California September 2026 - Hi Reia!

Din Tai Fung

 

Just a reminder, no images of Emi and Reia on social media with their faces showing. Sorry!

Friday Sept 4

Time to go to California and meet Reia, Emi’s little sister! She’s just a little over 6 weeks old, and already 11 lbs! She’s the cutest thing, with 2 inch long black hair sticking up all over her head! She is starting to smile, and she’s very strong, she is already holding her head up pretty well.

Reia is very loud. She is good at letting her wants known. I am hungry! I am sleepy! I have things to say!

Lee managed to get over the Lake Darling cold right before it was time to leave for California. I have symptoms, but they are so mild, a slight cough, a little congestion. I can’t tell if I’m just getting over a very mild version or about to get deathly ill.

We arrived here yesterday afternoon. I wore a mask on the plane, and any time I was near Reia inside. And I washed my hands and used sanitizer every time before I touched her. I’m not wearing a mask today, but still sanitizing of course. We shall see.

Last night we went to Howie’s for pizza, pasta and a salad. It was delicious, I was hungry. We ate outside and it was windy and cool. The people at the table next to ours had a little baby too. Their
s was only 1 week old!  

Saturday Sept 5

Yesterday Emi went to preschool. The rest of us went on a long walk in the morning, almost 4 miles. Reia slept a lot yesterday. I had to be reminded that newborns sleep a lot, like dogs, lol. When she was awake and not eating Lee and I took turns cooing and making faces at her, trying to get her to smile and copy us. When she was tired we held her. She is a very cuddly baby. When I was a new mother I found it very difficult to just hold my baby, with all the things that needed to be done weighing on my mind. But as an old person it’s pretty nice! Until I start to get warm; she is a little furnace! Then I had to trade off or put her down and cool off. 

We had Vietnamese for lunch. Dan and I had Bahn mi sandwiches, Lee had a curry and I forget what Kelsey had. Later we went out to this new Japanese coffee shop, Yutori. It is very very popular, and I can see why. They sell the standard coffee and matcha drinks but also some different specialty drinks you won’t find anywhere else. Dan got a miso latte and I got an orange ginger one. Mine was delicious!

I spent a lot of time in the afternoon just holding Reia, hanging out on the couch while she napped on my chest. Very relaxing for both of us!

Dan and Kelsey made Caesar chicken wraps for dinner. They were great.

This morning we went to Din Tai Fung and then walked around the mall and the fake San Jose downtown. No waiter water accidents this time!

Dan, Kelsey, Emi and Reia are all going to Hong Kong on a tour with Kelsey’s family over thanksgiving so they purchased this attachment for Reia’s stroller that Emi can sit on. They practiced using it on our walk. I think it will work, except on some of the escalators where there isn’t an elevator. But many things may have changed. It’s been a long time since we’ve been there.

Tuesday Sept 8

We’re going home today. Leaving for the airport soon. I haven’t written anything about our trip since Saturday afternoon so I’m sure I’ll forget something that happened!

Sunday we drove to the school by their old house and played at the playground and then Emi rode her bike. Dan decided to see if she could start to learn to start herself. We all thought this would take a while but she picked it up in a couple of tries! She is so coordinated! It’s just that her mental/emotional capacity is not at the point where she can be trusted yet. I mean she won’t be 3 until December! Thinking about the boys, it will probably be next spring before they can pop Reia in the bike trailer and all ride down the trail together.

We had sushi for dinner Sunday night. It was very good!

Emi had a hard time Sunday night (and so did Daniel poor guy). She took off her diaper sometime during the night and then had an accident around 4:30 in the morning. It took her a while to get back to sleep but she did. Then when Lee got up around 6:30 she was standing in the door of her bedroom. She announced “I pooped!” So Lee got to clean that up. 

