San Fran...Day 8

Our last day here in San Fran. We decided to try the California Academy of Sciences. Marie, Martin and Dylan came out with us. The place has an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum and a four-story rain forest all in one.

We went through the rain forest first which slowly spiraled up the four stories. We got to see a bunch of frogs, chameleons, birds and butterflies. A lot of butterflies were flying around. One of them even landed on Joshua's head while we were waiting for the elevator to go back down. I tried to get a picture of it but was too late but somewhere out there, there's a pic of Joshua and the butterfly since I saw someone taking a picture of him.

When we got out of the elevator, we were immediately underneath a glass enclosure with fish and other creatures swimming above our heads. That was pretty interesting.

Joshua and the sharks above

The tunnel led to the Aquarium part of the building. We got to see sharks, many different kids of fish, jellyfish and stingrays. The typical creatures in an Aquarium.

Joshua checking out the jellyfish

Jellyfish in the dark

Finally, it was time to head to the Planetarium where we had gotten reserved tickets when we first got into the place. They were showing Life: A Cosmic Story. Basically how life on Earth came to be. Can't really tell you more because even though I was interested in seeing this, the darkness and the motion sickness and the tiredness led me to fall asleep for a few minutes. It was still good, what I did see.

We walked around a little bit more to check out the Natural History part but it wasn't that great compared to the rest of the building. There was even a cafe where there was fake snow blowing around. No thanks for me, I've had enough of that in WI but I guess the San Fran peeps need their White Christmas. 

After the Academy of Sciences, we headed towards the Cliff House. We walked down to the beach to check out the old swimming pool area called Sutro Baths. We explored a bit then walked back up to the actually Cliff House to see the view. We finally headed back to the car when we saw an old poster of what Sutro Baths used to look like.

In a cove down by the beach

In a cove down by the beach

In a cove down by the beach

Walking through the muddy tunnel

By the old Sutro Baths

Exploring around

The Cliff House and the old Sutro Baths

The old Sutro Baths

What it used to look like

We then headed over to dinner. What's for dinner tonight? 7 course beef meal at a Vietnamese place. But it looked like the place we went to was not open. But never fear, my cousins found another place that did the 7 course beef meal. It was absolutely delicious. We used rice paper to wrap the beef and veggies in. The first course was like a salad. The second course was like a fondue where you put slices of beef into a broth to cook. The third, fourth and fifth were shaped like sausages to wrap in rice paper. The sixth course was like a meatball and finally the seventh and last course was a porridge. By the end, I was so full but we managed to eat it all between the 7 of us. I would love to do that again sometime!

After dinner, we went back to Marie and Jon's place to pack up and rest up. We played a little bit of Mah Jongg before we left and some darts. But the fun had to end sometime. Back to cold Wisconsin we go.

Thanks so much to Marie and Jon for letting us stay at their place during their wedding week and the shuttling around and food. Thanks to Alanna and my Aunts for the delicious food we had all week. Thanks Martin for all the laughter. And thanks Dylan for keeping us company our last two days. WE HAD A LOT OF FUN THIS WEEK!

San Fran...Day 7

Ahhh, finally, a day to rest. Joshua and I really didn't feel like doing anything. Marie had the next few days off to hang out with us but she still had some loose ends to tie up from the weekend. Dylan came over since he had no school and Alanna was at work, so we got to hang out with him. ALONE.

Dylan brought his helicopter over that he got as a gift the day before and was flying that all over. He also brought over the Transformers II to watch. So we watched it. Well, more like...Joshua fell asleep on my lap, Dylan was playing with the helicopter and I was watching the movie. 

Pretty soon, dinner was sneaking up on us. We headed out to a Thai restaurant. Since my brother and sister left, it was just me and Joshua, Marie and Jon, Alanna and Dylan, Martin and my Aunt Mandy. We all picked a dish to share with the table. Everything was so delicious! It's definitely more fun going with more people so then I can try more dishes than the usual two I try when I go out to eat with just Joshua. By the time we left the restaurant, I was so incredibly full I could barely walk.

