Browse Category: outta here

Hong Kong Adventures – Part 4

One afternoon, we took a long walk around the city with Jason.  It was fun just wandering around taking in all the sights and sounds.

By the evening, the kids were tired and ended up taking a nap at Jes’ parents’ hotel.

Meanwhile, we did more exploring in search of a place to get new iPhone batteries and for some tasty snacks.

We ended up finding this noodle house  where the boys each had a different version of their noodle soup.

By the time dinner rolled around, it was pretty late and the kids just kept sleeping. My left arm got quite a workout while I ate with one hand and held Peanut in the other.

Hong Kong Adventures – Part 3

The wedding festivities started on Saturday morning and then there was a brunch the following morning. It was quite the shindig with so much going on.

In the morning, everyone met up at the hotel’s library for the games. The bridesmaids planned a bunch of games for the groom and his guys and much of it involved taking shots and humiliation.

Kelly sat in the other room and watched all the action from her phone.

Here’s Ellie and Amelia (flower girls) with their new cousin Rachel.

Right after the games, there was a tea ceremony.

Then we were all transported to the church in a parade of private buses.

The kids were all dressed up for the occasion.

Alvin arrived first and then Kelly followed in a separate car.


It was a long ceremony and Peanut was super antsy. Thanks to the baby app on my phone, we kept him one place.


After the wedding, we went back to the hotel to nap and then went back to the wedding hotel for the banquet. It was super fancy complete with booze stations and a ballroom decorated to the nines.


We managed to get family photo taken right before KK fell asleep in the middle of dinner.

After the dinner banquet, the party was continued right outside of the ballroom. There were drinking games, a dance floor, live band, and night market with lots of snacks.

The youngsters were drinking all night and the two boys had to be helped upstairs to their rooms at the end of the night.

KK kept sleeping through the party and Peanut didn’t pass out until after midnight. We didn’t get back to our hotel until about 3am. What a party!

The kids ended up sleeping together that night and woke up starving.

Thankfully we had breakfast waiting for us on the top floor. So glad we opted for the Club Room Package.

After breakfast, we took a walk around the shopping area.

Peanut ended up falling asleep in the stroller so we just kept walking and ended up back at the Grand Hyatt (venue for the wedding).

At the pool house, the wedding festivities continued with a recovery brunch.

This place was off the hook! Look at the whole pig and giant paella pan!

The dessert table was crazy! I couldn’t decide so I picked a little of everything to share with the kids.

Here’s a photo of me with Amy (Jes’ cousin) and Kelly (the bride). What a fun party!!

Hong Kong Adventures – Part 2


On our second full day, the morning had a slow start. On way out for dim sum, we got separated and my phone went dead. Since I had no way of contacting Jes, I tried to get back into the hotel room to wait for him. Unfortunately, I also got locked out (forgot my key) with KK and it took some time to get a spare key from the front desk. Meanwhile, Jes and Peanut found their way back to our hotel room but Peanut had fallen asleep in the stroller. So, Jes took KK on their own adventure to meet up with Jason, Mom, and Dad.


They went to Tim Ho Wan (a michelin-star restaurant) and had some tasty dumplings.


On their way back to the hotel, they took a double-decker bus and sat up top in the front. KK pretended to drive the bus and enjoyed the view from above.

For dinner, we had plans to meet up with the family in a restaurant located over a wet market. It’s on Java Road and apparently it was made famous by Anthony Bourdain.

The food was really good here. Here’s the salt and pepper pork and drunken prawns.

We also had razor clams and a few other tasty dishes. One of the best parts of the  meal was the beer that was served in ice-cold bowls. Their tea was particularly good too!

We had a great dinner with lots of tasty food and fun times with the family.

Hong Kong Adventures – Part 1

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We took our first trip to Asia together as a family. We’ve been to Canada and Mexico but this would be the longest flight we’ve taken.

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The kids did well but each only napped once. The food was actually pretty good: potato croquette, rice, curry, cold udon, and an assortment of Japanese side dishes.

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They even served ice cream for dessert. The best part was that wine was complimentary for the entire flight.

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Peanut got a little antsy during the latter half of the 11-hour flight to Tokyo so I took him to the back of the plane to stretch out and play.

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Our layover was in Narita-Tokyo where Jesse got his ramen fix and KK did a little shopping.

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We also ran into Phong!! He had just landed from SFO and was headed to Saigon! What a crazy coincidence.

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On our 4-hour flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong, everyone slept.

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At the Hong Kong Airport, we were so happy to be done flying but it was almost midnight the following day.  Before heading to the hotel, we picked up SIM cards and getting data for our phones was pretty inexpensive and easy.

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On our first morning, we met up with Amy and family. KK remembered Amelia from our last trip to Vancouver and they were buddies right away.

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Our first adventure was navigating the public transit system. It’s surprisingly clean and efficient. The kids loved all the escalators.

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At Ocean Park (a zoo/amusement park), we saw a panda and KK got a panda stuffy from Jes’ dad.

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One of the cooler parts of Ocean Park was the gondola ride over the mountain.

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We got an aerial view of the bay and mountainside.

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Click the photo to get a larger view.

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Here is our obligatory family photo at the park.

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We all rode the train back to the hotel but we had to leave again 5 minutes later for Kelly’s dinner. Some of the family met up with us and helped us navigate our way back on the train to North Point where we all got together for dinner.

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We had a crazy seafood hot pot this evening complete with razor clam and geoduck (below).

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Both kids passed out during dinner and we were lucky to have the grandparents agree to watch them at the hotel afterward.

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Kelly and Alvin had planned a welcome party at a sky bar close to our hotel and the view was really nice.

