Trip to Disneyland!

A while ago, we decided that it was time to make the trek to the happiest place on earth.  So in February, we packed our bags, boarded a plane, and made our way to Anaheim.  We flew down on a Sunday and planned to stay for 5 nights so that we would have plenty of time to visit both Disneyland and the Disney California Adventure Park.

So on Monday morning, we headed into the park!

We met up with Elvin's parents in Southern California and spent the week together.  We took the opportunity to meet Mickey Mouse.  Everyone was fairly happy about that, except for Gabey who wanted nothing to do with this...

We also visited Minnie's house, but she wasn't home.  I guess those people in those costumes need to take a break every once in a while.

We went on various rides and didn't have to wait too long in the lines.  This was because on the Monday we went, there was a steady drizzle all day long.  This kept many people out of the park and we benefitted as a result.  Being from the Pacific Northwest, our kids were not bothered by the rain at all.

Xiao Yu enjoyed the It's a Small World ride.

Xiao Yu, unlike Gabe, was quite willing to meet all the characters hanging out in various parts of the park.

He did say that one of his favorite rides was the monorail.  There was never a line for that.  =)

There was a ride where the kids could drive the cars.  Karina absolutely loved driving it.  Although Daddy, riding shotgun, had to step on the gas as her legs couldn't reach.

Eliana also got to experience driving.

The kids wanted to ride this ride in Tomorrowland.  Elvin wasn't so sure he would enjoy it as he's not a big fan of things that go high up in the air.

Up and up the rockets went!

The boys loved the ride.  Elvin thought the whole time that the centripetal force was going to pop him out of the little rocket.

We had fun going to the Buzz Lightyear ride.

In this ride, you hold a gun that shoots a laser.  You're supposed to hit targets along the way, and accumulate points.

Xiao Yu got to ride with Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai.

Afterwards, you can enter your email and they will send you a picture they took of you somewhere along the ride, along with your score.

Here's another picture of Xiao Yu sitting in between Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai...

And here is the obligatory picture in front of the castle.  

This was our first night...we were tired but happy.

And in Xiao Yu's case...VERY tired.

The next morning, we got up to do it all over again.  There was a TV in the room where they served breakfast and the kids were, of course, mesmerized.

On Tuesday, we went to Disney California Adventure.  Here is Gabe checking out the map.

Xiao Yu got a signature in his little book.  Each of the kids had a little book so that they could accumulate signatures from the various characters that we met.

Here is a picture with Minnie, but Gabe still did not want to participate.

And here is a picture with Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai.

We also rode a Bug's Life ride on top of Heimlich the caterpillar.

 We also rode bumper cars.  But they were designed for little kids and the cars' top speed was about 0.1 MPH.

We watched a theater production of Frozen, which was actually very impressive with all the special effects they added in.

At this point, we decided the it seemed like Xiao Yu was needing a nap and Gave seemed a little bit tired as well, so Elvin headed back to the hotel with the boys while Emily stayed in the park with the girls.   They got to ride the Cars ride, which turned out to be one of their favorite. 

They also got cotton candy so they were very happy.

 Elvin rejoined them in the evening in time to see the Colors light show, which was very impressive.

By this time, we noticed that both boys were acting very tired and lethargic.  It turns out that they both had come down with fevers.  And we also noticed that Eliana started getting sick as well!  Not what we had hoped for on our trip to Disneyland!

So the next morning, we decided that Gabe, Xiao You, and Eliana were sick enough to have to stay in the hotel to rest.  Elvin took Karina, who seemed fine (and never did get sick), into the park.

So...Karina got to see what it was like to be an only child.  She had a great time because she got to do whatever she wanted and didn't have to compete for attention from any of her siblings!  This meant that she got to ride Big Thunder Mountain not once, but four times!

She got to shoot at some targets.  Doesn't she look like a natural?

We rode on the Buzz Lightyear ride several more times.

Elvin wanted to ride on Star Tours and Karina was nice enough to go along with it.  She didn't really like it.

She also tagged along while Daddy walked through the Star Wars exhibit.

And wonder at all these grown men that were interested in these weird costumes!

When Elvin and Karina got back to the hotel room in the evening, they saw poor Gabey and Xiao Yu still with a fever.  Eliana was feeling ok, and hadn't thrown up since noon.

Meanwhile, Karina made a little bed for herself on the top bunk, using all the extra pillows that come on the bed.

The next day, the kids' sickness seemed to be abating so we decided to all go into the park and take it easy.  

We all rode the Cars ride again, which was great fun.

Well, most of us thought it was great fun, but Xiao Yu did not.    It was a bit too intense for him and so he was hugging Elvin's thigh the whole time.

Our little speed demon, on the other hand, was loving it!

We also got on other rides, like these swing contraptions.

All the kids loved these but Elvin did not.

As our time in Disneyland drew to a close, the kids wanted to meet the princesses and characters...

And get their signatures as well.

And of course Xiao Yu is always up for posing in front of the camera.

And the kids wanted to drive the cars one last time...including Gabe who could've used a phone book to sit on.

They also got to pick a souvenir to buy and take home.  Decisions, decisions...

In the end, the boys chose Toy Story figures, who a week before, they had no idea who they were.  But hey, these were actually better choices than some of the useless plasticy junk that's available for sale there.

We took one final picture in front of the Disneyland train station.  

Before we finally headed home!!!

Happy Easter!