When we got back to Marie and Jon's place, I thought it would be a quiet night for the rest of the night. Boy was I wrong! Martin and Dylan came over to hang out and were going to stay over. We played some Guitar Hero and some Dance Dance Revolution.

Then Alanna came over. I guess Martin has never really gotten drunk before since he's turned 21. All I know is that a bottle of Jager and Vodka appeared in the kitchen and all of a sudden we were doing shots.

We decided to break out Scrabble and played with teams...Joshua and I, Alanna and Dylan, Marie and Jon, and Martin by himself since we all thought he was the smarty-pants. After 4 shots in a short amount of time, the Scrabble game went crazy. Not so much the game itself but Martin became our entertainment. When they said he's never been drunk before, he was now. He made us laugh and cry and laugh and cry. That is, until things went south with him and we all decided it was best to call it a night.

Martin...drunk as much as he denied it

San Fran...Day 6

We were all pretty tired out from the weekend but no rest for the weary. We all woke up the next morning, the newlyweds including, rearing to go again today. Since we were in town, our cousins had decided to plan the Mak family Christmas while we were still here.

With Marie and Jon's gorgeous tree

It was great seeing everyone! We ate a lot of lunch, some dim sum stuff (yum!). The kids, now that there were more of us, started a card game that Linda had brought called Phase 10. We were all into it but then someone mentioned Mah Jongg and wanting to learn how to play it and all our aunts cleared off the table they were sitting at. They were so happy to teach whoever wanted to learn. Joshua and Dan and Melissa went off to learn while the rest played cards. Soon, everyone learned Mah Jongg and was playing.

Three of my aunts, Jon and Joshua

The other table in action

Joshua getting really into it

We all took a break from playing cards and Mah Jongg because tomorrow is Dan's birthday so someone had gotten him a fruit cake, not fruit cake like Christmas fruit cake but a cake with fruit on top. It was also the best time to take some group pictures for those who were still there. Then the kids finally got to open their gifts since some had to leave.

Dan's birthday

The big family pic

Some of the Mak siblings

Mak cousins

Kami, Kasey and Dylan anxious to open gifts

It wasn't long before people went back to playing Mah Jongg and card games. My aunts were cracking up at Joshua for grouping his tiles instead of keeping them in one long line. It kinda showed everyone else what he needed to win. Andrew screamed out Mah Jongg (kinda like Gin!) when he didn't actually get it. That's when my little cousin Kasey who's 10ish started helping him. Oh what fun we had with that.

My aunt laughing at Joshua

Kasey helping Andrew

Andrew actually gets Mah Jongg this time!

We then ate more from the leftovers and soon everyone left. We kept playing Mah Jongg though until Dan and Melissa had to leave to catch their flight. Then Linda and Andrew. See you back in the Midwest!

It was fun hanging out with the Mak family today!

San Fran...Day 5

Marie and Jon's big day! And big for us who were staying at her place. Joshua and Dan went to go pick up a rental at the U-Haul while Linda and I were putting name cards in order. We pretty much occupied all of our morning doing this. Joshua and Dan put everything they needed into the U-Haul rental and left to go the Hall. I never even said good-bye to Joshua nor did I even realize they had left.

We were getting close to ceremony time and we haven't even left yet. Luckily, no one was picking us up (we were gonna take Marie's car) so we weren't holding anyone else up. We left well beyond the time we were planning on leaving but we had to make sure everything was done and had everything that Marie and Jon asked us to bring. We thought we were going to be late but when we got there, the ceremony hadn't begun. But it did start soon after.

At the ceremony

What a beautiful ceremony! Marie looked gorgeous, I even almost didn't recognize her. She had on the longest veil ever that fell to the ground behind her like a long train. The ceremony was short and sweet just how I like 'em. I couldn't really hear or see anything since we were towards the back. And everyone was still standing after the bride entered. The back rows including us did the smart thing and sat down.

Let cocktail hour begin! After the last two days, the first thing Joshua and I did was make a beeline to the bar. Even though we were the last to leave our seats after the ceremony, we were the first to get a drink from the bar. There wasn't a lot of places to sit down since they were changing the ceremony hall to become the dinner hall. But there was a lot of appetizers going around but those poor servers could barely move from one end of the room to the other end cause everyone swarmed them cause they were so hungry.

