Work party

Trung's company had its annual summer party at the pier; the one time of year that we let the kids spend company money on games and stock up on stuffed animals.

 We took over the entire amusement park

The craziest ride where you control the movements

I screamed the entire time

Everyone else waiting to get in

Trung concentrating includes sticking out his tongue...no luck though

 Trung looking straight at the camera

 Our friends, The Chambers, came out and joined us for a couple of hours

 My Austin friend came into town early today and met us at the pier after some photo shoots

Julian's Train-iffic birthday party

We attended Julian's third birthday party at the Travel Town Railroad Museum at Griffith Park.  We had never been to this museum, probably because we have girls, so it was a nice change.  You could certainly feel the heat of the valley, but it was a nice day for a party.

 Julian and Norah with Guro's train cake.

Last birthday party as a family of four

The girls acting goofy with their conductor caps

 My girls, on the left behind the curtain, all the other kids, on the right.  My kids were the oldest ones in the group and apparently not so easy to convince anymore.

 Ready for the train rider around the museum...twice.

Train stopper

Weekday workouts

Since I took Friday and Saturday off from working out since we were out and about both days, I hit Naam Yoga for the zumba and pilates classes this afternoon.  Never again!  The zumba class was super crowded with barely any room to move and then I pulled a couple muscles during the pilates class (since it was an instructor who I have never had before).  I think I will stick to going on the weekends.  

Crazy zumba class

Festive Fifth

Our fourth was very chill, but our fifth was busy.  We ate a very small breakfast of champions, cereal, and met our Texas friends Thomas and Chi and their three boys for brunch at Real Food Daily.  They were in town to celebrate Thomas' grandmother's 95th birthday, and decided to spend the day out in Santa Monica.  We had't seen them in at least four years, so it was nice to catch up.

  

 The Ly's and the Chen's

The kids...brunch was funny with the girls at one end and the boys at the other.

I took Thomas' family around Santa Monica a little bit after brunch, while Trung dropped the girls off at a birthday party.  Right after we picked the girls up two hour later, we headed to the valley to attend Trung's co-worker's party.  We were pretty much right on time, so everything was still being prepared, but once the food starting coming out and the girls hit the pool, it was much more fun.

 The nicest pool I've ever seen, complete with swim up bar

Nailed!

We met (and fed) a cute Corgi named "Butter"

Celebrating Independence Day the Asian Way

 With no concrete plans for the 4th, we decided to spend the day in Orange County, stuffing our faces with delicious Asian food and seeing how much the cousins have grown the last month.

Cousins snacking on fruit

 Caleb was happy to see us

Quick pic before Alexis got away

Lately

It's been awhile since I've written a post because frankly, not much has been going on.  The weekdays consist of the girls going to Summer Adventure and me going to zumba and Pilates classes on alternating days.  In the afternoons, I usually rest (while the girls play in the room) because one week I had a hacking cough that kept me up at nights and the next week, I hadn't been sleeping well.  Then we all swim at 4 PM and go home for dinner.  I always believed that summers are supposed to be lazy and fun, but man, I'm always tired, but I do enjoy my workout classes, especially the zumba ones.  Just two more weeks and Hawaii, here I come!

Guinness World Records

The girls and I took part in breaking the Guinness world record for "the most people bowling simultaneously" today at our local bowling alley.  It sounded like a bigger deal than it really ended up being because there wasn't even enough people present to fill up each lane, so the girls and I each had our own lane to roll our bowling balls down at exactly 4:15 PM EST.  Then right after that bowl, the workers asked us to move to the far end of the alley as a big party was arriving.  At least we got a free hour of bowling and shoe rentals, and my girls got to improve on their bowling skills.

2 minutes until we help break a record

Sophie's ball didn't roll far enough and got stuck in the middle (three times), so the worker had to keep walking down to fetch it for her.

Mannequins

After a fun dinner at Real Food Daily with complimentary wine and cupcakes celebrating the restaurant's 21st birthday, we took an evening stroll down the promenade.  The girls got a couple of yogurts at Yogurtland and I stopped by Old Navy to make a purchase.  Trung had some trouble getting the kids to leave the entrance as they were very amused by the mannequins.

We've some how lost our children, can you help find them?

Green bracelet

After a year of taking the Minnow level swimming class, Sophie was finally able to swim across the pool without stopping and receive her green bracelet.  She was so proud that she kept telling me to go away as I habitually followed her around the pool.  I was in the pool staying "warm" when Sophie took the test, so I didn't get a video as I had planned, but here's a clip of the freestyle strokes that got her across.

Sophie is in the red kitty swim cap

Hawaii Ready

With the kids in Summer Adventure (aka summer school for four hour a day) for five weeks, I decided to join Naam Yoga for their Zumba and Pilates classes.  My friend Simona has been going for months and recently told me about their $30 for 30 days promotion.  I am always about getting my money's worth, and never found a solid 30 days that I could consistently go.  Now with the kids at summer adventure every day and with Hawaii almost exactly a month away, I figured now was as good of a time as any.  Not only would I try to attend a daily class, but I would swim laps with Lydia for 25-30 minutes Monday - Thursday while Sophie has her swim lesson.  Overkill?  Maybe, especially since I caught this annoying cough from Lydia recently, but we'll see how my weekly weigh-ins go.