Category Archives: Soccer

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

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

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

Soccer Finale; Walkathon; and Goodbye, Bentley

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This time of year often produces busy weekends, but a couple weeks ago, we had a doozy. And we have the pictures to prove it.

The fun started first thing in the morning on Saturday, with an 8:00 soccer game. It was a very successful season for William’s team, the Neon Lightnings, but because schedule conflicts prevented them from entering the end-of-season tournament, this was the last game for this group of kids. William played hard all season, and seems to getting a handle on what he’s supposed to be doing out on the pitch. All that work seemed to be culminating in a clear shot on goal toward the end of the first half—the closest by far he’s come to scoring a goal in a game ever—and he just missed when he tried to kick the ball.

True to form, William was undaunted and kept his spirits up (it helped that his team was winning in a romp). I thought that was likely to be his only chance, as he doesn’t usually get opportunities to shoot, so no one was more surprised than me when, late in the second half, he found himself with the ball in front of the goal once again. This time, he nailed the shot and scored, marking the first goal scored by a Wong kid since fall 2012.

As evidenced by the sheer number of pictures from the game, I had my camera with me. And I was standing near the corner of the field, very close to the goal. But I was too entranced by the unfolding action to even think about taking a photo. As I walked, shocked and elated, back to my seat on the sideline, Will’s friend Kai’s mother asked whether I got the shot, and I just shook my head ruefully. Maybe next time.

After the game, the boys posed together for a quick team photo, and then it was off the next event of the weekend: the 2022 Booksin Walkathon.

This was the first somewhat normal Walkathon in several years. The 2020 walk was canceled due to Covid, and though kids were back on campus in 2021, BESCA and the school weren’t excited about the prospect of having a couple thousand people converge on the school grounds for an all-day event. Instead, they did a smaller, in-school Walkathon with just the students in the spring. Because it had been so long, there was a great deal of anticipation for the return of Walkathon as it had been.

Thanks to the soccer game, we arrived a bit more than hour after the start of the race, and in a change from previous years, kids in sports didn’t get mileage credit for their time away from the school. William was largely unconcerned, however, as he’d asked his friend Kai—who isn’t a Booksin student—to join him for the day. The two of them walked enough to get the first tier of prizes and to earn a cool drink, but they spent most of their time deep in conversation or playing on the playground.

William’s day got even better when he ran into his good friend Kaila, whom he’s known since TK. Kaila left Booksin last year for another school, but she and her family live kitty-corner from the campus and decided to join in the fun. William was ecstatic to see her in person for the first time in ages, and he, Kai, and Kaila spent a long time playing keep-away with another of Kaila’s friends.

After Walkathon, we had a few minutes to rest before Julie had to leave for her flight to Omaha: she was picking up her mother for her move out to California. The flight departed from SFO, as there are no reasonable non-stops from San José to Omaha, which meant a forty-five minute drive each way. By the time I got home, I was thoroughly exhausted; I don’t even remember what happened the rest of the evening.

The weekend wasn’t over yet, however. On Sunday, we were invited to a Navy Change in Command Ceremony, in which command of a naval facility is formally handed over from one Navy officer to another. In this case, the departing commander was the father of William’s very good friend, Bentley; after eighteen months in San José, he was being transferred to a new position in Texas. We were flattered to be invited to the small ceremony, and it gave us an opportunity to dress up, which William always enjoys.

After the ceremony, we stayed for lunch and cake, which the officers’ families cut with a sword—Bentley’s eyes positively lit up when he had chance to hold it. Then Bentley and his family were off to begin their new adventure, starting with a trip to Disneyland, while William and I headed home for some long-overdue rest.

Gallery: Soccer Finale; Walkathon; and Goodbye, Bentley

Disneyland and Fall Break

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It’s been a long couple years, during which we haven’t really had an opportunity to travel just for fun. We’ve had some plans, but Covid and other realities kept getting in the way. It was in this context that Julie hit upon a great idea: a short family road trip to Disneyland over William’s fall break. Here we present the photographic evidence of the fact that we made—and survived—the trek, with a few soccer and pre-Halloween photos thrown in for good measure.

William had the entire week off, which gave us a measure of schedule flexibility. On the other hand, Julia and Joe did not, which meant that if we wanted to take them along, we’d have to leave on a Friday evening so they wouldn’t miss school. With that in mind, we opted to depart on the Friday at the beginning of fall break; Julia chose to come with us, as Disneyland is one of her favorite places in the world, while Joe opted to stay home by himself: the same can absolutely not be said for him.

We got out of town at a pretty reasonable hour, which reduced our exposure to traffic: the last time we drove south, in 2020, it took us nearly two hours just to get to Interstate 5, whereas for this trip, it hardly seemed to take any time at all. We stopped for a quick dinner at Harris Ranch and drove more or less straight through to Anaheim, arriving sometime around midnight.

