Kindergarten...done!

Dear Logan,

Yesterday, we went to Monticello Academy's Open House.  This is going to be where Aidan goes to school in September.  Last year at this time, we were checking out over 10 different schools, hoping to plan for today when he goes to Kindergarten  We decided that Monticello was the best all-around school, and transferred Aidan to their Pre-K class.  We were hoping Aidan could attend their Pre-K class at the main campus,  but they  were all full.  So we signed him up for the Monroe site, knowing current children get priority in enrollment the following year.

And yes, we did it.  We enrolled your brother for Kindergarten at Monticello Academy.  We did a full tour yesterday again to confirm our decision.  Daddy was super nervous about not getting a spot, so we headed to the school pretty early.  Well, it's not as early as Daddy would like, but we did make it in time to take the 16th (out of 40) spot of their Kindergarten classes.  I already heard there's a waiting list for non-current student to want to come in.  Our get-the-foot-in-the-door plan worked!

It's amazing how crazy this is.  We're only talking about Kindergarten!  I hope we don't have to go through this every year.  I am hoping Aidan will stay at Monticello until he graduates from Middle School, and then we're start the craziness again for High School.

And let me tell you, I've never written a $400 check that fast in my life.  $400 for enrollment fee for Kindergarten!?!?!  It's ridiculous!!  Are all private schools this expensive or is it just this one?  This better be a good investment.

At least now we shouldn't have to worry too much until next year, when we fight for a spot for summer camps.  Arrggh... don't even want to think about it now.


Love,
Mommy

5-Year Old Well-Child Check-Up

Dear Logan,

It's that time of the year again, the annual check-up. I really can't believe Aidan is 5 already.  He behaved like a big boy at the doctor's office and I was so proud of him.

He weighs 43.2 lbs (50%) and is 44 1/8 in tall (75%).  He got his blood pressure checked, and had his first hearing test done since he was discharged from the hospital when he was a newborn.  He followed instructions well, and was able to verbalize and show us what he needed to do.  He also had an eye test, which was a simpler version of the one at the Optometrist Office.  All numbers and tests were good.

He waited patiently in the room, and entertained himself with a book.  When the doctor came in, we answered the usual questions, and she did her usual check-up.  Everything was fine, except the doctor noticed some redness in his throat and his nose.  I guess that meant he might be coming down with a cold soon.  And TA-DA!  He started coughing the next day.  Maybe I jinxed myself by telling the doctor that Aidan has been pretty healthy during this flu season.  Oh well....

We will probably come back in 6 months for a TB test for Kindergarten.  Aside from that, let's hope we won't see the pediatrician until next January.


Love you,
Mommy

Disneyland Trip - Day 3 - Happy 5th Birthday, Aidan!!

Dear Logan,

Today's your brother's 5th birthday!  Even though he's been getting many "Happy Birthday" greetings ever since he got the birthday button at Disneyland on our first night there, it didn't dampen his excitement at all.  The night before, he didn't sleep until 11 p.m., yet with all the blackout curtains, he still woke up at 7 a.m.  I would love for him to sleep in a little bit, but he just couldn't contain his excitement. He was jumping up and down, playing with his toys and watching Playhouse Disney, all the while when Daddy and Mommy tried to sleep in a little bit.


I have already made reservations to go to "Surf's UP! Breakfast with Mickey & Friends" at Paradise Pier Hotel.  Let me tell you, having breakfast with Mickey is not cheap!  But Oh well, Aidan loves Mickey Mouse and this is the only character meal that he will show up, so I just wish the money would be well spent.  Reservations was made for 9:20 a.m., but I wished I had taken the 8:50 a.m. slot instead.  I think Aidan was a little too hungry.

When we got into the restaurant, we were greeted by Mickey Mouse.  We had the obligatory picture of Mickey Mouse, just like the picture we took at Goofy's Kitchen last time.  Of course, Aidan was excited to see Mickey, but if he has slept more and with a full stomach, I think he might be more excited.  The restaurant was small, and the atmosphere was definitely casual and beachy.  I much preferred the restaurant at Goofy's Kitchen.  The place wasn't full, and was actually quite empty.  We got settled, ordered our drinks and then I took Aidan to get some breakfast.  The quality of the food was just OK, and you definitely go there just to see Mickey Mouse.

