This past weekend we went on our first camping trip with the kids. Having two 2 1/2 year old toddlers and not camping since I was maybe 19 made me very nervous (not to mention the bears they had at Sequoia). But it turned out great. Following my mom’s tradition, I journaled as much as I could about the entire weekend.

Friday, August 26, 2011

The plan: Leave by 9am. The reality: Still packing at 10pm. We learned that the MDX is not as large as we thought it was. After an hour of “extreme Tetris” with the trunk, we left for Sequoia National Park.

An hour into the drive, Mike was reminiscing about his speeding ticket he got coming down the Tejon Pass visiting me when I was attending Calstate Hayward. Just then, a cop car came behind us and pulled him over for driving 89 mph. The cop was nice enough to give Mike a speeding ticket for only 77 mph.

We stopped by Bakersfield for gas and lunch at our favorite store: Costco. The kids shared a cheese pizza while Mike and I got hot dogs.

On our way up, we stopped Visalia to pick up dinner: McDonalds. We decided that we did not want to pitch a tent AND cook dinner our first evening at Lodgepole so we picked up food on the way.

On the way up, the road was so windy, Mike would make sudden stops and turns. Aidan would yell, “WHOA. Too fast, Daddy!” in which Mike comically replied, “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?!”

It was a good thing we bought dinner, by the time we got to Lodgepole Campgrounds, it started raining on us! We hurried to build our tent and keep the kids dry. It eventually cleared up but the kids went to bed too early to get to see the stars.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

We were pleasantly woken up by a very happy Aidan and Brooke at 6am. It’s surprising how easy it is to wake up at 6am when you’re in a tent and you cannot block the sun from coming in. It’s also nice to look forward to a day without sitting behind a desk.

We woke up ate breakfast (eggs, pancakes and bacon) and started to plan our day. We eventually just decided to follow the Meisters wherever they go and headed off to see Boole Tree. Boole Tree isn’t as tall as General Sherman, but we heard General Sherman was now fenced off and you cannot go near the tree. This was suppose to be an easy hike and we could get up to look at it.t Boole is also said to have a bigger circumference at the base than General Sherman. So off we go!

On our way to Boole, we experienced our first bear encounter (one of 3 we will have on this vacation). A baby cub ran across General Highway right in front of our car! Good thing Mike was able to brake in time. It was pretty cute but we weren’t going to stick around and wait for its Mama. We stopped by to get gas and continued to Boole Tree. The road in was a dirt road and very bumpy. I think the kids got a kick out of that. We parked our cards and started our 2 mile hike. Instead of doing the loop, we decided to go back where we came to save ourselves from ½ a mile of hiking. The elevator was pretty intense especially when you have to carry a toddler up hill. Aidan is such a trooper. When he asked me to pick him up, I would say, “Mommy is tired, honey, could you help me and walk a little bit more.” And he would say, “ok” every time. I was so tired and I think he walked up a good 80% of it. Brooke was a trooper on the way back, she walked probably 50% of it with me. I love my kids. Oh! Not only was this their first hike ever, it was also a first time they peed in the woods…some say this is a rite of passage everybody must go through…

Boole Tree
Distance: 2.5 miles loop
Time: 1.5 hours
Elevation: 6500 feet
Difficulty (hiking): Moderate

Description: Boole Tree Trail is a moderate 2.5 mile loop to the Boole Tree. There are restroom facilities at the trailhead, but no drinkable water. Boole, the largest giant sequoia on National Forest system land, is the 8th largest of all known sequoias. This trail offers spectacular views of the Kings River gorge and spectacular high Sierra Nevada mountain vistas. As you travel along the trail, you’ll come across remains of sequoias left where they fell in the historic logging days. The Loop will take a couple of hours since you’ll be staring up in the air looking at some incredible views. Since it is a loop, you can go either direction you wish. The first part of the trail will wind through at least 40 Giant Sequoia stumps that will boggle your mind with their size. Passing these, you’ll head up to a plateau where you can look down upon valleys in the canyon with Spanish Mountain in the distance. Regardless of which way you go, you’ll eventually come upon Boole Tree.

