Piano - Next Level Up (video)

Is it another piano level done?  So quick!   Both Jas and Jules had a piano recital today and they both played really well.  I can feel that they are reading music and playing much more confident nowadays.

Father's Day Crafts

This is Julia's first year in kindergarten making crafts to celebrate Daddy's Day.  She really likes glueing, cutting and decorating pictures.  These are the thing she made for her special Daddy this year:  

And these 2 below were made by Jasmine. Her hand writing and grammar is much more advanced being in grade 3:

Mandarin School - She Does It Again!

We attended the awards ceremony for Piu Ying Mandarin school and smart Jas received honors again this year.  She holds up her first place trophy with a huge grin on stage.  I was filming her and it looks like she lost her step and almost falls off the stage.  Luckily someone in front of her helped her gain her foot back. (place video here)

We saw a couple of friends near the end of the ceremony, and who was also on stage...  The girls huddled around, showing off their new awards.  Great work girls!

Hello MoMo!

Oh my goodness, you have grown so big!  We haven't seen our cousin MoMo in a very long time so when we did see him, we had to keep on petting him and carrying him and chase him around.  Not sure if the feelings were mutual but needless to say, the girls were very excited.  We miss MoMo so much.  

Date Night - Rock of Ages

We enjoyed a nice evening on Granville Island, watching the Rock of Ages musical.  We purchased tix way back in January, for our 10th year anniversary.  Well, not really but it just so happen that this musical took place around this time.  We do go on date nights to spend time with each other about once a month.   

We had a beautiful view of sunset during intermission and enjoyed a short walk around the water. This photo was taken at 9:15pm!  Sky was still bright.  

Sunscreen Dilemma

From left to right:  Vichy Mexoryl XL lotion Spf60, Banana Boat Natural Reflect SPF50, Ombrelle Kids SPF50, Roc Anti Spot Fluid SPF50, Oil of Olay Complete SPF30, Biore UV Aqua Rich SPF50, Biore UV Perfect Milk SPF50, Biore UV Aqua Rich Whitening SPF50, Sunplay Super Block SPF50

Let me tell you the relationship I have with sunblock.  I love love love sunblock and I think it loves me too.    I can literally spend 2 hours staring at sunblock on a shelf at a store and still be undecided which one to buy.  Unfortunately, lately my skin has been breaking out due to hormones or whatever and sadly the Vichy that I've been using for years doesn't work anymore.  

I purchased a bunch of different types, hoping to find the next "best" one for me.  I  normally have normal/dry-ish skin.  This is what I found about each of them:

Vichy Mexoryl XL lotion Spf60 - I used this one for years.  Seems oily now and makes face a bit sticky even after 30 mins.

Banana Boat Natural Reflect SPF50 - I bought this one because of the physical sun filters.  It has 4% zinc oxide and 3.6% titanium dioxide only.  Quite thick and hard to spread; leaves a shine.  Will use it on the body.

Ombrelle Kids SPF50 - Spreads easy but feels heavy and sticky.  Will use it on the body.

Roc Anti Spot Fluid SPF50 - comes out white but very light and drys matte.  I like it although it made my face feel hot and tingly at first.  I noticed some white flakes on my skin some time afterwards so the next time I used it, I put some moisturizer first and that worked better.

Oil of Olay Complete SPF30 - a good moisturizer with SPF in it.  This wasn't meant to replace a regular sunscreen in the morning, just for when I am lazy.  Feels like I have nothing on.  I'm using it on the girls' face in the morning now since the SPF isn't high enough for my liking.  The USA has an spf50 version but not in Canada. 

The next set of sunscreens were imported from Japan.  I heard that they are around 15 years ahead in skin technology so I have to try them!  Just a note that all 4 sunblocks have PA++++ designation (PPD of 16+).  This means it blocks out 93% of  UVA rays, the rays that age our skin.  UVB are rays that burn our skin.

It took around 6 weeks to be delivered.  The 3 Biore brands are quite similar in feel in that they all dried matte and very quickly, as in less than a minute.  Too bad it dried out my skin too.  There is alcohol in all 3 of them.  These would work great for someone with oily-ish skin.

Biore UV Aqua Rich SPF50 - large size of 90ml, not water resistant, only chemical filters, did not leave any white residue

Biore UV Perfect Milk SPF50 - 40ml, water resistant, has both chemical and physical filters, left a light residue but seemed to blur the skin and looked like I put on powder.  It looked good.

Biore UV Aqua Rich Whitening SPF50 - only 33ml, not water resistant, has both chemical and physical filters, left a light residue but not as much as the Perfect Milk.  Looked good.

Sunplay Super Block SPF50 - I wanted to try this one because it doesn't have alcohol in it.  It's a tiny size though, only 27ml.  It is a watery consistency and dried slower than the Biore sunscreens but still dried quicker than North American sunscreens.  Felt like I had nothing on and didn't look like I had anything on.  Somehow, I don't feel like I am protected with this on.  Not sure if I trust this yet but I'll see after the summer if I get tanned or burnt.  

All in all, I do like the Roc and Sunplay ones and will continue to use them on my face.  Oil of Olay is good too but too bad the SPF isn't higher.  The Biore ones would be great for people with oily skin.