Our table was first approached by Daisy, who was very sweet and lovely.  Then Minnie Mouse, Stitch, and Pluto.  These were basically all the characters present.  Aidan was a little apprehensive when taking pictures with them at first.  While we're eating, the staff started some dancing with Mickey Mouse and Stitch and tried to get the kids to join in.  I tried to get Aidan to participate, but he was being a party pooper.  He preferred to just sit down and eat.  Well, I couldn't force him, but on the other hand, I wanted him to join in (I paid that much money for an OK breakfast all because of the entertainment!).  After some food in his tummy, he was in a much better mood.  I was glad to see that the dancing started up again, and this time he participated!

After some dancing, it's time for a birthday cake!  This is a tiny little Mickey-shaped "cupcake" with Mickey-shaped sprinkles.  It's Aidan's favorite chocolate cake.  He enjoyed the very rushed birthday song sung by the staff, blew his candle, cut the little cake and definitely chowed it down.  A nice end to a breakfast, and it's free.

After breakfast, we went to the California Adventures Park through the direct entrance from the Grand Californian Hotel.  Man oh man, what a nice hotel!  It's so grand!  No wonder they charge so much for a room.  Next time, I got to spend a little more time checking out this hotel lobby since I can't afford to stay there.  Upon arriving at the park, we got Fast Passes for "World of Color", even though we saw that in August.  We figured it wouldn't hurt just to get the passes and not go, since they're free and the park was pretty slow.  We first went to the Mickey Mouse Ferris Wheel, as that was the first ride that Aidan really wanted to get on.  It's quite interesting how 6 months ago he wouldn't go near any ferris wheel, but now that he's FIVE years old, he's such a big boy that he's not scared.  And guess what, Mommy was the one that was a little scared.  It was quite high up there! Daddy and Aidan then went on the Golden Zephyr, Mommy and Aidan went on the Jumping Jellyfish.

We also took some pictures, and walked back to the Hollywood area.  We watched the Playhouse Disney show again (same as last time but a different hostess), went on the Monsters Inc. ride and snacked past lunch hour.  The turning point of the day, was introducing your brother to a bad experience of a 3D movie.  We went to see the Muppet Show 3D, and he was so scared that he cried and wanted out. We should have warned him about what to expect.  We hope we didn't scar him for life and he would hate all 3D movies from now on.  After this experience, we figured it's time to go back to the hotel for a nap.  He's tired and hungry, not a good combination.  We walked back to the hotel and Aidan took a good 2-hour nap.

Our plan was to have dinner at ESPN Zone and played at their arcade area, since we got a $20 coupon.  The games were fun, and we spent a good amount of time there.  Who knew it would take a while for us to spend down that $20.  After we're done, it's about 8:00 p.m., and we planned to take the Monorail back to Disneyland.  Unfortunately, they closed the Monorail down as they closed early for the 8:45 p.m .fireworks show.  I forgot the show was earlier on a Sunday.

Aidan was disappointed, but we bribed him with gifts at the Lego Store, and more importantly, he built his own ride at Ridemakerz.  Daddy was very excited to assist with building the ride.  Aidan selected a red (no surprise there) Mini Cooper with red tires and black rims.  Daddy then obtained instructions on how to put the car together.  We did that, got batteries and his ride  was ready to go.  He played with the car for a while at the store to test it out, and continued playing in the hotel room.  By the time we're done at Downtown Disney, we're all tired and wanted to go back to the hotel.

This pretty much ended our trip, as we're driving back home the following morning.  This 4-day trip was basically a 2.5-day trip. Driving really wasted quite a bit of time.  Maybe next time we'll fly, or even spend more days there.  There's so much we haven't seen.  But I figured, as Aidan grows older, we get to explore more.

