Cooking at Ambrosia

July 21, 2010

As a favor to Uncle Craig, the General Manager at Ambrosia (an elegant French restaurant) was very generous in arranging a chef experience for Alisha. She made cheesecake with strawberry sauce and stuffed mushrooms with blue crab from scratch while savoring over the luscious shrimp platter prepared for her...it was a one of a kind opportunity - a big thans to Chef Josh and the staff.

Build-a-Bear

July 19 - 25, 2010

For weeks, Alisha has been asking if she can get her two Build-a-Bears (one from CHOC and one from Miracles for Kids' event) stuffed fuller. Apparently, the existing bears were a bit too flimsy for her and she has a difficult time in putting cute outfits on them. They were driven from one store to the Downtown Disney Build-a-Bear with exclusive stuffed animals.

Alisha picked a triceratop with a European flower girl outfit and a pair of Hello Kitty slipper. Ashley waivered from a rainbow bear, a unicorn to a wolf. She finally settled for the wolf with a kimono outfit and ice skates. The stuffing ceremony, heart insertion routine into the stuffed animal and the final sewing kept the girls engaged in the process. They interchanged the clothing amongst their stuffed animals and have a ball with all of them.

On Sunday, Kristie's Foundation invited us to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific preceded by a pizza lunch. We love the tropical fish displays, but the girls were tired walking around, reading the placards about the sea creature and not being able to touch the creatures much. We went for ice cream instead of staying longer - a nice finish to a hot day.

Independence Day

July 4, 2010

Alisha and Ashley had a busy 4th of July. We woke up early in order to check-in for the harbor cruise hosted by Make-A-Wish Foundation and Electra Cruises. Although there was a long wait until departure, the girls patiently waited in line and enjoyed the scenery prior to boarding the boat. The volunteer photographers took pictures and the girls were fascinated by the rainbow colored water - oil - next to the docked boats.

Around ten o'clock in the morning, Alisha announced how hungry she was. Luckily, the boat stopped in front of American Legion for breakfast. The American Legion is an organization for veterans who volunteered their serves to provide a wonderful breakfast for the harbor cruise attendees. Packages, ham, eggs, juice and milk were served. Face painting, temporary tattoos were offered to the children. Both of the girls requested for multiple tattoos on their arms and had different variations of the red, white and blue painted on their face to demonstrate their patriotism. Ashley loved the glitter applied on her face after the face painting.

Back on the boat, there was a band playing various types of music to keep the guests entertained while the children ran up and down the four-tiered boat. Lunch items consisting of hot dogs, macaroni & cheese, fries, chicken tenders were promptly prepared and served at 12:30p. Unlimited amounts of alcoholic drinks were available for the adults. Mom cannot hold alcohol, so her face was red after three small sips. For dessert, the kids built their own ice cream waffle cone or sundae with a variety of toppings to curb everyone's sweet tooth.

Alisha found the Make-A-Wish Ambassador dog, Doc Barker, sat next to him and played with the dog for ages. The original Ambassador dog, Barker passed away this past April to nerve cancer and Alisha was sadden by the news as Barker had soothed her in the past during other events while she was not feeling her best. After six hours of adventure on the harbor cruise, we disembarked and the kids were given a pack of cookies to celebrate the rest of the holiday.

Fourth of July marks the first of the five summer concert series we attend at the local amphitheater. We always enjoy the picnic on the lawn preceding the outdoor concert. The kids embrace the freedom to run around on the lawn and the notion of picnicking. This year, the Fourth of July concert featured John Denver's music along with the usual music performed by the orchestra to commemorate and show our gratitude to the service men and women. Ashley fell asleep before the firework as expected while Alisha stayed awake for the entire show. We are just thankful that Alisha can join us this summer for the concert series since she missed the last concert of the season last year due to the onset of her illness. Ever since last year, she along with Ashley had talked about the summer series and asked when it will take place. We all couldn't wait and are glad it is finally here. Happy Independence Day!

Visit with Grandparents

July 5 - 18, 2010

Alisha had not been able to visit her grandparents' home for almost one year. She loves the swimming pool there since it is very clean with saline water instead of the usual chlorinated water found in most swimming pools. On a whim, we checked in at a cheap hotel for Mom to accumulate enough hotel stays for a free weekend stay at a fancy hotel and shopped at an outlet. We raced around the outlet due to time constraints, but were able to visit Build-a-Bear, Lego store, Disney Store, Children's Place, etc. Nothing was on the agenda on a Saturday night, so we decided to press our luck at the movie theater. Despicable Me was the heavy favorite, so we got tickets, relaxed our tired legs and enjoyed the comical movie. Both of the girls couldn't stop laughing and adored the character, Agnus. She reminded all of use how Ashley used to look when she was about 2-3 years old. Afterwards, we visited Krispy Kreme and the girls saw the conveyor belts and the doughnut making process for the first time. Yes, it's not the greatest choice for dinner, but it was a mini-getaway on a whim. The high school women's water polo team stayed at that hotel and amazed Alisha with their impeccable swimming techniques when they had warmed up in the hotel pool.

We then visited the grandparents' house about an hour away from our place to relax in the nice active senior award-winning community. The pool water was pristine and the girls got a hold of the pool "noodles" to help them float. Alisha is fearless and constantly dives down to the deep end of the pool doing tricks, flips and examines the bottom of the pool. She would also hop on Uncle Craig and tries to stand on his back while he swims around. Her favorite is the cherry bombs or blasts (being tossed in the air as high as possible and landing in the water). Ashley, on the other hand, holds onto anyone for dear life. She has attended swimming lessons for a couple of years, but isn't as bold or adventurous as Alisha.

