We got a call from PAUSD that Jonathan got in at Walter Hays. Yay!
Palo Alto is a top school district in California. In fact, Palo Alto public schools have topped 11 places in California’s best public school ranking, with Hoover (also in Palo Alto) as No.1. It’s quite reasonable to say that real estate prices here are so high because of this great public school system and high API scores. Over the years, we have heard about Harker as the most rigorous and the best school in the Silicon Valley (and in the US, based on SAT scores and Top University Acceptance Rates). Yet, Harker is in San Jose but not that close to our house in Silver Creek/ Evergreen either. It would take 30 minutes to commute. Also, the cost of Harker is quite astronomical, compared to the free public school system (which we actually paid through the extra high real estate prices in Palo Alto). With so many options and a high standard of quality we have heard regarding the Palo Alto Unified School District, we have decided to try the Palo Alto public school route, and hope it works for our kids.
Walter Hays is the nearest to our house and it has an attached Jr. Museum and Zoo as well as the children’s library. Steve Jobs’ children also went there in their elementary school years. So we’re really happy to be placed at Walter Hays. :DDDDD Can’t wait to tell Jonathan this afternoon.
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This week our kids started their summer camp! This is Annabella’s first summer camp experience. Having both Jonathan and Annabella at the same camp makes it so convenient to drop off and pick up. 😀
Jonathan has been saying that he missed school friends/ Ms. Chang, and summer camps. I can’t believe he’s growing so fast! He had always wanted to be with mommy and do things with me but now he prefers occasional summer camps. At first Annabella didn’t want to go, so we decided to enroll Jonathan in Destination Science’s Robot Challenge. However, there was a problem with payment, and so we waited to pay the first day of the camp.
Came Monday morning, Annabella woke up and wanted to go to camp with Jonathan!!!
Destination Science only takes kids 5 and up, and so we switched back to Camp Edmo, which accepts Pre-K nappers. They were so excited! Annabella gleefully held Jonathan’s hand, and skipped along Palo Verde Elementary School where the camp was held. When they were separated into their own groups, Annabella looked pensive  – but no so long as Jonathan spotted her in the playground, and ran towards Annabella. They boisterously played in the playground before rally time. I’m so grateful to have children who love each other, and to have Jonathan help taking care of his little sister. Sometimes they fight and bicker, but most of the times, they show affection and take care of each other. <3
I previously thought the Ocean-themed week would be boring for Jonathan since he’s now more into robotics and building things. Yet, they seem to like it and learn a lot. Annabella told us about sharks having no bones and different types of clouds (funny she said the little one is the ladybug cloud), while Jonathan learned about ocean zones, seahorses, ocean pollution, and dolphins. He asked me to look up how many “species” of dolphins there are, so that he earns the “curious badge”. He got the buddy badge already – his buddy is Mason. Jonathan at first said that his buddy name was so difficult that he kep forgetting. Before bedtime, he said “Oh his name is Mason!”. Then he curiously asked what the name means since it should have a meaning. I said it means a brick worker. Jonathan seemed happy and thought Mason’s family must be in the construction industry. I think it’s cool for boys to think about construction and stuffs.
 Imagineerz @ Hoover
 Pacific Coast Kids Lego Motion @ Walter Hays
Oh today (June 14) we took Jumper to his first class. He’s a smart dog but is so food-motivated that sometimes we felt like all he cared about was food. >_< Jonathan and Annabella went wild in the dog classroom. Jonathan apologized, but Annabella kept making silly faces. Next time, we’ll bring toys for them to play while the class is in session. That’s kind of a short-term solution, but I feel like there are a lot to work on with Annabella regarding being respectful and controlling anger. We’re trying hard to undo the nanny effect. She’s a great rule follower at school, and teachers have told me she was outstanding in all aspects. Yet, she’s like a teenager at home. Now I’m thinking of my former advisor Glenn Carroll’s daughter when I met her. She was a really cute, chatty 3-year-old girl, and Glenn said he felt like his daughter was going 14, not 4. Ummm….
 –> น่ารัภ: à¸à¸¢à¸²à¸à¸à¸´à¸™à¹„ข่เจียว ไม่เà¸à¸²à¹„ข่ดาว ดูทำหน้า :>
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Here are also some pictures from our Zion National Park trip. Jonathan was super proud to get the Jr. Ranger Badge! Annabella didn’t quite get it why she had to “copy” what the park ranger said. Funny girl. Mommy love you both. <3
Stanford Bing Nursery School! ^_^ Happy Annabella
Our Vegetable Garden:
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Our Tesla is in production this week. Hooray! It has been delayed from the expected week of 6/6. Our Tesla DS has been totally untruthful regarding production. Last week, we were trying to change the color, but they said we couldn’t because it went into production early (which was not “early”, given that it should be in production that week anyway). Yet, the status on MyTesla still showed “entered the production queue”. Nathan called, left voice messages, and sent emails. No response. Until finally the DS picked up his phone call days later and said oh actually it went into production yesterday (Monday June 13), not last week. He would have to update the status on MyTesla, but he wouldn’t since they were already speaking on the phone (I think Tesla didn’t design their status update to be “either / or phone call” though.) Reasonable delays are acceptable but being untruthful and lies are not, Tesla. :p Anyway, people say you’ll forget this DS experience once we get to drive our Tesla.
Security Bot : Jonathan and Annabella thought it was chasing them. 😀
