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Sometimes I feel bad that Keegan does not get to have a glorious 2+ months summer break like I did, but then, I think about his personality, and I believe it would drive him crazy to stay home for that long. And let’s not even talk about what it would do to us. He would still need lots of interaction with other kids, all day long, so summer school and camps, at least for now, seems like a perfect solution.

This year, we sent him to a one week YMCA camp, where he did a lot of messy experiments, and, by lucky chance, he ended up being in the same camp as Van, his preschool friend. After that, he wanted to go back to his school for their summer program. He was in the same classroom as the regular school year, so he felt at home. The theme this year was Space, so many activities are space related.

watch out for the alien UFO

Of course, they still do math, reading and writing, but there are also lots of other activities, like gardening, and crafts and storytelling and lots of play, including splash time on Fridays. He seems to be having a good time. For 4th of July, they built a lot of different crafts and had a celebration at school. Not quite as fun as the bike parade in preschool, but still.

Now, looking at the photo below, which kid seems to have the most fun?

He seems to also be enjoying more and more building thing, with all sort of materials: waffle blocks, Legos, flowers?

They do also quite a lot of team work…pretty cool. And yes, there are plenty girls at school, and occasionally they get allowed to build too. In fact Keegan seems to be quite popular among the girls. One of them has decided she wants to marry him…but he is not interested.

His  construction skills translate into home play as well. He built this with jenga pieces.

They also work on less traditional skills like sawing. This is his first attempt.

It really feels like a win-win-win situation: he has fun (even if he would not readily admit it), I get to work and he reviews and improves on his math, writing and reading skills. It may not be the prefect solution forever, but we will worry about it when the time comes.

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It happened, finally! Keegan has been wishing for this moment for almost a year, since his friends started losing teeth in preschool. However, he was very late on getting teeth in the first place, so it follows he would be late losing them too. When we went to the dentist in June, she told us he had two molars out already, and that the two bottom teeth were wiggly, so the countdown started.

Finally on July 24, just as we noticed how wiggly it was the previous night, he lost his first tooth at school, biting an apple. When I picked him up from school he was so excited to show me, and so were his friends. The teachers made a little card for him, and taped his little teeny tooth on it.

At night, the tooth fairy arrived. It is a pretty cheap tooth fairy, so it only left $2.00, but he was excited anyway…even if he really knows it us. Form that moment on, he started playing with his other wiggling tooth. He even accidentally bent it, but no luck. No biting, or playing with it helped.

Finally, on August 4, right as we are walking out of Seaworld after the fireworks, he lost his second tooth. It dropped on the ground, and even thought there were tons of people and it was dark, he was able to find it. What a great end of a special Seaworld trip! I tried to take a picture, but it is very dark.

He asked the tooth fairy to give him some paper money and some coins, so the tooth fairy obliged with $1.15 (2 nickels, 5 pennies)

He is so proud of his missing teeth he is telling EVERYONE about it! In all the photos we are taking now, he proudly display his toothless grin. I personally think it is adorable!

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We can’t really escape Star Wars: not only because Keegan is really into it right now, but because with Disney purchasing the franchise, and releasing a new cartoon series this fall and a new movie next winter — December 18, 2015  to be specific — Star Wars is everywhere!

It was a huge presence at Comic Con this year. I, once again, took Keegan, who got promptly bored after an hour: what kid gets bored of Comic Con??? Last year he did not want to leave. Anyway, more time for me, I guess. We did get to check out some really cool stuff though: Hot Wheels got in the action too. They will be releasing Star Wars based cars (WHY???), so to advertise them they built a full size, real car. Not just any car, a Darth Vader car. I know it sounds insane, and it is, but this car is AWE-SO-ME. Check it out on this video or read about it here. It does look a little like the Batmobile, but still, I would love to have it.

I was so amazed by the car, I did not even notice the buff guy wearing speedos walking just behind it. And trust me, hot guys at Comic Con is a rare sight.

The little cars, to be honest, are pretty nice too, even if they make no sense. I did not shell out $40 for the collector edition, though, no matter how cool it looked.

