San Francisco & Oakland

After the Exploratorium, the parking lot we were in had a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Since we really didn't want to deal with parking, we took some pictures there.
I LOVE this picture of the kids! don't you love Raya's socks and sandals look? ;P

Aaron did a pretty good job of taking this picture of us!


David pointing at Alcatraz Island.


Next up we went to the famous Golden Gate Bakery in SF. We HAD to try the custard tarts! There is usually a huge line but we dodged that bullet, I think we started the line!
The custards tarts were a little pricey but sooo yummy!


We loved the flaky crust! writing this is making me want to eat another one!


We didn't eat there that day but I just liked that it was a huge sign!


We went to Ghirardelli Square, got some free Pumpkin Spice Caramel samples and I ogled at all that amazing chocolate!


We also went to Ikea. My mom had to buy something for the house. Aaron stayed to play in the kids care place and he had fun there. David, Raya and I explored the bedroom and living area since that was all yhe time we had! Ikea is so huge and I really wish there was an Ikea in Hawaii! I took a ton of pictures in Ikea which I'll be writing another post for! So many good ideas!


Modeling his leather jacket


Aaron swinging with Gung-Gung and David


Eating at our SECOND buffet of the week - Fortuna - in Oakland. It's Chinese food and a whole bunch of seafood.
Raya eating her noodles


Aaron also eating his noodles


David's first plate of the evening


Me and my food :)


Closeup of my first plate


We ate a lot that night!
Soo stuffed!

Exploratorium

When David came to visit with me in California in 2005, we got a City Pass and went around to a bunch of different places. One of our favorites was at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was so much fun in there that we decided to take our kids while we were visiting California. I looked up the prices on the Exploratorium website for their hours and prices. It turned out that the first Wednesday on every month is a FREE DAY which also happened to fall on the week we were there so of course we planned it for Wednesday!

Raya with Popo watching the birds in the water




Raya, Popo (my mom) and me




Raya eyeing some birds with Popo & Gung-Gung




Our little family in front of the sign before heading inside.



Yelling in the echo chamber




Sitting in the chamber like I am and this thing is cool cuz even though we're across the room, you can totally hear the people on the other side!! Without yelling! It all depends on how sit it in it.




Those chairs are so humongous!




David & I wrote our names while looking at the mirror. It is harder than I thought it was! Aaron had a mad face because he wanted to draw and I was taking too long to take the picture. Haha!




The bubble station. Some kid took forever and Aaron waited ever so patiently and when the kid finally left, some other kid took it and little Aaron waited again. When the other kid left, some other kid tried to take it away from Aaron. David & I had to step in and be like it's his turn dude! Ok not really but we did tell the kid's mom Aaron was waiting for awhile and he was next.




This contraption had you looking in these funky magnifying glasses that actually made your depth perception off. mine more so than usual :)




You put the glasses on and tried to shoot a basket. You actually have to throw "to the right" to make it.




I don't really get it but it was fun! Even Raya had a turn!




I love the look on Aaron's face! He thought it was the coolest thing!



Our stickers on free day




These were taken with David's phone.




David is too small for that chair!








I could barely get on! Totally lame, I know!



Aaron hanging out in the hurricane tunnel



This place is so much fun! We didn't even get to play with everything! My parents took Raya and went at her pace.
I could stay there all day!
Up next, San Francisco and Oakland!

Tuesday Oct 4th - Parent's Anniversary

Tuesday was my parent's 32nd wedding anniversary. We spent the whole day with them.
First we met up with Luke and his future in-laws at a dim sum restaurant in Fremont.
I had a picture but I lost it.
We went to Lake Elizabeth Park and played on the playground.
Gung-Gung and Raya on the swings

Aaron climbing this rope thing.


Made it to the top! Yay!


Aaron climbing this weird shaped ladder


There is a little rock climbing wall and Aaron couldn't reach the steps that were a little higher so he pulled himself up. Man, he's got good upper body strength. Must be all the breakdancing he does :)


Popo and Raya saying hi to a duck


After the park, we went to Union City and had some Krispy Kreme doughnuts!


Soo good! Got the kids some Krispy Kreme hats!


For dinner, we celebrated my parent's 32nd anniversary at Ray's Crab Shack in Newark. Charmaine's parents and sister Charlene came as well.


There were no utensils! We had to eat with our hands! Fun!! Luke and Charmaine had been there before so they did the ordering.


We ordered 6 lbs of shrimp.


We were still hungry afterwards so Luke, Olivia, David, the kids and I went to Hayward to eat at Sonic.


Pretty good! Went home and chilled with the family.

Vortex of All Lost Things

The past month has been horrible for me. I have lost FOUR things and for the life of me and my family, we can NOT find them.
First I lost a book from Aaron's preschool and it HAS to be in the house somewhere! We have turned the house upside down and inside out and it is nowhere to be found! If we can't find it, it's a $10 fee. *sigh*

I lost a DVD. I put it on a table by the computer to put it away later and I forgot about it. The next time I needed it, it had disappeared! House again was turned upside down and inside and still missing! We even looked in the trash!

THEN on the day we were leaving California to come back to Hawaii, Aaron's hearing aid gear (his jar that holds his hearing aid and his case) goes missing at my parent's house. The whole week we were there, it was in the same spot. Every night, he put it away and it was there in the morning. What was different about the day we were leaving? I have no idea. We were almost late to the airport looking for it. My parents, brother, sister and my aunt and uncle visiting from Canada looked for it. They've looked everywhere and it's still gone. I know it's in that house. somewhere. BUT WHERE?!

AND THEN we were at my in-law's stay-cation hotel in Waikiki, I was about to redo my hair before we left for home and let it down and I lost the hair tie. It disappeared. I looked everywhere. GONE.

WHAT IS GOING ON?! Is there some kind of vortex that is sucking in all this stuff? Why can't I find anything? It is seriously stressing me out! I may look calm and collected but on the inside I am freaking out! It would make my life so much easier if the items were located. I could breathe easier, my family could breathe easier.

 I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY EVERYTHING IS GOING MISSING!!

Maybe if I wrote a nice letter...

Dear Vortex that has been sucking in our lost stuff,
Please throw it back up.
I would really appreciate it. My family would appreciate it.
 It would bring me and my family peace of mind and that fact that we need them back...as soon as possible.
Thanks for listening.

Jelly Belly & Golden Corral & Pho

David came in Sunday morning before we watched General Conference. We had rented a car using the miles I had on a credit card. Since we were at different airports, the rental car worked out quite nicely.
Monday -
Our first stop on our trip was to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA.

David and I had visited this place with my family before while we were still dating back in 2005. We thought it would be something fun for the kids to go on the tour and get some free samples.
David took this picture of Aaron in his little hat.







Raya did not want to keep her hat on at all. She kept taking it off.







Posing in front of the huge Jelly Belly dude







Next stop was Golden Corral in Tracy. We see commercials for this buffet all the time in Hawaii and we finally had a chance to try it out!
David and Aaron taking pictures while Raya and I were getting food.







We decided to take a picture AFTER we ate all that food!







We were stuffed!
Please look at our smiling faces and not our stuffed bellies! ;P

We thought it was a pretty good American style buffet. We went at lunch and left assuming the dinner would have a little more options than what we had. Still a good place to eat!

For dinner, we went to eat some pho pronounced fuh, I think with my family...somewhere. It was pretty good despite them forgetting that I had ordered the same thing as David and Olivia.
Afterwards, we went home and let the grandkids play/spend time with the grandparents.