Photo Friday: Ruinas De Sao Paulo

This photo could have been taken in anywhere in Europe. But the truth is this ruin is in Macau - The Asia Sin City. It's amazing how history has different trace of how small our world is. This is part of the old ruin of St. Paul church in Macau. We visited here during our trip to Hong Kong and Macau in 2007. It was one of the fun and crazy trip for us. With 6 children and probably 15 adults, I felt like we just flew by this amazing city.

Macau has a lot of Portugal influence as we can see it throughout the city. The food, the architechture, the culture.. A small city but very big personality. It's called 'Las Vegas of Asia' for a good reason. They have several big casinos throughout the city. One big difference I would say is the smoking. This is not by any mean a family-friendly city. The casinos are full of smokers. The restaurants mostly have no separate rooms for non-smoking. You pretty much have to walk pass the smoke-filled room to the corner of the restaurant.

However, the other aspect of the city is amazing. It's a great city to walk around and learn about Macau history. So I will think a family with older kids would really appreciate learning how East culture meet West culture and co-exist nicely.

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A Day at the Amicalola Falls

Recently, we just took a quick trip to visit Amicalola Falls in Dawsonville. It was about 45 minutes from our house. The trip was a really pleasant drive in the mountain with blue sky and colorful trees along side of the road. I was glad Mr. Rojo did the driving so I could enjoy the scenary. We went there with a couple of families friends. At first we stopped by at the pumpkin patch. After that, we headed to the Falls. We planned to picnic there and do a little hike to enjoy the leaves color in the mountain.

It was a really busy weekend. There were so many cars there but the rangers were very good at helping us parking and answering any questions. We parked and headed to the playground area. The kids were off to the playground and the adults digged in on the food. I love the Fall weather.. the cool, crisp air...

After a while, we packed up and decided to check out the Falls. We drove up to the West Ridge Falls access trail.. Ok.. We cheated, ok? We had 4 kids and 1 baby so we needed a little bit of an easy trail. This trail is perfect for any family as the trail is built with recycled tire. It was very easy to walk. There was pretty much no elevation at all.. We could even push the stroller on this trail. The trail was pretty manageable for small kids as well. I think it took us about 10-15 minutes to get from the parking lot to the viewing point of the Falls. Maybe next year we can try to hike from the base.. hehe..

Then we went up to the top of the Falls to check out the Lodge. It was a great place to stay in the park. It has an amazing view and a great restaurant with reasonable price buffet. We didn't plan to eat there but it was too good to pass up. But before dinner, we found out that the park had the Hayride every 15 minutes for free.. Did I hear someone mention 'Free'? Without hesitation, we all headed out to wait in line for the hayride. It was pretty neat ride. The ranger took us on the trail off road. The kids got a kick out of the bouncing up and down on the tractor and the fallen leaves.

Back from the hayride we headed down to check out the amazing view from the Lodge. Then off to dinner.. Food was great, friendship was even better.. We truly enjoyed our day out with our friends. It was one of the fun weekend trip we have had this year.

The park has different kinds of accomodation. There are hike-in Inn (as the name you can't drive there), the cabin, the hotel.. We really liked it there that we were thinking about vacationing there together. Now we just have to find the time that will work for everyone.

Wordless Wednesday: Help! I'm stuck!

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Pumpkin..pumpkin.. pumpkin everywhere...

A couple weekends ago we took the kids to our favorite activity of the Fall - Pumpkin patch farm. We headed North to Burt's Farm. I think this is one of the most popular pumpkin patch farm in Atlanta area. I went there with Miss J once a couple years ago on her field trip. It was very nice and very cold. So this time I came prepared. But what I didn't prepare for was how busy this would be. We had to park in the adjacent parking lot. I mean there were a lot.. a lot of families there. But surprisingly, the farm is big enough for everyone and they have a lot of pumpkins for everyone to have their own spot for the perfect Fall picture.

