Jes turned 39 this weekend and he three days of celebrating. On Friday, his parents were in town and we all went to Hillstone for dinner.
On Saturday, we went to the Farmer’s Market and Kumquat was extra clingy to him that day.
On Sunday, we all sang Happy Birthday to him at Zoe’s party and he got the usual shots with his cupcake.
Happy 39th, Jes! We love you!
We met up with Brother, Joy, and the parents in Monterey for a long weekend. We drove down on Thursday afternoon and stayed in a house that we rented through airbnb that was complete with a big kitchen, lots of bedrooms, a playhouse in the back, and media room downstairs.
It was fun hanging out with the family and seeing Kumquat and Alu playing together.
The weather was also warm enough to go to the beach after dinner on Thursday.
Kumquat was initially scared of the waves again but warmed up much quicker than usual.
We also managed to get a family photo together without any scowls or squirming.
On Friday, we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. Thanks for the passes, Jimmy!!
It was Kumquat’s first time and it was fun to see it through her eyes.
For dinner, Jes grilled some tasty steaks and Jia and Jason drove down to join us for the evening.
The next morning (Saturday), we packed up and before heading our separate ways, we stopped Dennis the Menace Park.
They had some really fun slides there.
What a fun weekend with family!! So glad we were able to make this happen. I miss having them around all the time.
Some weekends are lazy and some are filled with friends, family, and fun. This past weekend was the latter. Saturday started with brunch at the Ferry Plaza where Kumquat practiced taking photos with the iPhone. 
This is the picture she took of me. Not too bad, kid.
On our way home, the kid fell asleep so we indulged with some wine and macarons from the cafe downstairs from our condo.
As soon as she woke up, we packed up our stuff and headed back out for a train ride to the Bangs’ for a BBQ. We started planning this BBQ since beginning of May and only recently found a mutual free weekend.
It was fun catching up and to see all the kids together. At one point, all the kids were in the backyard and Jesse was the only adult. He had a moment of panic and yelled, “Hey, I think we probably need one more adult out here.” He did just fine for those 10 minutes. Click here for more photos from Kumquat’s perspective.
On Sunday, Jia and Jason had a rare day off together so they came over to spend a very warm and sunny day in SF with us. At brunch, the two brothers were both cooking in the sun and had to cover themselves toward the end.
After a 2-hour nap/break at home, we all headed back out. We went to Union Square and found lots of party-goers finishing up them Pride Weekend festivities. We opted for drinks and sweets at a cafe overlooking the street, which was so nice.
For dinner, we went to Kin Khao (literal translation in Thai: eat rice). It’s created by Pim, a famous food blogger that Jes has been following for years. She was actually working there and served a couple of our dishes. The menu consists of dishes that are her playful twist on traditional Thai dishes. Some of them are actually spicy enough for Jesse to appreciate too. The papaya salad was legit, fried chicken was good and came with sticky rice made the right way, and the massaman curry was made with short ribs. Overall, it was a fun dinner but I don’t know if I’ll be going back there. When I’m in the mood for Thai food, I want the real stuff and lots of it for a cheaper price. Most of the dishes were good but made me crave dinner at Thai Nakorn.
This past weekend was filled with lots of family time in the city. On Saturday afternoon, we went out for a long walk and dinner at Hog Island. Our party of 3 enjoyed the warm weather that day and took this photo together on Pier 14 with the GoPro.
On Sunday morning, I made spam, eggs, and rice for the family. Yum.
For the day, we went down to Golden Gate Park for a morning at the CA Academy of Sciences and then an afternoon at the SF Botanical Garden. Jes also took a work call at 1pm from the garden so I walked around the entire garden while Kumquat settled down in the stroller for a nap.
We even had a little cocktail hour at Pacific Catch while Kumquat slept and we reenacted one of our many afternoons in Hawaii with some mai tais and poke. 
We also got ice cream from the Twirl n Dip truck parked just around the corner from the museum.
For dinner, we went to Hillstone, our usual celebration spot, and these two were so cute together that evening.
Happy Father’s Day, Jes! Hope you had a fun day!
For PoPo’s funeral services, we went down to Southern California for a long weekend. We drove down on Friday morning and went straight to the viewing at Rose Hills. It was a long drive (as usual) but we lucked out with a smooth ride and not too much trouble from the toddler. 
Here we are at the truck stop and the video below is our selfie video in the car. Jes was being a papa bird taking the pits out of the cherries for the baby bird.
After the viewing, we stopped at the Magical House for a little rest and some scootering for Kumquat.
On Saturday morning, we all got up early to get to the funeral service. The family had put together such a nice slideshow that ran at the beginning of the service.
We all share stories about PoPo with the congregation and soon it was time for the burial. 
The whole ceremony and service was really nice and we all had the closure that we needed.
Saturday afternoon was spent at lunch and then back at the Magical House to cool off. That weekend was particularly warm and everyone needed a nap. Brother later came over and Kumquat got to hang out with Cousin Alice and even had a tea party in the backyard with everyone.
On Sunday, we went to church and then went back to the Magical House for some more family time. It was nice to just relax and catch up with family. Auntie Jeanie also came over to tell us the rest of PoPo’s life story. She had given the eulogy at the service but had to cut it short due to time constraints. She also went outside with Kumquat for a little more scootering. This kid mastered going down curb cuts that day and kept saying “Fun! Fast!”
That afternoon, I was able to play with Alice more and she had a good time trying to be a big kid with Kumquat.
Here they are “watching” a YouTube video together. So cute…
On Monday morning, we took our time getting up and Kumquat even had enough time to go play at the park nearby. 
We had a smooth drive up to SF with no traffic and we also stopped at Gilroy for some outlet shopping and dinner. So, we ended up getting home around 9pm instead of the estimated 5pm time. Oh well. At least it was a good weekend.
On our way to the Bay Area Discovery Museum, we were talking about how fun it would be to have a GoPro for outings like these. So, to satisfy the itch, we stopped at Sports Basement to check them out.
They had the model we were considering AND it was at a slight discount AND I got 15% off for being a therapist. Woot! Jes sat down in the store and put it together. We charged it on the drive to the museum and when we arrived it was ready to go!
Here are some of the photos we took today. Love the wide angle for family selfies. 
We also captured video, of course.
This one I took in the car by controlling the camera with my phone. The iPhone app is pretty cool. The GoPro doesn’t have a viewfinder or a playback screen so using the app allows you to watch the video in real time as you record. You can also use it to view the videos/photos you’ve taken on the device.
The best one was of Kumquat on her scooter. Jes mounted it onto the handlebars with zip ties and we were in business! I even gave iMovie a try and managed to put together a little something special for our first experiment.
Recent Comments