The Wednesday before Mother's Day. Hansel was leaving the house in the middle of the day. I asked him where he was going. I was expecting him to say he was getting lunch, but he paused and wouldn't really say. So, I deduced it had something to do with Mother's Day. Admittedly, I was surprised he was even getting anything. We don't really do much for special occassions.
After Hansel came back, he came bounding up the stairs asking if I was ready for my gift. I replied that it wasn't Mother's Day yet. He presented me with a gift certificate to a restaurant in San Carlos and said I was going on a Mommys Night Out with Caroline and Leilani. I was very touched by his thoughtfulness, surprised by his forethought and planning, and excited about my first non-errand outing without at least one of the kids.
So Friday night Caroline, Leilani, and I went to Piacere, an Italian restaurant in downtown San Carlos. The place has great atmosphere -- very chic. Our reservation was for 7p, and the main dining room was fairly empty when we got there. By 8p, it was full, after which we didn't see our waitress much. The food was okay; the company was better.
Saturday was going to be a busy one for me. Hansel had his 50-mile race in Almaden Valley, so I was left with all three kids. We had a full day planned. Having stuff to do usually makes watching them easier. First, we went to Macy's to buy a birthday gift for a party later that day. Thankfully, there was a baby doll care center toy set up in the kids section.
Then, we headed to Memorial Park in Cupertino, so Maile and Beck could participate in a Mother's Day performance with their schoolmates. Even though festivals are often held at the park, the parking for the park was not designed with that in mind. The immediate lots were reserved for vendors. The street parking runs along a road that goes away from the park rather than around the park. We parked a good 15 minutes away, which seems like 15 miles when you have a baby strapped to you and are pushing two kids in a stroller.
We watched the dance class performances with one of Maile's classmates. I thought it was sweet when I saw Maile holding her friend's hand.
Maile and Beck performed with other schoolmates that came for the festival. They did two songs -- one in Chinese and one in English. Maile and Beck knew all the words and actions for the Chinese song, which was shorter. The English song was "Wind Beneath My Wings," to which they signed the words.
After the performance, I was trying to corale them out of the park, but Maile was relentless in telling me how hungry she was. Even though I told her that we were going to a birthday party with lots of food, it was not going to be soon enough. Fortunately, since it was a festival for the Chinese community, I was able to find some tea eggs.
We finally made it to the birthday party for Danica at her home. The theme for the party was golf since they have a mini putting green in their side yard. There was great activities -- make your own visors and a putting contest -- and yummy food and drinks.
Hansel ran his best time in the race and recovered well, but realized that he no longer got much out of running ultra-marathons. So, he's decided to go back to running marathons. Yay!
The next day, Mother's Day, we planned to take the kids to the Oakland Zoo. We combined the trip with picking up a cake from Masse's Pastries in Berkeley, the place that did our wedding cakes. I say cakes because we had a cake at each table vs one big cake. Recently at Dave and Winnie's wedding, Lourdes, who was my maid of honor, took the occassion to remind me how I let the caterers give some of our leftover cakes to a homeless shelter while a friend of ours, Lara, didn't even get to eat a bite (Lourdes' dad ate her slice). So, I decided for Lourdes' birthday I would get a cake from Masse's.
Hansel dropped me and the kids off at the lower parking lot. We made our way through the hot zoo. By the time Hansel was done picking up the cake, we had traversed pretty much the whole zoo. So I told him to park at the main entrance and to meet us outside the ride area. The rides are a definite highlight. Maile loves the roller coaster, and Beck, of course, loves the train.
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