Month: March 2019

Thailand Trip 2019

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Sunday 3/31 – Wednesday 4/10/2019

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GRwHc3LzjfoaZW7r5

William got 1 week of Spring Break so we decided to go to Thailand this year, mainly because the tour cost is reasonable and the food is cheap there. The drawback that we did not like is the travel time is too long (12 hours on Air China to Beijing and 5 more hours to Bangkok; on the way home, same travel time plus 5 hours waiting for connection at Beijing) and the weather was too hot over there.

In summary, we first stayed 1 night in Bangkok, then 1 night in Pattaya, 1 night in Ayuttaya, then back to Bangkok for 1 more night. Then took flight to Phuket and stayed there for 3 nights, then flew to LAX from Phuket airport. We went with Stunning Tours, our tour guide was Ellen, she speaks English very well (she’ also the tour manager for Gate1).

William could not stand the hot and humid weather, the moment we got out of the bus for sight seeing, he immediately asked to go back to the bus. He’d kick, cry, drag his feet on the ground so that we’d take him back to the bus. Often he asked to go back to the hotel and to play in the pool.

Buddha face in the tree

The only times he’d enjoy the outdoor is in the evening, when we went to Asiatique in Bangkok where he can ride the mini motocycle and ride the Tuk-tuk in Ayuttaya which he danced to the music and lights.

The rest of the time he’d enjoy sitting in the hotel pool for hours.

As for food, in the morning he only wanted to eat cereal and milk or bread with butter from the hotels free buffet. Lunch time if possible we’d get him McDonald Kid meals but he only ate french fries. We’d also order the pizza from the hotel ,or if we went to Asiatique in Bangkok, we’d go to Pizza Company shop and ordered small cheese pizza with onion rings. He loved the onion rings! We also brought the instant noodle cups from home, but he did not like the noodle too much. Seven-Eleven or Family Mart in Thailand is everywhere, here we could buy hot dog, cheese sandwich, snack and stocked up on the water, soft drinks with a good price.

On the bus, or airplane he likes to sit near the window

William loved to sit in the back of the tour bus; there were 2 other guys in the tour goup like to sit in the back also, so 4 of us always sit together. There was 1 time in Phuket when the tour company sent the van that only has 2 seats on the back, the other 2 guys already sat there; when William ran back there and found no available seat, he sat on the floor! I had to ask him several times before he was willing to move to the other seats.

William loved to sit near the window so that he could watch the streets and the bus passing by. Some times he sneaked in between me and the other 2 guys so that he could look thru the back window.

As for riding the airplane, this time he did not want to run up/down the isles. I tried to keep him busy by giving his little phone that is loaded with his favorite videos. He’d sit and watch for hours, the only annoy thing is that he made noise while watching videos by imitating the sounds from the movies, which some people found that too loud. I tried to tell him to keep his voice down but he did not listen. Another good thing is that he’s not afraid of the restroom anymore; he’d go with me without me asking so many times when he needed to go; but he’d cover his ears when he was in there. So what I did is that I let him out of the restroom first before I flushed the toilet.

Phi Phi coral island, having lunch

For some reason his eyes got so itchy that he kept scratching them, which made them swollen. He looked really bad toward the end of the trip, which made me realize that he’s not ready for any tours yet, especially he’s too young to care much about the sight seeing, temples or history; all he wants was just the pool!

William doesn’t like to take pictures, it was so hard for him to stand still for a minute to take a good picture. He’d just turn his head away or run around or pull his shirt up to scratch his body; so turned out we did not have a any good family picture at all.

He doesn’t like the beach either. 2 years ago we went to Cancun, he’d cry and kick if we took him to the beach. This time we went to Batong beach in Phuket, he acted the same way, but this time at least he was ok to stand on the sand, and eventually he sat down to play, but still refused to get wet.

He refused to step down to the water

One thing I felt bad is that I forgot to ask for special meal when checked in at LAX so he ended up eating bread with butter because he refused to eat rice. When checking in at Phuket Airport, I asked for special meal but they said I have to order it 1 day before checking in. When we were at the gate, I asked again and they said I need to call in 3 days before checking in. Seems like Air China staffs are not on the same page about this. Learned my lesson, I will make sure I request the special meal for William when we book the tickets!

Riding mini motocycle at Asiatique

It was a 10 days trip, not sure if William felt it was long but he did not ask to go home like we were on the Japan trip last year; I guess partly because all the hotels have pools for him to enjoy. Last year he was still afraid of water; I think taking swimming class really helps him to feel comfortable with water. Now he’d just run to the pool when he sees one. 2 year ago when we went to Cancun, I’d have to drag him to the pool because he’d kicking and crying saying “No, No!”.

Private house next to our hotel belong to 1 of the riches man

Our little boy is now growing fast, he’s 3 feet and 43 lbls now. He talks a lot more and pays attention more to his surrounding. I’m so happy with his progress. I hope that one day he can tell us if he likes or dislikes the trip and why.

It was so hot, he only wanted to go back to the bus

Son, I’m so proud of you. We love you! Maybe no more long trip until you’re older.

