For dinner, we went out for Chinese food to celebrate Dada’s upcoming birthday.
There was a birthday tart from Porto’s and lots of singing from Peanut.
Happy Early Birthday, Dada!
Dim Sum and Play
For lunch, we had dim sum with Auntie Jia and Uncle Jason. Peanut and Janie enjoyed their first strawberry slushee. It was so hot in the restaurant.
After lunch, we all went to their house and Cousin Alice also came over for some fun.
Peanut found his big sister’s old toy at their house and pretended to take pictures of everyone.
The girls had a snack together in the front room while the boys played together in the back room.
Celebration Dinner
This evening, we had the whole family together for dinner to celebrate Peanut’s 2nd birthday.
We had quite a spread of food and Peanut was determined to pick up his food with chopsticks.
We had ice cream cake for him, everyone sang “Happy Birthday” and Big Sis helped him blow out the candles.
Our little boy doesn’t like cake so we got him a cake made with strawberry ice cream and white cake.
He tasted the cake one time and then demolished the ice cream half of his slice.
Ankong also hooked him up with a second slice!
We also managed to get all 6 cousins together in one photo.
It was a fun night with the family all together again.
Oh and Peanut got a giant set of Tinkertoys from Auntie Jia. Yay!
Dim Sum
This morning, we went out for dim sum before Uncle Jason had to go to his class in SF.
Peanut was determined to figure out these chopsticks!
While we waited for the bill, the littles watched a video with Janie.
I just love this photo of the foursome together outside of the restaurant.
Cousins!!
Auntie Jia and Uncle Jason arrived this afternoon and the kids got started on the toys right away.
Janie was happy to see Auntie Jia and Peanut was getting reacquainted with her.
Peanut remembered TomTom, NiNi, Uncle Jason, and Auntie Jia from just a couple weeks ago.
It was so much fun to see all four kids interacting and playing with each other.
For a while they were split boy-boy and girl-girl but it eventually mixed into a whole group activity. Janie did a great job playing with the littles.
Dinner with the Family
It’s rare that we get the whole family together in the Bay Area. We almost got everyone up here but Uncle Johnny and Auntie Joy couldn’t make it up this weekend. After the birthday party, we all went out for dinner at Southshore Center. The kids ran around for a bit, had some Chinese food, and then stopped for ice cream.
Uncle Jason bought the birthday girl some cherry vanilla ice cream with sprinkles to top off her special day.
Knott’s Merry Farm
We went to Knott’s Berry Farm today and they were all decorated for Christmas. It was Janie’s first visit and possibly Dada’s too. Snoopy was at the entrance to greet us and Janie was excited to show him her Snoopy t-shirt.
While we waited for the rest of the family to arrive, we walked around Ghost Town and she got a peek at an old school house.
Then it was off to Camp Snoopy for some rides!!!
Alice arrived and Janie was so happy to see her.
They rode the airplane ride while Peanut took some pictures with Snoopy.
Toni and Thomas also came along and they rode the train together.
https://youtu.be/yn43Fzmll0c
Peanut learned how to say “choo-choo” and pump his arm.
For lunch, we went to the Knott’s Fried Chicken Restaurant.
Peanut swiped one of Mama’s drumsticks off her plate.
Then it was back into the park for more rides. The girls rode the Kite Flyer next.
Weeeeee!!
The lines were unusually long today but the girls entertained themselves really well.
On the Huff-n-Puff, the ride was kid-powered.
https://youtu.be/GHcuxxTq2Xw
Peanut was still too short for a lot of the rides so he spent some time playing in the play area and walking around with Yai.
The girls went on the big bus ride with Dada and Uncle Johnny. Janie said it was a lot of fun.
In the afternoon, we found Santa Snoopy and got a family photos taken.
By the end of the day, Janie had chocolate on her face and jello stains on her shirt. It was a good day for this girl.
Din Tai Fung
We went to South Coast Plaza to have dinner at Din Tai Fung this evening. The wait was at least an hour so Peanut and Mama explored the mall while Janie slept in the car.
He really liked the Gap Kids store but was not so good about keeping his hands off the merchandise.
Janie tried her first xiao long bao today and did a nice job eating it the right way without making a mess.
She loved it so much that she ate another 5 dumplings all on her own. Dinner just got really expensive.
Meanwhile, Peanut had noodles, pork, and chicken. He also tried eating fried rice with a spoon and thought this would be a more efficient way of eating it.
Buena Park
We had lunch in Buena Park today and then Janie got to hang out with Ankong and Ama for the afternoon.
Peanut had his milk by the grandfather clock (he liked watching the pendulum go back and forth) before heading back to Cerritos for a nap.
Christmas 2016
For Christmas, we went to Uncle Jason and Auntie Jia’s house. Dada prepared a standing rib roast today and used a blowtorch to prep the meat.
Thomas and Toni got a front-row seat to the fiery action.
Mama, Peanut, and Janie arrived a little later and were ready to play!
Dinner was delicious and Janie enjoyed sitting with her family.
After dinner, the kids opened presents. There were SO MANY presents!!
Merry Christmas, Everyone!!
