Going, going, gone!

Lydia decided that today was the day to pull out her tooth.  I was finishing up watching a couple dance on Dancing with the Stars and was then going to video her pulling her tooth out, but she jumped the gun and twisted her tooth out during the show.  At least it was pretty painless and the bleeding stopped rather quickly.  I'm make sure to video the next one!  :)

 

We call her "toothless"

Ice cream, crab, and chaos

We finally had a weekend when we only had one event planned the entire weekend.  We took advantage of this lazy weekend and slept in.  The kids rode their bikes to Beachy Cream, an ice cream parlor about 10 blocks away, and then we stopped by the park on the way home.  I put together a veggie platter and fruit salad when we got home and then we were off to the Chambers house for a crab potluck.  The girls love our somewhat monthly potlucks though I'm not sure exactly why...maybe because it's just pure chaos.  Yeah, probably.

Enjoying organic ice cream on pretzel cones.  Cool concept, by the pretzel was too salty with ice cream for my taste.

The kids having their meal of macaroni and cheese first

Now it's time for the adults to have some of Jessica's famous spicy crab!

Lydia's loose tooth

This whole week, Lydia has been complaining that her front bottom tooth has been hurting.  Slowly, it has been loosening up and even has a little tooth growing right behind it.  Looks like our six year (almost) 8 month old daughter is finally about to lose her first tooth!  Now, to figure out if we are going the "tooth fairy" route.  We may just have to now that the girls have seen "Rise of the Guardians".  :/ 

Lydia's perfect set of teeth in her first grade class picture

Girlfriend's got "shark teeth".

Boxed in

 I hoard.  I don't mean to, but I just do.  Today I decided to go through my coveted collection of cardboard shipping boxes.  Not necessarily to throw any away, just to fit them inside each other to take up less space.  Why do I have to have so many boxes in different shapes and sizes?  Because you never know when you need a good box AND one with the correct dimensions.  As an eBay seller, I try to make the most profit possible from each item I sell and there is no way that I would pay for a box.  So, there you have it...a tale of a hoarder.

 Before

After.  Trung still thought we had too many boxes, but then I pointed out that at least I tried to reduce, even if it was just by a little.  :P

Gymnastics Goofiness

Lydia went to her classmate Maddy's seventh birthday party at the LA Gymnastics School this afternoon.  It was a great set-up, the kids would do gymnastics type moves with instructors and the parents chatted and ate upstairs in a room overlooking the facility.  Though similar to Norah's party at My Gym, but with a longer zipline and bigger pit, this party was more catered to older kids.  I asked Lydia afterwards if she wanted to take gymnastics, but apparently the party wasn't enough to convince her to take up the sport.

Lydia with nine classmates and the rest schoolmates

Getting crabby

The family spent the day in Glendale, first having lunch at a Persian restaurant and then hanging out at the Galleria all afternoon.  On the way back home, we stopped by The Boiling Crab to satisfy my crawfish craving after having seen everyone's crawfish pictures on Facebook.  We were quoted a three hour wait, but it ended up being only 70 minutes since most people switched to take-out or just left.  As always, the food was finger-licking good and everyone left happily stuffed.

Trung chose to pose with a little crawfish, so I told him to go with something bigger

A king crab leg...now that's more like it.

Lydia wasn't going to be left out of the pictures, posing with her chicken tender.

Damage has been done

Monkeying Around

Francis, Lydia, and Sophie just "hanging" at the park on a beautiful Friday afternoon

Charles in Charge

Remember Scott Baio from "Charles in Charge"?  Or how about Mark Curry from "Hanging with Mr. Cooper"?  I used to watch these shows growing up, so when I found out that the show Lydia was going to be an extra on had both actors, I was excited.  This episode of "See Dad Run" was filmed back in December, but it finally aired last night on Nick at Nite.  I am not supposed to take pictures of the set, but I figured it's okay to post them now that the show has aired.  Lydia was the only kid in the background, so you can't miss her, though you can't really see her face.

 Scott Baio is the one in the solid blue.  His face is supposed to be puffy due to an allergic reason.

Mark Curry is the one in the camo

And what you've all been waiting for...Lydia on TV!

Strawberries strawberries everywhere

Today we attended Emme's fifth Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday party at Stewart Street Park, yet another Santa Monica park where we have never been.  The food was good and the kids kept busy getting their faces painted or playing with dolls if not hanging out at the playscape.  April hosts the best parties and this one certainly did not disappoint.  It's funny how Emme is two weeks younger than Sophie, but a full head taller!  :P

Sophie painting her nails a lovely yellow

Sophie with the birthday girl

Emme's party had quite the turnout...at least 40 kids!

Look at the technique!

Sophie is somewhere behind the pinata

The pinata pieces made nice hats

After the party, we dropped by Lydia's school for her to paint a stepping stone to put around the school.  Her friend Sydney was there since her mom is coordinating the project.

Burning off some energy

The girls attended a joint birthday party today at My Gym, which is similar to Gymboree Play and Music, but much more fun.  Norah, who we've known pretty much as long as we've been in California, and Sofi, a new friend we met just a couple months ago, celebrated their fourth birthdays.  The workers kept the kids busy the entire time and the parents got to sit back and relax; everyone had a blast!

 

 Though I feel that they are always fighting, Lydia and Sophie really do love each other.

 Way cooler than a tire swing

Norah Frances is four!

 Starting young with the zip-lining.

