The little old lady Isabel

Dawn's visit 2010

One of my best friends from B-school visited me this weekend and we had a blast in Napa and SF. We have known each other for 10 years. We went to Napa for 2 days and discovered a great winery (best of six we visited) - Rombauer - We even took photos with the owner Mr. Rombauer (the big white man in the photos). We went to Buschon for dinner - It was okay. We had Chinese food - yummy! We had deep talks about life, family, kids, love, friendship - that was the best part + we got some serious dancing in at Bubble lounge.



- Lei

Isabel Dances at Stern Grove Park

every summer Stern Grove has free summer concerts. We were really lucky that we got good seats to this one. First come first serve. Isabel had a blast.

Isabel singing and dancing with Chinese Tiger

Isabel loves her Chinese DVD. Now she can actually sing along.

Puzzle maker

Isabel has a real talent for putting together puzzles. Even I am amazed at how fast she is learning. this is a 24 piece puzzle of Winnie the Pooh. She can put together the whole thing by herself. I just caught the second half on video.



- Lei

Isabel at Fairyland

Isabel loves Fairyland - especially the music box

What a little dancer!

Isabel has taken dancing to a whole new level. Not sure where she learned all these moves, but they are good! Enjoy! I laugh every time. What a cutie!

Isabel loved the petting zoo

The SF library had a temp. petting zoo a few weeks ago and Isabel had a blast.



Lei

Kunming and LiJiang - Yunnan Province China

I am so glad I scheduled 5 days in Yunnan Province. The weather was a nice 70-75 degrees compared to 95+ in Tianjin and I got a chance to hang out with my cousin - who is basically my older sister. I miss her even now.



- Lei

More family in Beijing + some site seeing

I stayed with my dad in Beijing since he had a suite. Went to Olympic garden with my uncle, Tiananmen square and national Opera house with my cousin. Of course some more street food and also big banquet family gathering.

I saw my great-uncles - 84 and 81 years old and sstill very healthy as well as Isabel's cousins - Emma 4 years old and David 2 years old. Four generations at one table. It was nice to see so much family. I also saw my cousin - Guao Nan who I haven't seen in over 10 years and my other cousins Zhao Ying and Zhao Peng, whom I haven't seen since my wedding 3 years ago.

all together a wonderful trip!

My large family in Tianjin - China

finally photos with my family in Tianjin - China

Birthday party for Ellie and also hanging out with Lauren

Isabel is such a big girl now and so friendly with her friends. She is very generous with her kisses and hugs. See for yourself.

It's winter in sf

I know I said I won't complain about the weather after humid and 90 degrees in china.  But come on - high in mid 50s in aug is extreme.  No wonder mark twain says the coldest winter he spent was a summer in sf.

I guess global warming is catching up with us.  It's too hot in some places and too cool in others.  Remember to recycle and carpool as at this rate,  it will 10 degrees in the summer in 50 years.  Ugh

Lei

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Lao ye visits Isabel - July 2 2010

On my way to China, my dad was able to visit Isabel for 5 hours and they had a lot of fun playing at the park. Laoye is Chinese for grand pa on the mother's side.

Enjoy!

Food, food and more food

One of the biggest reason to go to china was for all the yummy food - street food especially was cheap. I was prepared to gain 5 pounds and brought tums, acid reducer and diarrhea pills but nothing was going to stop me from eating everything.

Well, I fared pretty well. Probably I walked a lot and the humidty, I actually lost a pound and 1% body fat. I had to take 3 acid reducer over two weeks but that's it.

I had a tons of mangosteen, watermelon, papaya, mangoes plus 3 meals a day + snack. here are all my food photos. Enjoy!



- Lei