memorial day weekend

We took a mini-vacation to the Bay Area over Memorial Day weekend. We went to our first MLB game as a family. Actually, I think this was Giao's first time going to a MLB game.

It was a beautiful, sunny day in the city. AT&T park is pretty awesome.

We have several pictures where Langston is holding Kiefer's head still for a photo op.

Kids going on the slides at AT&T.

Once Kiefer spotted the cotton candy, we had to buy it for him.
Don't let the free caps fool you. We're actually Dodgers fans. I am from LA, afterall. I don't know why Giao is since he's from Sacramento but after the game, Giao and I were joking around saying "I guess we're Giants fans now." But, I think it's going to take more than one game and some free caps for that to happen.

We love it when we can see his eyebrows. Giao is always saying we should cut Kiefer's hair just so we can see his eyebrows.

Did I mention how much this kid loves cotton candy?

I regretted not hunting down the spicy mustard for this.

Being here brought back so many memories from my childhood. I remember the first time I had a Dodger dog and thinking it was the best hot dog I had ever tasted.

The next day, we headed to Doran Beach near Bodega Bay. Beautiful scenic drive going there. Kiefer loved seeing all the cows. He kept saying "Look more cows!" and if I didn't respond, he would get mad at me.

Daddy and Langston throwing around the football.

Much to Kiefer's delight, there were lots of ladybugs at the beach. Two landed right on Kiefer's shoulder. Isn't that a sign of good luck or something?

We met up with some friends.
After dinner we headed to the store to pick up some treats. Redvines for me, apple rings for Langston and Elise, gummy bears for Giao, and milk chocolate for Kiefer.

On Memorial Day, we headed to Pt. Reyes.

Did you know that there are a bunch of operating dairy ranches in Pt. Reyes? Who woulda thunk it? It is so beautiful there. The landscape just takes your breath away. I really can't believe we've never visited before but we will definitely make many return visits here.

Our first hike was right off the visitors center. A nice, short walk to a replicated Indian village.
With tipis and all.
This is a family sweat lodge ( does anyone know what that is?). It looked more like something out of the Shire.

Our second hike was to Mc Clurg's Beach.

So typical of me to go and ruin a cute picture by blinking!

A nice lady offered to take a family pic for us.

Old married couple:

As we were leaving Pt. Reyes, we spotted these beauties. They look so magical out there in the fog enshrouded field.
What a way to kick-off our summer!

lazy sunday

I was sick on Monday. I slept from the time the kids came home from school until 7pm. I was fine Tuesday and Wednesday but woke up feeling like poop on Thursday. I mustered enough strength to get up and get Langston breakfast and take him to school. Giao came home for the second half of the day and took care of Kiefer, picked the kids up from school and took them to swim practice. He also stayed home all day Friday and I started to feel better by the evening. We went to visit Giao's dad Friday night since he had to have surgery on his shoulder on Thursday. He looked so weak and frail just laying there in his bed. I'm used to seeing him on the go, playing tennis, gardening, working on the house...thank God he is going to be alright and is expected to make a full recovery.


On Saturday, I planted a few trees in the backyard, planted my tomato plants in my vegetable planters, and cleaned up the house. Giao and Langston headed over to the movies to watch Iron Man 2 with some friends. It was kind of a last minute thing so we told Langston that we had a surprise for him. He started guessing what it could be. "You're going to buy me a new airsoft gun?" No. "You're taking me to Gamestop to buy a new game?" Nope. "You're going to buy me an iPad?" Yeah right. LOL!

Elise was supposed to go to ballet in the morning but had a "little meltdown" and refused to go to class. She just loves to test my patience and I, for the most part, always fail. She is my strong-willed child and according to books about strong-willed children, she was born to test me. Or, as I like to put it, make my life as difficult as possible. By the end, I was spent. I felt guilty and I felt like the worst mother in the entire world. I have to get a handle over this and read up more on how to raise a strong-willed child and maybe even seek family counseling. My worst fear is that we won't have a good relationship when she's older. Later in the evening, we ate dinner at Boudin's and Jack's and then headed on over to Giao's parents house again since the kids were dying to see their cousins, who were here all the way from Tustin. Kiefer was slightly feverish all day and at one point he went into one of the spare rooms in house and just laid in the bed by himself. That was a sure sign that he was not feeling well since he is always on the go.

I am at home with the sick little boy. Giao and I had to, literally, force Tylenol down his throat. He depises medicine. Giao took Langston and Elise to Uncle Duc's house. The boys, big and small, are getting some father/son bonding time in with some D & D action. Nerds! I'm just laying on the couch with Kiefer, who seems to be feeling a lot better thanks to the meds. Once he goes down for a nap, I plan on watching all the Sex and the City episodes on OnDemand. Can't wait for the movie!

mother's day, etc.

