family – Page 5 – beakatude

Family Fun Weekend

By beakatude
on Apr 26, 2016
in family, holidays, outings, yum

This past weekend, the family came up from Cerritos to celebrate KK’s birthday. They flew in just in time for the party on Saturday.

On Sunday, we met up for lunch at Hog Island Oyster Co. and had quite a feast. I love this photo of Peanut photobombing Brother withe the oysters.

No trip would be complete without a stop at Humphry’s Slocombe too.

It was a warm day and perfect for going to the playground to burn off the sugar.KK and Alice had a good time playing together.

For dinner, we met at Little Sheep Hot Pot, which was super close to their hotel.

The rest of the evening was spent in their rooms. The girls played Octonauts in the bedside table that had a fake drawer and enough head room for both of them to fit inside.

Meanwhile, the grown ups ordered dessert and watched Game of Thrones.

Luckily, Mom and Dad were just in the next room over and Peanut was able to go to sleep at his usual time.

The next day, I had the day off and took the kids on the bus to meet the family for breakfast.

We had pancakes and all the other usual breakfast foods at Sears Fine Foods.

What a fun weekend! Times like these always make me miss them more and wish we still lived in Southern California.

She’s FOUR already!

By beakatude
on Apr 20, 2016
in *sniff*, family, holidays, kumquat, life, outings, yum

Today is KK’s 4th birthday and it’s hard to believe that so much time has already passed. Our first-born is quickly becoming a little lady. Jes was having a hard time with this milestone since it was the age in which he had his first memories as a kid. It was a big deal to him. I’m sentimental about everything so I usually take her birthday off to spend time with her and also reflect on my life as a mom. This year was no different. I took the day off so that I could be at her school to celebrate her big day with her friends. Jes and I also parlayed that into a day in which we could spend some time together without the kids. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to just hang out alone and we made it worth our while with a walking food and drink crawl along The Embarcadero.

The morning started with Mirian coming to watch Peanut while Jes was on a work call and I took KK to school. The birthday girl had a little extra hop to her step this morning as we walked hand-in-hand. Then, on my way home, I stopped at Safeway to pick up her birthday cupcakes.

Jes finished up his calls and then we headed out to drop off the cupcakes at school on our way to lunch.

Our first stop was La Mar. My first drink was sweet and refreshing.

Lunch consisted of cebiche, causa, and empanadas.

We then made a stop at Hillstone for a quick drink at the bar. Jes had a martini and I have a nice cold glass of white wine.

Coqueta is a restaurant that I’ve always wanted to try but was too expensive and not very kid-friendly so it was perfect for a day like today.

We sat down by the open window for a cocktail and some pricey skewers.

Before heading back to KK’s school for her cake party, we stopped at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant. It’s a 21-and-over kind of place so we just HAD to go there today.

This was the meat platter that we ordered with the wine.

By then, we were pretty relaxed and happy. Heh heh.

After KK’s school party, she asked to leave school with us. So we took her across the street to Waterbar for their $1 oysters. We scored a table on the patio with a view of the Bay Bridge and she scored a dozen oysters.

It was so nice to have a day to spend with my best friend and co-pilot on this crazy ride called parenthood. This relaxing day as just the two of us was long overdue and sorely needed.

Happy 4th Birthday to our Kumquat. We hope you have a fun-filled year as a 4-year-old. And please, don’t grow up too quickly.

Family Time in Cerritos

By beakatude
on Apr 05, 2016
in family, holidays, outta here

We flew to Cerritos for a long weekend to spend time with the family and to get our taxes done.

Peanut was up early every morning and luckily there was a Starbucks and donut shop that we can walk to.

It was nice seeing Jason, Jia, and the twins again. We’ve missed them so much since they moved.

We also went to Brother and Joy’s new house. The kids broke in their newly renovated livingroom with lots of noise and drool.

The girls had so much fun together that we left KK there to spend the night. She ended up asking for me in the middle of the night and Brother slept in the room with her that night while Alice went to sleep with Joy.

On one of the mornings, I went to the Farmers Market to pick up hula popcorn for KK. Yummy.

On Saturday, we threw a small birthday lunch with just the family at Sweetee Thai where she got her own fresh coconut and her favorite Tom Kha soup.

After her birthday lunch, some of us took a walk to the park. It took us across the 605 freeway, which was pretty cool (and a little scary).

On Sunday night, KK had another birthday celebration and we got a rare family photo together.

The kids had a fun time in Southern California and luckily they’re good travelers.

Last Day of Leave

By beakatude
on Jan 20, 2016
in family, life

Today is my last day of maternity leave. It’s been a good run. I’ve been off work since June 27 so it’s been almost 7 months – the longest period of time that I’ve ever not worked. Unfortunately, a lot of it is quite a blur. Sleep deprivation has had a lot to do with it but it’s also because raising two small children is a lot more work and chaos than I imagined.

A part of me is relieved to be going back to work. I don’t know why because the work sounds hard and not as fun anymore. Likely it’s because I miss seeing my friends. I’ve missed our day-to-day antics and sometimes a weekly text message just doesn’t cut it. I’m thankful that I work at a place where the people miss me. I’m also looking forward to the additional income. We’ve been doing fine while I’ve been off but it will be nice to have that little extra money to save and use for what we need or want.

