Last summer when I took Đạo (my oldest son) to Big Snow, he didn’t like it. The terrains were too short and he didn’t like doing too many tricks. This week, I took Xuân (10 years old) and Vương (7 years old) to Big Snow and to my surprise, they loved it. Xuân tried out as many tricks as he could on his snowboard. I wanted to teach Vương snowboarding, but he just wanted to stick with skiing. He liked jumping on the hills, but I finally convinced him to ride a box and he did.

For me, I wanted to focus on carving on the slope, but the kids kept wanting me to join them in the trick park. I could skied over some boxes, but not snowboarding. I kept falling when I tried to land on my board. It must be my open position. I needed to remind myself to stay in close position for jumping and landing. I enjoyed skiing much more than snowboarding and I couldn’t figure out why. Until the last day, I realized that skiing was much more convenience in a small space. I just had to get on the chairlift and skied off the chairlift. For snowboarding, I had to unstrap my back foot and restrap my back foot at the top of the slope. Strapping in while standing was quite exhausting with my beer belly in the way. I had been eating way too much in the summer. I need to get me a snowboard bibs instead of pants.

In any rate, I had a blast hanging out with my two young boys for five days straight. Big Snow and DreamWorks waterpark didn’t open until 1:00 pm; therefore, we just relaxed the entire morning at the hotel. We ate free breakfast and went back to our room. I read and fell asleep while the boys on their iPads. At 11:00 am, we headed over to the American Dream mall, walked around, rode motorized plush animals for 10 minutes, and ate lunch, usually Korean food at H-Mart food court. At 1:00 pm, we checked into Big Snow. We skied and snowboarded until 5:00 pm. Around 6:00 or 7:00 PM, we headed out to dinner—whatever the kids were in the mood for. Around 9:30 pm, we headed back to the hotel to recharge, to sleep, and to do it again the next day.

I bought each of us a package of 6 two-hour slope access sessions for $99, which was on sale. I didn’t think we could use all 6 sessions in one trip, but we did in three days. The boys still wanted to do more, but I told them next summer. Here’s a video recap of our trip.

Dear Vivian & Timothy,

Congratulations on your wedding. I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness. I would like to pass on these lines written by a renowned Vietnamese songwriter, Lê Uyên Phương: “Rồi mai đây đi trên đường đời / Đừng buông tay âm thầm tìm về cô đơn.” (Later, on the journey through life / Don’t let go of my hand to seek your quiet solitude.) My wife and I have been married for 18 years, and we have reminded ourselves of this quote when we faced tough times. It saved our marriage.

Thank you for thinking of us on your big day. I appreciated your invitation and planned to attend, but the scheduling didn’t work out. I was looking forward to seeing your grandmother, mother, and aunts. I haven’t seen them in over 30 years. I only met them once in Texas during a family reunion, and yet they had a long-lasting impact on me.

Jessica, your mother, was one of the influences on my career. After the reunion, we kept in touch through emails. Your mother was making websites for young Vietnamese singers at the time, such as Lâm Nhật Tiến, Lê Tâm, and Trish Thùy Trang. Combining pop-star photography with colorful text, the sites she created were so cool. I wanted to do the same. I didn’t know that I could make a living by creating websites and spending time on the internet all day. To this day, I still enjoy making websites and spending time on the internet all day. I thank your mother for that.

In college, I had to write my first essay and didn’t know what to do. I had never written an essay before. I didn’t know anyone to turn to, and I thought of your mother and her sisters. I reached out to them, and your aunt, Trâm Anh, came to my rescue. She showed me how to do my research and explained how to make my arguments. I am still grateful for her help.

I apologize for going off topic—I just can’t help but take a trip down memory lane. I missed the opportunity to meet your whole family on your special day, but I still hope to see everyone one day. If you have a chance to come to the DC area, please let me know.

Congratulations to both of you once again,

Donny & family

Xa vợ mấy ngày êm tai quá nên hơi bị ngứa. Gọi điện kể cho vợ nghe hôm trước Xuân và Vương muốn ăn sushi nên đi nhà hàng Nhật. Xuân nhìn mấy cái hand rolls cái nào dường như cũng có rau, bơ, hoặc cá sống nên nó chỉ muốn ăn những miếng sushi đơn giản như cua giả, mực, và lươn. Giá là $7 hai miếng. Lúc đầu nó gọi 12 miếng. Đá sạch nó nói chưa no nên gọi thêm 10 miếng. Một mình ăn nó gần $80. Nghe xong, mẹ nó giảng cho một chập. Tôi giải thích rằng nó đi chơi water park cả ngày mệt đói mà thấy nó ăn thương quá chẳng lẽ không cho.

Dĩ nhiên 3 cha con đi chơi thì vui lắm nhưng vẫn cảm thấy thiếu thiếu. Nếu cả nhà cũng đi thì nhộn nhịp hơn. Mẹ tụi nhỏ thì lúc nào cũng bận bịu trong công việc. Tôi không xen vào việc làm của vợ. Công việc tôi thì thoải mái hơn nên có thời gian với con. Đạo và Đán giờ đã thành thanh thiếu niên nên cũng chẳng muốn đi với ba. Thà ở nhà chơi games. Thôi thì lớn rồi cũng không muốn miễn cưỡng. Cho dù có bắt buộc tụi nó đi cũng chẳng vui. Đi chơi mà mặt lớn mặt nhỏ như mình bỏ tiền ra ép buộc tụi nó đi.

