I’m finally wrapping up on posting on our trip to California from earlier this month! Besides getting to spend a lot of time exploring San Jose, Monterey, and the San Francisco Zoo with Dan’s parents and visiting our dear friends in El Cerrito, we got to also spend some time seeing some of our favorite familiar faces in the area and eating at our favorite spots! There were some delicious eats that I had seriously been missing and craving, so I’m so glad we could get a fix while catching up with some of our dearest friends!
Catching up with Uncle Ted in Alameda over lunch.
The samosa salad at Burma Superstar. Never disappoints!
Another favorite from Burma Superstar: garlic noodles with BBQ pork.
Checking out the toys at Tot Tank in Alameda.
Bay Area newcomer Junko trying pho for the first time!
I’m so glad we could see Junko in Sunnyvale! We hadn’t seen each other in almost five years, since our wedding back in 2008!
A trip to the Bay is not complete without a visit to our favorite taco truck in Oakland!
It was great visiting the Kims so we could catch up with Sung Kook and Kayo…
…and see their adorable sons JinWoo and SunWoo again!
Sung Kook loves Mio, and she can tell… she was stuck to him the whole time we were there!
I really missed their pomegranate chicken, among their other delectable bites…
And since we were on College Avenue in Berkeley, we had to stop by Ici for their amazing frozen desserts!
So happy to be reunited with Tarrin in one of our favorite spots in Berkeley… 🙂
Lovely foil stamped labels for my baked goodies, cherry blossom pen, and macaron-shaped trinket case, all wrapped in matryoshka doll wrapping paper to boot! Thank you Tarrin for somehow gathering all of my favorite things. â¤
We also got to try the awesome yÅshoku restaurant Usagi in San Mateo and see some of our favorite faces from Nakayoshi! Special thanks to Sam for organizing the dinner and making the reservation.
ボンゴレ（ã‚ã•ã‚Šã®ãƒ‘スタ）~ Some of the best vongole pasta I’ve ever had!
We missed this beautiful couple!
Mio with Uncle Graig. Probably one of her most favorite people in the entire world… 🙂 She’s always giggling and smiling ear to ear when she’s with him!
Loved seeing everyone again!
It always feels like our time with friends is too short (especially taking into consideration toddler bedtime), and we wish we could have stayed longer with each of our friends, but we were so happy that we could see them again even for a short time! We are truly sorry for all of those who we were unable to see because of our limited schedule, but rest assured that we will be back soon enough to visit again! :) Thank you also to all of our friends who showered Mio with such thoughtful and generous early birthday gifts… it was totally unexpected and so sweet of everyone. ♥ Our family is so blessed just to have the pleasure of knowing all of you!
On our last full day visiting California, Dan’s parents took us to the San Francisco Zoo because we all know of Mio’s love for animals! It was the first time visiting the SF Zoo for both Mio and myself, and Dan hadn’t been since he was a child, so it was a fun experience for everyone!
Giraffes at the San Francisco Zoo
Ostriches!
Mio and Grandma by a statue of a lion.
A gorilla at the SF Zoo
Comparison of Dan to the size of a gorilla
Mio compared to the size of a gorilla. So cute!
I’m the same height as a gorilla! But a third of the weight…
Mio running towards me.
Too close! lol
Her giggles melt my heart.
Another monkey. Mio says “ooh ooh ah ah” every time she sees a monkey!
Flamingos! Wearing the colors of the season.
Popping out of the prairie dog hole!
Mio popping out of the prairie dog hole!
I throw my hands up in the air sometimes saying aaayyyooooo ♪
Mio LOVES turtles, so she was really excited to hop on this statue. ã†ã‚‰ã—ã¾ç¾Žæ¡œï¼
An alpaca in the children’s section of the zoo.
A beautiful peacock.
An anteater at the SF Zoo. I think it was my first time seeing one in person!
A snow leopard!
Such a majestic, fierce creature!
Hippopotamus opening his mouth!
