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December 20, 2010
Las Vegas here we come! The girls were so excited about visiting Las Vegas for the first time. We were a bit nervous about the car ride considering Alisha is prone to car sickness, but she ended up doing well during the long trip up and back.
Our first order of business in Las Vegas was to secure Tournament of the Kings tickets at Excalibur. It was difficult for the kids to leave the Excalibur gaming area for children once they spotted the "arcade" area, but we were able to entice them with the mere mention of buffet at the Bellagio. The girls have always enjoyed the food at Souplantation, but were blown away by the spread at the Bellagio buffet. Ashley couldn't wait to dig into dessert, so she tried packing as much food as possible in her mouth thinking she would reach her goal faster. All of us over indulged on the food and decided to walk around the hotel to speed up the digestion.
One of Bellagio's many highlights is the garden area. The theme for this time of the year was obviously tailored around the holiday season. The beautiful poinsettia, jumping water fountains, penguins, igloos, electrical train, flying reindeers, polar bears, giant candy canes, etc. filled the garden. We visited Rio hoping to see the show in the sky (performance frequency reduced due to cost / lack of demand), bu
t
ended up c
alling it a night earlier.
December 14, 2010Kristie's Foundation along with ESPN hosted an event for the kids to meet with the LA Angels. We had the opportunity to listen to three of the Angels baseball players along with Mike Scioscia, current Angels Manager read a Christmas story. There was a brief question and answer session; however, the girls are not as informed with baseball as with other subjects. The kids from Kristie's Foundation were invited upstairs to enjoy a quick bite and ESPN generously provided the food along with unlimited free play on all games for the children.The girls quickly hopped on the race car arcade. Ashley had a hard time reaching the gas pedal, so she was driving in an awkward position. Alisha, on the other hand, was a seasoned driver and didn't take her eyes off of the screen. Later, they attempted shooting the basketball into the junior hoops and had a short workout. Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, cheered the girls on from behind. As the baseball players made their way upstairs, we ran to them for their autographs and signatures. Prior to leaving, various companies donated a set of PJs, toys to choose from and bags of sweets.Alisha snatched up the only Hello Kitty toaster and was jazzed about her selection since she has wanted that toaster for the past couple of years. Ashley grabbed the car key alarm and toy while staring at other toys. I reminded her of the age range for the toy she selected and searching for another toy would probably be a good idea. She reluctantly looked around and spotted the huge purple care bear stuffed animal. It was a riot watching wrestling and carrying the stuffed animal. She was all smiles once she realized she had gotten the biggest toy available!
December 12, 2010Another day of back-to-back events. After Chinese school, art class and abacus class, we rushed to the Hip Hop / Cookie Decorating event arranged by Starlight. The girls were good spirits and participated in their first hip-hop dance class. During the warm-up session, Ashley definitely came out of her shell; however, the small break during the class caused both of them to not join in on the dancing. When you have hot chocolate, with marshmallows and several types of sprinkles, the motivation to continue with the hip-hop class is non-existent since one can enjoy the former. The kids reluctantly completed the class and rushed over to the cookie-decorating class.We, including the parents, were given a gingerbread man, snow man and a Christmas tree to decorate. Royal frosting bottles, mini M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, marshmallow, etc. were provided for the decoration process. We all dressed up in our chef outfit and went to town on those cookies. As you can see from the photos below, there were many creative designs from the kids. This event was a huge hit with the girls and they wouldn't mind doing it again.Unfortunately, we had to rush to the next event held by Kristie's Foundation at Irvine Park. Luckily, we caught the last train for the group, took photos with Santa Claus and enjoyed popcorns. We chatted with some of the volunteers while the kids ran around. Already tired, we headed back home shortly to clean up from a day's events!
December 11, 2010
Okay...second round of events for today. We had to leave Warner Brothers a bit earlier in order to catch the first day of Grinchmas event at Universal Studios. The amusement park was just around the corner from the ranch, which prevented traffic headaches and nightmares. By the time we arrived at Universal Studios, the sun was going down and the snow has turned into slush. Ashley shied away from playing in the snow even though she had these warm gloves from Costco on. She managed to catch the snowfall at one point. Alisha, on the other hand, braved the slippery ice, dodged random snowballs, but still fell victim to a few of them.
Before standing in a queue for the Simpsons ride, the girls caught up with Lisa and Bart. Ashley was giggling when Bart constantly flicked off her hair band. Simpsons ride was their favorite whereas the Studio Tour was the adult's favorite. During the Studio Tour, we went through Grinchville and saw the Grinch and his dog, Max acting amongst the displays. Prior to the park closing at 7pm, there was celebrity reading by Molly Ringwald of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", with a short play followed by the Christmas tree lighting. The awkward-shaped tree was quite a sight and we enjoyed the Christmas ambience at the park!
