Che Che Che

Trung got home early from work and ten minutes after he got home, we were out the door and on our way to Orange County.  We decided to eat at Brodard (over Boiling Crab) and tried a new che (a Vietnamese dessert) place next door.  We took the tasty drinks to go and arrived at Mike's place just as Alexis was being put to bed.  We all just hung out for a bit before we put our own kids to sleep and stayed up until 11 watching New Year's Eve celebrations on TV.  Never thought I'd see MC Hammer doing the Gangnam Style, but it sure was entertaining.  No fireworks, besides the ones we heard from Disneyland about five miles away, or champagne this year, guess we must be getting old.  :P

 The che lineup

So tasty and refreshing

While on Winter Break...

 Making noisemakers for New Year's at the library

We always have time for an afternoon treat

The hard life of a kid

 Eating ice cream while watching a movie

Some serious singing (and jumping)

Happy Holidays!

Another free ecard by Smilebox

Not your typical Christmas Day

After having Mimi's Cafe muffins for breakfast, we hit the pool again.  We were greeted by resort employees offering hot (warm, really) chocolate and stockings filled with goodies for the kids.  The water slide was open, so Trung and Lydia rode on it a few times, and then spent the rest of the time swimming around in the pool.  After showering and packing, we had happy hour at a nearby restaurant and then were homeward bound.  We arrived in Santa Monica right around dinner time and hit another happy hour at Wokcano, the only restaurant that I called that was open.  As soon as we got home, the kids took of their shoes and ran straight to the tree to open the rest of their presents; they seemed pretty happy with everything that they got.

 Sophie spent the bulk of the pool time at this wading pool, thoroughly enjoying herself by leaping into the water

Big splash, thanks to Daddy

We still don't know where this gift came from

Presents, presents, everywhere

My little actress

Major karaoking...we're talking "Old King Cole" and "ABC's song"

Joining the masses

 Since we didn't have anything planned for our stay in Palm Springs, we decided to hit the outlet that we saw along the way the other day.  After breakfast at Mimi's Cafe, we drove to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets, where I think everyone in town was gathered for the day.  We managed to find a couple great deals, but didn't last long because the kids kept complaining of boredom and hunger.  The food court was pretty sad for a huge outlet, so went to McDonald's instead...yes, that's how bad the food court was!  After a quick bite to eat, we headed back to the hotel and hung out at the pool and our room (and the free cable) for the rest of the day.

 

 Still can't get over all the windmills and the mountains

 The view from our McDonald's booth

 

 Everyone looks sleepy

 

 Finally, what the girls have been waiting for....the pool!

Like father, like daughter

Palm Springs

Our San Diego friends Sabrina and Robin got a great deal for a week's stay at the Westin in Palm Springs, but since they already had plans to be in Las Vegas for a couple days of that week, they invited us to stay there for those days.  We had unofficial plans to go tubing at Mt. Baldy Christmas eve and a chili dinner gathering at our house for Christmas, but we were able to postpone both plans.  Also, Mike's family caught a stomach bug, which canceled plans for Orange County on Saturday, so we stayed in town and just hung out before leaving for Palm Springs on Sunday.

 

 The girls got to open one gift each before we left.

 Cool owl headphones for Lydia

 Adorable Disney princess figurines for Sophie

 Picture with the free gingerbread house I got for posting a yelp review for UCLA Family Commons.

 I have never seen so many windmills (on the way to Palm Springs)...southside

 Northside

The kids playing around with the timeshare talk equipment.

 

Our dinner cost $16 with tax and tip (thanks to Restaurant.com) and there was enough leftovers for dinner the next day!

My Friday in Pictures

 Marcia Cross (right), Madeleine Stowe (back corner), & Brian Benben (across from Madeline) at Caffe Luxxe.  Susan and I met later than usual and hit the jackpot!  Brian and Madeline even talked to us about Texas and holiday plans as they were leaving!

 

 Lydia's class Christmas party

 

Juliet, Sophie, and Lydia

 

 The girls posing with the lovely Christmas tree at the Fairmont Hotel after Happy Hour at The Fig

Our little ham

Sophie's preschool class had a mini-Christmas performance today.  Sophie has been practicing all week and was really looking forward to this event.  The kids sang "Rudolph" and "Jingle Bells", accompanied by bells every now and then.  Afterwards, they had a little party, though Trung and I had to jet so that he could make it back for a meeting.  Soo cute!

 

 Sophie's afternoon Washington West class

 I didn't realize that she would put her hands in her pockets pretty much the entire time

 "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" never sounded this good

 Daddy made a rare appearance

A few touches

 This morning, Sophie had a play date with her classmate Dominic.  We picked him up at 10 AM and headed to Santa Monica Place so that I could run a couple of errands.  Fortunately, every place I went to had a TV or entertainment of some sort, so the kids were happily occupied.

 Watching video clips at The Disney Store

 Sophie loves her umbrella; I guess she's sheltering herself and Dominic from the sun since the rains have passed.  Not sure if Dominic was posing or not. 

