A Whirlwind Tour of the Big Apple

Ahhh...New York, how I've missed thee.  I was here on a week-long trip with a few friends about a decade ago, and I've since missed it terribly.  The convenience of getting anywhere and everywhere within walking distance, the sights, the culture, the art, the food... I've just fallen completely in love with Manhattan.  I've since wanted to return so badly, but it's not quite the vacation destination when you have three little kids.  Luckily for me, my cousin is currently attending classes at FIT and lives on the Upper West Side, so I took the opportunity to take a rare weekend trip to the city I've missed so much.

Where should I begin?  She had a packed schedule for me.  The day I landed was Friday afternoon, and that night she took me to a nightclub.  Oh, how I've missed the night life!  Then, we walked through Central Park to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art the next day, spent half a day looking (ok, more like gawking for me) at the exquisite pieces done by the masters.  Not to mention the amazing exhibitions going on right now.  Then the afternoon was spent shopping on Fifth Avenue and SoHo.  And, since New Yorkers never sleep, we took a stroll from her apartment to Times Square around ten in the evening.  Talk about a packed schedule!  We crammed a week's worth of activities into a weekend.  I've got no other choice, gotta come back home to take care of my munchkins!  It really is possible to pack so many activities in such a fantastic city into a couple of days.

So we're not going to talk too much about the night club.  What can I say, I was one of the oldest people there.  Anyone of those "kids" at the night club could easily be my kids...if I had had children in my early teenage years.  But it was fun dancing nevertheless.  You don't get to do that much anymore after having kids!  So it was definitely worth staying up until 4am for.  *wink wink*

Central Park (link)

Walking distance from my cousin's apartment, we decided that we should at least take a stroll through this beautiful park this weekend.  The weather that day, to a Californian like me, was humid and hot.  But to a New Yorker, who just came out of the cold not too long ago, it was fantastic weather.  I'm not a fan of running myself, but there were loads of people jogging through the park.  Some with baby strollers, some with a partner, some were biking.  Luckily it wasn't too sunny, otherwise I think I would've melted in the heat.  But it made me so happy to see so many people leisurely enjoying their Saturday morning.

The Met (link)

I've taken a few art history courses throughout high school and college.  And I find the stories behind these historical masterpieces absolutely fascinating.  It's been so long since I've stepped foot into an art museum.  My children are too young to appreciate art, and my husband just isn't an art aficionado like me.  When I visited NY a decade ago, I remember that I had a great time inside the Met.  But the experience was even greater this time because of the current exhibit - China: Through the Looking Glass.  Talk about haute couture meeting high art!  It was amazing being able to see what the fashion powerhouses like YSL, Chanel, Valentino, Roberto Cavalli, Tom Ford, John Galliano, Givenchy, Ralph Lauren, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dior, Jason Wu, Cartier, to name a few, designed for this exhibition, which was also the theme for this year's Met Gala.  Their designs were based on past costumes, paintings, porcelain, and other artifacts from as early as the thirteenth century.  To see a court robe from the Qing dynasty?  And a vase from the Ming dynasty? The experience was priceless.  The exhibit took my breath away.  See for yourselves.  Although my camera phone did not do the exhibit justice!

And because I'm in love with the Impressionists, I had to go visit that section of the museum.  I've always loved Van Gogh's work.  As a matter of fact, a poster of his Wheat Field with Cypresses from the Met I purchased 10 years ago, still hangs in my foyer.  I was lucky enough to be able to catch another current exhibit, which was one of Van Gogh's paintings.  This was a trip well taken, I tell you.

Oh, don't get me wrong, the museum had so many other collection, this museum is to me like Disneyland is to my kids.  It would take 3 days for me to see everything.  But since we were limited on time, we only saw what was most important.  Here are some Egyptian art, Greek art, and Medieval art.

