Soccer Season!

Soccer season has officially begun! Our boys have been busy practicing their foot skills and competing in soccer tournaments. They are both part of the Norcal Youth Soccer League, in the Metro (select) League. Christopher is in a U14 team called River City Force, and Jeffrey is in a U12 team called River City Rebels. Both of the teams belong to the same soccer club - River City Soccer Club, thus the name "River City" Force & Rebels. This league is in between your neighborhood recreational league and the competitive league. Their season lasts about half year, from July to end of December. It all depends on the coach, and how aggressive/competitively they want to play.

Anyhow, they have been practicing with their team atleast 2x a week for the last couple of months. And on the weekend of August 12-13, unfortunately they were both scheduled to play in a tournament in different town. Christopher's team was scheduled to play in the "Skunk Classic" in Fort Bragg, and Jeffrey's team was scheduled to play in the "Kickin' Chicken Soccerfest" in Petaluma. So our family split up and traveled in different pat. Eddie & Christopher drove up to Mendocino for the weekend and Grace & Jeffrey (and Lizzy & Rachel) drove up to Petaluma. It was a bittersweet weekend for all of us. Both boys' teams had a disappointing start, but it was good to see them play hard and contribute to the team. They were both a good sport, and although they were exhausted and sore by the time the weekend was over they were excited to be able to play again.

Jeffrey's team had another tournament on August 19-20 here in the Sacramento area. I haven't taken any action photos yet, but here is a picture I took of the team. More photos to come later.


There are still many more tournaments left in this season. I will update the blog when I can. Hopefully we'll get some great action shots.

Summer of 2006

I can't believe how fast this summer has passed. Usually we are able to take mini-field trips with the kids, take few short vacations, and count the days until the beginning of the new school year. This year, however, before I knew what hit me I realized that we have less than 2 weeks of vacation left! We were only able to make a handful of visits to our local library, only finish few pages of workbooks I bought for the kids, and have not had any "field trips". I suppose that means that somehow we managed to keep busy and occupied. We did have handful of visitors this summer.

Uncle Curtis managed to visit us couple of times. Kids really enjoy Uncle Curtis' visits. Uncle James came up and visited for about a week. Couple of weeks ago the Chung family came and visit us for a day (it was so much fun to play with all five of them), and the Kim family visited us before & after PUC campmeeting. Auntie Sue's parents also stopped over and stayed a night before PUC campmeeting. Auntie Helen & Uncle Tae's family came over twice, and grandma & grandpa Song stopped by after PUC campmeeting. great aunt & great uncle Lee (James/Janie's mom & dad) stopped by after PUC campmeeting too. I guess we make a great stopping ground for PUC. Although at times it may have been somewhat chaotic, we really enjoyed the visits from our friends & family.

We just got back from Western Korean SDA Campmeeting at PUC this past Sunday. Kids had a blast! This year Christopher & Jeffrey decided to enter the talent show with their cousin Matthew. Although they didn't figure out what they were going to do until about a day before, their performance was great! It was soooo cute! Three of them, with the help of Taylin, choreographed a dance routine to the Pokemon theme song. They called themselves the "Pokemon Masters". They all said it was the highlight of their experience. Taylin also entered the talent show, playing the Fantasy Impromtu, and won the 3rd place. She played flawlessly! She is so great!

Here's the "Pokemon Masters" with Grandma Song & Auntie Helen

Next couple of weeks will surely fly by as well. We still have to go to the school orientations, finish registering for their classes, get lockers, PE uniform, school supplies, etc... not to mention the soccer practices. Oh yea, and the soccer tournament this coming weekend. Christopher will be headed to Fort Bragg with Eddie and Jeffrey will be headed to Petaluma with me and the girls. Poor Coco will have to be boarded for the weekend. I hope he does well. Anyhow, I didn't take much pictures last couple of weeks but once I get a hold of some pictures from others (of PUC campmeeting) I will be sure to upload it. Well, that's about it for now... I'm just trying to catch up with the laundry from our trip before we have to head on out again this weekend... wish me luck!

Swim Championship

Woodland, California

Over the hottest weekend, our children competed in a swim championship. It was a first for all of them, so we didn't really know what to expect. Five teams from our conference participated in this 2-day filled event.

Coming into the championship our team was undefeated. All the kids were to swim all events, however with each event lasting from 30 seconds to at most couple of minutes there were lots of down times. This was the first year our children were in a competitive swim team. Although over the season our children had improved dramatically, it is hardly a match for those
seasoned veterans. I was blown away by
some of the kids there. Boy, you can never underestimate the size of a child! Our kids, however, hung in there... trying their best, and at times beating their best time. We were very proud of them. Despite the hot and humid weather, and long-drawn out swim meet, they cheered for their siblings as well as other teammates.

Jeffrey surprised everyone, including his coaches, by cutting his 100 IM time by 38 seconds. It was just amazing! We just don't know where that came from! During the Awards night the following day, the coaches awarded him with the MOST IMPROVED trophy in his age group. 38 seconds was just off the 100 IM. He shed much more time in all the other strokes as well.

