Anyway, by the time the bug show was done, Bonnie was starving and Alissa’s nap time was looming. So we figured we’d take off and save the rest for another day. After all, we did get the annual membership so we’ll want to take advantage of that.

Here are a few crappy pictures… I should have brought a faster lens and Bonnie’s dad’s 5D. Oh well, next time!

Totally off topic, but here are some pictures of Alissa making her self comfortable in Bonnie’s body pillow and boppy:

Since the wait was so long, however, we spent an hour walking around the pacific heights neighborhood. Man, there are some fantastic houses up there. From modern, to neo-classical, to roman, to cottage, they were all huge and had great views. One was a little strange as it had this statue standing guard out front:

After lunch, we drove to Fort Point and walked over to Sports Basement and back. Alissa was a bit grouchy as her sleep schedule was a little messed up from having some friends over last night, but she enjoyed the walk for the most part. Her highlights were the plethora of dogs out and about.

I also took a few pics of Jeff and Xiao Yi taking advantage of some of the background scenery:

All in all, a great day. Great friends, great food, great views, and even a little exercise. What else can you ask for? (All of the pictures here.)

We used part of my vacation day today to visit the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at The Tech Museum in San Jose. I was a little concerned that Alissa was going to freak out about the displays but she barely noticed anything. Actually, she was pretty well behaved for the whole thing as we kept her entertained with Cheerios whenever she got restless.

You’re not supposed to take pictures inside, but I sneaked a few here and there. Sorry for the funny angles and composition… not too bad for shooting blind.

Aside from the pictures I managed to take there were a bunch of other displays that were really cool. All these displays were made possible thanks to plastination, a technique of impregnating body parts with silicone rubber pioneered by German anatomist Gunther von Hagens. The technique itself is almost as interesting as the specimens themselves if you’re a geek like me. If you’re not a geek like me, there’s a good chance this whole idea is rather distasteful which is why I didn’t post too many pictures here. Instead, click here for those of you who are into this kinda thing.

After visiting this particular exhibit, we did a quick tour of the rest of The Tech. We didn’t stay long as it was getting late and Alissa is still too young to appreciate this kind of stuff. But I can definitely see us going back someday when Alissa is old enough to understand the plethora of interactive displays and activities.

Alissa is not impressed:

“I guess they’re ok…”

They were pretty far away for most of it so we got broader views like this:

In other news, we went to see Avenue Q with Kathy, Eric, and Benita today. It was pretty darn funny although the music itself wasn’t all that great. I have to say, some of the lyrics were a little hard to pickup so maybe I’ll have to listen to the soundtrack to make sure I didn’t miss all the jokes. One thing that I didn’t miss was all the puppet sex. Yes, puppet sex. Pretty funny… certainly worth the price of admission just for that. =)

Before the show, we had lunch at Saigon Sandwiches. A coworker of mine claimed it to have the best Vietnamese sandwiches and if you remember from this post, I’m quite the connoiseur of Vietnamese sandwiches. (I stole this pic from Yelp.)

So what was noteworthy of this new contender? Well, first of all, this place is similar to Bahnwich in that there are two Chinese ladies working their tails off in a tiny little place trying to get the line of people out the door served. (Yes, there was a line out the door.) Second, the official menu is pretty limited, but what do you expect when the sign outside says, “Saigon sandwiches?” Despite the limited official menu, they still had a wide variety of drinks as well as other random snacks like spring rolls, mochi desserts, and other pre-made appetizer kinds of things that were not listed up on the board. There was also a shelf full of random Chinesey kinds of candy and snacks. Third, the sandwiches are all $2.50… including tax! Even cheaper than Bahnwich! Yeah, yeah, but how were they?

The bread was really good. The sauce was more sweet than savory. The pork was tasty. And the fixins (carrots, cilantro, peppers) were fresh. All in all, I’d say that they edged out Bahnwich but didn’t quite dethrone Vietnam Village. I guess I prefer the savory sauce and stronger BBQ flavor of Vietnam Village still. Maybe it’s because Vietnam Village is where I had my first sandwich. Or maybe it’s because I’ve been there so many times. Whatever the reason, they still hold the title of best Vietnamese sandwich.

Tony and Vicki threw Megan her red egg and ginger party at the Daly City Moonstar today. This is the first of a number of family outings we have planned over the next couple months. Tomorrow is Tyler and Rylee’s party. Tommy and Phyllis get married in a few weeks. Then there’s my brother’s bachelor party followed by his actual wedding. Before you know it, the holidays will be here and Alissa will be a year old! How time flies.

Here are a few more pictures from today.

Too… much… fun… can’t… stay… awake!

Who’s a big girl? I am, I am!

How many hands does it take to eat spaghetti? Two!

Untitled from Jason Wang and Vimeo.

Growing boys love buffet!