Chinatown Dinner

We did a couple of new things this trip out to California but for the most part the kids wanted to re-do things they loved on our past vacations. I can't really blame them, Ken has been working for his company for over 3 years now and in that time we have spent about 12 weeks in California with him. It's really fun to have a fun city to always come back to and re-experience things. They wanted to go to Chinatown for dinner one night after Ken was finished working for the day. Ken's headquarters are in San Mateo, so we always stay outside of the city by the airport. We drove to the BART station and took the train into the city. I love this man! We got out at Powell street, which is the end of the line for the cable cars. Here is Rose singing us a pretty song. There are always street musicians playing for the tourists here. Nathan is so cute, I totally love that I snapped a picture of his messy hair! Nathan will mess with his hair when he is thinking hard or bored, without noticing he is doing it. Then later he will run his fingers through it and smooth it down. It's such typical behavior that his teacher has even commented to me that mutiple times throughout the day she will look up and see his hair sticking straight up and then two minutes later he has smoothed down again. It is too cute and so funny! And here is Rose revolting against getting her picture taken. This girls cracks me up, I showed it to her and she loved it! Rose loved it so much that the next day I noticed that she had made it the wallpaper for my phone.

On the Cable Cars. The boys hung off the side and the girls and us sat on the benches. The kids are always so happy when Ken gets to come and play with us. They especially love being such pros and showing off where to go and what to do in front of their Dad. It helps alot that Ken plays like it is so overwhelming to go into the Big, Huge City! Actually Ken would normally be anxious about that but we have gone so many times that he isn't.

This time we went to a pretty authentic Chinese restaurant. Last time it was pretty much like going to a strip mall restaurant so we decided to try something new. The funny thing is that one of Ken's co-workers told him that he always goes to whatever restaurant has a line forming outside of it.

We looked up reviews and decided on this place even though no one was standing outside waiting. It is not high on decor, they practically stuff you into two tiny rooms packed with tables. We had to wait outside though because they didn't have a table big enough to seat all 6 of us. We waited for about 15 minutes and in that time we probably had about 20 people line up and you could tell that alot of them were tourists just following the advice that Ken's co-worker gave. It was kind of hilarious. Since they were all smaller groups they pretty much all got seated just a few minutes after us.

Ken and the kids were standing by the sign but they didn't show up to well.

We ordered alot of what people raved about for appetizers and those were AMAZING! We had a green onion pancake with a spicy peanut sauce, potstickers, and won ton soup (But completely different then any other won-ton soup we have ever had. It had popped Rice, Lemon, and Cilantro in a creamy broth). The main dishes weren't very good though. The kids really didn't like their normal favorite dishes, everything tasted just a little bit off. But, we got plenty full off of the appetizers.

Here are pictures of us walking back up the hill to catch the cable cars.

It was such a fun night! We just had fun walking around talking about the buildings and shops, and everyone was in a carefree, happy mood.

We were all super happy to have Ken around to play with us. I have a bunch of friends whose husband's travel on business trips either most of the time or somewhat frequently. But I am the only one who really ever packs up the family and goes with my husband and I am totally trying to convince them that they should do it too. I totally LOVE it!

1. I'm not scared to explore another city by myself and with my kids.

2. Even if I was scared, I would be totally happy staying in our hotel room and swimming, reading books, going to the park, watching movies, or playing games with my kids.

3. Daily Housekeeping and Room Service. Need I say more!

4. So what if your husband will be working all day? Or even all evening??? At least one, if not two, of the nights each week Ken will have some work thing that keeps him out until 9-10pm. But that is still better then being stuck at home all sad and missing a warm body in bed next to you. (Or should I say a warm body over 3 feet tall:-)

5. And when he isn't working you have his undivided attention! There are no household chores that need to be done, soccer practices to coach, school events to attend, or church callings to do. When you are out of town you are in a bubble away from ordinary, everyday responsibilities-- to me that is priceless!

Ken would say that he LOVES it too, in case you can't tell:-)