We had to do our taxes in Cerritos this year so it was a good excuse to go home for the weekend.  The drive down on Friday wasn’t too bad (8am-3pm) with two stops.

When we arrived, Alice was there and it was fun to see Kumquat playing with her.

She also enjoyed having tea in the backyard like a regular suburban kid.  My mom also had dinner prepared (of course, it’s the Magical House!) so we enjoyed some Chicken Rice and soup.

On Saturday morning, Brother and Joy came over.

After breakfast, we packed up the kids and headed out to Huntington Beach.  As soon as we got out of the car, Kumquat cried and was in panic mode for the first 20 minutes.

It was nice just being out there on the sand and enjoying the sunshine and view.  It’s funny how neither of the kids were very happy in this picture.

For lunch, I planned a big family gathering to catch up and to also celebrate Kumquat’s 2nd birthday.  My mom picked up an ice cream cake and we ordered all our favorite dishes.  This picture that Brother took cracks me up.

Kumquat was so cute while we all sang “Happy Birthday” to her.

It was also so nice to see the cousins again.

Later that afternoon, Holly and Andrew came over.  Andrew as a little quieter than usual but it was nice to do some catching up.

Our tax appointment was at 6:30 so Jes and I left and it took the usual hour and a half to get it all done.  There was a bit of a wait so we went to Starbucks to pick up coffee and went back to finish the paperwork when the office assistant called.  Afterward, we had a nice Japanese dinner without the kid.  It’s so rare that we get a date night.  It’s funny (and a little sad) that tax night became date night.

On Sunday morning, we left relatively early and the drive back was easy (9am-4pm) with three stops.  I hate these super short trips to LA but always glad that we did it.  I miss my family.