Hollywood Hike

Tony's mom visited over Christmas break and watched the kids one morning so we could go on a hike and grab a bite to eat. Before we discovered running is so much better than hiking, we used to hike quite a bit in Santa Barbara and it was nice to do it again, just for old times sake.

Happy 20th Birthday, Tony

The kids helped me make a Boston cream pie for Tony's birthday. Unfortunately, only about half of the chocolate

frosting made it on to the cake, the other half mysteriously disappeared.

Showering daddy with kisses!

Do these three look exactly like each other or what?

Disneyland

The Julians visited from New Mexico a couple of months ago and we met up with them at the happiest place on Earth. Five rambunctious kids at Disneyland can only mean.....lots of fun for the kids and worn out parents!

Can you believe these two are related?

Not the best picture, but all the cousins together (Asher, Cadence, Miles, Riley and Luciana).

Cadence showing Miles and Luciana how smashed pennies work.

Between having to take Miles to the ER three times in a span of 36 hours last week and then having him be admitted to pediatric ICU, we had a nightmare week. At moments like this, we realize how lucky we have are to have good friends help us out. Without our friends, we couldn't have both been in the hospital with Miles and simple things like packing a lunch for Luciana would not have gotten done. Of course I cant forget my mom, who without hesitation, was at the airport within a couple of hours of finding out Miles was in the hospital. I don't even know where to start with all the things my mom did for us last week....she got Luciana ready for school, cooked a meal from scratch everyday, bathed the kids and she even left us a freezer packed with meals that will last us a whole month! The only problem, she also turned our vegan children into carnivores.

Grandma Jan spent some time with us in Southern California after the holidays and as always, the kids loved having their Grandma Jan here. We gave Grandma Jan a taste of SoCal (from a kids perspective) by visiting Huntington Gardens, California Science Center, the beach in Santa Monica and the Rose Parade. We hope you enjoyed visiting as much as we enjoyed having you here and we can't wait to have you visit again soon!

Getting ready to go watch The Nutcracker with Daddy.

Would you believe we had 80 degree weather in December?

Grandma Jan's favorite float....courtesy of Trader Joe's.

Christmas 2011 Northern California

We took a road trip up to the Bay Area to visit family during Christmas. It was great getting together with everyone and as always, the kids enjoyed every minute off being spoiled rotten by the family.

Happy New Year's 2012

I am really behind on updating, but I had to get the kids' Vietnamese New Year's picture up before it's over!