End of Summer
This past weekend, we took Friday off and flew down on Thursday (9/20) night to Southern California to visit the family. Kumquat was an awesome little passenger and we surprised the pants off my dad when we arrived since my mom decided not to tell my dad we were coming. Both my mom and dad were super excited to see Kumquat and it was nice to be able to enjoy my Chik-fil-a in peace. Unfortunately, Jes and I didn’t sleep very well because it was SO hot in my old bedroom. I guess this is was a fitting way to end the summer.
In the morning, I got a special treat for breakfast. My mom made Kanom Krok again and it was delicious.
I also got to taste one of my dad’s mini mangoes that grew from the tree in his backyard. It was so small but sooooo sweet!
Later that day, we had dim sum with both sets of grandparents and Jes’ parents barely ate because they were so preoccupied by their precious granddaughter. Very cute.
For dinner, we went out of sushi with Brother and Joy. It was an early birthday celebration for the two of us since Brother and Joy were going to be in Europe on the actual day.
We went all out with an omakase meal complete with a variety of raw fish, roe, and a chawanmushi too! Yay! We enjoyed the ice cold beer and the little surprises that were in store for us with each dish.
Later that night, we met up with Dayantha, Krissy, Roy, Huy, and Matt. It was fun to be with the old gang again. We didn’t get home until about 2. Ah…it’s so nice to have free babysitting.
On Saturday, Holly came over to meet Kumquat for the first time. It was also her birthday and it was so nice to hang out and catch up a bit.
For lunch, Brother picked us up and we had Wahoo’s in Huntington Beach. It was the first day of Fall and a balmy 90 degrees outside! 
We caught a bit of the volleyball tourney that was going on and then Jes and I grabbed a few drinks at the local tiki bar while Brother got his hair cut at the barber down the street. 
I had a refreshing mai tai and then a scorched pineapple margarita. Tasty.
For dinner, we ate with Jes parents at a local fish place that I was missing. We used to eat at the Irvine restaurant all the time back in the day. Afterward, we went to Ti and Thilan’s house to just hang out. I was exhausted from the weekend so far and pretty much slept through the whole thing.
On Sunday morning, we went to church. Everyone was so excited to meet Kumquat and she was even whisked away to the front of the congregation for a word of prayer for her. By the time we knew it, service was over and it was time to head back to SF.
What a weekend! It was a lot of fun but I was kind of relieved to be back in the 60-70 degree weather and back to our usual feeding/napping schedule for Kumquat. Until next time!!!
We came prepared with something to read and a bottle for the baby so it wasn’t so bad. Once the doors opened at 11, we got in right away.
Once we got in, we headed downstairs for the aquarium and Amazon rainforest. Kumquat loved all the fish and it was fun to watch her follow the fish back and forth.
I especially enjoyed their newest exhibit, which featured baby ostriches. There was a whole flock of them running around on the grass and they were so cute! Here’s a 
On Saturday we took BART to Livermore to do some wine tasting. It was a belated birthday celebration for Steph and Nicole, whose bdays were in August.
Michelle and Matt met up with us at Steph’s house and we went to two different wineries just on the other side of the freeway. The first one was called Boa Ventura de Caires, which had 7 different reds to try. Kumquat wanted to try the wine but we only let her sniff it. 😉 
They also had a bocce ball court so we played boys vs. girls and the girls ended up winning in the end.
Here’s a family photo that Stephanie had taken. Thanks, Steph!
The second winery was called Bent Creek Winery and they gave us a free tasting. Yes! We sat out on the patio and enjoyed another 7 different wines.
Afterward we stopped at BevMo for their 5-cent wine sale. Jes and I didn’t buy any wine but picked up some smoked mozzarella.
For dinner, we headed back to Steph’s house and we all hung out in their backyard. It was so nice and warm out and I felt like we were back in Orange County.
Steph cooked us a big dinner and we spent the rest of the evening making fun of each other and playing Imaginiff.
Congratulations to Eleen and Jimmy on their new arrival! Her name is Zoe and she was born on the evening of September 4th. She weighed 6 lbs, 3 oz and measured 19.29 inches.
They’re home now so we went to visit them this afternoon. Eleen’s looking great and Jimmy is dealing with his weak stomach for poop and all other bodily fluids. We even witnessed his first super poopy diaper change, which was pretty entertaining. I got some photos but I’ll spare you all the grossness.
Kumquat also met her new little playmate and seeing them next to each other made me realize how much she’s grown.
On Friday evening (9/7), we went to the Exploratorium for a corporate event. We got in free with Jes’ badge and brought in the Sokol-Juns too. The place was packed and since it was a corporate-sponsored event they had some free sandwiches (really small ones) on the floor level and free wine/beer upstairs. Woo!
It was interesting for me and Jes but Kumquat was way too young for most of the exhibits but she still enjoyed all the lights and sounds. This is a model of “Curiosity” the Mars rover that’s up in space right now. Looked like Kumquat was curious herself and I couldn’t get her attention for this photo.
It was fun to hang out with the Sokol-Juns that night and it looks like Jack and Reese had a good time.
It’s Jes’ birthday today! He’s always a bit down on his birthday but he was surprised last night by a little package from Amazon. It was sent from Brother and it was an ice cube tray that makes huge ice cubes for drinking with Scotch.
He was so excited that he washed it right away, filled it with water, and placed it carefully into the freezer. For the rest of the night, he went back to the freezer to watch the water freeze and prematurely pulled one of the half-frozen cubes out.
We had drinks at Public House with Victor. It was low-key and just what Jes wanted.
Then we had birthday cupcakes at home.
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