Filipino Fun!

On Sunday, Paul and Grace bore their testimonies in church. So far, Alice goes to nursery without a fight in this ward! We gave a teenage girl and her little sister a ride home from church. Grace got back into practicing her piano music.

We have a deer that likes to come eat just outside our back fence!

In the evening, we decided to walk to campus to see where Paul would be having his classes. We saw a lot of cool trees and buildings.

We found an outdoor stage for the girls to dance on.

It's probably less than a 15-minute walk to Paul's building.

He'll be having class in the middle of the woods!

On the way home, Grace wanted a picture with this cool totem pole. And then we saw a herd of 8 deer! UCSC campus is so pretty and fun!

Monday was Labor Day. We started off our day by doing a week's worth of laundry. Never again - yuck! Then we did some research and saw that Milpitas (an hour away) has a lot of Filipino businesses, so we decided to make a day trip of it. We stopped at a mall along the way to take advantage of the giant sales at the baby clothes stores without having to pay shipping. We got Charlie a couple of church outfits! Then we went to the Great Mall in Milpitas. It is seriously a GIANT mall, with no open parking spots. But they have a Jollibee (Filipino fast food) that Paul and I both remembered from our missions.

We got Chicken Joy, corn beef sliders, fries, white rice, etc. And Paul got his favorite Filipino dessert: halo-halo. It's got ube ice cream and ice bits and flan and mung beans and all kinds of gross stuff in it that he loves. He was worried that it wouldn't be a good one, but he loved it!

Alice wasn't sure she wanted to try it.

But she did it anyway.

She's her father's daughter!

The restaurant was PACKED, and we were the only non-Filipinos in there. It was pretty nostalgic for us, and fun to take our girls there.

They also had a Filipino bakeshop next door that we had in our missions. I bought a package of Pandesal, the rolls that got me through many a sick day in the Philippines.

Then we drove a little ways to the Milpitas Mall. They had a bunch of Filipino stores, including chains from our missions like Goldilocks bakeshop, Chow King restaurant, Max's restaurant, etc. There was also a Filipino chicken restaurant, a Filipino dessert shop, and a few little Filipino clothing shops. They were all fun to see, but we really went there for Seafood City, which I knew from my San Diego mission. It's a big Filipino grocery store.

Grace was a little freaked out by the seafood section.

Paul, however, was right at home. Eeee! Luckily, we don't have very much authentic Filipino food that we crave (a lot of it we choked down on our missions), but we did get some authentic sauces, and some Filipino candy that I really missed. Then we went to a smaller Filipino grocery, and on to an authentic restaurant that served all the traditional dishes out of warming pans, just like on the street corner in the Philippines. We got a little bit of everything we like, then took it home. The restaurant felt too much like the Philippines: hot, and with the Filipino Channel on TV!

We had a Filipino feast for dinner! Even the rice is different here, so it was nostalgic to eat the rice, and all the food was just as we remembered. We got afritada, kaldareta, adobo, etc.

Paul got his beloved pork BBQ. You may notice he was so excited that he got some on his face! He used to buy these at the little grills along the street.

I got bangus, the fish they are famous for in Dagupan. Just like so many times on my mission, it had been sitting in the warming pan too long and was completely inedible. At least they made the lumpia (eggrolls) fresh.

Grace didn't think she'd like any of the food, but who wouldn't like pork BBQ?

We had FHE and put two tired girls to bed at 6! Alice hadn't had a nap, and both girls slept just fine all night. Paul and I did some housework and planning, then got out our Filipino pop and candy bars. What a fun Filipino day! I'll admit it was much more fun/nostalgic for Paul and me. The girls were a little bored at just going to stores and restaurants all day.
Tuesday was a normal day of school for Grace, and working at home for the rest of us. We started Grace back up on piano lessons. I teach her an actual lesson on the first school day of the week, then she practices her songs on her own each day after. We've been consistent with it all week. In the evening, I rode to an RS pool party with a few other girls from the ward. They're all really nice, and we had fun talks.

On Wednesday, I had a rough night, and never really got my day going very well. Alice and I did some computer work in the backyard. Alice likes to use the tarp as a blanket. In the evening, we had a nail clipping party/wiffle ball party with the girls. They LOVE wiffle ball!

On Thursday, we had another normal day. Grace has started eating cream of wheat for breakfast. Both girls tripped and cried on the way to school. Alice has a favorite rock in the backyard. The budding geologist needed a closer look with her magnifying glass.

Paul blew some bubbles for Alice. Then Alice and I missed the shuttle to pick Grace up from school. Well, we didn't miss it - it drove right past our stop without stopping! So we rushed home and got the van, which is parked near the dumpster. We saw a nice, big rug there in the free pile - awesome! It works great in our living room. 

On Friday, Alice woke up at 6:30, so we had some extra time to get the girls cute in the morning. I even had time to start the laundry.

We were even early for school, so the girls hung out on the bench. Alice was happy and good all morning, so Paul and I were able to get lots of work done. Paul decided for a special treat to come with us to pick up Grace from school that day. We were a little early, so we watched Grace from afar at recess. I wish we hadn't been there to witness her friend ditching her, and Grace sitting all alone in the grass. She cried, and I felt so bad for her. What can you do when she's too shy to go find someone else to play with? Luckily, she was totally fine on the way home, telling us all about what a great day she had! Grace and I made pizza dough and brownies in the afternoon. Then we all ate pizza and watched "Down and Derby" on Netflix. It's a movie about the Pinewood Derby.

On Saturday, we let ourselves have a slow morning, then we left around 10 and drove into the middle of campus for a hike in the woods. Yes, you can hike in the woods in the middle of campus.

Thankfully, Alice was willing to ride in the baby backpack, or else it would've been a much harder trip.

Paul kept a map in his back pocket, but we didn't want to look at it unless we got lost, so we just went wherever we wanted to. We chanced upon some fun bridges, and the university library. Everything is closed for the between-session break, so we had campus to ourselves!

We found this old bell that I used as a hat.

After lots of talk about all the poison oak in the area, Grace was understandably upset when she saw some.

Paul and Grace found some great walking sticks for our fun hike.

We found the site of an old limestone quarry.

Will the geology genes pass on to the next generation?

We took a trail back that ended up not really being a trail, and was kind of scary. But then we saw this little troll dwelling. Grace wanted a picture as the troll. We worked our way up a steep hill, and finally made it back to main campus, where we ate our picnic. We had hiked about 1.5 miles in 1.5 hours. What a pace - ha! Grace did great, hiking the whole time and never complaining. Then home for a break before cleaning the whole house. It took us about 2 hours to clean - not bad.

We rewarded ourselves by eating out. We will be taking a vow of poverty once our student loans kick in, so our last hurrah was dinner at Joe's Pizza & Subs. The girls got pizza, and Paul and I got subs. Then we went to Top-A-Lot Yogurt, where you pay by weight for a cup of frozen yogurt and however many toppings you put on there. Alice loved it! It's been another fun week!

Alice reading the Billy Goats Gruff to herself.