Mini Pearls - First Meeting

September 26, 2010

Today marked the first day of the monthly Irvine chapter meetings of Mini Pearls, an auxiliary of Beckstrand Cancer Foundation aimed to improve the quality of life for children with cancer. Alisha and Ashley are the Chapter Ambassadors in jumpstarting a philanthropic group consisting of grade-school children. After successfully adding another four members to the group for a total of six, the first project these children embarked upon was the Thanksgiving Food Drive. It is a 3-month project with the goal of putting together 50 baskets of canned foods and gift card to purchase frozen turkey for local families who are struggling to pay the mounting medical bills and making ends meet.

The first month, Minis traced their hands and feet to make turkey tags for the 50 baskets. All the Minis worked diligently and creatively as they constructed their colorful turkey tags. Alisha's turkey had long feathers due to her long fingers. Ashley made two turkeys as she was quick in completing the task. After much concentration, the Minis took a break, had some snacks and got brainwashed by Tom and Jerry. We are very pleased that the kids took pride in their turkey tags to help these children cope through the holiday season. We can't wait for the next Mini Pearls' meeting!

OCF-OCF Camp

September 17 - 19, 2010

Orange County Foundation for Oncology Children and Families (OCF-OCF) camp is by far the best camp we have attended. This is an amazing organization made up of strictly volunteers who are so very methodical and caring of everyone who attended camp. Although there are full-time CHOC nurses on site, one of the girls' counselors is a nurse at CHOC. The schedule for the girls was jammed packed and they got to experience: horse-back riding, field games, craft (scrapbooking), swimming, low-ropes, challenge course, campfire, dancing, archery, riflery, etc. Alisha loves scrapbooking and has recently started on the Hello Kitty scrapbooking kit that she got from her Aunt June for her birthday!

The schedule for the parents was just as busy. We had similar options, but we ended up spending a lot of time working on scrapbooking. There were some generous folks who donated a lot of scrapbooking supplies for the parents to take advantage of. In the evening, parents met to share their story of why we are here and we had the opportunity to go star gazing (it was so cold outside that we took a rain check).

Before every meal, everyone met by the flag pole to perform their ditty. The best ditty gets to enter the dining hall first. As parents, we slacked off a bit and did not prepare a ditty for one of the meals, so we ended up entering last. The kids were hilarious because they had to dress up for some of the ditties; thus, the reason for the customs you see.

During Family Hour, we took the girls to the rifle range since they were not slotted for this event due to their young age. Ashley did quite well, but didn't want to shoot anymore. Meanwhile, Alisha didn't do so hot, but love to spend more time on riflery. Alisha is very adventurous and always volunteered to go first during some of the challenge course apparatus. All in all, we loved the camp and cannot wait for next June to roll around...hope the funding is available to make it happen.

Make-A-Wish Holiday Cards

September 17, 2010

Ashley's drawing was selected through 66 Chapters in the USA to be used as one of the Make-A-Wish holiday cards. Attached is the link featuring her card. You may find that it is in Alisha's name, but Ashley actually drew it. While Alisha was working on her Wish Art, Ashley wanted to draw one too, so we submitted both under Alisha's name.

http://www.tssphotography.com/wish/default.aspx

Her original drawing is attached as there were some changes made for the sake of advertising these cards. We prefer the original drawing and are very proud of her!

Ronald McDonald House Art Contest

September 14, 2010

On the way to her chemotherapy and sedated lumbar puncture, Alisha received the news from the Ronald McDonald House in Orange County that she won first in the art contest. Alisha's drawing will be featured in the 2011 Young Philanthropist Card (it serves as a note card or a thank you card mailed out to donors). We are all very proud of her.

For a limited time, here's the news link through Ronald McDonald House in OC:

http://www.ronaldhouseoc.org/news.php?a=detail&id=90

Alisha recovered fine from her procedure, but did not fair so well on the subsequent days. There was vomiting involved the same afternoon followed by headaches and fevers. Luckily, she battled through those without having to visit the hospital.

Last Summer Series Concert & Birthday

September 11 - 12, 2010

Much to our chagrin, our summer concert series will be over thise weekend. The program called for Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (Ode to Joy) and the symphony paid tribute to 9/11. The girls didn't enjoy it as much because they preferred more actions such as Cirque de la Symphonie where the symphony was performing with the acrobats similar to Cirque du Soleil. Regardless, we are just happy Alisha was able to attend every concert with us this year!

