Google's Unexplained Crop Circles

Sorry in advanced. This is a break for Grace's typical family blog posts.

It's around 2am. I'm not usually up this late, but I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd just get up to do some research on an idea I just came up with for a small programming project. That's what I do, I'm a software developer. Anyway, I fire up my browser and notice that the Google logo of the day is a UFO hovering over some crop circles. Normally, I don't have a lot of time on my hands and don't end up clicking through on the various Google logos, but in this case, I noticed that it didn't have the typical hover-over text that explains what the logo is about. This piqued my interest, and I clicked through. I briefly read some of the related news articles which explained that this was a new logo that apparently is making its way around the world right now, starting at around midnight in each country. Apparently, there was another similar logo deemed the "unexplained phenomenon" that appeared a few weeks back (Sept 4th/5th). This guy does a better job explaining it than me. The two logos are obviously related somehow, but no one (outside of Google) really knows the meaning of the two logos as of yet. Some have speculated that the "unexplained phenomenon" is characteristically unexplained by Google, a self-fulfilling phenomenon, but then that wouldn't explain today's UFO + crop circles logo. Some think it's just a hallmark Google marketing ploy. Others speculate that "Google knows something that we don't" or that "our government is about to reveal something". Umm, doubt it. I'm guessing there'll be a much more innocuous explanation... but it better be explained, or else it'll drive me batty!

Curiosity Day

Book People hosted a celebration in honor of Curious George's author's birthday today. I thought that the kids would enjoy it because they watch Curious George every morning, but when we got there, it was super crowded and they didn't have the activities or cupcakes that were advertised. Oh well, at least we got to see George himself though Lydia was too scared to pose with him.

Amy was brave enough to even look at George

Sorry for the blurriness, this is the only picture I have of Sophie wearing her adorable cap.

After the so-called celebration, we went to Whole Foods for lunch. It was still raining when we finished, so the girls played "with" the rain while we waited for Adam to get the minivan (he was the only one wearing appropriate shoes). The girls have soooo much fun together!

Three little princesses

Life of a child

It honestly must be so much fun being a kid, with not a care in the world. Fortunately for me, Lydia and Sophie are happy campers most of the time, so they always have a good time anywhere they go or with anyone.

The girls just doing their own thing with our birthday gift to Lydia. Lydia really could spend the entire day looking at pictures.


Nick, Wendy, and the family dropped by Wednesday; Lydia loved touching the baby...is she trying to give us a hint?


Tonight we had dinner at Sarah's house though the kids didn't eat too well because they wanted to play. Lydia and Amy had a ball jumping on the bed.


Limbs up!

Wipe Out

Since my parents were in town and could watch the kids, we decided to hit the lake again. The boat rental place has a buy 3 get 4 hours deal if you leave the dock by 8:30 AM on the weekends, so we took advantage. Jennifer, Betty and Christian tubed for the first time and Trung was finally able to get up water skiing for a few seconds. It stormed the night before and the weather forecast predicted scattered thunderstorms for the day, but it barely sprinkled. Even better, there was no sun to burn us up and the water was nice and warm. We had a blast!

Me, Jennifer, and Trung

Trung getting ready to tube...he wiped out soon after

I dared Trung to wipe me out...ask and ye shall receive.


After everyone got a chance to tube, we found a nice little swimming cove where we hung out for awhile.


Me sporting the one piece over a two piece look; I was taking no chances of anything getting yanked off


Whoo-hoo, ride 'em cowboy

Trung finally got to the "standing" position after many attempts from previous occasions.


Albert, Tiff, and Christian


Heading back to shore after a morning of fun

Lydia's Rockin' Third Birthday

My sweet little girl turns three today! It seems just like yesterday that I was bringing Lydia home from the hospital; where has the time gone? Happy birthday, my Ya-ya!

The birthday girl

Mommy, Daddy, and the big girl!

Lydia only has eyes for the cake

When asked if she wants Ah-ma (my mom) or cake, she answers "cake" without hesitation.

My little girl

Lydia's new tutu ballet dress

Adam feeding Sophie cantaloupes...open wide!