  • Khai Nai Island
  • New Friend
  • Pattaya Hotel

  • Lunch at Phi Phi
  • Holiday Inn Hotel
  • Montien Riverside Hotel
  • Cholchan Hotel
  • Asiatique
  • Grand Palace
  • Montien Hotel in Bangkok
  • Boat to Phi Phi islands

Swollen Eyes

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Monday 1:00 PM, Tim texted me saying that William was scratching his eyes a lot and they were starting to swollen when he picked him up at school. He asked me to call and cancel Speech therapy. He also sent me a few pictures of William: he was crying and saying “it’s hurt!”.

  • 1:00 PM
  • 2:00 PM
  • 6:00 PM
  • 10:30 PM

So I called the doctor’s office, the receptionist said they already fully booked so they would not take more patients; and asked that I left my phone number and the doctor would call me back.

1:40 PM, doctor Yen Chi called me back, I told her William’s eyes are swollen and said it hurts; and that I was not sure if something bit him or it was allergies. “If it’s allergies then it’d be itchy, not hurt.” – Dr. replied. She said she had to see it to be sure and asked that we brought him in.

So I told Tim to take William to the doctor’s office as soon as possible, William was still crying at this time.

3:00 PM, Tim got him from the doctor; the doctor said it was allergies so she prescribed some medicine to drink and some eye drops.

5:30 PM, I picked up the medicine from the pharmacy, stopped by the bakery to buy some chocolate cake slices that I know William loves so much; There’s Phở’s Lovers near by so I brought 2 bowls to-go for our dinner.

6:30 PM, got home and William just got out of shower, he was lying on the bed and crying. Tim said he could not take a nap. We gave him 10 ml of Loratadine for allergy and some eye drops.

Then we had Phở for dinner and chocolate cake for dessert. Now his eyes seemed to stop bothering him: he began to laugh while watching the videos of Oddbods.

11:00 PM His eyes started to look better. We gave him more eye drops.

This morning, his eyes still not back to normal yet but it seemed that it doesn’t bother him anymore. I gave him another 10 ml of Loratadine and some eye drops.

I was expecting calls from school saying that he’s scratching eyes but no body called, which I was so glad.

  • Next day, in the morning, much better but still swollen a little bit.
In the evening, his eyes were much better.

William’s 2nd Haircut

Posted on by MICHELLE N

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KWCQi8zasPsdJK9z8

William’s hairs were getting longer, looking at the pictures that I took of him on the Special Olympics day made me realized that it’s time for another hair cut. He kept saying No when I told him we would go to a barber shop to cut his hairs. Today I tried again and told him we’d go to Chuck-E-Cheese if we go the cut his hairs first. Few more “No”. I kept my strong voice, “No cutting hairs, no Chuck-e-cheese”, then he finally agreed to go.

  • Before…
  • After!

I was debating which barber shop we should take him to, must be some where that we don’t have to wait so that he can’t change his mind. Then I remembered I saw this sign on the way to the Mom’s supermarket so I decided to go there. It”s Tiffany Salon.

Luckily there was no waiting time. He was ok to sit on the chair and did not cry or ran out of the door like his first time; but I had to hold his head still so that the lady can cut his hairs; otherwise he’d move his head too much.

Everything went well because he was concentrating on watching the videos on my phone; except when the lady tried to use the scissor to trim, he said No, so she had to stop using scissor.

This time it cost only $7.00!

After that we took him to the Chuck-E-Cheese like promised. He was happy!

Super Bloom

Posted on by MICHELLE N

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PihZFBC5BmjXx7uU8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EigeVUiFmYEgR7HQ9

It’s been raining few days a week for the last 2 months here in Southern California which is very rare to happen; which is pretty good because we were so lack of water last year. This also helps the wild flowers to bloom so much that everyone is calling it’s a Super Bloom year. Of course with our love for wild flowers, it’s hard to pass this opportunity so we we went to Walker Canyon in Lake Elsinore last weekend, and this weekend too.

We love Poppies Flowers

Luckily for us the weather was nice, no wind so it was not cold; and the city provide a huge parking space right off the freeway exist (Exit Lake St., make a right turn, the parking lot is right on the left. It closes at 4 PM so make sure to move your car out before that time). From there, walk under the bridge then you’ll reach the mountains, 3 minutes walking.

With Grandma Tuyet and Aunt Eliza who also love flowers.

First time we went here, William mostly sat in his stroller and refused to get out. But this time he refused to sit in the stroller; he enjoyed walking on the dirt road while eating his M&M chocolate. That’s what we want to see from him: enjoy the nature. The only thing we wish is that he’d listen and would walk with us, not running ahead or around without asking us so we ended up running after him because we don’t want to loose him in this huge crowd (I’ve never seen so many people coming to see the flowers like this before, way so crowded). Because we had to always pay close attention to him we did not have much time to take pictures but Tim managed to take some good pictures of us.

Whenever he’s in the open or huge space, he has the tendency to run off without waiting for us, and refuses to hold our hands; and our only choice at that time is to run after him. Telling him to stop doesn’t work!

