Andrew Kwang Nellie Kwang Charles Kwang Landy Lee Kwang Edward Kwang

Year 2003 2004 2006

04/23/2004

Friday

Aloha! We were back from Hawaii last Friday at 1:30am. It was an wonderful family vacation. Our 3 kids all like to live in Hawaii forever. They didn't want to return to Los Angeles. They like Hawaii's beach, ocean, sand & mommy, daddy, grandma around. Nobody needs to go to school & work. Ha! What a life, but won't last too long! We have to return to reality & Edward have lots of work waiting for him. In fact, he signed up the one week T1 connection at the hotel & still worked hard every morning before 10:00am and night time when we return the hotel. But we still enjoy this vacation a lot.

We went to Polynesian Cultural Center... located in Laie, Hawaii, on the beautiful north shore of Oahu. In addition to enjoying the aloha spirit of the people, the Polynesian Cultural Center features the Alii Luau — Hawaii’s most authentic traditional feast, the Rainbows of Paradise canoe show, special features at the IMAX™ Theater. Edward & Grandma even got picked to go on the stage, they both soon became the popular stars at the Cultural Center. It's definitely a fun place for family to visit.

At one night, we went to watch the best Magic of Polynesia at the Honolulu Island. That was full of the magic extravaganza, the master illusionist John Hirokawa headlines an evening of great music, entertainment and animated special effects. This show has across-the-board appeal, attracting visitors and Honolulu residents. Shows start at 6:30pm and 8:45pm. My eldest boy-Charles was so enjoyable to watch the show. So do Edward, Grandma, Nellie & I. Andrew was the only person felt sleep at the end. Well, he was too tired for the busy schedule.

Did you know that there is only one place where cocoa is grown in the United States? That place is the Big Island of Hawaii. In fact, the Big Island of Hawaii is the only place in the world where the raw ingredients for all three major infusion beverages are grown - coffee, tea and cocoa. Hawaii's warm, tropical climate makes it an ideal location to grow these products. I saw the real Cocoa tree or you may even call it "Chocolate Tree" at Bishop Museum in Honolulu. What is Cocoa? (to be continued)

07/01/2004

Thursday

At the 1st day of the July, I look back the past couple months, there were lots of things that I can log here. From this early March to June, I had completed total 15 hours at Yoga class with a group of 10 people & 12 hours at Floral Design class with a local floral designer, she had over 30 years real world experience to run the wedding floral design business. I have no interest to run that business, but it’s very helpful to me to know better about how to arrange the flower, since I do have more chances to receive flower from the people that care of me. From learning all these fun subjects, I feel I can be even more flexible to stretch my body & much easier to arrange the flowers now. Also, I am continue to taking the one to one class with the UCLA Professor Yao H. Gao in order to improving the skill at the Chinese Violine-Erhu. I used to be a decent Erhu player at middle school & college. Anyway, I am glad that I found Professor Gao & he is a very talented musician. He has been devoted most of his life to the Chinese music development. He is a very detail oriented teacher. I really enjoy learning from him. By practicing the Chinese Violine-Erhu, I have totally given up to watch TV. I wish everyday have more than 24 hours for me to accomplish more objects. My kids? Well, they are never stopping learning the fun things! I have to go pick them up to swimming class now. See you!

08/13/2004

Friday

Summer break is almost over within 3 more weeks to my children! It's time for me to re-set the new fall's learning plan for the kids. This year we had a very successful summer schedule for the kids. My 3 kids have done better learning in Chinese, Spanish, swimming, Go game & Tae Kwon Dao. They also do a lot of drawing, art work & reading. We go to local library every Saturday morning & my 3 kids have their own library card. It's a blessing that my 3 kids are all became a very best reader in school. Their reading habit is also inspired me to become a better story teller. We do bed time story every night & 3 kids have 3 different preference book to read.

Swimming is a fun activity in the hot summer time. It is one of my 3 kids favorite sport. My 3 kids have learned the better skill to swim through the whole summer ongoing class. Nellie has no fear of the water. She learns float and kick and crawl stroke with rotary breathing. Andrew is learning backstroke, elementary backstroke and treading water. Charles is the advanced swimmer now. He learned all the key strokes. For Instance, sidestroke, breast stroke, butterfly, flip turns and deep water activities such as diving. He is learning in 7 feet deep and shallow water to coordinate and refine all major strokes with increased distances.

Another new sports that I just introduced to my 3 kids this summer is "Tae Kwon Do". Let the children learn how to reach their full potential through the martial arts programs. The instructors provide expert training in a fun and safe environment to produce positive results to children. My kids just started the program in mid of July & they are now getting better to focus on things that they are supposed to do. I hope through this martial art training, my kids will learn better about respect, concentration, confidence, discipline & leadership. . I am very pleased to see them all doing well.My family summer vacation will soon arrived. We will visit Vancouver, Canada & Rocky Mt. We also going to the Victoria Island. Our kids is looking forward to go on the trip. So do I & Edward.

09/29/2004

Wednesday

Fall is here in California. Kids & I started wear long sleeves dress this week. The weather is just as good as it should be. Edward is out of town in South Carolina. Grandmother is back to Taiwan. I am with 3 kids without any helper. Overall, my 3 kids are very cooperated with me this week. I told them that we are a team work, if anyone not obeys my instruction, he or she will ruin our plan. They quite understand their position up to this moment.
At the new school this fall, my kids are all doing well. The most different thing to them is I made them read a lot than before. Every night after dinner time, I set 30 minutes as the reading time. I borrow about 20 books from local library every Saturday. Whenever I want to have them to calm down for the next activity, I tell them just sit & read the books. I tried to cut down their video game time.
Life is too short to waist any time. With all the on going learning activities to them, I hope they will all become the best citizens to our country. Happy fall!