Gilroy Gardens with Friends

Our good friends, Sam and Eric's family came up for the Labor day weekend so a bunch of us went to Gilroy Gardens when they were having a special of $14 per admission. Apparently, half of the city of San Jose and their families decided to go on the same day so the lines for the rides was unusually long. To top that off, the weather was definitely on the warm side so we sweated lots while waiting in line. Despite all of that, we all had fun hanging out together and catching up with each other especially waiting in the hour long hot air balloon ride.

Adrian loves anything water, so he especially enjoyed running through the waterfall. He ended up running through it at least 4 times and at one point he even slipped over, but then picked himself up and continued running! Perhaps it was because he was with a big party and within the party, there were other kids that encouraged him to be brave and sit beside me one of the train rides that looped around the park! I had a great time hanging out with some really good (old) friends and receiving a peck on the cheek by my little munchkin! :)

A day trip to Monterey

Ed and I took an extra day off to extend our labor day holiday from 3 to 4 days. We happily spent the day in Monterey where it was initially cloudy only to be greeted with the sunny warm sunshine by the time we had stationed ourselves at the little beach minutes away from Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Adrian got to play in the sand and made many journey back and forth filling his bucket with water and getting himself super wet in the process. He also got to play with hermit crabs, snails and some little fish in the tide pool area before we made our way over to the aquarium where Adrian accomplished his mission of "finding Nemo!"

"Walk all over Daddy!"

Yup, that's Adrian alright. He literally does "walk all over his daddy!" Poor daddy! Adrian is a typical boy's boy. He loves to jump and climb onto his daddy, while he can be incredibly sweet with me. I'm not sure if Ed agrees, but I'm fine with this arrangement! :)

A Sunday afternoon at The Jungle Gym

We took Adrian to The Jungle Gym in San Jose to take advantage of their free after 2PM promotion. Evidently, the little munchkin had fun blowing off some steam, climbing around, stacking and knocking down the blocks and just doing what a child should do -- just have fun. Life is good for kids! :)

Mickey Mouse training chopsticks

We ordered some Mickey Mouse training chopsticks off Ebay so munchkin can get used to the basics of holding a pair of chopsticks. We made some noodles for dinner the same night that we received the package so that he could try them. I'm not sure if he was excited to use his beloved Mickey Mouse chopsticks or if he was happy that he gets to eat noodles (his favorite), but it sure looks like he's a pro at it already! :)

Seafood, anyone?

Adrian usually doesn't like to get dirty, whether it's his hands or feet, he would normally ask us to wash or wipe away the dirt. Ironically, when we were in the seafood section at Ranch 99, he didn't seem to mind getting his hands dirty while "playing" with the shrimp and clams!

(Note: All of this happened while under Daddy's supervision while I was busy buying groceries)

Dim Sum @ Joy Luck Place

My favorite go-to dim sum restaurant is Joy Luck Palace in Cupertino even though their prices are steeper than their competition.

Ed has never been a big fan of seafood especially shrimp so we rarely have dim sum if it's just the two of us. I, on the other hand LOVE seafood, but don't subject Ed to it since I know he doesn't enjoy it. Luckily (for me), my goofy little munchkin is down for anything and was able to share half (maybe more than half) of all of my shrimp dim sum! HOORAY! The little goofball appeared even goofier during our lunch outing too! :)

Summer Picnic @ Great America

My company held its summer picnic at Great America this year. It is definitely one of the better venues we've had in the past several years! This was Adrian's first trip to Great America and much to our disappointment, he was not comfortable riding any of the kids ride by himself. We did manage to get him to ride on one ride and that sadly, was the only ride he rode by himself! We were fortunate that the lines were super short that day so we didn't waste too much time waiting in line only to have to pull him out right before the ride started!!!

On the bright side of things, "our little fish" had a fantastic time in the wade pool! Ed also won a giraffe at the water shooting games (competing with 2 elderly ladies)! :)

Ultimately, what we learned today is that we should put our Disneyland trip plan on hold since Adrian simply isn't ready to go on any of the rides and may not enjoy the full experience that Disneyland has to offer!