Six weeks of summer vacation flew by!
For the first two weeks it was great to spend time in L.A. with family and Hong Kong friends (Jinny and her boys, Eric, Jonathan and Ricky; Nick, Zaneta and Fellon) in town - highlights were Magic Mountain, the beach at Santa Monica, and thanks to James and Kath - Maggie's first concert experience - U2, a stop on the 360 world tour at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
The month of July saw us on the road for an extended family vacation to beautiful South Lake Tahoe. I haven't been there in years and this was the first time hiking and experiencing the outdoors in summer since we used to only go to Tahoe for skiing in the winter. My brother-in-law went skiing at Squaw for one of the last days of the season on July 4th and we got to see fireworks in all directions from our vantage point in the Keys. We took the kids hiking,
horseback riding, fish-farm fishing for trout, on the lake renting a pontoon boat, and in the lake - but very briefly since the water was freezing! It is snowmelt after all...
After Tahoe we went to the Bay Area to hang out for the weekend in Santa Cruz with Fellon and Erica and visiting my alma mater - UCSC - who knows, maybe Maggie will go there! The campus sure has grown and doesn't seem as vast as when Paul and I were there. We spent time with my sister, college friend Dan and family, and Paul's cousins and their kids as well before heading north to see my mom.
Redding was surprisingly cool for summer so we enjoyed lots of walks along the many trails that have been built, swimming in Whiskeytown Lake, clamoring up the boulders of Brandy Creek, and even drove to the foothills to check out a lavender farm.
After that we flew out to spend time with the relatives in Salt Lake City, Utah - my 97 year old grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins and got to meet my first cousin once removed - 4 months old.
Finally we headed back to Northridge for a few days to re-group, re-pack and do last minute shopping before heading back to HKG. I'm working with a great team to teach three special kids, tailoring a program that will hopefully lead to their leading independent lives in the future. Alex has started Middle School in grade 6 and Maggie is in 10th grade this year!
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