Ong-goings

Every Kid Outdoors

PSA: Soooooooo if you haven’t guessed already, we are writing waaaay in the future and a good two years or so behind on posts. See this site now as more of a memoir than a blog. ;-P We will get around to documenting our adventures, though, as we definitely don’t want to forget them!

Elementary school seems like a lifetime ago now but we had one last trip visiting several nat’l parks before 5th started, with our national park pass from Every Kid Outdoors.

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We decided to fly into Eugene, OR (a big running town!) to make a driving loop through a few national parks. We landed and went to 5th Street Public Market for dinner.

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Found Asian food at Provisions Market Hall.

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Walked through some of the shops and boutiques.

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We ended the evening with a walk through Hendricks Park.

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Excited to spot wildlife at the park!

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The next day, we visited the legendary Hayward Field at U of Oregon, home of many well-known track and field events.

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Sadly, the stadium itself was closed but it was still cool to walk around the perimeter and on the turf.

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Very cool architecture, too!

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After, we walked across the street to the Museum of Natural and Cultural Campus, also part of the campus.

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The museum wasn’t huge but quite well done and informational about the area.

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Explored a bit more of the campus around the museum.

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Mommy found a raw vegan cafe that was yummy!!!

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Of course the boys had to balance healthy with a trip to Voodoo Doughnuts… (first discovered with Uncle Dan when we were in Portland).

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We set out on our drive to Crater Lake with some stops along the way.

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Office Covered Bridge — a historic covered bridge.

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Tiny playground by the bridge.

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Next stop was McCredie Hot Springs.

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And boy was the water hot!

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Walking through on the rocks without touching the water.

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Pit stop to devour some of those VooDoo donuts we got in the AM.

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Then off to encounter the first of several falls we got to see on this trip: Salt Creek Falls.

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It was a short hike through the trees to get there

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It did not disappoint!

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Did a bit more hiking around the area.

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Gnarly exposed roots.

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Plus hanging by the cliff…

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Randomly came across a Rivian charge station in the middle of nowhere! A few of our neighbors had ordered theirs so thought we’d show them when we got back.

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Then checked into our hotel close to Crater Lake.

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Behold the beauty of Crater Lake!

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The blue of the water is just otherworldly.

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Quick tailgate lunch before taking on the strenuous Watchman Trail down to Cleetwood Cove.

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It’s not long but definitely a steep decline down to the water.

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Had to stop to admire the azul of the waters (and for water and maybe catch a breath, haha).

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The boys wanted to take a dip in the lake while Mommy just enjoyed quiet time on the rocks.

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Underwater was apparently crystal clear…

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And cold but refreshing!

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And then Daddy decided to jump off a cliff for fun…

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Post-jump…

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It was until after we were about to head back up that Daddy discovered his Apple watch had taken a plunge into the lake w/o him realizing him during the splash… Womp, womp, womp. His excuse to get a new one. So yea, the watch is now at the bottom of Crater Lake!

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On to see some of the other interesting rock formations.

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Caught some more deer.

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Sunset was golden.

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We sat to drink it in while E finished his scavenger hunt.

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A little casino close to our hotel… They let E walk to the restaurant inside, lol.

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Then back on the road towards our next stop: Lassen. Mount Shasta in the background was nice.

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Stopped for coffee at a little town we don’t remember and Daddy had some work to take care of.

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Walked through the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden in Weed, CA. :P It was ironic that we flew out of CA into OR but then drove back into CA (waaaay north tho).

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What is Asian American BBQ? :D It was closed so didn’t stop.

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Weed town center, haha.

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Library is a good sign.

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Grabbed some food at a stand… it was triple digits at this point and we are no longer accustomed to this kind of heat!

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Took our food to a nearby shaded park by the river for a little picnic. It was still HOT!!!

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A little dip in the fresh spring water was nice. Lots of folks brought huge water containers to fill up on H20.

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Then back on the road for some waterfall chasing…

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And then… wow, BURNEY! It was a bit of a hike down and the temps dropped like 10-20 degrees.

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It was a loop hike so got to see different things back up… as it also got warmer again, haha.

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A different vantage point.

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Daddy wants to do a looooong thru-hike on the PCT one day.

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Poetry in nature, no better combo!

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We got to Redding, CA and it was well over 100 degrees. Elias woke up the next morning not feeling well… we were thinking possibly heat exhaustion but not sure.