We stopped to have lunch at a turnout where we got a great view. All the kids ate sandwiches, crackers, Pirate’s Bootie on a big rock. It’s a cute scene. Mike walked around to snap some more scenic photos. After lunch, the other families wish to do another hike around General Grant tree. The Lams were all hiked out because of Boole and we drove back to camp. It’s the kids’ naptime anyways. We drove back and let them stay in the car since they fell asleep. Mike and I were relaxing and reading and Aidan eventually woke up. I left Mike to set up his hibachi for dinner while Brooke slept in the car. I decided I’m going to take my boy down to the river since he loves water. Aidan loved it! We just sat on a big rock and watched the water. Aidan would put out to all the little “waterfalls” that he saw. It was precious to say the least. Aidan and I returned to camp as Mike and Brooke came down to see us. We went back and the other families have returned from their hikes. The kids changed clothes and we all went back to find an easy spot for everybody to play in the river. Brooke was adamant about NOT going into the water. So the boys went in while Brooke and I watched from a large rock. Highlight of this outting was when my $200 car key fell out of my pocket and into the river! A nice man was able to retrieve it but now we were not sure if it was going to work. Mike and I let it air dry for a day before we tested it…thank goodness it worked! For dinner, Dad cooked up some Korean BBQ and grilled veggies while I made com chien lap xuong. We finished off dinner, put the kids to bed and hung out at the campfire with the other parents. I joked that the kids are putting themselves to sleep. I went in to check on them and amazingly (probably from the hike he endured today) Aidan was already asleep and drooling. Brooke was awake and rolling around, but she was getting there too. Mike threw together this banana camp thingie with chocolate, peanut butter and marshmallows. It was delicious! We went through the tedious process of brushing our own teeth and turning in for the night. This is around 9 or 10pm. Haha.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Another fabulous 6am wakeup call from the kids and we were up building a fire for all the kids this morning. Tripp commented later that he thought Mike was talking directly into his tent because Mike was so loud for 6 in the morning. Haha. Everybody eventually woke up, had breakfast (Mike ended up cooking breakfast for everybody today since they were all so tired. We ended up having a breakfast buffet with shared breakfast goods) and we were off around 9am to go to Moro Rock. On our way out, we stopped to see a family of deers on the campgrounds! The kids were super excited to see this. Aidan, “Is that a reindeer?!” Me, “No honey, that’s just an ordinary deer.”

We drove to Moro Rock where we all missed the rode but decided as a group to go for another mile just in case there’s another small road to get in. We turned around and parked. It was a weekend so we weren’t allowed to drive ourselves up to Moro Rock. We waited for a shuttle. Brooke was SO excited about riding a “school bus”. We got in and Ty, Aidan and Brooke squeezed into one seat. It was really cute but of course I’m nervous my kids will fly out of the seats, I sat behind them and held on to them. We got to Moro Rock and all started to climb. Aidan was with Mike. Brooke is with me.

Maybe about 100 steps in, Hailey’s (Tripp’s daughter) fear of heights got a hold of her and she went back down. We all continued onwards. This was a pretty scary climb! At some parts, you don’t even have a side rail. Once we were about ⅔ of the way up, I looked at the stairs and decided even if I made it up, there’s no way I’m going to comfortable come down with a toddler in hand. It was just too scary for me. So I yelled for Mike and told him Brooke and I were going back down. On our way down, I snapped a couple cute photos of Brooke on the stairs. She was in high spirits and happily posed for me. We were walking down and enjoying the view when an old Asian woman asked if I wanted her to take a picture of me and Brooke. I said, “sure!” She was snapping away and lecturing me about how I need to take memories of things like this. “I took two photos for you, honey. One of the view and one of Moro Rock.” I didn’t think anything of it only to realize later that she took one of the BEST photos I could ever have of me and Brooke on Moro Rock. Haha. It’s true what they say about Asians and their photography.

We joined Hailey at the base and about 15-20 minutes everybody came down. Aidan made it to the top with Daddy! Mike took some awesome photos of Aidan on top of Moro Rock.

Moro Rock

Moro Rock is a large granite dome also found in the Giant Forest area. Common in the Sierra Nevada, the dome was formed by exfoliation, or the casting off in sheets of rock layers on otherwise disjointed granite. Outward expansion of the granite results in exfoliation. Taking a quarter-mile trail to this national park’s Moro Rock site, you can climb nearly 400 stone steps to the top of the barren rock (6,725-foot elevation). The Moro Rock Sequoia Park parking area is 3 miles south of the General Sherman Tree at General’s Highway. RVs and trailers are prohibited on this road.

We waited for the next shuttle to pick us up. The next stop was tunnel log. We went back and forth about stopping here just to jump out of the shuttle, realized there was really nothing to this tunnel log and jumped back on the same shuttle. Laurent’s family really wanted to do Crescent Meadow trail and we were all giving in to this loop trail so we went too. It was only 1.8 miles long but there wasn’t much to see and I am certain that my 15-20 mosquito bites up and down my arms came from this hike. Once again, the kids were troopers.

