Sunday, July 29, 2007

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Napa

Sunday morning we drove to Napa (and we didn't get lost this time!) Before we went to D's parents' house we stopped in at Bouchon Bakery again to pick up some breakfast treats. Once we arrived at the house, k was a bit overwhelmed by all of the new faces, but she calmed down by lunchtime. In the afternoon she was having a grand ol' time rolling around the floor and doing the "bouncy-bouncy".

cousins
k was able to meet her cousin Shaun for the first time.

We ate lunch at a restaurant called Brix. They had a lovely garden out back.
Brix

Brix Fountain

The Lim clan (minus Jackie, our sister-in-law, who took the picture)
Lim Family

Grandma Lim with her two grandchildren
Grandma Lim

At night we had dinner at Zare. The waitress told us that the restaurant is closing for good in about a week. Too bad, because the food was really good!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Moraga --> Oakland

Saturday afternoon we went to Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church to witness our friends from WPC tie the knot. Neither of us had been to Moraga before. Although there is some bad traffic around that area, it is beautiful once you get there.

The church is on a hilltop. This is the view from inside the church.
Moraga

The church building itself is also very nice.
Moraga Valley Presbyterian

This picture was taken by the father of the groom before the ceremony. Too bad I missed most of the ceremony due to the fact that k started making noise. At least D was able to fill me in. :)
Wedding

The getaway car.
Getaway Car

The reception was at the Oakland Marriott, where we also reserved a room. k seemed to enjoy her first stay in a hotel room.
bed 2
This bed was sooo comfortable. The whole ensemble can be yours for around $3,000 according to their catalogue.

The view from our room during the day.
Tribune

The view at night.
Oakland Tribune

k slept through most of the reception. Amazing, considering all of the glass clinking and such. There were about 400 people in attendance.

cake
Cutting the cake.

The lovely couple.
the couple
Note: She's Chinese and He's Japanese, so she wore this Chinese dress part of the time and then changed into a Japanese kimono-dress. How cute. I believe the wedding cake topper was also Chinese-Japanese.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Santa Clara --> Berkeley

The only time we got lost during the long weekend was going to D's cousin's house in Santa Clara. I'll just blame it on Yahoo! maps, which told us to make a left instead of a right. Santa Clara actually reminded us a lot of Irvine. D's cousin's wife cooked us a delicious dinner of short ribs with a vegetable puree, mashed potatoes, rolls and salad. I called it "gourmet" but she described it as "rustic".

cousin


The next morning we headed up to Berkeley. We had fun posing with k around campus. We couldn't resist buying her a couple of things at the student store. Notice that I dressed k in her tie-dye outfit so she would blend in.

strawberry creek
Taking a break by Strawberry Creek

Oski
Sitting on Oski

Wheeler
Wheeler Hall

sather gate
Sather Gate

Bridge
I don't think this bridge has a name.


Can you believe the student store on campus sells dried squid? Ew. They also had sushi to go, which was unheard of when we were there.
dried squid

We stopped at one my favorite Berkeley cafes--Cafe Strada.
Cafe Strada

Lunch was at Zachary's. Deep dish pizza--yum. Yes, it still deserves a place on D's restaurant list.
Zachary's

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

1st Stop...Cupertino

We made it to Cupertino in six hours. After exiting DeAnza we looked for a place to eat and ended up at Siam Thai. The chicken dishes we ordered were tasty, but my side of pad thai was somewhat lacking in the flavor department.

Afterward we went to my friend W's house. I first met W during my freshman year in the dorms. I started saying "ai-yah" and "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" because of her. :) Anyway, I was excited to meet her two daughters, each of whom coincidentally have one of my names. (I'll let you figure that one out yourself).

Winnie

W served us some refreshing watermelon. This was no ordinary watermelon so I had to take a picture!
Yellow Watermelon

Next we went to my second cousin's house. Her baby was born within a couple of days of W's youngest (they're about three months old now). As you can see, both W's baby (pictured above) and k's third cousin (pictured below) have a lot more hair than her!
Yamani

Next stop...Santa Clara.

Monday, July 23, 2007

4 Days. 1,000+ Miles.

We just returned from a trip up to Northern California. This was k's first "major" trip and she did pretty well. It all started with a wedding that we were invited to in Moraga. We decided it would be a good opportunity to visit people, so our itinerary was as follows:

Friday: Visit my college friend and her family in Cupertino. Visit my second cousin and her baby in Cupertino. Visit D's cousin and his wife in Santa Clara and stay overnight at their place.

Saturday: Go to Berkeley (mostly so D could go to the Student Store). Attend wedding in Moraga and reception in Oakland. Stay overnight in Oakland.

Sunday: Visit D's family in Napa and stay overnight.

Monday: Go home, but stop to visit my Grandma and Auntie in Paso Robles.

As you can imagine, we're tired, but it was lots of fun. We have lots of photos to share, but for now, we will leave you with just one of D and k at a rest stop somewhere along I-5.

rest stop

Monday, July 16, 2007

Trying to Crawl

k has been getting up on all fours, trying to crawl. She's probably wondering why we cheer for her when she does this. I have a feeling that once she does start crawling everywhere, we'll long for the days where we could just plop her down and she would stay in one place.

On Her Knees

Trying to Crawl

Also, her first tooth is just barely coming in!