During our quick trip to San Diego, we were able to stay the Courtyard by Marriott in Rancho Bernardo using D’s reward points. This was the first time we were able to redeem points, so it was quite exciting!

There is a quaint park with a pond behind the property.
There is also an adjacent Chinese restaurant called “Pearl” that we were considering for dinner, but it was booked by a wedding party that night.

Instead, we ended up at a Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Ca Do.
The food was quite delicious, and reasonably priced. We would be regulars if it was closer to our house. They were pretty busy that Friday night, and I can see why.

After taking the gondola, there were still more animals to be seen!

The giant tortoises are always fascinating!
The kids really enjoyed the animal show. We had front row seats. Good thing there was no “splash zone”.

After New Year’s Day, we drove down to San Diego for a quick overnight trip. Our first stop was the “World-Famous” San Diego Zoo. We bought our memberships online beforehand, which I believe saved us around $10. The last time we had gone, k was just a tyke, and n was not born. We thought another trip was due. With our passes, I expect many more trips in the upcoming year.
This red panda was my favorite of the day–so incredibly cute!

We headed to the panda exhibit first, since it is the one exhibit that can have a long wait time.


k’s favorite was the polar bear exhibit.

The zoo was still decorated for Christmas, but we did not really experience any of the performances, since they were all at night. Maybe next year.
We also took the gondola, which is free with membership. The zoo is so large, this is actual a useful mode of transportation, with great views!

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day is all about noshing for our family. We went to my parents’ house, where my mom made a plethora of family favorites. One new addition was doing shabu-shabu. Interactive food is always fun!

My parents gave me a bread machine for Christmas. It has been fun experimenting. These pretzels turned out well, although they were quite labor-intensive!

Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, we had the opportunity to go to Knott’s because I obtained tickets through the OC Register and winning tickets through a blog contest. It was fun to see the changes made since our pass expired in 2013. Most of the changes were done in Camp Snoopy. Also, n grew enough to go on Sidewinder, so that was a first as a family. The Linus’ Blanket ride was interesting. I do not believe I have ever been a ride where you are on your stomach!

For some reason, D and I liked Pig Pen’s Mud Buggies. It was much better than the ride it replaced, which was perpetually empty.
These vultures were added to the Mine Ride, along with a revamping of the inside. The recorded narration takes away from some of the charm in my opinion, however.

n was also tall enough for the bumper cars! I think the next time we go, n will need to hit 48″ so we can go on even more rides!

Waiting in line for Sidewinder, the longest line of our day.
We ran into church friends at the Birdcage Theater! We saw A Christmas Carol. Afterward we went to see Snoopy on Ice, always a favorite.
Finally, we saw a show from the balcony of the Calico Saloon.
There were a lot of people, but it never felt overly crowded, which was nice. We cut our outing a little short when it started drizzling, but it was a fun day!

Din Tai Fung has been on our to-do list for quite some time now. We put it off for a while, because who wants to drive to Arcadia just to eat Chinese food? When we found out they were opening up a location in South Coast Plaza, we decided to wait until it opened. However, after hearing all the complaints about ridiculous wait times, we decided to put it off some more, to see if they hype died down. Since we had a free day during our Winter Break, it was finally time!

We arrived at around 3:45 in the afternoon, and D put his name/phone number down. They sent us a text when our table was ready, which was just before 5:00 (perfect dinner time for us!) The good thing is that there is plenty to keep you occupied since you’re at the mall. We just did some post-Chrismtas window shopping.

The kids’ water cups are so cute! Love the dumpling mascot. We ordered one order of pork XLB, green beans, chicken lo main and pork-shrimp dumplings.

So the soup dumplings were just as I expected–delicious! n could not get enough of the green beans, which is amazing since he is not a veggie-lover. The noodles were just ok, but we mainly ordered them for the kids. Overall, the food was quite delicious, but it did not fill us up. Value-wise, it was a bit disappointing. However, it was an experience to remember, and D was happy to add it to his restaurant list.

The day after Christmas, D and I went out to see The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies since I needed to use my free IMAX 3D tickets. This would not normally be our first choice for a movie, but it was the only one playing in the IMAX theater. We had not seen any of the previous Hobbit movies, but it was still understandable.
For dinner, we went to Umami Burger. They were having a special that week, $8 for the “Manly Burger”. We also ordered a side of fries. I enjoyed the three sauces that were provided in squeeze bottles on the table, as well as the umami ketchup. However, I think Bachi Burger still reigns supreme!

Happy 2015!  We are back to work and school and our routines.  We had a good break, but it is good to be a little more productive, too!

Christmas seems oh so long ago now.  The kids woke up at their normal time and opened their stocking stuffers.  Next, they helped make breakfast.  We made stuffed french toast roll-ups. 

D made the eggs, and we added bacon and blackberries. 

After breakfast, we opened gifts.

D received his own “Snuggie”!

Later in the day we went to my parents’ house.  We found this Santa ducky in their neighborhood.

We took a hike at Peters Canyon.

How sad that the water has disappeared due to the drought.

Cousins!