Finally the doors opened to let us back in. We found our seats and the six of us ended up at the same table as my aunt and uncle and our two cousins. Dinner was awesome! And so were the cupcakes! Great job on the baking, Marie and Alanna, and the icing Joshua! After dinner, there was an ice cream special. Since Marie and Jon always celebrate the 18th of Dec with some ice cream from their favorite place, they brought the ice cream to the wedding since they weren't going to have a chance to visit the place. It was absolutely delicious. Mint ice cream with oreos, fudge and chocolate chips.

The beautiful bride and groom

Marie and Jon with the Lai's

The Lai siblings

Time for some dancing! Joshua had a blast as usual. He even had a dance-off with Alanna's son Dylan. In my opinion, I think Dylan out-danced him. Dylan broke out the break dancing on Joshua. Quite different from the first time they met at Dan's wedding where Joshua was teaching Dylan how to dance. I think Dylan this time taught Joshua how to dance :)

Dylan breakdancing

Dylan wins the dance-off

Joshua dancing with my cousin Kasey

The night went by fast but fun was had by all!

A great pic to end the night

San Fran...Day 4

Friday. I woke up pretty early and Joshua was already out of bed. Marie was already up and running around, the day before her wedding. I got a list of things to do to help her out. Joshua was already in the kitchen making the icing to top the cupcakes Marie and my other cousin Alanna had baked the night before.

While he was doing the icing, Linda and I were putting thank you tags on the party favors. Of course, it was SUPPOSE to be an easy task BUT we ended up having to make our own string loop out of thread. It was very time consuming but it all got done.

After the party favors were done, we went back to the iced cupcakes to put the finishing touches on them. Joshua began cutting orchids off the stems and I started putting them on the cupcakes. By now, everyone was starting to wake up so naturally, I made everyone help out.

After a long morning, we relaxed in the afternoon. The Lai siblings and their significant others played some card games and watched tv. But it wasn't long before we had to get ready for the Chinese Tea Ceremony and Dinner.

Joshua quickly put together a fruit plate and then our Uncle Tommy came to pick us up in his mini-van since there were the six of us. We arrived at the destination and it was crazy. This was the first time this trip that we were going to see our aunts and uncles and cousins. And crazy it was. The kids had grown up so much since the last time I was out there 4 years ago. It was so good to see everyone.

Once everyone was there, the wedding party did their rehearsal thingy while the rest of us chatted up. Then the Tea Ceremony began. The bride and groom to be would offer tea to the elders and the elders would give them their blessings. Something like that. Dinner was help yourself buffet, Chinese-style. Yum, I miss that kind of stuff. I definitely went up to the buffet a second time, and a third, maybe even a fourth. It was all so delicious, I couldn't help myself.

It was a great night!

San Fran...Day 3

 Last night or should I say very early this morning, my brother Dan and his wife Melissa flew into San Fran. The gang is all here now. One of the things Linda and Andrew wanted to do was Dim Sum in Chinatown. And it was convenient how the six of us were there so we set out to do that this morning.

Marie and Jon dropped us all off at the BART station before they left to do their stuff. The BART near their place dropped us off by Union Square in downtown San Fran. We walked about a mile and half or so, maybe even longer before we made it to the start of Chinatown. But it seemed as though the dim sum place was at the other end of Chinatown. Of course, now that we're walking through Chinatown, half our group was looking at the store front products and we ended up stopping every other shop or so. I was so hungry that I suggested that we do some shopping after we ate (which bit us in the butt later).

We finally made it to Gold Mountain and we were basically one of the first customers. Dim sum just started. Perfect timing! Good thing my brother was there because he spoke the best Chinese out of the Lai siblings. And good thing there were six of us eating because we had A LOT of food in front of us and we managed to eat it all. Ahhh, I miss dim sum and wish we had things like that around Madison.

The best part of the dim sum experience that day was Joshua imitating the Chinese words that the waiters would say when they came by our carts. Of course, by repeating what they say, it means that you want that dish. So this one certain waiter with extreme happiness came by our table and said something to which Joshua repeated loudly and the waiter got so happy that he was selling something that we were like no, we don't want it cause we already had a few of those dishes. Every time after that, the same waiter would come by and say it basically to Joshua and they both had their laughs.