Fifth Avenue and SoHo

Ahhhh...shopping.  A girl can't call a trip "vacation" if it doesn't include shopping.  We strolled Fifth Avenue and gawked at all the beautiful goodies.  I was on the lookout for a casual cross body bag, so we went to all the big department stores.  We finally found a cute Céline Nano.  it was in the perfect shades I was looking for.  Neutral tones in tan, black, and white, perfectly goes well with everything!  And the best part about this is, I bought this at Bergdorf Goodman.  Since there is no Bergdorf Goodman here in California, it shipped home and saved me nearly $300 in taxes!  That's like a discount on a high-end designer bag, which never happens! Woohoo!  What a score!

Aside from the Nano, there were plenty of stores in SoHo that were having great sales, so I nabbed a light sweater from Club Monaco, a pair of faux leather jeans from All Saints (similar here), and a cute necklace from Madewell (similar here).  Yes, I knew there was a reason I loved New York.

Times Square (link)

The first thing I want to say about Times Square is this: why on earth would there be THAT many people there at midnight?!?  Don't you guys sleep?!?  There were honestly tens of thousands of people!  If you'd seen what I saw, you'd think that we were there on New Year's Eve, watching the ball drop or something.  It was ridiculous.  We got there, we saw the sea of people, took a few pictures, and left.  Don't get me wrong, Times Square is amazing as well.  Just the sheer number of people there will make your jaw drop.  The lights, the stores that never close, the street vendors, they all bring this place to life.  I stopped by M&M World and bought some personalized candy for my kids, and got a couple of really cool street art (YouTube link here). I saw this guy's work on my FB feed one day, and I thought it was the coolest thing.  So when I came across him, I knew I had to get the paintings for my boys.

Food

I can't talk about New York without talking about the marvelous food the city has to offer.  My cousin took me to some of the best restaurants around her apartment, and sure enough, they didn't disappoint.  First stop was Totto Ramen.  I got the Mega Ramen.  Oh my, the broth is heavenly deliciousness.  And there was so much food that I couldn't finish the entire bowl.  Which never happens when I'm eating noodles.

Next up, Pick a Bagel.  There were lines out the door for their bagels.  I had their whole wheat bagel with raison and walnut cream cheese.  And let me tell you, I don't eat cream cheese often, but this one was so delicious.  Just look at the picture of their cream cheese selection!  Although I don't know what plain tofu would taste like...

And a block from the bagels, is a smoothie store.  Not your typical Jamba Juice.  This is much healthier.  Juice Generation even has tiny bottles of juice "shots" that do various things for your body.    Cleanse, check.  Boost metabolism, check.

After we went to the Met, we stopped by Le Pain Quotidien.  Yes, there are many closer to home, but it's usually too inconvenient of a drive for me.  Since it was walking distance for us, we decided to stop by.  That day, this particular store ran out of ricotta cheese for the Prosciutto, Pear, and Fig Tartine I ordered, but I asked them to substitute it with plain Greek yogurt, and the result was still delicious.

Last but not least, we went to 456 Shanghai Cuisine for their delicious dumplings, also known as Xiao Long Bao. The restaurant itself does not have a website, but here's an article on it on the NY Times. There of course was a line out the door again; we waited about 20 minutes and then we were seated. I was reading up on the restaurant from one of the articles they posted outside, and supposedly the owner modeled his dumplings based on Ding Tai Fung dumplings.  Sure enough, the dumplings didn't disappoint.  I also felt like eating their sesame cold noodles, and that was delicious as well.  Although after a while, the sauce became too rich for me, so again, another bowl of noodles I couldn't finish.

Alas! My post on NYC is finally done!  I have been wanting to write this post since I returned, but I was either too busy or just got plain lazy.  I finally decided I'd sit down today and type it up, once and for all.  My cousin and I didn't have time to watch a Broadway show this time, and that's on my to-do list.  She promised me she will take me when I visit her again.  So cous, if you're reading this, I'm holding you to that promise!  I'm sure a lot of you have been to New York already, but have you been able to do all this in two days?!  And to those of you who haven't, and have heard such wonderful things about it, it really is that great.  If you think there are too many things to do and too many sights to see, and you just don't have enough time to do and see them all, I just proved to you that it is possible to do most in a short weekend.  I hope you find my post helpful in navigating the city!

xoxo,
Lin

Island of the Blue Waters

We can pretty much call ourselves regulars in Maui now.  We've been to this beautiful island about a handful of times, and it has been my children's favorite vacation spot.  Nothing beats the Maui sun, the crisp, turquoise water, and the relaxing atmosphere.  And since we're only 5 hours away from Hawaii, this is our go-to vacation destination.

