Family Vacation

One of our favorite vacation destinations is Lake Tahoe and I love to visit in the summertime. We headed up north Sunday morning and arrived at the Hyatt Regency Resort in Incline Village, Nevada. All five of us crammed into a tiny hotel room surrounded by paper thin walls and noisy neighbors. Fortunately, Ikey managed to sleep through the noise but after he woke up at 5am this morning, we knew we had to get more spacious accommodations. Eugene loves Old Greenwood Estates in Truckee so we packed up our things and booked a town house over there. So glad we changed our accommodations because now we don't have to keep "shushing" the kids and don't have to stress over Isaac screaming all the time. What's up with that, by the way. That kid screams ALL THE TIME. I need to teach this kid some sign language STAT! 

Eugene found our old cameras and gave one to each kid. We created a scavenger hunt and the kids had to take pictures of each item on the list. Items they had to photograph included pine cones, a firepit, motorboats, a bear (just kidding). The kids had a ball and never once asked to play Minecraft. Say what?!?! 

Poolside fun with the family

Say cheese! The girls have the cameras dangling from their necks. 

A selfie with my baby

Stumbled upon a roller rink at Northstar Village and kids were loving every minute of it. 

Acting silly 

SoCal Trip Part I

During the first weekend of April, the family drove down to LA to visit family and to attend a wedding in Carlsbad. Our decision to drive down was practically made in the 11th hour. We weren't sure how Isaac would do in the 5.5-6 hour drive and if I would be comfortable sitting in the car for such a long time. Isaac was a trooper and we only had to stop once for fuel. Praise God for His traveling mercies! As soon as we arrived in LA we met up with my cousins (just half of our clan since I have so many in the LA area) and dined at Soowon Kalbi. Delicious! My cousin-in-law Jessica is friends with the owner's daughter so we received a lot of freebies. Sweet! If you're ever in Koreatown I highly recommend this restaurant. It was one of the highest rated Korean BBQ on Yelp. 

The family at our one and only rest stop 

Mi Familia...aren't we a handsome group? 😊

Posing next to the turtle at the hotel

My parents with Isaac 

Happy grandparents with their pride and joy

Happy St. Maddy's Day

We kicked off Maddy's 8th birthday celebration with a trip to Tahoe, her favorite vacation spot. 

Kids tried skiing for the first time. Weather was unusually warm for this time of year at 60 degrees and the slopes were mostly covered with man-made snow. Subpar ski conditions but kids still had fun. Alicia made a stink and whined all morning but after much coaxing she persevered. 

Overly dressed for the warm weather but don't they look cute! 

With cousin Paige

Blowing out her 8 candles. Oh my goodness! My baby's 8!!!! No more booster chair for this big girl. 

DIY wrapping paper: Trader Joe's paper bags and crayons. 

All 7 Pak cousins

With Grandma and Ikey

Opening presents

6 Pak all washed up and ready for bed

Hamming it up for the camera 

Cousins Rock!

Birthday lunch at CPK

Me and my Boo

So thankful for my little Maddy who is turning out to be a beautiful young lady. God has surely blessed our family with this sweet and gentle soul who all to often will beg to read one more chapter before bed, meticulously add the finishing touches to her drawings and diligently practice her soutenous and arabesques during and after ballet class. And yes, we still have days when she tries to get away with a frown here and a pout there and there will surely be many days when we will come to butt heads but I will always love being her mom and I will constantly seek help and wisdom and patience from our Heavenly Father. May she grow to be a God-fearing woman who will be Christ-minded and never ashamed of the gospel. I love you, Madeline Grace Pak! 

Presidents' Day Wknd Stay-cation

Family pics at the Marin Headlands. 6 years ago, I participated in my first (and last) EnviroSport race. A very difficult 7 mile run with crazy hills and rough terrain. The last 1/2 mile was on the beach! What crazy moron thought of that? Anyhoo, it was freezing cold when we visited the beach and stood outside just long enough to take pictures. 

My cousin Sonny and his beautiful wife, Jessica, visited from LA and we had such a blessed reunion. What an amazing journey these two have been through to become husband and wife and Sonny's personal testimony is so encouraging and inspiring. God has been incredibly faithful and merciful to Sonny as he experienced life as a gang member, suffered the loss of both parents, and struggled with drugs. I can't even begin to explain his life story and I hope one day Sonny will be able to share his testimony to a broader audience. Praise be to God for His unconditional love and promises.