Wednesday, Dec. 27, Japanese Tea Garden and the Ride Back Home

On our last day in San Francisco, we decided to stop by the Japanese Tea Garden before driving back home. I thought it looked prettier in the summer than in the winter. I had gone there 3 years ago in the summer when everything was greener, the leaves hadn't fallen all into the ponds, and there was also fish in the ponds. It was still nice, but not as nice as before. We had to carry Thomas' stroller across some of the rocky bridges with cracks. It was as if he was a king!

We started driving back home afterwards. This time we didn't take the scenic route and had taken the 5 freeway all the way home. It rain on the way home and there was also some traffic during rush hour. We were all so tired but very happy when we finally reached home. It had been a great trip all in all.

Tuesday, Dec. 26, Palace of Fine Arts, Exploratorium, and my Mom's Friend's House

We started the day off at the Palace of Fine Arts. There was a huge lake next to the sculpted building. It was very beautiful and peaceful there. I would like to spread a blanket and take a nap there during the summer time. There was some excitement when Tony had gotten near the lake next to one of the swans, and the swan had started pecking Tony! Sarah was tired and sat down next to one of the huge poles to rest.

Then we went to the Exploratorium. It's similar to a science project fair. The kids loved it because the experiments are hands-on.

It started to rain in the afternoon and we didn't want to take the bus to the Steinhardt Aquarium, so we went back to the hotel for the car. After reaching the hotel, we were all too tired to go back out, so we stayed in our rooms until the evening.

That evening, we went to my mom's friend's house. It's a 3-story building with lots of huge rooms. The house is worth over $1 million! We had dinner there and sat around talking. Thomas started crying so much, throwing one of his fits, so we had to end the day.

Monday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day, Fort Point, A Drive Across San Francisco Bridge, the Crooked Street, and San Francisco Park

Most of the places were closed on Christmas day. We went to Fort Point to take some pictures of the San Francisco Bridge. It was very cold and windy. We had Thomas all bundled up. We had a great time staring out into the ocean and looking at the famous bridge. We also drove across the bridge and back. There's a toll fee of $5 per car, but we didn't have to pay because we had fast track.

Then we drove down the Crooked Street. It's at the top of the hill, going downwards, and the road turns back and forth, thus the name the Crooked Street.

Afterwards, we went to San Francisco Park. It was very pretty there. Tony decided to lay down for a while, and my niece (Sarah) saw and copied him.

We wanted to go to the Japanese Tea Garden, but we were all so tired. It was also getting very windy and looked like it was about to rain. We rode the bus back to our hotel, and my brother-in-law (Hung), my nephew (Kevin), and Tony went in search of food. They took the bus all the way to the pier, took the cable car around, and jumped on the bus back to the hotel looking for food, but it turned out most of the restaurants were closed. We ended up ordering food from downstairs our hotel. Tony said that when we first rode the bus and the cable car, he didn't really like it because he was so worried about Thomas. However, that night, when he rode with just Hung and Kevin, he said he really enjoyed it. He said that he felt like a kid again.

Sunday, Dec. 24, a walk along the Piers, Cruise Ship, Aquarium of the Bay, the Legion of Honor, and Chinatown

On early Sunday morning, we took a long walk from the Opal Hotel to the pier. Luckily the route we took was going mostly downhills! I don't think we would have made it going uphills. Next, we went on the cruise ship, going past the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. We heard from our mom's friend that they are planning to paint the Golden Gate Bridge soon to the color yellow, to match the color with its name. I don't think the bridge will stand out that much with the color yellow!

After the cruise, we went to the Aquarium of the Bay. Thomas loved it there! We were underwater, and Thomas was all stretching his neck out of his stroller, looking at all the fish under the sea. He loves looking at fish, and his eyes were wide awake throughout this.

Afterwards, we took the cable car and the bus to the Legion of Honor, where we looked at some paintings and sculptures. We weren't allowed to use our flash on the camera, so the pictures there didn't turn out so well.

