Friends, Family, Food and Floating Tube

Our Summer vacation started pretty early considering we headed down to Orlando the day after the school ended. This year we headed down to Orlando to celebrate Mr. Rojo's Birthday and kick off our Summer vacation with the Mouse.

We stayed at Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club. It was a really nice property with a lot of amenities for the whole family. There are golf course, several pools, mini-golf, bike trail, jogging trail, basket ball court and fitness room. We had a 2 bedrooms / 2 bathroom condo with full kitchen. It was Mr. Rojo's parents timeshare so we didn't have to spend any money on accommodation. Our friends from Florida came to stay with us a couple nights. What a great fun we had!! We ate, we drank, we played game, we chatted and then we drank again..

The next day, we headed out to Disney's Blizzard Beach Water park. We arrived right when the park open at 10 AM. I liked Blizzard Beach from the start just like love at first sight. You know why? No parking fee! Anyone visits Disney World knows that parking fee is not cheap there. When we went to Animal Kingdom it was $12 per car. Ouch!! But no parking fee at the water park.. Score #1.

The park is small enough for us to enjoy all the fun rides in one day without feeling like rushing. But it's big enough to accommodate all the guests that we don't feel overcrowded.

Once we got in, we headed out to get the locker to put our personal belonging there. Then we headed to the Tike's Peak area which is a perfect area for family with small children. We found a few chairs under the hut to make that our home base. We had our cooler with us filled with drinks and snacks. Score #2 for saving on snacks and drinks. The kids loved to play at the shallow pool area and went up and down kid-sized slides. We felt pretty save as there were several lifeguards in the area keeping close eyes on them at the bottom of the slides.

We could probably stay there the whole day but the rafting at Cross Country Creek was begging us to take a leisure ride around the park . It was a nice relaxing way to unwind. There are also life jacket for kiddo if you didn't have one. Miss J loved it so much that she asked to do it again and we did right before we left.

Mr. Z's favorite was the Teamboat Springs - a family rafting ride. To get to the ride we had to ride the chairlift (just like at the ski resort) to the top of the Mount Gushmore.. It was a really cool ride and the raft is big enough to accommodate the whole family.

Another favorite for the Q Family was the Melt-Away bay or what we called the Wave pool. Mr. Z loved to jump on the wave and Miss J loved to ride the wave on the raft.

By 5pm, we were all wiped and it was about time the park is closed. We got in the car and the rain poured down. What a perfect day!

I highly recommended the water park to family with small children over other parks like Animal Kingdom or Epcot. It's cheaper and more fun for little kids. Plus it's more relaxing to the adult as well. The park is not so big so you won't be walking all day.

Ready, Set, Go... Animal Kingdom Kids Style

This was how Miss J and Mr. Z prepare for Animal Kingdom visit during our Memorial Day weekend trip down to Orlando.


First of, you gotta have a water bottle fan. It's a must-have in this park. I don't know if it's just me or it's the way Disney planned it, this park has always been hotter to me every single time we visited than any other parks. Maybe it's just a lot of walking with less shops to stop by.. Or maybe we just spent our entire visit in just Africa.

This park seems to be smaller than other parks from the map but we didn't even manage to finish one continent before we ran out of juice. So a map is a second must-have to know your way around. Truth be told, Mr. Z had only one agenda for this visit. He must ride a train.. So our main goal was to get to the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki's Planet Watch.

Another must-have for Miss J is her new digital camera. It was our gift to her. She loved to take pictures and I found that little kiddie camera was not good enough for her and it ate up battery like water. Since we have extra digital camera that we hardly use, it was a perfect solution.

Now that they were all set. Check back later for our experience in Animal Kingdom with school-age kids.

Check out other travelers' Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Fun Free (Cheap) Things to Do with Kids this Summer

Summer is just right around the corner and one of the biggest challenge for all the parents are 'what to do with our kids for the next 10 weeks'.

I am on the same boat. Last year, we signed them up for Summer camp for most of the Summer. But this year, we will have limited fund to do the same. So I have to come up with some creative and cheap activities for them to enjoy their Summer.

Here are things we have lined up in the Q family.

1. VBS school - This is a great way to engage kids in bible study without boring teaching. There are plenty of churches around our area so I am able to find a few weeks of VBS (with different themes). Most VBS program runs half day for a full week. Think of things you can get done in that timeframe. :) Plus the fun the kids will have. Last year, we went to First Redeemer Church and Bridgeway Church; the program and the planning was so amazing. It was a blast for them.

