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The title of this blog post has more than one meaning. Immediately after going to Disneyland with my family, I ended up getting really sick. I believe this is the third time this year that I’ve fallen ill right after I get back from a trip. I’m usually quite prepared when it comes to my personal well-being & overall health, as well as maintaining a good & thorough hand-washing regimen. However, the allergy & cold game is especially strong this year. I can feel a disturbance in the force… (A cheesy & clichéd Star Wars reference from a very Non Star Wars person.) That’s a big reason why I’ve been MIA from my blog. Plus, I’ve been singlehandedly decorating my house for the upcoming Christmas holiday, & helping my mom prepare the house for incoming houseguests.
So, I had a very bad cold & slight fever when I got back from my Southern California vacation. I’m so lucky that I didn’t get any symptoms until my vacation ended. The last few times my family visited Disneyland for the Thanksgiving holiday, at least one person either threw out their back (…my brother…) or got severely ill (usually myself or my nephew). I’m very glad this trip went off with minimal glitches. Everyone had a fun time, & the best part was that my nephew & niece thoroughly enjoyed themselves, & they went home with so many incredible memories to treasure for years to come.
my niece
Both kids cried so hard at the end of our trip. One child didn’t want to go home at all, & the other child wanted to hurry up & get the hell out of Disneyland on our last night. My sister had invited a close friend & her two daughters to meet up with us on one of our days at Disneyland. The daughters of said friend are good friends with my niece & nephew (they are all close in age). Having girl friends hang out with my niece made her so happy. My nephew, who is incredibly sentimental, was over the moon to have all of his favorite people surrounding him & letting him decide what rides we should go on. All of the grown ups really spoiled the kids so much at Disneyland…lots of individual attention to each child, lots of leniency, lots of sweet treats (but not a lot of souvenirs or presents).
Left to Right: Jian, niece, brother
Throughout the entire weekend, we jumped between both theme parks (Disneyland & California Adventure). My nephew (who is usually too stubborn to try new things) tried a few new rides, & even went on a few of the more adventurous rides for older kids. My niece also tried out a few new rides, & got her hair done at the Frozen-themed hair salon complete with glitter hairspray & clip-on colored hair extensions. I’m usually very skeptical about buying souvenirs &/or toys for my nephew & niece. They have a tendency of not taking good care of their belongings, & either end up breaking their things or losing them. Last year, I got “burned” by a bad experience that left a sour memory. I had gone out of my way to buy my niece some memorable (& expensive) souvenirs, & then she lost all of it. Even though her lost gifts got replaced for free by our hotel, that whole experience left me wary of buying the kids any more presents. But of course, me being the doting aunt, I always cave in & end up buying more gifts for my nephew & niece. This year, I only bought them each one souvenir. I got them monogrammed Mickey & Minnie hats. They each got hats with their names stitched on them, & I was more than surprised, I was utterly shocked that they politely wore their hats for the entire day we were at Disneyland. They really appreciated their gifts, & that made it worthwhile for me.
niece, nephew
Overall, this trip to Disneyland was probably our family’s most memorable vacation to-date. None of the kids fussed, complained, cried (until late at night on our last day), or got sick. My brother’s back pain was not acting up, & my sister was not acting like “diva mom” very much. Even my mom had a great time with all of these hyperactive kids bouncing around her. Her feet got stepped on several times by a few inconsiderate tourists, but she was fine in the end. Jian & I got to spend quality time together as well, & we each bonded even more with my niece & nephew. I swear, my nephew & I are so in sync. We get sick together, we like the same things, eat the same foods, & we are similar in other ways. This is how we’ve been able to remain extremely close since he was born. I’m just now starting to understand my niece’s personality, & she can look up to me because we are both girls. She is really finding her own voice & is able to speak up, which helps us understand her better. My sister’s kids will forever be my little sweethearts, even when I have children of my own. We had a blast with Mickey & his friends, & have plans to go back next year. Cheers!
Left to Right: niece, Jian, me, nephew
Today’s song of the day:
It has become a recent family tradition to go to Disneyland every year after Thanksgiving. My older brother, who is both unmarried & completely single, has no children of his own to lavish his money & attention. Therefore, he turns to my sister’s children, to whom he spoils like crazy. I never imagined my brother to be so good with kids, but he is an absolutely wonderful uncle.
Even though he spoils my nephew & niece rotten, he also helps them with homework, teaches them about various things with patience, & helps my sister cook meals for all of them. He is a great role model, but also a slightly naughty uncle spoiling the kids with sweets & frequent trips to the shopping mall. As for me, I’m more of a “motherly” aunt. I also teach these kids manners & teach them about life lessons. I also play with them, help them get dressed, & take baths. My nephew even told me once that he thought of me as his second mom.
Usually I am not a fan of theme parks. I don’t like to ride roller coasters or other theme park rides. I get motion sickness rather easily, & a nearly critical childhood accident traumatized me against getting on rides at theme parks. That memory still haunts me to this day. My family thinks I’m overreacting, but I don’t really mind it at all. My nephew & niece are learning how to ride more advanced rides at the theme park, & they always want the entire family to ride along with them. I always make an excuse not to ride them such as, taking photos with my camera or carrying everyone’s jackets and bags. I will often stand in a ride’s line with everyone so we can all be together, then when we reach the front of the line, I will quietly walk out of the exit door & wait for them outside of the ride.