December 11, 2010
Camp Ronald McDonald invited us to the annual holiday party at the Warner Brothers Ranch in Hollywood. The line was super long and we had to park our cars on the street. Rumor has it that this is one party packed with countless activities. Upon checking in, Ronald McDonald greeted the girls and posed for a quick photo - he was a character! There were so many stations and so much going on that we felt lost in the open sea. Huge Sakes Fifth Avenue bags were handed out for the children to put presents and bags in.
We went to the hat station and picked out hats since it was the closest station. Then, the aroma from the food led us by the McDonald fruit smoothies, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, potato salad, hot dogs, pretzels and churros. Unlimited drinks were up for grabs and thankfully, the girls did not see the McFlurry before making a good dent on their lunch. We were told that the kids can pick up presents by lining up in front of houses by their age group. These houses were actual sets seen on the big screen such as the Murtaugh's house in Lethal Weapon, Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation among other famous movies.
After filing their bag full of gifts, we visited animators who drew a gamut of cartoon characters including Iron Man, Loony Toon favorites, Disney princesses, SpongeBob, Toothless from "How to Train Your Dragon", etc. The girls placed their requests, got impatient and left for other activities. The adults stuck around to wait for these amazing drawings. We met the original animator for The Pink Pather, Arthur Leonardi. He was absolutely incredible as you can see from the picture below!
Alisha being tomboyish ran to wait in line for the swinging pirate ship. She wanted to get on other carnival rides, but the rest of us preferred to eat popcorn and cotton candy instead of waiting in lines. Ashley did not care to get on rides...she visited the McDonald's fruit smoothie station a few more times before posing with Santa Claus. The girls cannot wait to visit the ranch again next year - neither can I!
December 8, 2010
After seeing so many Santa Claus at different parties, Alisha is starting to suspect that the Santa Claus that she meets is not the real one who lives at the North Pole. Every time this subject comes up, immediate diversion onto another topic is practiced. Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF) holds an annual drawing party in conjunction with a holiday party to encourage cancer kids to express their holiday spirits through drawing. Some of the artwork will be selected and sponsored by vendors and used as part of the 2011 Holiday Card Program to fund raise.
We were the first to arrive at the event and the kids rushed to the craft table making ornaments of the gingerbread man and reindeer. However, we later found out that the craft table is reserved for the siblings of the patient. Alisha had an unfinished drawing she was working on at home, so we brought it to the event to finalize it. With Alisha being ultra meticulous, we knew that she would take at least two hours to produce her artwork. Since there is a strict time line, coloring in her drawing is all the time she had in order to complete her work. The kids were served salad, pizza and tons of enticing desserts. Before we had a chance to take pictures of the dessert display, the kids rushed to grab their favorites.
Prior to Santa's arrival, the Kids Who Cares Club traveling variety show performers danced and sang for all of us. The group was started by a girl who had suffered pancreatitis and her goal is to cheer up kids at the hospital receiving treatment. The charity organization's efforts were very commendable, especially when it is started by a group of very young girls. Their amazing generosity and creative ideas demonstrates that regardless of age, each of us has the innate ability to make a difference in this world. Drawing for gift cards were conducted before Santa handed out presents to every child. The girls were more focused on which candies to grab on the way out the door. Ashley was a bit bored at this event because she wanted to join her sister in drawing a holiday picture as well. Nonetheless, they both had a great time! 
December 7, 2010
OCF-OCF holds their annual Holiday party at The Phoenix Club in Anaheim. Since it's a German restaurant, Craig was especially looking forward to this gathering. We were not quite sure what goes on at this function, but the girls sure knew what they were in line for - face painting, temporary spray-on tattoos, caricature of themselves, arts and crafts, etc. Alisha was quite upset when we pulled her away from the crafts table in order to get in line for food. Pasta, warm bread, salad with dressing was served. Carrot cake and ice cream with a variety of flavors were offered shortly thereafter.
Unfortunately for Alisha, she missed the entire arts and crafts session between dinner, the temporary tattoo lady trying to get her sprayers working, kids cutting in lines, desserts, family photos (we waited until the kids had greasy, tomato-stained mouth for the pictures), etc. Santa arrived with his bells just in the nick of time to divert her disappointment as she got to sit with him for photos first. As the kids waited for the elves to pass out the presents, Alisha was first in line for more hand paintings. Ashley's gift was super heavy - an art set with wooden easel while Alisha's was almost too wide for her to carry - a colossal art set with 315 pieces (colored pencils, sketching penciles, pastels, markers, erasers, paint, etc.). We opted out on petting the dogs and rabbits as Alisha does not need to get an infection.
t
ended up c
alling it a night earlier.