A bigger part of me is very sad for more obvious reasons. I’ll really miss my baby boy. But now that he’s turning 6 months in 10 days, I suppose it’s time for him to explore the world without me around. He’s a social little guy and will love being taken around to the park, the library, and wherever else Mirian decides to go. He’ll also learn Spanish and play with other kids. I went out quite a bit these past months but not to the same extent. He’ll also get more attention since her time will be devoted to him and not to the laundry or dishes.

I’ve also had some quality time with my first born. I admit, we’ve had some rough times but it’s been worthwhile. She’s become more independent, strong-willed, and opinionated (aka 3 years old) and I have had less energy, less patience, and less time for her. It was nice to have had that full month with her before Peanut was born but I just wished I wasn’t 8 months pregnant. All she wanted to was for me to run with her outside or play with her on the floor. Both were very hard at that point in my pregnancy. It was nice to be able to walk her to school, pick her up, and just be there when she needed a little extra time to warm up. I’m also so thankful that the addition of a little brother has been positive for her and that she has completely embraced her role as a big sister.

One of the advantages of being off was that I was able to travel more frequently and for longer periods of time. We were able to take a long weekend in Napa, go to Vancouver for a week, spend a week in Cerritos, play in Hawaii for a week, and then stay in Southern California for 10 days for the holidays. I never felt rushed to head home and I didn’t have the same sense of anxiety that I normally do when I know I have to return to work the next day. All these trips were so memorable and gave us some needed time as a family of 4 and with our extended family as well.

I suppose I’m ready to embark on this next stage. It’s back to full-time work and hopefully I’ll find a way to balance family and work in a way that doesn’t drive me insane. Wish me luck!

Year in Review 2015

By beakatude
on Jan 01, 2016
in babies, family, life

Happy New Year!! I can’t believe it’s 2016 already. I don’t really know where 2015 went! At this point, it’s all kind of a blur. It must be the lack of sleep. All the days have sort of blended in with each other. I was either pregnant or taking care of an infant, which made it one crazy ride!

Best Moment:
Meeting my baby boy on July 31st. He was born healthy and big. He came out hungry and still has quite the appetite.

Best Meal:
Unfortunately, Jes and I don’t get out much anymore. Honestly, my favorite snack of the year was the night we brought Peanut home and Jes poured me a small glass of wine. I drank that glass in bed with some Pringles.

The most memorable meal, however, was when we went to Morimoto in Napa with 6 adults and 5 kids. It was in the middle of a heat wave and the A/C in the restaurant wasn’t working. I don’t think all 6 adults were ever sitting at the table at one time and at least 4 adults had a child in their lap. The meal was still really good but the experience was a little more chaotic than we would have liked.

Best Vacation:
It’s a tie between the two trips to Hawaii. Both were with family/friends and both were really fun. I feel fortunate to have been able to go TWICE in one year!! Runner up was our trip to Vancouver.

Other Highlights from 2015:

Jes and I turned 40. We also celebrated our 20th anniversary as a couple.

KK started preschool and took Yoga and Soccer classes.

We went to Disneyland twice this year. Actually, KK got to go any extra time over Memorial Day weekend too!

I spent half the year pregnant and the other half on maternity leave. Both were hard.

Jes started traveling internationally for work. In 2015, he went to Grenoble, France x2 and Shenzhen, China x1.

Jia gave birth to twins.

We have four fish tanks in our tiny home.

Christmas in SoCal

By beakatude
on Dec 30, 2015
in family, friends, holidays, outta here, yum

I had the privilege of spending 10 whole days in Southern California for the holidays this year (Dec 19-29). This was probably the longest I’ve had with the family in a long time.

The girls had lots of good quality time together and we heard a lot of giggles this time around.

I loved just hanging out at the Magical House and it’s so nice to have Brother and Joy living there right now. He and Joy even made some molasses cookies for us to snack on.

In the mornings, KK would often go to the Cerritos Mall with my dad. She loved the riding toys and my dad just couldn’t help putting coins in for her. Jes and I usually just tell her that we don’t have any money. Heh heh.

What I love about being home is meeting up with old friends that I don’t get to see as often as I’d like. I met up with my UCLA girls at Linda’s house one night and it was so fun to catch up and reminisce.

Holly also came over one day and brought Andrew. KK hadn’t seen him in over a year and after a little warming up period, they were buddies again.

Before heading down to SoCal, we made a list of things we wanted to eat and one of them was Din Tai Fung. So, on Christmas Eve, we went to the new location at South Coast Plaza. Yum yum yum…love their xiao long bao.

On Christmas morning, we were in Buena Park and it was fun to open gifts with all the kids. Every year, Jes’ mom buys him and Jason matching sweaters or jackets. Jes usually gets the blue one and this year was no different. Here they are with their matching sweaters.

Somehow, we managed to get a photo of all the kids together on Christmas night before dinner. The twins were so cute in their matching Christmas jammies.

For dinner, Jes made a standing rib roast for the whole family.

He made Yorkshire pudding again this year and they came out perfectly!

Another item on our list was a pastrami sandwich and chili cheese fries from The Hat. I forgot how enormous the fries were. We saw couples in the restaurant eating just that as their meal.

Another family tradition is to gather all of my cousins together for a Thai feast at Thai Nakorn. With Ishya and family also in town, our party was even bigger this year!

Another SoCal favorite is Wahoo’s. This wasn’t on our list but a nice bonus meal! Jes was so happy with his enchilada.I had my usual fish tacos with extra salsa for my rice and beans. Boy, I wish they had Wahoo’s up in the Bay Area.