In 1969, my dad immigrated to the U.S. of A. and started his “American Dream”. Today, 37 years later, he retired. He made a living for himself and his family of 4 and now it’s time to par-tay! So, with the huge weight off his shoulders and a round-trip ticket to Thailand, he is ready to do just that. Tonight, we had a celebratory dinner at our usual Thai restaurant in Cypress and he leaves tomorrow for a month-long trip to Thailand. Woohoo! Congratulations, Daddy!!
Last night we celebrated Jesse and Jason’s Mom’s 60th birthday. We invited a couple of her friends and Auntie Jeanie came too. We all met up at Duke’s in Huntington Beach and Mom got a nice surprise. She was actually on her way to the gym when Dad called her and said, “Come home. We’re going out for dinner.” She had no idea what we had planned and was genuinely surprised to see everyone even though it was totally unintentional.
As a gift, Jason bought a gift box filled with Kiehl’s products. Instead of having her open the gift first, he handed the wrapped gift and said, “here Mom, we got you some fancy lotion”. I thought, “Uh, why don’t you let her open it first?” Haha. That’s our Jason! He also had to show her the finer points of how to properly moisturize (night, day, etc.). I think she liked it but was a little overwhelmed by the number of bottles in the box. Happy Birthday, Mom!
On Tuesday, I had plans to have lunch with Sandy (old friend from UCLA) and possibly Mary. Sandy called on Monday night and said that Mary couldn’t make it but that Linda would be coming. What?! That was totally unexpected! She lives and works in Long Island as a first-year ER Resident and I thought she wasn’t coming home for the holidays. Another funny thing happened as I was waiting for them in the Sam Woo parking lot. I parked next to a minivan that looked really familiar. I looked closer and it was my dad’s! So, when I walked in, I said “Hi” to him and he was totally surprised to see me in his neck of the woods.
So, lunch was great. We had some yummy Chinese food and did a lot of catching up. At the end of the meal, my dad walked by to say “Goodbye” and also told us that his friend paid for our meal. What?! That was totally unnecessary but greatly appreciated. Afterwards, we walked across the street to Guppy Teahouse for some boba drinks and the super mound of shaved ice, fresh strawberries, fresh mango, and condensed milk. It sounds gross but it’s so good. It was so nice to hang out with old friends. I had them on my mind for a while and it was a nice surprise to see them both. It’s hard not having your friends close-by.
Jes and I took Jason and Jia to Disneyland yesterday. If you didnt already know, I’m a sucker for fireworks and I look forward to seeing them at Disneyland each year around Christmastime. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and a few fluffy white clouds. I checked the forecast the night before and it reported showers starting at 9pm. Oh no!! Does that mean I’m going to get cheated out of my fireworks once again?! (They were cancelled back in May when I last went with my family). Well, I crossed my fingers and kept looking up to the sky to see how the clouds were moving.
It was a pretty crowded Saturday at Disneyland but we managed to get in our favorite rides. We also got soaked on Splash Mountain and sang along to “It’s a Small World” and “Jingle Bells”. At 6:30, we watched the Christmas parade and towards the end it started to sprinkle. Oh no!! The show went on and no one budged. As soon as the parade was over, it poured. I mean, the drops were FAT. It didn’t last long but my hopes of having some fireworks were shattered.
Luckily, as we ate dinner, the sky cleared and the fireworks weren’t cancelled after all!! Woo hoo!! It actually started to rain towards the end but again, the show went on! It was wet and magical!! We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the rain and riding a couple more rides before going home. Ah…I’m so ready for Christmas.
Here are the photos.
Jason (Jes’ brother) and Jia (his fiance) are visiting us from New York this weekend. Actually, Jason will be with us for a month and Jia is here for a long weekend. They flew in yesterday and we took them out to dinner and helped them pick out a birthday gift for a 4-year-old. There’s a neat little toy shop at the Spectrum that offers free gift wrapping. So, we picked out a mini train set and as we waited for the wrapping, we played with the little spring-loaded cars and took silly pictures with the animals.
Shopping List:
Got ’em! It’s Thanksgiving and what fun it is to cook a feast!
We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house last night and it was yum yums! We made the usual recipes including my awesome fresh cranberry sauce. Jes worked very hard and prepared the dinner with limited WoWing and some elixir to keep him going. The house was full and Koa had to stay out in the patio all night. We also got to meet Jeanie’s fiance, Rick, and Jes’ dad had us sing a funny little song after we said grace. Turkey Day has come and gone and left us with a fridge full of leftovers.
Here are the photos…compliments of Uncle Dennis.
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