Author Archives: jamesdwong

Eureka

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As we neared the end of the year, we were faced with an interesting quandary: last year, as she worked toward moving her mother out here from Nebraska, Julie accumulated enough flights and miles on United to reach the Premier Silver status level. This wasn’t a huge accomplishment—it’s the lowest level of access you can reach within United’s frequent flyer program—but it did include a few nice benefits, such as earlier boarding and complementary checked bags; these came in handy this year, as we arranged college visits for Joe.

Unfortunately, it looked like she was going to come up a couple flights short this year. Not wanting to lose those benefits, as we have some travel planned for 2024, she hunted around for cheap fares and was able to snag a pair of round-trip tickets to Eureka, California, which is about 80 minutes north of San Francisco by air. Of course, school is in session, so we couldn’t disappear for a week; instead, we took a short, overnight trip, leaving Julia and Joe in charge of making sure that William was fed and the house didn’t burn down. We left Saturday morning and were back by mid-afternoon on Sunday.

Unsurprisingly, the plane we took was a bit different from the big jets we take on cross-country flights to Chicago. The experience reminded me of the short hop I used to make from Champaign to Chicago on my way to job interviews on the west coast. We boarded via stairs on the tarmac and were on our way.

We arrived in Humboldt County right around lunchtime, and we set out to find a place to eat. The first place we tried was deemed insufficiently scenic, so we set out for another establishment that was, well, marginally more picturesque. We had some perfectly competent bar food and headed to our first destination: the Sequoia Park Zoo.

The zoo itself, which is the oldest in the state of California, wasn’t the main focus of our visit. Instead, we had our eyes on the Redwood Sky Walk, which is a short walking trail on a series of rope bridges suspended from the redwoods within the zoo. The walk itself was brief—it took us around 20 minutes to cover the entire course—but the views were breathtaking. The rest of the zoo was fun, as well: we were able to capture a few pictures of a red panda that we sent to Julia, much to her delight.

After the zoo, we made a quick trip past the Carson Mansion, which is heralded as “the most grand Victorian home in America” according to Wikipedia. The house itself is not open to the public, so a drive-by was about all we could do. From there, we checked in to our room at the delightful Carter House Inns and rested for a few minutes, as we had barely stopped moving all day.

Having recovered a bit, we went for a walk on the waterfront, eventually making our way to the Dick Taylor chocolate factory, where we indulged in a hot chocolate (it was quite chilly out by that point) and tried a number of different chocolate varieties and formulations. We picked out a few gifts for the kids’ stockings—thereby justifying the entire trip—before we headed back.

That evening, being completely unfamiliar with the area, we were left to our own devices to figure out where to eat for dinner. Almost by chance, we settled on the Brick and Fire Bistro, most likely because it came up early in a Yelp search. It was a somewhat surprising choice for us, considering Julie’s general exhaustion with pizza in all forms, but it turned out to be inspired. It was late enough in the evening that our lack of a reservation didn’t cause any issues, and the food was amazing. I had a Margherita pizza, which was good enough to force me to re-evaluate my own success making pizza at home, and Julie had the Fire-Roasted Brick Bird, which was equally delicious. We finished up with creme brulee, which I don’t think I’d had before.

It would be more interesting to say that we spent the rest of the evening exploring the nightlife in Eureka, but in reality, we headed back to our hotel room after dinner and got ready for bed. We read and relaxed for a bit and went to sleep.

We slept in the next morning, completely skipping breakfast at the inn. Once we were packed up and checked out, we drove down to the Avenue of the Giants, which is purported to be the most scenic driving tour among the redwoods in northern California. We didn’t have time to make the full drive—we had a plane to catch, after all—but we saw enough to wish that we had another day to explore further and visit some of the hiking trails and picnic areas in the forest.

And then our trip was over: we hopped on our little plane back to San Francisco and made it home in time for our appointment in San José. Despite the trip’s abbreviated duration, I was very happy we went and grateful to Julie for having and promoting the idea in the first place. Hopefully, we’ll make it back to Eureka someday, possibly with the kids; and it would be good for all of us to find more opportunities like this one to break out of the weekly routine and try new things.

Gallery: Eureka

A Field Trip, Thanksgiving, and Gingerbread Houses

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This update, A Field Trip, Thanksgiving, and Gingerbread Houses, covers the brief-but-busy interlude between Halloween and the start of the Christmas season. The set kicks off with a few photos of William on a field trip to the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City, or MSI, where the Booksin fourth graders were presented with the opportunity to learn about the incredible variety of marine life in the San Francisco Bay. This field trip is a longtime staple for Booksin students—more on that in an update to come—and it’s a treat to see these pictures if only because William has been on relatively few field trips in his time in school, thanks largely to Covid, which put the kibosh on class outings for a couple of years

MSI aside, William had very a busy month. In the space of eight days, he attended a bowling birthday party for his friend Henry; he went bowling again for his friend Caeden’s birthday; he learned to solve his Rubik’s cube for the first time; and he played mini golf at his friend Julian’s birthday party. His social calendar is vastly more full than mine.

