More (extended) family time, sun, and tennis: as good as it gets

After their week in NorCal, my parents flew down with us to SoCal for some time with Kelvin's family (and some tennis).

They got a taste of little Saigon and more Asian (Korean) food at Shik Do Rak (and what the small task of "eating out" with a large family, including a toddler, is like).

 

My parents were very interested in visiting the Gene Autry Museum of the American West in L.A., so we headed there on Wednesday.  While as I've gotten older, I've found that my attention span is shorter than it used to be (and I have less patience for horrible traffic), the museum was worth a trip. I enjoyed the exhibits on immigrants in the expanding frontier, the environmental consequences of humans' activity on the northern California fish and waterways, and the entertainment section on the history of the TV Western.

The "singing cowboy," Autry.

I found the following quote to be particularly relevant:
 

"White men seem to have difficulty in realizing that people who live differently from themselves still might be traveling the upward and progressive road of life." - Chief Standing Bear, 1955

As their anniversary gift (from their 40th last year), Kelvin and I took my parents to the Indian Wells tennis tournament (the "Fifth Slam") for a couple of days.  This is the third year that K and I attended this very impressive and well-run tournament (if you recall, last year's two days of toddler-free tennis-watching was the highlight of my 2016).  Kelvin's parents graciously agreed to watch our munchkin for the second consecutive year, and it was again incredibly relaxing and enjoyable for a tennis aficionado like I am.  We enjoyed the time in the warm sun (retreating to the shaded lawn periodically or when it got intolerable), good food, frozen lemonades and margaritas, time to read/relax, and some great tennis/ sightings of tennis greats.

 

Here is Jack Sock, the top-seeded American, horsing around playing football on the lawn.

 

Here is him playing (and beating) the world No. 5, Kei Nishikori to get to the semifinals.

 

We watched the esteemed Martina Hingis (with her partner, Yung-Jan Chan, who ended up being the eventual tourney champions!) and the grand slam-winning doubles team of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova.

We saw the legend, Martina Navratilova (and Hingis' namesake) giving an interview. 

Venus Williams, definitely one of my tennis idols and one of the classiest humans around, unfortunately lost to Vesnina.

I caught both the practice sessions and a great match by Wawrinka, one of my most favorite and one of the most clutch, "Big Match" players in the game.

  

He played an extremely high-quality (and close) night match with the nearly-as-hard-hitting and likely future champion Dominic Thiem, which was a huge treat to witness. I think watching the speed of shots of live tennis from the side (net) area is much more impressive than on TV!

 

 

We saw night matches between Kristina Mladenovic and Elena Vesnina and the hard-hitting Svetlana Kusnetsova/Karolina Pliskova.
 

Vesnina

Mladenovic

Pliskova

 Kusnetzova

 

Here is me sporting my new "RF" Federer Shirt and St. Patty's Day garland

  

Now THIS was the year I was pretty sure I'd see the "Greatest of All Time" and my tennis hero in action. Roger (who has been fortunately very injury-free over his long career) missed last year's tournament with his knee injury (requiring surgery and after which he took six months off). We were bummed, and looked forward to seeing the great champion this year. Roger miraculously trounced his rival and nemesis Rafael Nadal in the round of 16, and we were set to see him take on Nick Kyrgios in the quarterfinals on Friday; however, in the last hour, Kyrgios pulled out with probable food poisioning and alas, there was a walkover.  I'm not sure if I'll ever see this great in actual tennis action (unless we come back here some more years and the stars align so that the rounds, as well as his performance through them, all come together; I definitely will hope), but I was fortunate to see him in person, signing autographs. 

While I only got a blurry, poor quality cell phone photo, my sister-in-law, Katherine and brother-in-law, Eddie, had stood in line to get wristbands (of which there were a limited number) to get photos autographed (with which she surprised me later!!! So awesome!). I love this guy (and I love my family-in-law, too!).

Kat also got a ball signed!

While we were away, Iver had a great time with the family in Orange County. Auntie Theresa took him to Disneyland one afternoon.

 

 

 

Iver also spent time with Ba noi and ong noi at the mall.

 

There was cousin time with Kingston

Library

Counting

 

Building

 

Gardening

On our last night, we had a big family dinner at Kelvin's parents' house, and it was awesome to see the cousins play together.

Angel (4) and Iver were especially bonded

This was supposed to be a "Cheese!"

"Too many monkeys/kids jumping on the [air]bed!"

What a fun, relaxing mini-break! Now it's back to the cold, rain, and work...

Gma/Gpa visit!

My parents came to visit this week, in their ~annual escape from the east coast winter! Despite a late start with a late pickup from the small local airport due to my dead car battery, (I think) they've enjoyed spending time with us and Iver in our new house and amidst the daily grind.

We celebrated my Dad's 69th birthday at Moonstone Grill in Trinidad (alas, no pictures) with a surprisingly well behaved toddler in tow.

On Saturday, they joined us at Iver's Saturday morning music class.

With (finally!) a break in the rain, we spent some time at Hiller Park.

Pierson Park

Smiles all around!

Is this week over yet?

This was a rough week.


 I was really shaken by learning of the tragic death of members of a lovely family I knew. A mother and her two children (aged 4 and 1) perished when their car went off a rural road icy weather into the river below, with the father (who was ejected, and attempted to crawl up to find for help) being the lone survivor.  I am shocked and devastated, and I can't imagine the pain he is feeling or the trauma that will haunt him for the rest of the life. Please pray for him and healing for his heart.

Physically, I also haven't been feeling well. I finally seem to be getting over a horrendous cough which started about three weeks ago, but my energy level has been very low. I can't seem to stay awake to get anything done in the evenings, which is usually my "me" time when this introvert reads and recharges (and then I've been coughing all night long).  Then there's the following-the-news heartache and nausea from the administration that has persisted for the past few months.

I was stretched a bit thin with work this week, with scheduling procedures on my non-call days, and my emotional empathy level was low, especially for some of the more demanding, rude, and late-arriving patients I encountered.  I'm definitely suffering from compassion fatigue.

When parked near the airport to pick up my parents on Tuesday, my Prius battery died. I thought I'd have to get towed (and thought it might be the end of my 10-year-old car), but AAA was able to jump-start it in fairly rapid fashion, we bought a new ~$200 starter battery, and we found someone who knew how to install it the next day (and now it seems to be running... fine).   It's never good to have a non-working (or unreliable) car in a two-working-parent household (especially with relatives in town and kids that need to be picked up from daycare). We may need to start working on a backup plan for our transportation.

Our toddler continues to be fairly labile and defiant, including at bedtimes.  On Thursday, I endured a 60-minute tantrum over me asking him to sit in his high chair in order to have a yogurt snack. There was a simple deal--"sit down, and you can have your yogurt." Sixty screaming minutes later, he decided that that wasn't so much to ask.  He has made it through the 9-hour night without waking exactly once in the past seven nights. Today we spring forward with the clocks...enough said.

Despite all that, my parents are in town and it's been great to see Iver interacting with Grandma and Grandpa. He communicates more and more each day, and is a really perceptive, fun and sweet kid (despite the screaming). I need to gather but will post photos soon!