Easter Sunday

As is our annual tradition, we spent Easter Sunday at Fedora's dad's church. The kids had a good time despite the fact that the bigger kids speedily scooped up most of the Easter eggs. Playing the playground in the back of the church was enough of a consolation prize.

The Children's Discovery Musuem

Courtesy of Wilson and Michelle (brave parents extrordinaire), all our kids had a fabulous time at the Children's Discovery Musuem in San Jose. They took them all (via light rail) to the museum while we had a child-less lunch and stroll through Santana Row.

Lunch at the Straits Cafe

Fedora and I had a tasty lunch at the Straits Restaurant at Santana Row while Wilson and Michelle took the kids to the Children's Discovery Musuem. The atmosphere is modern, chic, and airy. The food was better than the other Singaporean restaurant I've been to recently (Shiok! in Menlo Park) -- though more pricey as well.

From their small plates menu (which you can see on their Web site), we had

• Roti Prata: the day's hands-down winner. Great Indian bread, generous portions, and tasty coconut curry dipping sauce.
• Tahu Goreng: ok but not spectacular. The tofu was not as crisp as I would have liked, but the cucumbers, bean sprouts and sauce were a good complement.
• Mee Goreng: tasted more Malaysian than Indian, but was satisfying nonetheless. Fedora thought she tested ketchup -- quite possible, as it was very tomato-y.
• Mango, Avocado and Shrimp Salad: this was from their "Island Brunch" menu so it might be seasonal. But it featured a fantastic sauce for the barbequed shrimp. The avocado and mango salad was served as a tower and it was a great complement to the shrimp. Overall, this was very reminiscent of a recipe they did on America's Test Kitchen recently (Crab Towers with Avocado and Gazpacho Salsas).

We didn't have room for dessert at the restaurant, but did manage to have a light Japanese-style strawberry cheesecake (just the right richness) and a mocha cake (curiously sweet) at L'epi D'or in Cupertino, a Taiwanese bakery I've been curious about ever since I read an article on Asian bakeries in the San Jose Mercury News.

Happy birthday, Kristen!

Colin and Katie -- and many other friends -- were on hand to celebrate Kristen turning 4 this weekend. The party had a Care Bear theme. Katie was delighted -- and Colin too. We don't know whether to be worried about the latter yet. :-)

The happy new parents

Rob and Jen stopped by in early March with their new baby Aidan. They enjoyed a break from the chilly Philadelphia weather, and we got to ooh and aah over their well-behaved baby boy.

Baby Aidan makes his Bay Area debut

The kids at Coyote Point

The students at Little Lambs Preschool had a fun outing to Coyote Point on "Toddler Tuesday". Katie enjoyed painting an egg-shaped piece of paper, and Colin enjoyed supervising her: "use the purple paint, Katie!" -- could he be preparing for a career in management?

It's a boy!

Well as you can see from the ultrasound, everything is "all systems go" for the newest addition to the Chen family. The third baby is going to be a boy, and both he and mom are doing great. Apologies to anyone from a culture where "thumbs up" means something other than "hunky dory; peachy keen; feeling good, mom!" We're anticipating our new bundle of joy towards the end of July. Name suggestions, anyone?

Katie turns 2!

We can't believe how fast it's going. Our little baby girl is two! Well, in this picture, she's actually a few days before two. But in lieu of a birthday party with pink ponies, Katie got not one but two birthday cakes. Given her appetite, it's what she would have wanted anyway. Actually, strictly speaking, what she really wanted was really the fruit layer off the top of the cake.

We're so grateful to God for our girl. She is charming, generous, thoughtful, sunny, and a great playmate for her brother. Oh, and chatty too. :-)