San Jose 2019

Posted on June 22, 2019June 29, 2023 by MICHELLE N

Saturday 6/22 – Monday 6/24

A friend (Do Vu) from San Jose asked if we wanted to join his friends to rafting on the Stanislaus river. We’ve never rafted before so it was very tempting so I asked my sisters if they want to go. The answer was Yes, so we decided to go. It was that easy!

After a few sleepless nights of researching for the hotel that can fit 10 pp, I settled on the Hyatt House in San Jose; which has 2 rooms with 1 king and 2 queen beds and 1 sofa can turn into a queen bed and a kitchen. It’s about 700 sqf so it fits 10 of us nicely. ($550.00 for 2 nights includes tax).

William was very excited when I told him that we were going on a mini-vacation.

Our trip started at 7:00 AM on Saturday morning. Our first stop was a McDonald in Ventura for restroom break and some harsh browns for William, he loves harsh brown!

Next was Solvang, a Danish town; but William did not like it; he insisted to go back to the car.

William was whining and wanting to go back to the car. He never likes hot weather!

William’s cousins: Danny and Tracy Vo; Bryan and Victoria Nguyễn

The 3 sisters: Eliza, me & my older sis Julie

William’s behaviors got better after we made the coin. He loves to make the coins wherever there’s a coin making machine.

Here’s the coin with Solvang symbol: the windmill.

He did not want to leave until he can make some coin. Tim had to go buy some stuffs to exchange for quarters so that he can make one.

Leaving Solvang after the kids have a chance to eat some ice cream; and my brother in law Thân tasted some cheese, we arrived to San Jose around 4:30 PM.

But the room was not ready yet; they said to come back at 5:00 PM so we sat on the lounge near the pool waiting for the room. William was so excited and ran around the hotel without waiting for me.

We came back to the front desk, the room was still not ready yet, they said “10 more minutes!”. William could not stay still, he ran up and down the elevator and played with the curtain next to the bar. Moments later, the front desk came and told us our room was ready. What a happy moment for us after a long drive, 8 hours!

To make up, the hotel offered us free parking and a plate of snack/fruit. William took the red apple and ate it while jumping around the rooms.

About an hour later, the kids went to the pool; they definitely had some fun there. It’s a heated pool but they keep it only at 70 degree so it feels cold.

William played by himself in the corner, occasionally shoot the water from the water gun.

Our nephews and nieces enjoyed the pool also.

William finished the whole bag of pop corn – a treat from the hotel

Next day, Sunday, we went rafting which we had so much fun (see the post here )

Then in the afternoon, we went to the Our Lady of Peace Church and Shrine in Santa Clara, which is famous for its Statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. William ran around the spacious garden freely. It’s a beautiful statue of Mary.

Carrizo Plain 2019

Posted on April 14, 2019April 23, 2019 by MICHELLE N

5:30 AM Sunday 4/14/2019.

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kZfBY783xSv9pkVH9

Just came back from Thailand on Wednesday, but knowing the flowers are still good at Carrizo Plain we could not resist so on Sunday we packed up and drove there, 3.5 hours driving, not bad.

I tried not to wake William up because it was still early but he woke up as soon as I put the jacket on him; and he stayed awake since then.

William rather sat in the car than went outside

He was playing with the sunglasses and wanted to wear it up side down

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.

Palm Springs Trip

Posted on December 29, 2018July 10, 2019 by MICHELLE N

Short trip to Palm Springs with my Mom and my sisters’ families (total 13 people), stayed that Palm Canyon Hotel for 1 night, then took the Aerial Tram to the Mountain Station for some snow. It was cold but that did not stop William from lying on the snow! He especially loved the swimming pool and jacuzzi at the hotel because it’s heated.

Our first stop was at the Cabazon Dinosaurs, took a few pictures with the giant dinosaurs. If you want to take the Adventure Tour then the admission is $13.00 but we did not. Then we headed to The River of Rancho Mirage for lunch. It’s a beautiful place; William loved to play with the water in the man-made pond.

Got to the hotel around 3:00 pm and they let us in early (check in time is 4:00 pm). The villa is so roomy that the children loved it. It has 2 bed rooms with each has its own spacious bathroom. One room has 1 king bed which we stayed in, the other room has 2 queen beds for my sister and her 2 children and my Mom. We also booked a studio for my older sister which has 1 bed and 2 sofa bed. Both have fully equipped kitchen and full size refrigerator.

