Disneyland/California Adventure

We started our winter vacation early this year and drove down to Southern California on the 15th. We had exactly four days left on our Disneyland annual pass so luckily we didn’t have to pay for admission on those days. We were joined by Lisa’s family and my parents on Sunday so that was pretty fun. My older niece had her face painted at the Princess fair (while our boys ran circles around the costume racks). We also did a train ride around the park, had the whole boat to ourselves on It’s a Small World, and enjoyed some Dole Whip specials while watching the tiki room show.

For the next few days on our own, we got to experience Nemo’s submarine voyage (really cool!) for the first time, Autopia, and the dumbo ride like 10 times and in the drizzling rain once too. Alex and I took turns taking Nicholas on the Indiana Jones ride which I think was still a little too scary and turbulent for him at this age. One of our kids’ favorite shows there aside from the Jedi Training Academy was the Asimo experience at Innoventions. They thought it was neat to see a real life robot in action (we sat in the first row this time). Nicholas was really adventurous on this trip and wanted to do all sorts of rides at California Adventure. He rode the giant ferris wheel, the orange zepher, and even wanted to do the mouse trap. Wesley on the other hand didn’t want to go on Pirates, Soarin’, or any of the rides that were more on the adventurous side so Alex and I would take turns with each kid to go on their choice of rides.

New Camera

Alex got an early x’mas gift this year… a semi-professional camera that came highly recommended by our near-professional photographer friend Rex. He was even lucky enough to have gotten some first-rate advice and tips on good photography from Rex. I think I’m going to enjoy this gift perhaps even more than Alex!

Sea World, San Diego

After a couple days of fun in Orange County, we headed down to San Diego for two days. We stayed at the Westin Horton Plaza so my parents could do some shopping/sightseeing on their own without having to drive around, but boy did we pay a premium on the hotel parking ($27/night). Lisa’s family had intended on joining us too but my little niece was too sick to go. We saw pretty much all the shows in our two days at Sea World. Our favorite was the Shamu Holiday Special featured once per evening. The trainers didn’t do much talking in this show, and we were basically serenaded by carolers, singers, and beautiful music throughout the entire performance under the starry sky…. just beautiful. Nicholas and Wesley fed the Sting Rays at one of the exhibits and got their shirts and jackets completely wet in the process so we didn’t stay very long that 1st day. Nicholas and Wesley liked the Shamu show so we saw it 3 times, and both our kids loved the Seal and Walrus show because of the funny mime that appears prior-to and during the show. I never liked mimes myself because I find them highly annoying, but my view may have softened somewhat after seeing the sheer joy and laughter on the faces of our boys — well, as long as they don’t aspire to become one. If you ever visit Sea World, just keep an eye out for the Seagulls (Nicholas had a fish snatched out of his hand by one that swooped down on him as he was feeding the sting rays, and we saw many a lunches get spoiled by these aggressive birds).

Baja Mexico Cruise

We embarked on a 7-day Cruise onboard the Carnival Elation on Christmas Eve and had ourselves a fun time on the ship. Lisa’s family joined us for the cruise after my niece was cleared early that morning by her pediatrician for travel. They sure made record time driving from Ventura County to the San Diego port. Once onboard, we enjoyed the nice cityscape and beautiful sunset as the ship began to sail. It’d been almost 13 years since I last went on a cruise and this was also an exciting first with our kids. We docked at two ports on this trip: Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas, and did a quick turn around town at each port before heading back to the ship. Nicholas and Wesley enjoyed spending lots of time with my nieces and loved having an endless supply of french fries and ice cream at their disposal. The only low point of the cruise was when all of us got seasick. It was on the fourth day when we were going up against 10′ waves, and only the kids and Alex were immune to its effects. I knew we were not the only ones affected when stacks of sick bags were placed next to the elevators on every floor. Other than that, the cruise was a fun experience for us all.

Visiting the Cheungs

After leaving the ship, we drove directly to the Cheung’s house for another full day of fun. Loanne cooked up a nice homemade meal of Pho (a nice departure from all the gorging we did aboard the ship) and replenished our supply of her mom’s secret hot sauce which we’ve grown very very fond of. Loanne and I got to do a lot of chatting while Wayne, Alex, and the kids went to play football outdoors. Kimberly is a great team-player and she doesn’t isolate herself from the boys at all. We also met their dog Occy for the first time, and she definitely adds another dimension of fun to their household! Thank you to the Cheung family for showing us such a great time as always and for Wayne’s homemade banana splits too. Yum!

Other Highlights

Nicholas looses 2 teeth over Winter Break, Grace breaks her mom’s washing machine after doing 20 loads of laundry in the few days she’s there — I’m called the laundry fiend by my sisters because of my OCD-ish behavior when it comes to dirty laundry.

New Year’s Eve

We actually spent New Year’s Eve driving home since we had some planning to do still for Nicholas and Wesley’s upcoming birthdays. Traditionally, we’d have my mom’s hot pot on New Year’s Eve and my dad’s awesome fried rice on New Year’s day, but since we weren’t sticking around, my mom did the hot pot thing a day early instead. and it was the most delicious meal! And of course Julia had arrived at my parents place by then too so it made for a better celebration.

Happy New Year everyone, and to all a healthy and memorable 2008!