Two E's and Me: Overseas Edition Part 1

Greetings from California! After 4 weeks and only 1 blog post, I am officially behind! And I sure have a lot to write about from playing tourist to foodie photos to date nights to a magical Disney adventure!  Mr.H has returned Down Under and with both E's snoozing (hopefully!), I will have more time to write, as a few of our "day-ventures" are worthy of their own posts.  In the meantime, here's a recap:

Meeting Gung- Gung
Mr.E loves his Gung-Gung.  They laugh, sing Chinese rhymes and look at the airplanes outside together.  Mr.E screams in excitement when he sees him.

Hello, again!
We had the opportunity to have 2 lunches hosted by my sister to see friends again and The Shiu's.  We had 2 years of little people to meet!

Hannah, Amelia, Miranda, Eloise, Eden, Logan & Olivia

The Shiu's

We flew all the way from Australia to attend Miss P's 3rd birthday party!  It was great fun, especially seeing a few Bearcats again!

Let's go Mateo!

Splish Splash Pool Fun!
We were thrilled to leave behind the Australian Winter for Summer!  It means pool time every other day!

Around Town
Mr.H and I have certain places we have to visit eat when we are here.  One of them is Sam's Chowder House in Half Moon Bay.  It was one of the first places we went and we made a half day of it, spending a few hours playing at the beach.

Sam's Chowder House

Miramar Beach

I love going to Farmer's Markets, so one Saturday morning before brunch, we strolled around a fantastic one: Mountain View's Farmer's Markets.

I love these vibrant red tomatoes!

Baby mixed green salad with edible flowers!

Purple cauliflower

Date Nights
Mr.H and I had 2 date nights in 4 weeks... that's as many as we get in a year!
Date night 1*:San Francisco Giants v. New York Mets
We enjoy watching baseball as much as we enjoy eating at AT&T Park!  I also made us grab Cracker Jacks on the way into the park.  Cracker Jack reminds me of $1 days at Oakland A's games!  We dined on Gilroy Garlic Fries, a hot dog, a San Francisco cheesesteak (chicken & mushrooms), and a Ghiradelli sundae.  The Giants lost but it was a great night out for us anyway!
*This was only the 2nd time someone else has put Mr.E to bed- he did fine!

Date night 2: Double date
Our second date night was a double date with Mr. & Mrs. Martin.  Mrs.M is one my oldest (not oldest in age!) and dearest friends. We had a fantastic meal at Donato Enoteca recommended by Mr.M.  I was feeling adventurous and tried Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia e Bottarga (spaghetti with squid ink sauce).  DELIZIOSO!

Mr.E is 13 months

Multitasking: standing and reading!

Mr.E is 13 months.  He is a little boy now, or so it seems!  He is free-standing all the time and has done a few steps between furniture.  He loves going for assisted walks, in fact you have to sneak outside!  And climbing!  Everything can be climbed on, in the world according to Mr.E.

He is enjoying his time with his Pau-Pau and Gung-Gung, and cousins, especially L.  He screams in excitement and immediately lunges for him to shower him in wet kisses.

Eden & Cousin L

He is eating well, who wouldn't with Gung-Gung's cooking?!  He has added 2 teeth (upper left and right).  And babbles non-stop.  Some words are clear, like "hi", "more" and "duck".  Unfortunately Mr.E is a screamer.  He's very loud too.  I know it's because he is trying to communicate but oh my ears!  We are trying to re-teach sign language for more food versus screaming murder at us.

Most importantly, he is sleeping very well again, in turn so are we!

MissE says the darnedest things: overseas edition
Channeling Homer Simpson
Returning from a day out, Mr.H asked me to stop to grab and a coffee and a donut. From the back of the car MissE pipes up: "Did someone say donut???"

Call Me Maybe
Okay I am almost as sick of hearing this song as I am hearing about the Fifty Shades trilogy (BTW, read it, kind of entertaining but horribly written and overrated!) but MissE loves this song (it's her new Firework). She was singing it one afternoon:
MissE: And all the other boys, try to chase me
Gung-gung: The boys were chasing you? Where?
Me: Dad, she's singing a song.

He's IN the computer
Me: Eloise, are you going to miss daddy when he is gone?
MissE: Yes... but it's okay, I will see him IN the computer.

5 Weeks & Counting
As I mentioned, Mr.H returned Down Under after spending 4 weeks with us.  MissE did not understand what was happening until we were saying goodbye at the airport and was in a mess of tears, asking to go home too.  (For the record, I did ask her and try to explain the situation as much as possible but she is 3).  It took careful diversion but she is okay now.  We are making a calendar so she can count down to when daddy will be back and we will also mark down Skype calls too.

Until next time...