Lydia posing with her balloon; she chose the biggest one at the store

Lydia rocking it out and managing quite well with her personal guitar

See you at Christmas

Ma and Ba left this afternoon after spending ten days with the families of their two youngest sons. We had our fill of Ma's home cooked Vietnamese food and will have to wait until Christmas to get some more. :/

Hanging out

We started of the day at Zilker Park. Trung dropped the girls and I off at the playground and took his parents to the running trail to catch some views of downtown Austin. Wow, I didn't realize how tough it was watching the two kids by myself; Lydia ran all over the place and Sophie wanted to be held at times, so I couldn't run after Lydia. Fortunately, the playground was pretty open, so I could always keep an eye on Lydia.

Lydia going down the slide just a little too fast.

Sophie saying "cheese"

After long naps and a dinner of Vietnamese pancakes, I went to Erlander and Nina's house to catch up with our mutual friend Chris and to meet their baby Wesley. The girls always have fun in new places with different toys. :)

Hanging out with an old Baylor friend

Erlander giving Lydia her first guitar lesson

The Ly's and the Lo's

Beta thalassemia minor

Today Sophie got her bone age x-rays taken and had her appointment with the hematologist, a blood doctor, to find out why she is anemic. The x-rays were quick and painless, though Sophie didn't seem to think so as she cried the entire three minutes the six x-rays were taken. Then off to the hematologist, where the office had a train station theme and was quite empty compared to the radiology lab. The staff here was SO much better than endocrinology, that it almost...almost, made me forget how bad my last experience was.

The nurse was unable to get Sophie's blood pressure since she was so fidgety, but was able to get her whooping weight of 18 pounds, 6 ounces. After grabbing an Elmo DVD and being offered a toy drum by another nurse, we headed to our exam room. After discussing Sophie's history, the hematologist informed me that she had beta thalassemia minor, basically, a genetic blood disorder that causes at mild anemia. No treatment is necessary for thalassemia minor and it will cause no problems, but should Sophie have a child with someone that is also a carrier, there is a 25% chance that the child could get beta thalassemia major, a much more serious disease.

Trung always knew that he was anemic, but was told at a young age that he was just iron deficient because the situation does closely resemble that of mild iron-deficiency anemia. Also, a few years ago, Ba (my father-in-law) was hospitalized due to a sudden loss of blood, so apparently Trung's side of the family had some history, but we'll both get tested to find out for sure. Thank you all for your concerns and I'll keep you updated!

Lydia's new class

Lydia went to her new three year olds class today. She was a bit nervous at first and didn't even want the morning snack of orange slices and Lydia NEVER declines fruit! Sophie and I stayed a few minutes with her and she seemed okay when we left. When I went to pick Lydia up, her new teacher Paulette said that she adjusted well. Yay!

Lydia shying away from Paulette, while her classmate Landon was taking it all in.

Lydia made it through her first day in her new class! :)

Sophie trying to tell us what she wants, what she really really wants

Crabbing in Galveston

Trung and Lydia got some kind of stomach bug Friday before my in-laws arrived, but everyone seemed well enough to go to Houston to go crabbing the next morning; Sing & Maggie and Henry, Susanna, & Ethan joined us. We arrived at my parents' house around noon and had a nice big lunch. Then we rested a bit before heading out to Galveston Island and then to Port Bolivar via ferry. Almost everyone was able to catch a crab, though they didn't really come out until sunset. Overall, we caught 17 crabs (and lost or threw back a few more) and were able to have a nice dinner with them.

Lydia was all dressed for the occasion, but ended up staying with Sophie at Jimmy and Cora's house where it was nice and safe (and no big boulders).

Trung (in the sideview mirror) patiently waiting 45 minutes for the ferry.

Finally on the ferry!

Sisters-in-law

Susanna and Ethan feeding the seagulls at the back of the ferry

Sing and Trung feeding each other

Our march on the boulders to our crabbing spots

A sponge crab, a female extruding its fertilized eggs into a cohesive mass, that Maggie caught and soon threw back in to disperse and multiply. Trung later caught another one, but we kept it to see what would happen to the mass when cooked...it was spongy and not edible.

Our collection of crabs

Trung caught a whooping 6 crabs!

I caught my first crab with help from my Mom and then two others with Trung by my side.

The next morning we got to see Mike who was coincidentally home for a wedding. We sure do miss him!