A Week In Los Gatos

Los Gatos is a cute little town south of San Francisco. The hotel where we stayed was surrounded by chic boutique and restaurants. Busy even on weekdays and people walking everywhere. The roads are well planned and clearly marked and motorists are polite and considerate to pedestrians and other drivers trying to park off of the street. It is nice to stay here on vacation and perhaps even to live permanently but houses are very expensive. We looked around to see how much an average 3 bedroom house cost and it goes from 400k and higher depending on areas. I started to miss our own house in Portland. We won’t be able to afford the same size of house in LG.

Town Center Of Los Gatos

Los Gatos Means "The Cats" in Spanish

We left Portland on Wednesday (7/7) at about 2pm. We planned to leave early but as usual, we were only good at planning but couldn’t follow through. It was a nice drive. The weather was perfect and not very much traffic. I always enjoy driving to different cities and looking at the scenic views. Kids did good too. Didn’t complain or whine about being bored. 12 hours later , at about 2am, we arrive at the hotel. The kids went to bed almost immediately while me and Grant stayed up a couple more hours. It’s weird to be wide awake after a long exhausting day.

Shinjo was out!

Thursday, Grant went to work. I forgot to mention that this trip is actually not a vacation. Grant had to go to a training at their office here in LG. While Grant went to work, me and the kids slept in and spent the whole day just relaxing at the hotel.

Friday , Grant took us to meet the family of his friend. They’re Filipinos but they’ve lived here in California since they were little that they are basically more American. We went out to dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant. Maila ,Robert and their son, Jacob were very nice people. I feel like I could hang out with them and not feel out of place.

Mizu Sushi Bar and Grill at Winchester Blvd,SJ

Saturday, we drove around town. We were supposed to take the kids to the beach but it was chilly and windy so we just ate our lunch at the beach and left. Back at the hotel, at around 4pm, the sun was out and it was warm enough to go for a dip in the pool. It was perfect timing too because there was nobody using the pool. At around 8pm, Grant took us to San Francisco look for a Chinese restaurant that his friend recommended. It was not easy finding a parking spot on a Saturday night. We had to circle the block a few times before we found a place to park close to the restaurant. The one hour drive from the hotel and the 20 minutes or so of circling & waiting to park was all worth it because the food was good. Just like how they made it in Hong Kong. Also, I always love driving around San Francisco.

Lunch at the Beach.Sta Cruz

Seabright Beach Sta.Cruz

Hanging out by the pool

Cannonball!

Jacuzzi

Driving Around San Francisco. Passed by AT&T Ball Park

Pier 1. San Francisco

Authentic Chinese Dinner at Hing Lung Restaurant

Broadway San Francisco.

Sunday, was a lazy day but at least I did my work out. Grant went out to play basketball with Robert for a few hours. He was exhausted and took a long nap. We ate lunch/early dinner at around 6pm and then we went back to the pool to let the kids play. We went to bed early because Grant has to go to work the next day.

Monday….it’s noon as I am typing this. I need to find a laundry mat. There’s one 4 miles away. Also, later tonight we will go out to have dinner with Maila, Robert & Jacob again. That should be fun.
More later………..

Second Trip To L.A.

I caught a second wind after being sick for a while and when DH said " Do you want to fly to L.A. with the kids on Friday?"...I was like " Hell, yeah!!".
Anything that would get me out of the house .

DH have been flying back & forth to L.A. for several weeks now and this week he couldn't come home because of some big company meeting he has to attend. Instead of him flying home , me & the kids came and spend Friday evening with him ( w/c btw is his bday ).

I remember thinking while packing our stuff that this might flight might turn out really good or really bad . The last time we were in an airplane with the kids was when Shinjo was still crawling and he just slept through the entire flight.
Now I dunno what to expect or how is he going to tolerate being inside a plane ,strapped in his seat for a couple of hours.

At the airport....I forgot how strict the security system are.
I had to take off our shoes and put the stroller,back pack and other stuff in the conveyor..."whew...what a hassle"

I thought we were late because of the rush hour traffic but the plane was about an hour late so me and the kids just hung out at the airport lounge looking at the planes taking off.

While in the plane.... Boy it's so Tiny!!!!
I felt bad for any person who has any weigh problem flying in this small planes.
It's so small and compact that you are literaly touching elbows with the person next to you.
I've always flown in jumbo jets so when we board the plane , I was like " oh gees..I hope the kids wont freak out and feel claustrophobic".

