the LBC, OC, and TO

we headed down to los angeles last week to attend my friend's wedding and to visit my sister, some old friends, and allan's family. we had a fabulous time doing all of the above. the trip made me realize how much i miss my sister (we miss you vicky!). we also had an awesome time catching up with friends from college, and meeting kids of friends from high school.

thanks to all of our family and friends for hosting us and making our trip so fun!

see more photos from our trip at allan tuan photography's blog!
.: san diego zoo :.

.: helen and eugene's wedding :.
.: visit with willa, lisa, danny, and kayley :.
.: visit with tuan family :.
.: visit with ben, jen, riley, jethro, michelle, leah, dan, gabe :.

(this part is for my own memory-preserving purposes, but you can read it if you've got the time!)

our trip began with our flight into long beach. we were greeted by my sister. it was SO great to see her! amazingly, we were able to fit one large and one small suitcase, three backpacks, one good-sized camera bag, one pack 'n play, two car seats, one stroller (not the umbrella kind), two purses, two kids, and three adults into a volvo s40. if you don't think that's an amazing feat, then you need to visit volvo's website and check out the s40. once we got loaded in, we headed over to our hotel in huntington beach and proceeded to grab some tasty chinese food (yum!). friday morning, we weaved our way through some typical socal traffic and drove down to the san diego zoo. our little emma had a meltdown right around oceanside, so we stopped at the marina to feed her and to give her a break. it didn't really work because as soon as we got back into the car, she continued her wailing. finally, she cried herself to sleep as we continued on to sd. since both of the kids were asleep, we decided to drive through my old stomping grounds, ucsd, before going to the zoo. boy, has it changed! they've added a new college and moved my old college (erc) to a different part of the campus. it was really good to see my old school again. by then the kids had woken up so it was zoo time. we saw some birds, flamingos, a lot of monkeys, pigs, an animal that looked like a mix of zebra-horse-giraffe, a hippo, and other cool animals that i'm not remembering at the moment. lucas had a great time and emma was worn out by all of the walking.

on saturday, vicky spent the day with lucas looking at boats, visiting the library, sharing a jamba juice, and doing other activities while allan, emma, and i went to my friend's wedding in marina del rey. it was beautiful! she was beautiful! allan and i got a chance to catch up and reminisce with my college friends/roommates. the time went by too fast and we had to say goodbye before we knew it. it better not take another 5 years before we see each other again.

we headed over to allan's old stomping grounds, ucla, on sunday and visited westwood. the best part was indulging in a diddy riese cookie ice cream sandwich. it was deeeeelicious...and only $1.25! can't find that anywhere nowadays. in the evening, we visited with allan's college friends and met kayley, a sweet little girl. again, our time with them was too short but it was fun seeing them!

we spent the next few days with allan's family in the thousand oaks area and enjoyed their awesome swimming pool and hot tub. it was so relaxing! we also checked out ventura beach, which was fun but very windy. lucas and emma had a great time visiting with their aunty jo, grandma, and grandpa.

wednesday was our last full day before heading back to the tri-cities. we spent the day with my high school friends and their kids. it was a great little mini reunion. gabe is one little cutie, and riley is absolutely precious!