Category: Activities

Bahamas 2023 Itinerary

Posted on by MICHELLE N

This trip is a continuation of Miami trip.

Wednesday June 21, 2023 Take Southwest airlines to Nassau, Bahamas.  Hotel Transfer: Majestic Tours, book thru Atlantis hotel 2 weeks before the trip. Stay 4 nights at Atlantis on Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Thursday June 22, 2023 Explore hotel

Friday June 23, 2023 Two hour tour of Nassau: 2 historic places are Ft Findale and Queen staircases.

Saturday June 24, 2023 Explore hotel

Sunday June 25, 2023 Check out Atlantis hotel, fly to FLL, from FLL fly to John Wayne airport.

Miami & Key West 2023 Itinerary

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Saturday June 17, 2023 Fly to Ft. Flauderdal (FLL) from John Wayne airport (SNA) via Southwest airlines. Stay 1 night at Hyatt House Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port. Picked up car rental at Budget. They upgraded to 4Runner from Rav4 free of charge.

Sunday June 18, 2023 Check out hotel and drive to Key West. Stay 1 night at Hyatt Centric Key West Resort & Spa.

Monday June 19, 2023 Check out and take Yankee Freedom boat to Dry Tortugas. Breakfast and lunch provided on the boat. Depart at 8:30 AM and back to port at 5:15 PM.  Drive to Miami.  Stay 2 nights at Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami .

Tuesday June 20. 2023 Five-hour Tour Everglades, book thru Groupon.com

Wednesday June 21, 2023 Check out hotel in Miami, drive to Ft. Lauderdale to return rental car at FLL and take Southwest Airlines to fly to Nassau, Bahamas.

Discover Scouting

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Newport Sea Base organized a family event “Discover Scouting” for free so we signed up.  This is a 4 hour event which is full of fun activities.  First we learned how to fish, then kayaking and play balls, then bird watching on a small boat.  William seemed to enjoy all of the activities but when we got home, I asked him did he like it, he said he likes boating but not kayaking!  The weather was hot so it was great to be near the water.  We had a great time; glad the we joined.

 

 

 

 

 

Trunk or Treat

Posted on by MICHELLE N

William’s school Thomas Jefferson Elementary School organized the Trunk or Treat event at the school parking lot on Thursday from 5:30 PM-7:00 PM, so we took William there.  He did not want to go.

It was small but nice to see everyone was having fun.  William did not want to wear any costume, even a mask!  And he did not even want to hold the candy bag and ask for candies,  so I had to do that for him.  One surprise is that we met his teacher Mr. C standing next to his decorated truck to give out candy and also saw his scarecrow on the fence.  Have gave William some skittles.

The music was nice but William thought it was loud so he covered his ears when walking around.  We did not stay long because William did not seem to enjoy it.

We ordered pizza on the way home.   While waiting for the pizza in the car, William hung up the lights and glow in the dark sticks on any hooks he could find in the car, seems like he wants to decorate the car with lights, so I told him, how about next year we’ll decorate our car and give out candies?  He did not response but I think he’d like that.  Let’s see if we can do it next year!  Sounds fun!

Fall-O-Ween

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Fall-O-Ween event was at Heritage Hill Historical Park in Lake Forest.  A free event.   The scavenger hunt requires 6 stamps, then you’ll get a small bag of goodies.   William enjoyed this place very much, he walked around with us without running around.   We took quite a few pictures because their decorations are very nice.   On the way to dinner, I asked if he liked that event, he said yes.  I said, “It’s nice that you got a bag of candies”.

– “Not much” – he replied.  And he was right, there was only about 4 candies in the big brown paper bag.  I explained to him that there’s lots of kids coming so we have to share the candies,  4 is good enough.    He enjoyed eating the candies while looking out the car window: we were driving to a Japanese restaurant near there: the Ajisen Ramen at Diamond Jamboree shopping center in Irvine.

We ordered 2 special bowls, I asked for an empty small bowl so that I could share with William.  It turned out he wanted to have a big bowl and let me use the small bowl!  I told him he could have the big bowl only if he ate noodle with meat, he said “OK”.   And he did, he actually liked the meat in this ramen bowl.  It’s been more than a year since we’re back to this place.  I remember that time he did not like this ramen as much as he did today: he has changed and knows how to enjoy good foods, which is a good thing.

59th Annual Sandcastle Contest

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Sand Castles Contest was taken place at Corona Del Mar Beach, which is about 20 minutes driving from our house.

