good morning V I E T N A M


This is my wonderful family-in-law that went with Huy and I to Vietnam... or should I say, we went with them, because they were the ones that had been before and showed us around. (Pictured is me, Huy, The (pronounced Tay, Huy's dad), Huy's Aunt Le and Uncle Danh, and Aunt Beckie and Uncle Liem.) We couldn't have made it without all of them. They were not only great help and had great insights to share, but they were fun to be with and we had a most excellent time!

The amount of luggage we all had was unreal. I thought for sure there would be no way we would get all of it in the taxi, which happened to be a mini van of sorts.


But it did fit, to our amazement. The Vietnamese drivers can pack a car like no other!

I took about 800 pictures so I had to filter through quite a few to find the best to tell you about our experience there. Let me tell you about the BEST parts first...

This is Huy's Aunt (Huy's dad older sister) greeting Huy soon after we showed up at her door unannounced. When his family fled from the country 34 years ago, he was 3 so although he had met her, he didn't have any memories of her or his life in Vietnam.

It was quite the reunion for Huy's dad who hadn't seen his sister in 32 years. And the funny part was that The (Tay) didn't even let his sister know he was coming - it was a surprise! And surprised she was. She is a sweet lady and has most of her family living with her under the same roof, 28 people (children, spouses, and grandchildren) to be exact! It is also the same house that The (Tay) lived in when he lived there. We, or should I say they (I sat there and smiled), had a nice visit with her and the family and we met with them several times. It was most definitely the most beautiful part of our trip!


This is the house where Huy's mother, Lien, grew up. Althought conditions and environments have changed over the years, it was incredible to see a glimpse into what life was like when family lived there so many years ago. The (Tay) told us stories about meeting Lien here and picking her up after she was out of school (which was around the corner).

One of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is a noodle soup called Pho. And this is the spread that is on the table when you go for Pho in Vietnam. It was very good, but to be perfectly honest, I like Pho made in America a little bit better because there are sanitation regulations that I trust and I know that what I am eating is clean, if you know what I mean.


The fruit stands were amazing. The amount and variety of fresh fruit was incredible. I ate a few new ones that I had never heard of and liked most of them. Durian is the only one I couldn't even bare to smell or taste. If you ever have the chance to smell or taste one, you'll know what I am talking about.

And the flowers were unreal too! I mean, look at them on this scooter, ready for delivery. So picturesque don't you think?


Huy's favorite highlight was fishing for crocodiles. For 10 cents, he got a huge piece of meat on a pole with string tied to it and then you could feed the crocs. I think he and his Uncle Liem would have, or could have, been there all day. They were like kids in a candy store - they just couldn't believe how cool it was to see these crocs pile on top of one another and snap at the food. The sound of their jaws snapping was flat-out scary. Quite the experience.

This is Huy's Aunt Beckie out for a parasailing ride at the beach in Nga Trang. This made the "best" category because the story that goes along with it is too funny and it was definitely a highlight. You need to ask Huy to share the story with you (he tells it best), if you haven't heard it already. It is too long to type and it just wouldn't do it justice. Thanks for a great laugh Beckie and for being such a good sport about it!


Also in Nga Trang, we were able to go swimming in the ocean with a beautiful sunrise. I am so use to the sun setting over the water, not rising. It was very nice. (That is Huy and his Uncle Liem and Aunt Beckie to the left of the picture - it is not just some random people.)


We took a tram ride to an island called Vinpearl (while in Nga Trang) and although the island was good, but not great, the ride to get there was pretty cool. The funny story that goes along with the ride, which makes it better, is that as we were waiting in line to board the tram, a sign said that there was a limit of 8 people and since we had 7 in our group, we thought, "Great, we all get to ride together." Well, as we approached the front of the line, the lady loading people took one look at all of us and said that we each counted as two people and so we had to divide and ride in two different trams! The nerve.

These are some cute kids that shared their English with us as we walked by... they said, "Hi!" and then giggled and waved. It was in a very poor area we were in at the time and it just broke my heart to see these kids. But on the other hand, they seemed happy so I guess it is okay. It was just another great reminder of how blessed we are, especially our children.

Just like the postcards show, there were fishing boats like these all along the water. It is quite a sight to see. The color in this photo doesn't do it justice because the boats are painted bright reds and blues and they just stand out.


Those were just a few of the highlights of the trip.
Now for the bizarre highlights...


These are tiny, little fishes, head, tail and all, that came out as an appetizer at one of the nice restaurants we went to. They were about the size of half of your pinky and I must say, they tasted pretty good. It was kind of like eating a chip. Yum! But this was one of the few weird, but tame foods, that I was willing to try.


The traffic. Need I say more. The whole driving experience was just crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy. And it seemed that they think nothing of it, no road-rage - which makes sense since it is just their way of life. But you can see how many scooters there are and it goes on continuously throughout the day, from 5am until 10pm.


This a typical scooter ride - appears that most of the family is on one scooter, the family "car." We saw up to 4, occasionally 5 people, on one scooter all the time.


And if it wasn't hot enough over there, mostly the women, were covered head-to-toe with gloves that went up to their armpits, sweatshirts, masks (that was mostly to help with all the exhaust from all of the scooters), covered necks and pants and socks with flip-flops!

Eeewwwww! The meat that sat out all day in the heat with flies all over it. Oh, and the occasional frogs that had their heads chopped off, skinned, and were still jumping in the pan. Now that is fresh frog!


The sugarcane drinks were so tasty - sugarcane is the stick looking stack in the top middle of the picture. They press it through this machine (what the lady is making) and the juice goes into the cup and waaalaa, a yummy fresh sugarcane drink. But wait, is that a person washing the cup I'm about to drink from in a bucket of dirty water? Why yes, it is. On second thought...not so yummy or fresh.

