King's Adventure - growing up together with the kids

Friday, December 25, 2009

Family portrait @ Christmas

It was impossible to get the dogs to turn around and get Derek to put on a matching sweater so here you have it - our 2009 Christmas family portrait!

It's really hard to photograph both dogs so we got the pomelos out while playing with them. We also got both dogs Christmas suits. Kodi the small one loved his suit while Dee Dee the golden retriever tried to get it off!

This mama can play basketball!

Derek challenged Emily to a game of arcade basketball for $1 and she lost. Later I played Derek and beat him 45 to 34 (and have a photo to prove it!). Eventually Derek won at double or nothing.

Picnic in December!

In the midst of decorating our tree Emily and I decided to have a picnic in the backyard! We have the most amazing weather in California! It's actually warm enough in the middle of the day to have a picnic! We had rasberries and grapes and I read the newspaper while the dogs ran around with Emily!

Our home at last!

After living in Taiwan, Virginia, Spain, New Jersey, 5 moves in Hong Kong, two moves in Beijing, Bangalore, Palo Alto, this tired bird has finally settled in San Jose! The would be our home for a long long time. Our home is close to Derek's high school and friends and not far from Emily's new school. Emily had to transfer in the middle of the semester from JLS in Palo Alto, however, she's adjusted well. In her twelve years of young life she has attended 6 schools (Suzhe, Limai, Western Academey of Beijing, Indus International, the International School of Bangalore, JLS Middle) already! She begged me not to move again and I promised her she would not have to change schools until she goes to college. This will be an address we will memorize forever!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Xmas with Santa

This one was actually taken last year at the Charity Auction in Bangalore. My marketing team led a company wide auction to raise money for Harvest of hope. The grand finale was a live auction on campus. My friend Tom Ingram was the Santa, here we charged 100 rupees for each photo with Santa! We were able to raise enough money to feed 6000 children a hot meal during lunch for one year!! This is probably the last time I wear a traditional Indian saree!

Special birthday celebration

While the boys were at basketball practice Emily and I cooked up a storm. We made salmon, BBQ steak, sauteed spinach, salad and fried rice! We bought a vanilla ice cream cake for Deborah and Emily baked a chocolate cake for Derek. It was the first cake Emily made and decorated on her own! It has been several years since we were able to celebrate Derek's birthday together and it was a very very special day!

One boy- two moms

Here's Derek with his two moms. Deborah has been a God-sent since the first day we met her. She took Derek under her wings, introduced him to private coaches, mentors and got him on the San Jose Viper AAU basketball team during the summer. Through basketball Derek was able to meet several good friends who would form a major support and social system for him. It has been very difficult for Derek to adjust to live in a new city. Having lived in New Jersey, Hong Kong, Beijing, Connecticut, Virginia, India, Shanghai, Palo Alto and now San Jose, my kids have gone through too many schools and too many friends. No more moving for us until the kids move out!

Derek Turns 16!

We had a very special birthday celebration for Derek starting with attending a church service at 8.30am! It was a miracle for Derek to wake up so early on a Sunday in between intense basketball training. The day was spent at Santa Cruz on the boardwalk and playing games. It was close to Deborah's birthday as well so we celebrated the birthdays together. Deborah is Derek's best friend Denzel's mom and she has been a major support for Derek in his settling in in America.

We feel so blessed to have made friends so quickly in the Bay area!