San Diego vacation #4 Midway

We went to see the USS Midway, an American aircraft carrier which was in service between 1945 - 1992. Now, its a floating museum.



The kids were very happy. We all had a good time.



One of dad's patients is a former fighter pilot who served on the Midway during the Korean war and was shot down during that conflict. He gave us a little bit of special tour experience.



Fighter pilots.



I am the Ice Man.



This is the bow (front) of the ship.



My sister Rachel...aka Maverick.





Later we went to Toys R'Us, where we attempted to sell our kids. Only $4.99



Then we dropped the price. Still no buyers.

San Diego vacation update #3: Earthday and Sushi

Went out with Tony and ate delicious Sushi.



Earth day celebration in Balboa Park. They played with the snake and the snake girl. Lots of other hippy-types there. Also the weather got very hot. It was 90 F.





My brother Micah and Akiva. We saw beautiful flower children and Reggae music. There were right-side wackos too, like a big anti-Abortion section, complete with 6-foot tall posters of mangled fetuses. The Earth day organizers put up a sign warning: "Protect your children from the images ahead: Earth Day organizers could not force the extremists in the following area to abide by the Earth Day event standards charter." Micah got into debates with some of them. I couldn't be bothered though...not going to pick fights with extremists while on vacation. I will save up my fighting energy for when I get back to Suzhou and take a taxi.

San Diego vacation update #2

The kids are having a good time playing in the pool, playing with family & friends, playing with new toys, and playing with the dogs.

We had a good Passover Seder on Thursday. Not too big. 22 people or so. We did the whole thing: prayers, 4 cups of wine, matzo, moror (bitter herbs), dinner w/ beef brisket, veggies, matzo-ball soup, gefilte fish, chopped liver. The Afikomen. More prayers. It was good.

We didn't take pictures. We were too tired. I'm writing this post on Monday and I'm still not over the jet-lag.



Tony came on Friday. For all Female viewers of this site (hmmm...and male viewers), Tony is single and he says he is heterosexual. OK. As long as I have known him, he has always exhibited heterosexual dating patterns, combined with homosexual shopping and grooming habits.



With Tony, we went to eat Vietnamese food at a little place located on Convoy St.



Dipping sauces



Pho (with rare beef and tendon) is great.



BBQ Beef rolls (wrapped around spring onions). Great



Shrimp-and-pickled-veggie salad. Very Thai. Great.

San Diego vacation #1

Travel to San Diego: 2 hours car ride to Pudong airport; 2 hours wait in airport; 11 hours in plane; 1 hour US customs; 2 hours car ride from LA to San Diego. 18 hours total. Both children threw up on the plane and Kenaz peed in his pants. Haga and I didn't really sleep. In-flight movies included Toy Story; some Chinese film; Speed Racer (which looked really stupid). China Eastern food service included mainly fish noodles and pork-rice.



The sky is not completely blue. Its windy here. Cold in the shade. Less moisture in the air so it feels cooler. When we arrived in San Diego we went in the Jaquizy. Then played with Legos. Then went to bed at 7. Kids woke up at 1 AM and wnated to play. I got them back in bed at 2:30 AM. We woke up at 9:30. My father made delicious Matzoh brie for us.



We walked through the canyon to the neiborhood park. The kids enjoyed picking up sticks, seeds, and pine-cones. This is something I really miss in China...natural parks.

mini-Passover (BTW we are going to San Diego)

We had a small Passover Seder. We didn't invite people are make a big deal because I have been sick (and coughing). So we did the basics. "My First Passover" board-book served as our Haggadah. Chinese cilantro for our greens. Celery tops as the bitters. Charoset. Matzoh. Wine. Egg. We ate matzoh-ball soup, matzoh and mashed-egg (with salt-water added). Matzoh and smoked salmon w/ cream cheese. Overall, a nice Seder.



For desert, we ate chocolate covered Matzoh.

BTW, we are going on vacation to the United States, leaving on April 14th and comming back to China on May 6th. We intend to have a last-day-of-Passover seder with my parents in San Diego when we arrive. We are really excited about our up-comming trip.

In other news, its Spring. We are going to miss Spring in Suzhou...all three weeks of it. By the time we get back, its going to be hot. Today, Haga took the kids (with friend Shiholi-chan) to ShiziLin. There were too many people there, so they went to the Humble Administrator's Garden. And then they rode a boat down Pingjiang Rd.