Two hours flight to LAX airport...
Everything went smooth..
The pretty flight attendant served drinks and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
Shinjo was doing really good looking out of the window and eating ice chips ( yeah I know it weird but he kept asking for ice cubes w/c I had to bite with my teeth to break them into smaller pieces so he wont choke). Princess did ok too. She had to use the bathroom and she was brave enough to ask the flight attendant for help because mommy had to stay with her little brother.

LA airport was huge!!!
Our luggage took so long to arrive and by this time Shinjo is already getting tired and cranky.About 30 mins later we got all of our 3 black duffel bags and DH is waiting outside to pick us up.

It was hot & humid in LA. I think it was about 85 degrees but the sky was so clear and stars were out that night. It was a beautiful night arriving at L.A.

Princess Posing At The Airport Waiting Area. Kids Fell asleep almost immediately after arriving at the hotel

After having dinner , kids were out sleeping like a rock
The next day , we drove around town and into Malibu.
It was a pretty sight and so many people having picnic near the beach , some biking, some rollerblading. It was a beautiful place ..no wonder the rich and famous prefers to live in this area.

The Famous Hollywood Sign. Inside Universal Studio Where They Shot The War Of The World

The Universal Studio Theme Park. We didn't go inside, we just drove around lurking & taking pictures

The Beautiful Malibu.No wonder the rich & famous prefers to live here.

Monday, DH is back to the office and me and kids are hanging out in the hotel watching movie. We might take a swim at the pool later when the sun isn't too hot anymore.

L.A. Stay Got Extended

More work was assigned to DH and so we had to stay with him another week here in Beverly Hills. For some complicated issues about billing and distance from work etch etch .. we had to check-in into 3 different hotels around LA. This one that we are staying right now is the most expensive one among the 3 hotels that we stayed but its also the one that I'm the least comfortable..Why?? Because its just too fancy for me.. I don't know if I'm from a different planet but every time we go out I see people that all look like movie stars or models. I've never seen so many pretty faces wearing designer clothes and shoes and purses. Our hotel is a few minutes walk to the vary famous Rodeo Drive where swanky designer shops and boutique lined the street. The kids and I went there to take some pics. If I only have millions of dollars , this is the place to shop , unfortunately my wallet is only good for Target store maybe Macy's if they're having a sale. Its just nice to actually see this place that I often hear on entertainment news . I was hoping to sight some movie stars but no luck but I saw a lot of cool cars ,porche,Maserati,corvette,Lamborghini etch etch..they are all just park out on the street. It must be really nice to have x-amount of money to spend .

Rodeo Drive is only 3 blocks long but its probably THE most expensive three blocks of shops in the world

Lots of people were walking around Rodeo drive that day and many of them are like me, just taking pictures and not planning on spending hard earned money here

We were debating whether to take the kids to Disneyland or not coz we thought they might be still too young to enjoy and remember this trip but then we thought we may never have this chance again ( who knows) and since hotel,gas and food are paid for the company then we might as well to some touristy stuff while we're here. So last weekend we Grant took "three" kids to see Disneyland Park ( I'm the 3rd kid lols )

Here are some pictures of us at Disneyland Park. We went there 2x and the pictures we took during the day was not in this computer. I will post the rest of the pics later.

Its totally worth every penny when you visit this place.The kids were just so excited and happy

Shinjo didn't like this ride. I was scared myself

Shinjo and Princess will have plenty of memories to remind them of this trip

The Dumbo Flight ride was one of the kids' favorite

This was taken at about the closing time of the park which was 12 midnight but the kids are still wide awake

Princess' chillin at the lobby of the hotel

More pics later.

Visiting L.A.

It was just a month ago when we drove from Portland Oregon to San Francisco and it was one of the best vacation our family have hadso far . Last week dh got an assignment from their branch office in Beverly Hills .Perfect timing for us to spend Spring break and the chance to see another one of the great cities in California.

Long drive for sure....about 16 hours but we stop over in Sacramento and then drove another 6 hours to LA the next day.

Because this is not exactly a "family vacation"( sabit lang kami lols ) I don't have any pictures to show yet. DH had to go to work and come back to the hotel in time for dinner. We brought enough toys, movies and books to keep them busy and entertained while inside a hotel room. The good thing is , since the company pays for the accommodation and food, they got us a really nice hotel in the heart of Beverly Hills ( a lot better than the one we stayed in San Francisco).There's plenty of cable channel and free high speed internet.The kids don't really understand why we had to go back to California but they are too amused about the nice room and large flat screen TV so they are not complaining ( yet!).


