Trip to California

Last week, we flew to California to visit Elvin's parents and brother's family.  After quickly packing, we were off to the airport on Friday.  Even more than the airplane, the girls really enjoyed the shuttle ride from the park-n-ride to the airport.  They really liked it.

On the plane, we brought a bunch of activities for them to do and treats for them to help with the air pressure in their ears.  The girls did fine, of course.

Thank goodness, the plane was only half full, so Elvin and Gabriel had a whole row to themselves.  This was very convenient as it was hard to contain our little bundle of energy.  He was everywhere and into everything.  He also spilled a bunch of water onto a seat--luckily the water spilled onto the seat and not someone's lap.  Overall, Gabriel did great for his first flight ever!

 When we got to Elvin's parent's house, the kids really enjoyed the toys that were set out for them.

 Eliana, our little book worm, didn't play as much with the toys but stuck to reading books.

The next morning, we hung out and had an early dim sum lunch.  The girls didn't eat a huge variety of things but Karina did wolf down 4 steamed dumplings call shao-long-bao.  Gabriel didn't come along because this was during this nap time.

Then we headed off to a park and petting zoo called Happy Hollow.  Karina was tired and fell asleep on the way there.  Eliana entered the park with Elvin's parents while Elvin stayed in the van to let Karina sleep.

After waking up, Karina really enjoyed riding the merry go round.  She picked the zebra to ride on because it had (fake) colored jewels on its side.

 Then we visited the goats.  Karina wanted to feed them but was afraid that they would bite her fingers.

 After that, the girls wanted to get on the rides.  They specifically requested the "lady bug" ride by name.

 Then they went onto this ride with the police cars and fire cars.

 And then we were off to a huge play structure.  Karina did really well climbing on the cargo net.

 Eliana had fun riding on a race track on a bicycle-like contraption.

And then we made our way back to the merry-go-round.  Eliana wanted to ride on the dolphin but that was taken already.  So she had to settle for the manatee.  Not as sleek, but it did have pretty jewels on its harness.

 We thought Gabriel would enjoy riding on the merry-go-round too, but he didn't like it one bit.  He wriggled and whined until we got him off.

And we went back to the petting section.  We got more food to feed them; looks like one of the goats was hungry!  Eliana later said that the goats were her favorite part of the trip.

That evening, we went to Elvin's brother's house for dinner.  It was also a birthday celebration for Elliot, our nephew, who was turning three!  They had a basketball hoop, which Gabriel thought was really fun.

 Elliot is quite an expert shot with the basketball.  Karina had fun, too.

 Here are the kids singing happy birthday…  Eliana could hardly wait to sink her teeth into the cake.

 Gabriel really enjoyed riding in this little car, especially when Yeh-yeh was willing to push him.

The next day, on Sunday, the kids spent the morning at the park.  This park had a swing set with long chains, which means that the girls got to go very high and very fast!  Karina especially, loves the swing and spent about 20 minutes on it.

 Eliana had fun playing chase with Aunt Sue.

In the afternoon, we hung out at Elvin's parents home and the girls had fun dipping their feet into the icy cold pool.  Poor Gabriel had to look on from behind the fencing that separates the pool from the rest of the yard.

Karina also enjoyed dipping her feet into the frigid water.

After losing interest in the pool, Gabriel walked around to see if there was anything else to do.  And at last, he found a new toy!  There was one of those signs that the company that installs home alarm systems staked into the ground.  He pulled it right up and enjoyed playing with it.  He mostly pretended it was a vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the backyard with it.

The girls found a little lemon tree in the backyard…

...and helped themselves to a lemon.

They had fun decorating the lemons with a Sharpie pen.

That afternoon, we decided to go out for Shave Ice since this is something you generally don't find in Vancouver.

We got a huge mountain of lychee shave ice.  It had condensed milk on top and mochi on the side.  Much to our surprise and dismay, he girls didn't really like it, for some reason.  Gabriel had fun playing with it, but didn't eat it much either.  Elvin ended up eating most of it and was very cold by the end.

That evening, we had take out from a Chinese restaurant.  Here is Gabriel filling his mouth with fried rice.

After dinner, the kids played some more.  Eliana played ball with Elliott for a long time.  After a while she pulled the stool over to sit on because she said her legs were tired from standing.

The two boys played together a little.  Although most of the time, Gabriel coveted Elliott's toys and tried snatching them.

Elvin's brother brought over a mini-slide for the kids to play with.  They loved it and it appealed to all of our kids, not matter what age.

The next day, on Monday, Elliott and Aunt Sue came over again in the morning.  After playing around a little, Eliana put on a recital to show Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai the pieces that she had learned from taking piano lessons.  She played about four songs and it took about 4 minutes.

After lunch, Gabriel took a nap and we headed off to Yogurtland, which the girls loved.  But we called it "Ice cream land" because the girls don't like yogurt and wouldn't eat it if they found out that it was actually frozen yogurt.  Karina picked out the pink (strawberry) flavor plus vanilla.  Eliana chose chocolate.

The toppings were great--lots to choose from.

As you can see, the girls got gummy bears, sour worms, sprinkles, and chocolate chips amongst other things.

That afternoon, we headed off to the airport.  The girls gave lots of big goodbye hugs.

And again, we lucked out--the plane was less than 2/3 full.  So we had two whole rows for our family again.  With lots of snacks, activities, and candy later, we landed back home!