Florida Trip

We have been so busy preparing for our Florida trip and then, after that, caught up with holiday stuff that I didn't properly document our trip.  What a blessing it was for us to be at World Disney World. We couldn't have gone if it wasn't for H's work, who paid for some of the trip.  It was such a great trip that the boys still talk about it and wants to go back.

Bird Show

First day Animal Kingdom.  The boys favorite part was the bird show, where birds flew all around us doing tricks.  Safari was great!  We got to see animals in its habitat with out constrains.  At the end of the day, we saw the Lion King show.  It was a live musical with acrobatic monkeys doing tricks on ropes, like in the circus.

The fearless girl.

Day 2, Hollywood Studio.  This place was all about shows and more shows.  The boys wanted to sign up to be in the live Jedi show and the Toy Story ride.  But both were full and no more fastpast by 9:30am.  Keep in mind that the park opens at 9 am.  We were there at 9:30am and no luck for those, so they were disappointed. But the boys rode on the Star War ride multiple times, so WDW have many themes for that ride.  The boys favorite show is the Light, Motor, Action, car stunt show.  They learned how Hollywood shoot car chase scene.  They even showed us a car with steering wheel facing the back so that it would seems like the car is going backward, but it's really going forward.  We even saw a car that split in half and came back together.  K had a hard time with all the shows because she doesn't like loud sound in the darkness.  Since most shows have both, she didn't like that one bit. 

 

Day 3, Magic Kingdom.  This park was all about rides.  All the kids were so tired from the previous two days that we moved really really slowly this day.  Went on the Buzz Light Year ride, drove their own car, Pirate of the Carribean, Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, and Big Thumder Railroad.  Of course we stayed to see Fantasmic, which was a little scary for the kids, especially K, because of the music.

Have to get a pic with Mickey to prove that we were there.

Day 4, Blizzard Beach.  The day was not a perfect day for water park, the sun wasn't out.  But since the temperature is still in the low 80s, we went anyways.  The park had tons of water slides; most of them do not have a height limit, but some do since it's high.  There was a beach like area and an area for little kids.  K didn't like the big water slides, but the smaller one she loves.  The boys loved it so much that they said they like it better than the other Disney park.  Later that day we drove to Club Med Sandpiper Bay.

Water slide race.  Of course the heaviest wins.

Day 5, we just lounged around because J got sick and vomited 5 times. 

Day 6, everyone else, beside K, started to have stomach problem.  So again we didn't do anything except walking around and watching their show.  Club Med had sooo much good food and such varieties and it's all included.  But none of us can eat much of it.

Day 7, we started to feel better so we went swimming and H tried the trapeze, hoping to inspire the boys to try it.  Trapeze is the popular activity at Club Med.  H swinged down fine, but not flexible enough to get his legs onto the bar to hang upside down.  He was so nervous the whole time, but braved it for the boys. 

Noticed his leg curved up.  What he does when he is nervous.

C is great at the monkey bar, so he had no problem.

Day 8, the boys finally had enough courage to go on the trapeze.  I was so proud of them.  It was pretty high up.  Although there were harness, it was still pretty scary.  It was the opportunity to show them that it was safe and being brave doesn't mean not being scare, but moving forward despite fear.  They did it and did it beautifully.  I knew they could.  J even said that it was just a little scary and that it was fun. I tried the trapeze. I got up fine, swinging fine, and getting my legs up the bar to hang upside down fine.  But when I was told to let go and just hang by my legs, I got nervous.  I just didn't trust that my legs can hang on and I didn't want to all on my head.  The trainer kept telling me to let go and eventually I did.  So exhilarating. 

Day 9, H and I sent the kids off the kids' club so we have a day to ourselves.  The boys were opposed to being apart from us cause they just want to hang out as a family.  But we explained to them that Mommy and Daddy needs time to ourselves.  But of course K, being an extrovert, loved meeting people and being with strangers.  I tried the trapeze again and it did it better.  So much fun.

Day 10, we drove back to Orlando.  We booked a hotel with an attached water park called Cocoa Beach since the kids loved water slides so much.  I can't believe that the boys went really tall water slides by themselves.  Even the ones that dropped them straight down.  K loved the ones that's her size.  At night, we visited our friends, the Laus, and had dinner with them and a popular BBQ place.  Such good food. 