We stayed at the Grand Wailea once and fell in love with the resort.  This resort is basically divided into two parts.  One part is the villas, where the resort manages and rents out individually owned condos.  And the other part is the hotel.  The first time we were there, we stayed at the villas.  It was a fantastic, incredibly spacious condo.  You literally feel like you're in paradise as you look out from the lanai.  The only drawbacks are that there is no room service, and the beach and amazing pool facilities are all on the hotel side, so we had to drive across the street everyday.

This time we chose to stay on the hotel side.  We had a suite and a connecting bedroom.  The resort was so nice, since our wedding anniversary falls on the 4th of July, they sent us a huge arrangement of tropical flowers and assorted snacks, on top of that, they gave us a box of gourmet cookies and chocolate covered strawberries.

We spent most of our time at the beach; we can stay up to 6 hours a day just lounging and playing.  The resort will set up lawn chairs and umbrellas for you, and if you're hungry, you can go to the resort cafe and take boxed up food to the beach.  We probably only spent a day at the pools, but the pools are incredibly amazing.  Each pool has a distinct feature to them.  There are kiddie pools, an adults only pool, slides connected to pools, a lazy river, scuba diving pools, and a pool where there's a rope where you can hang on and jump into.  The lazy river doesn't provide large floaties, you'll have to purchase them at the pool-side shop, but they're not insanely expensive, and they're pretty well-made, so we purchased 2.  They're not absolutely necessary, as most of the pools are only 3-4 feet deep.

There are quite a few restaurants on resort property, but we like exploring the island and try different things.  One of the best restaurants we've tried this week is located at the nearby Andaz resort, the Morimoto Maui.  Their omakase is very pricey, but absolutely delicious.  We weren't able to go this time, but Star Noodle in Lahaina is a must.  Their Hapa Ramen is made with a broth that's made with the Lahaina Luau pork bone, cooked for about 12 hours.  The flavor is to-die-for.  Another good restaurant to try is Mama's Fish House.  They are on the pricey end, and reservations are recommended at least a week in advance, but the seafood is fresh, and the dessert called Black Pearl is among one of my favorites, ever.  Another good restaurant is called Sansei.  When we drove up, my husband and I thought this place looked vaguely familiar.  Then I remembered that we were here 10 years ago on our first wedding anniversary trip to Maui!  Only the strip mall a decade ago wasn't as lively as it is now.  Food was still amazing though!  And how can you leave Hawaii without having shaved ice?  The stand where we had ours was called Surfing Monkey Shaved Ice.  It was only steps away from Sansei.  They're not like your regular shaved ice stand.  They offer syrup flavors like Kona coffee made with real Kona coffee, cream, and sugar, real lemonade, or combinations of different flavors making up new flavors like Tiger's Blood (ha!). They have options where you can put a scoop of vanilla ice cream inside the shaved ice, or sweetened azuki red beans, or ling hui mui powder (a type of dried Chinese plum), you name it, they have it.  The owner is a British guy who came to Maui and decided he never wanted to return to London.  And it was fun being able to chat with him.