We visited a past student who is part of the 501 Legion, the official Star Wars Group. She also volunteers with a company that build costumes. Keegan tried on a huge helmet.

Then we roamed the floor: it is not too bad early in the morning, and photo opportunities abounded.

We checked out the characters of the new TV show and we even got a really cool Lego Star Wars book for a super cheap price. They had amazing exhibit, as this Han Solo in carbonite replica, that could be had for only a few tens of thousand of dollars…or if you win a raffle.

Of course not everything is Star Wars at Comic Con, far from it. There were lots of fun stuff and good costumes, even thought I thought last year was better.

Lego has always awesome models

check out this steam punk Jesus

these guys usually make their costumes, and walk in them all day…

One more Star Wars event was organized by my college. Platt invited students and artists to create some artwork inspired by the Star Wars universe. All the art was exhibited in Liberty Station for one night event.

We all went and it was fun evening.The artwork was incredible, and it was fun to check it out.

Our favorite was, however, baby Yoda.

The 501 Legion members were out in force, with their amazing costumes, so Keegan got the chance to pose with many of them. My ex-student was there, as Princess Leia, and she was so amazing with Keegan.

even I got a piece of the action (photo by Keegan)

The most surprising and amazing costume, though, was probably Chewbacca. You don’t often see him around. Pretty cool.

They also had a classical string quartet that played a couple of Star Wars pieces and more contemporary pieces. It was really nice. Check out the “director” brandishing a light saber.

We lasted about 2 hours, took one last shot to end with a bang and then headed home for pizza night.

With Star Wars all around him, it is no surprise he already chose what he wants to be for Halloween…can you guess? Darth Vader of course! I have found a costume on sale, so I got it. I know there is a chance he will change his mind, but I thought that, for the price, it could be a cool dress up costume anyway. Doesn’t he look fierce?

I guess he will not get over this obsession very quickly, but I promise this is the last Star Wars post for a while…I am sure you saw enough picture of people in costume to last an eternity…

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This summer, we were very happy to spend some time with two of Matt’s siblings. Matt’s sister Sue started a three weeks long journey cross country, with the plant to visit of of her siblings, and more. She left from North Carolina after the 4th of July, and made it to San Diego on July 10, with her husband Dan. Hannah, arrived the following day.

To say that Keegan was excited is an understatement. He was ecstatic (yeah, we don’t get many visitors)! We saw them pull in just as we got home from school: perfect timing! It was so great to see them. Sue, being an elementary school teacher, was wonderful with Keegan, and so patient with him. She immediately snapped a selfie to celebrate.

After dinner the adults had a wonderful talk outside, under an almost full moon. The next day, I had to go to work, while Matt, Sue and Dan went to get Hannah at the airport. Matt and Sue had the chance to have a great one  on one time, which was way overdue. I think it was really beneficial, especially for Matt.

I meet up with them for lunch. We headed to La Jolla…maybe not the most brilliant idea, since it is the middle of summer and it was packed. However, we scored a beautiful table at George at the Cove. It was a beautiful, clear day, and the view was breathtaking. The food tasted delicious too.

After an unintentional stroll through downtown la Jolla (we could not quite remember where we parked), Sue and I went to pick up Keegan. Sue was very interested in checking out Keegan’s school, and Keegan could not be happier to show off his aunt. At home, we all relaxed, and Keegan welcomed Hannah, by getting her to build Legos with him. We all felt still pretty full from lunch, so we had a light dinner, and after Sue put Keegan to bed, we had another beautiful conversation outside.

The next morning, I woke up feeling really sick…food poisoning or some other kind of stomach bug. I really did have enough strength for getting up from bed, let alone going out. I was bummed, but I really could not: I spent most of the day in bed, resting. I guess it worked out, so they could all go out in one car: they headed to UCSD, since Hannah is considering that university for her master. They had a nice tour, and visited the Geisel library (dedicated to Dr. Seuss, a.k.a. Theodor Seuss Geisel ) and many sculptures around campus.

dr. Seuss sculpture

After the tour, they headed over the Glider Point, to watch paragliders and hang-gliders. Nobody gave it a try though.