Crescent Meadow Loop Trail
Distance: 1.8 miles
Time: 2 to 3 hours, round-trip
Trailhead: Crescent Meadow parking lot
Elevation Gain: 200 feet
Description: This scenic loop trail takes you around the picturesque Crescent Meadow. Most impressive in the spring when wildflowers are in bloom, wildlife sightings are common in this area. The Sequoia hiking trail also goes by Tharp’s Log, a hollowed out Sequoia tree that was converted into a summer cabin by one of the park’s earliest settlers.

On our shuttle back to the parking lot, the driver stopped so we could witness our second bear of the trip! This was exciting since the kids really got to see it this time. We watched the bear for a while and endured a bumpy ride down to where we started. We all got in our cars and drove back to camp.

The kids fell asleep in the car and the tent was way too warm so Mike and I macgyvered a nice sleeping area in the back of our SUV. Aidan and Brooke napped for a couple of hours back here. Mike and I ate lunch and read books until the kids woke up. We had to wake up Brooke because we didn’t want to start the hike too late and end up back at camp at night and end up cooking dinner in the dark! We bribed her with ice cream and took all the kids to Lodgepark Visitor Center & Market to get $1 Dreyers ice cream cones. We then returned to camp and started our 1.7 mile hike towards the falls. Everybody was pacing themselves pretty quickly for this hike, so I decided to throw Brooke on my back and piggyback her up to the falls. It was a beautiful trail allow the river. At the last leg, it gets a little bit more challenging with a rocky path. The entire time I was motivated by the fantasy of a waterfall with a pool where the kids can play in the water and I can take a little dip as well to cool down from the hike (like the hikes I did in Hawaii). I was disappointed to end at a cliff where we would have to climb down to even get close to the falls. So what did I do? I grabbed Brooke and started climbing down. I would climb, slide down and take her with me. Finally we reached a point that if we were to go down…there would be no way to get back up. So that was it. We were done. We were not going to touch the water. Disappointed and tired, we climbed back up, ate a little snack, took a photo as proof of this hike and went back. On our way back, we encountered bear number three. This bear was the farthest from us but still the scariest. The other two bears we encountered, we were safely confined in a vehicle. This bear was up in the rocks maybe half a mile away from our trail. We stayed a little bit but not to long and continued. At a few points, Mike grabbed both kids and power-walked down the trail to beat the sun. I ran after them since I didn’t want to leave Mike with four kids (Aidan, Brooke, Ty and Hailey). Luckily, I caught up when he decided to put them down when the road got to risky for him to be carrying two. He took Brooke and carried her to camp. Aidan walked with me and Ty. We ended up getting passed by everybody and were the last three to camp. The biggest reward was when we got to camp, before I said anything, Aidan said to me, “Good job, Mommy” Haha. The three of us congratulated each other and went on to find our dinner. Dinner tonight was burgers for Mom and Dad…mac and cheese for the kids. Mike added sweet potatoes with marshmallows to dessert (SO DELICIOUS). The kids actually stayed up on our last night at Lodgepole. Laurel brought a bouch of glow sticks and the kids had the best time playing with them at night. When Hailey cracked that first glow stick and it was pink, I watched Brooke’s little face just light up with amazement. Haha. It was so cute. We all ended up going to bed around 9 (Aidan knocked out by himself…again) and got some rest for the big packing job in the morning.

Tokopah Falls Trail
Distance: 3.4 miles
Time: 2 hours, round trip
Trailhead: Just beyond Marble Fork Bridge in Lodgepole Campground
Elevation Gain: 500 feet
Description: The trail to Tokopah Falls is an easy walk along the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River. Tokopah Falls is 1,200 feet high and most impressive in spring and early summer.

Monday, August 29, 2011

We woke up, decided not to even change out of our PJs and packed up. We left the kids in the car with the portable DVD player to distract them so we could pack up quickly and efficiently. We were on the road by 9am only to be stopped by Sequoia construction and delayed 40 minutes. The drive down the hill was rough for me. I had so much motion sickness!

We stopped again at Bakersfield Costco for gas and lunch (Mc Donald’s for lunch since those billboards got Mike and me craving some sweet tea).

We were home by 4:50pm and it was nice to be home. I gave the kids a bath (black water! yuck!) and showered myself. What a luxury…a shower. It was a nice trip. I wasn’t too excited about camping but it turned out to be so worth it since the kids enjoyed it so much. Can’t wait for the next trip!

Our first big roadtrip of 2011 was also our snow trip of the year. We decided instead of Mammoth we were going to Brianhead, Utah this year. I started my travel journal that I adapted from my mom who we thought was crazy for always documenting our trips. Reading back at her journals, we were so glad she did it. It is so fun to read about those memories in our voices since we’re all a bunch of hams and wrote ridiculous things!

