Lunch feast with the family

Today, mom dad and I went down to San Jose to visit my cousins (Alex & Alanna), Auntie Connie, Lao-Lao, Lao-Yeh, Auntie Millie, little Emma, Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Ted. I also met Kes, Alanna's boyfriend of 14 months for the first time!). It was really nice seeing everyone. Too bad mason had to stay home to study for finals! Lunch was delicious and HUGE of course. Mom and I brought down a salad (lettuce, avocado and mandarin orange with Miso dressing) which I put together there. I didn't know until after the lunch, but supposedly this lunch was a farewell lunch for me before I head off again for Harvard next week! That was so nice of them. I didn't even know! Lao Lao gave me a duck leg for safe travels, and potstickers are also supposedly for good luck, so Lao Lao & Auntie Connie made TONS of potstickers!

 Su Cai potstickers (vegetarian)

more potstickers

Even more potstickers!

 Our Feast!

Auntie Connie also made really yummy, cheesy mac and cheese. Her other dishes sadly had pork in them so I couldn't eat them, but oh well! Luckily, Lao Lao made Su Cai potstickers (vegetarian ones) and beef ones so I could eat them.

 Grandma Peggy brought a mushroom noodle dish and Auntie Millie brought a peanut salad

We had mochi ice cream (mango, green tea and Kona Coffee) for dessert which Alanna nice arranged in the shape of 2 flowers and a heart. Auntie Connie got 9 boxes of mochi (aka 54 mochi balls. wow. there were 11 of us, but still that's a lot of mochi!)

Me, Lao-Lao & Lao-Yeh

 Emma giving dad an "Emma" kiss on the nose :)

Dad's so good with kids still! He used to play animals with me and Mason when we were little. We LOVE it. He hasn't lost his touch. He was playing with Emma with her big stuffed bunny rabbit and she was shrieking and squealing with pleasure. It was really nice to see. They were both so happy hopping around the house. Emma became attached to dad by the end of the day which was very different than at the beginning when she was so shy she wouldn't even say hi to us! By the end, she was holding his hand and following everywhere he went. I think dad liked playing with her because it reminded him of when Mason and I were small. He's so great with kids!

We visited Nai-Nai & Yeh-Yeh afterwards. While I was helping Nai-Nai eat her lunch, mom helped clean out their refrigerator.

They have a huge collection of expiring milk because they forget that they have milk, and keep adding to it each day. We also have a huge straw, and ice cream scooper collection now thanks to them!

Nai-Nai (eating ice cream! YAY!) & Mom (eating popcorn, her fav :))

Nai-Nai & Me

I'm really glad Nai-Nai was really perky today. The past few weeks she's been a bit more here than she has been in the past which is really great to see. She's especially good right after her nap. I'm glad mom and I got her out of the building and across the street to CVS and starbucks! And it was great that we got her to get a coffee and have some coffee cake (banana chocolate chip & cinnamon swirl). I love it when she's there with us, like in the present, and her mind's not elsewhere. I hope we can do this again soon!