In Middle School, music is required curriculum - Alex sings alto in choir and plays trombone in band. Maggie opted for double band this year in what may be her last year choosing music for her HS Fine Arts requirement. She was first clarinet in one band and second in the other. It's been wonderful to see the progression of the students from their beginnings in Elementary school...

Con Brio Choir

MS Cadet Band

HS Show Band

Alex's choir and a couple others from MS also got to sing for the Christmas shoppers at a local mall.

Click the link for more music: videos online

Alex joined Cross Country for Season One of interscholastic athletics as part of the ISSFHK league (International School Sports Federation of Hong Kong). According to their website, there are twenty-five member schools and eleven sports to compete in over three seasons. The time commitment this season is T, W, Th after school for practice or a meet, so sometimes it's tough to get homework done. He managed to squeak by first quarter without being put on academic probation and having the privilege of participating in after-school activities of any kind withdrawn - hooray - he really needs that running around to burn off excess energy!

First meet -3km - does he look nervous?

At the start

At the finish

Home meet at Tai Shui Hang, Ma On Shan

From Cross Country

From Cross Country

U12 and U14 team (Grade 5 – 8)

Teamwork stretching

Talking strategy?

Beautiful course

Recording finishing place/time

From Cross Country

Medal finishes - congratulations!

The shortest race was 2.5-3km and the longest was 4km - the aim has been to improve stamina which will lead to better times. He says he thinks he'd be better at shorter distances - maybe he'll join track and field in the spring and see...

Middle school just finished their three day, two night camp. (High school was last week.) As a parent, I'd always sent the kids off with a "have fun, see you in a few days!" so this is the first year I've gone since I'm now working with the school's special needs program. The three girls I teach were present during the day at camp and were able to participate in the activities. None had any health issues besides a scrape on the leg and mosquito bite-riddled legs - just like lots of other kids - and came home with sun-kissed faces. Students, especially the grade 6 girls they see regularly when integrated in PE and Jubilate choir, were kind and gracious to our girls, ready with a hello, smile and a helping hand if needed during devotions, games, swimming, mealtimes... The girls especially enjoyed the music during praise and worship and sitting at circular tables observing/taking part in the camaraderie at mealtimes.

I saw Alex here and there and took lots of photos, as usual, but selected a few for the slideshow below. We were blessed with good weather, fun games and activities, and wonderful teacher testimonies that I feel touched many students - who were given time for devotions and reflection.

Alex has been interested in parkour since he saw some videos of my friend’s son practicing... What is it? Parkour can be described as the ability to navigate your environment functionally, confidently, and safely in a variety of situations.

I found out a gym built especially for parkour, Tempest Freerunning Academy was opened recently near my in-laws home in Northridge, so I enrolled Alex in a class to try it out. He enjoyed it, needless to say - too bad we were traveling around visiting friends and relatives otherwise he could have taken more classes!

Started off by doing some stretches and warm-ups like precision jump practice and straight landing and roll. Later they worked on one-handed speed vaulting, cat leap, wall run and pop vault. The aim of the class is to learn and perfect technique. One kid around Alex’s age was previously into gymnastics and that interest morphed into parkour – Alex, too, has also taken gymnastics classes...

From parkour class at Tempest Academy

There was a section built to look like a Mario Bros game - fun! So here's Alex pretending to be Mario...

Jumping in a warp tube!

Coming out of the warp tube!

One-handed vaulting practice - both ways, to use both right and left hands...

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,

From Fallen Leaf Lake and hike to Glen Alpine Falls

From Fallen Leaf Lake and hike to Glen Alpine Falls

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...

From On The Lake

From On The Lake

From Various Tahoe

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.

From relatives in the Bay area and SLC

From relatives in the Bay area and SLC

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.

From in Redding 2011

From in Redding 2011

From in Redding 2011

From in Redding 2011

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.

From relatives in the Bay area and SLC

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!

The end of this school year is a little bittersweet – Alex will be going to Middle School next year and along with this BIG transition, a few classmates will be leaving HK or transferring schools. Some he has known since his first year at the school. My idea to organize a little end-of-the-year-farewell party to commemorate these transitions started with a few boys who wanted to play soccer. Then some other boys were invited and some girls names were mentioned (by the boys, oh my). We ended up with over 30 kids! Thankfully, several moms stepped in to help plan and provide food and drinks – potluck style. We celebrated a birthday, too! Kids, kids, everywhere – some played soccer, others ran around playing tag and hide and seek, climbing the jungle gym, eating and chatting. The kids and parents all seemed to enjoy each other’s company – and especially for the parents, this fostering of fellowship may be useful in the years ahead as the kids seek independence and learn responsibliity. I have a certain peace of mind knowing who my children are hanging out with and knowing their parents, too.

School ended with a flurry of activities - graduation ceremony, sleepovers for both kids, and several lunches and hanging out with friends before we take off are on the agenda.

The end of the school year is always so busy!

Alex played trombone and sang in his choir as part of the Elementary Spring Concert.

The following day he finished the academic year of HK Youth Football training with a few matches between other teams from different districts in HK.

The next week he went to a Grade 4 and 5 school camp with a high schooler as his cabin counselor. I stopped by briefly on the first day and enjoyed the smores BBQ, too!



Grade 5 had their graduation lunch and invited all their teachers through the years...

Mrs. Hunter – Alex’s wonderful 5th grade teacher


With Montana and Kaito at the entrance


Ryan, Hugh and Alex - good buddies since pre-school!





Maggie has also been busy – playing clarinet in her school band and singing in her school choir; going to Vietnam for Week Without Walls - a 4 day trek and an overnight on Halong Bay. Since she's been camera shy - I had to troll around online to find photos...

I know this goes against the JVN Rules of Blog-Writing but that's okay since I'm writing for those who ARE interested in our life anyway.

For our last day of Easter break we spent a beautiful afternoon in South Lantau. We first enjoyed lunch at The Stoep, Lower Cheung Sha Beach chowing on fish and chips, chili con carne with rice, marinated eggplant salad, garlic bread and a tender spring chicken.

After lunch we climbed over a small headland of rough boulders; Alex made it barefoot, while Maggie and I were in sandals. Paul was reminded of fishing off similar boulders with his grandmother when he was young(er).

From Cheung Sha Beach

We walked Upper Cheung Sha Beach from east to west - the longest beach in HK at around two kilometers. It reminded us of Zuma Beach in L.A. Along the way we checked out a blowfish that had washed ashore and a young cow that wandered down toward the water. There were a few people out, but not even close to the numbers that were at the cable car to the big buddha (haven't been yet) and outlet mall at Tung Chung where we left our car. At the western end we went in the water at the gazetted* swimming area for a refreshing dip, then showered off before catching a bus back to civilization.

* gazetted - another of the strange words, like shroff**, you just get used to after living overseas... Gazetted beaches usually have bathroom, changing room, showers, life guards, shark net enclosed swimming areas, and water quality checks.

** shroff - the cashier's office where you pay for (hourly) parking your car in the "carpark" :)