Mio and Mama atop a hippo
Rhinoceros at the San Francisco Zoo
Adorable koala 🙂
The penguins at the San Francisco Zoo
The penguins were so adorable, getting in line for the feeding!
Mio watching the penguin feeding in awe.
The San Francisco Zoo was definitely a nice zoo, with lots of animals to see! I can’t wait until the weather gets warmer so that we can take Mio to see the National Zoo in Washington, DC as well. 🙂
I’m so glad that we could have a chance to meet up with Mio’s California gal pal Sofia and her mommy Sonya while we were visiting the Bay Area. We spent many fun afternoons with S+S at the park, library, and at each other’s houses having playdates while we were living in El Cerrito, and Sofia became Mio’s best friend in the neighborhood, and we mamas developed a wonderful friendship too as we shared about the joys (and challenges!) of our little ones. Sonya is definitely one of my closest mama friends, and I couldn’t imagine visiting the area without seeing her and Sof!
We got to spend a half day together just catching up, snacking together, playing in Sofia’s room, and going on a walk around the neighborhood. Thank you Sonya for opening up your home to us for the playdate, and for the beautiful and heartfelt early birthday gift for Mio!
An early birthday present for Mio: Sonya sewed together this Pingu doll for her!
A video of us opening the gift: (Thanks for sharing the video, Sonya!)
Mio loves Pingu (as can be observed in this video)!
Mio playing with the play food in Sofia’s room, serving some pizza to Sonya.
I missed this darling little girl!
Sofia giving Mio a hug. Such a sweet moment. 🙂
Snacking on some delicious rice krispie treats that Sonya made.
On one of our days while we were staying in San Jose with Dan’s parents, we took a drive down to San Juan Bautista and Monterey. I’ve been to Monterey before, but it was nice to visit again as well as to visit the Spanish mission at San Juan Bautista for the first time. There’s so much history behind the mission that it was really fascinating to tour the grounds, and it was extra interesting to me because it was where they filmed some of the most memorable scenes in my favorite Hitchcock films Vertigo!
Mio with her grandparents!
Walking hand in hand with Grandma
Another nice picture with Dan’s parents.
Mio and Grandma looking at each other. So cute!
A child’s bedroom with toys at the mission. The amount of detail on the toy kitchen and dollhouse is amazing! Complete with creepy dolls…
A statue of Fray Junipero Serra
Mission San Juan Bautista, established in 1797.
The vibrant interior of the church at Mission San Juan Bautista
After spending about an hour at the mission, we continued down south until we arrived at Monterey, where we walked down Cannery Row and checked out the ocean from there.
The beach by Cannery Row.
Gazing into Daddy’s eyes
Another great photo with Dan and his parents.
Mio distracted by the dogs as we walk down Cannery Row.
After exploring Cannery Row, we moved onto walk around Lovers Point Park!
Mio coming face to face with a squirrel. 🙂
Mio is all smiles!
Statue of a boy at Lovers Point Park
Going out onto the rocks at Lovers Point Park.
I touched a live starfish for the first time!
Mio seeing a starfish for the first time. She was very curious!
It was a very laid back, memorable day trip where we got to see a lot of sights, both new and familiar! 🙂 California has so many beautiful sights to see, and it was so nice to have some time to go visit some of them during our visit!
After our weekend in LA, we flew up to San Jose to stay with Dan’s parents for the rest of the week! It was a short five days that flew by, but it was so nice for Mio to see her grandparents again and spend some quality time with them. When she got off of the plane at SFO, she was really cranky and crying, but as soon as she saw her grandparents who came to pick us up, her face broke into a huge smile and she reached her arms out to them! She remembers them from all the times we spent together while we lived in California, as well as all the video chats they’ve been doing via Google Hangout since we’ve moved out here.
Here are some snapshots from when we had a family outing and lunch at Edenvale Garden Park in San Jose…
Mio trying on Grandma’s hat.
On the swing… her favorite!
Hanging out by the trains.
Love is the coal that makes this train roll.
She’s looking so grownup these days. I can’t believe she’s almost two!
