Katy’s Place—Carmel

On Friday morning we went to Katy’s Place for late breakfast/early lunch.  This place is popular, and we had to wait around 25 minutes.  A six year old girl started chatting up k during the wait.  D’s dad said it gained popularity when Jessica Simpson ate breakfast there with her dog.  Interesting.

It was chilly in Carmel, which was actually a nice change from the hot weather in the Bay Area.

For the kids, they had those water games that used to be really popular.  I thought that was a nice change from the usual crayons.  With all seriousness, n told me, “Mommy, put this in your purse.”  I had to explain to him that we had to leave them for other kids to play with.

The restaurant is known for eggs benedict, so we had to try it out.  The sauce was quite luscious and the eggs were perfectly poached.  What do they do with all of the extra egg whites?

They make egg white omelets, of course.  This was packed with veggies, and made us feel a little less guilty about indulging in the eggs benedict. 

Note: This place is cash only, and not inexpensive, so don’t be caught off-guard!

Saigon & Bitter + Sweet

As usual, we ate a lot of good food during our trip.  For July 4th dinner we ate with D’s brother’s family at Saigon, a Chinese restaurant in Newark.  Everything was tasty, but we were especially impressed with the sea bass.

So buttery!  It was served with a side of butter, but I could not imagine adding more butter to the rich-tasting fish.

 

After sleeping over in Fremont, we headed to Bitter + Sweet to visit D’s cousin and his wife.  Here is cousin Ian helping out behind the counter.

Janice blends in so well with her café!

I tried the red velvet latte, which is their “specialty” drink.  Very nice—not too sweet, and smooth.  So pretty, too!  We ordered a hot chocolate for the kids, but unfortunately n spilled almost the whole cup—onto the table, k’s dress, shoes, and the floor.  Turns out this was only the beginning of a chain of multiple spills over the weekend.  At least the drink was not too hot so no one was injured.

4th of July in Newark

We’re back from a trip to the Bay Area/Central Coast and just starting to recover.  Our trip began on the 4th of July, when we drove to Newark to visit our friends that have 10 month old twin girls.  This was our first time meeting them, and they were quite the charmers.  So good-natured and fun to play with!  Dave fired up the barbecue and grilled some delicious hamburgers, rounded out with Janelle’s macaroni salad, watermelon, jello and cupcakes for dessert. 

Build A Bear & Farrells

k’s Daisy troop voted to have their end of the year party at Build a Bear.  This was the first time for k to experience Build a Bear, and she had a lot of fun.  I explained to n beforehand that he would not be participating, and he seemed to take it very well.  (He mainly tagged along for the ice cream at Farrells afterwards). 

Pumping in the stuffing

Giving the bear a bath

All boxed up.  I will share a picture of the bear another time.  It is quite cute, with its own Daisy outfit and shoes.

I’ve heard that the Farrells at Mission Viejo Mall is not as crowded as the one in Brea.

The troop ordered The Zoo, with a sparkler!

I borrowed this picture from someone who was closer to the action.

n realized the benefit of having a sister in Girl Scouts.

Lighthouse Parenting Conference & Eating Out in Torrance

D and I were able to go to a two-day parenting conference featuring Paul Tripp at Lighthouse Church in Torrance.  I thought it was a really good opportunity for D and I to digest some parenting instruction together.  The speaker had some really solid, Biblically-based points, and his stories were quite entertaining.  There was also childcare, which we took advantage of on Saturday.  We were also able to try out two restaurants in the South Bay, which we rarely visit.

Friday night the kids were with my parents, so we turned it into “date night”.  We ate at a small banh mi shop called Little House of Mary.

 

We shared a roast pork and lemongrass chicken.  They were a lot bigger than this picture makes them appear.  I was so full, but I kept eating because they were so good!  The roast pork was quite juicy (dipped in au jus) while the chicken had a more subtle, yet distinct lemongrass flavor.  They were around $6.50 each, so much more expensive than most banh mi places, but they had much more meat, and definitely worth it. 

After the conference on Saturday we went to The Local Place (off-shoot of King’s Hawaiian) with the kids.  We ordered two three item combo plates so we ended up trying lots of different entrees.  Overall it was pretty good, but nothing really stood out. 

We also took home two malasadas which dobash filling and a long john (which was smushed in transit). 

Yum!

Chick Fil A Tour

One of k’s classmates graciously invited us to go to Chick Fil A for a “behind the scenes” tour the day after school let out. 

It started out with breakfast—yum! 

Next everyone had to put on a hat before going into the kitchen.

There were boxes of lemons in the back for their fresh-squeezed lemonade.  They gave the kids a lemon to take home.

Our tour guide introduced us to the fry-o-lator.

The guy in the drive-thru was probably wondering what was going on.

For the finale, we were given a demo of the shake and ice cream machine.

The kids tried their hand at the soft serve machine.  Ice cream for breakfast—what a treat!  A fun way to kick off the summer!

REI Family Camping Class

The first time we went camping we were fortunate enough to go with my brother in law, who has a lot of camping experience.  He told us about the equipment we needed, the concept of a “control box”, helped D set up the tent for the first time etc.  Now that we have gone several times since then (D could tell you exactly how many), we feel much more comfortable.  The class we went to last week at REI was geared towards “beginners”; I guess now we would qualify as “intermediate”, at least in terms of family car camping.  However, it was kind of fun to be with others who have a similar desire and/or love for camping and to swap some stories/experiences.  It was late for the kids since it lasted over 1.5 hours, but I think they enjoyed it.  They also provided some entertainment when they started laughing uncontrollably after the instructor said the words “long underwear” and “privacy” (don’t ask). 

We also came away with a better idea of which tent we want to buy next—the REI Basecamp 6.  (Not pictured here—this is the Hobitat).  I’m hoping our Basecamp 4 will hold out for a couple of more years, though.