Dear Isaac and Emily,
First off, thank you for letting Mama go on a trip all by herself and entrusting Daddy with your lives for 5 days! Great teamwork! I thought I'd share a few pictures and show you the cool stuff I did, and hopefully also explain why I had to leave you guys in SoCal.
When I landed, I drove across the Bay Bridge to see Uncles Jim & Chris. We had lunch at a cute little cafe called StarBelly:
Do you guys see the decor? The only seats were these really high backless stools, and the glasses were so delicate and probably vintage, I just knew if you guys came we would have had a disaster on our hands: unfinished wood and concrete is not very forgiving of little skulls and barware that may be hurled upon them. Plus, you would have found the food really unappetizing: the eggs were poached and extra runny, the bacon was house-cured and would have tasted strange to you, and even the orange juice had alcoholic bubbles in it. You also would have found the conversation boring. When Mama ordered a tuna arugula salad for breakfast and offered some to Jim and Chris with a "What, you guys don't like fish first thing in the morning?" and when they demurely said, "Um, not really fish fans, thanks," Mama thought that was the funniest thing ever. Weird, right?
Mama spent the next couple days watching TV shows and drinking wine from a box. She made a pit stop in Oakland to visit some Bay Area Kimchi Mamas and although no alcohol was involved, a bunch of moms went to sing karaoke and Mama may or may not have actually sung a few songs. And George Michael's "Careless Whispers" may or may not have been on the set list. Oh, you guys would have died from embarrassment. Again, you are very welcome that I saved you from that.
After that, there was just a bunch of shopping and then the work week started. Nothing much to report there, although we could have used your help at dim sum. There were some leftover dumplings that Isaac easily could have polished off. But again, it was in the middle of Chinatown, we would have lost you two in the sea of Asian people in a nanosecond. And you guys would have been picked up by some Chinese family and fed dim sum everyday for the rest of your lives! How horrible would that be?
Okay, fine. You guys might have had fun if you came. I hope you weren't too mad that I left, although it seemed like you guys had some adventures of your own:
To be honest, I gotta give you guys props for this one. Great job on getting Daddy confused about the location of your swim lesson, AND you guilt-tripped him into taking you to the BEACH??? You guys are absolute pros, I can't believe I worried about you guys even for a second.
Anyways, now that we're back in the swing of things, I just wanted to tell you that I am very proud of you two for holding up the fort while I was away. And please tell Daddy that he's a trooper, and of course I realize that the text messages quoted above were the only bad news in a sea of good news. It's just that bad news is always the funniest (and therefore the most quotable) news. :)
Love,
Mama