Day 11, we flew home.  Follow this link for more pictures.

What a wonderful trip!

Our Impromtu Trip to LA

Ferris Wheel at Knotts Berry Farm

The good news is that I got a job offer to work part time at a small CPA firm in Walnut Creek.  The bad news is that we can't take vacation this summer since July - Sept are busy season at my new work place.  So as soon as I accepted the offer, H and I decided to take the kids on a short vacation during Memorial day weekend.  The easiest place to go at a last minute notice was LA, so we took the kids to Knotts Berry Farm and California Science Center.  We pulled the kids out of school on Friday (yeah, so unlike us) and drove down to LA.  We first stopped by Griffith Observatory to let the kids learn about space and see and touch telescopes.  The next day, we spent the whole day at Knott's Berry Farm.  The place wasn't big, but lines were long.  Of course we didn't go on the level 5 scary rides, but even so, we didn't hit everything.  But we did go to the new part of the park and the roller coaster ride called Coast Rider was the boys' favorite. 

Mui was the only one who wants a picture with Snoopy.

On Sunday, we went to California Science Center, home of the spaceship Endeavour.  We love hands on science museum because C loves science and wants to know how things work.  Even in the bay area, we have annual membership to SJ children museum.  Since we're in LA, of course, we cannot miss the opportunity to see Endeavor and the largest science museum in CA.  The place is humogous with 4 stories of hands on fun.  There are also many discovery centers on every floor for babies and toddlers.  You can learn about plants, space, human body, and anything science related.  The biggest attraction is the spaceship.  When NASA brought the spaceship to this Science Center, the boys saw it flew across their school.  Now they are excited to see it up close.  It was very interesting to learn about space and what the astronaunts did there.  We even saw the space potty and learned how astronaunts use it in zero gravity.  The ship itself is magnificent, it's huge and grand.  I can't believe human is capable of creating such ingenious machine.  If we, mere mortal, can be this smart, then, God, our creator, is capable of so much more.  We weren't allow to go inside the ship, but currently there are plans to build a Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center next to the Science Center to place the spaceship vertically as if it was ready to be launched.  The new building will be many many stories tall so that the spaceship can be viewed from many levels.  It is anticipated to open in 2017, I can't wait to see it.  The Science Center is so big that we can easily spend a whole day there, but the boys really want to see the beach also.  Therefore, we left early and headed for Manhattan beach.  The weather was nice, not too hot or too cold.  The beach is clean with plenty of parking.  There are walking and biking path.  The boys and mui just love playing with water and sand.  Joshie dugged in the sand and found many tiny little sand crabs.  Mui likes to just scoop sand.  They did this for two and a half hour.   I love that the kids had so much fun just being outdoor and getting dirty.  What a blessing to see that they can enjoy the simple things in life and find joy without needing expensive experiences.

See the sand crab in the middle of the shovel?  It was J's mission to find more.

Spring Break 2013

It's great to have a break from school and homework.  We all slept in everyday.  Yes, slept all the way to 8 am, it's not really "sleeping in" like college student sleeping in, but it was a treat, at least for me.  We didn't go out of town, but we managed to have lots of fun visiting museums for FREE without having to pay for admission.  H took two days off work to do family things.

On Tuesday, we went to Lindsay Wildlife museum in the morning and Oakland Zoo in the afternoon. Lindsay Wildlife museum is actually a hospital for wild animals.  We saw owls, hawks, bald eagles, snakes,  foxes, ravens, and badgers that the hospital saved.  We even got to see behind the scene of how vets take care and feed the wild animals.  It was fascinating.  I am glad that the boys aren't too old for it.  They still loved it.  I know pretty soon C will not be interested.  Mui, of course, loved every bit of it.  Especially when she was allowed to touch the snake.  Then, we drove past Chick-fil-a, what?  I did a double take and said that we HAVE to go.  We must support this Christian business that honors Sunday as the Lord's day and actually closed from operation.  Chick-fil-A has a special place in my heart not only because the owner is a believer, but it was my very first place of employment, aside from the family business.  In college, I needed to earn extra money, so I got a job at Chick-fil-a.  I only did one thing there and that's to bread the chicken breast and fry it to make the delicious chicken sandwich.  Although I loved the food and liked the people, I quit after one quarter.  Back then, I didn't know how to cook and I was really really fearful of the fryer.  It was a huge and HOT pressure fryer.  I was suppose to put the chicken into the basket, lower it into the oil and disconnect the removable handle to close the lid to start the pressure frying.  I was suppose to insert the handle after the chicken is done and while it's still in the oil.  I had to act quick because otherwise it will be burnt.  I was never sure whether I put the handle on right and I was afraid that the basket will drop down cause a huge splash and burn me.  But I toughed it out for a quarter because I wanted to keep trying and they usually do more hiring at the beginning of the quarter.