We had our dinner in Chinatown. The food there wasn't so great, and they had messed up our order. When we were almost finished with our meal, Thomas made a big dump! He had poo-poo all over his back! I had to changed his clothing, and it stank so much! When we went back to our hotel, I had to wash him, wash his pants and shirt, clean his diaper changing pad, and clean his car seat. Also, somehow some of his milk had spilled out into his milk bag, so I had to clean his bag too. I had a lot of cleaning to do and I was so tired by the end of the day. It had been a very long day for me!

Saturday, Dec. 23, The Road Trip to San Francisco

We left with my sisters, their family, and my parents for San Francisco early Saturday morning at 6 a.m. We took 2 minivan. We had started traveling on the PCH, which was the scenic route. The other car didn't take the scenic route after Hearst Castle. They had stopped by Hearst Castle and stayed there for about 2 hours. Our car stopped by there too, but we didn't enter Hearst Castle, and had left before them. After Hearst Castle, we had continued on the scenic route, and parts of the route was very curvy, high, and narrow, with the ocean view beneath us. It was really nice, but scary, looking down below us. We all were feeling a little dizzy from the view. We called the other car and warned them about continuing on the scenic route, so they took the 101 after Hearst Castle. We were traveling along the edge of California, so the route was really long. We didn't arrive to our hotel until around 4 p.m., and that was with several stops on the way. The other car arrived about 40 minutes after us. We were all so tired from the road trip. The first thing Thomas did was laid on his belly and watched TV! He was the only one not tired because he had slept throughout most of the trip! We called for pizza delivery to our rooms that first night.

Friday night, Dec. 22, Christmas Presents Opening

We had Thomas open his presents on Friday night, since we wouldn't be home for Christmas. He received some money, gift cards, lots of new clothes, and some new toys. He liked all his gifts. A special thank you to all his aunts and uncles and grandparents for all his gifts!

A Merry Christmas message

Click here to watch a Merry Christmas message from Tony!

Flowers for me!

I received flowers and chocolate from Tony and Thomas for Christmas today. They're sent early since we won't be home for Christmas this year. The picture with Thomas and the single rose looks like he's saying, "Look, Mommy! I got this for you!"

Thank you, Tony and Thomas! The flowers are very pretty and smells wonderful! I love them! Merry Christmas to both of you too! I love you guys!

Thomas' 6 months check-up

Thomas went to his 6 months check up this morning. His current weight is 17 lbs, 15 oz, and he's 27" tall with a head circumference of 17-1/2". Since his skin still has the rashes, the doctor told me to try giving him Nutramigen formula to drink for a week. This formula is a division of Enfamil, but it's for babies with colic. She also said not to feed him any rice cereal or anything for this week so that we can make sure he's not allergic to this formula.

Thomas had 2 of his immunization shots today, along with a flu shot. He has to go back for his second flu shot in one month. He also had some blood test done on him to see whether he's allergic to cow's milk, soy milk, or rice cereal. He cried only a little when he got his immunization shots, but he was crying so loud when the nurse was getting his blood for the allergic tests. She had a hard time finding his vein, so she poked the needle into him about 3 or 4 times before she was able to draw out some blood. He was screaming and I felt like shoving the nurse aside and holding him in my arms! I was so relieved when she was done. They will have the results in one week.

I also had to buy some Benadryl for him. The doctor said it will help reduce his itching. His two elbows are so scarred from him scratching himself. I hope he will get better and all his rashes and itches will go away soon!

Christmas Shopping

We went shopping yesterday morning...it was so crowded at the stores! We were going to go to the park to take some pictures, but it was too windy and cold when we got there. We took some more pictures with our Christmas tree instead.

We also went to Thomas' grandmother's house to eat some hot pot soup, which was perfect because of the cold weather. Tony's oldest sister also made a type of Asian noodle soup called bun bo hue, which was really good. Tim and Uyen ate only a little and then they had to leave for their friend's wedding, so they missed out on some great soup. A little excitement occurred when they accidentally locked their bedroom door and had left their keys in the room. Everyone was running around trying to find a way to open the door. Tim and Uyen were late, so they left for the wedding. We finally found a spare key to open the door.

It started raining while we were there, and continued raining on and off through the night. It's getting colder and colder each night. I've been wearing thermals for Thomas, but he hates it probably because of the material. At least it's keeping him warm at night!