Christmas 2024

Christmas Eve with the in-laws.

Random pics of the week

Celebrating Lynn's birthday.

8th grade district soccer tourney

The junior high kids playing on the big stage, Freedom Field.

Thanksgiving 2024

Thanksgiving Day with the in-laws.

20 years

It's been 20 years since our first date. This is our first picture together, at a Christmas party in 2004. Here's to another twenty years and more. 💕

Texas Book Festival (Austin, TX)

We got to see Shawn Harris and Mac Barnett (again) at the Texas Book Festival. I got my cap and book signed.

Tesla camping (Needville, TX)

Tent not needed.

Pickleball league

Sitting out for one match, which was desperately needed to rest my gimp ankle.

Fall orchestra concert

Tyson in rhapsody orchestra with his friend (far left) as the sole percussionist.

Despicable me

Gru and Lucy with their minions.

The City of Light (Paris, FR)

Last week, we took a getaway to Paris without the kids. I'd consider this as my first real international trip. The only other time I took an international flight was as a kid when I went to The Bahamas. I was a bit stressed. I was worried about the language barrier. I was worried about leaving the kids at home with the head of the household being only a junior from high school (Andrew). But in the end, everything worked out fine. My only regret was not staying a bit longer. Three nights in the City of Light was not enough.

Bonjour!

National Junior Honor Society

Tyson got inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.

Elliot's 9th birthday

Celebrating Elliot's 9th birthday with her friends.

Elliot gets her ears pierced

We went to 713 Tattoo for Elliot's ear piercing.

Pickleballin'

Outdoor pickleball has the best playing surface... but the drawback is the Texas heat.

National Honor Society

Andrew's NHS induction ceremony.

I'm done...

Sayonara.

Ice cream man

The best ice cream you never knew existed.

Jacob goes to college

Moving into his dorm room at Texas A&M Galveston.

Birthday weekend

Forever celebrating our birthdays together.

Elliot plays volleyball

Learning the fundamentals.

Summer vacation (Silverthorne, CO)

Family floating down a creek.

I just can't get enough of Colorful Colorado. This was our 12th road trip to Colorado, which found us back in Silverthorne. We went rafting for the first time and did the usual outdoorsy stuff.

Andrew's confirmation

Family with Andrew. (My parents were absent since I told them it was postponed due to the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.)

Family reunion

The Tran family.

July 4th extended weekend

Hello, Beryl.

My new car

2024 Tesla Model Y (Long Range All-Wheel Drive)

Baseball and birthday

Astros game with the family sans Jacob (who's currently in Asia).

Father's Day weekend

Father's Day at Topgolf.

Another teen driver

We now have another teenage driver in the family... and a crazy high insurance premium. 😅

Kalahari Resort (Round Rock, TX)

Our second trip to Kalahari in as many years.

Jacob graduates high school

Family picture at graduation night.

I'm back...

Back at where I started.

Mother's Day weekend

Saturday brunch at Whiskey Cafe for Mother's Day .

Soccer banquet

End of the year soccer banquet.

Quick getaway (Austin, TX)

Another quick getaway/day trip/date without the kids.

Tyson plays soccer

Tyson made it on the 7th grade boys soccer team. It wasn't a gimmie since he doesn't regularly play soccer. In fact, the last time he played on a team was over six years ago when he played for a recreational team in the Fall of 2018.

He was determined to earn his spot. There were many days leading up to the start of the season, that he would go out to practice with his friends.

Tyson played hard. Being a smaller kid on the field, he was not afraid to get in the mix with other boys who were a whole head taller than him.

They ended the season tied for 3rd in the district.

Student of the Month(s)

Tyson is Student of the Month... again.

Solar eclipse

My view of the eclipse from home.

Cherry blossoms, museums, and monuments (Washington, D.C.)

After five years, I made the trip back to DC. This time, there would be no government shutdown. This time, the cherry blossoms would be in bloom. This time, I would bring the family. But not the whole family. 

The boys HS soccer team made it into the playoffs and advanced. Unfortunately, the second round game would be on Thursday night (the day we leave for our trip). And if they were to win and advance to the third round, they would play on Monday (and we would still be in DC).

