Khun Yai and Khun Ta come to visit

For the past two weeks, we've been so lucky to have my parents visiting.  Malea and Emmy have enjoyed countless hours of bonding time with Khun Yai and Khun Ta (and Felix and I have been able to enjoy tennis and movie outings of our own!).

At the races!

Summer in Rochester means it's time for the All Comers races! I was excited to see our active little Emmy's first race experience. Would she take off with her cute bow-legged "run", leaving all the other "2 and under" girls in the dust? Wishful thinking on my part... Emmy had a much more typical toddler response (some might call it a non-start) to all the racing hullabaloo.  Here she is, lining up for her 1st race:

It took a little convincing to persuade Emmy to start down the track,

but she eventually strolled to the finish line...
The next week, Emmy had two very vocal cheerleaders, but took a little tumble early on and need a lift from Mom to finish the race.

With many races under her belt, Malea knows just what to do when the she hears "on your marks, set, go!"

Run, Malea, Run!

Burger Battle 2012

I had a little princess helper this afternoon who helped create the cutest little mini dessert burgers for our annual Burger Battle picnic!  Edible arts and crafts are so fun!

Thai girls

We have two little Thai girls in the house!  My cousin, Vichu, sent Malea and Emmy matching Thai outfits (thank you P'Som!).  Seeing them all dressed up in the traditional chong kraben brought back lots of fond memories of my sister and me in similar outfits, performing Thai music and dance in Seattle.  I think it's time to teach Malea and Emmy how to Thai dance!

California cousins!

Our girls are quite the little travel bugs...the iPad and some favorite board books have come in handy.  This time we flew to California to visit Max, Jenni, Piper, April and Eva, a trip that Malea has been looking forward to for weeks!  On her way off the plane, Malea told all the airline staff "I'm going to see my cousins!"


We landed in San Jose and hightailed it to Foster City to catch the Euro 2012 Germany vs. Portugal game.  Emmy and April compared favorite stories and tried to persuade Felix to do some storytime, but Emmy soon realized that there is no competing with "The Game" when the Diehn brothers are together!



After sharing a bed at the hotel (so cute and cozy!), I think we may have some bad habits to break once we return home.

Happy times at Happy Hollow Park in San Jose!  Malea was excited the see the Frog Hopper ride again, and the puppet show was an extra special treat!




The girls also enjoyed exploring all the exhibits at the San Jose Children's Museum.  The water area was a big hit with all the girls!





But perhaps the most fun was just hanging out with the cousins at home.



Since we live so far apart, it's such a treasure to snap pictures of the Diehn cousins together!






And we even caught up with Oma briefly as she started her visit to California. The girls love their Oma!