Like Father, Like Son ......

 

 

Aiden, where do you want to go today?

Aiden muon choi golf. (Aiden wants to play golf).

OK. Aiden, are you a good boy?

Aiden, good boy. Aiden muon choi golf.

Aiden muon choi golf.

He will continue to repeat himself. He tends to speak in third person occasionally. What a funny little man! Of course, Dylan loves playing golf, too. He understands the concept of holding the plastic golf club and hitting the ball until it moves. As for Aiden, he is getting better and tries to replicate Tony’s movements. It’s a good thing he can follow direction when Tony tries teaching him.  We’re planning to put him in private golf lessons soon since he showed interest. We would never force our sons into engaging in something they’re not fond of.

This is probably the only sport Aiden talks about frequently. We would give him options and he always end up picking golf in the end. This one day, he woke up talking about golf. There was also another occasion where Aiden and Tony sat on the couch watching golf together. It was very cute.

Today, we spent about an hour at Miles Square Park driving range. We try to go at least once a week with our boys. It’s soothing to be on the driving range and I always find tranquility when I’m there especially when I’m with my favorite boys. It’s awesome to see their world. It is unburden, like how it should be. It’s time like this where I continue to watch their life unfold. It makes me smile. They are the love of my life. XOXO.



Annual Big Bear Family Trip | Big Bear Lake, CA

 

 

 

 

 

 

for my "sweet" husband .....

 

 

 

blog to follow......

hairdressing by papa dang

........an end to a night with a haircut from papa dang. totally adorable. 

if you haven't noticed, i like blogs that are heavy on photos. photos create a mood. i've always loved photography as a kid, but not until my college years did i realize this meant i had to learn how to take better pictures. i've taken one photography class which i dropped out. can you believe that? don't worry, i dragged tdang down with me (i don't feel as bad) not just once, but twice. it was just too early for a saturday morning. but, for the most part, i've learned all the technicals by reading and from others. i was so determined and spent hours (yes, sacrificing my precious sleep) studying technique, composition, lighting and learning every aspect of my camera as well.


i wouldn't consider myself an expert though. however, there was one point in time where people adored my photos and i was making $300/hour shooting gigs. this was good extra cash, but money never got in my way. i decided to set photography aside when i got pregnant with aiden. not only did i have the worst morning sickness ever, i had a different vision. i wanted to be a mom. a really good one. as i entered motherhood, the demands of my daily life made it nearly impossible to do much of anything. plus,i didn't want to shoot weddings on saturday and miss quality time spent with our boys. i made sacrifices. and, i don't regret it .... not one bit. if you know me, you know this is a true statement. i always want to keep our family connected.


which leads me to this ....


every family has a different mindset of goals and missions. this is ours - "a family who plays together. stays together". i'm sure you've heard that liner before. we've applied it and it's our family motto - every family should have one, in my opinion.... just sayin'. hehe. xoxo.

my little buckaroo .....

O' it's just Tuesday.

I can’t have an entry without a picture and dug this one up since it was available. This was taken a few weeks ago when we went down to Corona Del Mar for some fun in the sun. We stopped to get some Sprinkle Cupcakes (being the sweet tooth family we are) and since the weather was nice, we decided to take a walk on the beach. Our boys played in the sand with an empty bottle and plastic spoon we had in the car. Hey, whatever works, right?  Then, we took them in the water and let the wave crash onto their itty bitty foot. We would then run back to shore, held our hands tightly together, took a quick look at each other with a good hard laugh ….and then we did it all over again. It was pure awesomeness.

And, then it was love at first sight. I fell in love with the beachfront homes. I want. I want. Too bad, I can’t afford it.

So, I’ve been capturing more photos of our boys lately (not that I haven’t done enough) and posting it. My main purpose is that I want to encourage our boys & future kids to see the past and read/find stories from what we’ve done as a family. And, this blog will be something for them to get inspired by. I never want them to stop seeing the fun in our family.

In the end, I hope, they’ll live life by finding a balance relationship with God, family, then friends. Yes, in this order. If they do, I’ll be dancing like no one is watching for hours. And, you can count on seeing a big heart around my face, too.

If you ever wonder, we take our boys out almost every day. It could be to the park, a quick run to get dessert, a nice walk – just something away from home for an hour or two. Some days, I’m exhausted from work, but will pull through for the love of our boys. It's important to find balance between work and family life. We do spend time at home, too. Our nightly rituals consist of playtime (consist of learning), story time; bubble bath time, some more playtimes and then its bed time. By the end of the night, I’m tired, but it’s OK because “a family, who plays together, stays together”.

This is the life my husband and I always wanted. We’re living it and loving each moment. We also need each other for support. It’s the only way to get through the hurdles of being a parent. It’s not always easy. Remember, it takes two to tango. XOXO.

