Santa Monica Pier

i find myself getting busier, but still told myself i need to take advantage of my maternity leave to bond with my family. plus, it's good to get out especially during the weekend. this week, we decided to head to santa monica pier. i can't believe i've never been here and normally would just visit the shops on third street promenade if i'm in santa monica. i was not instantly captivated by the pier after pushing baby batman around, perhaps, it was too crowded and dirty compared to huntington beach. after 30 minutes, we ended up walking towards the shopping area to watch street performers and did some mini-shopping. 

baby batman was a trooper for sleeping the entire time. our boys had a blast and aiden asked if i could take him to the circus after seeing the cirque soliel tent. i couldn't believe that we managed to take 3 kids out again. i guess if you believe that you can pull it off and if it's what you want, it's cake. no problem, right? i knew exactly what i wanted. it's always to spend time with my family. my boys are young. i know that the realities and demands of my daily life is nearly impossible to do much of anything. it's hard to find time to even do my hair after i shower (hence, you'll always see me in a baseball cap now), but i don't care. being a mother is all-encompassing. it's gratifying and can be overwhelming, but i taught myself patience. you need it. if you don't have it, you won't survive with your kids.

love my boys. xoxo.

Cruising Huntington Beach

i'm always lost in bliss when i hang out with my boys. it almost feels as a sense of accomplishment. i really don't know how to explain it. anyways, it was our first outing to the beach together with our newest addition. for late january, southern california had beautiful weather today and i simply asked papa dang to take our entire family to the beach for a nice stroll while letting batman and robin cruise on their bike. they loved it! we were planning to go to the festival, but opted out.

i realize as i'm pushing baby batman in his stroller across huntington beach pier that i'm living an inspired life. my boys really inspire me to live my life to the fullest.  also, capturing my kids through my lens really brings me joy and being able to share it with you allows their beauty to shine. i must say that it was such a perfect day in every way possible. i love that papa dang works in the morning and always make time to take us out because we're important. if you know our family, you will rarely find us without our boys. we love doing things together every day.

people often ask, "where on earth do i find time to blog with 3 kids?" it may sound impossible, but i actually only blog when my boys are sound asleep and make sure to squeeze in time because i love documenting our family spirit. papa dang and i developed a routine, which is fundamental in our family to make our life simple. one of the simple things we do is that all our boys nap at the same time. they know when it's nap time with the exception of baby batman and will go to sleep on their own. this gives us a break and time to refuel our energy. if i'm slacking on my blog, it's due to exhaustion, reading, cleaning, or spending quality time with papa dang.  eh... the normal things.

after today, i can't wait for summer to come ...... 

love my boys. xoxo.

this picture was taken with my new toy (iphone).

we even stopped to listen to these girls. i think they're sisters. you'll see aiden run across the video. haha.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live {Nokia Theater}

pic was taken with papa dang's iphone camera.

i purchase the tickets to go see yo gabba gabba "it's time to dance" live for our family back in May/June timeframe since our little pumpkins are huge fan. i didn't realize how many other kids are into yo gabba gabba until i showed up at the show. it was amazing. the show was very fun for the kids, but to be honest, i really thought it was fun for us, too! however, a & d probably were the calmest in the clan, which is part of their nature. the look on their faces was priceless when they saw the characters. if you know the characters as well as we do, they were brimming with energy (as they should). Rapper Biz Markie came out and impressed all of us with his beat-boxing skills. Kids and parents were going cray cray! 

i love how they came out with lessons for kids to eat their vegetables with "party in my tummy". i mean, i've seen it numerous times on television and to see it live made it more amazing. it was a very inventive way to get kids to eat their vegetables because they're lonely. 

again, we took our boys to the show because they are fans and we wanted to make them feel special. it was a saturday well spent and i would never trade it for anything.



love my boys. xoxo

Good Investments - Kumon Workbooks

i've started aiden on kumon books when he turned 2.5 years old to prep him for preschool. i wanted him to be confident and motivated to learn. i always try to make it fun. they do have kumon learning centers, but i opted out and taught him myself. i started off with "my first book of tracing" and continued on with other books. it built such a great foundation in how to hold a pencil and aiden loved everything about it. it was also an incentive that every time he completed his "homework", he would be rewarded and would get to play a certain game he wanted.

Labor Day: An Evening at Balboa Island

Ever since Aiden started school, we’ve changed our boys sleep schedule since they share bedroom and they’ve been tuned to wake up at the exact same time daily (7 a.m.). Today, Aiden walked into our room and said he had to go pee at 7:04 a.m. Yes, I actually looked at my clock. I wanted to sleep in for an extra hour and told him to come lay with me. Aiden looked back at me and smiled, he said “mommy, the sun is out. i’m not tired.” After this, Dylan comes storming in and my morning started.

Papa Dang had to work in the morning wee hours and I took our boys out to the South Coast Plaza for a nice walk before we met up with my girlfriends for lunch. Nothing is ever confirmed about what we would be doing later in the evening, but we always like to do something. Because our family loves the water, we decided to head down to Balboa Island for the evening after our boys took their afternoon nap. It’s a very inexpensive and relaxing outing if you ever decide to go. Instead of driving there, we decided to take the auto ferry to give our boys a chance of experiencing something different. Both got a nice thrill from it. The ride was short (less than 5 minutes). It cost $1 for adults and children under 5 are free.

