My long awaited vacation has come and gone. We went up north to San Francisco for 3 days / 2 nights, from Oct 26th to 28th. But we managed to get so much done within this short period.
Hubby took one day off on Friday but yet he actually went in to work at 6am so he could get some of his daily and month-end tasks done before our trip. He came home around 8am. I woke up early around 6:30am to get myself started before Brandon woke up. I had so many bags, let me tell you. 90% of the bags filled with stuff for Brandon - his toys, books, water, milk, snacks, extra clothing for inside the car, doodle board, blankie to cover the window and a cooler tote for his milk, yogurts and fruits.
Our planned start time was 9am and we were able to get ourselves together and left home at at 8:47am. We need to be at San Francisco at 7pm to have dinner with my uncle and his friends. The trip will take us about 6 hours without any stop. When you have a toddler in the car, it is impossible to have non-stop trip. We were able to manage the stops to fit into the toddler’s schedule.
I will have the pictures to tell the story.
This was the condition of our weather the morning we left Los Angeles - misty and cool.
Brandon was all set with toys/books/snacks during the trip.
The Los Angeles Jam when we were heading out from here.
We stopped for lunch at Harris Ranch at 11:30pm.
We were able to finish lunch by 12:45pm and on the road to Gilroy which took us 1hr 45 minutes to arrive. Immediately after we started our drive towards Gilroy, Brandon was fast asleep in the car. Didn’t even wake up when we arrived at Gilroy at 2:30pm.
Last Tuesday morning I went to Target with Brandon to shop for a medium size cooler box. Yup, we skipped parenting class because I was coughing. Before I walked into the aisle, I heard two guys speaking Malay. I knew they are from Malaysia and not Indonesia because I didn’t hear the heavy Indonesian slang. I didn’t bother to see who they are.
After picking a cooler that I like, I went to the toy’s section. When walking around looking for Mega Blocks to check their prices there, someone passed by me with a curious look. I didn’t bother again but then something prompted me to stop and look back. The guy was standing there looking back at me.
I opened my mouth wide like a big “O” because I was so surprised to see him there. He is Khairi Ismail, my high school classmate from Malaysia. I knew that he travels to Los Angeles often because he is a pilot for Malaysian Airline. But never in my mind that I think that I would meet him at Target in Torrance. You know what I mean?
He came in two days ago and will be leaving that night. I wished we could sit down and chat more because we got so much to catch up. We stood at the aisle and spoke for about 10 minutes. Brandon was starting to fuss a bit. He didn’t like me talking to anyone besides him, ya, don’t even let me talk to Daddy. Anyhow, we caught up a little bit and told him to give me a call when he comes back again. He told me this month alone he’s been in LA three times.
Hopefully, we get to meet him again next time he is back here.
Just want to note down that Brandon didn’t take any afternoon nap today. Was able to get him to sleep around 8pm. But he was awake from 9am to 8pm. You can imagine how tired I am today. Furthermore, I did the bedsheet/towel laundry in the morning, went out to Target and Toys ‘R’ Us, and cooked a 3 course dinner including a herbal soup, blanched gailan and soy sauce chicken wing.
When I was trying to have him down for his afternoon nap, out of nowhere, he started crying and screaming so badly that he has coarse voice now. On top of that, he threw up on my bedroom carpet after too much screaming, more clean up for Mommy to do. Weather here is already very hot and dry here, and with all the screaming and crying I am pretty sure that he will have sore throat tomorrow. I am having one now, been drinking a lot of water but still very dry. *cough* *cough*
This morning I went to have my hair cut at a Korean Hair Salon. The last hair cut I had was back in May, but I didn’t really like the hair stylist. It was about 5 months ago and now about time to have another cut. I still remember I used to only have my hair cut when I go back to Malaysia because it is too expensive here. I travelled back to KL once a year last time since I was so free to travel back then, now no more.
I forgot to take a before picture. But it will not be much different from any of my other pictures you see in this blog. I usually tied up a pony tail when I wake up in the morning. Long hair is so hard to maintain especially when washing and it takes longer to dry too, so this time I cut it really short. Below a picture that looks like a passport picture except the background, Hubby took for me.
Hubby dropped me off at the Hair Salon (my first time there) while he and Brandon headed off to Target. Only took 40 mins for my hair cut. Gave them a call after I was done and he came to pick me up. Brandon loves my hair cut, and he was smiling all the way when he saw me with the new hair style.
