We're back

We're back

We're back home now from our "staycation." We arrived yesterday and my aunt and uncle slept here last night. They will be leaving tonight so that will officially end the brief vacation from normal routine.

Just a recap of the past 5 days:

Day 1: Cleaned the house before heading off to Dolphins Cove. What a way to start the vacation right? LOL! DH picked up my aunt and uncle from LAX in the evening.

Day 2: They were treated to a day of LA traffic as we took them to LA to see the Cathedral. We were hoping to arrive in time for the noon mass but we got stuck in traffic. Boo! It was still nice however to see the Cathedral. We then had a late lunch at Yang Chow which came highly recommended by my good friend T. We had slippery shrimp, lamb with scallions, baby green cabbage with black mushrooms, hot spicy bean curd and fish fillet with black bean sauce...all recommended by her. I trust her palate that much!! And it did not disappoint. Everything was G-O-O-D!!! The place was not as full as I had expected, probably because it was an "off" hour but I had called in a reservation anyway. When we came in, we were whisked to our table right away. There was just another big group (looked like lawyers, maybeMesothelioma lawyers?) and the rest were groups of 2 or 3 diners. Anyway, it was a filling lunch. Then off to the Griffith Observatory. It was our first time to visit it since it was renovated. I like the changes they've made. There's a lot more to see and stuff. In the evening, my uncle's friend picked us up from the resort and we had lunch at his house in Mission Viejo. Another evening of eating!!

Day 3: We went to Redondo Beach. My uncle and DS were able to do some fishing although they did not catch any. It was a good experience from DS though. The rest of us did some walking on the boardwalk. DH would have wanted to have lunch at the nearby fresh seafood place but the wait was too long. DH and the kids and my dad went to In N' Out for a quick bite before heading back to the resort for swimming. My mom, aunt and I had a nice lunch of leftovers then headed to Seafood City where my aunt went shopping for Filipino goodies. In the evening, my mom and aunt's cousins came over and had a small reunion.

Day 4: Time to head back home. Had lunch at our local Pho Ha. Unpack our things. In the evening, some more cousins came over. One of their cousins had mentioned that the last time he had seen my aunt was about 30 years ago in the Philippines before she left for the US. So it was really a wonderful opportunity to be able to come together as family like that and reconnect. As they were chatting away, DH brought out the Rockband for our young 2nd cousins to play with. Little did we know that it was my aunt who was itching to play and learn. As soon as our guests had left, she and my uncle picked up the guitars and tried to play. It was really fun to watch them have fun with us in that way. We ended up going to bed at 2 am!

Day 5: Nothing planned for today. Maybe a trip to the nearby outlet mall. Anticipated mass tonight in our parish. Then DH takes them to LAX for their flight back to Milwaukee.

Overall, I would say that it was a good vacation!

*Pictures are still in my memory card. Maybe when I get the chance sometime this week, I'll share some pics here.