Sissi's 46th Birthday

Sissi and Danika

Artwork from the Nieces

Danika did the one on top. Kieu (Bella) was creative with the one on the left.  Mom said Bella glanced at a photo of me in the living room as she was drawing.  I had on a purple dress and a big smile.  Yen (Lana) decided to go for the heart and message on the right.

Rich in Nieces and Nephews

The Tran Clan gathered last night for an early Father's Day celebration. All three of my brothers came with their kids, including the almost-4-months old twins Alexander and Isabella.
Pictured are 9 of my 10 nieces and nephews (Andre, the next eldest, had to leave early. Or rather I was late to the party!).
(L-R) Danika, Tyler holding Alexander, Priscilla holding Isabella, Trevor (in back), Tommy, the older twins Anabelle and Ellana.

Alexander and Isabella

Sis Ready for Office Holiday Lunch

Sis all prettied up for the office get together.

My first love letter from 4 y.o. Danika

NGA is my Vietnamese short name; LY is hers.

Kobi is so good with Danika

We're fortunate that Kobi tolerates Danika's handling. She's better now that she's older. She really loves Kobi. She even walk him with just the leash draped over his back :)

Danika in Her First Piano Practice Session

She is only learning the keys so far. You can tell she is not looking at the music sheet. Guess, she memorized the keys and playing them from memory.

Danika via Pixelpipe

Danika on Priscilla's 19th Birthday.

 Pixelpipe is working well so far.  Lots of features and will allow me to post to work accounts also. Yay!

Pixelpipe

BlogBooster is great for the style and formatting of blog posts. However, I could not get it to upload images from the phone. That limitation was a deal breaker as I need an app to upload blog posts with my own images.
Enter Pixelpipe.  This is my current favorite picture of Priscilla on her 19th birthday.
Hope this works.

The Big 4-0

Today is my unofficial but legal birthdate (long story). Sis got me a birthday cake. No, she did not leave out the year by mistake, there just wasn't enough room for it. And no, it's not my first birthday and no, I'm not trying to hide the fact that I'm FORTY years young. We forgot the candles and the "1" from one of the kid's birthday was lying around so we used it to symbolize the passing of one year.
Great quiet time with my sis, her family and Dad. Mom is away up north with my brother's family and HIS sons, one of which is celebrating his fourth birthday today.
Happy birthday, Tommy!

Memorial Day 2010

I left for my morning run around the neighborhood as planned this morning. Not long into the run, I wondered how far it was to my grandpa's grave. A quick call to my mom determined that I was on the right track and should make it there and back without any problems. Round trip is less than 7 miles.

Running there was nice as it was still early and barely any traffic. Passed some people waiting for the shuttle to Vegas in the supermarket parking lot.

I walked once I got on the cemetery ground. Just did not seem right to go running around the graves! I quickly found Grandpa and Grandma's place.

Took a quick snap of me at the marker --- surprisingly got it on the second take.
Grandma died in Vietnam in 1989. We were finally able to sponsor Dad and Grandpa over in 1991. Grandma was cremated and the ashes brought over later by relatives.

I am glad we were able to bury her ashes with him. I like to think he is less lonely that way.
The photo is one of my favorite of him. It captured his smile and cheerful look just right.

Across from Gramps' place is the Vietnamese Veteran's Cemetery. I stopped over there and paid my respect.

Thank you.

Rolling Easter Sunday

Danika gave me an Easter egg she decorated at her dad's family's gathering. It's a Snow White theme.

In other news, we had a rolling earthquake this afternoon around 3:40 pm. It was the longest quake I've ever felt --- rolling sensation and luckily, not very strong. The epicenter was in Mexicali 7.2 magnitude and we felt it in OC! Lasted about 40 seconds.

Danika - Stretching Her Face

We got out of the clinic early today. I still had quite a few emails and phone calls to make but decided to re-energize with a run before settling in for another couple hours of work tonight. It was a good run. Ran 3.44 miles around the neighborhood -- and no pain! The last 3 runs have been great -- not sure if it's because I'm having at least 2-3 days (sometimes 4) between runs to recuperate or what. Wish I can run 3 times a week but things are so crazy at work that I've been only running twice a week. Oh well. At least they have been nice pain-free runs. Once things calm down, I'll sneak in a third run for the week.

Danika has taken to joining me for my post-run stretches. It is becoming a nice auntie ritual. She counts to 10 four times while we hold each stretch. Today, she recited her ABCs instead of counting; quite a creative kid, eh?

