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.
Festival of Flights returned to Long Beach after skipping last year due to Covid-19 pandemic; I remember William as having so much fun in 2019 Festival of Flights, he loved the cannons!
We were asked to show the vaccine cards; they offered free rapid PRC test for those who are not vaccinated; so William had to take one. It was nasal swab, William did it by himself. We waited only for 15 minutes for the result; it was negative.
I was a bit disappointed because this year there was not that many airplanes and booths like in 2019. Luckily there was 1 airplane that allowed us to get in and touch the controls; William loved it!
We sat on the fake lawn to each lunch and watched the performers on the stage; William did not pay much attention to the music because he was busy playing with the Jack’s Game that he got from 1 of the booths.
We got some chicken noodles for lunch, at first he said no but after the first taste, he loved it. It’s really good but too salty, I guess because there’s no veggie; I did not know that if we want veggie we need to order it, which costs a bit more. From the pictures on the truck, I thought veggies is included.
Then I went to get some Churros Sunday which has ice cream on top of the churros; I asked to have the churros separated from the ice cream and that all the toppings should be on the ice cream but they misunderstood, they have the ice cream on a separate cup but the sauces and toppings (I chose Hershey chocolate and Oreos) are on the churros! William took the ice cream and did not want to eat the churros because there was sauce on them. From his look, I think he enjoyed this event.
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 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.
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!
With the help of Facebook, we know more about the events around Orange county without having to search other places. So you guessed it right that we knew about the Festival Of Flight from Facebook. Knowing William loves airplane, we decided to take William here. It’s taken place in Long Beach airport, which is only 25 minutes from our home. The Long Beach airport celebrated its 95 Years with lots of people coming to the event.
We arrived around 10:30 AM; and there was still lots of available parking space. From the parking lot, it’s a short distance to the event. There were a few small helicopters and few big airplane on display. William wanted to get on the big airplane, which is used to deliver gas and passengers (it can hold 75 passengers maximum). It took about 40 minutes to get in line; William was running around while Tim stood on line waiting for our turn. Lately William seems to be ok with waiting in line, which is a good thing. Even though he’s not actually standing in line to wait, but he understands the concept of waiting for his turn. Of course I’m always the one to run after him and redirect him back to the line.
He got so excited to get up the stairs but when it was our turn to get into the pilot seat, he got scared and tried to go back down the stairs. I had to redirect him to the exit way. We managed to take 1 photo of him in the pilot seat (and me too :)).
There’s a lower level inside the airplane; at first he did not want to go down but later on he changed his mind: “I want to see the mirror!”. I had no idea what he was talking about, then I realized that there’s a mirror beneath the the lower level which we saw when we were walking under the airplane. So somehow he knows that if he goes to lower level, he’d see that mirror. William is such a smart boy; and he pays attention to things more than I realize.
There’s a lower level inside the airplane; at first he did not want to go down but later on he changed his mind: “I want to see the mirror!”. I had no idea what he was talking about, then I realized that there’s a mirror beneath the the lower level which we saw when we were walking under the airplane. So somehow he knows that if he goes to lower level, he’d see that mirror. William is such a smart boy; and he pays attention to things more than I realize.
It took about another 30 minutes to get to the lower level because it’s very small down there: only 5-6 people can go down at a time. There’s a small stair to go down; and there was another young pilot seating there to introduce us to the airplane and to answer any questions. And there it is, a big window in front of the pilot seat. From outside, it’s a mirror which reflects our images but from the pilot seat it’s just a window where we can see people down there. William loved it, he pressed his face against that window!
Done with airplane tour, we got in line to get some freebies; 1 of the things that he liked is the plan pen.
It was 1:00 P.M.; time to have lunch but the lines to those food trucks are so long and it’s hot so we decided to leave the event and stop by the nearest Mc. Donald for lunch.
On the way home, he kept playing with the plane pen and the little airplane that Tim assembled for him with his name on it.
It was a fun day for all of us.
Monday Labor Day
Knowing William would love to sit in the fire trucks and touch the army trucks / cannon; we left the house early with hoping to avoid the crowd.
Waking William up was easy because he loves to go out. We first stopped at Mc Donald to get him some hash brown which he ate while we were on the way. It took about 45 minutes to get to the Sand Pedro port.
I guess we were early that the parking lot was full yet; we did not have to walk that far. We did not know the entrance to view the ships is on the left right after the security gate; we kept going straight and stopped by a few booths for William to spin the wheels; we ended up spent too much time at the military displays where they showed case army equipment. William especially love the tank that he kept coming back to it. He also tried to hold a few heavy guns and look at those huge binoculars.
I thought the ship that we were going to visit is right next to the view area so I hurried William to keep going; but it’s the IOWA ship, which we have to pay for admission. Then I asked the security guard, he pointed me to the big dome which is the entrance to the free viewing of the 4 ships.
Once we got in the dome, the lines to the ships were too long so we let Tim stood in line while I took William to explore the area: it has a few booths that give out free stuffs too. He especially loved this “rocket” booth where they taught the children to make very simple rockets and they have some simple device to launch the rockets that the children built. William launched his rocket several times and refused to leave. He also loved the truck that show case the Seals (not real): he got in / out of the truck so many times.
Then we watched the robots contest where the robots throw balls into baskets.
Tim called, finally it was almost our turn to get in the ship, I carried William ran to the line and asked the people to let me get to Tim. Some man really pissed off thinking I was cutting the line but I did not: we were here way before him, that’s why he was still standing at the end of the line.
