Newport Beach

We woke up unusually early this Sunday morning for a fun day in Newport Beach with the Hsueh family.  First we had breakfast at our favorite place, The Beachcomber Cafe, which happened to be only five minutes away from the Villas where Sabrina and Robin were staying.  After a breakfast of champions, we met the Hsueh's for a few hours of basketball, swimming, and just plain old relaxing.  Lydia and Sophie have missed being in the pool since swim classes ended a couple weeks back, so they were overjoyed to be playing in the water again...and with Daddy!  Thanks, Sabrina and Robin for inviting us to hang out at the amazing resort!

Sophie wanted to hold Trung's hand on the shuttle ride to Beachcomber Cafe

 Lovely cafe with an ocean view, what more could you ask for?  Beignents!

A quick pic before digging in

The great view of the ocean from the resort

Lydia and Ava were happy to see each other again

Sophie chugging up the hill while the guys play basketball (far left)

Miniature golf for the mini girls

Water fun at the hot tub

All ready for summer

I said "cheese", Sophie went "smooch"

Here's a close-up of that kissy flower

All smiles at Newport Beach Villas

Sipping and thinking

Ava, Lydia, and Sophie

Getting all cleaned up

Exhaustion hits

Perfect time to nap while waiting for our table at The Boiling Crab

The damage done after 2 pounds of crawfish, 1 pound of shrimp, and 2 clusters of snow crab legs

 A "little" gift for Alexis

Lydia and Trung meet Alexis for the first time

 

Trung is ready for Baby #3...just kidding.  :P

Cherry Mania

We went to Amber's Farm about an hour and a half drive from Santa Monica this morning to go cherry picking for the first time.  I never thought I could get sick of eating cherries, but today, I did.  I think we ended up eating more than we bought, which was just a little over a pound.  Afterwards, we drove to Lake Elizabeth and had a little picnic.  The kids ran around carefree while the adults just took it all in.  What a fun time!

  

 

 Ready to pick cherries

Hidden amongst the cherries

  

"This one looks good"

  

Ohhhh....ewwww

 

Taking a little break from all that eating

Whee!

Tia, Tai, Sophie

 

The farm was very kid-friendly with playscapes and slides

 

Lake Elizabeth

 

Here comes Lydia!

Starting a "fire"

Jeni's Seattle Send-off

Tonight we had a farewell dinner for Jeni before she moves to Seattle on Wednesday.  Her daughter twin Maggie is in Lydia's kindergarten class and we have gotten to know each other pretty well this school year.  She and her family will definitely be missed!

me, Priti, Holly (Lydia's teacher), Marissa, Elizabeth, Jeni, & Bronwyn

I'll miss Jeni's sense of humor

Alexis is here!

Mike called me this morning to inform me that Alexis had arrived!  With a busy week and weekend planned, the only time for me to visit was this morning, but Mike thought Minji would be too tired for visitors.  I was a bit bummed because I wanted to see them at the hospital and the next time we could visit was on Sunday.  Fortunately, by the time I dropped Lydia off at school and walked home, Mike had talked to Minji and she said that I was welcome to visit, so off Sophie and I went to Irvine, but not before running several errands.  We finally arrived around one and got to spend a good hour talking with Mike and Minji and enjoying all the cuteness that is Alexis.    

 Alexis Ruth Lee

Mike has been marked with love

Lunching on Vietnamese sandwiches

Mike and his baby girl

Aw....

My new niece!

After our brief visit, we picked up Lydia and Trung and headed to dance class for the girls' last session.  Sophie was exhausted from the morning excitement and didn't want to participate for half the class.  Deja vu.  * sigh*  

Stretching

Hopping hula hoops

Sophie joined for this exercise

Leaping over a "river"

 

 Sophie preferred to watch than perform on stage

 

But she'll pose for a picture any day.  :P

After class, we went straight to Westside Pavilion Mall to stand in line for the free screening of Brave.  It was our first time going to a screening in LA, so I thought it would be fun since Trung was already off of work too!  The first hour went by pretty fast while we ate dinner and went to the restroom.  The second hour seemed like forever, but we made it and the kids enjoyed the movie overall.  As always, there was a scary part that they didn't care for, but we got great seats and we enjoyed a fun evening together as a family at the movies.

Natural History Museum

 Today, right after picking Lydia up to school, I took the girls to the Natural History Museum for their last free Tuesday before the summer.  We met Patti, Cady, and their friends and walked around the museum for a bit before viewing the Butterfly Pavilion.  The girls were mainly interested in the interactive machines, pressing buttons here and there at every exhibit, but they got really excited when we got to the North American animals section.  They would run to each animal scene and yell out the animal name or ask me what it was was.  I think this totally beats the zoo because half the time the animals are sleeping or in the shadows.  Sophie was scared of the butterflies at the pavilion, probably because they reminded her of the bee that stung Lydia, but Lydia really wanted a butterfly to land on her.  These butterflies weren't really "friendly", so Lydia left disappointed, but fascinated by what she had seen.  Little did I know that she had just learned about caterpillars and butterflies at school just the day before!

 The statue in the middle of the beautiful domed foyer

 Checking out the cheetah

 Always at the interactive machines

 Wooly mammoth

 Sophie's bones weigh a whopping 8 pounds!

 Our first time at this museum

 

Hanging butterfly cut-outs

 All Lydia did was point at butterflies, every single one of them.  :P

 Taking a break, viewing butterflies can be tiring.

Hungry monarch

Play date with Emme

Today we went to April's house so her daughter Emme and my girls could have a playdate; Emme goes to school with Sophie, but is as tall as Lydia.  She had tons of toys and dress-up clothes, so the two hours went by very quickly.  Lydia and Sophie didn't even ask for a snack, which is rare indeed!

 

Toys toys everywhere!

My posing mermaid.

Roosevelt Summer Carnival

 Lydia's school held their annual summer carnival and we came out for a couple of hours to support the school.  We had a simple hamburger lunch and walked around checking out all the booths and games.  It's always hard spending any money at these kinds of events since we have Disneyland annual passes, but we let the girls each play a couple games before we quickly left to avoid further complaining.

 Roosevelt's big yard transformed into a carnival

 Winning big on Plinko

 

Rewarded with strands of colorful "hair"