婆婆 and公公 came to visit and stay with us last week. We ate well. Over the weekend, we took them to Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose. It rained in the morning but cleared up when we went out and it turned out to be a really nice day to walk outside. The air was really fresh!

The kids each got this Snowman hot chocolate. It was a full of whip cream which the kids loved!
 

We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa tonight. Grandma got home from work late today and was hungry and craving pho so we took her out and had a 2nd dinner. Didn’t have to ask Tyler twice. He loves pho. Natalie is OK with it, but one of her favorite things to order at Vietnamese restaurants is soda chanh (lemon soda).

Every time we go grocery shopping or any kind of shopping for that matter, Tyler always offers to carry the bags for me. He’s turning into a little gentleman and will open and hold doors for people too. Hopefully as he gets older, he will learn and practice these acts of chivalry and grow up to be a gentleman!

Yesterday morning we headed over to Home Depot to look for a Christmas tree. The trees smelled wonderful! I tried to convince the kids to choose a small tree, but Nat was adamant about getting a medium tree. We don’t have much space for a larger tree, plus trees are really expensive! We ended up with a 5-6 ft noble fir. As soon as we got home, Nat got straight to decorating. Tyler wasn’t interested and decided to play outside instead.

We spent Thanksgiving in Las Vegas this year courtesy of my younger brother. The kids were excited to be traveling with their cousins and go to Vegas again. It’s been a long time since I’ve driven to Vegas. I’ve forgotten how long an un-scenic the drive is.

Thanksgiving dinner. Table for 20 please.
  

Super expensive almost $8 per scoop ice cream. Hey, we’re on vacation. Lucky kids.
  

Sampling sodas of the world and floats at the Coca Cola store. Who’s thirsty?
 

My dad’s birthday was last week. He turned 73! Not everyone was back for Thanksgiving yet and Sienna had to stay home cause she was sick so we kept it low key. We had dinner at his favorite restaurant in Chinatown, Phoenix Inn. In the afternoon the kids and I went to Ruby Bakery in Eagle Rock to get a cake. It’s a small bakery run by a Chinese family and they’ve been there since the early 80’s. I asked the guy who was helping us if they could write words in Chinese, and he said yes. So I asked if he could write “Happy Birthday, Gong Gong” with the Gong Gong part in Chinese. He said he didn’t know how to write it, but if I wrote it, he could copy it. So I wrote it, but then I wasn’t sure if I wrote it correctly so I asked the kids. Tyler said it was right and Natalie said it wasn’t. Luckily, and older Chinese lady came out and she heard what we were talking about and looked at my paper and said it was right. She even offered to write the Happy Birthday part in Chinese.

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle Tommy and Auntie Kari’s house this year as several of us were heading to Vegas for Thanksgiving. (Totally coincidental.) We didn’t have turkey this year, but had a delicious ham from Honey Baked and some yummy sides, including pastrami chili cheese fries from The Hat. I forgot to take a picture of this mound of heaven, but it sure was good! Little Melanie enjoyed the extra company at her house. She had fun playing with the kids and showing off all her toys.

Everyone was saying how tall Nat has grown. She is almost a head taller than Great Auntie!

  

The kids had fun sharing grandma’s seat and eating bread.

I’m way behind on my posts. I know you’ve missed me! I’m going to try to catch up on my posts over the next couple of days now that Thanksgiving mayhem is over.

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Birdie moved out a month ago. The kids were pretty sad when they learned she was going to move. Who is Tyler going to scare now? The house is empty again.

We decided to go to the city a few weekends ago to have dinner and visit Birdie’s new place. Her apartment is across from AT&T park, so we now have a place to park when we go to the game. 😉

On the car ride there.

  

After dinner and hanging out at Birdie’s place, I remembered that Mandy lived in the city too. Turns out she lives just a few blocks away from Birdie so we paid her a visit too. Nat is taller than Mandy now!