I still had to wait for about 30 minutes before we could actually got to the ship. We waited for about another 10 minutes for people to get off the boat before we could get in. While waiting, our tour guide, who is the chef of the boat, gave us some general info about the ship. This ship is invisible to the radar so it’s very interesting to view but inside is totally empty. The guide introduced us to several key components inside the ship. We had to follow the tour guide; we can’t just walk freely to explore at our own space. It took about 15 minutes and we had some free time at the end to buy souvenir. William picked the big black coin which costs $20.00.
William was happy to have the coin but he refused to go home; he went back to the fire trucks, climbed up that and refused to get down. I asked Tim to watch him so that I could go buy some food for lunch. It was 12:30 PM, William must be hungry.
The line to get the burgers was long, this place was now packed with people. While I was waiting for the order, I saw William came running with tears on his eyes.
“What’s wrong? “I asked.
“There’s children waiting to get on the fire truck but William refused to get out; then he slammed the door. The fireman asked him to leave because he did not want any one to get hurt. ” Tim said.
I picked him up and comforted him. I let Tim stayed to wait for our burgers order while I carried him to the car. William stopped crying a few minutes later but he seemed very tired and hungry.
We sat in the car and waited for our meal. I gave him a bottle of milk and he drank it . Finally Tim came back with our burgers; William finished the whole cheese burger with a few fries.
Then on the way home, he slept.
I bet he had a fun day but to me it’s still very frustrated because he doesn’t listen well. He’d just run off to see or touch things that he likes without asking. Or for the things that he doesn’t like, he’d just kick /cry and run away if we try to make him do it.
Address: 100 Swinford St. San Pedro, CA 90731
A free event fro children with Autism organized by Cheyenne Angelica LLC, with. I was not sure that William wanted to ride the pony but when I asked, he said “Yes”, to my surprise.
After the ABA session with Ms. Brenda, I quickly prepared some hot dogs for William to eat before heading to the stables. I did not know they provided food.
It was about 20 minutes driving from our home. William was so excited. It was a dusty road when we got to the parking lot. This place is huge!
The event was very well organized. It was quite a bit of walking; you can get lost easily at this big barn if there’s no directions, especially when it’s your first time here. Chey staffs stood at all the corners where we needed to make a turn so we did not get lost. ( we got lost on the way back to the car because Chey staffs were not there anymore as the event ended).
Dust was all over the place; and it was sunny but William did not complain at all. He patiently walked with me thru the way to the are where the event was held.
This young lady was seating behind the table and greeted us as she saw us coming. Very young nice lady (too bad I did not get her name and did not take a picture with her). She had me sign some papers and gave us a bag full of goodies for William: a hay hat, a bandana, 2 horse figurines; 1 plush animals. I put the hat on him right away, he looked so cute. The horses are beautiful and big. He pet the horses and tried to feed the horses too. I asked if he wanted to ride the horse, he said “No”. There was no people waiting to ride the horse at that time but too bad he did not want to ride.
I wanted William to go get some food first but he saw the game board, he immediately ran to it. And came back to this table few more times later. Then as we walked to the food tables, he saw the Moon Bounce, he ran to it and did not want to eat.
After tired of jumping, I asked again if he wanted to ride the horse; he said “Yes” this time. I guess because he saw other children riding the horse and that made him change his mind. Unfortunately there were 2 other kids before us so we had to wait. He could not stay in line; he ran off to pat the horses; I have to run after him; when we got back, we lost our place; so now we’re behind 4 children. It was too hot and sunny; waiting in the line is just impossible for him; he kept running off to pat the horses. This time I learned my lesson, I asked the lady behind us to keep our spot for us so that we did not have to start at the end of the line again.
Finally William got to ride the horse; he did not show much emotion but I think he liked it because he did not ask to get down. He got to ride 2 round around the event area with a lady leading the horse and a man walking behind her to make sure William did not fall.
After the ride, William ran back to the Moon Bounce and jumped some more. At this time he was hungry: he drank some water and asked for muffins.
He loved to jump; I asked him if he wanted to leave several times but he said “No”.
Finally he decided to go him, on the way out, he saw the painting table and stopped and pour colors into the plate.
He seems to enjoy this event a lot.
Sunday @11 AM – Orange Empire Railroad Museum.
About 2 hours driving to the Railroad Museum from our house. It was a beautiful sunny day. We bought tickets for train ride at 11:00 AM but we were 5 minutes late so we had to wait for the next train; which means we have about 1 hour to spend in this area before riding the Thomas train.
William loved the traffic signs area with lights and sounds; he also liked to climb up the old trains.
But 1 thing he did not like is to ride the Thomas train! He kicked and cried while we were walking to our train car; so I had to pick him up and carry him to find the car. Finally we got in, he did not want to stay; and it got worse when the captain started to talk: he covered his ears! Obviously he is not a big fan of Thomas The Train! But overall it was a fun day.
Other activities that he liked was petting and riding the shuttle around.
On the way out, we bought him the Thomas balloon; he loved it so much that he kept smiling when holding on to the balloon. Later at night he used the balloon as his pillow.
Sunday 10:00 AM, we went to pumpkin patch at the Irvine Railroad Park. William had lots of fun riding the car and the pony. He kept saying “No Tutu Train”.
William was really bad at riding the car but the staffs there was really nice and patient. However on the 2nd time, we waited for 20 minutes this time, the new young man staff was not as much patient, he let William out of the race because William hit the hay stack. Poor little William, he kept saying “I want to try again” but they would not let William go back in.
Most of the activities cost 1 ticket, which is $5.00. Pony ride is $5.00 too which pay at the Pony area, no need to get the ticket because it’s a different company.