Speaking of which, there are fishes under the water and being that Aiden is three years old, he has these fantastical imagination or would I say thinking of things while we were on the ferry ride like: “mommy, I can’t find nemo.” I insisted he sit and scream out Nemo’s name to see if he would come out to play. Both our boys marveled at all the boats they saw from a distance, too. It was a peaceful little ride and here we are at Balboa Island. I can’t believe I haven’t been back since 1998. This was one of the places Papa Dang took me to while we were dating.

For $3 a person, Papa Dang took our boys on the Ferris Wheel and they went gaga over it. Afterwards, we strolled around the shops. I’m going to make sure I try their chocolate covered bananas next time since they’re well-known for it. We ended up on Balboa Pier. Our boys played in the playground for a bit before we went to sit on the sand together. Plus, our boys love to play in the sand, build sand castles, and watch the birds. Basically, just the endless fun they have there. We didn’t prepare ourselves with drinks, towels, toys this time, but rather made use of our time there and allowed our boys to get down and dirty. We allow them to be in charge of their own little world while we watch them from a close distance. We believe in the power of play in hopes of leading them into happier and healthier kids. It’s a good practice for their gross motor skills, too!

The beach, as you may know, is also one of our family favorite spots. Not only is it free, but there are so many things we can do here. It’s also a great place to relax and let go of the daily stresses of life. Nevertheless, today was well-spent and I got to spend it with my favorite people…..my boys.

Love my boys. XOXO.

my boys relaxing and getting ready to leave.

our view of balboa island from the auto ferry.

p.s. i only took a few pictures and wished i took more.... next time! :)

Sand Fun | Huntington Beach, CA

we wanted to take a quick one day trip to vegas to go watch the lion king, but since the I-15 had some closure due to the fire on friday, we didn't want to take the risk. instead, we headed to the beach for some sand fun. papa dang took his rode bike out to the beach early in the morning and said it was "perfect" weather to take our sons after church. there were some high tides going on, so they pretty much stayed on shore and played with the sand.


papa dang decided to see if aiden would be down to get buried in the sand. he dug a small hole and our not-so-scared-anymore "batman" went in. he thought it was funny and later said he rather stay in the sand to stay warm. it was a tidbit chilly with the breeze. plus, it was overcast, but the sun made its way about an hour later.

our boys love the water and i'm glad some made it up close enough to where we were 'chillaxing". aiden was basically doing his own thing and dilly always look for random things to pick up. yes, our fearless son!

papa dang took dilly out to put his feet in the water. the place where he always want to be at and would dive straight in if we didn't have our eyes on him. aiden decided to continue his play in an enormous hole that someone dug up. he met a little guy friend that he started playing with. then, he rolled some sand into a ball and told his "new" friend that was poo. how embarassing!

a simple day at the beach always bring a smile to my face. i like the tranquility of being there and i'm sure papa dang and our boys does too. besides, we were there together as a family. our priorities changed once we had kids. we're always looking for things to do with them because we want to spend time together........... it's I M P OR T A N T. :)

love my boys. xoxo.

Pool Day for Audrey's 1st Birthday

audrey had an amazing first birthday planned by her parents. our boys had a great time since they love any activities that includes water. for the first time, dilly walked out of the pool and tried jumping in. i don't know how he learned to hold his breath under water after his jump for a few seconds before he popped up. he's a natural. i must admit. i was standing from the sideline and almost had a panic attack. he had his life jacket on, but continues to do things with no fear. whereas, aiden is extremely careful. he takes precaution because he's afraid of the consequences. they're both so different, which makes them so unique.


it's awesome to see papa dang spend time with his sons, which i know he's pretty darn good at. he never ever complained once. there are so many activities that they do together. i know it will help mold them into becoming man we will be proud of. plus, the relationship they have with their family will help shape them. that's why i believe that it's important to spend quality time together as a family. you get one shot at it and if you mess up, you'll just have to work harder at reshaping it. i'll do it right from the beginning no matter how much energy it takes. i love our boys more than anything in this world. it's about acceptance and i can tell you, life gives us experience to learn and that's why it's truly worth living. i live for my boys and family.


love my boys. xoxo.

Brotherly Love

Aiden has been a superb big brother to Dilly. I couldn’t ask for a better angel. He’s laying the foundation of what a big brother should be like.

The other day, Aiden wanted to eat his favorite jello. I decided to grab my Flip Video (which is quite handy) to record him eat and watch him interact with Dilly Willy. I record random things at random times. I know. I know. It must be a mom thing to document their kids live. It just cracks me when I see him mingling with Dilly. How do you explain to a three year old that little Dilly is too little to understand certain things – you can, but they’re living in their own perfect world with no worries – so, I just let it be.

Here’s the video – It’s about 5 minutes long and Aiden speaks to Dilly (which he refers to as “em” for “younger sibling”) in Vietnamese. It’s really cute – what can I say …

So, Aiden is bilingual in Vietnamese and English. He speaks Vietnamese better than English, but he’s getting there. We’ve started teaching him English a few months ago since he’s starting his pre-K Montessori school in two weeks. I know he will grow accustomed to the English language, but I didn’t want him to walk into school feeling left out. He’s an introvert and to prep him for school, I knew this was the right thing to do for him. He’s really excited, too. I’ll write a blog post about how I prep him since he was in my tummy to now for school. Why is my little man growing up so fast!

As for Dilly, he’s about 90% potty trained at 21 months. We knew he was ready when he kept taking off his diaper and roaming the house commando. I really thought he liked being naked like the rest of us. Just kidding. Actually, we all walk around our house in our undies every day. Haha! Again, I’ll save a post about potty training our little man.

I love my boys and peanut. XOXO.