Happy Birthday Simon

Today was Simon's Birthday. We're currently on vacation at the Ning Family timeshare at the Marriott Ko'Olina Beach Club in Oahu, Hawaii. He's been looking forward to this day for the last 3 weeks. He LOVES a good birthday party. He's been to a lot of birthday parties and he just couldn't wait until it was his very own.

Last night, we told him that today was finally his birthday. After telling him we were going to have a party for him, he said, "We can't have a party. There are no balloons, birthday cake, or party hats." Shortly after putting him to bed, Kelvin went to Target and Safeway to get balloons, ingredients for a birthday cake, and party hats.

After a cheese burger for dinner (his favorite), we came back to our room to show Simon the streamers, balloons, presents, cake, and party hats. He looked around, ran around giddy, and announced, "This is the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!"

Here are some of our favorite memories of Simon over the last 4 years.

Simon...you've been a great son. We have enjoyed our time so far being your parents. We love you so much. Enjoy your best birthday ever!!!

Love Mom and Dad

The Ning Housing Update

So, for all that have been wondering, we are a bit homeless. We are taking this all in stride. Here's what's happened in short:

- Feb 7: First Home offer Rejected (Both Kelvin & Susie saw the home)

- Feb 12: Palo Alto house is empty; Ning's headed to So. Cal to visit family

- Feb 19: Moved our single car load of stuff to Susie's Parent's place in Phoenix

- Mar 9: Second home offer Rejected (Only Susie saw the home)

- Apr 13: Third home offer Rejected (Only Kelvin saw the home)

On 2 of the 3 offers made, we were tied with the winning offer...we just don't have 20% down.

We are saving money, and enjoying our time visiting family in Phoenix. The kids have finally settled into their environment, but every once in awhile, Simon will ask, "Can we go to Simon's house?"

Kelvin still commutes to Palo Alto during the week and thanks to the generosity of great friends, he is able to make lay his head down in a home rather than in a rented room. Susie enjoys time with her family; she has been doing so many craft projects. We'll have to put them all out on display soon to show just how much she has produced.

We thank you all for our prayers. We are at any given day, at least 45 days away from moving back to the peninsula. Susie has to deal with Kelvin gone 4 days out of 7, and Kelvin has to deal with only sleeping at most 4 days in a row in the same bed. We know that the Lord is watching over us...we wouldn't have decided to take this route on our own. The Lord definitely wants us to move on and get onto other things and this was the way he had in mind.

Current search areas:

- Southern portion of Willow Glen, San Jose (better schools)

- Rose Garden, San Jose (Gorgeous neighborhood)

- Cambrian / Cambrian Park, San Jose (bigger lots, better schools)

- Campbell (better schools)

We'll see how many offers it takes before we actually land something. We'll keep you all updated.

Where do we go?

So, with the winds and rains of December, we started finding wet spots in the carpet in the boys' room. After pulling away the carpet we discovered a bit of mold in there.

Beyond our wildest dreams, the LandLord decided to evict us in order to fix the problem. So now we have found ourselves wondering the age-old question: Rent vs. Buy!!
Renting in Palo Alto is either paying $3000/mo for a comparable home, or stepping down to an apartment and paying nearly the same that we're paying now. We've toyed with leaving the area and have recently considered an area in San Jose called Willow Glen.

It's a cute little tree-lined street area and with the recent burst of the housing bubble, housing has actually started to get affordable. Schools you ask? Well, downtown isn't so great. Apparently most of the kids there get farmed out to private schools. But the peripheral (especially southern) parts of Willow Glen actually have great schools. What's the age and gender profile of the area? I found this online. (I know, very nerdy).

Apparently most of the residents are our age, and there are young kids. We encourage our friends to join us in the search for housing in San Jose. It's sad to leave Palo Alto, cool to try to find a house, even cooler if our friends could join us. :)

Unfortunately, in the meantime, we still have to get out of our home...so Kelvin's going to be a road-warrior and visit the wife and kids in Phoenix while looking for suitable housing in San Jose. If you spot a Ning in Phoenix or in the Bay Area...take the time to say "Hi" before they move again...

Wish us luck...