BJJ competition (Austin, TX)

Last weekend I participated in my first ever BJJ competition, the IBJJF Austin Open. If you want to compete, IBJJF tournaments are the ones you want to do. It's bigger and more organized. The way it works is that you compete against someone of similar rank (white belt), weight (light-feather division), and age (36-40 years old). This was the first fair fight in a long time since I'm always up against giant monsters during training.

My dad's birthday

The summer birthdays continue with my dad turning 68 this weekend.

Amazon Prime Day

Today was Prime Day, Amazon's own version of Black Friday. Needless to say, I made some impulsive purchases. :(

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July! It kinda sucks that it's on a random Tuesday but hey, what are you gonna do? Anyway, I've been eating clean lately but today was my "cheat day" and boy did I cheat. There was too much good food. And I didn't even touch the brisket I spent all day smoking... I was overly stuffed. :(

My mom's birthday

We ❤ bà nội (grandma).

Father's Day weekend

All my children.

Weight cutting for BJJ

I've been training BJJ for about a year now with a bunch of gaps in between due to various injuries, sickness, busy with the kids, etc... but it's been a year. So am I any good? I'm definitely better than a random guy off the street who knows zero martial arts but against someone who trains, that's debatable.

Big Bend Country (West Texas)

Summer vacation started immediately with our family as the kids' last day of school was on Friday and we were off on a road trip the following day, which also happened to be Memorial Day weekend.

Two graduations and more

Their last walk together to school.

Soccer ends and bad eating begins

Last weekend marked the end of another soccer season. Andrew's team did a complete 180 from last season, primarily due to losing some weak links and gaining a few stronger players. And we actually had a dad willing to coach (last season we had a teenager "coaching"). That made it much more enjoyable/bearable to watch. As for Tyson's team, it's just pure joy to watch... whether they're winning or getting crushed. Those tiny kids are hilarious.

Mother's Day

What's a parent to do?

Tyson rides a bike!

At 5 years old (three months before he turns 6), Tyson can now ride a bike, beating his two older brothers. Granted, I'm not sure if the older boys would've picked it up earlier because I never pushed them to try as I did for Tyson.

It all began when we saw one of Tyson's soccer teammate, who's only 4 years old, rolling up to practice in the world's smallest bike (actually the same 12" size as Tyson's) and I thought, if he can do it so can Ty.

Random weekend pics

Elliot, all up in your grill.

Easter Sunday

Elliot's posing/"cheese" smile is so nasty... but I love it.