They got back in the afternoon, and while everyone rested, Matt prepared a wonderful BBQ. Shannon, the step-daughter of Matt’s sister Beth, came over with her puppy, which was a great hit with Keegan, of course. Everything looked delicious and I was so sad I could not eat any of it. I still had a very nice evening with everyone…

I lasted till 9pm.

Keegan was basking in all the attention, but that did not stop him from misbehaving…so he lost his brownies for the evening. He promptly ate them from breakfast the next day. On Sunday, after our morning nap, and Sue’s morning run, we all went to Coronado Beach. The weather was a little hazy, but still beautiful. Keegan did not want to swim, but he played in the sand and built sand castles with Hannah.

After we got home, Aunt Sue and Hannah took him to watch: How To Train Your Dragon 2. What a special treat…for everyone. We just rested. I felt better but still not OK, and definitely tired. We had a quiet Pizza night, and everyone got to bed early. They all left early on Monday morning, but we were not too sad, because we knew we would have reconnected that weekend at Los Gatos, just outside San Jose’.

On Friday afternoon, we picked up Keegan early from school, right during his splash time. He was so excited for the trip, though, he did not even care. We headed straight to the airport. Everyone was a little tired and cranky, but we all felt a lot better when we arrived. We headed straight to Matt’s brother Jim’s house. It was nice to see him, and his family as well as Sue and her family.

Jim’s wife Dyah prepared a great dinner, but unfortunately I could not stay. My college friend Meggie, who lives in San Francisco, drove down for dinner, so we could catch up…it has been close to 4 years! I could not pass this chance up. It was so great to see her, and to have a nice dinner and talk together. I missed her.

I have heard the kids had a blast. Jimmy performed at his violin and piano, and the kids played very well together. They also celebrated Sue’s birthday,which was only a couple of days prior.

Keegan and Matt ended up going to bed really late, around 10pm, and I was later still, but that of course made no difference: Keegan was so excited, he was up by 5.30am. He watched a movie for a little while, and then, fortunately we met up for breakfast (I even drank some coffee). Later in the morning we met Jim, Jimmy and Kirana for a hike. Little did we know, it turned out to be a massive – for people like us who are out of shape – 4 miles hike up a mountain. I am amazed Keegan made it up with not too much complaints…the power of peer pressure. Matt and I were trailing behind. I had a good excuse: I was not wearing appropriate shoes, and my knee was still hurting. Once we finally made it to the top, the view was breathtaking…not sure we could really appreciate since we were pretty tired.

After a few minutes to rest, it was time to go back down. It finally dawned on Keegan: he had to walked down as long as he walked up. It was not a good realization!. He had a major meltdown and refused to go down. Matt tried to carry him, but he was not fast enough. So, Hannah, gave him a piggyback ride…all the way down. Wahoo…I am impressed. I guess, as a reward, they got to see a deer and her baby.

Matt and I slowly made it down, but I did not mind: it felt like it was just the two of us, since everyone was so far ahead, so I enjoyed our alone time, like our time BK (before kids). We finally limped to lunch and met everyone else at a park. We were all so tired, that as soon as we went back to the hotel, we crashed for a nice 2 hours nap. We did not even have to convince Keegan.

In the late afternoon we headed back to Jim’s house. The kids watched a movie and we talked. After dinner, we made ‘smores…in fact the kids had fun preparing them.

One more late night, but after all is summer. The next morning, we had still time for a nice breakfast in Los Gatos. Then everyone went relaxing in a nearby parklet, and we posed for a group photo. CHEESE!

And just like that, it was time to pack up and leave. Keegan got to take a quick jump in the pool, and then we rushed to the airport. We were all sad, but we had wonderful memories. It was so great to see everyone, we promised ourselves not to let this much time pass till next time. Thank you Sue, Dan and Hannah for visiting us and for being the catalyst of this min-reunion. We miss you already.

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