Since we got here Sunday night,we had the chance to drive around town and every evening when DH gets back from the office to find restaurant to get food.
Not wanting to look too obvious with my admiration and amazement to this famous city, I try not to make many comments about the modern buildings that some are familiar coz I've seen them on TV ( The Kodak theater,Universal Studio,famous store and restaurants) but deep inside ( sa totoo lang) I was like " oh my gosh!!I can't believe I'm in Beverly Hills" ( that's the voice of the little girl from QC who once only dreamed about actually seeing such world famous city).

Thank god that we don't actually have to pay for this trip because it is really expensive here. I am not ready to spend 50$ for dinner unless its my birthday ( kuripot daw!! ).While driving around to find reasonably priced restaurant ( ung mura lang po) which is hard I guess if you are in the center of LA, I've noticed that most people are very hip and fashionable. I can't help but notice my own outfit and feel a little insecure. Not that I was wearing a piece of sack but really , I would feel uncomfortable if I had to stand to somebody who dressed up like Parish Hilton or Lindsey Lohan while getting coffee at Starbucks.

The next couple of days will be much of the same but we might have to do something fun on the weekend.

Have a happy Spring break to ya'll

The I5 highway. We drove almost 1000 miles in this highway from Portland to LA. I wonder how long it took to build this really really long high way that goes all the way north to Canadian border in Blane Washinton down south to Mexican border in San Ysidro

We had sushi for dinner the other night .I didn't like the combination of cream cheese with fresh salmon.We also got tempura which was really good with its light & crispy batter and the beef teriyaki also didn't disappoint.

Frisco Part 3

Final Chapter on our road trip to SF.

After raining for 2 days, Wednesday was all sun w/c was great. We took the kids to the zoo and they absolutely loved it. But, a few minutes after walking in to this vast menagere of animals , we realized that this was the exact same zoo where a tiger got lose and attacked and killed some teenagers ( ohmagosh!!!!). That was a buzzkill coz then I was more afraid for my kids and couldn't really enjoy the beauty of these amazing creatures ( BTW, no offense to the SF zoo, but if u ever come to visit Portland, you'll find our zoo has a better selection of animals and much nicer cages ).

Somebody feed This poor Giraffe Did he just gave mo a thumbs up??

Taking a quick break after a long walk. Is That Hedwig?

The rest of the week was just mostly driving around, taking pictures and pigging out.
I took so many pictures that we had to save them to an external hardrive (maybe 3Gb of pics)Here are some of my most favorite shots.

The Golden Gate Bridge

The San Francisco Bay In the Background

A sight to behold. The City Of San Francisco

Entrance To ChinaTown

What A Surprise To See A Reminder Of Home.Chicken Joy Tasted So Good!!

A Beautiful Rainbow Guided Us On Our Way Back Home

It was a memorable week. San Francisco is such an eclectic city. I've never seen so many variation of race and culture in one city. At one Target store, I saw so many filipino I thought I wasn't in the US any more. So much thing you can & see and it makes the visit all the more worth while. Another dream come true for a girl from a small town in QC.

San Francisco Trip ...cont...

Despite the insanely high price of gas we still saved a lot by taking the family car instead of flying which would have cost us 2 grand easily .The weather was chilly in Frisco on our 3rd day . I would have just curled up on our sofa with a hot cup of tea but that would be a waste so we rode around the city just snappin' away with my camera. Lots of tourists were still out there doing their touristy stuff. Nothin' can dampen their spirit to enjoy the city. It made it easy for us to go to many places because we were driving but I imagined that the kids wont last walking around town and riding buses and train. Traffic is hideous most esp during rush hours and drivers are so wreckless that I didn't want to take the wheels. Its hard for me to drive there because roads are confusing and they have massive freeways ( some have 7 lanes of traffic in one direction) . I was so used to the more laid back atmosphere here in Oregon that I find too scary to venture with other drivers and if you don't keep up with their speed you will get a loud honking which I'm not used to anymore.

We followed those red tour buses around and took pictures of many beautiful buildings and architectures.

Transamerica Building The Palace Of Fine Arts

The Alcatraz.It was majestic looking even from afar.We decided to cancel our tour to see this tiny historic island because we thought the kids wont yet appreciate the historic relevance of this place.We saved it for our future

The San Francisco City Hall

The Fisherman's Wharf at the Marina district .Its right next to the bay and is a very popular tourist destination. Famous for its historic waterfront location, delicious seafood restaurants and shop and is its minutes away from the Maritime Museum,Coit Tower and the world famous cable car lines.From here you can see the incredible view of Alcatraz and The Golden Gate Bridge. It was Sunday when we got there and it was jammed packed with tourist.

The City By The Bay is even livelier and prettier at night