We spent all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday at the park, giving William a chance to ride all the rides he missed out on the last time we visited, when he was just two-and-a-half years old. He especially liked the Spider-Man ride, in which riders electronically shoot webs at bad guys while the ride keeps score. Perhaps unsurprisingly, William was much better at this than me, as was Julie; I consistently had the worst score in the family on this ride.

He even rode the park’s biggest roller coaster, Incredicoaster, and didn’t completely hate it, though he declined to give it a second go. It’s too early to say that he’s a roller coaster addict like his mother and sister, but it’s also too early to rule it out. He especially enjoyed the water rides: we rode Splash Mountain first thing the second day because the lines were short, and we quickly discovered why there wasn’t a wait: it was more than a bit chilly walking around the park in soaking wet jeans in the cool morning air.

Like many kids his age, William is keenly interested in all things Star Wars, and the ride we spent the most time on was the new-ish Smuggler’s Run, in which you get to fly around in the Millennium Falcon as a team, collaboratively dodging obstacles, shooting at enemies, and trying to keep the ship flying with timely repairs. I remember reading about the ride when it first opened a few years ago, and it was hoot to finally see it in person. Who doesn’t want to fly the Millennium Falcon?

Another Star-Wars-adjacent highlight was the opportunity for William to build his own lightsaber, which he had been looking forward to ever since Julie came back from chaperoning a band trip to Disneyland last spring with one she’d built. He undertook the task with great gusto, and the end result was both uniquely his own and exactly what he wanted.

For her part, Julia was in good spirits for most of the trip. She wandered the park on her own most of the time, meeting up with us for meals and a few family rides. She seemed to really value the opportunity to explore independently and make her own choices.

The only real wrinkle came around lunchtime on Sunday when, in a truly unfortunate accident, Julie’s wallet and phone ended up in the water bordering the waiting area for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was clearly visible in the channel through which the ride travels, but just out of reach. We finished our ride—there didn’t seem much point in not going through with it, as we’d waited in line for nearly an hour and the phone didn’t seem to be going anywhere—and Julie explained what had happened to the attendants when we disembarked. After investigating for a few minutes, they told us that they knew exactly where the phone was, but didn’t have any way to reach it while the ride was running. Our only choice was to wait a few hours and hope that the phone and wallet would be dragged by the current into the boarding area, where they would be able to retrieve it. Failing that, they assured us that they would be able to pick it up and mail it to us after the park closed, when they drained the channel for cleaning.

This was bad enough: in this day and age, being without one’s phone seems almost unfathomable. But complicating matters was the fact that Julie had a trip to Nebraska scheduled for the following Friday, just five days later: if they couldn’t get her wallet back to her before then, she’d be forced to travel without her phone and her driver’s license.

In all honesty, I thought the phone was pretty much a goner. Companies like Apple have made great strides in terms of waterproofing in the last few years, but Julie’s phone was more than three years old, and the gaskets and seals that keep water out degrade over time. And we were talking about it spending hours underwater; as we moved on to our next ride, I was already trying to figure out how we could get her a new phone before her trip.

We planned to check back in at Pirates of the Caribbean toward the end of the day, but as we tried to enjoy a few more rides in the meantime, we could tell that the uncertainty was weighing on William. To allay his concerns, we headed back after just a couple hours to see if the phone had turned up.

And, lo and behold, it had, with Julie’s phone and the contents of her wallet soaked but intact. Just as the Disney folks had predicted, it had made its way downstream to the platform where they could snag it. Even better, the phone still worked. It wouldn’t take a charge until the charging port thoroughly dried out, but otherwise it was none the worse for wear.

Julia had classes the next day, so we didn’t stay too much longer, though we did stop at Portillo’s for a quick dinner before we got on the road for the long drive north. Despite the hiccups, it was a delightful trip, and it was a joy to share the experience with William now that he’s old enough to really enjoy it.

It also felt like something of a bookend to our thirty-month pandemic experience. Way back in February 2020, we road tripped down to San Diego and Legoland for the kids’ winter break. I’d heard from from some co-workers who returned to the U.S. from China at the beginning of the year that things were worse than we in the West knew, but we had no idea what was in store. While we’re not completely out of the woods yet—as I write, Covid cases are starting to tick up here in the Bay Area—this year’s trip, though short, was an opportunity to reflect on where we are and everything that we’ve lived through since then.

Gallery: Disneyland and Fall Break

Soccer, Halloween, and Fall Fun

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We had a busy fall in 2021: the school year was in full swing; William played on a soccer team for the first time; Grandma and Grandpa Wong came to visit; and, on a bittersweet note, Julia had the once-in-a-lifetime pleasure of applying to colleges. We’ve collected and posted some pictures that capture some of these experiences.