The Jeff Probst Show

Chantalynn's friend got "VIP" tickets to the Jeff Probst Show, which supposedly involved some VIP treatment.  So, Chantalynn and I arrived just before noon as instructed, but still had to wait 40 minutes for the rest of the group to arrive.  When we finally got on set, we found out the "massage" was just four massage chairs which were always occupied, and the "food" was granola bars, mini cereal boxes, and bottled water.  Needless to say, we were not impressed, but at least the shows themselves were good.  The first show was about young people doing great things with their lives, and the second show was about the joy that came out of organ donation.  We went home with a goodie bag of two nail polishes (pink and blue), a book, and hair products.  I wouldn't go back, but then again, I won't get a chance to since the show wasn't picked up for a second season.  Maybe if they just treated the VIPs better...

Waiting for the rest of the group

The view from my seat for the first show

Photo booth with the broken camera

 My view for the second show...I should be on TV for the organ donation show.

Co-host Yvette Nicole Brown, who is also on "Community"...she's hilarious!

Masquerade

Lydia was on the Easter Sunday episode of Revenge.  I let the kids stay up late playing, while I watched the show waiting for Lydia's scene.  Of course, it had to be during the last five minutes of the show, and of course, you can't tell that it's even her.  Oh well, at least it was one of the better sets that Lydia has worked on.

 

Look for a black haired girl in a pink jacket with a purple running in front of Madeline Stowe about 42 seconds in this clip...that would be Lydia.

The life of a child

 Trung went to the temple with his mom this morning, and I stayed home with the kids since I figured that they'd had their fill for at least a few years.  Since we had no car, we walked across the street to the new playground.  The girls didn't want to leave their electronic devices at first, but when we got there, they didn't want to leave.  Hunger got the best of us though, so we went back to Ma's house for lunch.  When Trung got back, we drove over to Teresa's place where the girls swam (which they had been asking to do for days!) and took a bubble bath.  Then back to Ma's house we went for dinner and then we were off again to the airport.  Fortunately, our gate was across from the kid's play area, which was very dinky, but the girls entertained themselves for a good 45 minutes before we boarded.  We didn't arrive home until almost 2 in the morning, but the girls slept for at least an hour on the plane and did very well on the long flight.  It certainly is good to be home!

 The new playground

 Splashing fun

 The girls spent most of the time outside of the pool than inside

 Aunt Teresa kept giving the girls handfuls of Dove body wash

At least each girl got a "play" thing.

Enjoying the day OUT!

This morning, we wanted to take Ma somewhere fun since it has been a stressful week for her, so we went to a farmer's market in St. Petersburg.  I was wondering why she liked this particular one a good thirty minutes away, and immediately realized why when we arrived...most of the stands were of Asian produce.  Afterwards, we asked Ma where she wanted to eat for lunch, suggesting Thai, Indian, or Vietnamese food.  Apparently she can't get enough Vietnamese, so we went to a nearby vegetarian restaurant.  It's funny, my parents do the exact thing...eat at the Chinese restaurants of every new city that they visit; they are so old school.  :P

After lunch, we went to Parkesdale Farm Market for their famous strawberry shortcake.  It's been awhile since we've been in Florida during strawberry season, so it was certainly a treat.  (I also got strawberry shortcakes the very next day that I arrived!)  The family then went to watch the Crood's, which I promised the kids that we would do during Spring Break many weeks ago.  The movie was cute and a fun thing to do as a family since Trung has been working pretty much the entire trip.

Strawberry Shortcake

The remaining house guests

Holed up

 Since there were more drivers than cars available, the girls and I were stuck at my brother-in-law Toan's house for the most part of the day.  We were totally fine with that though since the day before was crazy busy and everyone was content with just vegging.  The girls played with their electronic devices and messed around the house, while I helped clean up all the "guest" rooms.

 Aunt Teresa teaching the girls some martial arts moves

A small girl with a big kick.

The Best Father-in-law ever

 My dear father-in-law passed away on Easter Sunday from heart failure.  He was 79 years old and lived a happy, full life.  Trung had been in Florida since last Tuesday and got to spend his father's last days with him.  The girls and I flew out on Tuesday and arrived in Tampa around 10 PM.  Wednesday, the rest of the family flew and drove in, and by dinnertime, the entire Ly clan was present.  

 Today was a day of remembrance.  We attended Ba's funeral service performed by Buddhist monks, then watched his burial at the cemetery, and then did more ceremonial rituals at the temple.  I was so proud of the girls as they sat quietly for the entire service, which was entirely in Vietnamese.  They even wanted to see Ba at the casket and I think they understood what was going on as they shed quiet tears.  Ba will be greatly missed, and as my brother-in law wrote, "the journey continues...Ba, rest in peace."

   

 Ba's obituary

 The beautiful arrangement

Ba's pallbearers were the six boys, now men, who he sacrificed for to bring to the US many years ago for a better life...five sons and a nephew.

 

 At the cemetery with the flowers my parents sent and wearing the customary Buddhist white band.

At the temple paying our final respects to Ba.

Sophie's Day

Though Trung wanted us to fly out to Florida as soon as possible, I figured that we would wait until tomorrow so that we wouldn't be spending Sophie's birthday stuck on a plane or at the airport.  No party was planned this year, which ended up being a good thing with Trung having to go out of town, so I tried to plan a day of activities that Sophie would like...I'd like to think that she had a good birthday.  :)

 Lunch at Souplantation with another birthday girl

 I found these twin brothers amusing as they were exercising in unison while we all waited at a light

 I took my two little ladies to get their nails done

 

  The girls got to pick out their nail polish and experienced the whole spa pedicure (and manicure) treatment.  They loved it; giggling when their feet got scrubbed and exclaiming at the varying temperatures.

 After Sophie picked out a toy at the Disney Store, we went to M Street Kitchen for dinner.  Carson Daly happened to be at the table next to us with his family and friends!