William always gets excited when we’re going out; and he likes to bring some of his favorite stuffs with him and put them next to him in the car, which of course makes a big mess.  I want to emphasize, favorite stuffs, not favorite toys.  Now his favorite stuffs that he wants to bring whenever we go out is:  a big bag full of white shipping foam that I got from 1 of the packages, 2 trays of checkers and chess board games, heavy load of coins that he put in my make up bag, and of course a few stacks of playing cards that he put in a drawstring backpack!  Anyway, that is not what this post is about.

When we arrived to the beach, which we went here before, Tim parked on the street; William started to say “I don’t want to walk too far!” and kept repeating it over and over.  That was when I realized that to access this beach, we’d have to walk down hill for about 7 minutes.  Downhill is easy but it’s tough to go uphill on the way back.  So we decided to drive down there to park in the paid parking lot; to our surprise, it’s expensive: $5.50 for 1 hour!  Huntington beach parking fee is much less: if I remember correctly it’s only $3.00 for 1 hour.

William was so excited that he ran around non stop; but when we got to the sand, he sat down and did not want to go to check out the sand castles, so I stayed and watch him so that Tim could check them out.

Hana Field – The Flowers Field in Costa Mesa

Posted on by MICHELLE N

We were not planning to go but aunt Eliza had 2 extra tickets because her son and daughter Vi & Bryan could not go.  So I purchased additional 1 ticket ($5.00) on their web site so that 3 of us can go.

The Hana farm is part of the Tanaka farm, which turns out to be disappointed: the sunflowers are all done, there were other flowers too but not that as much as the one in Carlsbad.  We tried to walked to the small section at the end of the farm where there were still some sunflowers left, but William asked to go to the shade because it was too sunny, so Tim took him to the table where there was some shade.  We took some pictures and then left for In and Out Burger for lunch.

We had lunch in the car then went to South Coast Plaza which is only 5 minutes away.  William loved it here! It’s been for more than a year due to Covid-19 that we did not go to the mall.  To my surprise, William did not run around like he used to do last time we went to a mall.  He’s so curious about everything; we took the elevator to the upper level, “It’s a nice elevator!” – I’m so surprise at his remark.  He saw the water fountain on the way, he asked “why there’s water here? why the water is running down?” – He asked a lot of Why questions!

I told him it was time to go home but he asked for more time so I gave him more time.  We were just walking around the mall, did not go into any store, some times sat down on the  benches to look around.  I did not have to run after him and call his name out loud this time, thanks God!

Hiking Trail Bonita Falls

Posted on by MICHELLE N

We primed William the night before that we’d go hiking; and to my surprise, he was ok with it.

It was a cloudy day which is perfect for hiking.  The “Hiking Trail Bonita Falls” is in San Bernadino National Forest, which is about 1 hr driving from Santa Ana.  We arrived to the parking area around 10:00 AM; and there were a few parking spaces left.  Actually there’s no designated parking lot: we parked along the road and then walked to the 2 green portable restrooms where there’s a little trail to get down.

Once we’re down, we’d have to cross a little creek: there are some tree trunks and rocks lying  across the creek so if you don’t to get wet, you can walk on these.  William walked on it fine; he was scared at first but kept walking and made it to the other side with Tim; I was so scared that it took me so long to cross it; William was waiting for me at the other end and handed out the wood stick toward me so that I could grab it.  Thank you for trying to help, my little boy! 🙂

There’s rocks every where; there’s no established trail!  The worse part is that there’s no sign at all.  We kept walking on the rocks and asked people for directions when we saw someone.  We walked so slow that a few groups of people could easily passed by us, leaving us alone by ourselves.  We thought about giving up a few times.  William looked tired but he did not complain or cry/whine at all.  He was so good today.

“It’s a hidden trail to go up to waterfall, keep to the left” – the man said.   So we kept to the left and kept walking, still have no idea how far we needed to go because there’s no signs; the only signs we saw along the way are the paints that people sprayed on the rocks; there were some arrows pointing up.  When we were about to give up, we saw some people coming down from what looks like a trail to our left far ahead; “That must be the way to the waterfall” – I told William.  So instead of going back to the car, we aimed to that trail.  And finally we got there!

But, it’s not it! it’s the beginning of the trail to go UP to the waterfall: it’s an up hill which is full of more rocks!  We walked slowly, took breaks often and drank water; at one point William wanted to go back to the car; then suddenly there it is, we heard the sound of the water!  So we encouraged him to keep walking and finally we found it.  It’s just simply beautiful!