I will post the full journal soon but here is our trip in summary:

Day 1: First stop – Las Vegas. Left Irvine around 10am, got to Barstow for lunch and shopped for 2 hours. Got to Vegas in the evening and the kids LOVED the lights…especially Excalibur aka “Castle”

Day 2: Left Vegas for Utah and got lunch at Cracker Barrel. Did a little grocery shopping and got to our condo for the weekend in a 2 hours.

Day 3: Took the kids out to play in a blizzard! Ignorant Californians did not know we were in a snow storm. Tina and I got discount tickets for snowboarding in a storm. LOL. Almost lost Brooke and Mike to the storm when they decided to venture off but they came back with Brianhead’s famous berry pie, so I guess it was worth it.

Day 4: Mike and Tina snowboarded while I stayed home with the kids and a bad neck from falling a little too hard getting stuck in beautiful Utah powder the day before.

Day 5: Packed up and drove home. Lots of great photos and even better memories.

SATURDAY: We decided a few months back that it’s time we visited our good friend, Anne Eurose and her family. We woke up at 3am on Saturday morning and was on the road by 3:40am. Brooke wasn’t too happy about this but Aidan woke up alert and naming all the things he sees (Stars! Moon! Light!). They were both up until 4am and fell asleep until 7:30am. We stopped at Harris Ranch for the exotic McDonald’s breakfast, changed the kids out of their PJs and were on our way. On the road, the kids amused themselves with ‘trees’ and ‘mooooos’ (aka cows). We didn’t really need to use the DVD player until the last hour of our drive.

We reached Tracy around 10:30am and Mike took a nap while Eurose and I entertain our kids. They LOVED their Ate Eurose’s house. I have since they coined it as “Abris Daycare”. Completely stocked from a beautiful yard with a playground and toy cars/bikes to a toy room downstairs (of course, well organized). They were super comfortable there. Brooke kept asking to go outside. Once outside, she wanted to go in to watch Nemo. We had lunch and George came by to visit and we caught up and talked about old times until the kids’ nap time. Around 1:30-2pm we left Tracy to continue our adventure to San Francisco.

The kids napped in the car on our 2 hour drive into the city. Our plan was: Kara’s Cupcakes, Exploratorium, Golden Gate Bridge, Fishermen’s Wharf/Pier 39 then Ghirardelli Square. We never made it to Ghirardelli and ended up having dinner at Hard Rock at the Pier but not bad for a one day trip! We met up with an ex-coworker of Mike’s who is the coolest couple. Their daughter, Simone, is gorgeous and so well behaved. It was way pass all the kids bedtimes, but they were all doing great. Especially my little troopers considering they have been in a car all day!

Here we are with the sea lions at Pier 39.

On our way to the hotel we considered driving home which would put us home at 3AM making it a true 24 hour trip, but we weren’t THAT crazy and spent the night a little south of San Francisco to avoid the ridiculous parking fees in the city.

Family photo at the exploratorium.

SUNDAY: The family was on the road again by 8am. We decided to take the 152 through Gilroy to get back on the 5 freeway which turned out to be so much fun. We stopped at the first fruit stand advertising 8 ears of corn for $1! (SO WORTH IT! We ended up cooking it for dinner once we got home.) Driving away from that stand, we stopped at the next one for garlic ice cream. (SIDE NOTE: I remember being a kid and hating stopping at these…it’s official, I’m an old Asian parent.) We then drove off to stop at a stop I did growing up with my parents: Casa de Fruta. Man, it has changed. It actually expanded a lot! There’s casa de…EVERYTHING! Brooke saw her first peacock but insisted it’s a chicken. I’m not going to argue with a 1 and a half year old. We got mah-mah some wine and continue our drive home. The kids ended up napping a long ways after lunch. Overall, it was a very successful trip. So proud of the husband for driving the entire time. And equally proud of the kids for making it through another Lam family vacation.

Casa de Fruta

Working the railroads at Casa de Fruta

12 years later, Van found the log and emailed it to us. I was tearing up from laughter! Best part is, we still all have the same jerky personalities we did back then! I had to blog about it to keep it somewhere I can go back to read it anytime!