Aidan was already excited and wanted to go back on Jan 7, 2012, and have his birthday party at school the day before, exactly like this year.  Most importantly, I am glad he had so much fun he wants to plan for another visit already.


Love,
Mommy

Disneyland Trip - Day 2

Dear Logan,

The second day, we tackled Disneyland bright and early.  Ok, maybe not as early as other visitors, but we did get into the park at around 9 a.m.  Compared to the crowd back in August, this January crowd was nothing!  The usual attractions that your brother liked, e.g. Dumbo, Tea Cups, Mickey's House, Carousel, Choo Choo Train, and the Circus Train, the wait was so short!  The only long line that I saw at Fantasyland, and was the Peter Pan ride. So, we didn't try.  I was very surprised, esp. since it's also a Saturday.  And because I got the Fast Passes for the Buzz Lightyear shooting ride, we were able to get on that twice without waiting for long at all.

We also stopped by the arcade area.  I know it's kinda silly to play arcade games like air hockey and alley ball at Disneyland, but you know how your brother loves those games.  Since this was his birthday trip, we basically just did whatever he felt like it.  I got $5 worth of tokens and just had a little fun.  Luckily, Aidan was willing to leave after I told him it's time to go when the tokens were all used up.

During lunch time, we caught the Jedi Training Academy Show.  This is the first introduction of Star Wars for him.  He was very interested in the show, but the scaredy cat that he is, he did not participate.  I think next time when we go back, he might be willing to try.  It was a very interesting show and I bet all Star Wars fans would love it.  At the end, Aidan said he liked the "white" guys aka Star Troopers because they had guns.  I guess he's with the Dark Side in this sense.

We all went back to the hotel for a quick nap, since we woke up early.  We wanted to go back into the park and stayed a little later, hopefully, get your brother to watch some fireworks.  I am prepared this time around.  I bought ear muffs, hoping they would minimize some of the sound effects, yet warm his ears.  Or, it would just create an illusion that the fireworks weren't really as loud.

After a fun but a little scary Nemo ride in the submarine, we hit the "It's a Small World".  The Nemo ride was probably the longest that we've waited for, and even that was probably about 30-45 mins.  I was glad to see that the "It's a Small World" ride was still nicely decorated with holiday lights.  When we're done, it's almost fireworks time.  We picked a spot away from the Cinderella Castle, thinking it wouldn't be as loud. WRONG!  We moved to another spot into Fantasyland by Dumbo, WRONG again!  But we ended up just staying there.  It was loud in the beginning for your brother as we're standing in between two displays of fireworks (thus, it's best to watch it facing the castle, then you could see both displays).  We saw one of the Cast Members, who seemed to know exactly when the fireworks shot up.  He was in a way "conducting" the fireworks.  By following him, we knew exactly which way to turn to see the fireworks.  Aidan ended up copying how he moved and was "conducting" the fireworks himself.  It was just too funny!  But at least he's not scared!

*video is dark, might need to turn up the brightness*

When the fireworks were over, we took the Monorail back to our hotel.  We saw some people getting into the front seats and inquired about them.  Found out that if you ask, then you'll get what you want!  We had to wait for a little while, as two other parties wanted to occupy those seats.  I think it's worth the wait, as it was pretty interesting to see where we're going.  I never noticed we passed through the Golden Gate Bridge at California Adventures Park on our way back to Downtown Disney.

By the time we got back, and finished the night time routine, it's already 11 p.m.  That's pretty late for him.  Tomorrow, would be his birthday and it's going to be another fun day.


Love,
Mommy

Disneyland Trip - Day 1

Dear Logan,

We're back from our little trip to Disneyland to celebrate your brother's 5th birthday, and Daddy and Mommy's 4th wedding anniversary.  It's a short but super fun trip.  Let me tell you all about it.

On Friday, Jan 7, we left our house a little past 9 a.m.  Mommy drove the first leg of the trip.  We stopped by Harris Ranch in Coalinga for lunch.  You know how Daddy loves his steak.  Last time we did a road trip, we stopped by Harris Ranch as well.  After a quick lunch, we continued our journey down south.  Traffic in LA was horrible.  There were accidents on the freeway everywhere, and we're stuck at this one short stretch for a long time.  Aidan kept on asking how much longer we had to go.  Unfortunately, we couldn't go any faster.

