African American Month

Lydia was sent home with an assignment a few weeks back to write about a famous African American.  We forgot to pick our own person, so she was assigned Ray Charles.  Borrowing books from the library, we slowly put together a speech and Trung worked hard on the Grammy award prop.  Lydia memorized the speech quickly and probably had the longest one of her class of 30.

Lydia's speech

Lydia's second grade class

Me, Sophie, and Ray Charles

After school, we scootered to the library with Isabelle to make paper airplanes.  I never know if the kids will like the activity, but was relieved when they had a blast and couldn't stop making planes.  We were the last ones there, even the librarian directing the activity left before us!

Lydia's airplane flew so high it got stuck atop the light fixture

Testing phase

Loving the incline on the way home

After throwing together a simple dinner for the girls, I walked over to Dermalogica for its birthday celebration.  Diane and Lisa joined me for free food, eyebrow wax, and hair styling.

All done up just to go home and go to bed.

Sophie & Sophia

Sophie has a preschool buddy Sophia that goes to Roosevelt, but is in a different kindergarten class.  Lately, Sophia's mom Ada and I have been getting the girls together for play dates after school.  It's super cute hearing their squeaky voices and watching them play.

Silly monkeys

Buddies

Improvements in Basketball

We have been working on Lydia's passing skills, so she was really proud that she passed the ball to a teammate this time.

Lydia sticking to her girl like glue

One of Lydia's strong points is taking the ball from the opponent.  I don't know how many jump balls have been called because of her.

Cup of Tea?

Sophie was invited to her first tea party after school today.  She was very excited about dressing up and spending the afternoon being "girly".

Waiting for everyone else to arrive

Kindergarten friends

Back in my element

I woke up before the crack of dawn at 4 AM this morning to get ready, while the rest of the family slowly got up.  Lydia shed some tears about being super tired, while Sophie was cooperative and extremely quiet.  We made it to our 4:45 complimentary airport shuttle and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to eat our grab and go breakfast from the hotel and get to our gate.  The flight seemed longer than the arriving flight because I wasn't able to sleep very well, but everyone else got a nap in, which is good because the girls had school and Trung had work still to come.

When we arrived back at LAX, we walked through a commercial taping and I instantly felt happy to be back at home.  The girls haven't had jobs this year yet due to scheduling conflicts, but I'm hoping things will pick up soon.

Final day of fun

While Trung and Allen enjoyed their final day of skiing, the rest of us and Wendy's family went tubing nearby.  The girls had much more fun tubing here than at Mt. Baldy because they could slide down with their friends and didn't have to pull the tubes back up to the top; I can't say that I blame them.  :P

Kaitlyn and Sophie holding each other up the conveyor belt 

All four kids going down together

Here they come!

Join the fun with two Graces

Final run

I was going so fast, I had to catch my breath after the first scream

Taking a break after tubing and before lunch

Friends for life

We couldn't resist taking pictures with the awesome scenery.

Chilling in some ski chairs

Carrying Trung's snowboard up the hill to ride it back down again

Multipurpose snowboard

The girls with Uncle Allen and the Coca-Cola polar bear

 Obligatory family picture

The kids got their own table at Domo, a Japanese restaurant in Denver, and enjoyed their udon noodle soups

One big happy family

Yesterday, 6 families consisting of 12 adults and 6 children congregated in a large cabin in Fraser, CO, just minutes from Winter Park ski resort. Except for one newer couple, Trung and I have known this group of friends for over 7 years, some for as long as 11 years.  Most came to ski or snowboard, but all came to hang out with each other as the families are scattered...residing from San Francisco to Santa Monica to San Diego to Austin.  For my close friend Wendy and I, it was the first time in 3.5 years that our kids got to play together and just like their mommies, they became fast friends. 

The whole group

Dinners consisted of pork loins, steaks, rotisserie chickens, and much much more!

Skiing at Winter Park

We woke up with an early start because the girls had their ski classes and Trung and I wanted to try and teach them before their class started at 11:45.  By the time we ate breakfast, and got our lift tickets and equipment, it was time to eat lunch and get the girls to class.  Even though the girls were not naturals, they did get through their lesson and down their little hill a couple of times, but most importantly, Trung and I got some skiing time.