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We had originally planned to do a full hike but E wasn’t feeling up to it.

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We went part of the way…

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Stepped on snow — in August! Then he started feeling really nauseous and we went back to the car.

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Daddy and Monday took turns hiking to the geothermal areas while the other stayed with him in the car. He ended up falling asleep which was good.

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It went from trees to lots of rocks.

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And then smelled the sulfur before seeing it…

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After both of us did the hike to the thermals, E woke up and felt a bit better and was able to walk to some areas around the car.

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Drove to the ranger station and did the pledge (again) for the badge.

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Can’t miss the sign!

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Remnants from a previous fire.

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Drove by Bethel on the way out. We are aware of some of the controversy but can’t deny that a lot of their songs have impacted the church.

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Back on the road again towards Redwood National Park. Stopped at Turtle Bay.

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Couldn’t resist another waterfall: Crystal Creek.

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A little gimmicky but just had to. ;-)

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Had some other unusual knickknacks/artifacts.

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Camel Rock area and it was nice to be coastal, where it’s closer to weather we’re used to. (Yea, pretty spoiled now!)

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E was happy to see some sailboats.

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Made it to Redwood and so did this little minifig. :)

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Fern Canyon — parts of Jurassic Park was filmed here.

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The moss!

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A dinosaur?

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Really enjoyed just romping around.

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Elk Meadow for… elk. :D

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Battery Point Lighthouse and surrounding beach in Crescent City the next day. It was a cloudy, gloomy day and bummer the lighthouse was closed.

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Walk on the pier…

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Back into the other side of the nat’l park for more trees. :)

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Inside a trunk.

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Spotted this ‘lil guy.

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Got some air with our jump photos… :)

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Scary movie material?

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Zombie.

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The length of this fallen trunk!

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The sign, always the sign. ;-)

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Then we made some stops along the Oregon coast on the way back to Eugene.

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Imagination in nature… back to the good old days.

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Sunset!

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Managed to catch a farmer’s market the next day before our flight home. Then found out our flight was rescheduled to the day AFTER school starts due to a “storm” brewing in SD. (A storm in SD is “heavyish” rain, lol). We decided to cancel our SW for credit and then booked one way on another airline so E wouldn’t miss first day.

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Local fruit we got at the farmer’s market while waiting at the airport.

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Bye, ducks! Maybe we’ll be back one day…

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Our neighbor wanted to show us his brand new Rivian just as we got home… and we told him about the charger we happened upon.

What a trip! Now time to turn school mode on — bring it on, last year of elementary!

Summery

Summer’s winding down… but we’re still adventuring!

The various parks and pools/gym in our community are done. :)

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HOA/builders threw a party celebrating with complimentary food trucks, drinks and other fun activities! Asians gonna be Asians and brought like alllll their extended families and relatives for the free food, hehe. Lines got pretty long.

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Acai bowls, ftw!

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Sno cones, too.

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Zoo night for some of their special summer performances.

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Fun bubbly finale for this show.

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We didn’t attempt to get ComicCon tix this year but we took the train DT to see some of the fan fare surrounding the convention center.

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Smashed avocado waffle @ a cafe we’ve been wanting to try.

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Chamoy dole whip @ Belmont after some games and walking around.

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Our annual kids bowl free @ Aztec lanes… becoming a tradition, seems like!

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Free slushie on 7.11 @ 7-11. :)

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A phone booth, what’s that? Checked out the arcade @ Corvette Diner.

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Quick round of mini golf w/ some vouchers we had left from his golfing days…

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Cinnamon roll pancakes?!

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Happened on this Mexican-inspired donut shop.

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Very cute graphics!

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Fleet Science Center on a Resident Free Day for one of their new exhibits.

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Tried a sailing camp at a different yacht club. Verdict: E likes his current one.

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Good to be back at MBYC. Just feels like home…

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Strength training is important for sailing! This made their insta, lol.

And right before 5th grade starts, we have our 4th grade national park trip to make good use of our free pass…

Monterrey & The Bay

We flew to SJC but the Kao’s were still driving up from SD so we spent some time in Monterrey.

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Walked around the wharf.

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Daddy enjoyed seeing some vintage cars.

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Running in the morn for Mommy was pretty glorious!

