Browse Category: friends

More Post-Christmas Meals

On Tuesday, we had an impromptu lunch with the family including my parents, Jes’ parents, the Suminos, Jason and Jia, and Marie’s parents!  Good thing we planned on having dim sum because they can accommodate a table for 13.

It was so much fun to see the boys again and Brandon sang “Joy to the World” for me.

I promised that they’d get a surprise if they ate all their food and were so excited to open their Christmas gifts. Cole even gave his Uncle Jesse a big thank-you hug.

After lunch, we took Jason and Jia to the airport and then spent the afternoon just kickin’ it in the Magical House.  Later that evening, we met up with the Sokol-Juns who were sans children.  We shared a big meal of Japanese BBQ with at a taste of almost every part of the cow.  It’s a place called Tsuruhashi and it’s hidden away in Fountain Valley.  Good times…

On Wednesday morning, we headed out for our drive back to SF.  It started out pretty rainy and hit a little bit of traffic in Commerce but once we were out of the Grapevine, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  I think we saw 4 rainbows on our way home! Too bad I was driving while it all happened so I have no photos to show for them.

Dog did a good job just hanging out in the backseat again but seemed relieved to be back in his bed again.

Here are photos from our Christmas Vacation in Southern California.

Post-Christmas Festivities

On Sunday, I picked up Holly and we spent the afternoon at Huntington Beach for a long walk and some catching up.  Afterward, we headed to Irvine to visit Patty and Johnny’s new house where a bunch of old friends from Whitney were gathered with all their little children for the evening.  It was a brief but very cool reunion.

For dinner, we drove back to Cerritos for a dinner gathering.  We shared pitchers of Hite, chicken wings, and bulgogi pizza.  It was so fun to have everyone together in one place.  Times like this make me miss our Christmas parties in Irvine.

On Monday, I drove to El Segundo with Joy to pick up Brother for lunch at Simmzy’s.  We spent a couple hours in Manhattan Beach where the sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm outside.  We took Koa along for the ride and after sniffing and peeing along the beach, we had to tie him up outside of the restaurant.  To minimize the barking that usually occurs when strangers try to pet him, I posted a sign on him.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in Cerritos at my parents’ house until it was time for dinner.  We met up again that night and had some tasty Korean BBQ at Shik Do Rak.

Christmas Eve

For Christmas, we drove down to LA on Thursday (12/23) and as soon as we arrived in Buena Park, I headed over to Yorba Linda where the UCLA girls met up at Linda and Shaun’s house.  It was so fun to hang out with the babies.  Linda’s youngest son, Christian, was just smitten with Sandy’s little girl, Mia, and followed her around with her sippy cup all night. Later that night I picked up Jes and Jason and we met up with Dayantha and Huy at Shipmates.

On Chirstmas Eve, we met up with the family for a big lunch at Thai Nakorn.  We all got to catch up and opened a few presents.  Brother and Joy bought me a stick blender and Jes got a currency colostomy bag.  Awesome.  Thanks guys!

For dinner, we had a big dinner at Ten Ten complete with Peking Duck and salt and pepper pork.  Yum.  Jia had just arrived Christmas Eve morning so it was great to have the family back together again.

Early Christmas

Koa got an early Christmas present from his buddy, Little J.  We named him Señor Fluffball.  Here’s a video of the dog opening his gift.  He loved it so much that within the first 5 minutes, he killed the squeaker.  Señor Fluffball has been silenced.  WHA. WHAAAA….

a sigh of relief

Friday was the perfect day for a happy hour since we had so much to celebrate: the end of a tough week, Michelle’s last day of her 3-month internship with us, and Ranee’s arrival back in SF for the holiday.  We went to Conga Louge for some $5 Mai Tais and appetizers.  We love this tiki bar even though they have become a lot stricter about how many people you can have in your party.  Luckily we had just enough to max out the 12-person limit and then snuck in a couple extra by the end of the evening.

It was great to be able to celebrate Michelle’s achievements and to give her a proper send off into the real world.  It was also nice to be able to hang out with our old friend Ranee.

We also got to meet Teresa’s baby brother Patrick who had also just arrived from Chicago for the holidays.  We love bringing family to our happy hours.

Afterward, most of us made it down the street to Ici for some tasty ice cream.  I got to taste their Salted Coconut Pecan and Candied Cacao Nib flavors this time.  They were delicious and it felt so good to be outside in the rain.  Once that was done, we headed over to Gordo for a little bite to eat.  I shared a chicken burrito with Michelle and it was just the right amount to get me sobered up for the drive home.

Happy Birthday to Bangerang

Last night we gathered at the Chiang residence to celebrate Bang’s 36th birthday.  They had just brought Baby Rowan Kirin Chiang home that afternoon so we also got to hang out with the little dude.  Check out the little smirk on his face.  Cute.

That evening, Bang had gone out and purchased his own cake, had a little something written on the cake, lit his own candle, almost started singing to himself, and cut his own cake.  Luckily, he had a bunch of good friends around him to witness this momentous evening.  Happy Birthday, Old Friend.