The Big Four Oh

Shortly after Haeley turned 4 months, her papa turned 40! Yup, the big four O has finally arrived! It's actually less scary than what the Hallmark cards make of it. In fact, I don't feel any different. It's not how old you are, but how old you feel, right? Despite a few more grey hair and wrinkles, I still feel like I'm in the late twenties! With all the baby talking and acting foolishly to get Haeley to laugh, at times, I certainly act a lot younger than my age!!

The party days are over! The weekend before my actual B-day, we went for a short getaway with baby and mama to Mendocino, a beautiful quaint little town about 180 miles north of San Francisco. The drive on HWY 1 was scenic but curvy and it seems to be the perfect condition for Haeley to doze off. She pretty much slept through the entire journey! But the windy road is certainly not what ma ma likes as she was feeling a little car sick, and didn't really get to enjoy the breathtaking views. We took a few pit stops along the way to let ma ma get some fresh air and we took plenty of photos of the coastline of northern California.

Pit stop to stretch our legs

Light house at Arena Point

Are we there yet?? I'm bored.

We're here! Now let's look for parking...

Yippee! Let's check this place out!

ma ma making sure baby is still inside the stroller...



Smile Haeley, smile!

This is where we stayed...its famous for its vegetarian restaurant

In our room... Haeley suddenly realizes she's got feet!

Haeley enjoying her first hotel bed!

mama playing flying girl with baby! Weeeee....

Hmmm... when did I last cut your toe nails?

Baby playing Taliban

A walk along the animal barn outside of the Inn

On my actual birthday, I picked up Haeley from her day care, and to my surprise, she was wearing a tee shirt that says Happy Birthday papa! Mama had made that shirt the week before and knowing that I'll be picking Haeley up from day care, she arranged for the care taker to change her outfit right before I got there! That's the best and most touching birthday surprise I've ever had!

That same evening, I had a craving for meatloaf and mikeshake (maybe I'm trying to be young again), and since its my birthday, I get to eat whatever I want. So we went to a diner in Palo Alto to have my birthday dinner.

Haeley and ma ma wish papa a Happy 40th Birthday!!

The following weekend, we met a few friends at the Cliff House for sunday brunch. It turns out three of us all had birthdays in March! So it was a triple celebration!

It seems like each time Haeley is near the ocean, the sky is perfectly clear. This is true even before she was born. When Anthea was 8 months pregnant, we took a trip to Big Sur, and it was again clear blue sky admist clear blue ocean. In fact that's kinda how we came up with Haeley's Chinese name...Hai Qing which means Ocean clear sky. Little did we know she actually has special power to cast away clouds from the sky!

Cheek to cheek with God mom and God dad

Haeley with her little beannie in front of Ocean Beach