We first stopped at the giant pumpkins rows. I don't know how many pumpkins were there but there were a lot. And each one was as big as Mr. Z's head. It was fun for them to just try to move them around. Mr. Z had fun just hopping from one row to the next trying to see which one he could move. Poor kid, he didn't know that this was our plan to wear him out. hehe.. Oh! how I wish I could be a better photographer or know more about taking great picture. It was such a great place to take Fall pictures. The whole place was blazed in orange.

After a while, we moved on to the next section - the non-traditional pumpkin rows. Here we found white pumpkins, greenish pumpkins, pumpkins with bad acnes.. I mean seriously.. These pumpkins need to go see the dermatologists - STAT! And being as strange as he is, Mr. Z first choice of the pumpkin was the white pumpkin. That's my boy! Before we got there, we had talked to them about how many pumpkins they could pick. At first I said, one each.. then I caved and gave them two each. So what was Mr. Z next choice? The acne pumpkin!! It took quite a few words from Mr. Rojo to convince him to change to a more traditional looking pumpkin.. Nothing against those pumpkins, I just wouldn't know what to do with them.

Miss J on the other hand had some problem picking just the perfect one. She is my little shopper in training. She is really good at math so I now can tell her how much she can spend. So she was just looking for the one that perfect and was at the right price. Well, it wasn't easy but she did find the one. Then for the second one, she wanted to make sure that it was the same size. So she would pick it up and brought it to compare.. Imagine how long would that take.. Yup.. Forever...

There are other things to do there as well like a hayride. But man.. a line was long so we just didn't go on that. In the end, we ended up with a big family of pumpkins to come home with. I think it was Mr. Z who started to pick more pumpkins and said 'This one is for mommy and this one is for daddy'... Kid!

Photo Friday: Amicalola Fall

A beautiful Amicalola Falls in North Georgia mountain. This fall is practically in my neck of the wood. Well, maybe about an hour away from my house but it's close enough. The first time we went there was last year in Summer. It was a really nice small enough falls to enjoy with young kids. You can hike up the falls from the base or you can drive up to the different parking spot for easier trail. At the top of the Falls there is a lodge with beautiful view of the Sunset. There is also a great resturant just in case you want to fill up your energy before the hike or after the hike.

If you are not the hiking type, there are several picnic area that you can enjoy with your friends and let the kids have fun at the playground. Or just sit by the creek and let go of all your worries.

We really enjoyed a day there and we are thinking about getting a cabin with a few friends to stay there over night. There are many hiking trails to check out. The fall weather is so perfect for a day out. Just look at that beautiful colors of the leaves. In the next couple weeks the leaves will probably change color even more so.. Here is the little gem in my home state - Georgia.

This post is part of Photo Friday hosting at Delicious Baby. Be sure to check out other great photo from around the world.

13 Applications on my iPhone

We are part of the iNation. :) Mr. Rojo got me an iPhone several months ago courtesy of Uncle Sam with the stimulus check. Anyway, with the new upgrade that allows us to be able to use third party applications, it makes me love my iPhone even more.

Here are the top 13 applications that I have on my iPhone. Let me know if you guys have any other applications I should download.

1) Sudoku - My favorite past time game.

2) Brain Tuner Lite - This is a quick game that supposingly helps with your brain. Mr. Rojo beats me on the record but yet sometimes he still forgot the milk.

3) LockBox - A great free application for your personal info and password.

4) iDoodle2Lite - Great application when you bring your kids to church and want them to be quiet.

5) reMovem - Another great game that even a 4 years old can play.

6) Stanza - An ebook to-go.

7) Fring - Skype anyone?

8) Cellfire - A must for a couponer.

9) Balance - An easy app to track my sanity fund. See.. we each got a certain amount each month that we can use to buy whatever we want.

10) Facebook - Well, we need to learn what is FB before Miss J starts using it right? I wonder if FB will be here 10 years from now.

11) Pandora - Great personalize radio.

12) Pageonce - A good application to see where you stand with your financial accounts. Right now I just use them for my utility bills. I don't know.. I still don't feel comfortable including my bank accounts yet.

13) Urbanspoon - Can't go anywhere without this app. We gotta eat, right?

Wordless Wednesday: Look I'm underwater!

