A Birthday & A Trip

August 11 marked the 9th birthday of my first born and only son.

We made a trip to San Francisco to bond with awesomely great family friends. He didn't have an elaborate and fancy celebration, but it was something he wished for in his 9th birthday.  That's to celebrate with his own friends, where they could play and enjoy each other all day long. And he got his wish with a trip.  They actually had the chance to sleep over in one room for 3 nights and 4 days before we actually moved to our next destination.  Guess what, we never heard of a single argument, which is very soothing to our ears of course. 

Happy Birthday, Mr G!!

Our first destination is San Francisco!

Of course we came to see the Golden Bridge & the National Parks once again for the children. Hub and I have been here several times, but the kids. We showed them several of its amazing sceneries around, such as; Alcatraz, Fort Point National Historic Site and the Palace of Fine Arts, where they had a great deal of fun and adventure.

We also visited the Lands End Sutro Baths, the Cathedral, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39
and The 6 Painted Ladies.

We brought the kids to the Carmel Mission Basilica in San Jose, CA.

Now that Mr G is officially a 4th grader, we thought of visiting Mission Churches.  I was told that they will be learning about the several mission churches across the country.  So we made sure that we don't miss one of our favorites.  Learning is best when you get to experience it first hand. 

Here's how it looks outside the Basilica.

We love it here then and now.  It has been 10 years ago that we came here, just before marriage.  And now that we have the fruit of our love, we came back to tour them around, and bond with some good relatives.  We try to make it a point that every travel is stress-free and memorable for the kids to cherish through our lifetime.

This is a late post but I hope you had a wonderful time touring with me as I reminisce our trip this summer.  Love it here as always!!

Little China Town at LA

Today we explored The Little China Town at the city of Los Angeles. 

The kids weren't up to going to the park, zoo, museums or an amusement park today so we opted for an educational tour instead. We showed them China this time!

Okay, let me re-phrase that. We toured them in ChinaTown at LA.

They got so excited!  They thought we were boarding a plane to get there.

Funny!!  A little disappointed when they learned we were rather driving.  But both were still hoping for the best to come.

It took about over 30 minutes to get there without any signs of traffic on freeways. Parking was a breeze considering it was a holiday and it was still early.

Great I thought since I'd be able to photograph nicely without interruptions.

We found these lovely infrastructure over there.  I was breathless and impressed.  And so were my kids.  If you haven't been to China, this might be a decent representation of the country.  Or perhaps of a little town.

More of China Town below! 

Then we saw tons of macaroni shells scattered on the ground, which the kids had fun stepping on them and making sounds.  It resembled a sound of a fire cracker.  And this pretty much pre-occupied time while waiting for the stores to open to shop.

The stores opened quite late.

We decided to eat first at Mandarin Plaza.

Dimsum and tea as usual.

I love this bread.  It has a sweet-filling that is perhaps made of custard.

I would normally pass on breads, but this is absolutely delicious!

I ate 2/3 of it :)

The first batch of our dimsum:

5 orders of Ha-gaw (Shrimp Balls), which all went to our children's little tummies.

chicken legs

Shu-mai

Spare ribs

Beef balls

Red Bean Cake

My children's all-time favorite.

Dimsum will never be complete without all these kinds of balls

 {shrimp balls, meat balls & shumai}.

Our second batch of dimsum never made it to my blog.  Dimsum is so overwhelming. The veggies just came one by one and were distributed to each ones' plate so fast too. Would you even believe that they serve hamburgers too? My son ordered for one, with an expectation of a decent-tasting burger. And it wasn't good of course. He said it was bland. My husband was brave enough to try it out too, and said it has a radish on it that's why. Oh well, lesson learned! Next time never order an American dish from a Chinese Restaurant coz it wouldn't be the same like Americans does it.

See you on our next food trip!