We finally arrived at Disneyland Hotel at around 4:30 p.m.  When we went into our hotel room, I was so relieved and excited.  The extra money that we paid on this room was totally worth it.  The newly renovated hotel room had the headboard with fireworks display.  I've read about this so much, but I was still in awe when I saw it.  I told Aidan that this was his special fireworks for his birthday.  The room was larger than an average hotel room, and it was nicely and modernly decorated.  Little touches of Mickey Mouse here and there.

Mommy has previously ordered a birthday gift basket for your brother.  It was delivered shortly after we're in the room, and your brother was a little excited and confused when receiving it.  Inside the basket was a Mickey Ears birthday hat, a picture frame, a bag of chocolate pretzels and a Vinylmation Space Mickey Mouse.  That hat was on your brother's hat for the next two days.

We then explored Downtown Disney and found a restaurant for dinner.  We selected the Uva Bar, as we ate there 2.5 years ago and had the best Mac and Cheese of my life.  Unfortunately, it's not on the menu but the food was still OK.  We walked around Downtown, checked out the stores, and of course, did a lot of shopping at the World of Disney.  Since Aidan got some birthday money from Grandma, Yeh Yeh, Ah Gung, Ah Po, Ah Yee and Kau Fu, we basically bought all the toys that he wanted.  Luckily, he doesn't have expensive taste and just chose little toys here and there.

After shopping, we went back to the hotel room and called it a night.  We planned to start our day early the following day and spend most of the day inside Disneyland.

Check out the fireworks on the headboard!  We all LOVE it!  OK, maybe not the best video, but check it out!

Love you,
Mommy

Aidan's 5th Birthday Celebration at School

Hello Logan,

Since we'll be heading down to Disneyland tomorrow for a 4-day trip to celebrate your brother's birthday, and Daddy and Mommy's wedding anniversary, we had an early birthday celebration at school.  I believe many of Aidan's classmates at Monticello celebrate their birthday at school, more than having big birthday parties.  So, per your brother's request, Daddy and Mommy brought in chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for the kids today.

We arrived at 3:30 p.m. and the celebration began.  Check this out!





Afterwards, Aidan assisted in handing out cupcakes to all of his friends.  This really hit me that your brother is becoming a big boy now.  He's serving his friends!  I could see that he's having a lot of fun, even though he was sitting so still and stiff in the beginning of the video.  He didn't really finish his requested chocolate cupcake, but only ate all of the icing.  It's OK, as long as he's happy.

Tomorrow, we'll be driving down to Disneyland.  This is going to be a long drive.  I hope we can keep your brother entertained during our 6-7 hour ride (hopefully not longer than that!).

Wish you could come to Disneyland with us.


Miss you,
Mommy

Happy New Year!

Dear Logan,

I can't believe it's already 2011! Where did time go? Aidan will be turning 5 in less than 2 weeks!

Our New Year's Eve was quiet. Daddy and Mommy were lucky enough to finally catch a movie, "Harry Potter and the Dealthly Hollows 1" yesterday, while Aidan spent time at Grandma and Yeh Yeh's house. For dinner, we went back to Grandma's house and had hot pot. It has been so cold lately that a nice meal of hot pot was just the perfect ending to 2010.

Ever since your brother's born, New Year's Eve is just like any other night. I don't even remember how I last went out to ring in the new year. This year was no different. I just stayed home and watch TV, not even watching the NYC Ball Drop, but just my recorded TV.

New Year's Day was the same. It's basically just like any other day. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Even though we had a 10-day vacation, I felt like I didn't have enough rest. Maybe one Reno trip was enough to tire me out. Or maybe, as usual, we try to go out every day, so your brother's not home playing with this electronics or watching TV.

I am looking forward to another year.  Let's hope 2011 is better than 2010.

Love,
Mommy