After lunch we headed out to the Oakland Zoo. We are no longer have membership, but when we were members, it came with a free family pass. We went without a stroller for the first time.  Mui ran around and rushing to everything, keeping her by our side was a difficult task.  She especially loved to pet the goats and sheep.  The boys really wanted to ride the train, but we didn't know that the park closes at 4pm.  We told the boys that we were sorry that they can't ride the train.  They were disappointed, but J kept saying that we should to find the train to see if they are really closed.  We said that it is so we might as well stay in the park a little longer.  At 4pm no one asked us to leave, so we walked around some more.  We made our way to the giraffes and and heard that the train was still running.  So we rushed out of the park to try to catch the train.  When we got there, the train conductor said that this is the last ride.  By this time it was 5 pm. We praise God that He granted the desire of our kids. 

On Wednesday, we took the kids to Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito.  This place is a popular place for family with small children, I would say 1st grade and under.  So at the first exhibit hall, both boys felt weird that they are so much bigger than everybody else.  I can see that as C grows older, pretty soon he will not enjoy these kinds of museum and family function.  I pray that that day won't be anytime soon.  They still had a good time because there are lots of things to experiment with, touch, and lots of outdoor areas to explore. The boys really like to be outdoors, they like to explore nature, find bugs, climb trees, and touch dirt and rocks.  There is an outdoor part to this museum that's just perfect.  Mui liked to play with the water wave exhibit.  She liked putting fake crabs and star fish on the rock in anticipation for the unpredictable wave to come.  And when it did come, she got hysterical. 

Today, we stayed home to relax.  I did something crazy with the kids.  Since I thought it was going to rain, I told them that we are going to have an indoor picnic.  They weren't so excited since we had a picnic yesterday.  I said, "But did you ever went on a picnic to eat without using any utensil?  Not ever your hands?"  So we had an indoor picnic in our family room and ate without using our hands.  Mui didn't know what we were doing and she looked confused.  She kept asking me if she can eat.  After taking a bite by licking her plate, she smiled and found it fun.  I just hope that she doesn't think it's the norm now.  The boys of course liked it and had fun but still preferred to be civilized and use utensils.  We also were busy in the kitchen.  Inspired by a friend's middle school daughters who cooked dinner, I thought that I should teach C how to cook.  So today I taught him how to make jello.  He was proud that he can do it, but find it hard to remove the jello from the mold.  I told him cooking is experimenting.  Next time, we'll have to experiment a different way.  Even jello making can be an art.

How did we visit the museums for FREE?  Alameda county libraries give free museum passes to Alameda County residents over 18 with a library card.  Not all the museums are free, but I think the list of free museums can be different from month to month.  Here is the link to the site.  And most museums have a free day from time to time.  So it's good to check their website.  Bay Area Discovery Museum is free every first Wednesday of the month.  We saved about $160 of admission this week. 

Disneyland on Thanksgiving

We spent two fun filled days in Disneyland on Thanksgiving and had a blast.  Our kids are so blessed to be able to go to Disneyland so many times (this was the boys' third trip and Mui's first).  I remember going to Disneyland only once my entire childhood.  All three times, we went with our vacation buddies, the Tran family.  We travel well together with them because both kids and adults are friends.  Our hotel was only two miles from the park and it has full kitchen and hot breakfast.

Holidays at Disneyland was magical. It was nicely decorated with Christmas lights. 

The boys are taller now and can ride on most roller coasters. They went on almost every one, even Space Mountain (roller coaster in the dark). I have to admit it was a bit scary for me, not knowing what to expect next.

 This ride goes pretty fast. Even baby J is on the ride. 

Mui loved the fast ride.  What dare devil!

Mui was mesmerized by the parade.  Just like the boys were the first time they saw it.

Buddies.