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Six Flags Over Georgia

A couple weekend ago we took Miss J and Mr. Z to Six Flags Over Georgia. It was our and their first time there. Fortunately, Mr. Rojo's friend has a season pass so he was able to get us the discount tickets. We met them up at McD nearby to grap lunch and carpooled to the park. It helped to save the parking fee which costs $15.

Once we got there, the kids quickly took out the map to check out where they wanted to go. But we already knew where we would end up. Our main purpose to go there was to check out the new Thomas Town. So we started head toward the back of the park for Thomas Town. It was during the Halloween weeks so it was nice and spooky to see all the decoration with bones and skeletons. A quick detour to the kiddie free-fall ride was in order. I think Mr. Z wasn't sure at first. I was worried that he would cry. But.. Nope.. He was a dare devil and giggled about it the whole time.

Once we got to Thomas Town, I had to say I was quite disappointed. I was glad we didn't have to pay for the full price to get in. I would be really upset. It was just a big playground with Thomas Theme and a small train ride. I mean that's it!!! So here is my warning to all parents with Thomas obsession kids, don't waste your money there. Six Flags is for bigger kids or even adult. Thomas Town isn't worth it if you want to bring your little kids there. However, we managed to spend a good hour there just for them to run around and ride on the train. I guess for them it was enough with a train ride with Thomas. I still couldn't get the Thomas theme song out of my head.

Surprisingly, Mr. Z loved the go-karts race which was right next to Thomas. He was too young to drive by himself of course. But he could ride with Mr. Rojo. Man.. He hung on to his dear life during the race. :) After Thomas and go-karts, we started to walk around the park with no particular plan. Mr. Rojo did get on the Ninja ride with his friend. I was too chicken to go on any ride. hehe.. Then we went to the Dodge City Bumper cars. It was a downer for Mr. Z as he was only a couple inches too short to ride. I felt so bad for him.. He was crying and very upset.

So we looked for some other kid friendly rides for him. We headed to the Riverview Carousel. There we found the perfect ride for them, the Hanson Cars. It was so neat for them as they could ride the car by themselves. I think it was one of their favorite ride. Mr. Z and Miss J still talked about it from time to time. Then we went to the Wile E. Coyote Canyon Blaster. The ride would be a fun ride if we didn't have to wait in line for almost an hour for a 45 seconds ride. I had to admit.. I could barely handle this ride. I think I scream as loud or louder than Miss J. hehe.. We noticed that there seemed to be busier than this morning. You would think that as the day passed, it would be less people. But I guess since it was the Halloween weeks and some people just came for the night time it made it busier.

Now it was dinner break. We dined at DeeJay's Diner. Nothing food couldn't cure. After a full tummy, we headed to the Railroad station for a nice, relaxing train ride. This was a great way to get to see the park without using your energy. It was getting dark and I knew that we would probably need to wrap up soon. We headed to the USA Games Area and played some games. Mr. Rojo won a basket ball! Before we headed out, we stopped by for the Dipping Dots for the kids and I was so looking forward to the Funnel Cake. But I wasn't going to wait in line for another hour for a funnel cake. I guess I will just have to find it somewhere else.

At the end of the day, I asked Miss J what was her favorite part. She loved the Hanson Car because she got to drive it herself. As for Mr. Z, he loved the go-karts. Guess he has the need for speed. Farewell Six Flags, we probably won't see you anytime soon until they both are at least 52" tall. :)

Photo Friday: Disney Animal Kingdom

We are a big Disney fan if you didn't already know. When we lived in Florida, Disney trip was the weekend trips for us. We had been there countless times even before we had kids. Even now that we have moved, we still have a chance to go there very frequently thanks to Mr. Rojo's parents who bought timeshare in Orlando.

This picture was taken a few years ago on our first visit to Animal Kingdom. There are various views on Animal Kingdom. Some love them and some couldn't care for them. For me, I love it. I wouldn't expect to compare the Killimanjaro Safaris in Animal Kingdom to be anything even close to the real Safari in Africa. But I still do love the ride and enjoy every minute of it. I mean if I don't say that this picture was taken from Disney World, it could have fooled me that it was taken from Africa. We haven't been back to Animal Kingdom for a while. I would love to check out the new ride in Everest and Finding Nemo - The Musical. Also my dream resort to stay would have been The Animal Kingdom Villa...

