These Days

The church close to where we live has Food Truck Fridays during the summer. We were looking for a place to eat after Neil's karate test and decided to check this out. Food was just ok, but the free bounce house was a lot of fun for Neil.=) Intense!

Last Friday, Neil had his rank testing in karate for purple belt. He has shown a lot of improvement on his coordination and balance. Congratulations on your promotion, Neil! I made a short video of the session.

Last week was very hectic for us. It was our department's annual all-team meeting from Monday to Thursday. Days are always packed during these meetings and evenings are also booked for team dinners. Neil also had VBS from Monday to Thursday, which starts at 8:45AM. The church is about ~20 minute drive from our house, plus Neil still had karate in the afternoon so we decided it would be better for scheduling if I stayed at the hotel and the family stayed at home. It was my first time to be away from Ela overnight so that was a big adjustment as well. However, they came to visit on Tuesday and stayed overnight with me on Wednesday. Thanks to Richard for making it work.=) Awesome teammates Reah, Jing and Lei flew in from Manila.

Playing with slow shutter speed. We've been watching The Flash lately so Neil had fun appearing like Flash. Pure joy.

She empties this box of her toys and likes to get inside. Finished 1 week of swimming lessons at YMCA.

Neil had tennis lessons (first time!) last week. It was only for 5 days, from 8:30AM - 12:15PM. I reported for work an hour earlier so they have enough time to drive to the venue which was 12 miles away. I saw some videos from Rich's phone but I really wanted to see him in action so I took Friday morning off. He was able to pass the basic skills but to get better, he needs more practice and lessons. We're still thinking if he should continue with it, since he's still doing karate and swimming. We'll see.

We had a full day last Saturday. First thing in the morning, we drove to YMCA for Neil's swim class and step aerobics again for me. Then lunch and quick nap at home before going to Atlanta Rocks for a birthday party. Afterwards, we drove to Suwanee for dinner at the Villacortas with our small Filipino community. Richard and I have not been cooking Filipino food in the past few weeks so we loved everything that was served - liempo, grilled tilapia, pansit, menudo. All so good! Thank you, friends! Ela takes some time to warm up to people, even ones he has seen met many times before. But before the night was through, this happened. Neil liked holding the microphone. Inspired by this meal, we went to the Farmers Market the following day to buy ingredients for sinigang. I also cooked chicken adobo during the week. =)

Yesterday, we were at Atlanta Rocks, and indoor wall climbing facility, for Neil's classmate's birthday. Neil has tried wall-climbing on several occasions but this is the first time that he's reached the top! The guide said he did really well, being deliberate and thoughtful with his moves. He was afraid to let go of the rock and rappel on the way down. He eventually did. Checking the timestamp on the camera, he scaled that wall for more than 20 minutes. Sweat was dripping off his head and he asked for water right away. He persevered and reached the goal. Always an awesome thing to witness.