Not being a fan whatsoever of roller coaster rides has turned me off from going to theme parks, even if they do have fun laser water musical shows, extravagant parades, & plenty of junk food. When I’m in a group who is planning on visiting a theme park, I find it hard to get excited about the event. Sometimes, I even dread it. However, seeing how my sister’s kids get so excited to visit Disneyland doesn’t make me cringe at the idea of going to a theme park. I love seeing the pure joy & smiles on their faces. However, it’s more than just going to Disneyland for these kids. My sister’s kids are deeply sentimental, & more than anything, they enjoy being surrounded by their close family & friends. Their most happiest times are spent with their mom, uncles (a.k.a. my brother & Jian), myself (their favorite aunt), & my mom (their favorite grandmother). These kids, especially my nephew, would rather be surrounded by all of us for the whole weekend doing everything together.
So, going to Disneyland (& California Adventure) the day after Thanksgiving has become a new found family tradition, thought up by my brother. This is my brother’s way of spending quality time with our family as well. He loves spending time with his mom, two sisters (although…he favors me more than our sister, due to a major sibling quarrel), nephew & niece, & spending time with Jian (whom he has gotten close to over the years). So, my brother does all of the planning: getting the park tickets for both Disney theme parks, booking hotel rooms, & making reservations at all the restaurants. We usually spend the entire weekend at Disneyland. My brother will try to book two side-by-side rooms or one large suite at one of the Disneyland resorts. Then, he will make lunch & dinner reservations in advance, so we will be guaranteed a table & not have to wait in line for 1.5 hours on the wait list. He also gets all of the theme park passes for all of us. My brother really spares no expense when it comes to our annual Disneyland tradition. Of course, we all try to help him with the costs, but my brother always insists on treating us all, just to see our little children happy & full of wonderful memories. To say that I’m excited to visit Disneyland this year is something new to me. I can’t wait to spend time with my most favorite children in the whole world, & to make more memories with them. It’s going to be fun. Cheers.
Today’s song of the day:
The other day I was eating lunch at one of my favorite cafés, & I was pleasantly surprised by what I witnessed. There were two high school girls sharing their sandwiches with each other (it was a National holiday, so no school for kids). What surprised me was one of the girls said to the other girl, “Let’s put our phones away, so we can have an actual conversation.” That truly shocked me, that there are kids in the Millenial generation willing to put down their smartphones & talk face-to-face with another human being.
Today, I’m back at my local big box coffee shop, writing this blog. I have a difficult time writing at home; mostly, I don’t feel any motivation whatsoever when I’m at home to write anything. I come out to my neighborhood coffee shop, buy an adequate cup of coffee & a less-than-filling pastry, plug in a pair of headphones I confiscated from Jian into my iPod, & begin my mediocre blog writing. Usually I would say that the heavy foot traffic, loud noise, & warm atmosphere coupled with my iPod’s music is what gets my creative juices flowing, but I’m not sure if that’s entirely true. My house is rarely quiet, mostly cold & drafty, but I’ve got a great portable radiator heater to keep me toasty, & I’ve got an immensely larger music playlist on my home computer compared to my small iPod. Somehow, amongst all this outside raucous, I feel most at peace, quiet, isolated (but not alone), & happy to escape for an hour or two.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
I am so excited for this year’s rainy weather. I am not even going to bother with seasons. I can’t even tell what season we’re in over here on the West Coast. We had no rain at all during last year’s winter, hardly three or four frosty days, then got slammed right into spring, which quickly evolved into summer. Summer was impossibly long this year. What is especially true for the area I live in is that we hardly have any sweltering hot days during our summer months. Real summer weather arrives later for my area. We get approximately two weeks of true Indian Summer between September and October. Then, autumn falls down on us like a ton of bricks. The thick marine layer & fog blankets my area quickly throughout the day & turns into windy, chilly nights.
Over the past few weeks, my area has experienced a few rain showers, & one thunder storm, which caused one of my neighbors (two streets down from mine) to have their backyard tree get struck by lightning. The tree got hit by lightning & split in half with one half hitting their roofline. I remember that day clearly because it was raining heavily in the morning, then a thundercloud clapped so loudly that it rattled all of the windows in my house & shook our house a bit. The sound was so loud that I freaked out & hastily ducked under my bed sheets (not that hiding under blankets would’ve done any good). Jian ran out in his pajamas to check on the rest of the house. I’ve never seen him rush out of the room faster. Later that night, we heard about our neighbors & their lightning struck tree on the evening news. The whole experience was both frightening AND exciting at the same time.
I can’t wait to experience more rain storms with thunder & lightning again. I enjoy watching lightning when it rains. The sound of thunder initially startle me, but I enjoy it once I get used to the sound. I also enjoy going out in the rain. I like being in the car when it’s raining, although I do not like driving in the rain. Driving in the rain, especially by myself, practically terrifies me. I don’t mind if it’s Jian driving though. He has nearly impeccable driving skills (& manners)…especially when it’s raining. I can’t say that I enjoy the frizzy hair part of going out in the rain. My hair gets frizzy the second it encounters anything humid or wet, & I don’t just look like a wet Saint Bernard, I look like a rag doll that’s been dragged through a briar patch by my hair. No amount of hair product, hair brushing, or hair styling can pull my hair out of its frizzy, sloppy, rat’s nest. That’s the only part I cannot stand about rainy weather, but I bet that’s how many ladies feel as well.
It’s a sunny day today. It’s by no means a warm day; the temperatures have been steadily dropping recently, & I hope the weather gets even colder as the days go by. I’m supposed to be going to Disneyland again this Thanksgiving with my nephew & niece. We all go as a family to Disneyland every year as a Thanksgiving tradition, per my older brother’s insistence. Every time we go, it’s always hot. It’s almost December! How can it be hot in December?!?! That’s so not cool (no pun intended). Well, I’m off to enjoy the bright sunshine…and bask in the chilly air with my comfy scarf. Cheers.
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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