Megan's 5th birthday

We celebrated Megan's 5th birthday today at Pump It Up. Megan invited a bunch of her girlfriends from school, as well as family and other friends. They had a great time bouncing around the jumpy houses and zipping down the inflatable slides. Megan was quite shy at first with all the people around but she slowly warmed up and started enjoying herself. Thanks to all for coming out and sharing this special day with us.

1) Megan blows out her birthday cake.


2) Paradise cake from King's Hawaiian Bakery. This is the only cake Sandy will eat. It is so light and the frosty is not overly sweet, just perfect.


3) The staff at Pump It Up open the doors to the first room. Megan was quite shy when first arriving there and would not cooperate for the photos.


4) Noah slams dunk.


5) Ethan gives it a go.


6) Ethan and Auntie Janet go down the slide.


7) I love this shot. A truly candid moment.


8) Not sure who was having more fun on the slide, my dad or Noah.


9) Kayla.


10) Noah had so much fun sliding with my dad.


11) Father and son.


12) Jay and Kenji enjoy the slide.


13) Another great candid moment.


14) Sheri and Amy.


15) Group shot. I tried to get them all to look at the camera. Who am I kidding. I can't even get my own kids to look at the camera let alone a room full of them. Hah!


16) Ethan enjoying his pizza and chips.


17) Hello kitty for the girls and Mickey mouse for the boys.


18) Cousin Kai and Ethan sit on the throne.


19) Grandpa Ted and Noah having fun on the slide.


20) Ethan playing air Hockey.


21) Danny slam dunking bouncy house style.


22) Kristen zipping down the slide.


23) My brother Richard and his girlfriend Yen.


24) Our across the street neighbors, Ernie and Ashley.

Sandy and Megan get haircuts

I always tell Sandy that she looks cuter with short shoulder length hair. It has been a long time since her last haircut so she finally got it chopped. Megan came along as well for her very 1st hair cut too. Megan was not born with much hair as a baby, so Sandy has always been very protective of it. Up until now she would only cut the bangs, but the length on the back was the original. Anyways, a couple of quick snapshots in the backyard.

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Sandy's Shutterfly Photo Album

I had a tough time figuring out what to get Sandy for Christmas. She said that there wasn't anything that she really needed or wanted at the moment. I was planning on getting her a gift card for a massage at Burke Williams, but that's what I do every special occasion. I decided at the last minute to make her a photo album. This photo album would span our entire lives together starting back when we were dating, through all of the pregnancies and kids and up to now. It was quite a monumental project actually. I had to get by on 5 hours of sleep a night for about a week because the only free time I had was after the kids had gone to bed at night. I had to go back and find the original pics and re-edit them all to be printable quality. The collection of photos were captured by 5 different cameras that I have owned starting with a humble 3 megapixel Kodak point and shoot. It was quite nostalgic going back through these moments in our life. The completed album came out to be 101 pages long (that was the max Shutterfly would allow), with 1-6 pics per page. I quite enjoyed the project and was very happy that Sandy loved her gift. She actually got teary eyed when she looked through it. Anyways, here's a sampling of images that I may not have posted before. The last 2 pics were not take by me of course. Click here to view the photo book on Shutterfly.



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Christmas day 2010

1) Megan checks out the presents under the Christmas tree.


2) Noah sits in Sandy's lap and checks out his present.


3) Ethan shows off his Toy Story PJs.


4) Noah picks up Ethan's Thomas the Train.


5) Megan is going to practice telling time with this Hello Kitty Clock.


6) Ethan and Emi climb onto Donna.


7) Noah plays with Ethan's gift while sitting in Ted's lap.


8) Noah tears into his gift.


9) Emi tries on her new princess dress.

Holiday photos

Here are this Xmas season's holiday photos. The weekend we took these photos, all of the maple leaves around here turned amazingly bright orange and red. We drove around Irvine looking for a park where we could get some fall seasonal photos but alas, I could not find any. Most of the colorful maples leaves are found lining the roads around Irvine and the center dividers. We ended up going to Aldrich park in the center of UC Irvine and taking these photos. Noah was very difficult and would not sit with the other kids to take a photo. We had to put snacks in front of him to munch on and the 2 other kids had to hold him down. This was the best shot I could get of them. Perhaps next year he will be more cooperative. Season's greetings from the Tran Family to yours. Merry Xmas all.

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Random family pics

1) Here are some recent random pics. I took this first shot of my brother at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. We got out there a bit late and the light was already getting too low for shooting wildlife. So I took a pic of Bi instead. Shooting a portrait shot with a 400mm lens is not ideal, but it does give creamy bokeh. Here he is with his new telephoto lens.


2) Christmas came early for the kids. We've been wanting to get Megan and Ethan bigger bikes to ride since they have outgrown their tricycles. They are still in training wheels though. Sandy and I are big on safety so you will notice the knee pads, elbow pads and gloves along with the bike helmets.


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