2. Family Movie Day at AMC - Every Wednesday during this Summer, kids can enjoy family friendly movie at participated AMC theatres for $1.

3. Free Family Move at Movie 400 - Every Tuesday and Thursday, Movie 400 in Cumming will show free family friendly movie. Plus you can get free drink if you bring a canned food for donation.

4. Fun Hiking with REI's Passport to Adventure program - Introduce kids to hiking and challenge them to win prize with REI's passport to adventure. Download the journal, check out your local hiking trail, fill out online form to get a certificate of completion and a special prize. Who doesn't love free gift?

5. Summer Reading program with Barnes and Noble - Kids can earn a free book with they read 8 books this Summer. Join Barns and Nobel Summer Reading Program this year. Download or pick up the Summer Reading Journal to earn free book between May 26th & Sep 7th.

6. Pick up free movie from Redbox every Monday - Ok. Guess you will see a theme here at our household. Movies are big here. So how about one more day of free movie. But this one you can enjoy it at the comfort of your home. Every Monday, check out the Redbox code for free movie and you will be able to have Monday Movie night or Tuesday movie at home before you have to return it before 9pm on Tuesday. Did I mention that it's FREE?

Photo Friday: Lego Store in Downtown Disney

Mr. Rojo and Mr. Z admired the dragon made entirely from lego in front of the Lego store in Downtown Disney. We went there 2 years ago during Christmas. It was a wonderful time to be in Disney World. It was busy but the weather was so nice. It was not hot and humid like typical Florida weather.

The Lego store was a great stop for family with kids (or no kids). There is a playground right outside the store. There are also several lego tables for kids to play while the parents shop or the other way around. :) The best of all, it was right at the water front at Downtown Disney so you can enjoy the view and hear the live music shows that were going on throughout the day. The hard part will be when you have to peel them of the store and get home. :)

Check out other travelers' Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Memorable moments in DC

I love to talk to Miss J and Mr. Z about our trip even long after we were back. I love to hear about their view on each trip and learn about what they like or dislike on the trip. Sometimes the answer is fairly predictable and sometimes it surprises me.

For our recent trip to DC, here are their choices:

Favorite Activities:

Miss J: The walking tour of the monuments with DC by Foot. But she said 'Next time, I want to go up the Washington Monument'. Almost a month after the trip, she still remembered what we learned from the tour that the Washington monument that we saw wasn't the original design.. Wow! I didn't even know that she paid attention.

Mr. Z: The Metro ride all over DC. But he said 'Next time, we have to ride the Green line. We didn't ride the Green line this time'. He also likes the Transportation exhibit at the National Museum of American History. Surprisingly, we spent the least amount of time here than other museums we visited. But the boy has his obsession with trains and all thing with wheels.

Favorite Food:

Mr. Rojo: He loved the hot dog we got from the stand right in front of the National Museum of American History. It was the spicy polish sausage that was the size of a pipe. Yum-O

Me: My softshell crab at Old Ebbitt Grill was to die for. The atmosphere there was so DC. All the suits and ties at the bar reminds me of the West Wing. :)

Photo Friday: Cable Ride on Ngong Ping 360

This is one of the reason why we travel near and far.. Miss J just met her cousin for the first and they instantly connected. They held hand together walking through the airport in Hong Kong. They hop on the Ngong Ping 360 cable car together. They were mesmerized by the view over the Tung Chung Bay. They were excited as we approached the Tian Tan Buddha Statue high atop the Ngong Ping Plateau. They walked hand-in-hand in the Ngong Ping village. They shared their excitement and many secrets for the first time.


This is why we travel near and far.

Check out other travelers' Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Great Smoky Mountains in Winter

A few months ago, we packed up the kids and headed up the mountain for a weekend ski trip with our great friends. The main purpose of that trip was to go skiing in Gatlinburg. However, we got a taste of what the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has to offer.

We left from our house a bit later than we expected so we ended up driving up the mountains during night time. It was one of the scariest drive in my whole life and I wasn't even a driver. If anyone has an experience of driving on the scenic route in the Smoky Mountains, they will know what I'm talking about. The road is curvy up the moutain with sharp turn and sometimes even 180 degree turn. Add that to the darkness and the leftover ice not yet fully melt in the end of winter.. I was so tense that once we got down the moutain I felt like I had been in a marathon race.