She scraped her knees earlier in the week so could not bend her knees well enough for some of the positions. She got bored counting and watching me so she started doing all these funny faces -- claimed she was stretching the muscles in her face!



Sweet silly kid.

Spring is Coming (& sore knee)

We went for our Mom & Me walk this morning. Love this time of the year when it's still chilly but signs of Spring are emerging. We came upon this front yard with 3 short trees of sort. They had blossoms that reminded me of cherry blossoms. Mom said they're not. She should know as she visited friends in DC and saw lots of cherry blossoms. Dad saw the pictures and said they are some sort of cherry blossoms (at least, that's what I get after I translated it from Vietnamese!). Anyway, they made me think of Spring or at least the passing of time. I walked by this house with Mom weekly and ran by it several times a week. Up until this week, those trees had been bare --- twigs sticking out of trunks. But then the little buds started appearing and this weekend, all the buds seemingly exploded into blooms.

My favorite one of Mom after our walk

There were also red and pink ones but not as full as the white ones above. We did a shorter walk this week as my right knee was bothering me a bit. I probably overdid the running this past week. Ran another 3.6 miles late last night and exceeded my week's goal of 9 miles (yeah!). But I may have increased my distance too quickly, going from not running for a couple of weeks to running 3.6 miles every other day. I need to remember to slow own or I'll get hurt again. I was planning to take it to 4 miles this week but it may be more prudent to stay with the 3.6 miles or even less if my knee is still bothering me.

Mom said I was slowing her down on the walk :). We covered 1.5 miles in about 28 minutes; slower than we normally do so she had a point.

Still a gorgeous morning.
And a good harbinger of wonderful things to come the last week of this lunar year. Lunar new year (Tet) this weekend! Year of the Tiger!

Hello, 2010!

Started the year with a run this morning with Priscilla. She is returning to college this Sunday so I will be minus a running partner again. Boo!

We ran a quick 2 miler --- Priscilla is a lot faster than I and was ahead of me most of the run. Still was fast for me -- 10:25 pace. It was great to be out early to greet the new year.

I did a 3 mi run last night to bid 2009 fare thee well. Priscilla was leaving with friends so I ran that one on my own. Wish I can wax poetically about reflecting on the old year as I plan for the new but no such thing. I can't say I think about much during a run --- just on my breathing and strides. Maybe that will change once running become second nature to me.

Running Partner

Tonight was a first for me --- running with a partner :)
My niece, Priscilla, is home for the holidays. She runs most mornings at UC, about 2 miles every morning. She was game to come running with me even though she has never ran 3 miles before. We had a good run. She held her pace back a little, I'm sure. We still ran faster than I ever did for this route --- 11:21 min mi :) (did I say I am slow?).

A running partner is nice. I kept going in places where I knew i would have slowed down if I was on my own. I was also glad to see that she had a good work-out also. Part of me thought the run would be too easy for her --- it was easy the first 2 miles then she had to work harder for the last one. I'm glad to see her in such good shape though. No one in the family (other than moi) runs so it was a pleasant surprise to see her running.

Time: 35:30
Distance: 3.13 mi (Tech 4o calculated it to 3.11 miles, not bad)
Steps: 5474 (stride length 36" in setting)
Pace: 5.29 mph (11.21 min / mi)

I thanked my sister for having Priscilla when she was relatively young --- so that my niece is old enough to go running with me (and I'm still young enough to do so!).

Cat's in the Cradle

Danika starting early on her college fund.

I don't have kids (the 2-legged kinds) and don't really plan on having any. I have nothing against kids; just know that I'm not up to that commitment.

Love my nieces and nephews to pieces :). Actually, I love most kids --- as long as they are OPKs (other people's kids).

Danika reminded me why I love kids --- and why I don't have any.

I try to spend time with her after work. She would ask me to play with her while I'm eating dinner. Sure, honey, I'll play with you after dinner. But only for a little bit, ok? I still have work to do.

While I'm at the computer, she wants to read me a story. OK, hon, can we make it a quick one?

She wants to play tea party. Sure, hon, but make it quick.

You see, I thought I was being a good Auntie. Playing and spending time with her. Making time in my schedule for her. Then it dawned on me. That's no way for a kid to grow up. She should grow up knowing that she is an important part of your world, not some responsibility that you have to squeeze in between your work schedule or social life.

Earlier tonight, it was freezing in our house. I was working at the computer, shivering in my Snuggie (yes, I have a Snuggie) when Danika walked by. I grabbed her and said, "Brrr, it's cold. How about a hug to warm us up?"

She smiled sweetly and replied, "OK, but make it quick."

She's not even 4 years old yet.
The things they pick up from us.

