Brick Fest, Kaitlyn turns 4, and Chinese food

Saturday

Dim sum, birthdays, Brick Fest

Har cheung fun. Just okay, skins a little too thick and shrimp were merely adequate.

Har gow. Small-ish. Not particularly tasty, but looked delicious.

Shu mai. Just okay.

Deep fried shrimp ball. Quite decent.

Lo bac guo. Not bad, nice and crispy outside.

Chicken feet were pretty good.

Tripe was quite decent. They were a little uneven-- some orders were heaped full, this one was a little small.

Pai gut. Passable.

Dan tat. A bit too much crust but not too bad.

Big and crowded-- t'was packed even at 10:30am!

Kaitlyn's 4th birthday.

Waiting for the candles.

Group shot!

Woody at Brick Fest.

Building area, one of several.

Build your racer!

I'm actually not sure which theme this is. /me hangs head in shame

Another big Lego play area. Lego City.

Series minifigs for sale.

Clone Army Customs.

Again, not sure what theme this is. :-(

SpaceX Dragon.

Juno space probe, Cygnus Enhanced to left.

The very rare Lego Cuusoo Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover set.

Custom built TIE Interceptor.

Side view.

Custom built TIE Fighter.

Big inflatable Lego minifig.

Yet another zone...

Luscious Dumplings in Monrovia.

Beef noodle soup was superb.

Modern inside. Packed when I first arrived.

Dumplings here are just okay-- I prefer more simple fillings, they go more fancy here.

Starting the day off with dim sum at New Capital Seafood in Rowland Heights. t'was good to see Tiffany for the first time in a long time (and her crazy travel schedule!), along with some decent dim sum. Ordered all the basics, from har gow to lo bac guo to chicken feet. Nomnomnomonom. Despite showing up at 10:30am hoping to beat the crowd, it was already forming when we got there-- crazy!

Then down to Aliso Viejo for Kaitlyn's 4th birthday. Holy cow, BEJ's oldest is now 4! The local park had us double-booked, but that was okay, as it merely looked like we had an uber-huge birthday party complete with two bounce houses, a ton of pizza, lots of family and friends! Sophia even made a belated appearance, and it was good to see most of the UCLA group. More than 15 years later, undergrad degrees, a few graduate degrees, weddings, kids, second kids... cripes we've been through a lot!

Then to further criss-cross the greater LA/OC area, up to Pasadena for Brick Fest, an unofficial Lego mini-convention touring the USA. Kind of like an itty-bitty Comic Con or a small/medium-scale trade show and series of big play areas for Lego fans, including a good sized Lego build-and-race-your-own-drag-racer setup that looked surprisingly fun. It was more like a gigantic play area for children plus a bit of shopping for the adults though, and ultimately seemed disappointing considering the cost of admission (even with Groupon).

Finally, before heading back, ducked into the other Luscious Dumplings location in Monrovia. Newer and more presentable than the original location, the Monrovia one has equally superb beef noodle soup, but the dumplings that didn't seem quite as good. Nice and convenient though, with plenty of parking.