Christopher had a great 100 IM as well. He took off almost 30 seconds in his 100 IM. They all enjoyed the swim championship and has already told me that they want to swim again next season, and for the same team. The team especially wants to make sure that the boys come back... there are less older boys in the team. During the Awards Night, Christopher was also awarded a trophy from his coach. He was the 3rd top scorer in their age group. It's a small group, but during the championship our team won the meet by 13 point, and Christopher managed to earn 13 points during the meet! Needless to say, both boys were both surprised and excited. To have received an award on their first year... well... it was totally unexpected. Both boys also participated in a relay race... Jeffrey in 11-12 boys 200 medley relay (he swam the breast stroke), and Christopher in 13-14 boys 200 freestyle relay. Both boys received a medal. It was good for the kids to see that with some work you can achieve.

Sacramento Korean SDA Youth BBQ & Pool Party!

We finally had our church youth over for a BBQ & Pool Party on July 1st. I'm not sure just how many showed up, but we had a full house. The day was perfect... warm 90's temperature. The guys grilled away and then had a blast jumping into the cool water, and helping others "jump" into the pool as well.

Some of the kids were leaving the next day to Camp Cedar Falls in Southern California for Jr. KAYAMM camp, so it was also a nice way to send them off as well. Other than couple of minor incidents that was handled privately, the party was a huge success. I might even be bold enough to say that the kids had a blast. Maybe next time the girls will be better prepared for the "pool party" part.

It's nice knowing that you can provide an atmosphere, as well as a place and food, that our young members can come and relax in. I look forward to seeing them regularly here. I did enjoy the party just as much as they seemed to have.

Newest Member of Our Family, Coco

Well, sometimes despite our good intentions we end up doing something we swore we'd never do. As if having a family of 6 isn't enough work, Lizzy & Rachel has somehow managed to talk both Eddie & me into getting a little puppy for them. However, I have to admit, he is a cutie. He's a Border Collie mix. We're not sure what he's mixed with, although Eddie thinks maybe there is some Labrador in him. We found him at the animal shelter. We compromised with him because I wanted a small dog, and Eddie wanted a manly dog. Collies are supposedly a mid-sized dog. We'll see how it turns out. Anyhow, we have named him "Coco" because he's a black dog.

So far he's been a calm and very bright dog. He's even managed to convince both Christopher & me into liking him. Christopher didn't want a dog either, because he didn't want to deal with all the work/responsibility of having a dog; typical teenager! Well, here he is couple hours into moving in with us. How can you not fall in love with this face?

Arden Park Dolphins Swim Season 2006



Well, our swim season has officially begun. Our children has joined our neighborhood swim team. Arden Park Dolphins (www.apdolphins.org) consist of kids ages 4-18. I don't know the exact number of kids, but it's a lot of kids. They practice EVERYDAY (unless we have a conflict of schedule). Girls are in group "7-8", and they practice 45 minutes everyday, and boys are in group "11-18" and practice 90 minutes everyday. During the month of June & July they have swim meet about every weekend. We just had our 2nd swim meet, and all of them improved on their times.

Our New Home



Our Sacramento Home


We sure do spend a lot of time in this pool.


Our children love to run around in this backyard.

These are pictures of our new home in Sacramento. Come and visit us soon.

Boy, it's been a while since my last entry. Well, needless to say lot has happened since then. It's coming up on one year since moving to Sacramento. We have been in Sacramento since end of July of 2005. We rented a place in Gold River for about 6 months, and then moved in to our current home in Sacramento in February. We haven't quite settled in completely, but it's getting there. It's nice to know that we don't need to pack up and move any time soon. Kids are settling in nicely, and Eddie is enjoying his "Real" job. I continue to "work" as a driver/housekeeper/cook/personal shopper/nurse. It's a never-ending job (with a real BIG paycheck, hehe. Anyhow, I guess I'll try to keep up a bit better.

More Pictures from the Farewell Picnic







Here are some more pictures from our get-together on Friday.

Farewell Picnic with friends
Beachwood Park, Beachwood, Ohio

Our children (Christopher, Jeffrey, Elizabeth & Rachel) had a nice get-together with their friends at the Beachwood Aquatic Center today. It was planned by Rachel's teacher, Ms. Rubenstein. What a blessing it has been to have such wonderful teachers for our children. Most of Rachel's classmate showed up today, as well as some of Lizzy's friends. They all brought food & dessert to share... and boy, did we load up on sugar! They really had fun today, although Christopher is having harder time as days pass... he is getting very emotional and sad. I know it's hard for the kids, especially the older ones... it's never easy to say "good bye".

Eddie will be taking his Anesthesia Board today. I do wish him much luck. Once he is done with his boards, we will be busy packing... only 5 more days until the movers arrive for our stuff. We're not ready yet...

we will be having a moving sale this weekend... hopefully we can get everything together to sell... and will do well.

Anesthesia Residency Graduation

Cleveland Clinic Foundation

June 2005

Well, we are about to embark onto the next phase of our lives. Eddie's done with his residency (left: that's a picture of him during residency graduation dinner), Christopher graduated from 6th grade and we're about to move cross-country back to California. Eddie will be practicing at Sacramento starting this August. Although we're excited about this new opportunity, we're also sad to be saying goodbye to friends and this community we called home for the last four years. Our children are especially sad about leaving behind friends they have made, schools they've learned so much from, and the community that really made us feel at home. It will be hard, but in time we will all adjust to our new environment. Wish us luck!