Yosemite 2020

Posted on by MICHELLE N
Valley View

Our short vacation: 2 nights at Yosemite View Lodge.  William got so excited the he did not sleep the night before!  He was running around trying to help me pack (of course it took longer to pack with him helping :)).

We picked up the rental car at John Wayne airport on Saturday night; the airport was so empty during this Covid-19 shut down.  We came to the Arrival level but the Alamo rental agency is down at lower level.  William was so excited to get in the rental car: touched this and touched that with wide open eyes!  The car rental price was so cheap:  $164.00 total for 3 days for a van of 8 seats!  Our family of 8 fit nicely in the car; there’s no place for the luggage so we put most of our luggage on the roof.

6 hrs drive with a few stops along the way for food and rest room breaks was not bad.  William looked so happy all the time.  This was our first trip out of town since the lock down.  We stopped by Vons supermarket in Oakhurst town, which is about 1 hr from Yosemite park.  They had fresh cherries so good that my brother in law Than bought 2 bags.  We loved it so much that on the way home we bought some more.  This town is big compared to Mariposa which is nearer to the park (about 30 min).  It was a good choice to stop here at Oakhurst town; it’s a great place to stock up food & goodies before entering the park.

Checking in with Yosemite View Lodge was easy, of course everyone was wearing mask.  I overheard that they had 50% vacancy due to the shutdown.  The hotel has some outdoor pools and 1 indoor pool which was closed.  It has a pizza store on site if you need some food.  The hotel is in a very good location: the Merced river is right behind the hotel , and it’s only 15 minutes to the Yosemite entrance.  That’s why it’s not cheap: $550 for 2 nites in a mountain view with a small kitchenette ( small sink, 4 burners stove, microwave, mini fridge, toaster, coffee maker, some dishes, pots and utensils, no oven).  The bathroom is very roomy, looks like they just remodeled it.  The balcony has 2 plastic chair and a little table.  It was so hot so we rather stayed inside than sitting outside.

We made reservation with the park on 7/19 so we had to activate the pass on this day.  So after checking in, taking a little break, we headed to the Yosemite park entrance.  They asked for the reservation print out and my ID because my name was on the pass; they took the car license plate and gave us a a pink pass which we should always display on the dashboard.  The reason they took the license plate is that, they check the license plate to see if it matches with our pass every time we re-enter the park.  I guess it’s their way to prevent cheating because it’s so hard to get a reservation to the park due to the Covid-19 restrictions.  William felt asleep while we were driving to the Tunnel View; after a long drive and no sleep he must be very tired!

Tonight’s dinner was Canh Bún  and Bún Mắm I bought from Mama Oanh’s Kitchen before we left for the trip (freeze the soup the night before).  Nothing tastes better than a bowl of Vietnamese soup after a long day!

Our plan for the next day is Tunnel View, Valley View, hiking to Lower Fall and Swinging Bridge.  It was an easy hike with lots of big trees on the way so we did not feel hot at all.  But the Lower Fall is a little bit disappointment because there’s so little water.  After the hike we drove to the Swinging Bridge where we had lunch and had fun playing with the clear water.  It’s so beautiful here.   On the way back to the hotel we stopped by Valley View for some more family pictures.

Swinging Bridge

It was around 4 PM; we took William down to the pool; there was only 2 families there so William had his own corner: he refused to leave the steps.  Uncle Than tried to get him out to teach him to swim but he kept saying no.  It was too sunny and too hot, he got off the pool after only 30 minutes.  Tim & Than & Huong found the way the Merced river thru the pool gate so they went there to check it out; I took William back to the hotel room.  William did not like the river; we took him there but after 1 minute, not sure what he saw but he insisted to go back to the room.

Hotel Pool

Tonight’s dinner was Phở,  aunt Huong brought from home.  Yes it tastes so good in the jungle!  It’s our last night here at Yosemite park.

Tuesday morning, time to go home.  We checked out early; we had some time to check out the Merced river behind the hotel again for some last minutes pictures.  We stopped by Vons in Oakhust town again for some more fresh cherries; and then headed home.

The drive home was so smooth without any traffic; and of course, much thanks to our driver Tim Bui.  We got home around 6:00 PM.

Swinging Bridge

 

About the Yosemite View Lodge:  overall we love this hotel, its location is perfect, kitchenette and roomy bathroom is a plus.  Hotel pool need some cleaning.  Wifi is available to purchase for $10.00/day thru a 3rd party (not provided by the hotel).