After a short break, we went down to the pool, William immediately jumped in with his Dad; and didn’t leave the pool until it got dark.

More Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fGa9hYqZA6ZBZJk98

Persimmons Fruit Picking

Posted on December 2, 2018July 10, 2019 by MICHELLE N

More pictures

It’s too late into the persimmon season but we went to the farm anyway because the owner said there was still some fruits left. I was more into the scenery of the farm: autumn leaves.

It’s 1 and 1/2 hour driving to the place from our house; not too bad.

It’s hidden in a residential area, and it’s smaller than we thought. The owner just got the farm recently. They were selling $2.00/lbl. We had a choice of picking the fruit ourselves or we could get those that they already picked and placed on the table in front of their house.

The owner was nice enough to offer taking pic for us

Tim grabbed container and went picking the fruit from the trees. William did not want to go there; he kept running back to the car; I really had a hard time to catch up with him because it’s an up hill run up to the car from the farm.

I guess because he loved the scale that the owner used to weight the fruits that he kept running back.

The farm owner

William also loved to walk on the stack of hay, even lie down on it; Hay was all over his pants and jacket.

William loved to walk on the stack of hay.

William’s First Camping Trip

Posted on May 24, 2018January 10, 2020 by MICHELLE N

Memorial Holiday weekend, we went camping with a group of friends (VCF – Vietnamese Cyber Friends) at Zion Park. We left our house on Thursday and drove to Las Vegas, stayed at MGM Grand for 1 night, then drove to Zion Park (3 hours drive) and camped at Watchman campground for 1 night. The plan was to camp 2 nights but the weather was too hot and William had an accident at the daycare right before we left so we only camped 1 night then headed home on Saturday. We got home around midnight on Sunday.

The whole trip, the only time William was happy is to ride the shuttle bus and to play with the water in the river. The weather was too hot (85 degree and above) to make it impossible to sit in the tent during noon, so William had to sit on the chair outside. I know he was tired and just wanted to lie down but every time I told him to get in the tent, he’d get in for 1 minute and then ran out even when we turned on the fan inside the tent.

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.

In Search of Golden Leaves

Posted on October 7, 2017October 16, 2017 by MICHELLE N

Bishop / Mammoth Lakes trip from Saturday 10/7 to Tuesday 10/10/2017.

Pretend City Children’s Museum

Posted on July 28, 2017August 3, 2017 by MICHELLE N

William would not want to leave this post at first.

Fri afternoon. The place offered free admission from 5 PM – 7 PM so we thought why not go?

At first William was so attached to the traffic lights; he would not to go anywhere else. Tim pulled the little car up to him but he refused to ride; he kept dancing around the posts. Finally we had to forcibly carried him out of that area and placed him the beach area, that is when he’s started to explore around.

He especially loves the construction place with lots of pvc pipes; and also the gas station; he tried to pump gas.

www.pretendcity.org

29 Hubble, Irvine, CA 92618

(949) 428-3900

Water tables, which William did not want to play.

Beach area, William sat down and play with the sand for a while.

Newport Beach in a Hot Summer Afternoon

Saturday 5:30 PM. It was so hot that we decided to go to the beach, the nearest one to our house is the Newport Beach. While driving on the Pacific Coast Highway we saw signs about free trolley ride so we decided to take a ride. Luckily the stop is right on the parking lot Read More

Saturday 5:30 PM. It was so hot that we decided to go to the beach, the nearest one to our house is the Newport Beach.

While driving on the Pacific Coast Highway we saw signs about free trolley ride so we decided to take a ride. Luckily the stop is right on the parking lot at the Balboa pier. It took half hour to complete the circle. The trolley driver stopped at the Hoag hospital on the Pacific Coast Hwy to pickup more customers but there was no one around. She said we can park here for free and take the trolley to go to the pier. The trolley is provided by the city, and runs from June to July, from 7AM-9PM It’s a good idea especially during the summer days, it’s really hard to find a parking near the piers.

This time at the beach, Williams showed sighs of interest in playing with the sand (last time he’d kick and cry when we tried to take him to the sand area) but he still refused to go near the water, so Tim just held him and stood there to watch the waves. He also showed interests in listening to the music; he’d stop near the homeless man who was playing guitar and listen to his playing. He also raised his hand to high-five with a young man who’s obviously the homeless man’s friend.

After all looks like William had a nice time at the beach today; we’re all happy!