We drove down to San Diego last Friday. We left at 3:30, took 152, and got there at 9:30. Not bad. It is a lot more pleasant to drive during daytime. In the past, we didn’t leave until 8PM.

Spent Friday night with Son Ha. I think Son is a lot more at home, in his skin, with Ha than with Thu. Ha is also a good woman for him. She’s independent, reliable, stable, reasonable. I’m happy for both of them to be able to find each other.

Ha made some fruit tart for us. The trick I learned from Ha is to always use a towel to keep moisture away from the foods. Any food. It helps keep the freshness. Eric likes the setting in the backyard. Some candlelights, cigarette holder, … We should try to have the same thing. So Eric can have his friends over, instead of sitting in the car at some parks.

Tina’s team lost 3 out of 3 games. They’re not used to the warm weather. I watched the first game, and ditched the other 2. Waited at Starbucks for Kitty to pick me up. Weather was nice, warm with a breeze. Met Kurt. I don’t know what to think of him. He’s heaven-sent for Kitty, very loving and attentive to her needs. He helps out at Dung’s house. He’s vegetarian, so he does his own cooking. And always looks around to see what he can do to help. So he seems to be the perfect mate/boyfriend. So why I can’t I have that trusting feeling in him? Is it because he’s older? Or too good to be true? Time will tell. But for the monent, if Kitty is happy, so are we.

I don’t go to San Diego for vacation. I always work harder when I go there. This time, I took care of the 4 kids for Dung to do garden work. Made dinner on both days. I’m glad I was able to color Mom’s hair on the last day. She looked old with her grey hair pasted on her head. After the hair coloring, Mom even styled her hair (it was 8PM) and she really shed off 20 years of age. She was so happy when I commented on her hair.

Wrote her a check for $1000 to support the 2 kids in Saigon, and some other relatives. That’s the donation for 2005.

Drove back to Dao’s house on Sunday night. Dao gave me a copy of her father-in-law’s writing. It’s a treasure, but I don’t think I can fully understand it and bring out the benefits. Maybe I should give it to co Hai or somebody, so that his effort in writing the book does not go to waste.

On the way home on Monday, we stopped by Santa Barbara to get the shoes. We bought 12 pairs! Son got us a 60% discount, so we ended up paying 450 for 12 pairs of Diesel shoes. Unbelievable! The drive home from SB took 4 hours. Eric drove the latter half, and he was very annoyed with me being the backseat driver. But hey! my life is in his hands!

I really want both my kids to grow old and enjoy life fully in perfect health.