Stories from 2018 « karenika

Stories from 2018 – 26 – Family Reunion

Last weekend, we got to visit Boston to celebrate my husband’s family reunion. There were 50+ people there which was magnificent.

The kids got to play outside all day and did all sorts of things from playing on slides, to water slides, to making tie dye and many more opportunities to run around and explore.

It was really wonderful to see everyone together.

I was extra lucky because my nephews were both there, too.

So we took photos with the 4 cousins since it’s not often they are in the same location.

There was much laughter. Many long and lovely conversations. A lot of relaxation. An incredible talent show and so so much else. I am so grateful for family.

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 25 – Passion Project

In Nathaniel’s 3rd grade class, each kid got to pick a passion project to work on during April and May. Nathaniel decided he wanted to do his on Search Engines. He researched the history of search engines, found stats on which ones are most popular where and then we dug up the code we’d written in the udacity class we took a few years ago so he could read through and comment the whole thing.

he also interviewed one of the creators of the very first search engine: Excite! Then he put his poster together where the middle looks like search engine results.

And finally he had to present it at school.All in all, he learned a lot about search engines and a bunch about coding. It was wonderful to see how into it he was the whole time.

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 24 – Backpacking in Yosemite

The week I went to Tokyo, David went back country backpacking in Yosemite with his class. He wasn’t thrilled about it.

They had to carry all of their gear on their back plus the tents and bear cans full of food.

I was worried all week, hoping he was having a good time.

And super excited to pick him up when it was time. It turned out he had a good time. It wasn’t amazing but also not at all as bad as he worried it might be. I am so so proud of my boy. He’s growing up too fast.

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 23 – Tokyo

This post will be full of photos, feel free to skip. I got to go back to Tokyo for the first time after 19 years so I took tons of photos. The one above is my favorite of course. Coffee art. Isn’t it amazing?

SFO airport. Early morning.

I went to the lounge and ate breakfast and read and worked.

love the message on my coffee.

waiting to board.

flying to seoul first.

seoul airport.

and back on the plane after an hour delay on top of my 4 hour layover.

i got to have the whole row.

so i snapped photos out of the window

i usually sit on the aisle because i go to the bathroom often.

so this was a luxury.

and i made it.

love these prepackaged joys in the hotel.

in the elevator

photo from the cafeteria

Stories from 2018 – 22 – The Tech Challenge 2018

I forgot to capture the Tech Challenge which was a few weeks ago. This year’s challenge was building a contraption that can withstand a huge drop and then can deliver a penny to a specific location. All without using batteries.

I was the least involved this year so I didn’t really see what they built until the day of. And their name was the best this year: The Prolonged Verbose Unhyphenated Autological Polysyllabic Sesquipedelianists. Isn’t that amazing?

They always get interviewed first. No adults allowed.

Here they are in line, waiting to come out.

And the challenge. They beat it twice in a row. Perfect both times.

And they won! Outstanding Device Performance. It was so wonderful to see them win.

Another wonderful year. So grateful.

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 21 – David in Sense and Sensibility

David’s class put on 4 different plays last week. Midsummer Night’s Dream. Henry the 5th, some Improv and Sense and Sensibility. David’s third choice was the last one and alas that’s what he got. They put on an 80s version of the play and it was quite lovely.

The best part was all the 80s music they played in between the scenes.

In a few weeks, they will be going to Ashland and watching professionals put on all these plays. I am so excited that he’ll get to experience that!

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 20 – Pie Ranch

Nathaniel’s class went away for their first sleepover camp this week. They went to pie ranch which was just an hour or so away.

He was super excited to go.

He loves spending time with his friends.

So this is a situation where he thrives.

here are a few photos he took while he was there.

love the sign. love the goat.

love that he took a photo of this rumi quote!

they did farm chores, ate pie and spent a lot of time running around.

so grateful for these magical experiences, and so grateful he’s back safe.

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 19 – Happy Birthday Nathaniel!!

I can’t believe my little one is already nine. I don’t have any little boys any more. They are both so big now. Nathaniel spent his birthday day with me at work and then with his Dad in the afternoon. That Friday he got to celebrate it at school with all of his friends.

He got a box of lovely notes from all of his classmates.

And then on Saturday he had 3 friends over for pizza, fun and then rock climbing.

All in all it was a lovely week of celebrating this sweet, kind, funny, gentle, loving boy!! We love you so much Nathaniel and we are so so so so grateful to be your parents!!

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 18 – Take Your Kid to Work Day

We were super lucky this year because Take Your Kids to Work Day fell right on top of Nathaniel’s birthday! I was extra lucky because my manager also has a son around Nathaniel’s age so he also had the morning with his son and thus our meetings were canceled. So Nathaniel and I had breakfast, spent the morning together and then Jake joined us for lunch and took Nathaniel home to spend the afternoon with him while I sat in meetings.

Nathaniel trying the Street View car. And exercising (below.)

This was a Google Fit challenge he had to complete to get a prize.

Our program and map.
Photo with the Waymo car.

Nathaniel watching the VR that the Waymo car experiences.

My wonderful nine year old!!

Having some fun with the Android dude.

And making stop motion animation.

Loved the quote of course.

Photo time!

Doing map reduce with legos.

And playing some AR games.

This one was a fishing game where the grass has a pond in it and you fish.

It was a really lovely morning and such a joy to have N at work with me!

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 17 – Rock Climbing at Joshua Tree National Park

After the Great Wolf Lodge, we drove down to Joshua Tree National Park. The boys had made a reservation to go rock climbing. Since they are so much more advanced than I am, I opted to just watch.

There was much waiting and sunscreen while one was climbing.

It was crazy for me to watch most of the time.

This was our guide, he was fantastic.

There goes David. He went first on each climb.
And Nathaniel.

After a while, we went to another site which was much scarier for me and a challenge for each boy for different reasons.

but they each made it to the top.

there goes the little one.

And the love of my life.

made it!

Our guide took this photo when we were done, 5 hours later. All the boys loved it.

Joshua Tree is one of my favorite places in the world. It’s unlike any other.

The night before we stayed at a hotel nearby and the kids made a point to have fun.

The next night we stayed near LA to be closer to home and then drove back home in the morning. All in all it was a fantastic Spring Break and full of adventures!

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 16 – Great Wolf Lodge

This post is full of photos, feel free to skip. Some of the stories have a ton of photos and others have almost none. That’s the way life goes for me. Our Spring Break Vacation started with two days at the Great Wolf Lodge. David had stayed at this hotel in Washington D.C. with his class and really loved it so we decided to go to the one in Anaheim.

We found an awesome arcade nearby where you had to pay $2 to get in and then the games were 2-6 nickels each. After we’ve had enough of the water, we’d go to the arcade.

This is the outside of the hotel at night. Doesn’t it look awesome?

And here’s the inside. It has a waterpark that’s only for guests.

View from the outside.

The boys loved it. They spent like 6 hours at the park each day we were there.

They had a Dunkin Donuts in the hotel which meant we ate more donuts in those two days than I have all year.

We loved the Do not disturb signs.

There also was a Japanese dollar store nearby and we shopped there for a while!

David going down the slide.

I mostly sat inside and outside and read. I did join the kids for some time and did all the slides I was comfortable doing.

All in all, it was a lovely two days!

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

Stories from 2018 – 15 – Farmer’s Market

Nathaniel’s Third Grade class put on a Farmer’s Market on Tuesday. where each kid was given a $20 budget and they had to but items and then prepare a dish and decide how much to charge. He made yogurt parfaits.