I had let the big boys decide if they still wanted to go to DC or stay home and play with their team. Jacob decided to continue on with the trip as planned and Andrew decided to stay home and play in what he said was possibly "a once in a lifetime" opportunity. So with that, we took a family trip (five nights) without Andrew.

Playoff bound

The boys soccer team (Shadow Creek) are headed to the playoffs. It's been three years since the school's last playoff appearance. This year is a bit special since both boys are playing together for the last time since Jacob is now a senior (and Andrew is a sophomore). 

For the first round of the playoffs, they faced Clear Springs. Their current coach was the former Shadow Creek coach, which made this matchup that more special.

That game was probably the best high school soccer game I've watched so far. Was it because of the outcome? Probably. The boys crushed them with the final score of 5-2.

It was satisfying to witness them destroy their former coach.

Full tuition

Four year scholarship!

Destination nowhere

It's been ten years since the last spring break we (two or more family members) didn't go on a trip (spend at least one night away from home). Not having travel plans for spring break felt a bit odd, especially since we've always gone somewhere for a decade straight. 

But I (alone) got to travel during the break. Sadly though, it was for work. I had to travel to San Augustine, which I've been to once before in a memorable trip back in 2012. And just like the last trip, I was starving. There's no eateries in San Augustine and apparently I didn't learn my lesson from the previous trip. 

First place in UIL chess

In the district UIL competition, Elliot took first place in the category of "chess puzzle solving," representing the second grade for her school. The process began months prior when she had to compete against fellow second graders within her school for the opportunity to go to UIL. Only the top kids were selected.

I'm not sure how many kids were in her division but there are twenty elementary schools in the district. The top eight kids of each category were awarded a medal (4th - 8th) or trophy (1st - 3rd) so I'm assuming there were a lot of kids in her group.

Needless to say, I'm super proud of her.

Around the world (Orlando, FL)

For our third and final getaway of the month, we headed to Orlando for a short weekend trip. We flew out early Saturday morning and headed straight to Disney World once we landed. I've always wanted to experience a theme park as an adult without kids and this was my chance. I chose Epcot because it seemed less kiddie (i.e. Magic Kingdom) and we could just walk around to eat and drink.

We got to Epcot at 10:30 a.m. to start our journey around the world. Somewhere in between, we had to take an hour nap due to being sleep deprived from the early morning departure. We did manage to go on one ride, the Guardians of the Galaxy, which was new. And we stayed until closing and barely got enough time to visit all of the countries. 

Grand Canyon and Sedona (AZ)

For our second getaway of the month, we headed to Arizona (a state I have yet to visit). Our first stop was to the Grand Canyon. It's never been a "must do" for me but since we were (sort of) in the area, I wanted to check it out... and to check it off the list of National Parks to visit.

After landing in Phoenix (and getting brunch at First Watch), we started our 3.5 hour drive to the Grand Canyon. The goal was to take it easy, sight see, and to avoid the gnarly trails within the canyon. Maybe we'll do those in the future... rim to rim hike anyone? 

Pictures don't do this place justice. It was huge. It seemed like we were on another planet. I was surprised by how much it amazed me since I've already seen the second largest canyon in the country, Palo Duro Canyon. I was in awe.

Year of the dragon

Family picture with grandma.

Jacob is officially an adult

The family celebrating Jacob's 18th birthday.

Hot chicken getaway (Nashville, TN)

Instead of a long trip to celebrate our 15 year anniversary, we plan on taking multiple short getaways  (without any kids) throughout the month. 

We can finally travel further and longer since our kids are older, one of which can now play the role of chauffer. And we had additional support with my mom playing school chauffer for the two little ones and Lynn's sister Julie took them in for a weekend sleepover.

So for our first getaway, we were off to Nashville. 

Why Nashville? Because it's the home of hot chicken. Because it's the bachelorette capital of the world. But mainly because of hot chicken.

My super students

Elliot got Student of the Month and Tyson the Citizenship Award.