We went to Reno & Tahoe over the weekend for a quick summer getaway. I was lured in with a free room offer from one of the hotel/casino’s in Reno and Uncle Chubs and Ronald came along too! I’m use to taking care of big kids and little kids. 🙂

On Saturday, we drove over to Tahoe and spent the day kayaking and paddleboarding at the lake. It was a beautiful day and lots of people were out on the lake doing different water activities.

Tyler got hungry during the kayak ride and started to get cranky

Ice cream break after our lunch break

Nat was really good at paddleboarding

After our time at the lake, we went to visit Birdie and Wileen (who happened to be in Tahoe too with friends) at their airbnb.

It’s chaotic and expensive, but fun too! I got a taste of what it’s like to have 5 kids this weekend when cousins Kaiya, Sienna, and Gavin slept over. Luckily, they are really well behaved kids and love hanging around with Natalie and Tyler, so there wasn’t any intervention needed from me or David to break up arguments or anything like that. 5 kids = lot of dishes, bathroom organization, time management, extra food, and extra laundry. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have to take care of younger children. Having to feed them and have nap time!

On Saturday we went to Vasona Park for a picnic lunch and met up with cousins Theo and Kiora too.

We stopped at L&L Hawaiian BBQ (David’s favorite) and picked up a couple of BBQ chicken plates to share.

Uncle Mike treated all the kids to ice cream!

We walked around the park and the kids had fun playing near the creek.

We all rode the train together. The kids had fun exploring and playing together.

The kids are finally back home after being away for almost a month! Tonight I found Tyler asleep with Peep. He was sad he forgot to bring his peeps to travel with him, but happy to be home snuggling with Big Peep.

Ever since Din Tai Fung (DTF) opened a couple of months ago in San Jose, Nat’s been wanting to eat there. Except, there is currently a 3 month wait on their reservations list. So, we decided to go to the original restaurant in Arcadia tonight and managed to walk in and get a table with no wait!

DTF is way too hyped up. The XLBs are good, but there are plenty of other places that make them equally good if not better (i.e Dumpling House right across the street). The food is a bit over priced, but well presented. Service was great.

Nat was so happy to hear we were going to eat at DTF

XLBs

We spent the 4th of July at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Grandma made some delicious chicken pho and vietnamese chicken salad for dinner and the kids got to play with their cousins and light and watch a fireworks show.

Tyler, David, and I walked to a nearby 7-11 with a fireworks stand in the parking lot. We were planning to only buy sparklers, but Tyler managed to hustle his dad into much more.

Tyler and Mel celebrated Kevin Durant’s decision to join the Warriors

Hunter showed Tyler some of his iPad games

I got suckered into taking the kids to the 626 Night Market last weekend with temptations of fun drinks and yummy snacks (even though we just ate dinner and I wasn’t hungry!) I’ve been warned of the crowds and lines, but I thought since it was Sunday, there would be less people. Boy I was I wrong. We started by parking (free) in the boonies and then walking (at least 1/2 a mile) to the entrance where there is a $3/pp entrance fee. At this point, I was already full of regret. Hoards of people heading toward the entrance with a view of the inside already packed full of people!

Our main target was the Squiddies booth. They sell these light bulbs filled with slushy drinks that light up. ($8) Gimmicky and genius at the same time. This line was ridiculously long. I waited in line while the kids roamed around and bought other drinks. Final time in this line: 45 minutes.

In the end, we ended up with about 10 different drinks (it was mostly about the cool containers the drinks came in.) We attempted to buy a potato swirl stick, but that line was far too crowded and it was getting late, so we skipped. Was it worth it? Probably not, but the kids had a fun time!

Watermelon slushy drinks

We took 婆婆 hiking at Griffith Park. The hike was challenging (for all of us) but we all made it to the top! 

Can you see the Hollywood sign behind us?

You can see the thick L.A. smog. It’s too bad for it, otherwise the view would have been amazing!

Following our Orlando vacation, the kids spent 2 weeks (without David and I) in LA with Po Po and Gong Gong. Over the first weekend, they set up a lemonade stand with their cousins and sold about $13 worth of lemonade. Several neighbors stopped over to buy lemonade.

Tyler did a good job helping around the house too