William had played soccer before, of course: starting in preschool, he took classes from Kidz Love Soccer and really enjoyed them. The teacher, Coach Scott, worked hard to make learning basic soccer skills positive and fun.

Until this year, however, he had never played in an actual soccer league, and now that we were settled back in at home, it seemed like as good a time as any to give it a try. He was fortunate to end up on a team with a number of his friends from school, baseball, and other activities, including his best buddy, Kai. Most of the other kids on the team had played before and were a little more comfortable than William with competitive games, but he adapted well. He tried his hardest, kept a positive attitude, and showed clear improvement as the season progressed. His coach adhered to the stereotypical I-yell-because-I-care philosophy, and I was initially worried about how William would respond to that style of teaching, but it didn’t seem to faze him.

In mid-October, Grandma and Grandpa Wong paid us a much-anticipated visit. If memory serves, this was the first time we saw them in person since the middle of 2019, thanks to the pandemic and other factors. They stopped by en route to their home in Texas, after first visiting Bill and Leah in Colorado Springs. Of course, San José isn’t exactly on the way to Georgetown, so we were very happy they took the extra time to stop in; we only wish they could have stayed longer.

Because Will has always been a big fan of dressing up in costumes, you might guess that Halloween is one of his favorite holidays, and you’d be right. This year, he celebrated with no fewer than three costumes: he wore his astronaut costume to school on Friday, and he switched to his Minecraft costume for late afternoon trick-or-treating on Sunday. Later in the evening, as it started to get dark, he switched to a light-up stick figure costume that garnered multiple compliments from neighbors as we went from house to house.

Julie and I split trick-or-treating duty—he was very diligent, collecting more candy than Julia or Joe ever did—and Joe spent the evening with his friend Lucas. Even they, at the advanced age of fifteen, got into the spirit of the holiday and did a spot of trick-or-treating, making sure to visit one of the nearby houses that was known to hand out full-size candy bars. As I write, at the end of January, we’re still working our way slowly through the hoard of candy they accumulated.

This fall finally brought something we’d been waiting for through most of the year: the opportunity for William to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He’s been extremely careful and conscientious throughout the pandemic, even switching to less comfortable (but more effective) KF-94 masks as the Omicron variant became dominant, without raising a fuss. Early on, we had to clarify to him that he didn’t have to wear his mask in the car as we drove from place to place: he was worried that the virus could get in from the outside and infect him.

In that context, he saw first Julie and Julia, followed by Joe and me, get our shots and feel the powerful sense of relief that came with knowing we were largely protected against severe illness. At the same time, we had to explain to him that doctors and scientists were taking the time to be extra careful to be sure that the vaccine was safe and effective in young, growing bodies.

When the Pfizer vaccine was finally approved for kids in his age range, he and Julie were almost the first in line to get a dose. The county converted a section of the vaccination site at the fairgrounds to make it more kid-friendly, complete with toys and a scavenger hunt, and William was pleased as punch to finally be vaccinated. The ice cream treat he got after the fact probably didn’t hurt, either.

Gallery: Soccer, Halloween, and Fall Fun

The Final Countdown (To William)

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It seems that 2013 was a busy year, at least judging by how long it’s taking us to get through all the pictures we took. We’re happy to present another new/old album of photos from that era, though this one bears a unique distinction: it’s the final set from before William arrived, harkening back to a simpler time, when Julie and I were
not outnumbered by other members of the family (as long as you don’t count the cats who, unlike the kids, haven’t yet shown much interest in tearing down the familial power structures).

This album documents roughly a month-long period from the middle of August through the middle of September, just a few days before William was born, and it includes Julia’s ninth birthday and a whole lot of soccer. I can only surmise that we were taking more pictures than usual at the time because we were trying to get the hang of the camera we’d bought to capture William’s arrival. This would explain why the album contains an average of four pictures for each day of the month it covers, as well as why the photos were taken using an incoherent mixture of camera settings and lenses (those with an eye for such things will be able to identify the pictures taken with the cheap zoom lens we bought on eBay).

Five-ish years later, things are quite a bit different. William is loving school and is slowly but surely getting the hang of reading, even if he can’t quite handle the differing pronunciations of ”th” and “f”. As a result, his “thirty” sounds a lot like his “forty”, which makes counting games interesting. He is particularly enamored of a classmate of his named Alexa, for whom he’s drawn a great many pictures over the last few weeks (see below). We haven’t yet had the nerve to break it to him that she won’t be attending Booksin next year—she’ll join her siblings at St. Chris.

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Julia has had rehearsals for the school play until 8:00 almost every night of the week; as a result, we’ve often been up until 10:30 or 11:00 finishing up homework and studying. For now, at least, I don’t really begrudge her teenage tendency to sleep in on the weekends: she needs it. Days like a week ago Thursday, when she had to wake up at 4:00 to get the airport for her journalism trip, certainly don’t help.