Please enjoy:

4105 miles to yellowstone national park
SATURDAY, 7/25/98

[mom]
5:15 am: passed Victorville
5:57: barstow
7:00: stop @ restroom CA state line. I become driver until 9am.
9:00: Virgin river canyon is so beautiful. My children are finally wake up and make noise in the car
Thi is asking people for using deodorant. I wonder why? Bao and Van are responding for Thi’s needs
9:51: Bao’s farting
9:52: reaching Utah state line
10:16: Van said Bao’s feet is stinky. oh! Tha explain why dady’s keep rolling down the car window
Oh! We missed Ba Noi, Co 6 & our Mickey!
10:26: 1st rest area @ Utah

[bao]
10:33: Mom is sleepy
10:39: Dad announced that we will be @ Salt Lake City for about 4 o clock, and that we would stay to play for an hour or so
10:41: I finished writing that (the above)

[mom]
if we want to colorado, 70 freeway will take us to Denver. We decide to stay on 15 to salt lake

[van]
12:03 pm: stopped at view area to take pictures. Chi hai drives
12:06: mom yells because Bao spills capri sun
12:11: 149 miles until salt lake
12:45: mom discovers her legs are tan from sitting in the passenger seat. Dad is looking for Utah lake, even if we passed it 10 minutes ago
12:47: Chi 2 needs to pee… only trees available
1:00: Chi Hai PEES! YAY!!!
1:15: reached Nephi
1:17: 77 miles from Salt Lake
1:20: Van starts to eat candy
1:23: Van finishes 2 pieces
1:27: Van finishes her third piece
1:34: Girl in blue car pisses off Chi 2
1:37: we see corn fields… everyone except for mom
1:50: passed Utah lake
1:53: we pass another corn field. mom sees it this time
1:57: lehl natural museum, exit 282
2:30: reached salt lake city. got gas @ chevron pump #5 ($18.25)

[chi hai]
3:29 FINALLY got out of salt lake! Bought rice at vietnamese grocery (bac lieu)
3:35: mom sticks half a wab up van’s nose!
3:51: passed hill aerospace museum
3:55: mom found taco bell. dad plans to drive 6 hours to Madison (Idaho falls) and spend the night there. Approx. 1 hour drive to yellowstone.
4:15: idaho borderline
6:47: rexburg, Idaho
7:12: decided to spend the night @ Super 8 ($64, 4 adults). Discover we forgot the food!
9:26: ate dinner, rice &chicken

SUNDAY, 7/26/98

8:04 am: Thi and MOm eats FREE breakfast @ super 8 motel

[mom]
I & my husband, we walk around the roxburg (nice little town). We stopped at albertson to get spam and broccolli

[chi hai]
8:05 am: dad is out of the bathroom (start time 7:30)

[van]
8:34: got gas ($13.25)
9:05: reached Targhee National Park
9:58: arrived @ yellowstone national par
12:21 pm: leaves norris going to mammoth

MONDAY

[chi hai]
8:30 am: back at YS
12:49: leaving old faithful, heading towards west thumb
1:09: still on way to west thumb, raining w/ thunder
2:05: yellowstone hotel

[bao]
4:47: heading back to old faithful because we screwed up the first time
4:48: mom sings vietnamese song as if she’s on the john
5:08: “ngua o” finally comes on, never mind mom liked… its a different song.
5:35: arrived at old faithful. battery aint all charged yet
6:19: back in the car. got GREAT footage of old faithful (because of the wonderful “direktah”, Bao Ngo)

[mom]
van’s getting sick. poor girl! all of the time get car sick all times!
Thi’s driving.

[bao]
6:56: just got out of yucky road
7:00: lewlis lake “oooo its beautiful” -mom; “lon hon perris lake, con!” -dad
7:03: family realizes that we missed lewis lake, that was beautiful and lon hon perris lake, con
7:04: {gasp} “OH MY GOD!” family finds “mystery falls”. being the fob like tourists we are, we bust out the cameras… again.
7:14: I (Bao) decide that as soon as we get home, i’m running away. i can’t take the harrassment from mom.
7:15: mom accuses family of harrassing her. “Your dad too! (sob… sob…) and you too! and chi hai too! and chi ba too! (sob… sob…)”
7:16: family laughs at mom’s emmy award dramatic scene, then changes the subject and forgets about it
7:19: mom finally realizes that she has a crazy family. no… just crazy children
7:23: chi hai compliments my pitch perfect talent. we reach south entrance, good bye yellowstone!
7:25: chi hai decides to turn around so i can record a stupid sign that sates the obvious. “Leaving yellowstone national park”
7:42: jackson lake. “you know, like michael jackson” -chi hai
7:48: mom makes sure that i don’t step on her bananas
7:49: mom announces that she is a wonderful woman, while chi hai points out a wonderful hole in her shirt. she thinks its because mom didn’t use deodorant
7:50: mom & chi hai come to a final conclusion that mom’s wonderful hole and deadly pungent odor is the reason why chi ba is sick. GOOD THINKING!
7:53: chi hai takes the wheel away from dad, while mom tries to convince us that a crowd of people from afar are fascinated and came to see the wonderful hole in her shirt.
7:55: jackson is 34 miles away
8:00: out of grand reton
8:04: arrived at mooseheead ranch
8:14: it starts to rain.. again!
8:16: buffalo crosses road
8:27: we REALLY left grand reton. the first time was a bluff, sorry…
8:31: arrive @ jackson. family searches for a mcdonalds
spent night @ montpelier, Idaho (best western $66)