He loves to run around in open space

We were taking pictures, and he just decided to run back to the yellow gate. Tim followed him. Then he continued his way to the ice cream truck. He did not ask for ice cream but he said Yes when Tim asked if he wanted one.

So Tim bought 2 ice cream: 1 minion lemon ice cream bar and 1 shave ice cup. William was so happy licking his Minion ice cream and followed us to to back to the flowers field.

Eating ice cream is the best in a sunny day

We came up to the yellow gate and he decided to sit on it to enjoy his ice cream. I thought he’d sit fine but as soon as I take my hands off him, he felt off as well as the ice cream bar. I guess I should have told him so that he’d hold on to the gate better. He cried but not because he was hurt: “I want my ice cream!”. We promised him we’d get a new ice cream on the way back. He stopped crying but did not look happy. Now he wanted to sit on the stroller, drinking coke and eating M&M chocolates.

The yellow gate. Going down is to the parking lot where the ice cream trucks are. Going up hills are to see the flowers.

So on our way back to the car, we stopped by the Ice Cream truck to get him another Minion bar as promised. As we were waiting in line, he tried to stand up from the stroller, and then the stroller lifted backward, and he felt again! This time he did not cry but he was shocked! so I held him in my hands and comfort him.

I felt so bad that my negligence caused him to fall 2 times. Both of these incidents can be totally avoided if I always have him next to me. Being active kid, he’d never sit still so I should have pay more attention even when he’s sitting down.

But overall the trip was fun, this time we went with Grandma Tuyet and aunt Eliza. The weather was nice, flowers were beautiful and most importantly we got to spend quality time with our loved ones.

  • Lake Elsinore
Walker Canyon, Lake Elsinore
“I want to Scratch” – some flowers got into his shirt and he wanted me to scratch for him.

First Time At a Circus

Posted on by MICHELLE N

https://photos.app.goo.gl/nHfuhKANFdqAQBV17

Saturday evening. The American Clown Circus is coming to town, set up their tent at Westminster mall which is about 15 minutes from our house; thinking that William has never been to a circus before so we decided to take him.

The price is $25.00 per adults, up to 2 children under age of 13 is free per paying adult.

While driving there I reminded him that in the circus we have to be quiet, sit down on your seat and do not run around. He seemed to understand that but I did not have high hope that he’d do what was told.

It was so windy and cold, but William seemed very excited. He wanted to pay as usual ( take my credit card and put in the card reader slot).

Got in and he saw the pop corn stand, he immediately ran off to it, touched in so bought a box. Turned out he was eating the pop corn the whole evening!

To our surprise, he did sit on his chair the whole time, occasionally stood up on the chair but I asked him to sit and and he did. Except for the 15 minute break, he ran around the tent; and followed 1 of the staffs to the restricted area. Luckily I caught him on time.

At first he was enjoy it but I think toward the end he got bored. I wish the show was catered for the kids more because there was not a clown with big nose and balloon. Actually there was balloons but they were selling it during the break for $3.00. William broke his after 5 minutes! But his cousin Bryan was nice to enough to give William his balloon. Thank you Bryan, you’re such a handsome and nice boy!

Tri-semester Awards Ceremony

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Thursday 10:00 AM.

The Awards Ceremony was held in the Multi-purpose Room (MPR) at Abraham Lincoln Elementary school, where William is going to everyday. He got the Math Award; we’re proud of you, son!

I did not attend the ceremony because I wanted to save my day off for his field trip next week. I remember I attended the ceremony last time; William saw me sitting on the chair and he ran off to me. Ms. Birdie had to come and get him and take him back to be seated with his friends. Then when his name was called, he ran around the stage! It was funny to me but to the teachers it was exhausted running after him.

We had a progress meeting with Ms. Newman on Tuesday; she said William is learning Addition and he’s good at it. She went on and explained about the way how he’s taught to do match. She’d give him papers with drawing of shapes that group together and have him count how many shapes, then he’d have to write down the number next to the group. To me, it’s more like counting than doing the math addition; but as long as he’s learning something, I’m more than happy.

Loves The Ground!

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Monday Morning, 7:50 AM. Took William to the school as usual. Ms. Newman was waiting at the gate but he refused to go in. So I picked him up and took him to get inside the gate but he sat down on the ground and refused to go. Then finally I persuaded him to stand up, I held his hand and handed it over to Ms. Newman then he sat down again and this time lied on his backpack on the ground!

He only stood up and went with Ms. Newman when I asked him if he wanted to to swim instead.

Today I had a meeting with Ms. Newman about William’s progress around 1:00 PM, about the time that they are dismissed from school. Ms. Birdie took him to the gate where Tim was waiting. From his classroom I saw him lied on his backpack again when they got to the gate! Ms. Birdie told me that as soon as he saw his dad, he lied on the ground and refused to get up.

William’s favorite place when we go out is the floor; whenever he’s not happy he’d just lie on the floor , doesn’t matter where it is: near the door, the shopping aisle, parking lot, etc.

I try to use the things that he likes to make him stand up but some time it doesn’t work. It’s so exhausted when he behaves like this.

William lied down right behind the gate.
Ms. Newman tried to get him up but he refused.