The Saturday before Mother's Day, we were at Langston and Elise's swim team time trials when Giao gets a text from his mom saying that my father-in-law fell from his bike and broke his clavicle. Well, one broken clavicle turned into a broken clavicle, 3 broken ribs, and a punctured lung. It could have been so much worse if he wasn't wearing a helmet. Thank God he was wearing one. My mother-in-law updated her facebook, thanking Buddha. Haha! Most people I know would thank God but she thanks Buddha :)

I was exhausted from waking up early to get to the swim meet and spending 6 hours there, getting the right kid to the right event, drying off and warming up each kid after each event, making sure each kid had enough food in their tummies and enough sunscreen on their skin and making sure our 3-year old was entertained and happy. I took a 3 hour nap when I got home. Giao, being such a sweet daddy, helped Elise and her bff, Aubrey, set up their lemonade stand. They sold 5 cups of lemonade! One to Aubrey's mom, one to Aubrey's dad, one to Aubrey's brother and sister, and one to Langston, who saved himself 10 cents by bargaining with the girls. Ha!

That night we went to downtown Sac to see Giao's Dad in the hospital. A bunch of Giao's aunts and uncles were there, nieces and nephews, too. Not sure if it's a Vietnamese thing or if it's just Giao's family but, it's nice to see how the extended family always pulls together in times like these. I wish my family was more like this. Well, just sometimes. I'm sure my mother-in-law talked to at least 100 people on the phone that day. She probably loved it, but it would be a bit much for me.

On Mother's Day, I got my run in on the treadmill, showered and got ready to spend the day with my kids. I opened the gifts they made for me at school before heading off to South Sac for some Dim Sum. When we got to the restaurant around 1:30, it was so crowded that we decided to go to the Vietnamese restaurant we frequent, instead. We were all starving and needed to eat ASAP. We got some pho, fried pho with meat/veggie gravy, and meatballs with rice noodles. We enjoyed our meal but it wasn't exactly something I would have chosen to eat on Mother's Day. I would have chosen Korean but there really isn't a good Korean restaurant in Sacramento. Oh how I miss good Korean food! We then picked up a cake for Giao's mom and headed to their place. We spent the rest of the day there and had dinner at Giao's uncle house later that night. So, not exactly the Mother's Day I had envisioned for myself. But, considering my father-in-law's condition, we didn't really have a choice.

On the way home, I got a call from the anesthesiologist who was going to sedate Kiefer at the dentist's the next morning. I told him that Kiefer had a runny nose and was very conjested while sleeping. He told me to call him in the morning if I felt his condition did not improve. I did not sleep well that night. I kept having nighhtmares about the appointment. One being that we left Kiefer while he was getting the work done and then Giao and I got stuck somewhere and could not be there when he woke up. In the morning, Kiefer sounded the same, still very conjested. I called the doctor and cancelled the appointment. I just felt that he should be 100% if he's going to be put through something like that. We now have an appointment in June. I'm still very wary about the whole thing and may just cancel again and let his teeth rot and wait until he'll sit in a dentist's chair awake and unafraid.

what happened to april?

The kids are in their last month of school! I wish I could say that I'm looking forward to summer but 100 degree Sacramento summers are the worst. I miss Torrance weather. We'll be busy with swim practices and meets and hopefully go on a few mini trips, too. Summer vacation always seems to go by in a flash, so I'm really going to make an effort this year to enjoy every second.

So, Kiefer has to be sedated to have his cavities filled. His appointment is on Monday. I'm really anxious about him going under (he's only 3!) but I'm trying really hard not to have any negative thoughts about all that could go wrong. He had his pre-op physical at his pediatrician's office yesterday and I was so surprised to see how good he was. A complete 180 from 5 months ago at his 3-year well. I told him we were going to the doctor's but that they were only going to check him out. And he asks "I'm not getting shots?" He did everything that was asked of him: getting on the scale, opening his mouth, taking deep breaths, etc. I was so proud. So hopefully this will be his first and last time being sedated for dental work and he'll start being less scared at the dentist's office in a couple of months, too!

today's to-do list

1. trip to Costco for milk and allergy meds (vacuum?)
2. do something fun with the kids today- chuck e cheese's? lazercity? sky high? pizza parlor/donuts/ice cream?
3. pack for our trip to Santa Cruz tomorrow
4. buy tickets to Alcatraz
5. buy a new vacuum
6. call Canon to have my dSLR repaired
7. give Langston a haircut
8. trip to Target for Easter stuff
9. run 5 miles
10. pay bills
11. take Langston to piano at 3:30
12. take Langston and Elise to swimming

a fresh start

So, this is my first post since I accidentally deleted my blog last year. At least I have some printouts of my earlier entries so it wasn't entirely lost. But, it still hurts. Ah well, gotta move on.

Lots of things going on in the Vu household these days and I've documented none of it. Well, only through pics. I started a journal of memories when Langston was born and kept at it for a good while but I stopped sometime last year. I haven't blogged since last year and I haven't scrapbooked since who knows when. All those memories...gone. So, here I am...

Last month, hubby and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. It's been 10 years since we drove to the Santa Ana courthouse on a whim and got hitched.

(relaxing in St. Thomas)

A couple of weeks ago, my baby boy turned 9! I have a 9-year old son. We celebrated at home with a video game lan party. We had 3 xboxes connected and Langston and his friends played Halo all night long. He was in heaven.

A week later, I turned 33. I can accept the fact that I've been married for 10 years and that I have a 9-year old son but I cannot, for the life of me, wrap my head around the fact that I am actually 33 years old. When did this happen?

I'm determined to keep up with the blogging since it's probably the only way I'm going to get some memories recorded. Until next time!