TUESDAY
7:07: mom sees cow and claims tis a moose. but we are all happy because we’re heading home!
7:14: we don’t know why or how, but we’ve arrived at paris. (Paris, Idaho). Pop. 197 persons
7:25: stopped at bear lake
7:28: still waiting…
7:37: we stopped waiting and are currently following a pilot car
7:42: arrived at UTAH!
7:53: chi hai, chi ba, and i take a nap.

[mom]
7:56: garden city with bear lake. wrap around, scenic overlook. 1 mile. entering logan canyon. beautiful beaver creek
8:10: thi, van, and bao sleeping. so quiet! pass tongo canyon
8:16: rick spring
8:19: stop for construction
8:33: lake bonnerville with lots of fishermen! upper seconds dam
8:36: leaving cache national forest
8:40: arrived beautiful large city. i wonder what is the city’s name
8:56: again entering cache national forest
9:07: change freeway to 15
9:09: entering freeway 15
thi is planned that we will exit 335 to go to antelope island
9:36: exit 335

[bao]
10:31: family decides to leave antelope island and we feel that it is a waste of seven bucks!

[mom]
10:45: thi’s admiring the island special smell of bird shit
we are heading out of the island heading to freeway 15 for food

[bao]
11:45: we just exited “the fun dome” in murray, utah
11:58: chi hai cheats while playing corn pops game
12:02: leaving salt lake heading towards vegas. dad driving; mom reading
12:15: we play green car bingo (chi ba gets badly hurt from the game
12:19: scores: game 1 (bao 5, chi hai 4) game 2 (chi hai 5, bao 1)
12:26: we stop at KFC to get some grub

[mom]
2:30: stop at rest area. bao produced 3 pounds of waste from her digestive system. YUCK!
Van is driving now. my husband try to sleep! I found out of he is a fatso
3:02: I miss Mickey!

[chi hai]
3:12: Dad & Bao telling jokes. “why is pres. washington less valued than lincoln?” -dad; answer: cuz lincoln’s on a 5 and washington’s on a 1 dollar bill
howver, Bao says Washignton’s on a quarter and Lincoln’s on a penny.
3:14: dad is laughing at a bad joke.
3:15: Thi’s ears popped
3:24: Van manuvers us thru a tornado!! Good job, Van!
3:52: cedar city, Utah
4:36: Van’s our hero. Stupid u-haul almost ran us over!
4:41: arizona! yay!
5:00: virgin river is muddy!
5:05: Van’s a butt!! “O! Its hot outside!” “O! There’s like a dead bird right there!” -Van
5:07: NEVADA!!!
5:33: Mom wants to know if Van wants to stop at Vegas and go “strip”
5:35: Dad decided we are not going to pee for the next 2 hours
5:37: Byron, Nevada
5:38: Van is excited because there is a new buffett at Circus, Circus

[mom]
6:36: through Las Vegas, Thi become our driver now. Wow! Van had driven for 4 hours!
7:00: California border line
7:05: prime valley elevation: 3,000.
7:10: rest area 15 miles away. Baker 37 miles. Barstow 99 miles.
7:22: rest area. dad’s driving now.
7:34: barstow 73 miles.
7:40: world tallest thermometer read 110
7:44: open mouth contest. Thi is a loser.
7:56: victorville 77 miles
8:05: rest area (pass by)
8:16: Mickey look alike contest. Bao won.
What’s time we will be arrived home, guessing contest:
Bao: 9:55
Thi: 10:12
Van: 10:05
Ma: 10:20
8:21: pass throguh CA agricultural inspecton
8:30: arrived barstow. too dark, cannot write anymore
9:20 leaving san bernadino forrest
9:30: ontario mills

We will never know who won the arriving home guessing game!

Not only did we take a vacation from our everyday routine, but I also took a little vacation from WordPress!