Monday was our day to hang out with Emi. We planned to take her to Shoreline Park and ride the pedal boats. But (no surprise) Emi fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car. She slept for an hour so then it was time for lunch. We drove to Mountain View’s nearby downtown for gyros. We parked and then realized we had forgotten Emi’s shoes!! So we carried her into the restaurant. After we ate we decided to drive back to their house and grab her shoes and then go to a playground instead. Maybe we’ll try Shoreline Park some other time when it’s not so busy. 

We went to the Magic Bridge playground in Mitchell Park instead. She had a wonderful time. Magic Bridge has lots of structures that encourage imaginative/creative play and Emi was in her element. A stage! A store! A boat! It was 2:30 before we could drag her away. We could have stayed longer but it was getting pretty warm and I wanted a coffee. We went to the coffee shop we used to go to near their old house but it was just packed so I said forget it and I lived without an afternoon coffee for once. I survived!

That evening Dan made burgers, corn on the cob, and watermelon. Emi ate her weight in watermelon! It was all good.

That’s it. We are on our way home. We’ll be back for Emi’s birthday in December. She will have changed by then, and Reia will have REALLY changed! Oh well we will see them on FaceTime.

"I'm Baking Tofu in the Oven"

Lake Darling Resort 2026

 

Monday August 24.

This year instead of renting some cabin we are trying a resort. So far I really like it, clean, quiet, no strange decorations or questionable cleanliness.

We drove up from the cities this afternoon. The weather is perfect, warm enough for the boys to play in the lake; cool enough to sit outside if we want. The weather is supposed to be like this all week.

There are a lot of lakes in this region of Minnesota. We stayed on a different lake near here a few years ago. The main town is Alexandria and it’s only a few miles away.

All we’ve done so far is unpack, get settled, watch the boys play, and eat dinner. They have played in the lake and the sand, played on the playground, kicked the soccer ball around, and even gone kayaking.

This was another example of how they are growing up. They could both manage their own kayak. Sarah took a kayak too and all three of them went out toward the middle of the lake. She was ready to come back in but they didn’t want to. We let them stay in the kayaks but they had to get closer to shore.

Dinner was breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, potato pancakes, avocado toast, fruit. Kris made it with Erik’s help because Suzanne had a bad cold. It was all delicious. I did most of the cleanup.

I’m eager to hop on my bike tomorrow and check out the trail that goes right past the resort. Who knows, I might try a kayak or a paddle board myself!

Tuesday August 25

I woke at 5 but went back to sleep until 5:30.  I was the first one up of course. I actually got my act together and by 8 I was out the door, ready to tackle The Central Lakes bike trail. I went east toward Alexandria, took a picture of Ole the Viking, and then continued on for about 10 miles, a little way past the tiny town of Nelson. It was perfect weather. A little breezy but not too hot or cold. It’s a very pretty trail! I went a little over 20 miles total. Tomorrow I’ll go west and see what it’s like that direction.

After a shower and some lunch I worked on my next crochet project, just a scarf but with some very fine merino wool that was donated to the auxiliary. I’ll put it in the sale.

The boys and Erik were kicking a soccer ball around and I decided to join them. It was fun until I lost my balance and fell. I banged up my hip and I’m sure I have a bruise on my leg. Kirby commiserated with me. “I hate to fall,” her said. “You’re a lot closer to the ground than I am”, I reminded him. “Yeah, but it’s still scary.” He’s right. I tried so hard to right myself but it was no use and down I went. I’m just glad I didn’t break anything, and I fell on my left side, not the side that had the pinched nerve!

After recovering from my fall I decided to go kayaking with Sarah and the boys. First Kirby had a meltdown because there weren’t any life jackets to his liking (which means one exactly like Leo had). Frankly I was ready to leave him behind but he finally decided he could stand to wear one of the available life jackets. 

Sarah used a paddle board. We went down the shore of the lake and then turned around and went back, a few times. We only went out for about 20 minutes. 

Afterwards I waded around in the water to cool off. Now I’m back on the screen porch, relaxing again.