Most of the gallery is taken up by pictures from the weekend of Thanksgiving. Julie’s Mom joined us for Thanksgiving dinner, of course, and the holiday meal was a resounding success. We were fortunate to have one of the best turkeys we’ve had in recent years, and we even finished the green bean casserole that day, neatly avoiding the challenge of reheating that dish without making the onions soggy. For dessert, William worked up the nerve to try pumpkin pie for the first time; as a result of his experiment, he decided that he’s a big fan of whipped cream.

That Sunday, we decorated gingerbread houses at the eleventh annual Gingerbread Decorating Party at the San José Woman’s Club. We’ve attended this event since Julia was little, and the comfortable routine is familiar and uncomplicated. The basic outlines have remained unchanged for years: you pick up your gingerbread house; put together a plate of candy and snacks with which to decorate it; and enjoy hot chocolate, apple cider, and cheese and crackers as you festoon your creation. William always looks forward to entering his house in the contest at the end of the party—he’ll win one of these years—but this year we had to duck out early due to another commitment.

The set concludes with a few snapshots from a brief ceremony UPA held to honor students who did well in the National Merit Scholarship competition. Joe was part of the largest group of honorees, the Commended Students. He was a little reluctant to attend, perhaps because he was dissatisfied with his performance on the PSAT, but he was ultimately convinced to go, which gave him an opportunity to goof off with his friend Caitlin, who was also recognized that evening.

Finally, I snuck in a picture of a pizza I made, because I think I might be finally starting to get the hang of our pizza oven.

Gallery: A Field Trip, Thanksgiving, and Gingerbread Houses

Joe’s Senior Portraits

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As Julia did before him, Joe sat for a set of senior portraits with a professional photographer, Christy Wright, this fall. He was nervous and self-conscious at first, but the photographer did an amazing job of getting him to loosen up during the session: you can see him relaxing and growing more comfortable as the shoot progresses. Check out the pictures here.

The photographer employed a number of wardrobe changes and picturesque locations to create a dynamic collection of photos. She begins the set with Joe wielding his clarinet in his band uniform at the Los Gatos Civic Center and then moves to Vasona Lake County Park, where she took advantage of the diverse terrain and late-afternoon light to capture Joe in a variety of fun and visually distinctive contexts.

There are some behind-the-scenes pictures and videos that Julie took during the shoot that we’ll share at a later time. In the meantime, we’re happy to have this artifact capturing Joe at this very specific point in time, as he prepares to move on to a new phase in his life.

Gallery: Joe’s Senior Portraits

Camping, Haircuts, and Snacks – November 2015

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This post is another look back, covering a timeframe almost exactly eight years in the past: November 2015. As always, we have pictures.

This brief update highlights just how much we had going on back then. It includes Will at speech therapy and playing in the park; Joe camping out with the Y Guides; and Julia working fall sales booths selling snacks for her Girl Scout troop. The photos show her selling with no fewer than three different girls over the course of a couple weeks.

The set also includes some video of Joe taking part in competitions at a Y Guides campout at Mount Madonna. You can see how seriously he took these inconsequential games by the look of intense concentration on his face. I was also struck by how good his throwing form was in one of the clips, even if the result wasn’t what he was aiming for—watch the video, and all will be made clear.

The album wouldn’t be complete without a selection of photos of William doing William things. We have William playing with his food; William goofing off with his sibling in nothing but his diaper; William after convincing some firefighters to let him sit in their truck; and what we think is his first real haircut outside the home.

There are a few work-related photos thrown in, highlighting that year’s offsite in Napa. If I recall correctly, I dozed off in the front row of a talk in the wine cellar that looks like a bomb shelter. It wasn’t the highest point of my professional career (though, to be fair, it was a really boring talk).

Gallery: Camping, Haircuts, and Snacks

Walkathon, Soccer, and Autumn Adventures

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October and November have been extremely busy months for us, mostly for the best. Julia started a new job; William wrapped up the soccer season and the annual school Walkathon; and Joe continued his long slog through the college admissions process with some campus visits and the completion of his first batch of college applications. It wasn’t all sunshine: we had some health scares and minor todos that we had to get through, but nothing worth spelling out here. As always, we have a batch of pictures documenting the fun and frivolity.

One exciting development is that Julia has started a job at Engenius, an on-site after-school care program at Booksin. It’s kind of a spiritual successor to the Y-Care program that Julia and Joe both attended when they were younger—Y-Care is still there, but greatly diminished—and some of the caregivers that used to look after the two of them are now supervisors at Engenius. Julia is working with the first graders and is enjoying herself so far; she is worn out by the end of the day. She’s still taking classes as well, but work gives her a little more independence, which she craves, and helps her to structure her days.