We hope that everyone had a good Easter.  Ours was eventful and started on the Saturday before with the annual Easter Egg Hunt that our church organizes every year.  It's open to the community and they stuff and hide about 4,000 eggs.  This year, reportedly about 450 people attended, 2/3 of them were kids.

We arrive early because the egg hunt starts a couple minutes after 10am and if you are even 5 min. late, you will miss out!

The areas are divided into three sections according to age.  For the first time, our boys graduated from the little kid area into the medium kid area with Karina.  Eliana went to the third section which are for kids 8 and above.

 And they're off!!!

 Xiao Yu was off to a little bit of a slower start.

Gabe was also a little hesitant and had to hold Daddy's hand.  It also did not help that it had been raining for weeks straight and so the field was quite wet and spongy.

 Karina did quite well hunting for eggs with her friends.

 She was able to get quite a few.

Elvin, who had Gabe, led him past the large horde of kids who immediately bent down to pick the first eggs they could see.  Instead, Elvin led him to the area about 50 yards beyond where there was no one and Gabe had a good time getting eggs as his leisure.

 After most of the eggs were picked, Eliana wandered over and did quite well too.

 Here are the kids with their loot.

And here are the kids opening their eggs and returning the egg shells.  This gives you a sense of how many eggs there were in the field!

It turned out that Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai (Elvin's parents) were also visiting during Easter weekend.  So they got to spend time with us.  Here is Gabe showing Nai-nai the logic exercises that he does during homeschool.  Emily actually wasn't planning to start home school with him, but he's been begging and begging to start.

Later in the day, it was sunny and Karina had been wanting to go bike riding, so we went.  She has been wanting to practice riding her bike with no training wheels.  Although she could do this already, she needed to practice starting and stopping.

The kids also decided they wanted to race.  The littler ones made Eliana ride in the outside lane as a handicap.  Despite this, the results of the race were still fairly predictable.

Xiao Yu also rode.  We have many bicycles in our house of every size imaginable, but sometimes not in the gender-appropriate color!  He didn't seem to mind at all--either the pink bike or the purple helmet!

Then we played some soccer in the field.  The kids enjoyed playing and are starting to kick and dribble the ball while resisting the temptation to pick it up with their hands.

We then dyed some Easter eggs.  They each got to decorate five, which you can see Xiao You protectively holding his, like a mother hen.

 They had fun dipping the eggs into the dye.

The kids also like playing Uno and played with Nai-nai.  Except that they forgot to tell her the rule about saying "uno" if you only have one card left--until it happened to her and she had to draw cards.  That's the risk of playing a game against a 4- and 6-year old who don't tell you the rules until you stumble into the situation!

 The next day was Easter Sunday and the kid's baskets were all prepared!  They each got a new toy (the boxes under the basket) in addition to candy.  They also got new gardening gloves in their baskets--a request from Karina.

 The girls got Legos which were themed with American Girl dolls.

The girls have really enjoyed these Lego sets, even Eliana who usually doesn't play that much with Legos.  They have spent hours and hours every day since Easter playing with these.

Then after breakfast and getting dressed, it was time for another mini-egg hunt that we do at home before heading off to church.

To make it more equitable, especially for the younger ones, each kid is assigned a color and they can only grab eggs of 'their' color.  If they spot eggs of a different color, they have to let it be.  Gabe's color was green.  He found his shiny green egg, which was a "golden" egg that each kid had in their respective color, and it had a dollar bill inside instead of candy.

 Xiao You found his golden egg, which was truly golden, since his color was yellow.

 And Gabe found another one!

 Here is a forced posed picture of the kids in their Sunday best.  Gabe is even wearing a real shirt, which buttons!  Quite a change from his usual t-shirt.

In the evening, we had dinner at a local ramen place.  It's relatively new and a novelty for Vancouver which is not known for a diverse or thriving restaurant scene.

And it's one of a few restaurants where both the parents and kids enjoy the food.  Here Xiao You is eating noodles, with chopsticks no less, while trying to also watch TV at the same time.

 And for dessert, the kids got creative.  Peeps on a "nest" of ice cream!

 The kids had a good time with Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai who left a couple of days after Easter Sunday.

This past weekend, we visited Emily's parent's house for dinner.  Emily's brother's family also came and they were kind enough to put on yet ANOTHER easter egg hunt for the kids.  This year, Easter was the holiday that kept on giving.

 Each kid, again, had their designated eggs.

And they were hidden around the living room.

 Karina checks out her loot, which consisted of Hershey's kisses, Swedish fish, and Peeps (some of which where fruit punch flavored!!!)

Hope you guys had a fun and blessed Easter as well!

Acts of Kindness...

For several months, a chart has been hanging on our wall.  At the top, it says "100 Acts of Kindness" and each time one of our kids does an act of kindness, they get to put a sticker on.  If they got to 100, then the deal was that they would get to go to the store to buy donuts.

The goal was that the kids would learn to be kind to each other, although some days, it seems like it's all they can do to just treat each other decently and not maliciously.  Also, in an effort to earn a sticker, sometimes they would ask, "If I do my chore, can I put a sticker on?"  The answer, of course, would be "No.  Your chore is your chore and expected of you."

However, there were some impressive acts of kindness, which is nice to see as a parent; a glimmer of hope that eventually these kids may eventually become kind and decent human beings and members of society.  For example (and Karina is especially good at this), when one kid had a special treat, they might share it with another.  Or Eliana would read aloud a book to the boys.

FINALLY, this past week, they filled the chart up.

And got some donuts from Freddy's!

And here is Gabe enjoying the fruits of his kindness, in the form of a maple bar!