Our cabin

The girls (in pink) going up the magic carpet

Lydia showing some major wedging action

Mommy and Daddy play, while the kids are away

Bert and Trung have the mountain all to themselves

Lydia showed some improvement, while Sophie pretty much gave up

You can tell who had a rough lesson.

Back at the cabin, everyone is happy again and playing 3 to 1 against Jack in air hockey (with three pucks).

Our first family ski trip

Trung and his group of his guy friends go on an annual ski trip, which I believe began the year after my first girlfriend getaway.  One of the guys has a young family now and he can't really leave them, so all the guys decided to make this year a family trip.  The girls have played in snow several times, but have never attempted to ski, so we hoped that this would be the year.

Our friends Allen and Grace drove up from San Diego last night and spent the night at our house, so they would not have to worry about getting to LAX on time today.  They slept in Lydia's bed and we didn't tell Sophie before she went to sleep, so when she climbed down from her bunk and saw Allen and Grace instead of Lydia, she was a bit confused.  Allen told me that he heard her climbing down and felt a pair of eyes staring at him...ha ha.  

After a late start, we grabbed a quick breakfast at Urth Caffe and headed to the airport.  Our flight to Denver was short and sweet, though baggage claim and car rental took a long time.  After purchasing Trung's snowboarding helmet and some groceries, we were starving and decided to have dinner in Denver instead of driving up to the cabin in Winter Park, about 1.5 hours away.  We finally arrived at the cabin where the girls and kids got reacquainted while the guys tried to figure out the parking situation.  18 people in one house = chaos!

Poor Allen had to get stuffed into our back seat with all our luggage.  We missed our minivan for a moment.

 Trung shoveling away snow to make room for our five vehicles

Pulling in...very slowly

Something new at Disney

We haven't been to Disneyland this month yet, so I had to squeeze in a visit.  The girls chose to go instead of a Chinese New Year festival, so they must still enjoy it.

Lydia only wants to take pictures with characters now just to get their signatures in her autograph book.

The brother they never had.

Monsters U characters

A Pleasant Surprise

At the rate that Lydia's basketball team was going, Trung and I didn't think there was a chance that they would ever win.  We were proved very wrong as the Wolves beat their opponent by five points, which actually could have been more as they missed 75% of their field goals.  They are improving though and that's the important thing...oh, and winning too.  :)

Lydia is a little OCD about her ponytail; you can see tightening it here even though I make it as tight as possible.

Coach Rondell says "listen to me"...that doesn't seem to work at home with my kids at least

Lydia got a shot at a couple of free throws.  She still needs to find the strength in her arms and legs, but it was a good try.

A win!

In the afternoon, Lydia and Sophie went to Sydney's cupcake decorating birthday party.

The birthday girl in the center of the attention as it should be.

After the party, we went to Dave and Weiru's house for hot pot...shabu shabu style.

What does Teddy say?

Roosevelt Elementary held its annual flash mob dance today to promote reading.  The music was set to the song "What the fox say" with lyrics submitted by students regarding reading.  The kids always have fun learning the dance moves and it is quite amusing to watch the students doing a flash mob on campus.

I spotted a Lydia

Then a Sophie with the school principal

Getting some air

Sophie is to the right of the girl with bright blue pants

I only have videos of Sophie because Lydia's class was further in the back

We forgot our books at home, so Sophie borrowed a classroom one

Lydia has very sensitive eyes and can barely keep her eyes open when taking pictures on a sunny day.

Birthday brunch

Today I celebrated my birthday with several lady friends and a great view of Santa Monica.  We had brunch at the Penthouse Restaurant in The Huntley hotel, just blocks from the ocean.  I had never been before and changed the location from an ordinary brunch place because it was nicer and I was guaranteed seating for everyone.  I probably shouldn't have had that second glass of Rose because the mimosa was so strong and I had a headache the remainder of the day, but it's good, it's my birthday!

Looking down at the Promenade

Our view of the ocean

I sat at this table for the most part, but spent time at the other one as well.  I didn't know that my party would be separated, but it turned out alright.

I may be 34 now...

but I sure don't act like it.  P

My friends.  :)