Activities – Page 2 – William Quý Bùi

Rafting Adventure 2019

Posted on June 23, 2019October 29, 2021 by MICHELLE N

The highlight of our summer trip this year was to go rafting on the Stanislaus River in Oakdale, which is about 2 hours driving from San Jose.

6:30 AM we left the hotel, stopped by Huong Lan Sandwiches to get some Pate Chaud and coffee for breakfast; then headed to the meeting point Golfland. We were on time but there was not many people there; and my friend was still picking up his friends, so we decided to go to the Knights Ferry.

Arrived to the Knights Ferry about 9:10 AM. We needed to check in at the parking lot near the bridge first to get our bands and pay for parking, then we head back to the bridge and walked down the stairs to where the boat ramp is. This is where they gave us a short orientation about safety and what to do, and make sure we all had the life vest on before letting us board the raft. Our family of 10 people fit nicely in this big raft.

Our group of 10
Julie, Thân, Danny & Tracy Võ
Eliza, Bryan, Victoria Nguyễn
Michelle, Tim & William

Soon after we left the ramp, friends from other rafts starting to attack us with water guns and buckets full of water. We came prepared too, so we attacked back with the water gun and water buckets. Vy, Bryan and Eliza was so vigorously in fighting back :). Soon we all were wet from heads to toes.

William at first loved the boat, the water but he did not like the water war; he asked “I want to go back to the car!” so I hugged him and tried to shelter him from all the water splashes. After that he was fine; he tried to use the water gun to shoot others too.

The river is beautiful, lots of times we can see the rocks at the bottom so some parts are not that deep. When we stopped for lunch around 12:30 PM, William refused to get out of the water, he loved to play with the paddle in the water.

After lunch, we continue our way to the Orange Blossoms ramp, which is about 3 miles ahead. This leg of the river has more waves which added more excitement to this fun adventure.

We love this place with shallow water and lots of rocks; this is near the end of trip.

We arrived to the Orange Blossoms point around 2:00 PM. There were River Journey Adventure staffs waiting to pull our raft to the shore. This is where we had to take our stuffs and got off the raft and gave back the safety box (they let us borrow for free). William did not want to leave just yet, he ran back to the water that I had to pull him back. There was a shuttle waiting there to take us back to the parking lot. So it was a one way river trip.

It was definitely a fun trip for everyone; it’s 1 of the family trip that we will remember as we go thru life. And most importantly to me is that William had fun and he was happy to play with the water.

Cost: $33.00/pp (child or adult). If buy more than 10 tickets then the website will automatically apply discount of $3.00 off.

https://www.riverjourney.com

William’s 2nd Haircut

Posted on March 16, 2019March 19, 2019 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 March 10, 2019March 11, 2019 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.

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!

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

“I want to Scratch” – some flowers got into his shirt and he wanted me to scratch for him.

Swim Lessons

Posted on January 13, 2019January 14, 2019 by MICHELLE N

Sunday 9:30 AM at Australian Swim School in Fountain Valley, inside the LA Fitness center.

William is still asking “No Swim” every time but when I said “If we swim today, no swim tomorrow!” he seems to be fine and let me put on his swim suit. Before he’d cry and kick.

The pool at this location is small, it has 3 lanes and there’s only 1 lane that’s designated for Australian Swim School, the other 2 lanes reserved for LA Fitness members. Now William is ok of getting into the pool but still refuses to use the noodles or boards. Some days he’d be ok with board but only after a few minutes of persuasion from the teacher. Some days the teacher (Christopher) just gave up and let William hold on to his arms or shoulders.

Today Christopher was sick so we got a substitute.

Australian Swim School just made new changes: the fee is increased and no make up allowed for cancellations except those that have doctor’s notes.

For those days that school closed due to holiday we can have whenever to schedule for make up, doesn’t have to be within 1 year.

Australian Swim School – New Location

Posted on November 18, 2018January 14, 2019 by MICHELLE N

We changed the location from Santa Ana to Fountain Valley; the pool here is inside the LA Fitness Center on Tabert and Brookhust.

William cried on the way because he knew we were not driving to the Santa Ana location. He kept saying, Make a U-turn, I want to go to Australian Swim school. He does not understand yet that the school can have several locations :).

Big Bounce America

Posted on September 29, 2018October 4, 2018 by MICHELLE N

Saturday @12:30 PM. It was so hot. Our session was from 1 – 2 PM. William jumped for about 20 minutes and wanted to get out. It was just too hot and made you feel tired so easily. I think he likes the bounce house but the hot weather made him feel tired too much that he lost interest. We got off early; and while waiting for Tim to go to the bathroom, he climbed off the stroller and ran off; he wanted to run to the car because he wanted to go home. Ticket was $17.00/pp and it was about 1 hour driving to the Silverlakes Sports Complex (Riverside / Norco, CA). Parking was $10.00. They set up a big tent with chairs for everyone to use, another tent next to the Big Bounce for shoes, strollers. There was 1 food truck selling foods.

Sweat, Itchy, William just wanted to go home

Snow Play at Mountain High

Posted on March 4, 2018March 5, 2018 by MICHELLE N

Sunday early morning. It was raining for the last few days, and the news said it was snowing on the mountains so we decided at the last minute (on Saturday) to drive up there and enjoy some snow. Mostly because we know William loves to play with snow so much. We left house around 7:00 AM; William woke up when I tried to get him dress; I gave him a bottle of milk to drink on the way to pick up grandma and his aunt and cousins Bryan and Victoria. Aunt Eliza brought some chocolate donuts so William had some.

Before turning to Hwy 138, we stopped by at McDonald for restroom break. I bought some hash brown but William refused to eat.

There was just a little traffic when we passed by Wrightwood town. The parking lot for the West and East Mountain High resorts are full so we had to park on the street and had to walk a bit to get to the play area. (People parked on the sections that have the sign No Parking; we should know that they don’t enforce it in the days like this (so many cars, there’s no way they can tow them all) and park like other people so that we didn’t have to walk far).

At some point William didn’t want to walk so I had to carry him. High altitude really makes one tired easily.

William loved to play with the snow too much, he kept running around; we had a hard time keeping up with him.

Around noon, he was tired and just wanted to sit; that was when we decided to leave.

William must be hungry that he grasped the chocolate bags and ate them; he felt asleep moments later; but he woke up when we stopped by at the same McDonald for lunch. I bought fish sandwich but he only had a few bites of the bread and then asked for chocolate donuts. And after that a few french fries while watching Minions on his little phone until we got home around 2:30 PM.

William with grandma Tuyet, aunt Eliza and cousins Bryan and Victoria.

William loves to hang around the fire. These folks are nice enough to move over so that he could get near the fire.

Snow Fest in Lake Forest City

Posted on January 27, 2018January 30, 2018 by MICHELLE N

Lake Forest City organized a Snow Fest day for everyone where they had 2 snow play areas (free) and 1 snow slide area (purchase ticket in advance for $7.00/person) with a small stage where they play music. Last time I took William to the Winter Fest at the Discovery Cube and he totally loved it so we decided to take him to this event.

Luckily this time the line was not that long; and William got to play 3 times. I think it was only 5 or 7 minutes per session. He behaved really good while waiting in line: he patiently waited without running around.