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Those windswept cypresses. :)

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Then of course the Monterrey Bay Aquarium! It was actually E’s first time.

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Hadn’t seen these before! They were flashing/emitting light… Couldn’t quite capture it w/ a cam.

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There were quite interesting, too.

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Also new to us sea specimens.

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The size of this crab!

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The views all around couldn’t be beat.

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Otters are always so playful and cute!

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Loved spending the day @ the aquarium and we will definitely be back. :)

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We strolled around Monterrey some more after the aquarium closed. Daddy of course couldn’t resist this local bakery.

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Then we found Chinese food close to our hotel… that was surprisingly fairly legit! Drove to Cupertino that evening as Daddy had to be at HQ the next morn.

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Back @ our fave coffee shop in the area — Nirvana Soul!

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Ube mochi donut was one of their new pastries.

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Then back to his beloved Hyperspace. :P

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He hit the jackpot on the Nerf game.

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500 tix!

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Might just be back again this trip, hehe.

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Grabbed some you tiao.

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Amongst other Chinese food. :)

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Found this other arcade. It was kinda outta the way and inside a sports center but worth visiting at least once.

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This Meet Fresh right next to our hotel was insanely busy!

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Extra taro is two pieces of taro, sadly.

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Just chillin’ on our hotel patio.

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Elias and Mommy took a drive to Santa Cruz the next day. Parking was a beating (even on a weekday) but we made it to the boardwalk…

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Duh, he made a beeline for the arcade.

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Then we played some indoor mini golf. Really enjoyed this course!

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Played a few games…

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Went to a ‘shrooms shop. Mommy was in heaven!

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After that, we also checked out their local farmers market (a bit small), walked around downtown and while driving back, spotted a fire.

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Really loved our hotel this time… It’s hard to book this one since it’s always full (from Apple employees visiting) so we were grateful we got it.

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Kao fam made it into town and we ordered TW food and had dinner on the patio.

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Hanging out with Ah-Gong like old times. :)

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Fire pit turned on just as it started getting chilly.

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First time having these berries… SO sweet but forgot the name of them.

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Ah-Ma had plans with her friend and Uncle Dan & Auntie Jesse went to SF so E and Mommy visited a gallery in Palo Alto while Daddy was at the office.

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Beautiful landscape art.

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E enjoyed doing some drawing/sketching himself.

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They had some interactive art stations and we spent forever trying to finish up the scavenger hunt looking for specific objects the in the paintings.

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We grabbed drinks at Wanpo, which we don’t have in SD.

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Then off to check out the Intel Museum @ their HQ.

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Then we went to get fresh fruit at an orchard.

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Spotted the cutest kitty!

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Got into this sticker event after a crazy long line!

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Lines appear to be common here… For SomiSomi? We can walk right in for the SD locations.

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Golfland with Uncle Dan!

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Did some reading in the hotel lobby…

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Matcha for mommy, Italian soda for E to start our day at this cute plant cafe in Mountain View.

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More drinks (later in the day).

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Nice mural outside a natural foods store we went to in Palo Alto.

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Then to some of the free museums on the Stanford campus… YO — Daddy’s initials. :)

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This startled us a bit — sooo life-like!

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Stanford’s Hoover Tower.

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How do they keep the grass so green?

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Another smaller gallery…

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4th grade was all about monkey bars, with blisters to show… so he’ll take on bars just about anywhere. ;-P

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Then met up with the fam at the Berryessa Flea Market.

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Grabbed food from food trucks… some fairly authentic Mexican.

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Walked around Japan Town for a bit. He can’t resist a claw machine.

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Taiwanese for dinner! Then they were off to Yosemite the next day and SF to go back to TW. :( Grateful for the family time but sad to say goodbye as always.

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Rose garden on Mommy and E’s last day as they had to go back early for a sailing camp E had.

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One more Hyperspace visit w/ Daddy this time.

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Went to the HQ store to see if there were any good products/gifts to pick up.

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How creative is this? Made from air pods!

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The SJC lounge is meh but we got to grab a bite before boarding.

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Then Daddy had a couple of days to himself, mostly working but some food-ing, too… Singaporean food @ Killiney.

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Otak otak!

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And chicken rice…

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Annnnd another line… for Salt & Straw. Again, no lines for us!

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Katso sando the next day.

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‘Til next time, Apple Park!