Yosemite Entrance Pass: due to Covid-19 restrictions, the park limits the number of people entering the site.  We must make a reservation thru their web site; and it’s not easy.  They release 80% tickets 1 month before; and 20% tickets 2 days in advance at 7:00 AM.  You have to be fast in booking, by 7:03 AM all tickets are sold out! The trick is to log in before 7:00 AM and get your credit card ready.  When it’s exact 7:00 AM, refresh the page continuously until it shows the available slots.  Make your selection right away and add to cart.  So you have to pay the entrance fee plus $2 for reservation free, which total around $32.00.  Print your reservation, and make sure bring your ID with you; they will check to see if it’s really you (your name must match with your ID).  Also, you must arrive on the day you reserved.  So make sure to plan carefully.  They open from 8:00 AM – 11 PM, but we didn’t see anyone at the booth when we left the park around 7 PM.

Here’s the link to the reservation site:  https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/300015

Covid-19 Pandemic – Stay At Home Learning

Posted on by MICHELLE N

With the strong spread of the deadly Coronavirus that all schools in California are shut down and everyone is using Zoom or GoogleMeet to attend online classes.  Ms. Birdie was so nice that she dropped off William’s chrome book at our house.  We use this lap top to connect to school meeting everyday for William class.

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

Xmas 2019

Posted on by MICHELLE N

This year, William is 6 years old, we had a Xmas party at Grandma Tuyet’s house on Xmas day at noon. After lunch, we got to open the gifts as usual. William still does not behave well when receiving the gift: when his name was called, we had to call his name a few times before he’d come up and get his gift. After received it, he’d just throw the gift on the floor without open it. He would not open it if we did not encourage him to do so.

However, his perception of Xmas and Santa Clause has improved. He asked to write a letter to Santa, he asked for a Ginger Bread House, he asked for the Xmas tree and ornaments to decorate, and he’s been sing along the Xmas songs, especially “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”. He even helped me with gift wrapping: he put the bows on the gifts once I’m done wrapping.

“Can we have a Christmas tree?” – He asked all of sudden while we were watching TV. “Sure, we’ll bring out the tree on weekend!” – I replied. So the weekend came, as promised, we took the artificial tree out from the box. He helped me to plug in the lights. He saw a box of ornaments in the garage and tried to carry the box to the living room where the tree was. I had to tell him, “let Mama do it, it’s too heavy!” . He hung the ornaments up; he even pulled out the little ladder so that he could hang up high on the tree!

One day while we were lying on bed watching TV, he suddenly asked, “Can we make a Ginger Bread house?”. I was so surprised as to how he knew about the Ginger Bread house, must be from school because we never tells him about this. “Sure, mama will get you one!” – I replied. So next day I went to Costco and bought a Ginger Bread house for him. He was so excited; Ms. Marilou, the TasKid ABA therapist, helped him to decorate the house. In fact, he was just watching and eating all the candies while Marilou did all the work :).

I asked what’d he want for xmas. “Lego City” – he said. But when I took him to Walmart to pick, he would not pick any; he asked me to pick it for him. I guess because he does not know what kind of Lego that he wants.

I wrapped his Lego city, he put the blue bow on the box and put it under the Xmas tree. He came in while I was wrapping his toy so I had to tell him Santa already delivered his toy; and that he could not open it until Xmas day. And he respected that: he waited until Xmas Eve; he only opened the box when I told him it’s ok to open now. He and Tim worked together to build the Lego spaceship: the set that I picked for him at Walmart. It was the first time ever that he was sitting on the chair patiently to put together a toy. I was surprised!

It’s the things that he asked to do for Xmas really amazed me that he has grown up and learned a lot about this wonderful holiday. He still believes in Santa, which is a good thing. (I use Santa as a good reinforcement whenever he does not listening).

Grand Canyon West Rim Trip 2019

Posted on by MICHELLE N

After Thanksgiving, we took a road trip to Las Vegas with the main goal is to visit Grand Canyon West which is about 2 hours from Las Vegas. This time we stayed at Luxor Hotel.

