The Greatest Show on Earth

That's the slogan for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. And after watching it this past weekend, I would have to respectfully disagree. The last (and only) time I've went to the circus was when it was still held at The Summit. I had fond memories of that venue and of the event but that was decades ago so I wanted to relive that experience with my own kids.

Car rides work better than Ambien

Going on a car ride will put the boys to sleep. If we go anywhere, at anytime, there's bound to be someone sleeping. The duration of the ride doesn't really matter. Is this a kids thing? Or is it only with the boys? This can get annoying and troublesome when they arrive at a place feeling sleepy, groggy and/or grumpy. This makes for some unhappy parents. It's so ridiculous. I just had to document this phenomenon.

My first triathlon

If you had asked me ten years ago if I wanted to do a triathlon, the answer would have been an emphatic, "Hell no." Back then I was too busy eating anything and everything, drinking recklessly and not exercising. But eventually I found the errors of my way and wanted to live a healthier lifestyle so I modified my diet and started to incorporate exercise. In the beginning, my goal was to simply run a mile without stopping. After years of persistent exercise and always looking to improve myself, my latest goal was to do a triathlon. And that happened this past weekend.

Fourth of July weekend

The extended July 4th weekend (Fri-Mon) was really random, but fun. It started like any other day off, with the kids playing around the house and the parents doing house work. Then all of a sudden, we decided to have an impromptu board game tournament among the boys (myself included). Of each game played, 3 points went to first, 2 points to second, 1 point to third and last place got nothing. And guess who won the whole thing. It was Andrew, the master of board games.

Cashing out... in meat

This weekend I finally cashed in on the muscle ups bet with my cousin Jon. The bet was for Killen's steakhouse (awesome) but I decided that I'd rather have Killen's BBQ instead (also awesome in their own way). Recently they got recognized as one of the best BBQ places in the country. Good for Killen's but bad for us. Now it's going to get even more crowded. Damn tourists! :(

Father's Day

I finally broke the 3 year streak of doing brunch at Empire Cafe for Father's Day. Good coffee alone isn't enough to get past the mediocre food they serve so I had to eat somewhere else. This year, we went for brunch at Dish Society. We've been there a few times before (which has always been good) but keeping with the theme of the previous Father's Days, they served mediocre food that day. [cue sad trombone sound]

Weekend getaway (Austin, TX)

Sometimes I get an itch to go somewhere. Anywhere. It's just nice to get away once in a while. And last Friday I had the day off so we decided to spend the long weekend in Austin. There was no agenda really... besides to eat, shop and eat some more. And I got the photography bug so I packed up my SLR camera, attached a 40 mm prime lens, and went nuts.

One-on-one with Jacob

What was supposed to be a family trip to The Museum of Fine Arts turned into one on one time with Jacob since the other two boys got sick over the weekend. So instead of canceling, this was a perfect time for me to spend quality time with him alone. A rarity.

My little scholars

School is finally out and this was a good academic year for all. Andrew made straight A's on every nine-week period and finished with an average grade no lower than a 96. I'm actually surprised since I know how careless he is when reading/solving problems. Jacob did equally well. He also made straight A's and finished with an average grade no lower than a 97. Wow. And he also dominated the STAAR test, the state's academic standardized test. On mathematics, he got 45 out of 46 questions correct. Typical Asian. I'm quite proud of my two boys (I just had to brag).

End of soccer

Last weekend was the (merciful) end of the soccer season. This season went two weeks longer than scheduled since there were multiple games rescheduled due to the rain. I'm so done with these thunderstorms. Send some of this rain to California! But when the sun comes out, so does the blazin' heat and humidity and this last game was especially hot. I'm just glad it's all over.

(Extended) Memorial Day weekend

Our Memorial Day weekend began on Friday since the kids didn't have school and I took the day off. What was already an extended weekend became even longer after the torrential rain and flooding on Tuesday (no work for me). So the normally 3 day holiday weekend became an extended 5 day weekend, albeit we couldn't do anything on that flood day. But overall the weekend was fun and relaxing. We did manage to get some swimming in. Steaks were grilled. Watched a couple of Rockets playoff games. Did a lot of shopping (sales!). And of course, we went out to eat a lot and my pseudo-diet was nonexistent.

A new car!

2015 Nissan Pathfinder

Wednesday night: Astros game

On a random Wednesday night, we went to see the Astros play the defending World Series champion, the San Francisco Giants. It's been three years since we last went to a baseball game so I was pretty stoked to go to a game this year. Are people still saying "stoked"? And the Astros are pretty good this year (currently first place in the AL West). Let's get on the bandwagon!

Mother's Day weekend

This was a busy and fun weekend. On Saturday we were out literally all day. It began with the boys soccer games, which started at 9 am. After their games finished (noon), we went out to eat cafeteria food a.k.a. Luby's (kids eat free all day Saturday!). Not counting recently, I think the last I went to Luby's was when Jacob was still a baby (roughly eight years ago) but this is the second week in a row that we've been. Weird cafeteria food craving, I guess.

Random cell phone pictures

Jacob vs. a snake

I've been a little busy and feeling extremely lazy so here are some random cell phone pictures from the past month. And since cell phone pictures all look like crap, I used a bunch of filters and effects to make them less crappy. Enjoy.