Wordless Wednesday: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

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Fair, Festival and Ferris Wheel

A couple weekends ago we headed out to soon to be our annual activity for Fall, the Cumming Country Fair and Festivals. It was a great small town fair. We headed out late on Sunday evening. I don't like heat so I purposely chose to go after the sunset. Well, what happened next show how competent as a parent we are!

After we parked, we found out that Miss J didn't have her shoes on. I mean.. we trust her to be able to take care of herself to a certain extent. I haven't dressed her since she entered Kindergarten. I don't have to tell her to wear her shoes way before that.. Is it because of the excitement that she forgot her shoes? We will never know. But what would you do at that point. For us, Mr. Rojo had become her personal stroller. He carried her almost the whole trip. I said almost because at certain point we just let her walk barefeet. If you went to the fair and saw a girl with no shoes, that's probably her!

We got to walk right to the fair without paying for any admission fees since it was about an hour before closing. This was perfect for us. I don't know how much we will spend if we stayed more than an hour. The rides there were the same as last year. Mr. Z's favorite was the worm roller coaster. This year I guess Miss J felt like she is bigger. She didn't get on that ride with him. After Mr. Z first ride we walked around a bit just to check out everything. We didn't do the petting zoo. I wasn't gonna let Miss J go in there without shoes.

We stopped for a game for Miss J and Mr. Z to pop the balloon. They were very kid-friendly because eventhough they didn't pop any ballon when they threw the dart, the gentleman there gave them a big stick to pop the balloon. They each got a small toy to bring home. After that, Mr. Rojo and Miss J got on the Ferris Wheel. Mr. Z was too short to get on the ride. Plus if we all go, we would use up all our tickets!! No one warns me that it can be very expensive at this fair. Each ride costed at least $3 each. That can add up pretty fast!

After a couple more rides, we took a little break. We sat down and watched the Xtreme Power sculptor. A bag of cotton candy did the trick to settle them down. By that time, the Sun already set so it was our signal to head home. I didn't get to have my funnel cake though.. Bummer. Maybe next year!

Around the Blogosphere

This week, I haven't been around blogosphere much. Here are the carnivals that I participated in this week.

1) Delicious Baby presented Carnival of Cities: The best way to get to travel around the world without leaving your house.

2) Living Almost Large presented Carnival of Money Stories: The Cartoon edition is very clever and fun. You have gotta read all the cartoon. It will lighten your day from all this financial crisis news.

3) Fix My Personal Finance presented Money Hacks Carnival #33th: The Octoberfest edition is filled with goodies for your finance, investing, saving, retirement and career. Just drink responsibly.

4) Dollar Frugal presented Festival of Frugality #146th: The Benjamin Franklin edition has great round up for overall financial advice from wall street to main street.

Photo Friday: Nassau View from Disney Cruise

The view of Nassau port with very vibrant color of the Bahamas. This was our only port during our 4-night Bahamas cruise with Disney 2 years ago. It was our first cruise so I didn't know what to expect and didn't prepare much. We walked to the straw market and spent sometimes there. Then I had to find Hard Rock cafe to get my pin. See.. I'm a HRC pin collector. But I only buy the pin that represent the city or country that I have visited. We didn't do any excursion to Atlantis. Probably next trip. :)

We did throughly enjoy our time there so much that 2 years later we got on another cruise vacation. I love cruising. It's such a great way to travel as a family. You plan in advance and then just enjoy your time there.

Wordless Wednesday: Mr. Pretzel

Mr. Pretzel at the Braves VS the Phillies game last year.

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You Will Find Me Here...

