Hello again...

Hey -- my blog still works! I wasn't sure since I haven't been on it for a while. I've had a family marathon the past 2 weeks so it was hard to get on the computer.

My middle sister Anne and her family came down on Thursday. They stayed at our place for a day before heading out to Escondido Friday afternoon. My oldest sister Priscilla, her dog Alfee and my mom also came for a visit (at the same time, separate cars), stayed one night then headed to Vegas. On Saturday I packed up my family and headed to Escondido to the same resort as my sister until Sunday. By then Priscilla, Alfee and Mom were back from Vegas and we hung out at home the rest of the week. Kael was very sick so we couldn't go anywhere anyway. Thankfully my mom and sister were a great help with the kids since Truong was out of town that week. There aren't many things scarier than staying home alone for days with a sick kid, a bored 3 year old, and a turbo-charged baby determined to break his neck climbing the stairs.

My house guests left for San Jose Thursday mid-morning, we followed Thursday night at 9:00pm, and the Escondido crew left Friday morning. We all converged at my parents' house to watch the fireworks show at the country club Friday night.

I know. It's like a finely choreographed dance sequence.

Kael and Malia for the first time actually saw the show. In the years past, the bang of the fireworks have always freaked them out and I would see them huddled under blankets, wrapped around Dad or a cousin or an aunt. It was nice to see them enjoy the show, ohhing and ahhing with the family. The biggest shocker was Taede because (A) he was still up at 9:15pm to see the show and (B) he actually saw the show without crying. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates and I don't think he blinked the entire 30 minutes.

Sometime during the San Jose week Malia ended up getting hit with what Kael had, which he got from Jarod. That meant a high fever of +103 degrees followed by a cough. I had to make a 9:30pm Walmart run to get a thermometer and Tylenol -- and let me tell you: my parents' Walmart is freaking scary at 9:30pm. It's ridiculous how many people (especially kids) were shopping that late.

I ate a ton of my mom's cooking, squeezed in a couple of visits with some high school friends, a trip to the San Francisco Zoo, the Egyptian Museum, ate some more, Truong golfed a day, visited my aunt on her ranch, ate even more, the kids swam (the kids are so tanned that they disappear in the shade) ... all in all it was a great trip. There were a couple of nights where I ate so much that I looked like I was 5 months pregnant. It was absurd. And my mom packed my cooler nice and tight for the trip home so I'm still enjoying Mom's home cooked meals. Yeah baby!

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. I schlepp my big ass camera around but never use it. It ends up banging poor Taede on the head instead. Here's what little I did take though.

I hope you had a great 4th of July!