Wednesday August 26

Later in the afternoon Marvin, Kris’s new dog, got outside. He’s a rescue, and she hasn’t had him very long, and he doesn’t listen very well yet. On the positive side, he’s in love with Kris so even though he was very excited by being loose outside, there was no way he was going to run away. But we couldn’t catch him, he was running in circles around Kris, very fast. Finally, even though Kris said he wasn’t very food motivated, I went inside and got some real turkey breast. Whoa! He was definitely interested in that!! He came to me to get a bite but I still couldn’t pick him up. So I gave him another bite, and another, and another, all the while slowly walking back to the villa until he was finally back inside. We seem to lose a dog every time we go to a cabin! This is a tradition we could do without!

Lee made dinner last night: steak, veggie burgers, ratatouille, French bread. It was very good. I was pretty tired and got to bed a little earlier, 9:30.

This morning I was up and ready to go on my bike ride by 7:30 AM. I went west on the trail, 20 miles to the little town of Brandon, and back. It was very pretty, but very windy so going west was pretty hard. Of course coming back was easier, and a lot faster too!

I got back in time to take a shower before Sarah’s brunch was ready. Scones, egg bake, fruit salad. So good! And it was all vegan too.

Today has been very relaxing. I did go on a walk later. I went east on the trail and back, 3 miles total. 

The only other excitement was the boys were playing with some boomerangs and one ended up on the roof of the villa. Lee got his fishing rod and started casting. At first he didn’t have much luck but then the lure got caught on a shingle above the boomerang and he was able to use the line to nudge the boomerang off the roof! We all cheered! Lee lost a lure but he saved the boomerang!

We went out for dinner last night in Alexandria. The Garden Bar. It was pretty good. Alexandria is big enough to have some nice restaurants. Lee and I split the pastrami sandwich and a Caesar salad. 

Then we went back to the villa and had a fire and s’mores. Or the boys did anyway. I had a marshmallow with a graham cracker, no chocolate. I figured out years ago that I like that better. We watched the fire and chatted for a while and then some people watched a Harry Potter movie and some of us went to bed.

And that’s it for this year’s cabin. I really enjoyed this place. I would be happy to come back here again next year, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what everyone else thinks!

RV Camping with Leo and Kirby and A lot of Other People 2026

Friday August 14

Our annual RV camping trip with the boys began yesterday. Cathy and JA met us again, but this time their 3 kids, their spouses and alll their kids came too. That’s 10 adults and 11 kids! Two 14 yo, 2 11 yo, 2 8 yo, 3 6 yo, 1 almost 5 yo, and 1 2 yo! The nice thing this year is that since their parents are here we are only responsible for 2 of them.

Lee picked the boys up yesterday like a usual Friday and brought them to our house. They helped us make many many carrot and celery sticks, and load things on to the RV. They can actually peel carrots now! Big kids.

We left around 1:30. We had to stop at their house and get bunny and giraffe which they need for bedtime. Not totally big kids yet!

With a little bit of traffic due to an accident we made it to Father Hennepin State Park on Lake Mille Lacs. There is a small Indian reservation near here, one of the few created in Minnesota back in 1855. Like every Minnesota State Park we have been to, it’s a nice park with well maintained campgrounds, nice hiking trails, a beach, a fishing dock, a boat launch.

It took awhile for everyone to show up last night. We didn’t eat until after 7. Lee had made pulled pork so we had bbq sandwiches, and everyone else brought various sides so there were veggies, slaw, chips, rotel with cookies for dessert.

By the time the adults finished talking and the kids finished playing it was pretty late. Lee took the boys for a quick shower, and it was after 10 by the time we were all in bed.

Then the boys kept fussing at each other until I finally gave up and put Leo in bed with Lee and I got in bed with Kirby. The boys settled down and went to sleep but the mattress on the table bed is horrible. I’m definitely short on sleep this morning, even though I slept until almost 6. Leo slept until  6:30. Then Lee picked up Kirby and put him in our bed so we could set up the table and have coffee and breakfast. Kirby slept until 8!

We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Leo ate 2 and a half large rolls and a lot of strawberries and blueberries. Same with me.

