Tag Archives: California

HK Day 2: To Disneyland

14 Dec

The decision to visit Disneyland is solely for M2. She requested that this is a must do when we mooted this family trip. Our last Disney visit was to the California one back in 2012, so it’s apt to revisit another Disney park although a much smaller one. It will be a long day ahead…

We all woke up to a freezing cold apartment. Dang! It’s cold, I had to sleep with socks on. Quickly we got ready and headed out for breakfast.

The morning meal was typical Hong Kong style before we took the MTR to Disneyland. What fun we had!

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An American Thanksgiving

24 Nov

This year’s Thanksgiving somehow made me recall the one we celebrated four year’s ago in the most coordinated fashion. It may be one celebration that we don’t do often but when in America, we have to do what the Americans do! And it was by far, the best Thanksgiving ever.

2012 was the year of our Great Adventure Road Trip in the US. And it was the year my niece and nephew – the twins, were studying in Kentucky. And I thought it would be fantastic for them to fly out to California to meet up with us. And their sibling – my niece, K1 can join us too, flying in from KL since she was old enough to travel by herself. And we would all spend Thanksgiving at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland.

It took me more than a year to plan for our impending trip because there were so many stops, friends, activities and lodging to consider. And this extra family get-together time in California needed more attention because the three parties were coming in from three different locations. Very exciting that it culminated with good timing and no delays.

During the Thanksgiving week, we were just wrapping up the Las Vegas stop. By Tuesday, we left for LAX to pick up K1 who was flying in alone from Kuala Lumpur. The great mastermind–me–had planned for her to arrive that afternoon and estimated that she would come out to the Arrival Hall by 1.00pm and we can just pick her up curbside if we started our journey at 9.00am. The timing had to be perfect and it was. 

When we got her, the poor child was so zombied after the 18-hour plus journey whilst we were still fresh from our pleasant unhurried drive. We tried our best to keep her awake to adjust her to the new time zone. It wasn’t easy.

Staying close to the airport at Travelodge LAX minimized the travel time for the airport runs and was without a hitch when it was time to fetch the twins; it was most convenient and sensible especially to avoid the busy highways. The twins flew in by midnight after their last class and the next day, our fun began…

We played tourist and visited downtown Los Angeles for a day excursion to see all the famed attractions. Then by late evening, we made our way to Anaheim. It was to be our base for the next few days. On Thanksgiving morning, we were off to Disneyland and had the most memorable American Thanksgiving.

The seven of us had the best times of our lives with all the rides, sights, food and fun. And although dinner was just a simple meal at Flo’s V8 Cafe, what mattered was the experience and time spent together. The crowd was relatively small, yet there were still long queues for the more popular rides and we took it all in stride.

The Disney experience continued the next day at the main park and Universal Studios the following day. By Sunday, the Thanksgiving break was over and the twins headed back to Kentucky with K1, while we stayed on in Anaheim for three more days before heading north to San Francisco via the Pacific Coast Highway.

After that awesome Thanksgiving experience, our Road Trip continued and all other Thanksgiving was never the same again for us.

   
 

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Spring Break

24 Mar

M1 is having her Spring Break now and has gone off skiing at the mountains with her friends. How fun! During my college days, I had the San Francisco Peaks and Arizona Snowbowl in my backyard but never once had I tried skiing the three years I was in Flagstaff. I did take the ski lifts though but it was during Fall and there wasn’t any snow yet! Does it count?

Then I moved to New York City. Together with hubby (who was boyfriend status then) and a group of friends, we took the opportunity and headed for Upstate New York to go skiing. I must say I did not enjoy it at all even though my experience was not on the slopes.

It was cold, I couldn’t balance and was afraid of the downhill speed if you can even call it speed on the bunny hill. Yes, bunny hill. The point being, I fell quite a bit, got bruised and felt pained all over. Ouch.

Well I hope M1’s experience will be better than mine.

But I like Spring Break. My first break, I flew to sunny California and hung out with a friend in Annaheim. We visited Disneyland and I did Knott’s Berry Farm when she was still having classes. And when we didn’t do the theme parks, we just hung out with her friends and enjoyed the Fullerton area. I think something like this is more fun than falling on my butt half the time and being chilled to the bones.

M1 returns to campus today.

 

“Mom! Lookie me!”

  

Beanie for warmth and helmet for safety

  

Is this how you do it?

  

And off they went!

   

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Bundle Up!

9 Dec

Back in December 2010, we went on a family vacation to Korea and it was right smack during the winter time. And dang, it was cold! Seoul weather was in the low teens and sometimes in single digits even during the day. And when the wind kicked in, goodness gracious! Even the bones were not spared and chilled to no end.

It was the first time for M1 and M2 in such extreme weather conditions and I was worried for them. So I was constantly saying, “Bundle up!” to remind them to do so, every single time before leaving the comforts of the bus or the warmth of a restaurant into the cold blustering winds.

So much so, M2 started counting each time I said that phrase. The cheeky girl.

At the end of the eight day trip, M2 reported that I said that phrase 40 times! My goodness. Did I actually do that? I can be so predictable at times.

Then in November 2012, when we went on another family vacation, this time to the West Coast of the US, that familiar phrase was uttered again. However, as weather was not that extreme the whole time, it was mentioned only in cold places like Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon and San Francisco.

But the girls remembered! They would exchange knowing looks at each other and say out loud, “Yes we know… Bundle up!” Sometimes before I can even open my mouth, M2 especially, would beat me to it, “Mummy? Aren’t you gonna say ‘Bundle up!’?” Hrmph.

I cannot remember at the end of the three-week vacation, what my final tally was…

Now that M1 is in Japan during this cold season sans mummy, I made sure she has enough to bundle up without me having to constantly utter that now infamous phrase.

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