Here she is enjoying some of the soft wedge shaped thingys:

Ashley was a bit more timid but seemed to have a good time as well:

And Alissa took a little while to warm up by finally took her turn on the trampoline and other apparatus. That being said, I think she liked the bubbles the most.

Here’s the birthday girl herself mid hop on the long trampoline:

After changing into her minnie mouse dress:

Getting ready for cake:

I think all the kids were really really ready for cake:

Blowing out the candles:

And finally, eating cake!

Is she a cutie or what? Of course, brother Reid got his fair share as well:

And you can’t finish off with cake… you must have more sugar. In this case, a dum dum lollipop:

Here’s a short non-descript video as well (it’s mostly just practicing how to shoot video with a DSLR.)

2010 05 09 Jeff’s birthday from Jason Wang on Vimeo.

It’s nice to have a backyard that is usable. Might need to get an umbrella next though. Or maybe one of those big propane heaters for the colder days. Or do they make a kid friendly fire pit?

Perfect size sandbox! (Extension cord is in the background… trying to put the finishing touches on the left side window.)

Alissa and Connor “tagging” the sidewalk:

And hanging out the window of the playhouse:

Even the babies can reach the window:

Here are some pictures:

Anyway, this past weekend we went to Jacqueline’s party. I hate to admit that I’m less diligent about taking pictures these days but it’s the truth. I did manage to snap a few though.
She totally looks like Kathy:

Ryan got his fill of junk food just like Alissa:

Whom he wasn’t interested in taking a picture with:

Even with the mom’s:

And now with Kathy, Aidan, and Jackie in the mix:

Jacqueline is cuter and cuter every time we see her:

The girls were pretty well behaved:

Even after we got home:

Birthday girl:

Bea chowing down on a wooden star:

Bea giving me her, “This is MY house… don’t you tell me to smile… I’ll smile when I’m good and ready!” look.

One of mine:

Another one of mine with Erika:

“Yea, he’s my dad. I’m not exactly jumping up and down but he makes a decent BBQ pork.”

“Mom, on the other hand, is finger licking good.”

“Yes, I do have big eyes.”

“Whatchoo lookin’ at?”

… to riches

We visited Jef, Xiao Yi, and Gavin this weekend at their beautiful new place in Burlingame. Xiao Yi made a fantastic dinner as always. Beef noodle soup and onion pancakes. Very Taiwanese. And very tasty. Afterwards, we went for a short walk.

Alissa is getting faster and faster.

And she likes to push rather than ride in her stroller.

(I had to make her walk in the grass because the road was too steep and she would certainly have face planted on the way down.)

Gavin is so much bigger than last time we saw him.

And finally, here’s a random pic of Amanda.

All in all, it was a great trip. For the first half of the trip, the plan was to stay with Vin, Denise, Henry, and Gunther. While we were there, Jenny visited with her daughter Maddie. Last time we were in town, Jenny was just a few days short of giving birth, Denise was pregnant with Henry, and we just had Alissa. So lunch was a pretty straight forward affair with all the adults and just one baby. How things have changed! Here’s a pic with the babies and most of the adults.

And here’s me with all the babies:

And Henry having his way with Ashley:

Good times.

Part two of the trip was to attend Mary’s wedding. We hadn’t seen Mary in a while and were excited to witness her happy day and to meet her now husband. This is the first trip where I didn’t bring my big camera gear but here are a few pics I took with our point and shoot:

From the wedding, we were supposed to go stay with my cousin Anna but Aidan was just getting over the flu and we didn’t want to risk the kids getting sick so we ended up staying with Geoff and Asha that night. They were very gracious hosts especially considering the last minute situation and the fact that it’s no small feat to accommodate all five of us. Kiran and Alissa got along fine even though he’s a little bit older.

The next day, we went to the Pepsi headquarter’s sculpture garden.

Then it was back to the Chao residence for the remainder of our stay (after a short visit with my cousin… poor Aidan was sequestered 100 feet away). Henry was happy to see us again. More specifically, he was happy to see Ashley and her feet.

That Henry is a character:

So all in all, even though it was a very demanding trip both physically and emotionally, it was well worth it to spend time with the friends and family we don’t get to see very often. Will we do it again next year. Hmm… we’ll see. I should have taken a picture of us trying to wrangle the two infant seats, two strollers, one car seat, three pieces of luggage, and of course, the three kids. Thankfully, we got help from random strangers on both the flight out and the flight back. On the flight out, the person sitting next to Bonnie was a mom to three kids, two of whom were twins. So she was both sympathetic and also took a stint holding Amanda for a while. On the way back, a nice man helped us with our luggage out to baggage claim. He was also a parent of twins. Anyway, like I said, we’ll see.