On the way back most of our friends opted to take different route to avoid the major mountain road. But for us, it was a perfect chance to really enjoy this beautiful drive that we can fully appreciate it in daylight. The drive didn't disappoint us. The kids were amazed by the ice patch on the cliff along the side of the road.

We stopped at a couple overlook to enjoy the view. I just used my imagination to see how beautiful it will be even more so during Fall season with all different color of the leaves blaster the mountain top. Then we stopped at Newfound Gap where we enjoyed the views of both the Tennessee and North Carolina sides of the high ridge. This stop is very well maintained. It also a site for the Rockefeller Memorial. The kids got to get out and stretch and even tried a bit of rock climbing. :) Unfortunately, the road to Clingmans Dome which is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was closed during winter.

It was a great trip home and one that we will plan to visit later in Fall.

Check out TravelingMamas for other post in Travel Tuesday roundup.

DC on a Budget

I know you guys probably have had enough for DC trips for a while. But I can't help to post about how we did this trip on a budget. It's probably one of my best trip that I have planned everything and think about budget and try to stick to it. Most of our other trips were just wing-it type.. We planned and then we went and then we came back to pay the price later. So here are some of the things we did to give us a fabulous vacation without breaking the bank.

1. Accommodation - Using Priceline for hotel : This was my 2nd time I have used priceline. Everytime, I feel very nervous. It's hard to be calm when I don't know what hotel I will get. But overall, I was very happy with our bid. I got a 3.5 star hotel (Sheraton Crystal City) for $80/night during the busiest week in DC - the Cherry Blossom week. Typically, we love to stay in an apartment or hotel suite with kitchen. But this trip, after I did the price comparison between a condo in downtown DC versus a hotel across the river, I found that we would save over $500 (even after adding the cost of eating out for staying in a hotel) over a week stay.

2. Transportation - Using public transportation aka the Metro : The Metro ride was actually one of the highlighted during this trip for Mr. Z. So needless to say, it's priceless and very budget friendly for us. We stayed in the hotel that only a few stops from the Mall. I checked out the fare in advance and compared to the 7-day pass. I found out that it was cheaper to actually buy individual tickets rather than the pass. Because normally, we planned one museum per day so we just took the metro to our destination and we walked around.

3. Transportation - Drive to DC : That's another reason why we chose DC for our Spring Break vacation. Flying for a family of 4 could easily cost over $1000. In order to save on traveling fee, we opt to find a vacation spot that within a driving distance. DC is about 10 hours from Atlanta. It wasn't bad thanks to portable DVD.

4. Food - Check out cheap eat : I am a big fan of TripAdvisor forum. There are great posts about where to eat on different budget. I also checked out Washingtonian for their cheap eat list. It was a great source to find out where the locals are eating without breaking a bank. We did spurlge one night for a fabulous dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill.. All I have to say is.. Yummo!!

5. Food - Restaurant gift certificate : I admitted that I just recently discovered restaurant.com. It has been such a great site to give us permission to eat out without breaking our budget. Then I realized that I can do the same during my vacation. All I had to do was a little bit of planning. I first checked out what restaurants were available in the area that we will be in or visit during our trip. Then I checked out the review from travelling forum like Tripadvisor. In the end, I opted for the more familiar restaurants that we knew well. I got gift certificate for Ted Montana Grill and Z Pizz. Also to add more to the saving, wait when restaurant.com runs their 80% off promotion to buy your gift certificate. I got $10 gift certificate for $0.60. During our trip, we had great dinner for less than $40 for a family of 4.

6. Shopping - Set price for souvenir : This might not be an issue for everyone but for us it was always the one area that nudge us way pass our budget. So this trip, we had set the limit on the souvenir per kid and it was much easier to shop. There wasn't whining about wanting that $50 toy because they could read the price and saw that it's over the budget.

7. Activities - Find free or cheap activities around town : Granted DC was easy to do cheap activities because most of the museums are free. But this can also be applied to other cities as well. We actually went to Baltimore for a day to visit the Children museum. I know that doing museum everyday will probably bore Miss J and Mr. Z to death. So a little break from that was a big welcome on this trip. We were able to save money on the Baltimore trip because we had a national wide family pass that the Port Discovery is a member. So we didn't have to pay for the entrance fee. Be creative and find a way to have fun without breaking a bank!

What other ways do you do to help saving on your trip? Please share! :)

Photo Friday: Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC is one of the most memorable place for me. During our DC by Foot tour, we learned about the story behind the design by Maya Lin.