After being stuffed at dim sum, we headed back toward the stores since everyone wanted to get something. This is where it bit us in the butt. We headed back the way we came from to shop around but knew that our next destination was past the dim sum place so we basically walked the same long street 3 times. We all had fun shopping in Chinatown. So many San Fran souvenirs and lots and lots of cheesy Chinese things. Melissa ended up with some t-shirts as did Andrew, Dan got a mah jongg set, Linda a couple of tea cups for my mom, I got tea leaves for my mom and a shirt for my dad (X-Mas shopping) and Joshua prolly got the best thing there. When I was getting the t-shirt for my dad, Joshua snuck into a shop and bought himself a Chinese jacket. Well, apparently Linda heard from a Chinese lady saying it was a lady's jacket. Hahahahaha! Oh well! Joshua still loved it!

Joshua in Chinatown

Joshua super excited for his jacket because...

...It's reversible!

After Chinatown, we walked towards the dim sum again and even further to get to Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world since Andrew had never seen it. It was quite a hike but I didn't mind it because it worked off all the food we were eating. We ended up walking up two hilly blocks. It was so hilly that we took a short rest after one block before continuing on to the second one.  But we made it to the bottom part of the famous Lombard Street!

Lombard Street

Joshua

The Lai siblings

Joshua standing in one of the driveways

Love this pic of Joshua

Joshua wondering how much
one of these homes cost

View from the top...if you look closely,
Joshua's talking to the curb appeal caretaker

The guy was clipping away the flowers
and gave them to Joshua

After Lombard, we headed towards Fisherman's Wharf and encountered this gorgeous view...

View on the walk from Lombard to the Pier

We walked along the pier boardwalk and stopped by Pier 45 by the big Fisherman's Wharf sign. Even though we had eaten dim sum, we were starting to get hungry again but didn't want to eat too much because Joshua was making dinner later. So we decided to get some quick and small stuff to eat at one of the sea food stands. Joshua and I got Clam Chowder in a bread bowl and yes it was absolutely delicious. So much better in San Fran than in WI.

Attempt to get the Fisherman's Wharf sign in the back

Dan of course wanted to go to this arcade place around the area which I've never been to so we decided to head there. It was called Amusing America & Musee Mechanique (French for Mechanical Museum). Very interesting. It had many old school games from the 20s to the 90s. We had a lot of fun there. It was better than most arcades since some of the games were only a nickel but most were just a quarter with a few being $0.50.

Outside the arcade attempting to take a pic

Attempt #2...you can kinda see Alcatraz

We finally gave in to have someone else take our pic

After the pier, we took 3 different transit systems to get back to Marie and Jon's place, well to a supermarket right by their place so then Joshua could pick up groceries to make dinner. We wanted to make dinner for everyone since we'd all be there and that way Marie and Jon wouldn't have to worry about what to do for dinner for one night. 

The supermarket was interesting. For one, it was Chinese so they had a lot of Chinese vegetables and not a ton of American vegetables but we managed to find everything. We decided on fish since everyone ate that. When we got to the fish aisle, there were many many options compared to WI. However, it was whole fish so when we picked out the fish we wanted, we had to get them de-scaled and de-tailed and de-gutted and be-headed but they didn't de-bone them. It was interesting seeing the guy do all that stuff so quickly.

Joshua was Chef for the night and I was his Sous Chef :) while the other four played Mah Jongg or tried to I think. Don't worry, I didn't really make anything, I just helped cut and stuff. Joshua had a rough time de-boning the fish for some reason. They were really in there and there wasn't a lot of meat to work with so he had to be careful to not pull out all of the fish meat while de-boning them. This was where one of the wines came in handy. Joshua used it for the cream sauce for the fish and finished the rest of the bottle. Joshua made appetizers to pass the time away while we waited for the main meal. Needless to say, everything was delicious as always!

Bruschetta and Hummus

Portabella Mushrooms in Sweet Chili Sauce

Striped Bass with Spinach Garlic Mashed Potatoes