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Gallery: The Final Countdown (To William)

Fall 2012

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It’s finally spring here in San José, after a winter that seemed to go on forever. Although we really needed some rain after a dry fall and end to 2017, it’s nice to have some sunshine and warmth. We’ve had a busy few months, with limited time for fun hobbies like sorting through and cleaning up photographs, but I’m very pleased to be able to post a collection of very nice snapshots from a simpler time: all the way back in the fall of 2012. In my defense, I think this is actually the final set of photos from 2012 to get online, so the next batch will be somewhat more recent (though there are still some gaping holes in the last five years).

Since our last post, Julia has completed her long-awaited trip to Washington, D.C. with her eighth-grade class. We dragged her to the airport at 4:00 in the morning on March 30 for an early flight so they could touch down in the afternoon and hit the ground running. She was more awake than I was, as you can see in the photo below; after seeing her off, I went home and slept for another hour or so before heading to work.

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Despite having a hard time falling asleep the first night—we received a late-night video call bemoaning her plight—she had a great time on the trip and returned energized and happy; she was particularly enamored with the story of the true origins of George Washington’s teeth. And, thankfully, she avoided my fate.

One downside of the timing of the D.C. trip was that Julia missed Easter; this distressed her greatly, and she exacted a promise from us that we would stage an Easter egg hunt for her benefit upon her return. On the actual Easter morning, Joe and William were up bright and early, as you might guess, and Joe played the part of big brother to a hilt, watching bemusedly as William raced from hiding place to hiding place shouting, “Egg!” for every treat he found.

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Things have slowed down a bit over the last few weeks, but are primed to pick up again next month. William will be wrapping up preschool in May, and shortly thereafter, the older kids will each be taking separate trips to Disneyland with their respective school bands. This flurry of activity will culminate—unless something takes an unexpected turn—in June with Julia’s eighth grade promotion, which, if I’ve done my math correctly, means that we’ll be parents of a high school student next fall.

Gallery: Fall 2012

Fall 2011

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Because Joe is starting middle school in about a week, it seemed only appropriate to set the time machine all the way back to Fall 2011, when he was just about to enter kindergarten. In that spirit, we’ve posted a set of pictures from that simpler time.

The gallery covers everything from the kids‘ first day of school to a quick family trip up to Point Reyes and Muir Woods, and ends with my parents’ Thanksgiving visit.

There are quite a few soccer pictures mixed in, as well, and this year was notable for the fact that both kids’ teams actually placed in the season-ending tournament. If I recall correctly (it was six years ago, after all), Julia’s team came in third in her age group, and Joe’s team actually won. Neither of them has been able to replicate that level of success in the years since.

Looking back, it’s darkly funny to remember how worried we were about the kids’ bickering at the time. Little did we know what we were in for in years to come.

Gallery: Fall 2011.

Fall 2014

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Only a few months behind schedule, here are a bunch of photos taken during fall 2014—that’s right, just last year. Most of the pictures are from soccer, with a few other snapshots thrown in for good measure.

Julia had the same coach, Jim Dueltgen—father of Phoebe and Zoe—as last year, and she had a great time playing with a bunch of other girls from Booksin. This was the first year the girls were playing in a U12 (under 12) league, so they were largely smaller and less experienced than the other teams they played against; in fact, Julia was still eligible to play in U10, but she opted to play up a level to stay with her friends. The team hung together through some ugly losses early in the season and put together a nice string of games at the end (albeit after the customary league–wide rebalancing halfway through to make things more competitive) to wrap things up. In the end, they were in a position to earn a trophy on the last day of the season–ending tournament, but things just didn’t go their way. Julia was disappointed, but she is already looking forward to next year—after some of the soccer–related drama we’ve had in the past, it was nice to hear her express that sentiment.

Joe also moved up a level, to U10, so he was often the smallest kid on the pitch. His team was very strong all year—if I recall correctly, they only lost one game during the regular season—so expectations were high going into the tournament. Unfortunately, the wheels more or less came off the wagon during the tournament weekend, and they ended up losing all three of their matches. Joe showed good improvement throughout the year, and mostly brought a positive attitude and healthy outlook, with only a couple of episodes of the pouting that has plagued him in his other endeavors over the last few months.

William loves being outside, so soccer season wasn’t any great hardship for him; we just had to make sure that he didn’t run onto the field when he saw the bigger kids chasing the ball around. He did get bonked on the head by an errant kick at one point, but by and large, he was happy sitting on the sidelines, playing with the equipment, and making friends with dogs.

In fact, the first time I personally saw him walking well was the morning of October 14, while we watched Joe’s team warming up for their game. I managed to capture the moment on video, which I’ll try to post sometime soon.

Gallery: Fall 2014.