There was also bacon!

Saturday August 15

After breakfast everyone except Cathy, Sophie and me went out on the lake in pontoon boats. We didn’t mind staying back at all! I worked on my latest crochet project. I’m making a puzzle ball animal, a giraffe, for Emi. Its fun! The yarn I chose is very colorful and that’s why I chose it, but, oy what a nightmare to work with! It’s single ply which I didn’t realize until after I ordered it. It’s very difficult to work with without snagging or splitting. I finally researched it and now I’m doing ok. I just have to take it slow. And you better believe from now on I will check the number of plys on any yarn I buy!

Then Sophie and I went on a nice long walk around the park. I chose a trail that went along the lake and then through the woods. It was quiet and pretty and we got some much needed exercise and fresh air.

Everyone came back around mid-afternoon. Then the boys were off playing with the other kids and riding their bikes.

We heard about the pontoon boats in bits and pieces. They had two boats. The younger kids and Kate, Danielle, Sam, and JA were on that boat. The older kids, including Leo and Kirby were on the other boat, as was Lee, Callina, and Andrew. From Lee I heard that they fished, but didn’t catch anything. I heard that the boats were old and not in very good shape. He said their boat was loud, and Callina said she got motion sickness on it, but it turns out that the older kids boat was pretty rowdy. The kids were running around the boat, trying to make it tip, which is pretty hard to do on a pontoon boat, although you can swamp them if you really try. Andrew was driving and he was making lots of twists and turns as well. Thank goodness I didn’t go! I would NOT have been happy. I’m glad I didn’t see it either. But it must not have been TOO bad or Lee would have said something.

Later in the afternoon some of the group decided to go to the beach. Neither Lee nor I wanted to go, but there were plenty of other adults so Leo and Kirby could go too. I drove them there (about 5 minutes away) so we didn’t have to move their car seats. 

Eventually it was time for supper so I went to go get them. They had been having a great time and it was hard to tear them away. 

They had also been playing in the sand, a LOT. In fact they had been burying each other in the sand. They were encrusted in sand and all there was to rinse them off was some very very cold water. What a nightmare. Leo was brave, but Kirby cried and fought. I told him he HAD to get that sand off! He has such sensitive skin and I didn’t want his eczema to flare up. Finally we got enough sand off that it was safe for them to get in the truck.

When we got back to the RV, we could take a washcloth to them and get more of the sand out of their ears and hair. And then, even though I had rinsed their privates too, or so I thought, when they took off their bathing suits a whole other region of sand appeared. It was crazy. But we got through that too and then we could go over to Cathy’s RV and eat taco salad with lots of condiments, with s’mores and cookies for dessert.

I forgot to mention the rain. We had mostly beautiful weather for the entire trip. It was cloudy, fairly cool, and although it threatened rain on Saturday, it didn't appear at the campground, although Lee said it rained briefly, twice, on the boat.

But during dinner it DID rain hard. Cathy and JA have an awning, and it kept most of us dry, although I managed to sit at first right where there was a crack, oops!  Also, although we had most of the RV windows open, they didn't let any rain in. But we also had the skylight open. Uh-oh. I saw it, and ran over as soon as I noticed it to shut it, but the blanket had already gotten wet. Fortunately the sheets were still dry and the blanket was mostly dry by bedtime. We put a towel over the wet spot and it was fine.

Once it had stopped raining Lee took the boys to the showers. It managed to start raining just when they were walking back to the RV, so they got a little wet.

Then last night Lee slept with Kirby and I slept in our bed with Leo. I was so tired!

Sunday August 16

This morning we had pancakes for breakfast with strawberries, syrup and whipped cream. And more bacon. There was some time to visit  and for the kids to play before it was time to pack up the RV and head back home.

It was another very successful camping trip with the boys. They had a great time and so did we. In a couple years they are going to get too big to fit in the table bed anymore, or at least for two of them to fit there. Then I guess if they still want to do it we’ll have to get a tent.