We had a great time in Maui with the kids. The flight there was rough since they only napped an hour and we were forced to entertain them for the next 5 hours, but it was okay. Could have been worst. The only major crying fit was our fault. I was filling out the agricultural survey while Mike was tending to Aidan and Brooke rolled right off her seat on to the floor! Poor thing got a big bump on her head while Mommy & Daddy got horrified, judgy faces from the other passengers. LOL. That’s what we get for dropping the ball…or dropping the Brooke in this case.

First day – we ate at Zippy’s once we landed. It was delicious and sooooo bad for you. We then drove to Walmart to stock our condo with food. We planned on cooking as much as we can for three reasons: (1) Hawaiian food is expensive and usually not worth it (2) The kids like home cooking more (3) It’s just healthier for all of us. We got to our Kihei condo at Maui Kamaole, walked in, and Aidan was so impressed by the decor (pineapple chandeliers, birds of paradise pillows, etc) he said, “woooow”…and he did it every morning when he woke up. LOL. We got settled and I cooked up some spaghetti with mushroom & zucchini for the family. Around 7:45pm we went out to the beach to watch fireworks. Okay, so the original plan was to drive to Lahaina to watch fireworks but we heard from the locals that the 45 min drive would be longer with traffic from everybody going to watch fireworks. So we parked ourselves on Kamaole II thinking, “It’s over the ocean…we’ll see it.” Wrong. LOL. A big mountain covered it all up! Firework show over Maui….FAIL! We still had a good time just hanging out at night on the beach. Aidan and Brooke loved all the stars they can see and some of the locals burnt their own fireworks on the beach…so we piggybacked off that.

The family at baby beach in Lahaina

Day 2 – Jackie and Khoa woke up at 1:30AM to go do their bike ride down Haleakala. Mike and I woke up at 5am since it was 8am at home to cook breakfast. It was SO nice to just have a leisurely morning. We ate breakfast, cleaned up got dress and was on our way to Lahaina by 8am. We got there at 9am and it took some investigation to find “Baby Beach”. I totally recommend this beach for families with toddlers. The beach is so calm the kids can walk right in and out of the water by themselves. (Baby Beach is in the north part of Lahaina. Park on Kai Pali Street, just off of Front Street.) The kids LOVED the beach and this made the trip so worth it for us! We stayed about an hour and a half. We toured Lahaina, picked up lunch at Cool Cat Cafe (Best burger in Maui six years in a row), and hung out at the Banyan tree before heading back to Kihei. Once we got back, we hung out with Khoa & Jackie and drove to Wailea to visit the gorgeous golden sandy beaches. The wind made it difficult to enjoy but we had a good time burying Khoa and taking goofy photos at the beach.

Beautiful Hana with my Ohana

Day 3 – Road to Hana. We all woke up and hit the road early to Hana since we wanted to beat the other tourists. Mike and I are crazy to take the twins here. It was a super LONG drive. The multiple stops really helped us but we are not going to do it again. We left at 7am and returned to Zippy’s for dinner again at 6pm. That’s just too much for two 19-month olds! They were troopers though, we love them for that.

Aidan @ the Maui Ocean Center

Day 4 – Last day…how time flew! We took the kids to the beach in the morning and they played for a few hours and we came back for their first regular nap in Maui. They ended up napping for 3 hours! We had to wake them up to go to the Maui Ocean Center otherwise I think they would have kept going! LOL. The Maui Ocean Center pales compared to Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific in my opinion but it was the kids’ first time and so worth it. Aidan was so excited! “Fishie…fishie…exit!” (He loves exit signs). Brooke was a little more nervous about the darkness and the glowing tanks but slowly got comfortable enough to pose with sharks for Mommy! Afterwards it was dinner then off to the airport.

Mahalo, Maui for the great time! We will visit again!

Day 1: Was this a Bad Idea?
We got to San Diego airport early.
Kids only napped an hour.
Didn’t pack enough food.
Wow to condo.
No fireworks.

Day 2: Baby Beach in Lahaina

Day 3: Road to Hana

Day 4: Swim, long nap, aquarium

Mommy and Aidan

This would be the first time the kids experienced snow and they…hated it! Hahaha. Hate is such a strong word. At their very young age, all they knew was that the extreme cold and the harsh winds blowing in their delicate little faces did not equate to a “good time.” But we have to try! Maybe they will enjoy it more when they are a little older.