Chuck E' Cheese | Diamond Bar, CA

whew. i'm glad it's sunday. today, we celebrated cousin ashley's 7th birthday at chuck e' cheese. it's definitely "a place where kids should be". our boys loves this place and have gone numerous times. aiden is growing up so fast that he understands the concept of the games. whereas dylan, likes running around and pushing on buttons. the cool thing about chuck e' cheese is that the games are suitable for young kids. 

      

OC Tet Festival | Westminister, CA

today was another simply wonderful day with my family. we took our boys to the oc tet festival. we go here every single year and love the atmosphere minus the horrendous traffic. the only difference about this year is that we received free admission -  woohoo - thanks to tony's friend!

here's an image of aiden and his first attempt at the water balloon game. too bad, he lost. my poor baby!

i felt bad because every kid deserves to win something at the festival. so, we had to move on to another game where it guaranteed a prize for both our boys. we paid $10 dollars for this turtle game. yup, $5 dollars for each kid. the object of the game was that each kid picks three turtles floating in the water. under each turtle, it denotes whether the kid has won a small, medium, or large prize (hence, why you see a sign that says "no peaking under turtle"). this game was expensive, but so worth it for our boys because no one walks out a LOSER. they loved it. both boys got to play and won a "small" prize. aiden won a monkey that he adored. and, dylan loved his froggie for a good umm.... 30 seconds.

here's aiden and his monkey prize! he made the monkey fly in the air since it had a cape on.

aiden was so excited to show papa and dylan his winning prize. 

and, here's aiden and papa on his first festival ride. he loved it. he even had both hands up at one point. what a cool dude! i would have captured more photos, if i wasn't holding dylan on one arm. i literally carried him for almost 1.5 hours with some minor breaks. trust me, my arm was aching................. badly.

afterwards, papa dang took aiden on another ride and played a few more games before we left. we had to make it back in time to celebrate tet at my parent's house. what a day! i can't stress it enough, but my family brightens up my life and i love them more than i love mcdees. that's a lot! xoxo.

Boomer's Miniature Golf | Fountain Valley, CA

okay, so i've been sitting here for the past 15-20 minutes trying to figure out how to start this post. It's EASY! what is wrong with me? probably because i'm in love beyond my mind with my boys. i keep staring at their pictures. 

okay, so here's what happened. we had a change of plans and decided to take our boys to play a game of miniature golf at boomer's. and, really, this is a great place to take your little ones especially mine who likes to run around and make me huff and puff. (1) we were the only family there playing, which meant that our boys can do whatever they wanted. no lines. zip. nada. basically,we didn't have to fear about having others wait. if we did, we probably would have been on their ihateyou list. (2) thanks to the economy and perhaps threat of new entrants, boomer's customer loyalties are diminishing. wooohooo to the NO crowd. (3) it's inexpensive. the cost per child is $5.99. it was basically "all you can play" as long as our boys didn't hit the ball into the final hole. (4) a game stimulates their mind. 

so today was spectacular besides me losing all of tony's poker chips. literally. not only from aiden's unexpected kisses. so cute. in fact, it was that we were spending time together. it was just us. my heart always melt (it does this a lot-haha) when i think about this because i dreamt of having this perfect family long before i was married. and, i know i have it. it's not easy. it's something you have to build. perfection, i tell you! i feel so incredibly blessed. xoxo.

Zoomar's Petting Zoo | San Juan Capistrano, CA

today is chinese's new year "the year of the rabbit" (woohoo - happy new year) and we decided to take our kids to go feed rabbits. how ironic. actually, we purchased a deal off of "living social", which included 6 entrance passes, 2 feeding baskets, and 2 train ride admissions for $18 dollars a few weeks ago. what a steal! we figured it was a good day to use it. since there were 4 of us, the lady at the entrance gave us 2 passes for future visits. who wants to come next time we go??


it was our first time at zoomar. it's a very small petting zoo, which i really liked. it offers an array of animals to see/pet. there were goats, guinea pigs, bunnies, sheep, horses, etc. we spent most of our time feeding the bunnies. aiden got to ride on the pony and train. this was an extra bonus and made him content. dylan was too focused running around and chasing goats and/or bunnies. he wasn't in the mood for the train/pony ride, which i found odd. but, i figured he does what he does best at his age and that is, being mr. scientist and having the freedom to roam and explore. oh, this was heaven for my little man.


so i took a deep breath before we left and realized this was such a great start to the new year. when we left, i watched my favorite boys stroll back to the car holding hands. their faces were filled with smiles and laughter. honestly, this made my heart melt. i asked aiden if he had fun and he replied, "so much fun". yup, a great start indeed. i know i'm not suppose to believe in this because it's a chinese superstition, but the tone and attitude set on New Year's would be set for the rest of the year. so does that mean we will be one happy family? i hope so. xoxo.