Grandpa and grandma treated us to a nice Chinese/Japanese restaurant and the girls had edamame, sushi, fried rice and dessert. The food appeased our insatiable appetite. Alisha did not want to come home, so we made a deal with her to visit her grandparents the following weekend in order to swim some more. Her grandparents would have looked after them for the week if it weren't for the summer writing classes and art camp she's enrolled in.

We were elated that the second of five summer concert series is here - July 17th. Cirque de la Symphonie was on the program. Having seen Cirque du Soleil, we could not wait for this performance. The girls were mesmerized by the acrobatic performers while the Pacific Symphony played in the background. We loved every minute of it and did not want the performances to end. Alisha's favorite was the hula-hoop girl who had over 20 hula-hoops on her body at one time. All the acrobatic acts were breathtakingly beautiful and awe-inspiring. We hope they will be part of the summer concert series next year!

Alisha looks forward to her art camp, which she has two more weeks of it. Please check back as some of her art work will be posted shortly along with her writing samples.

Legoland

June 28, 2010

Legoland is by far Alisha's favorite amusement park. She started going at the age of two and had her grandparents take her to see the lego elephant squirting water out for over five times. We have visited this amusement park at least once a year ever since. Alisha had always looked forward to the Volvo driving school as her first stop. She followed traffic signs and regulations than most of the adults.

Again, the rollercoasters were off limits, so there were bouts of disappointment throughout the visit. However, we were able to divert her attention to something just as exciting to compensate for the frustration she's experiencing. We road in the ferry boat, which gave us a tour of the miniature legos of the major monuments and cities in the world. Alisha sprinted for the dizzy ride prior to lunch to save us the headache of a possible cleanup if ridden on a full stomach. She also studied the park map intently to find rides that are suitable for her condition, so we ended up on several new rides that we didn't visit before.

Our goal was to stay from the time the park opened at 10am to closing at 8pm, but fell short and left about one and a half hour earlier. Nonetheless, Alisha built her minis to add to her limited collection of lego people. A visit to Legoland isn't complete without playing endlessly at the play structure area and the water squirting fountains. Ashley had so much fun running up to the water squirting fountains to set it off, but inadvertently got wet and started whining about exchanging her wet skirt for dry clothing. The girls fell asleep quickly in the car (Alisha stuck a piece of popcorn in Ashley's mouth before passing out) until the next morning...they cannot wait until the next visit!

Sea World

June 27, 2010

It's end of June again and time for our annual visit to Sea World! The picture in front of the megalodon's jaw has been a tradition. Check out the one from two years ago (Ashley wore the same dress Alisha wore two years ago) - kids grow so quickly! We have gone to Sea World for so many years that Alisha would navigate the group with the park map.

Shamu show is always a must! Unfortunately, due to the number of mishaps in the last ten years of killer whales killing trainers, all the stunt shows that were previously performed ceased. The girls love climbing on the apparatus at Elmo's Playground and riding the fun little rides around the park. Alisha is on restriction from rollercoasters until she has completed her treatment. It was quite devastating to tell her "No" every time she asked to go on one during this trip. She loves adventure and is completely fearless, so she couldn't wait to get on some of the rollercoasters that required her to be 48" tall. Although she surpassed it this year, she has to wait for another year and a half before getting on anything too volatile.

Sitting down at Elmo's 4D show was a relief from walking all over the park, but we got sprayed with water during the show. Ashley amazingly slept through being sprayed in the face with water...guess she's too exhausted to care. Amusement parks sure know how to conduct business. Every time we exit one exhibit, there's the gift shop with all the cute stuffed animals displayed. We ended up just taking picture of the girls holding them. On the way out of the park, we saw a baby kangaroo and emus, which was rather rare. The girls couldn't wait to pet them.

Seaport Village

June 26, 2010

When we arrived at Seaport Village after our visit to Coronado Beach, we found ourselves in the midst of an exhibit. The girls kept themselves busy adding their own creation out of recyclable items on the sea turtle display. Seaport Village is known for street artists such as magicians and rock balancer?!?! This guy did not use any glue, tape, gimmicks and he ended up balancing rocks at the tapered end - we've never seen anything like this! Next, Alisha was called up to participate during a magician's show. She still can't figure out why coin flew upwards into the magician's hand while gravity got a hold of her coin.

For the last several years, the girls always visited the balloon artist. Some of their requests in the past included Minnie Mouse, Elmo, Tinker Bell, SpongeBob, etc. This year, Alisha had her eyes on Ariel while Ashley still thinks of about her Dalmatian stuffed animal, Lucky. This balloon artist has been around since 1988 and is so quick with his creations. He also repairs the balloon free of charge!

When we arrived at the hotel, Alisha had a little birthday surprise from the hotel, which was rather thoughtful of them. As a tradition, we dined at Casa di Pico for the biggest margarita glass you can find at a restaurant. Unfortunately, the camera person had forgotten to take a photo of it!

Coronado Beach

June 26, 2010

A part of our annual trip in June is a visit to Coronado Beach. The girls love building sandcastles and playing at the beach. Coronado Beach is considered one of the more beautiful and clean beaches around Southern California with strange silvery white sand. Additionally, it's located right next to the famous haunted Hotel del Coronado, the site of several movies, including "Some Like It Hot".

Although the day was a bit breezy and the ocean water was frigid, the girls managed to build their small version of a sandcastle. Alisha tried hard to build a moat, but water is quickly absorbed and slipped through the cracks between the fine sand grains. She was a bit disappointed, but brushed it off by doing some push-ups at the beach. They found some living claims while washing their sandcastle equipments before leaving.

On the way back to our car, we saw the creation from Mr. Sandman who decorates the beach walkways with pictures and messages.