And then the lovely foreigners. I guess he could be an American, but I really don't think so. There were lots of visitors from Australia so I'm thinking that is where he was from. I feel kind of bad about posting this picture because it really has nothing to do with Vietnam. I mean it is just a man visiting there too, like me, and who knows, maybe he thought I looked that good on the beach and he took a picture of me!

But in all seriousness, I am so glad I had the opportunity to go to Vietnam. It was truly an experience, like none other. Once I got past all the sanitation issues and just accepted those types of things, I had a much more enjoyable time and lets be real, it wouldn't have hurt me to come home skinnier, but I didn't so trust me, it wasn't that bad. We are so blessed and I am so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy. If you ever hear me complain again, remind me of this trip - it was AWESOME!

She is a tween... aghhh!

I think the day has officially come. She wanted to take her BFF Club girlfriends to a movie and then swimming at the pool for her 9th birthday. She rattled off something about going to the mall too, but I have my limits. They are a great group of girls and I think they all had a good time - I know Taylin did.


It was the day after school got out, before we headed on our trip to Utah and before one of the club members, Megan, moved to Houston, that we went to see the Disney movie "Up" on opening day, in 3-D.

The movie was darn cute and everyone, even Dad enjoyed it!

After the movie we went to Mighty Fine Burgers for lunch. Clearly, we all went a little crazy waiting for the food. (Our family still wasn't able to have fries, until Taylin's real birthday and it was still 3 days away. It was hard to resist the fries we got for her friends.)

Kaylie so wants to be apart of the BFF Club, but Taylin hasn't given her consent just yet. Maybe one day they will be BFF's themselves - they have their moments now, but then... they don't.

Aren't they just F A B U L O U S ?

The "Up" house cake had a little to be desired, but I couldn't get all that detail on there. It didn't seem to bother anyone but me.


And then the day of her REAL birthday!

We were traveling to Utah on the 7th of June, Taylin's birthday. Not your typical kind of birthday - one candle rather than 9 in a donut, fries after 6 months of NOT having fries, lots of driving, and lots of movies, more driving, and finally making it to the hotel in Moab.

She was finally able to open her presents. Thanks to Uncle Vu and the Clarks for the extra gifts she had to open. She enjoyed her new books and clothes and candy and the watch! She got a nice phone call from her Uncle Mark who shares a birthday with her. And of course, once arriving in Utah, there were many family celebrations for her. Happy Birthday sweetie! I can't believe you are 9! My little girl is growing up.

Goodbye Elementary School

He did it! Tanner graduated from 5th grade and is going to go to the middle school across the street next year and start 6th grade. The graduation ceremony was very nice and there were a bunch of excited kids!


This is Tanner walking into the cafeteria when the ceremony was about to begin.

He was one of many students who have been at this Elementary School since Kindergarten - he completed all six years at the same school!

His principal, Mrs. Hildebrand, presented each student their certificate. Tanner's dad wanted to yell out for Tanner, but they had asked parents not to do it individually because it would take to long to go through all the kids - you could only yell for them once each class had been presented their certificate. Huy did not like this rule or that I enforced it. A big shout out for Tanner now!

These are happy boys in line for their after-graduation cupcakes.

Not sure what Huy is telling Tanner here, but I'm sure it was great fatherly advice.

Taylin was able to come out of class to see her big brother graduate and of course, Kaylie came too.

Tanner has a great group of friends - a bit silly most of the time, but I think that is how 11 year olds are suppose to be?

After changing, a nice pizza lunch was provided for of the 5th grade and then just played around for the rest of the day before saying their final goodbye to Elementary school! A job very well done Tanner. We are so proud of you and wish you all the best of luck in 6th grade.

Goodbye 3rd grade



Taylin had a great year! She learned a lot, passed the TAKS tests, and made some wonderful friends - all the things that were very important to her. We are once again so proud of her.

These are her friends in the BFF Club, Lauren Madsen, Megan Hugger, and Kassadi Colquitt. They made bracelets and binders and wrote plays (which they performed for the class) and had fun together. Taylin was sad because Megan moved to Houston soon after school ended and the word was that Kassadi was going to move too, but Taylin is sure glad that Kassadi and her family decided not to move. We're all glad they stayed!

This is Taylin with her teacher, Mrs. Files. Taylin thinks she was a good teacher, but sometimes a bit too strict. She always had a smile that I knew of and she cared about Taylin and helped her learn so she made us happy.

The twinner backpack girls say goodbye to 3rd grade and look forward to hopefully being in class together in the 4th grade!

M R 2 FAST Frogs

It was a unique swim team season this year. Taylin and Kaylie practiced hard for the first month and Taylin was able to participate in the first meet, but then we left on our family vacation a bit earlier than usual and therefore they had to miss out of the last, and usually most fun, month. The fun part they missed, but they didn't miss the hard work so much.

This was Kaylie's first year. She was apart of the Tadpole program which helps them learn the freestyle and back strokes across the length of the pool before they graduate to the frog team. She did a great job and really learned a lot. Now she just has to use them rather than do her mermaid swim all the time!

Taylin was a busy swimmer right from the get-go. She swam three strokes and was in the medley and freestyle relays. She did a great job and we are so proud of all the hard work she put forth when the water was cold and the air was chilly!

Isn't she cute? This is her nervous, get-ready-to-swim action - she rubs her head and the cap while she waits for her turn.



See... she's doing it again! That's Coach Tiffany giving her some last-minute advice.

It was a big day and Taylin did great!