikkaduwa & Galle

During our trip to Sri Lanka, we took a beach vacation in Hikkaduwa, which is in the south of the island. We rented a house right on the beach and had most of the beach to ourselves. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the sand and chasing waves. We also went to the old Dutch Fort in Galle a couple of times, which is a short 15 min drive from Hikkaduwa.

Sri Lanka Trip

We went to Sri Lanka in Nov of 2012 for 3+ weeks. Obviously it's been a long time since we came back but only getting to publishing the photos now. We have been busy!

This post contains photos from the general trip including transit time in Singapore, our stay at Jan's parents house in Negombo, family gatherings, etc. There are a several other separate posts to come in the next few days that capture some of the other trips that we took.

Dinner at Peter's wedding

Rare photo of the old married couple together. This was at Peter's wedding, a colleague at work. The reception was on a cruise around the San Francisco Bay.

Milkshake Time

Enjoying a vanilla milkshake. That tummy sure comes in handy sometimes!

Rodeo @ Red Bluff

Jan took Roan and Mali to the rodeo in Red Bluff, which is about 4 hours north from San Carlos. Yes, this was our first rodeo! We went with our friends Amelie and Colby and their dad Dave. Kids had a great time.

Spring Break Fun

Roan and I killing some spring break time with a Spaceopoly marathon..

 

Dev's eggs

Deven is so proud of his painted eggs...

 

Best Baby in the World

Is there anything sweeter than your 2 1/2 year old taking your face in his hands and saying, "You're the best baby in the world"? His sister frequently tells him the same so he's decided to apply the exact phrase to everyone in the family. Kind of makes up for the baseball straight to my mouth at a ridiculous speed last week. We love you, Deven!

Mali's Getting Rich

 With all of these teeth she's losing. This is her third. She also wrote a letter to the tooth fairy asking if she could keep her tooth, and requesting to know the tooth fairy's gender. Funny, s/he did not write back.

Here's the note (it should read "i do NOT want you to take my tooth")...

Mali's Wish

 

This is a picture of Mali with her leprechaun trap.

While I was tucking her in tonight Mali said she found a four-leaf clover today. She was afraid her wish wouldn't come true if she told me, but she whispered it to me anyhow. She wished she could be friends with all the birds. She wants to talk and play with them. So cute.

Halloween 2012

Here are a few pictures from our Halloween this year. Mali was a scary witch, Roan a frightening vampire, and Deven a very grumpy two year old who's on a nap strike and would barely wear his James costume for 30 seconds. Oh well. Next year.

Camping in Lake Tahoe (June 2012)

We enjoyed a few days of nature camping in Sugar Pine State Park at Lake Tahoe in June. The kids had a lot of fun running wild and getting ridiculously dirty. Playing in the lake was fun, too.

Mali's Fifth Birthday - Pony Extravaganza!

Mali celebrated her fifth birthday at Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay. The day was full of bouncing, endless pony rides, a unicorn pinata, and pony cake of course! It was a lot of fun for all, made even more special in that we were able to celebrate on her actual birthday. Mali has grown up so much this year and is so ready to start kindergarten this fall. She is very artistic and loves to draw, when she's not playing with her dolls and animals. She also loves clothes and even got her ears pierced for her birthday - something she's been longing to do.

Roan's Seventh Birthday

Roan chose to take a few close friends to watch a San Jose Giants football game for his birthday celebration this year. His big present this year was a bigger bike. Roan's such a grown-up little man these days. He loves sports and math and will talk sports statistics all day if we let him! He's such a sweet guy and an awesome big brother to both his sister and little brother.

I said "No"!

Deven's vocabulary has been exploding this past month. Here's a clip of his favorite new word:

Yummy!

Here are some pics of the 3 monkeys enjoying some homemade lemonade popsicles.

Mali loses her first tooth!

Mali lost her first tooth today, just over a month shy of her 5th birthday. As with her brother, her adult tooth has already been in for quite some time behind the baby tooth, so it's a bit hard to see.