Part IV: Sacramento

It's 5:00pm'ish and we've had a full day at Discovery Kingdom. We head back to the parking lot with loose plans for dinner - which is smashed to smithereens when it's discovered Collin (almost 3 years old) dead asleep in the stroller. My sister is reluctant to wake him for dinner since he's never missed a nap. So they head for home and the Mai's head up I-80 towards Sacramento with eyes peeled for a decent restaurant.

We get stuck in traffic. I-80 up north is like our SR-91 down south: always clogged with traffic at the dumbest times. We spy a mall and pull in, heading for a Mimi's Cafe.

Never. Never. NEVER eat out at a restaurant after spending all day at a theme park. Holy cow. The kids were a mess. We're getting to that stage with Malia where eating out (in public) is a thing of the past. She throws food (and unfortunately she's got really good aim), wants down to wander around, stands up in her high chair, crawls on the table, bangs her utensils on the table. We've become ONE OF THOSE FAMILIES. Suffice it to say that we ate as quickly as possible and left a huge tip to compensate for the mess and destruction.

Back on the road again and it was a trip down memory lane. I-80 was a well traveled road for us back in the college days. From visiting my family to camping trips to volleyball tournaments - we knew every inch of that road.

We get to our hotel and it's 7:45pm'ish. Pretty late for a day with no nap for Kael. And you could tell. The kid was AMPED up. My gosh! He could not walk anywhere to save his life. Everything was at a dead run. And in our room, he jumped from the arm chair to one full bed to the next bed and back again. Naked. (Of course he's naked - when is he ever not naked??) We finally get them bathed and settled in bed. I will admit to using pharmaceuticals to help: Tylenol for Malia's teething and Hyland's Calms Forte 4 Kids for calming both of them down. Truong is now asking to incorporate these items into the kids' daily diet.

Next morning, we head out to visit Truong's brother Thien, Maureen and their new baby, Ronan (17 days old). He is an exact replica of Thien - except cute. Kael was so excited to meet his new cousin (that was all he talked about) - until he realized Ronan was too little to play with. His attention then switched to their dog Hobbes. Between him and Malia, all I have to say is: poor dog.

We spent a very nice relaxing day with the new family with a trip to the park, the hotel pool, dinner, and the mall. Looking at Ronan makes me want to have another -- until I see the food Malia's thrown at Truong slide down his chest and Kael demanding to eat something that's not listed on the menu -- and then I get reality slapped at me in the face. For now I'll enjoy what I have and satisfy my baby urges by holding theirs.

And that concluded our very fast trip up north. Roundtrip, we logged over 1,000 miles from Thursday 3:30am till Sunday. Next time, THEY come visit US.