October also brought the annual Booksin Walkathon. We had to cut our time there a little short, because Will had a soccer game that afternoon, but he still managed to walk 13 miles and spend some quality time with friends. Julie ran the registration desk, as she had the year before, and I volunteered to supervise the bounce house in the morning. We didn’t see too much of Will until it was nearly time to go, but I did managed to snag a few photos as he raced by.

The week after the walkathon, William wrapped up the soccer season with a pair of games at the league’s end-of-season jamboree. This was his first season in this particular recreational league, run by Almaden FC, and he improved his skills significantly during the year. His team had mixed results in the win/loss columns, but he learned quite a bit about the game and has decided that midfield is his favorite position.

The same afternoon as the soccer jamboree, Joe and Julie jetted off to southern California for another round of college visits, probably the last of the year. They stayed for just one night and crammed in Caltech, UC San Diego, and San Diego state before flying back midday the next day. With Julia at a party, Will and I were left to our own devices that evening. We treated ourselves to homemade BLTs and had a quiet evening at home. Due to an unfortunate confluence of events, Julie and Joe missed their flight home the next day, but caught a later flight and were home by bedtime.

Joe is slowly working his way through the very long list of schools he’s decided to apply to. Princeton remains his first choice, and he submitted his application just ahead of the early action deadline on November 1. The University of Washington was next, as their regular application deadline was November 15. After that, he completed applications for the University of California system schools and San Diego State. That puts him at seven schools so far, which is already more than the total of five I applied to when I was a senior.

This Thanksgiving weekend, we’re hoping to push through the process for a number of additional schools on his list, including Rice, the University of Chicago, and others. The application deadlines for all of the remaining schools are in early January, but we’re hoping he’ll be able to finish up as many as he can now, so he doesn’t have to worry about college essays as the end of the semester approaches. It’s been a challenging process, as Joe is very conscientious about not coming across as fake or misrepresenting his interests and accomplishments; playing the game of selling himself to admissions officers doesn’t come naturally to him. Nevertheless, Julie and I have enjoyed helping him fine-tune his essays: we’ve been spending an hour or so with him most evenings after William goes to bed, and we’re grateful for the chance to share this quality time, even if he’s not always happy about it.

William has always loved dressing up in costume, so Halloween is one of his favorite holidays. This year, he chose to go as the Tenth Doctor from Doctor Who, wearing a fantastic ensemble that Julie put together, complete with a sonic screwdriver.1 I took a number of pictures of him in costume, but the best one was taken by another parent in the classroom during the school day; it’s a fantastic shot.

In the evening, William went trick-or-treating with his good friend Bridget. For the most part, they wandered around the neighborhood by themselves, leaving Julie and me at home; if Will hadn’t decided that he wanted some company toward the end of the evening, it would have been the first year since 2005 that we accompany someone in search of candy. I think Will was a little less excited than Bridget about going out without parental supervision, but it definitely seems likely that we’ll be out of a job next year, nonetheless.

The rest of the gallery is a potpourri of miscellaneous shots: a few pictures of a work kayaking outing on the Monterey Bay; patio string lights that were the fulfillment of a long overdue promise; and a picture of Grandma Moravec’s pork and rice recipe, which we make all too infrequently.

  1. Astute observers will note that he actually has the Fourteenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. It was all we could find on short notice. Don’t ask what it cost.

Gallery: Walkathon, Soccer, and Autumn Adventures

October 2015

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After a couple posts’ worth of recent pictures, today we have a set of photos from long ago: October 2015. In many ways, these pictures aren’t very different from the ones we’re taking today: like current collections, they cover school, extracurriculars, sports, and holiday celebrations. They’re eerily similar, except we’re all quite a bit older now, and the kids’ roles have changed dramatically. These echos are all the more poignant because the next set of photos I’m working on covers roughly the same time of year, but for 2023. They both feature soccer, Booksin, and trick-or-treating, but through a radically different lens. Sometimes, it’s hard to comprehend how we got from there to here.

William is omnipresent in this collection. We have pictures of him doing dishes, shopping with Julie, trick-or-treating, and—reflecting how he spent much of his time that fall—lots of photos of him playing in the park at the older kids’ soccer games. A particular favorite is a picture of him helping to collect drinks for the Booksin Walkathon.

Julia and Joe aren’t neglected, however. The gallery includes Julia’s Girl Scout troop making SWAPS to exchange with other scouts, pumpkin carving, Halloween hamminess, and numerous action shots from soccer games.

