Chuc Mung Nam Moi

Chuc Mung Nam Moi - Happy New Year! In Vietnamese culture, the lunar new year is celebrated, and Sunday was New Year's Day. It's now the year of the Pig (there's a 12-year rotation of animals - Tiffany is a Dog, her dad is a Monkey, Grandma is a Dragon, etc.).

To celebrate, Tiffany's family got together, lots of the girls dressed up (outfits from the Vietnamese shopping center Phuoc Loc Tho), and the older generation gave money in red envelopes ("li xi") to the youngsters. Since it was Tiffany's grandmother's 80th birthday, everyone went out to eat and then went to uncle and aunt Cau Son and Di Nam's house for a surprise birthday party for Ba Noi. Tiffany's aunts Ut, Di Nam, and Ma Chau organized the whole thing and Ba Noi was really surprised! And Tiffany even got to have her favorite dessert - mint chocolate chip ice cream cake!

Wii Are Excited for You, Tiffany!

Tiffany finally got her Wii! (It's the new Nintendo game system). Stores have been out of stock for months, but a friend of her mom's saw one and got it for her! How nice! And Tiffany said it's lots of fun.

CHOCoholic!

Tiffany went back to CHOC (Children's Hospital of Orange County) today, rushed to the emergency room because of pain in her chest on the left side (her tumor and surgery were on the right-center side).

After running a bunch of tests, the doctors say that she's fine, and that what she was feeling was a muscle pull - possibly because she has been craving exercise and finally got to go on an exercise bike, and she overdid it. She's back home now. We're glad you're OK, Tiffany! Boy, you really miss that place (CHOC), don't you?

Make-A-Wish

Tiffany and her family met with Brittanie and Audrey from the Orange County chapter (wishoc.org) of the Make-A-Wish Foundation (wish.org) last night. Make-a-Wish wanted to get to know Tiffany and to help her explore thoughts of what would be her favorite Wish.

Tiffany came up with some great ideas (for now, let's keep the Wish a surprise!), and Make-A-Wish is going to start working to make it all happen. There is some prep time needed, and Tiffany's Wish will probably happen in April (possibly May). In the meantime, that gives her body more time to heal post-chemo and build up her immune system!

Zoo Day

We went to the L.A. Zoo today - Tiffany and her dad, grandma (ba noi), Aunt Ut, cousins Matt & Kathy and their girls, and Matt's sister Andy and her boys (thanks for the zoo passes, Andy!). We did a ton of walking but took it slow so that no one got too tired. It was a lot of fun and a very full day!