24 hour get-away

I had a dentist appointment in Orange County and since Kirk had to work on Wednesday I packed up the kids and headed out on Tuesday night to spend a day with my parents and enjoy the beach. After my appointment in the morning, I lathered up the kids with sunscreen, packed a lunch and took them to the beach. It was our first trip this year and Devin was a bit leery when we first arrived and stayed on his towel and was happy just to eat chips. Eventually, though, he ventured toward the water and had me nervous as he got more comfortable with the waves knocking into him. They had a ball and are looking forward to going back soon. After we cleaned up back at G & G Winn's we had dinner and they were able to ride their new scooters my parents had bought to keep at their house for our visits. Lucky kids! They loved them and will get lots of use out of them. Thanks for those, Mom. And thanks for the fun 24 hours!

Independence Day

Our 4th was fun! In the morning I was a little worried when Avery had a low grade fever and I ended up taking Devin to urgent care and found out he has an ear infection. But Avery took it easy and ended up fever free by the evening and Devin was happy once the Motrin kicked in. Kirk picked his mom up at about 4:00 and brought her back here to join us for a BBQ and some illegal fireworks in our backyard. The kids next door came over to celebrate with us and the kids had a ball! Here are a few pictures from our fun evening. Happy birthday, America!

At first Devin was scared of the fireworks, but eventually he liked them and wanted to watch with the other kids.

Ooooo, ahhhhhhhhhhh

Fun with sparklers. Devin never did warm up to the fun of those, though.

Sleep over with my BFF's

This is out of order because I wanted to be sure to get Kirk's dads memorial service uploaded and on the blog. But before that happened my friend, Charity flew in from Colorado for the weekend. We had planned the weekend together a couple months back and so when Kirk's dad passed she tried to change her flight, but found it would cost the same as a new ticket, so she kept her original plans and we made do. I hooked up with Colleen and Allyson to go pick her up Friday night from Orange County airport and then we went to a late dinner. After that we headed over to Allyson's for a much needed sleep over and catching up. Not mush sleep was to be had. We were up until at least 4 am and then up again at 8:30. More talking and then headed over to the beach to chat some more. Then dinner and then I had to cut out early (original plan was to spend another night and half a day) to go pick up the kids from my parents (thanks for that, Mom!) and head home. It was a fun 24 hours and one I want to do again in the near future! Charity, thanks for flying in and getting us all together again. Allyson, thanks for letting us invade your house and Colleen...thanks for being you! :-)

Tom's memorial

Yesterday was Kirk's dads memorial service. Both Kirk and his brother spoke and did a great job. I am very proud of Kirk for speaking even though it was tough. It was a nice service and per his father's wishes it was a very small gathering. After the service we all went over to a golf course for lunch. Even though the reason for the gathering was a sad one it was a nice day and great to be together with family. Here are quite of few pictures from the luncheon.
Kirk and Mark with their Mom and Uncle Jim playing the harmonica

Us

Cute cousins

Justin with Grandma and Daddy

Matthew and Avery and Matthew and Uncle Kirk

Kirk, Mark and our kiddos; Mark, Sylvia and Matthew

Ruby, Bill, Kirk, Aki, Susie, Mark, Jim

After the luncheon we went over to the house for a bit and Mark played checkers with Justin

We will always remember

At approximately 2:10 this morning Kirk's mom called with the news of his dad's passing. Although, we knew he didn't have long it's always hard to lose a loved one. Especially a parent. A person that has been with you since the moment you were born. A person who taught you the excitement of shooting BB guns or the pleasure of waiting it out to catch that big fish or appreciate a good round of golf. A person that silently supported you on your quest for independence and success. A person that loved you. Tom was diagnosed with stomach cancer a few months ago, had it operated on, but never fully recovered. It was a hard road the past couple of months, but we are comforted to know he is in a better place. He was a wonderful grandpa to our children. I know Justin and Avery will always have their memories of him emptying his pockets of loose change and giving it to them, playing cards or cars with them, going for a ride around the block in his golf cart or always asking them if they want an ice cream cone. It saddens me to know that Devin is too young and will probably lose his memories, but we will make sure that he knows his Grandpa Sumida.

We will miss you!

First week of summer

The Monday after school got out Devin and Avery started swimming lessons. On the first day Devin cried and screamed the whole time. Avery can already swim, so she is going to start working on her strokes. On Tuesday Devin psyched himself up and told me he wasn't going to cry anymore and he was good the rest of the week. He doesn't love going out with his teacher, Mr. Jeff, because he's afraid of going under, but at least he does it anyway and enjoys the time spent on the platform. As you can see from the pictures below Avery's class of only 2 kids (lucky girl!) were going to leave the beginning stage of diving, but then she decided she didn't want to and just jumped. She's having a great time and loves the pool!

From Tuesday - Friday Justin had Scout Day Camp from 3:00 - 8:00 with about 250+ other scouts. They were devided up into small dens and did a lot of fun stuff like archery and bb guns, just to name a couple. He had a blast and had a grin from ear to ear at the end of each day as he explained to us all that he got to do. What a fun start to the summer!

(Justin is in the middle in the top row)

Avery's kindergarten program

This morning Avery had her kindergarten program. It seems like Justin was just doing this same program only a year ago. Oh how time flies. She was so excited to perform all her songs for us and she did a great job! We lucked out with the weather too - jackets were needed! Gosh I remember sweating to death during Justin's performance. What a nice change this year. Anyway, she did 4 songs and it was a lot of fun to watch. Avery you did a great job, girl! After, we went over to the kindergarten playground for a bbq. I'm room mom with another mom in the class, so we were in charge of buying everything and getting it all set up, etc. It turned out pretty nice. I can't believe another school year is coming to a close and Justin will be in 4th grade and Avery will be in 1st! Where does the time go? We love you, Avery and we're proud of the year you've had and what a great student you are!

Time with Mom

Earlier this week my mom and I went to California Adventure for half a day. When my sister was here last month she bought a 2fer ticket and only used the Disneyland portion with us, so she gave the second ticket to my mom. It had to be used within 30 days and my mom had never been to California Adventure. I met up with her along Ball Road and then we drove over together and had a really nice time! We only hit 3 rides, but she didn't really care about that. She just wanted to see what it was all about. Plus, she had heard so many people rave about Soaring Over California (the BEST ride on the planet!) and was excited to try it out. That had to be the funniest experience for me to witness. She hated it! She was so freaked out. I kept telling her to open her eyes, but she said she couldn't and wanted to know when it was going to be over. I had no idea you were such a wimp, Mom. Ha! She said it was the motion that did it for her. She really felt like she was flying (um, I believe everyone's told her that's how you feel, so not sure what the expectations were) and she couldn't take it. Even the lady on the other side of her tried to get her to open her eyes. Too funny! Anyway, it was a lot of fun spending the day with just my mom. Sorry you hated everyone's favorite ride, Mom. Just stick to It's a Small World and you'll be just fine. :-)

Just a side note...I know I'm always writing about what the kids are up to and what I'm doing, but Kirk doesn't take the camera with him and he won't write about what he's up to. Just so you all don't feel like I get to have all the fun he has gone golfing twice in the past couple of weeks. I wish he would write posts on here too, but well...he's a guy. And when you do see pictures on here of just he and the kids it's only because I forced the camera on him. He seems to be okay with taking pictures with the kids, but heaven forbid he take a picture of his friends golfing! Guys are weird. :-)