For lunch, we all walked to Duke’s down the street and the kids feasted on all-you-can-eat lunch items. And they ate for FREE!!!
On our way back to the hotel, we passed by the pretty Christmas tree displayed in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center.
Morning at the Pool
We spent the whole morning at the hotel pool. Now that the kids are so comfortable in the water, it was fun capturing them on video with the GoPro.
The big slide was a big hit again today.
The little slide was fun too.
Peanut also let Daddy throw him up in to the air.
It was fun to have Auntie Amy, Uncle Jay, Amelia, and Ellie at the same hotel too. They joined us in the middle of the morning and the kids had so much fun together.
Janie also learned how to dive for toys. In this video, Ellie pushed the shovel down with her feet and Janie dove down to retrieve it and even swam under her legs.
Cookies and Hugs
Auntie Amy brought over the girls one last time this afternoon. They also brought us fancy cookies!
The kids enjoyed playing together before saying their goodbyes. They will be driving down to Southern California tomorrow to visit Toni and Thomas.
It’s so much fun having family over!
Cal Academy
Today, we went to the California Academy of Sciences. We got a family membership so we could get Amelia and family in too. Amelia brought her backpack today since Janie had hers yesterday. So cute.
Janie also brought her camera and took lots of photos of the creatures. Peanut used his toy phone to copy her.
Peanut enjoyed seeing all the fish. He was barely able walk the last time he visited the museum.
I can still remember when it was SO hard to convince Janie to touch the creatures in the tide pool back she was Peanut’s age but now it’s no big deal.
It’s also fun to see how different Peanut is since it took him absolutely no convincing.
Before heading back to the East Bay, we all stopped for soft serve at the truck outside the museum.
For dinner, we took Auntie Amy for some tasty crab at Hang Ten Boiler.
At the end of the day, Peanut and Ellie gave each other hugs. They had a fun time together these past two days.
Vancouver Family
Our family from Vancouver is in town this weekend! Yay!
We met up with Auntie Amy, Uncle Jay, Amelia, and Ellie at the ferry and rode over to SF together!
For lunch, we went to Hog Island Oyster Co. It was super hot outside today.
The dads enjoyed some local beer in the shade while the kids ran around for a bit.
We went inside the Ferry Plaza to cool off and get some ice cream!!
The girls enjoyed chatting and exploring together. Love how it took them no time to warm up to each other. It was like we just saw them yesterday even though it was December when we last saw them in Hong Kong.
We tried to go to the playground but it was way too hot. So we spent some time in the shade at Justin Herman Plaza.
Next was a ride on Muni over to the mall. It was nice to be inside where it was a lot cooler.
Peanut loved the train ride.
At the mall, the kids played at the Lego store.
Then they took a bunch of rides up and down the spiral escalators with Dada.
For dinner, we walked to R&G Lounge so Auntie Amy could get some salt and pepper crab.
After dinner, we walked back to the ferry terminal and had a short ride back to Alameda. Peanut and Ellie shared some Cheetos while Amelia and Janie had some “alone time” at a separate table by the window.
What a fun day in San Francisco!!
Ellie’s Party
Janie went to a second birthday party in the middle of Maya’s party. It was for her neighbor friend Ellie and it was a Frozen Party!
She met Elsa and Batman, who also made balloon animals. Janie got a blue giraffe.
They also had a magic show and Janie really got into it! Her favorite part was the peanut butter and jelly trick.
In addition to the Frozen bounce house, Janie also enjoyed a cupcake complete with blue frosting and an Olaf candy on top.
Gang’s all here!
All the kids were out at the playground this afternoon and it was nice to see such activity outside again.
With the shorter days of winter, we don’t see the kids out as often lately.
Peanut insisted on bringing out his airplane was it was so much fun watching him play. He brought the passengers out and you can hear him say “who wants to ride the airplane?!” and “everybody sit down!” His play skills are really blossoming right now.
While the kids played outside, Dada made Khao Mun Gai for the family. With our new kitchen, we get to eat all our favorites again after so many months!
Ocean Park
After breakfast, we headed outside and met up with Auntie Amy, Uncle Jay, Amelia, and Ellie.
We rode lots of escalators to get to the correct train. We transferred once to get to Ocean Park.
The kids did a great job following directions and walking from place to place.
On the final train, everyone got to sit down and enjoy the ride.
We arrived at Ocean Park and met up with the Ankong and Ama. The kids were excited to see the pandas so that’s where we went first.
Peanut was happy to see the monkeys swinging around.
The panda was sitting up top with his back side visible for most of the time we were there. He was also very far away at the top of the exhibit (dark rectangle doorway at the top).
Then he suddenly turned around to show his face and Mama captured a photo of his very brief showing with her zoom lens. Yay!
Ankong also bought Janie her very own panda. She named him Pancake.
There was an aquarium that had lots of exhibits that let you see the sea creatures up close.
We had lunch at the Panda Cafe and they had sesame baos that looked like pandas! So cute!
After lunch, we rode the carousel and walked through their replica of Old Hong Kong.
The sky tram ride took us up and over the mountain to the other side of the park.
Peanut woke up just in time to see the last part of the ride.
On the other side, there was an arctic area where they had rides and penguins!
The girls ran around and watched all the penguins swimming in the water.
At the end of the day, the girls sat around and played with their pandas.
We had such a fun time at Ocean Park!
Neighborhood Party
We had a Holiday Party with our neighborhood friends this evening and everyone had a fun time.
It was held at one of our houses and it was bustling with activity.
We had crafts for the kids while dinner was being prepared.
After dinner, the kids made gingerbread houses.
This is Janie’s house.
We managed to get all 10 kids in the photo together.
Here’s the whole group! What a fun evening!
Rockwall and Pumpkin Patch
This afternoon, we went to Rockwall Wine Company to enjoy the view, some sunshine, and the wine. There was plenty of room for the kids to run and play.
We also walked next door to the pumpkin patch. Our neighbors joined us and Ellie and Alice really hit it off!