I gave her a quick hug and let her go.
Cats in the Cradle played in my mind.

See why I don't plan to have kids? I feel this bad when she's my niece; imagine if I have kids of my own!

Weekly Walk with Mom and Sis

Sis joined Mom and I for our morning walk this morning. She did very well for the 2 miles around the neighborhood. We may have to pick up the pace or risk boring her. I have to think of something to keep her motivated but at the same time, not be too much for Mom. Maybe have them do walks a couple times a week together then the one day I join them, I can do the run/walk with Sis. I can consider that my "off" day. I just don't think she would do it on her own.

She was barely out of breath during the walk. She can so easily do the C25K plan. I've read on the forum people who are more overweight than she and able to do the program. Hopefully, I can convince her to try.

The nice plus is she wears shoe size 8.5 --- the exact size of the practically-new Brooks Adrenaline GTS6 I have from last year (when I was going to start running). When I tried it on a couple months ago, it's gotten too small for me and I had to get a size 9. I was going to give it to another runner --- who knew it was going to be my own sister! :)

Wrong Turn Gave Me My First 5K for W8D2!

My folks were not too surprised about my wrong turn but they were shocked by the 5K (sounds so much more official than 3.1 miles!). Let's just say I don't have the best reputation when it comes to directions. It did not help when years ago, pulling out of the driveway on my way to San Diego, I had to stop and gesture my sister to come to the window to ask: "How do I get to the 405 FWY?" The 405 is a major freeway in SoCal and I drive on it almost everyday but heading north. I don't often have to go on the 405S so was not sure where to get on the south 405. My family shook their heads and wondered how I ever made the road trip from Wisconsin to California on my own during vet school years.

Well, I mapped out the 2.75 mi run for my Week 8, Day 2 run of the Couch to 5K. The first part was up-down the streets of our neighborhood. In the dark, I missed the turn and did not do part of that run. I knew that would make me short on the 2.75 mi and spent part of the run thinking about how to make that up. I contemplated just making it a short run but after yesterday failed run (it stopped drizzling after I got home yesterday but I decided not to go back out), I didn't want another no-go on the record. So when I took the last turn of the mapped run and still have some oomph left in me, I passed the turn towards home and made another loop around the block.

The Tech 4o watch said I ran 3.144 miles but I wasn't sure how accurate that was since I'm still fine tuning the setting. Well, I just re-mapped the run on RunningAhead and it was 3.13 miles! Woo Hoo! My first 5K!

I ran the whole distance; no walking. The first mile was fine, not great but I wasn't struggling. The second mile gave me some problems as that was up a gradual slope but I still managed to keep the same (slow) pace. Then heading into the third mile, my breathing got easier and my legs were turning over without me having to think about it too much. I was able to work on increasing my stride length again. I must have kept it at 35 inches since the Tech 4o was almost right on with the mileage.

Time: 37.15
Distance: 3.144 mi
Steps: 5101
Pace: 5.04 mph (11.55 min / mi)
Min HR: 80 bpm
Ave HR: 161 bpm (89% MHR)
Max HR: 170 bpm (94% MHR)

Part of me want to keep doing the 3.1 miles for W8D3 but I think I'll stick with the planned 2.75 miles and maybe try to pick up the pace a little. I think I've been taking too short of a stride while running -- the running stride is barely 3-4 inches longer than my walking stride. Either that or my walking stride of 31 inches is too long :) Plus, I can always work to improve the running cadence. I think I'm currently running at about 136; maybe I can try for 140 with the metronome (which has been gathering dust on the desk).

It was a great night to run. Cool but still comfortable in my sport bra and tank top. Yeah, I still wear cotton tanks. I just have not feel the need to spend money on running tees and shorts/pants yet. It's still about 3 days 'til full moon but it looked full to me. Yesterday's "rain" and wind gave us a crisp clear sky.

I still can't believe I ran 5K. It was barely 2 months ago, on Oct. 1 when I started the intervals of running for 45 seconds and walking for 2 minutes, repeat 4 times. And I huffed and puffed through that first day. Wow. I hope I don't lose this I-can-do-anything-I-set-my-mind-to-do feeling. More importantly, I hope that months later when I get upset at myself for not making good time on a 10K, I can look back and remember how exciting running is and how far I've come. Remember future-self, winning is not only determined by how fast or how far you ran. You have already won the moment you lace up and head out.

Pinch myself!

Mom is so sweet. She wants to know how she was going to keep up with me tomorrow :) We plan to do our Mother-Daughter Walk tomorrow morning. Hope sis will be able to make it this week.