The girls were so excited about decorating the Christmas tree after school.  And in case you're wondering, we did add more lights.  :)

High school reunion

 It's been forever since I've overslept, and of course, it had to be on the morning I was going to meet up with three other high school friends.  We were to meet at 11 and I woke up at 10:40!  I felt like a college student all over again!  So, I called Stacey to let her know that I was going to be late and made it to Amandine Patisserie in record time.  My friends were actually still standing around waiting for a table and we happened to snag one just moments after I arrived.  I hadn't seen Jennifer, who is one year behind the rest of us, since graduating high school.  Sarah, I met up in New York City in the summer of '11 when we were around for Trung's family reunion.  I ran into Stacey last year after Sophie's Learning through Play class one day and we've been to lunch a couple times since then.  Hopefully we can make this a regular thing!

 Sarah, Stacey, me, and Jennifer

 Sarah followed me home to see the girls real quick before heading home for a party.  We used to be best buds in high school and even went to prom together (I set her up with her date!)  After she left, I got the family ready to head over to Weiru's place.  Last weekend, we watched the first two Lord of the Rings movies, and today we watched the final installment in preparation for The Hobbit.  I realized that I didn't remember a lot of scenes, but then again, we were watching the extended versions and some of it was probably new.

 One of the girls sneaking a picture of Legolas, can't say I blame her.  :P

 The girls have been asking for a Christmas tree, so we finally decided to get one now since weekdays are also crazy.  It was rainy and muddy, but we found a great tree and the girls were excited to bring it home.  Our first live tree...pretty cool!

 Watching our tree getting prepped

 We're finally "that" car with the Christmas tree on top

All things Christmas

 I knew that we had a busy day planned today, so we all slept in this morning to prepare for the day ahead of us.  We skipped breakfast with Santa (again) at the Toyota dealership, and instead decorated cookies with Mrs. Claus at Santa Monica Place.  After some songs and story time, we went back home for lunch.  I prepared a few things for tonight's potluck, which Trung finished up, while I took the girls to an open class for a new dance class to see if they liked the teacher.  Miss Kai was very nice and seemed to interact well with the kids.  I think I'll get the living social deal for Sophie for 4 classes for $25 and see how it goes.  Lydia isn't really into dance and I'm still trying to find her niche. 

When we got home, I got all the potluck stuff together and we walked over to Tom and Jessica's place.  We did Secret Santa for the kids and a White Elephant exchange for the adults, which was quite amusing.  About half the participants gave gang gifts, but Trung and I both managed to get useful gifts...a container full of biscotti and a reusable Starbucks cold beverage cup with treats. 

 Decorating ginormous gingerbread cookies

 Hey look, Mrs. Claus!

 Stretching with Miss Kai

 Head rolls

 Sophie's lolling tongue

 Galloping like a horse

 

All the kids ready to unwrap their gifts

Studio to Studio

 Lydia's extra work has been picking up a little, which is great for the experience, but not for her school attendance.  I was planning on letting her "work" at most once a month, but two jobs ago, it was a show that I regularly watched and I couldn't pass that up, and the job today, she was the only extra and was picture picked (the show selected her based on her picture).  The sets do school grade school aged kids for three hours per day every time, but apparently it doesn't matter to Lydia's school because they don't even want the school report that the set teacher provides us to turn in.  According to the parent teacher conference, Lydia is doing just fine in class and has in no way fallen behind from her absences.  But...the principal is the one who signs the renewal form for the work permit and if she sees all those absences, she may not sign the next one.  No work permit means no work.  Looks like I'm going to have to be more picky on the jobs, but Lydia sure does enjoy it (mainly in what craft services provides for lunch).  :P

 Working on an ABC show on a rainy day

The little boy, who got the extras job because his mom works on the Nickelodeon show, got scared and wouldn't stay on set, so Lydia got to be the only kid in the scene.  She did everything that she was told too; I'd like to think that "working" has helped her follow instructions better.  :)

Tron, what have you become?

Guro put together a Tron-themed surprise birthday party for her husband, Trond this afternoon and it was a success!  Trond was completely surprised, despite helping to make some of the food.  :P  Trung and I also parked our minivan right in front of the building with our bright blue "Roosevelt Elementary" license plate frame, but thankfully, Trond didn't notice it.  The party was held in Playa Vista, where I first met Guro at a "mommy and me" event just two years ago, boy does time fly!

"Tron" written out with chopsticks and soy sauce

Trung and Yuji, one of the hosts

Surprise!  Uh, where is he?

Blowing out the candles, take two

Such teamwork!  Its reminds me of cutting a wedding cake!

Breakfast with Santa

Santa Monica Place hosted a breakfast with Santa event, where all the little kids ate to their heart's content.  There was also craft and face painting stations, oh, and of course a visit from Santa.  All this was free!  Man, I love this city!

We welcome you to Lollipop Land

Dollar-sized pancakes, a tree of doughnut holes, and bagels were just a few of the yummy breakfast items.

Making snowman lanterns