The girls attended Kevin's 6th Birthday party (Ashley's good friend from school since Toddler class). The theme was Scooby Doo and Mad Scientists were hired to entertain the kids. These Mad Scientists showed the kids how to: 1) Lighting cotton balls on fire and making it disappear, 2) Melting foam material, 3) Tricking the kids with water absorption material such as the polymers inside a diaper, 4) Making colorful slim, 5) Launching a rocket and best of all 6) Making cotton candies.

Pizzas were ordered and the Scooby Doo birthday cake was outstanding. Topping it off, the kids were offered Dippin' Dots. Needless to say, the girls had a fabulous time at this birthday party and did not want to leave the Scooby Doo bounce house. Luckily, the birthday cake got all the kids out.

Universal Studios - Character Sightings

September 6, 2010

First it was Dora the Explorer, then it was SpongeBob. Homer, Bart and Maggie were next, but the shortest line for the photos was with Bart since we wanted to catch the Simpsons Ride. The Madagascar characters were always a riot!

In between all those characters, the girls were scared out of their wits when we went through the Haunted House. At first, Alisha acted brave and told herself it is all pretend, but the adrenaline and fear factor got the best of her. Ashley was screaming the whole way through and realized at the end that it wasn't that bad because the chainsaw madman picked up her pink hair band. Ashley; however, refused to go on the Studio Tours again due to her traumatic experience with King Kong 3D, fighting the velociraptors and T-Rex and Norman Bates carrying his deceased wife into the trunk of their vehicle.

This visit was much less crowded and more enjoyable with the milder weather.

Chillin' at the SLS Hotel

September 5, 2010

After Chinese school, we headed straight to the SLS Hotel for the Labor Day weekend. Thought we would try to enjoy the SLS Hotel and its amenities this visit rather than rush around from one place to the next. The SLS staff were awesome because the Director of Rooms reserved a bed by the pool for us to lounge out at and arranged a fruit platter on our arrival. There was also a refrigerator stocked with soft drinks, water and mists for Platinum guests along with a TV and eating area at the pool.

SLS does not have a lap pool. It is one of those pools (3 ft. deep) where people work on their tan while sipping on an alcoholic drink. The girls swam around the perimeter of the pool befriending everyone in sight. They do not appear to have any problems striking up a conversation with strangers. The duo even got their photos taken with an NBA player from Dallas (I don't follow, so I have no idea who it is). He's 6'11" and that's all we found out.

After the pool, we visited the Grand Lux Cafe and had delicious beignets and watched more US Open (tennis).

First Day of School

September 2 - 5, 2010

September 2nd marked the first day of school for the girls. This school year will be a huge change for both of them. Since Alisha has been out of school for the majority of the school year in 2009-2010, attending a different school full-time was an adjustment for her. We were proud that Ashley didn't have any separation anxiety or clinginess as previously anticipated on the first day of school. As for Alisha, she couldn't wait for school to start while Ashley expressed her trepidation for attending a different school.

For the first couple of days of school, the teachers usually go over the logistics and drills for emergencies. As a result, Alisha came home with a long face on the first two days until the importance of rules, regulations and emergency prepardness was explained to her. After the following Monday, she was all smiles and loved her teacher for introducing the weather book and a variety of resources inside her classroom. As a Second grader, typing will be introduced and students will be expected to type at least 25 wpm before entering the Third grade. One saving grace for all parents with their kid(s) in the Montessori program is that there is almost no homework for these students. Montessori teaching relies heavily on utilizing all senses to solve problems and get their creative juices flowing.

On Sunday, it was the first day for Chinese school. The students lined up with their uniforms and waited to be led to their respective classroom. The only thing Ashley was excited about was what snack I had packed for her. Alisha couldn't wait to learn new words and collect gifts for doing well. She's such an overachiever when it's something she loves! Since class is 3 hours long, it was a breather for the parents! :) Afterwards, Ashley had abacus class for an hour while Alisha got to relax in the recycled art class. Again, the only motivation for Ashley to be in abacus class is because she can earn candies when she answers the questions correctly. The serene nature of the craft class is what Alisha needed after one year of total chaos and losing control of her life. From her expressions, this was definitely the class she needs to bring back her sanity through all the craziness over the last year.