IMG_0940It’s not too often we get to go out without the kids nowadays.

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The night started out pretty tame but then ramped up quickly once I started hanging out with the younger cousins. These kids were all in their early 20s and had a hankering for shots. I took one too many tequila shots and was toast by the time Jason arrived from the airport.

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I took these photos just before I decided to tap out. I’m getting too old for this…

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15th Anniversary

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Jes and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary (11/5-11/9/17) in Kauai without the kids. My parents came up to watch them for the week and we were able to get some rest and just hang out together like we used to.

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We booked our flight through United with miles and although it wasn’t Hawaiian, it got us there in once piece and we were able to upgrade to Economy Plus. I had some sparkling wine and watched TWO full-length movies!!! I watched the live action version of Beauty and the Beast and then Cars 3. It was so different sitting on a plane without having to get up out of my seat every 15 minutes.

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Our first stop after picking up the rental car was Costco. We picked up a giant bottle of mai tai and I also found these honey furikake puffs that are so tasty. I wanted to pick up a few extra bottles of Koloa Rum but knew that we wouldn’t be able to carry them onto the plane.

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We later checked in to Sheraton Kauai and then went to the beach bar for a drink and snack.  Ah…mai tai…

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This trip also felt like a “run-cation”. I ran 3 days in a row and two of them were with Jes! So fun!

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We were up early and I got this photo of the surf with the moon still awake.

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Loved running along the water and this awesome side street with a gorgeous view of the mountains and fields.

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One of the places we had to visit was Princeville. It’s now called the St. Regis Hotel but it’s where we stayed for our honeymoon.  We had brunch at the restaurant that has a gorgeous view of Hanalei Bay.

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We also recreated a photo we took 15 years ago.

Kauai

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On one morning, we visited the Koloa Rum Tasting Room. It’s a free tasting and featured their dark rum, spiced rum, coconut rum, and coffee rum.

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Their gift shop was chockful of cool stuff including these giant flasks!

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We had some tasty food while we were there. One of our breakfasts was at Tip Top Motel and Cafe. The loco moco was delicious.

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We also found Koloa Fish Market and picked up a plate lunch and some poke.

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On our last night, we had a reservation with Kauai Ono, which is a catering chef that has one seating per night under a tent at Princeville Ranch. All the ingredients are local and the communal tables create a fun place to meet new people.

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We sat across from a couple from San Rafael that was in Kauai to celebrate their 52nd wedding anniversary. We had a fun conversation as the chef served us 5 courses.

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We had seared beef heart over mashed breadfruit, a cucumber salad, seared marlin over a kale salad, brisket cooked with lemongrass and paired with Japanese purple sweet potato.

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Dessert was a mochi churro with chocolate coconut dipping sauce. Tasty.

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On our last day, we spent about 6 hours in a cabana that we rented for the day. It was right on the beach and had the perfect amount of shade and breeze to keep us comfy with easy access to the ocean and pool.

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I read, took a nap, played in the ocean, and spent some quality time with the husband.

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Oh and did I mention there was food and drink service?! We simply put up a flag and someone would come by to take our order. So nice.

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The Sheraton had an awesome location with direct access to the beach and some gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. IMG_9431

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Our hotel room had a garden view but you could actually see the ocean from the lanai. Not bad for a discounted $189/night rate.

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On the morning of our return flight, we went back to the beach one more time and found a monk seal napping on the beach too.

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Our flight was delayed 2 hours but we had plenty of bar time at the airport to chill out. It was also much easier to tolerate the delay without the kids in town.

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Luckily, we finally got on the plane and it was a 4.5-hour flight. We had a great time together in Kauai and 4  days away was a good amount of time for us to regroup, get some rest, and miss the kids.  Good times…

Looooong Weekend

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Peanut’s school was closed on Thursday and Friday, which was butted up against Labor Day weekend so we decided to have a 5-day weekend in Cerritos. Unfortunately, California is going through a crazy heat wave (hotter in SF than Cerritos!) so we didn’t get to do as much as we usually do. Instead, we spent a lot of time indoors at the Magical House and had a couple fancy dinners.

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On Thursday, we had big dinner at Souplantation with almost the whole family on both sides. It was chaotic but we  had a good time.

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On Friday afternoon, we went to Happy Hour with Johnny and Joy for some $1 oysters and some time without the kids. For a change, I didn’t have to share my oysters with KK.

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I also took a short trip to Walmart with just my mom and brother. I had forgotten how easy it is to pick up diapers when you don’t have to carry around a 2-year-old and diaper bag.

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That same night, Jes and I went out for a late 10:00 pm dinner at Osteria Mozza. It was not only later than my bedtime but it was also in LA (on Melrose and Highland to be exact). Fortunately, Jes took a nap and I got some rest before our little outing.

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We ordered smoked mozzarella with prosciutto, grilled octopus, squid ink pasta with crab and uni, and a grilled fish. These are some terrible photos of the dishes but good enough for me to remember.

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On Saturday night, we had a family dinner at one of our favorite places, Lawry’s!! It was fun to have all 4 cousins together with the grandparents. The last time I had dined there was November 2014 (just the two of us for our anniversary). The last time the family dined there together was when KK was September 2013 for my birthday. Crazy.

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This time, we celebrated Jesse’s birthday. KK also got her very own slice of prime rib with the fixings.

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On Sunday, we spent the majority of the day with Jes’ family.

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We had dim sum for lunch, spent the afternoon playing at their house, and then another birthday dinner for Jes.

We left Cerritos yesterday at 7:00 am, made two stops, went outlet shopping for a couple hours, and got home by 5:00 pm. That left us plenty of time to do a load of laundry and play outside with neighbors. What a fun (but very hot) weekend!!