Brookie and Daddy sledding…she didn’t mind it as much as Aidan

I hit the slopes with Hong and Roger. I haven’t snowboarded since 2006…ladies and gentlemen, just let me say, “It’s NOT like riding a bike…you will forget.” LOL. I was so off – didn’t know which foot goes in first (thank goodness for my leash). Mammoth has this awesome deal – $40 for just the beginner lifts. Since I usually stick to just one chair, this was perfect for me. The first run, I was SO nervous. But I did okay. The 2nd and 3rd were much better once I was familiar with the trail. 3 runs – that’s 2 more than I thought I’d do! LOL. I always thought I hated snowboarding but I realized, I enjoy it. What I hate is the crowd I have to deal with. Because of my snowboarding accident in 2003, I have post-traumatic stress when I hear people boarding/skiing up behind me! This was the perfect weekend to go – off-season and Easter weekend…the slopes were pleasantly empty.

Me and Roger on the slopes

The rest of the weekend was filled with great food (we were never hungry), board games and poker, wine, wine, wine and as always, a whole lot of laughing. I hope we keep this as a tradition. It’s a great trip to share with friends.

A friendly game of Scrabble

I took the red eye Thursday night and landed at Logan airport at 6 in the morning! Bao and her friend (who I have no clue how to spell his name) picked me up and we ate at the very Bostonian authentic, IHOP (I heard Lincoln ate at the one we were at). Van arrived around 8am and the fun began! Instead of a play-by-play of our entire weekend, I’m going to just give short reviews of all the places we visited:

Sights
Boston Public Library – beautiful and it opens early and the price is right – free!
Prudential Center – probably would have been cooler if we went into the building but we just hung out at the mall.
Boston Public Gardens – they were redoing this so it wasn’t at it’s best.
Faneuil Hall – we pretty much just took a picture with the Sam Adams statue and continued our way to Quincy Market.
Quincy Market – so fun and can be overwhelming. We ended up at Boston & Maine Fish Co for a cup of clam chowder and a pint of Sam Adams for Baoby.
Harvard Yard – gorgeous; you feel smart just standing on campus.
Freedom Trail – so much fun; everybody should do this especially if it’s your first time in Boston.

Eats
Atlantic Fish Co. – a scratch kitchen, meaning everything is made from scratch! We had 2 dozen raw oysters and the clam appetizer. All was delicious!
Mike’s Pastry Inc. – we made the mistake of ordering one of each of their cannolis which turned out to be 9! They’re huge. One a person is more than plenty. We shared 2 whole ones took a bite of each and had to through it away since it will get soggy overnight. Fabulous though. One of the best cannolis I ever had. Our favorite was pistachio.
Giacomo’s Restaurant – Bao’s favorite place by far. Pasta is handmade and delicious. There’s always a line so get there when it opens at 5pm. Cash only.
Boston & Maine Fish Co – Had a cup of clam chowder that was the perfect lunch!
L.A. Burdick – Famous for their truffles shaped like mice and their hot chocolate. We had their hot chocolate which was like drinking a liquid chocolate bar and a few of their French macarons. Small but delicious.
Fugakyu – Best sushi ever! Try the ladybug maki. So refreshing and the restaurant is cute too!
Finale – This is fun to experience but I thought it was just ‘okay’. The idea of it is fun but the desserts aren’t anything special. If I had to choose one (luckily I didn’t), I rather go back to Mike’s Pastry for a cannoli.

On our flight there, Jackie and Khoa flew with us and we luckily had empty seats by us so we had more room and the help of our great cousins. The babies did great. Very little fussing so that made us happy. The worst part was put car seats into the rental car while it’s raining heavily on our Californian a**es (we were wearing shorts and flip flops of course.

After the wedding, we flew out to Florida to visit the Hogans and their newest addition, Madeline. At take off, the kids were both fussy and wanted Mommy! I was able to get Aidan to fall asleep then I traded him for Brooke and got her to sleep too. It was smooth flying after that since they slept the entire flight to Florida!

Going home was the worst. We woke up at 5am (2am California time) and took the kids to the airport. We flew JetBlue up til now. American Airline did not have priority seating for families so Mike was beyond ticked. Of course since flying with twins wasn’t challenging enough, they didn’t have a changing table on their plane. Mike changed both babies on his knees in the lavatory! How ridiculous is that! We had a layover in Fortworth, Texas where our flight was delayed by an hour. But the flight home wasn’t a full flight so we got our own row! Awesome. Plus this plane had changing tables.

We had a great vacation but was happy to be home and back to our normal schedule.

Ritz sent me to Seattle for Amazon’s CE Summit 2008. Babies got their first trip without Dad & got to ride on their first boat.

highlight of the trip:

thanh’s tequila shot at el capitano

photos:

running into jason at LAX

riding the pulmania around town

$20 tour of all of mazatlan

basketball in the pool

happy hour at 11:30am

and more pictures…