There was such a controversial during the selection of the winning design by her due to her ethnicity during that time. The memorial is simple but yet has evoked such emotion when you visit. I don't know anyone personally who has died during the Vietnam war. But as you walked down the path and scanned through the name of men and women on the carved black granite stone, and you saw the reflection of yourself and other visitors, you can't help but shed your tears.

I love her quote that she wrote upon entering her design to the VVMF .

The Memorial is composed not as an unchanging monument, but as a moving composition to be understood as we move into and out of it. The passage itself is gradual; the descent to the origin slow, but it is at the origin that the Memorial is to be fully understood. At the intersection of these walls, on the right side, is carved the date of the first death. It is followed by the names of those who died in the war, in chronological order. These names continue on this wall appearing to recede into the earth at the wall's end. The names resume on the left wall as the wall emerges from the earth, continuing back to the origin where the date of the last death is carved.

Travel Planning

Half of the fun of traveling is the planning part. The time spent surfing the internet to read all you can about your destination, where to stay, what to eat, what to do..

Matt from Frugal Traveler has a great post on his blog today. I have learned so many new tools that I can use on my future planning. Check it out here.

DC with Kids Day 6: The Air and Space Museum

As we approached our last full day in DC for our week long vacation, we had already dreamed about the next time we will visit this fun-filled-family-friendly city. We hardly scratched the surface of what DC has to offer us. But today, we couldn't go home without visiting the most visited museum in this country - The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

We had planned only one stop today knowing how big the museum is. We started our day early and headed to the metro. After a quick breakfast on the bench along the Mall, we headed to the museum entrance. The line was long but it moved rather quickly. After we got in, we found out that we just missed the 11am tour. A quick stop at the information desk was very helpful. A volunteer pointed us to the 'How Things Fly' room. This room is amazing and perfect for kids of all ages. Kids get to learn about what makes thing fly with an interactive hand-on exhibits. Each one teaches them the concept of air and space. We spent almost an hour in this room alone.

The next stop was to check out the Skylab space station on the second floor. Along the way, we also checked out the Apollo 11 and the Man on the Moon displayed. Do you know that all exhibits in the museum are the original items not replica. It made the experience even more surreal to see all these amazing items that had been out in the space. A line to the Skylab was long but don't get discourage. It moved rather quicky. The kids got to walk through the space station and check out what living and working in the space was like.

By the time, we walked through the space station, it was lunch time. We went outside to grap a quick lunch from the McD stand next to the museum. We had a nice time eating there with the structure outdoor that was a great playground for the kids. Then we headed back to wait for the 1pm tour.

The tour started at the Wright Brothers & the Invention of the Aerial Age exhibition. A gentleman who leaded the guide was very knowledgeable and nice. We got to learn about what it took for the Wright brothers to get that first plane up in the air. It was a long tour so it might not be suitable for younger kids. We stayed for half the tour and figured that it was enough for Miss J and Mr. Z so we headed down to the Museum store. The Museum store was a fun place for them in itself. Don't forget to go down the basement to check out the original model of the U.S.S Enterprise Model, used in the filming of the first Star Trek series. I think it was the highlighted of the trip for Mr. Rojo..

By this time, we were done as in.. physically tired and couldn't check out any more exhibits. This museum would require more than one day to fully explore. And we would have to save them for next trip. :) We walked outside to take a quick snack break on the lawn in front of the museum. The weather was perfect. It was such a nice day and everyone enjoyed sitting there and peopel watching for a while...

Photo Friday: Lincoln Memorial at Night

One of my favorite spot during our spring break trip to DC was the Lincoln Memorial at night. We went there during our walking tour with DC by Foot tour guide.

It was one of the highlighted of our trip. It's a must-do in my opinion. The tour was fun, educational and very affordable. We walked from the corner of 15th and Contitution Ave to the Washington Monument. From there, we got to learn about the history of the monument and the Capitol Hill in which we could see from the distance. Then we walked to the World War II Memorial. Along the way, we heard the story about the White House and the Jefferson Memorial. My most memorable part of the tour has to be the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall. Do you know that it's not the War memorial because Vietnam war is not official war?

Once we got to Lincoln Memorial, the Sun had already set. The memorial was well-lit and had a lot of visitors even during night time. I love to just sit on the steps and look out to the reflecting pool.

Check out other travelers' Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.