School picture day

Today was picture day for Trinity-5th grader and Anaiya-Kindergarden. We got up 30 min. early so we could curl hair and look extra cute. So why am I taking pictures when they will be taken at school anyway???? Let me explain, the humidity here will cramp any hair style in an hour. I was afraid that by the time pictures were taken that afternoon their hair would be limp and lifeless so I had to document how cute thier hair would have been just in case the school pictures are not so good. I know, I'm vain.
She's adorable with curls. I wish they all had curly hair....(sigh).

Baby in the fridge

Once again she was too quiet and this is where we found her. She has both feet inside the fridge and was attempting to close the door.
What else can you do but laugh when you got this face looking up at you?

Chimney Rock Park

On Sunday we were suppose to have been on the road by noon but my uncle wanted to take us on a hike so we went to Chimney Rock. It was a beautiful hike and the views were well worth it.

This looks like a picture straight from Loas or something to me.

Da' men. Tooj got in some good Hmong practice with my uncle.

They were so nice and accomidating! Thank you and love you guys.

Da' kids.

Behind the girls is a rock called "The Devil's Head". I didn't think it looked scary enough to be called the devil but it was cool because the profile does look like a face with ears.

Of course, Andrew put them up to this pose. My aunt was sitting by my uncle's feet resting and Tooj told them to do a Tarzen pose. My Aunt said she'd kill me if this picture surfaced....oh, well, she'll have to catch me first.

Anaiya and my Aunt reading the map and figuring what trails will take us to the waterfall.

Anaiya and Justin lead the way the entire hike so I was glad to see her resting her little legs.

The water fall was dissapointing to say the least. It was more like a trickle but the kids still had fun splashing in the cool water.

Cyri and Grandma were tired out from the day before so they didn't do the hike with us but we did pick them up to enjoy the buffet before hitting the road.

5 minutes into the trip back home and everyone was out. My eyes were open but I was a zombie.

This is my Aunt's other son Alex. He would not let me take a picture of him the entire trip and so I promised him that when I did he wouldn't like it and it was going on our blog for everyone to see! I ofcourse woke him up so he wouldn't get a cramped neck but only after a few photos. Hi Alex!

Awww......

North Carolina Hmong Soccor Tournament

Well, I used up my last day of vacation from work to take a quick trip to North Carolina to see my Aunt Mai Yer. We only had 2 days so left Thurday night after work and stayed until Sunday afternoon. It was quick but well worth it. I hadn't seen my aunt in over 15 years and it was nice for my girls to get to meet more of their relatives from my side.

On Saturday we went to a Hmong soccor tournament and the girls finally got to dress up and wear their Hmong clothes to a legitimate Hmong event. Trinity has been to Hmong tournaments before but it was when she was really young so she didn't remember how they were. The whole morning she kept acting very concerned and asking if anyone else was going to be wearing Hmong clothes. After assuring her a few times that "Yes, there will be." I finally asked her what her issue was. She then explained that she doesn't remember people dressing up to come see her play soccor and didn't know how her cousins were going to play soccor wearing Hmong clothes either. Poor thing, after I was done laughing I explained to her that it's not her cousin's soccor game we were going to, they'll just have some teams there playing soccor for entertainment and that it's really more of a celebration about our culture and less about the soccor.

This is the girls posing with my Aunt's daughter Kaitlyn-9. Trinity and Kaitlyn were two peas in a pod.

This is Anaiya and my Aunt's son Justin. He's 8 and these two were inseperable! They were so cute. Justin was being such a gentleman and holding the umbrella for Anaiya. The entire two days there they were running around, chasing and shooting at each other and would take turns being wounded and dead. Yes, I think it must be love. LOL.
The girls enjoying there well deserved ice-cee. I was so proud of them for not complaining about wearing layers of Hmong clothes in 100 degree weather.

Cyri force feeding Grandma!

Clothes for sale inside one of the booths.

The girls modeling next years fashion.

It was so hot I'm glad that we decided to not dress Cyri up in Hmong clothes. She would not have been happy.

All in all, it was fun and the bonding and memories are more than worth it!