After a day-long investigator meeting in Chicago, and uninspired by Pizano’s deep dish za and Giant’s aggressively-flavored dishes, I returned home ready to spend some time with my family. So I was sad having to attend our resident welcome luncheon alone while Melody and Westley took a journey to Elk Grove for her sister’s birthday. Fortunately, our in-laws made it up by babysitting last weekend to let us watch Crazy Rich Asians in the theater. Hailed as the first Hollywood blockbuster featuring an all-Asian cast since the Joy Luck Club 25 years ago, the movie rode on a wave of lofty expectations, yet still managed to beat the hype as one of the more thoughtful rom-coms I’ve seen in recent years. Meanwhile, we are continuing to explore new restaurants in Sac, including solid dim sum at Ming’s Dynasty, fancy sushi at Kru, cheap poke at Delilah’s Market, and AYCE Korean BBQ at Blue House. The pork belly and brisket were tasty, but the beef belly and intestines were too oily for our palates. Westley continues to keep us on our toes with another fall, this time resulting in bruised gum but no tooth injury according to his dentist. He seemed okay as we took advantage of the final summer weeks of the Davis Farmer’s Market, Dance Daze classes, and Manor Pool. Last weekend, we used an Entertainment coupon to check out the Powerhouse Science Center . Here, we spied a walking stick army, molded topography with play-doh, rubbed plasma balls, blew giant bubbles, and pretended to be astronauts in outer space. Along the same theme, we got a Groupon to visit the California Academy of Sciences on Labor Day Weekend. From rainforest butterflies and leafcutter ants to touch pool starfish and an albino alligator, the visit left Westley plenty excited. He conked out on the drive back after our seaside lunch at the Waterbar, and woke up in time for some luggage shopping in Vacaville. Back home, we finally completed Mario’s Odyssey and another season of MasterChef Junior, as we moved on to new seasons of SYTYCD, Westworld, and Handmaid’s Tale. With our trip to Ireland just a week away, we’ll need to start some serious vacation planning!