I have been seriously looking into where to stay in Destin area for a while. At first one of my friend recommended Sandestin. They just went there recently and they really enjoyed it. I checked it out and it looks really nice. It's pretty much like a mega resort (or shall I call it town). There are pretty anything you will want during your vacation. Golf, shopping, entertainment and restaurants all in one property. However, what I want to get from Destin is beach time and pool time for the kids and us. The pools at each building in Sandestin are just typical pool. Nothing too fancy. I'm looking for something more.

With the help from many expert users from Trip Advisors forum, I found this new jewel in Fort Walton Beach... Waterscape condominium. This is a brand spanking new luxurious beachfront condominiums with 3 swimming pools, waterfall and Lay-Z-River. Also it has two main requirements from Mr. Rojo. The great gym overlooks the pool and internet access is available in all units.

Fort Walton Beach is about 10-15 minutes from Destin. It has the same great feature as Destin for white sand beach and emerald blue ocean. But the price is a bit lower than staying in Destin and less crowd. Waterscape offers 1-, 2-, and 3- bedroom condo. It has all the amentities that you want for a perfect family vacation including kid's pool and kid's activities (seasonal). They also provide complimentary beach service (chair and umbrella during season from August to October). One less thing for me to pack. :)

There are so many things to do in or around the Destin area. So I know that with a mini trip for 3-4 days it won't be enough to enjoy it all. But I am hoping that this will be a place that we will come back year after year. Well, stay tune for our trip report!

Around the Blogosphere

Last week I was featured in a few money carnivals. Each carnival has such a great post. It took me a while to check them all out. Sit back, relax and check out all the posts.

1) The Financial Blogger presented Money Hacks Carnival # 32: The Have You Ever Edition featured my Coupon of the 21st Century.

2) Funny About Money presented Carnival of Money Stories #78: With the delay, you get twice the stories this week. So it's a great place to read about various money stories ranging from trying to have a baby, buying a house, getting rid of the house and living on the road, cooking on your vacation and even green cleaning products.

3) Value For Your Life presented Festival of Frugality #145: The Gratitude Edition has a great round up and provides a new perspective during this turmoil time, to be greatful with the positive things in your life.

4) Trip Delivery presented Carnival of Cities: I love this carnival. It gives me a chance to go around the world without even leaving my house. Check out trip from Chicago to Washington DC down to Atlanta. Then cross the Atlantic to London, Amsterdam and around Europe.

Photo Friday: Just for tourists like us in Hong Kong

The sign at the ferry station in Hong Kong on our way back from Macau.

During our visit to Hong Kong and Macau, we took a ferry to and from Hong Kong to Macau. The trip wasn't bad. I took some seasick medicine and pretty much slept the whole way. At the ferry station after a long ferry ride (about an hour) the first thing we looked for was the rest room. Well, we didn't have any problem finding it. They make sure that tourists won't make any mess looking for restrooms. I mean if you can't find the restroom then I don't know how else they can help you. :)

Check out other Travel Photo and story at Delicious Baby for Photo Friday roundup.

13 Ways to Save on Gas

We are on the national news for the gas shortage. It's mind boggling to think that we will be in this situation when we are no where near where the Hurricanes went. But here we are running out of gas. So here are some ways to help save these precious black gold during this crazy time.

1) Consider carpooling - In Atlanta, not only you will save money on your own gas, you might get a chance to win free money each month.

2) Combine trip to avoid excessive driving.

3) Clean up your car especially your trunk and remove all the junk that causes more weight on your car.

4) Check your tire pressure regularly.

5) Maintain your car with regular maintenance and tune up schedule.

6) Fill up your gas tank during the coolest time of the day.

7) Don't top of your gas tank. Too much gas will leak out.

8) Buy regular grade gas when possible. Only buy premium if it's required by car manufacturer.

9) Utilize cruise control on a long distance driving. Maintain steady speed will help minimize the gas consumption.

10) Slow down... Driving too fast will consume more gas.

11) Travel smarter by checking out your route and look for the shorter, safer, straighter route.

12) Watch out for the heavy foot. Slowly accelerate will help save gas.

13) Bigger is not better. If it's time to get another car, look for more fuel efficient car. Smaller car will cost less in overall.

Wordless Wednesday: Are you my mommy?

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