About Luxor: The lights are very dim in this hotel which I don’t really like; and it smells! lots of smoke that I could not stand in the lobby for too long; we could smell smoke even inside the room (and the room is non-smoking!). Worse part is the parking: its parking lot is so small: one day the parking attendant re-directed us to the Mandalay Bay hotel parking because this parking was full! We are not familiar with the area so we had so much trouble first to find the Mandalay parking entrance; and then to walk from Mandalay Bay hotel to our hotel is quite a bit, especially it’s late at night! we arrived at the Luxor’s parking lot around 11 PM; and by the time we could park the car at Mandalay Bay and found our way around to get back to the Luxor hotel, it’s 12:00 AM. Unbelievable! I don’t think I’d stay here again.

Las Vegas After Thanksgiving 2019

Posted on by MICHELLE N

After Thanksgiving, we took a road trip to Las Vegas with the main goal is to visit Grand Canyon West which is about 2 hours from Las Vegas.

We left for Las Vegas on Black Friday; never seen so much snow along the freeway like this. We took a quick exit on 395, stopped by the gas station for William to play with the snow; he totally loved it. Luckily we brought the slide. Then we stopped by Fashion Outlets next to Primm Casino for lunch, this outlet is dying: halves of the stores are closed. Grandpa went to the Primm casino while we went to have lunch at the Outlet (Grandma did not go with us this time). Note that the Mc Donald here is always crowded, the line was so long!

We arrived at the Luxor hotel around 1:30 PM; our room was ready because we checked in on-line as soon as they sent us the email providing the instructions to email; which I received around 1 AM in the morning. As always, William’s favorite part is to jump up and down on the hotel bed! Too bad it was cold, the pool was closed so William did not get to swim but he seemed to be ok with it.

After waiting for our sisters and brothers to get their room, we went to Pho So 1 for dinner. Then we went to Bellagio to watch the Water Fountain. It was so crowded so we took a detour to park at the other hotel and walked to Bellagio. After a long walk we finally got to the Water Fountain but William refused to go out to watch: he covered his ears. The music was so nice but he found it noisy. So he ran around the Bellagio hotel, I ran after him, and we ended up at the Garden, where we meet the rest of our family. The garden was so beautiful but William refused to stroll around the garden so we had to leave early. It was a long walk in a cold night but William was ok; he kept complaining that “I walk too much” but that’s about it: no crying or kicking!

We left Bellagio around 10:30 PM but when we got to our hotel room, it was 12:00 AM! I totally hate Luxor hotel for not having enough parking for its guest! (see below comment about the parking).

This time we did not explore Las Vegas much because the next day we went to Grand Canyon West, then we left Las Vegas the next day.

About Luxor: The lights are very dim in this hotel which I don’t really like; and it smells! lots of smoke that I could not stand in the lobby for too long; we could smell smoke even inside the room (and the room is non-smoking!). Worse part is the parking: its parking lot is so small: one day the parking attendant re-directed us to the Mandalay Bay hotel parking because this parking was full! We are not familiar with the area so we had so much trouble first to find the Mandalay parking entrance; second is to find the entrance to the Madalay Bay hotel from the parking structure: the parking was so huge! and then to walk from Mandalay Bay hotel to our hotel is quite a bit, especially it’s late at night and the casino is crowded! we arrived at the Luxor’s parking lot around 11 PM; and by the time we could park the car at Mandalay Bay and found our way around to get back to the Luxor hotel, it’s 12:00 AM. Unbelievable! I don’t think I’d stay here again.

Met Santa at the Fashion Outlets

Snow along freeway!
  • Coin
  • In Luxor room

I Don’t Want To Turn 6!

Posted on by MICHELLE N

All of sudden, while we were watching TV in the bed room, William said “I don’t want to turn 6!”.

“You can’t stay 5 forever”! – I said. “I want to stay 5!” – William replied.

And he’s been saying that for the last few days.

William’s birthday is in 3 weeks; not sure where did he get the idea about turning 6. He could not answer when I asked why he doesn’t want to turn 6.

“What do you want for your birthday?” – I asked. “Nothing” – he said.

But for sure I know he likes toys!

Festival Of Flight

Posted on by MICHELLE N

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.

Waiting for our turn to get in the airplane.
Still waiting …
.. and waiting, almost our turn.

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 :)).

Pilot seat; he got scared and wanted to get out.
Passenger seats

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.

In the back of the airplane

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.

He especially loves this one so much that he refused to check out the other helicopters.
Here’s the plane dad made for you!
Young at heart!