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!
The movers are coming today and packing up all of our belongings to ship to the East Coast, and will be shipping our car, too. We’ll be spending a day in San Jose before we flight out with our one-way tickets to DC on Thursday. It’s been a whirlwind three weeks preparing for the cross-country move and saying goodbye to the Bay Area. Thank you to all of our friends who have made time to say goodbye to us, and for all your well wishes, thoughtful gifts, and most of all your continued friendship! We promise to keep in touch and visit often! 🙂
Dinner in Berkeley with our Nakayoshi friends. Thank you for everything; we’ll miss you!!!
Mio with Auntie Estella!
Good luck in SoCal pursuing your dreams, Estella (and Brent)! We will miss you so much!
Lunch with Nicole, Erik, and beautiful Arina!
Had to throw this in. Mio making sure everyone who walked by the restaurant knew that they were OPEN!
Thank you Tarrin & Jason for being such awesome friends to us! We’ll miss you very much, but will definitely see you again!
Picnic at Lake Chabot
To Mio, Sofia will always be her California BFF! Thanks for all the great memories!
Playground hugs! Mio was a little too forcible. (><) But that is how much she loves Sof!
Gorgeous handmade doll and card from Sonya for Mio… so much thought and detail put into it!
Mio with her handmade doll from Sonya
Girls’ night out with Korean food and soju-tails with El Cerrito mama friends!
It was Labor Day weekend exactly five years ago in 2007 that I moved out to the Bay Area, and it’s right after Labor Day weekend that we will be moving back East. It has been such a wonderful five years full of rich memories and unforgettable experiences, and I’m so grateful for everyone we’ve met along the way.
Mio had some very special visitors this past weekend — her Auntie Megumi, Auntie Sam, and Uncle Matt came to meet her for the very first time on Sunday! The last time we were all together was at the gorgeous baby shower that they threw for us before Mio was born. Megumi lives in Southern California now, but we’re so glad that she was in the area so that we could all come together again!
Mio loves Auntie Gumi already!
She loved Auntie Sam, too! Look at that big smile!!!
Matt was a little scared of holding her, but she loved him too!
I baked some lemon cupcakes for the occasion!
It was a nice balance of sweet and tart flavors, and my favorite part is the lemon cream cheese frosting.
Megumi, Sam, and Matt have been so loving, sweet, and generous to Mio even before her arrival! I’m looking forward to all the future memories we’ll have together, and feel so lucky that Mio has such wonderful aunties and uncle that will be there to watch her grow. Thank you so much for visiting us this weekend! Hope to see you again soon. 🙂