Xuân thì giờ đây vẫn còn muốn đi chơi với ba. Tưởng đâu đi trượt tuyết indoor nhỏ nó sẽ mau chán nhưng nó vẫn thích thú. Hôm qua hai anh em nó trượt 5 tiếng đồng hồ. Tôi thì mệt rã rượi nên ngồi nghỉ. Có Xuân đi thì Vương cũng chịu đi vì Vương lúc nào cũng muốn theo anh Xuân. Con đứa nào chịu đi chơi với ba là mãn nguyện rồi. Còn tụi nó không muốn nữa thì cũng đành chịu. Nhiệm vụ của kẻ làm cha là đến lúc con cái không cần mình nữa.

Kinh nghiệm cho thấy làm cha làm chồng không luôn theo ý mình. Tôi không là gia trưởng nên cũng không bắt buộc vợ con phải tuân theo ý mình. Con cái lớn lên có thế giới riêng của bọn nó. Năm ngày trôi qua thật nhanh. Hôm nay sẽ trở về với vợ con.

We spent two sessions (almost 4 hours) snowboarding at Big Snow yesterday. Xuân enjoyed riding and grinding at the trick terrain. Vương enjoyed skiing up and down the hills. I tried to hit the boxes, but I couldn’t figure out how to land on my board. After a couple of falls, my body started to feel the pain. Highlights of our time at Big Snow.

Yesterday, we spent the whole at the DreamWorks indoor water park. Xuân and Vương enjoyed the wave pool, lazy river, and slides. The lines for the slides were a bit long unless you bought the extra Turbo pass, which we didn’t. Here are some highlights of our day.

Yesterday, I took Xuân and Vương to Big Snow. We skied for about an hour and the resort went dark. We were stuck on the lift for about 10 minutes. We had to evacuate because the entire American Dream mall had a power shortage. Nevertheless, I had a bit of fun before the black out.

Reading A Long Winter in the middle of the summer was quite ironic. Then again, I rather curled in bed with a novella on a rainy day then doing anything else while the kids were on their digital device. What not to love about a relationship between an alcoholic mother and her son and a homosexual relationship between two young men. Tóibín’s writing was beautiful and his story was emotional. Loved it.

It’s a wrap for the summer 2026 swim league. Xuân had a fantastic season. He showed up every morning to practice and to improve his time. It had been a joy watching and filming him every meet. As long as he put in the work, he was already a star in my view. I didn’t pay much attention to the nitty-gritty details, but I was glad he did. Hearing him and his mom talked about all the technicality and timing made my head hurt.

Indeed Xuân had been very competitive. He checked his times against the records on his team’s leaderboard, which I hardly paid attention to. As long as he gave it all every time he dived into the pool and pushed himself to the finish line, timing was just a number. Xuân didn’t stop there. He wanted to see his name on the leaderboard and I could see it on his face.

This summer, he was determined to work hard on his butterfly stroke because it was the only chance for him to break his team’s record. In the beginning of the season, his 25-m time for butterfly was below 19 seconds. I couldn’t recall the exact time. He improved slowly over time to about 18-something seconds.

On the divisional day, which was the determination for the Northern Virginia Swim League All-Star Championships, he dropped to exactly 17.00 seconds—his shortest time for a 25-m butterfly. I took a look at the leaderboard and the current record was 16.90 seconds. That meant he only needed to drop .11 seconds to beat the record. I could see the desire in his eyes.

As a father, I wanted to help him to achieve his goal, but I had no swimming experience. I couldn’t help him, but I could find a coach to help him. Just a week before the all-star event, I hired a private instructor to work on his techniques, specifically on his strong start and finish. In addition to practicing with his main coach in the morning, he worked an extra 40 minutes with a private instructor in the afternoon. Then I would treat him to ice cream afterward. I also treated myself to a banana split every time.

I joked with Xuân that I spent $240 just to get him to drop .11 seconds. I wondered if it was worth it. Whenever he was taking a private lesson, I sat back and observed. The coach corrected his techniques. His forms were getting better. His arms, chests, and legs were in better rhythm. His start was stronger, longer, and faster.

At the all-star event, he gave his all and his time dropped from 17.00 seconds to 16.65 seconds. He improved .35 seconds, which was more than I had expected. He ranked 5^th in the Northern Virginia Swim League. He also broke his team’s record. His name will appear on the leaderboard.

The $240 spent for .35 seconds was indeed worth it. Money aside, his hard work and thrive had paid off. He also had unconditional support from his mother. We’re super proud of our Xuânshine.

Allow me to reintroduce myself [shameless self-promotion]:

Donny Trương serves as the Director of Design & Web Services at Scalia Law, where he leads the law school’s digital experience with a strong focus on accessibility and usability.

Trương holds an MA in Graphic Design from George Mason University’s School of Art and a BA in Digital Art and Multimedia Design from La Salle University.

Outside of work, he is an avid snowboarder, skier, rollerblader, and skateboarder. During the winter, he teaches snowboarding and skiing at Whitetail Resort.

With a new photo, I brushed up my bio a bit on Scalia Law School website.

Yes, it’s only July, but I already revised my Snowboard & Ski Instructor page. The previous version was typeset in Roslindale, designed by David Jonathan Ross. With the new version, I kept Roslindale as display text and brought in Ottavio, also designed by David, for body text. Sharing his exploration of shapes for Ottavio, David writes, “the idea that an inherently unbalanced object can achieve balance through a sense of constant motion.” I love that concept and how it relates to skiing and snowboarding. I can’t wait to get back on the piste.