William tried to get near to the waterfall, he enjoyed sitting on the rocks and looking at the water; we took some pictures and short video clips.  It’s a small area so when it was started to get crowded,  we decided to leave.

The way back of course is faster because now we know the way; but it was so windy that William asked for his jacket.

We crossed that little creek again to get to the other side; but this time we did not care if our feet got wet!

“William, did you like the hike and waterfall?” – I asked.  “Yes” – he replied softly.

I’m glad that he’s starting to like hiking and being outdoor.  Last year we went to the Malibu state park, he ran back to the car as fast as he could when he saw a small butterfly!

Beautiful Wildflowers

Posted on by MICHELLE N

It’s Sunday morning, while we were still in bed, I told William that today we’d go to the yellow flower fields.   Knowing that he does not like flowers, I told him to choose. “We’re going to the flower fields, if you don’t want to go, you can stay home with aunt Lily; Mama & Papa will go alone.  Do you want to go with Mama & Papa or you want to stay home?” – Of course his answer is “Yes, I want to go”.  Prime him ahead most of the time works out fine; I guess when he knows what to expect, he less likely to have behaviors for activities that he does not like.

Tim just had the Covid-19 vaccine shot yesterday morning.  He felt tired and asleep until noon.  William asked me several times, “Are we going or not?”.  I told him “Papa is not feeling well so we might not going”.  Around 3:00 PM, he asked again;  Tim woke up by this time so I told William to go to the bed room and ask if Papa wanted to go.  William ran in and I heard him asked “Papa, are we going to see the flowers?”.

It was the first time ever that we saw him so eager to go out to the flower fields.  He hates flowers, he has never wanted to go near any flowers.  Last week we went to see the mustard flowers in San Juan Capistrano, he insisted to sit in the car and refused to go out.

So we loaded up with some water and chips/cookies and soon on our way to Chino Hills State Park, where we heard that the mustard flowers are all blooming beautifully this week.

It took about 1 hour to get there: it was so crowded, a long line of cars after cars waiting to get to the park entrance, I guess because everyone wanted to see what nature has to offer.  We saw lots of people walking back to their cars that parked along the road with sweat on their face: it was a sunny day and probably it was a long hike for them.

As we approached the park entrance, it was such a beautiful scene open before our eyes: hills and hills full of yellow flowers!  Under the bright sunlight the yellow flowers were even shinier!  William seemed so excited!  When the ranger stopped us to give us some instructions: the road is narrow, with lots of people walking, so drive slow and safely.  William said “OK” to each of his instruction!

The park entrance is $5.00 which is not bad at all.  The road up hill is indeed narrow but lots and lots of flowers along the road.  It’s such a beautiful landscape that no words can describe.  Whenever we stopped to take the pictures, William would get out of the car and ran around.  Whenever he gets excited like this, he does not care about his safety.  He’d run around in the parking lot which almost gave me a heart attack of worrying some cars might hit him.  He’s very fast, it’s hard to catch up with him.

We drove all the way to the end, and  told him we’d hike a bit.  He jumped out of the car and so ready to hike! It was the first time ever that he’s willing to hike around the flowers without complaining!  I think he was just bored of staying home :).

The park closes at 7:00 PM so we headed out; we stopped at this most beautiful view point on the way out.  William was still so excited that he was running around.  I love to see him this happy!

He felt asleep for about 15 minutes on the way home. I’d be tired if I run around that much too.

Chino Hills State Park
4721 Sapphire Rd, Chino Hills, CA 91709
Open: 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM
$5.00 park entrace

There’s lots of hiking trails so wear comfortable shoes. I heard there’s rattle snakes here so be carefull.

Snow Play

Posted on by MICHELLE N

More Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9bTRe75Ye7tthsyB6

It was New Year’s Eve, we decided to drive up to Mountain High for some snow play. There was no traffic at all so it took about 1 and 1/2 hours to get there. There was lots of snow and cold as expected. William enjoyed playing with the snow: he carried the small Eiffel tower with him and played with it on the snow.

For lunch, we set up a little table and benches to cook instant noodle and heat up the hot dogs for William. He wanted to eat noodle but it was so spicy. He also enjoyed drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows.

He loved the snow so much that he did not want to leave but we have to leave early to avoid traffic: we left the mountain around 2:30 PM; William felt asleep on the way home.

Lots of snow