There is also a smattering of pictures from a sailing excursion on Monterey Bay that Julie set up for our anniversary. Neither of us had any previous experience sailing, and we were probably more hindrance than help to the captain of the ship who took us out, but it was a unique and fun experience that I’m grateful to have had.

Gallery: October 2015

League Champions

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A few months back, William wrapped up his first season in the Minors division of the local Little League in thrilling fashion: his team went on a tear at the end of the campaign, winning three out of four games in the end-of-season tournament to claim the championship. We have a giant pile of pictures to commemorate the occasion.

The championship was decided via a double-elimination tournament featuring the four teams in the AA division. William’s team had decent success during the regular season, finishing with a record of 8 wins and 5 losses. However, a number of those wins came against teams from another league: against the teams who would be competing in the tournament, they were a more pedestrian 5-5.

The team started the tournament strong, winning their first two games. This gave them chance to win it all in their third game, as the other team left standing had already suffered a loss. This team, the TinCaps, had been their nemesis all year: they had played them on three separate occasions and lost every time, by an average of more than five runs. This time, the matchup was close throughout; William’s team had a lead in the late innings, only to see it, and the game, slip through their fingers. Some calls didn’t go their way toward the end of the contest, which only added to everyone’s frustration.

This set them up for a do-or-die matchup three days later. The deciding game was a back-and-forth affair, with the TinCaps jumping out to an early lead, only for William’s team to charge ahead in the middle innings. Heading into the bottom of the sixth, however, the TinCaps were leading by a score of 8-7. The tension didn’t last long, though: the first two batters walked and advanced to second and third on wild pitches. They were brought home by a long single to right field, winning the game and the championship in dramatic fashion. The entire team erupted in delirious joy.

A on-field celebration followed, including a presentation of championship rings—William especially loved that part—and the kids ran the bases one last time in jubilation.

A couple weeks later, the team took the stage at the annual St. Christopher parish festival—most of the kids on the team go to school at St. Chris—to be fêted by the crowd.

William was thrilled with the way the season ended, of course, and he had a fantastic year overall. He took great strides in the field, and made several very nifty plays at third base. By the end of the season, he was starting to get more comfortable at the plate, though he was still somewhat apprehensive about getting hit by a pitch. As I write this, we’ve just received an email letting us know that Early Bird registration for next season has opened up, and William can’t wait for it to begin.

Gallery: League Champions

William’s Fourth Grade Picture

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We sent out Joe’s school pictures a bit early this year, so now that William’s have finally come in, he’s on his own for this post. There’s a small version embedded here, but you can find the full-size photo in his gallery.

Booksin changed photographers this year, so the William’s portrait has a bit of a different look; it has a much more dramatic feel than his earlier school photos. Of course, he took pains to dress up on picture day so that he would look dashing: that much is unchanged.

William's fourth grade picture

Gallery: William

William Turns Two / Fall 2015

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This set of photos is a time warp back to eight years ago and the fall of 2015, when William turned two. Julia and Joe were still in middle school and elementary school, respectively, and William was living a the carefree life of a toddler.

Looking back on these photos, it’s hard to believe that Joe was almost a year younger than William is now: he seemed like such a big kid at the time. Even at that age, it was clear how much William looked up to him, as evidenced by the pictures of them practicing their instruments together.

For his birthday, William had an amazing train cake that the older kids helped decorate (and eat). He was thrilled to receive a pile of colorful new presents, but as usual, he was completely content just playing in the dirt on the sidelines at Julia’s soccer games.

Gallery: William Turns Two / Fall 2015

Fall Firsts

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It’s the second half of August, and for the last thirteen years, that’s meant one thing to us: it’s back-to-school time, and we have the pictures to prove it.

The gallery contains the traditional first-day-of-school shots in front of the car, of course, but it also includes a few others, including William jumping for joy at some exciting news; Joe absolutely wiped out after his first day of senior year; and William’s first soccer game (hence the somewhat forced “Fall Firsts” moniker for the photo album).

The year is off to a fast start. William seems to be enjoying fourth grade with his teacher, Mr. Tejada. He’s especially interested in the class reading goals: if everyone reads 40 books by May, the whole class gets a party. William is already almost halfway there.

Joe is working with his small ensemble on some pieces they might play at band competitions in the spring. He’s also enjoying having an open first period on Mondays and Wednesdays, which lets him get an extra hour or so of sleep. If anything, he’s enjoying it a little too much: there have been a couple days in which he cut his arrival at school for second period a little close.

His relaxed mornings may not stick around for long, however. He’s planning to take vector calculus at a nearby community college, and the section he wants meets at 6:30 am. He’s currently on the waiting list for that section, but if he gets in, it will mean lifestyle adjustments for all of us.

Julia’s plans for the fall are still somewhat up in the air, but we’re hoping to have a more concrete idea of what she’ll be doing imminently.

Gallery: Fall Firsts