We went to Disneyland again yesterday, Friday. I was hoping to meet up with Rye Li’s family as I heard they might be visiting Disneyland the same day, but her mommy later called me and told me they are going on Saturday instead.
Anyway, we left home around 10am and got there before 10:30am. We left early around 1pm. It wasn’t a good day to be under the sun actually because it was hot. This time we went to Disney California Adventure first. Went to the kids’ rides section and did several rides. Then walked around and ride on the BIG merry go around. I forgot to bring my sunglasses and a hat so it wasn’t too comfortable as I had to squint my eyes all the time (sun too bright).
Then we stopped for ice cream for lunch. I fed Brandon his baby jar food while Daddy had ice cream sundae. There was a musical show on the main street which we watched from where we ate. Music and show while we eat, nothing could beat that.
After that we went over to Disneyland and went to ride on Small World. After that we left. Brandon fell asleep before we took the tram back to the parking area.
Here’s a picture a kind guest helped us to take. Brandon’s too busy looking at the map.
The research for my client I did yesterday night was all gone. I’ve sent out an email to myself with all the information I needed but this morning I was trying to retrieve the email and I couldn’t find it anywhere in the mailbox. Not even in the sent mailbox. ARRGH!!
And on top of that Brandon woke up this morning rejecting the milk which he’s been drinking fine every morning. This morning, like usual, warmed the milk for him, but he kept pushing the milk away and requested the water. Initially I gave him some water but then I stop giving him as he didn’t want the milk and just wanted the water.
He has not has anything since 7am and now is 930am. Worst, this morning I changed him wearing the Drybees pocket diaper and his pee leaked on to my bed again. I’ve changed it twice last night. First time regular change, second time yesterday night because his pocket diaper leaked. My mattress pad gone again. These few days is going to be cloudy and there are many piles of laundry still need to be done. Now to add to that, is the 3 bedsheets plus the mattress pad.
This boy is crying on and off. I really can’t take this. My head is going to blow off pretty soon.
I do have many things to update but need to be put on hold for this time. Have some personal problems as well as business stuff for a client that I need to dedicate my only 2 hours daily personal time for the research.
Tomorrow we will be visiting Disneyland Theme Park at Anaheim. It is less than 30 minutes drive for us to get there without traffic. Hopefully we will get to meet my uncle and his wife at the world’s happiest place. They are on tour here from Malaysia and their days are packed with busy tours without much free time in Los Angeles before leaving up to San Francisco.
Hubby took a day off from work so we can join them at Disneyland tomorrow. We’ll be getting the Southern California Annual Passports for $169 each adult. Children under 3 is free. This passport will allows us to use both theme parks for 215 pre selected days out of the year. All Saturdays and most of the summer next year will be closed to this passport holder. We won’t be going anyway during the hot summer. Our plans are to visit as much as possible before the summer comes on Fridays or Sundays.
Will update with pictures after the trip tomorrow. Today, I’ve been telling Brandon we will be going to Disneyland tomorrow and we will see Winnie the Pooh. Now if I say Disneyland to him, he says, “Poo.”
This is a recorded clip (not for video) to listen to what Brandon said when Daddy mentioned Disneyland.
*Brandon was sitting in the potty so I didn’t want to record him doing that*
We bought a doodle pro for Brandon a few months back. He started of liking it very much and doodle on it everyday and night. His favorite drawing were ’star’ and ‘fa’. *but all also circles circles scribble, though he said he drew a star*
This morning he took out the doodle pro hiding beside the TV rack. And used the foot magnet to draw on it. First piece was all black black, so I erased it and let him play with it again. Not until after I put him for nap only I saw he did this on his doodle pro. Any idea what this resembles?
To me it looks like a dragon. I wanted to document this masterpiece on his behalf. May be next time when he is older, I will ask him what he drew on this doodle board.
The latest picture of me and Brandon. We were attending Brandon’s second cousin 1st birthday party at Onami Sushi Buffet this past Saturday afternoon. We arrived the earliest, thus got time to take some pictures of ourselves. I know, you must be thinking my son always looks so serious in front of the camera. That’s because no one is making him smile.
The latest picture of me and Brandon. We were attending Brandon’s second cousin 1st birthday party at Onami Sushi Buffet this past Saturday afternoon. We arrived the earliest, thus got time to take some pictures of ourselves. I know, you must be thinking my son always looks so serious in front of the camera. That’s because no one is making him smile.
