Spring Break Wrap-up

I hope everyone had a great Spring Break -- we sure did! The kids had a great time with all their Northern California relatives. We made the drive up in less than 5 hours with one gas stop so that was nice. The first day was a little off because G'parents weren't home (funeral in Sacramento), Dad had to take a conference call at 9:00am then head off to Walnut Creek for work until 6:00pm, and all the cousins were in school. I was dead tired so I couldn't wait for naptime.

The next day we headed to Gilroy Gardens, a small family amusement park where 95% of the rides are geared towards kids 10 years and younger. It was just the 4 of us so we had a very nice family outing. The kids enjoyed the park as they were able to ride almost every ride. Malia started wilting at about 3:00pm so I decided to take out my wrap to wear her so she could sleep. I hadn't wrapped her in months since she's so insistent on walking everywhere but when she saw the wrap this time, she couldn't wait to hop on and snuggle in. She fell asleep in about 10 minutes. Some strange woman accosted me and asked: "That wrap -- does it work for you?"
I was so confused: "What do you mean 'does it work' for me?" What the hell was she talking about? I was wearing it, wasn't I?!
Then she said: "Is it comfortable? Does your baby like it?"
Well duh, lady! Do you see my baby sleeping in it?! She was so odd. I swear I get all the weirdos after me whenever I wear my kid. We finally left the park at 5:00pm to head for home. The kids slept great that night.

Saturday we visited Truong's side of the family in Santa Cruz. We have a new nephew (Son, Thai's brother) born just 2 weeks ago so this was to be our first visit. Malia about blew a gasket when she saw me holding Son (she freaked out enough for Truong to insist that I return the baby to his rightful mother before Malia had a heart attack). She eventually got over her anxiety and went back to bothering Kael and Thai, thus allowing me to enjoy holding a wee tiny baby. I've forgotten how small babies are when they first come out! We spent the rest of the day at the local playground and beach. We finally left at 4:00pm after Malia's nap on Ingrid, transferred to Trieu, transferred to G'ma. She was so dead tired she didn't even notice they were playing Musical Baby with her. Again, the kids slept great that night.

Sunday morning the cousins came over (Jarod, Amelie and Colin) and we all headed over to the park for a picnic. Unfortunately, the early Easter crowed claimed every square inch of the park so we had no place to set up. The kids played for a bit there and then they decided that they wanted to eat lunch at a McDonald's with a playground. They had a better time going up and down the one slide at McD's than they did on the playground equipment at the park. Go figure. Malia climbed up after Kael in the structure at McD's and got stuck, not wanting to go down the tunnel slide, but not wanting to go back down either. Truong was sent up to retrieve her and almost got stuck himself. That evening we had a family BBQ with about 32 family members (immediate and extended) where my cousin said I looked "a little fatter, but that's good since I was always so skinny."

Oh. Great. Thanks.

Moving on... once again the kids slept great. I'm seeing a trend. Late nap for Malia (no nap for Kael) + nonstop activity + late nights = great bedtime sleep. Remember that Malia's sleeping in the closet by herself and she's not making a single peep the entire night until morning!

Monday we headed back to Gilroy Gardens with my sister's family. We bought a season pass so with the 2 trips, we more than made up the cost. We did this on purpose so now there's no pressure to come back later (we're so thrifty). Kids had an awesome time. I'm glad we were able to go first with just our family as Kael got a different kind of enjoyment out of the second trip with his cousins.

Unfortunately we had to cut our trip short as Truong had a few emergencies at work he had to attend to (he had to be in the office Tuesday afternoon). Rather than drive Tuesday morning, be on the road all day then ditch me and the kids when we got home to head into work, we decided it was best to drive Monday night at 8:00pm (after Gilroy Gardens, after our last dinner with the family) and get home around 2:00am. We'd be able to sleep for about 5 hours before the kids woke up, Truong would be home in the morning to help unpack the car and then head into work when the kids napped.

Saying goodbye was hard as usual. Kael didn't want to leave and begged and cried to stay a little bit longer. He kept saying he wasn't ready to leave. It was really heartbreaking. He was really upset and there was nothing I could say to ease his misery. Eventually the kids fell asleep and we made it home by 1:30am.

I gorged myself as usual but this time we had a cooler that my mom packed with food, so I've been able to continue the engorgement at home (it's been great). The last supper we had in San Jose, my mom made my favorite dishes and I made sure to eat slowly so I wouldn't get too full too fast. It's a little scary that I planned it all out. I ate so much that my mom eventually took away the food from under my nose saying that I was eating too much. Can you believe that?? She took away my food as I was eating it!! My cousin's words haunt me, but I'm ignoring it. Besides, I'll lose the weight once I go back to eating my own "cooking."

Pictures are up but it's not much since we were too busy and I forgot to haul out the camera. (Truong would say that I was too busy eating -- humpff, whatever!)