The Houston Museum of Natural Science

Jocelyn and Jason did not have school on Good Friday, so Lydia and I joined Jimmy's family for a day at the museum. We started with dim-sum at Fung's Kitchen and then watched an IMAX movie and looked at some exhibits. Lydia was so overwhelmed by everything that she conked out in the car on the way home.

All dressed cute, but with no where to go.

Getting a lesson about geodes as Jimmy paid for ours to get cracked

All ready for Hubble IMAX

Outside the butterfly exhibit

Lydia pointing out a butterfly

The Lee family next to an indoor waterfall

"Who has the biggest mouth" contest

Quality Lydia and Mommy time

Sophie's Second Birthday

Time sure does fly...my baby is two! We had a busy day with Lydia's Easter egg hunt and party at school, a doctor's appointment, and a drive to Houston, but Sophie had a great day!

Sophie's favorite picture pose

Lydia and her classmates getting ready to hunt some eggs

Sophie chasing after Lydia

After we picked Lydia up from MDO, we went to the Sophie's two year old check-up, where she weighed 22.5 pounds (5%tile) and measured 32.25" (20%tile). The doctor was very happy that Sophie was back on her weight curve...yay! Then the girls each got H1N1 shots; Sophie didn't shed a tear while Lydia burst out crying, probably because I warned her that it would hurt.

Lydia much happier after a delicious Mexican dinner in Bastrop

Sophie enjoying her sopapilla after the wait staff sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She would rather have drank the honey dipping sauce if we'd let her though.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Someone put some pants on that girl!

Playing dress-up

Spinning princesses...notice Amy's hug at the end

San Gabriel Park

We went to San Gabriel Park in Georgetown where the kids played on an awesome wooden playscape. There were tons of people, but always something to do.

Our little group picnicking on the side

Sophie watching Lydia slide

Sophie and Amy's little bottoms

Sophie!

The girls and I had Trung-made Hawaiian food awaiting us when we got home. He said that he would start making something "gourmet" every two weeks or so; lau-lau was the first dish and it truly brought me back to Maui. Yummy! Can't wait for the next gourmet dish!

Great Wolf Lodge (8 months later)

Jimmy, Cora, and their kids came up to Austin Friday night to hang out on the last day of the kids' Spring Break. We went to the Domain and ate at Fleming's. The next morning, we headed off to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine.

Someone miss breakfast?

Lydia working the waterguns

Sweet Sophie

Hanging out after dinner...notice the jackets

And now notice the snow. This is the view from our hotel room.

Trung and the kiddos

The Lee Family

Daddy's lavender little girls

The Ly Family

Sophie and Lydia playing in their favorite fountain

Sophie and Lydia watersliding

4 in 1 Birthday Party

We celebrated Xiao-chun, Yingying, Matt, and Isabelle's birthdays at Roaring Fork; they all had birthdays within a week of each other. We had fun eating and chatting the night away.

The group

Xiao-chun with the birthday "tart"

Blowing out the candles

Korean Cuisine

I'm one of those types of people who tries to learn to make my favorite foods, rather than go out an eat it because 1) home cooked meals are healthier and 2) I can then eat it whenever I want. So, I finally decided to make jjigae, Korean soft tofu soup, and it turned out okay, though not as red and spicy as they have it at the restaurants. I also made chap chae, Korean noodles, and kalbi, short ribs; I bought two sides of seaweed and squid to complete the meal. Overall, not too bad, though I made too much kalbi, so we ate it for several meals; we're on a mini break now.

Korean at home

Sophie liked the noodles

Lydia likes eating the tendon around the short ribs, like her Mommy

What Daylight Savings Does

Trung and I were headed off to bed last night when we noticed a Lydia sleeping on the floor. Trung is normally in his office at night, within hearing distance from Lydia's room, but since he was in the living room with his laptop instead, she wanted to make sure we were still there. So sweet.

Austin Kite Festival

Even though the Austin Kite Festival was supposed to end at 5 PM, we still decided to take the girls after their naps at 4 PM. From the highway, you could still see tons of kites; one kite was right above Mopac! We maybe spent all of thirty minutes parking, walking to an area, and flying a kite, but at least we got to partake in the fun and enjoy a gorgeous Spring day.

Lydia preparing to fly a kite by tangling up the string

Let's go fly a kite...

and get it stuck in a tree.

After the festival, we went to Whole Foods for dinner since we promised Lydia that we would go to a playground. The girls ate their food quickly and played with the other kids there.

Sophie yelling "hi, mama"

The Life of Layla

These past couple of weeks, I've been keeping up with the Marsh family's blog and tweets as to the status of Layla's health. Layla is their youngest daughter and has Neuroblastoma, a cruel cancer found in very young children. She started off quite happy and healthy, and then after her 15 month doctor's visit, her appetite decreased and she was later diagnosed with cancer. Layla passed away early this morning at the age of 2 years and 3 months old.

I know this is no comparison, but Sophie was also sent to an Endocrinologist and GI Specialist due to her slow weight gain, but fortunately we had a different outcome. I have come to appreciate the pediatrician more since now I realize that she wanted to rule out all the worst case scenarios. I also learned that I am truly blessed to have two healthy, bubbly kids and that I need to be more loving towards them because each day with them is precious.