St. Anne's Carnival

After dropping Trung off at work this morning (he was still feeling a bit ill from the day before), I drove by St. Anne's Catholic Church and saw a sign for a carnival this weekend. I'm telling you, there is always something to do here! So, I called up a few friends and we made plans to hang out for a little while and then walk over to the church. The people were just setting up all the games as we got there, but soon everything was in full swing. Trung met us after work and we enjoyed some authentic Mexican food...yum!

Can you see the blue dart Lydia just threw?

Sophie basically just placed the rings over the bottles, but no one complained

Find the right key to the door and you get $10! Three kids won in a row, so they reduced it to $1.

Crack an egg and your wish just might come true!

Lydia's "California Adventure" birthday

The girls woke up bright and early in anticipation for our visit to Disney's California Adventure to celebrate Lydia's 5th birthday. The amusement park opens later than Disneyland, so we started the morning nice and easy with Lydia opening her birthday gift from Uncle Mike. Then off we went on an adventure, but not before changing the girls into their princess dresses. The weather was perfect, a tad bit cloudy, so not too much sun. The park itself was pretty fun, though the girls kept asking to go to Disneyland next time. The World of Color water show at the end of the day, on the other hand, was fantastic; it blew the one at Las Vegas' Bellagio out of the water. :P Happy birthday, my precious Lydia!

Happy Lydia with Angry Birds

Our first ride, Ariel's Underwater Adventure

Lydia as Princess Tiana on the carousel

Why are these girls so happy?

Need I say more. The things we do to pass the time during LONG waits.

Ready for 4D

Trung taught Sophie a new trick

Let me out! Actually, don't let them out. :P

Just before showtime and I got some final instructions from a little princess.

The Aladdin show was great! The genie was hilarious and the girls loved the action! Worth the hour wait!

The final song with the entire cast

My "boo" aka Cinderella

Two dancing princesses

Beast's library

Lydia's temperament is like Nala from The Lion King

Sophie is like Tinkerbell, our little spitfire

Interaction with Crush

Trung from Tron

Silly Daddy

A clip of the fantastic water show...a must see!

We'll be back! Especially if we upgrade to an annual pass.

A Day of Gluttony

Jessica, Snow and I (along with our families) took a day trip to Little Saigon and ate our hearts out. We left late morning and headed straight to Westminster for some pho. Then after a few hours of shopping, snacking, and playing at the park, we had dinner at Star BBQ. Needless to say, we were all very stuffed and satisfied.

Mike and Minji met us (and Tai) at Asian Garden Mall

Tia offers Sophie lots of hugs

Trung loosening Lydia's spine

Playing ball


Yogurt time at Star BBQ

Sasha, is that you?

We came across a cat that looked just like our old cat Sasha on our way home from Downtown Santa Monica. If not for the little black spots at the pads of Sasha's feet that made her unique, this other cat could have easily been Sasha's twin. She even made her way over to us to get petted. Aw, we miss our kitty.

The kitty on the block

Our Sasha

This week at swim class

The girls had visitors at swim class this week; first my parents on Wednesday and then Trung on Thursday. They were all entertained by the cuteness of it all and were quite impressed at the girls' swimming abilities.

Lydia driving the water train

Sophie goes under


Sophie and Lydia with my parents before their swim class


Poor Sophie was cold and scared of the deep end

First day of Kindergarten

The whole family walked with Lydia to school for her first day of kindergarten. Her former classmate Isabelle and her dad Tom joined us since our place is on their way to school. Lydia had a rough drop-off because she wanted Trung to stay and play with her, but was all smiles at pick-up! Yay!

Happy kindergarteners!

Crossing the street to school

Ready to go!

Squeezing by Mrs. Scholder and a classmate to get to me during pick-up

Sophie missed Lydia while she was away

After a quick lunch, we jetted to the pediatrician's office for Lydia's five year old check-up. She has been worried about shots ever since seeing Isabelle's bandages a couple weeks back, but I assured her that she wouldn't be getting any since she was up to date on her vaccinations. Little did I know that the doc would ask for a urine sample and blood work, so poor Lydia still got poked. I treated the girls to yogurts at Costco afterwards, which seems to help. Lydia is in the 60%tile for weight and 45%tile for height. :)

Meeting the teacher

Today we got to meet Lydia's new kindergarten, Mrs. Scholder. She is a little older (aka has more experience) and seems nice. We are so excited for Lydia!

In Lydia's new classroom

Lydia's preschool friend Logan is in the same class!

After meeting the teacher, Annie, June, and Faye came over to hang out before school starts tomorrow. We had a blast at home and later at the beach. It's nice that the girls are the same ages.

Lydia and June playing hide-and-seek


Sophie and Faye analyzing the bush

Pier Day

Our friend Snow's church was hosting a day at the pier with discounted prices. We got the kids tickets and grabbed some dinner after an afternoon of festivities.

The froggy ride

Sophie was sad that she couldn't go on a ride because she was too short

The pirate ship; you can see Trung with his raised arms

Trung had to hold Sophie in place because she kept sliding around

I was getting nauseous just watching this


The view from the ferris wheel; it was our first time and quite nice.


Sophie getting ready for the froggy ride by herself while Trung and Lydia went on a roller coaster

Free fridays

Trung has been getting Fridays off this month and this week we took a family trip down to Costco to buy our last round of things since we won't be renewing our membership next month. We treated ourselves to some cold desserts at the cafe and the girls were actually nice to each other. Trung later had the brilliant idea of letting the kids lay on Disney Princess body pillows in the shopping cart and they behaved quite well the entire time. Wish Daddy was around more for our weekly shopping trips.

Lydia feeding the little sister

Rash guards

Since the girls' swim class is at 6 PM this session, I got them some long-sleeved rash guards to keep them warm and to protect their skin a little bit more. It also helps save time not having to sunscreen.