Thanksgiving Trip - Part I

So here we are, freezing our butts off in the Bay Area. It's cold here. Really cold. Five years in Southern California has really thinned out my skin. It doesn't help that my mom likes to keep all the windows open, regardless of the weather. We woke up to the house at just above freezing.

OK. Maybe that's an exaggeration. But still... 60 degrees in the morning, indoors is close enough to freezing water for me. I cranked up the heater to a comfortable 68 and everyone complained about how hot the house was. Hello! They are all dressed up like eskimos with 4 layers plus a jacket. AND my mom actually had on mittens. Sheesh.

Sunday was spent at the San Fransico Zoo where we (with my sister's family) met up with our college friend Jimmy Ip and his family. It was great seeing them as it had been a while since we saw them in person as opposed to chatting in cyberspace. Jimmy and Emily also have 2 kids, just a bit younger than ours: Audrey is 3.5 years old and Brian is 13 months. However, since we both had 2 kids to handle, we didn't get a chance to really chat and catch up. We spent more time catching up to the kids as they all sort of scattered in different directions once we entered the park. Kael was a stroller hound and didn't want to walk but felt right at home being the backseat driver. Malia refused the ride in the stroller so getting from Point A to Point B took a really long time. I really liked that she wanted to walk everywhere but after exploring every single leaf, every single twig, and every single spot of bird poop on the ground in front of her, I just wanted to be able to head a clear direction, somewhere. Anywhere.

The kids went full speed ahead at the zoo and konked out almost immediately on the car ride home. It was nice to see actual sleeping kids. It gave me hope that they still had that ability.

On Monday and Tuesday we spent the day at my sister's house in Fremont. Monday we went to a really cool indoor water playground complete with slides, playground pool equipment, etc. It's hard to explain, but try to imagine a Wild Rivers or Raging Waters type set-up, but indoors. And for just $7. It was really neat. The kids loved it and despite the water not being heated (burrr!) they didn't want to get out. Malia would come to me to dry off and warm up, wrapped in a baby burrito, and then fight her way out of the towel to jump back in the pool to Truong. The pool was only 3' deep so it was perfect for Kael and his cousins. We finally dragged the kids out after a couple of hours (when I noticed Malia's lips were turning blue!) and we headed back to my sister's for naps and dinner.

Tuesday Truong ended up renting a car to head into Walnut Creek for work so I drove back to my sister's so the kids could spend another day together. Single momming is hard enough at home but doing it while not on my home turf is even worse. We decided to take the kids to the park to have a picnic lunch and to let them blow off steam at the playground. I packed lunches for both my kids and my sister asked why didn't I pack one for me. I told her I wouldn't have time to eat it. She looked puzzled but didn't push. We get to the park and set up the picnic. Jarod and Collin (her boys) sit down quietly and start eating their lunch. Kael is jumping around, kicking up the blanket, tracking shoe prints all over and knocking plates over. Malia takes off down the hill towards the pond where about 100 ducks, geese and seagulls are hanging out. Think about how much poop a 100 birds make and you'll understand why I dropped everything and raced off after her. Plus it was downhill so she started picking up speed and momentum. I didn't want her to face plant in a nice squishy mound of bird poo. I snatch her back and got Kael to sit down long enough to start lunch before she took off again. And that was pretty much how the picnic lunch went: reminding Kael to eat in between chasing down Malia. My sister watched our comedy act and said: "OK I see why you didn't pack a lunch. I don't think you should have three kids. The two you have now can't sit still and there's no way you could do three unless you grew another set of arms."

For once, I have to agree with her, 100%.