Spring is in the air...

All the snow has melted, our lawn is once again visible...

Here are the kids bundled up in the park..



Weekend trip to NJ to see the family...


Brendan gets his toys and jiajia's too...


Samantha's homemade jewelry...

Dressed up for a Star Wars costume party....


Visiting the cherry blossoms in DC...














Swing by the Jefferson Memorial...



Playing at home...


Somebody's ticklish...

At Butler's orchard for some Easter fun...





Brunch at New Fortune for Ah Ta's 83rd birthday...



Sassy girl...

Snow Tiger...

Long overdue posting....
Much snow has fallen this month as we ushered in the year of the Tiger...

Kids watch as the ground quickly disappears and rises...



Luckily we had someone to plow our looong driveway so we were not stranded, but all that snow has to go somewhere and that was right at the back of our driveway.

Here's Samantha conquering the resulting snowdrift, and B crouching to help the visual effect...

Daddy went trekking around the house to knock down some giant icicles for Samantha to play with...


"You betta watch yourself!"


Kids playing while parents are shoveling...


Xin Nian Kuai Le, New Year's morning...


At the Rockville Theatre for new year festival with friend...


All the way down in Chinatown for the celebration. Lions, Firecrackers, and Dragons, Oh My!






B got creative with some boxes lying around the kitchen...





Here's a favorite recent pasttime...pulling each other around with the truck and the wagon..






Breakfast time video...

more fun in the fluff...

The snow really came down this weekend, this time it was the fluffy kind, not great for snowman-making but perfect for falling into and throwing in the air.

Here's Brendan donning the puffy snowsuit once again...


It was tough for Samantha to walk around in it, but was a little easier when Daddy blazed a path first...


We made a deep snow cave for her princess and dwarf friends to hang out in...




We rode the hill out back during the last storm, so we decided to up the excitement level a notch by making the run even faster. Building an extension at the top was easy with all the snow around to take from.



Daddy strapped in and rode down several times and Samantha also took many turns sitting on the board and riding down...

Morning snow play....

First snow of the year, it was coming down hard this morning and continues to accumulate, the grass is almost completely covered....

Brendan stayed warm in his hand-me-down snowsuit from his Uncle Thierry...




Breakfast anyone?


Big Sis and Little Bro...




The snow was nice and wet, perfect for rolling a snowman....

And the beat goes on....

Here is Brendan getting down to the dance music channel...



Here is Samantha singing a chinese song...

What's new (and old)?

Wow, has it really been that long since the last post? A video of Brendan walking...that's definitely old news. The most recent news is that Samantha is about to turn the fabulous, fantastic, and fiesty 0-4 (pics are coming from her early birthday celebration) but let's play catch-up. Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few months.

Just hanging around the house...



First day back-to-school for Samantha...



Brendan helps out a friend in need.



Baby Logan needed his pacifier back (oh but wait, guess who took it in the first place!).





Big sister helping out...





Hanging out at the Jefferson Memorial...





The view of the Washington Monument from the steps of the Jefferson Memorial...



Just another day outside (before it got so cold!)...









At the National Zoo...





Running wild through the zoo--"free at last"



Visiting Brookside Gardens Nature Center...









Samantha--"I'm too cool"



Brendan's 1st birthday party!



According to Vietnamese tradition, at the 1st birthday celebration, the birthday boy or girl picks from a tray of objects. Each object represents a possible future occupation. So it is thought (or hoped :) ) that whatever object the child picks, it is a prediction of what the future holds. Here is Brendan trying to make his pick:



And guess what, he picked up the stethoscope!



And then the piece of food...hmmm, what could that mean? Possibly, a GI doc? Who knows--we shall see! :)

















At Glen Echo Park Fall Festival:



Brendan's choice of cars...



Our recent trip to San Diego--while I was at a conference, Samantha and Brendan sure had some fun with their Daddy.







Even went to the zoo with the San Diego cousins...





But, I did manage to get away for dinner...



...and SeaWorld...















...and Legoland...

























More fun with the cousins...



























Brendan's first time on a swing. Couldn't get him off!