One of my husband's cousins had their family photo taken in Maui just not long ago.  And I loved that idea.  What better backdrop is there than the blue waters and the gorgeous white sand?  So I did a little research on Yelp, and found a fantastic local photographer to do our family portraits.  Turned out, she was the one that my husband's cousin used as well!  Small world!  Her name is Angela Nelson, and we honestly couldn't be happier with her work.  She was so good with the kids.  Captured their innocence perfectly, and did fantastically with all the candids.  I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of posed photos.  She did mostly candids, and even her posed photos were amazing.  You'll see for yourself!

xoxo,
Lin

Disney Cruise, Disney World, and Universal Studios Orlando

Hi Everyone!  It's been SO ridiculously long since I last wrote a post!  If you're a mom, you know how it is.  You just get so wrapped up in all the busy stuff in your day-to-day life.  I signed up at my sons' school as a co-chair for the 2015 Fall Book Fair, I since planned two birthday parties for my daughter and my sons (which were all pretty epic, might I say - I'll write posts on those later, along with pictures!).  And, let me just go ahead and admit it...I was lazy.

However, recently I took a not-so-pretty fall off my stairs at home (ironically, as a friend of mine put it, I was walking totally fine all night the night before in my 6-inch pumps!).  So as a result?  A spring with a possible fracture.  I was on crutches for 2 days.  I can't do much of anything but sit at home and veg.  I know what you're thinking, "What?  It sounds like you're complaining that you get to veg!  What I wouldn't GIVE to have that!"  Honestly, it gets really boring after about half a day.  I literally couldn't do anything.  Crutches are needed even to the bathroom.  And I can't drink much water because, well, I don't want to pee so much!  And it's hard when I see my poor husband who worked so hard all day coming home and do my job on top of his.  I felt completely useless.  Therefore, it's not that fun!  Plus, the little bit of weight I lost previously is creeping back because I've been immobile this whole time.  Pants.Are.Tight.Again.  *sigh*

Anyhoo, so that's why I'm sitting here writing a long overdue post about our experience on the Bahamian Disney Cruise - from DECEMBER!  Forgive me as I'm not getting any younger and can't remember all of the details.  But I'll have most of the important info so you can still use my post as research!

Ok, first things first.  When you're booking a flight that requires a transfer, and you have little kids, please, I repeat, please arrive at your transfer location a day before the transfer.  We had to learn that the hard way when we went to Turks and Caicos last January.  Long story short, AA cancelled our flight last minute, right before we left our house for the airport (I've since vowed to never, ever fly them again - I mean, it was so last minute, the airport shuttle was at our front door!  Then we get a freaking voicemail for the cancellation?!  WTH?!?), we were delayed by about 3 hours, we missed our connecting flight in Florida, had to find an overnight hotel so we can fly out the next day, and of course we lost our first night in Turks and Caicos.  All in all, the extra amount of money we spent for the whole fiasco was about $2k.  AA reimbursed me with free tickets.  With expiration dates.  Classy, AA.  The whole experience would've been horrendous with just adults, however, you put two 6-year-olds and one 2-year-old in the mix, it was a complete NIGHTMARE.  So, what's the moral of this story?  Say NO to American Airlines!!!

So, since you have to board the cruise ship at a certain time, get to your destination a day earlier!  Luckily in Orlando, there is a hotel right inside the airport. I'm telling you, those people know what they're doing!  The hotel even arranges with the cruise to have your luggage brought on the ship the day of so you don't have to do it yourself.

Disney Dream
On the day of the cruise, we left our room for breakfast downstairs, and when we got back, the luggages were already picked up.  We then headed toward the shuttles that would take us to the port.  Once we checked in, we were greeted by people offering hand sanitizers left and right before you board the ship.  And there were photographers taking pictures before you board too.

We were aboard the Disney Dream.  It's one of the newer ones so we were very happy with our room and the whole ship in general.  All the crew members are incredibly friendly.  I felt like I was in another world.  If you've been on a cruise, I'm sure you know there is plenty of stuff going on everyday.  There's no way you can do it all.  I'm really into live shows, so I watched the shows every night.  Can I just tell you that, WOW!  Disney really knows how to put on a show!  They are absolutely amazing!  Talk about being equivalent to Broadway!  Even my daughter was completely engaged in the shows.  There were also character meet and greets on certain days and times.  We missed the Sophia and Jake one, but we had to attend the Princess one.

The kids club on the cruise is called the Oceaneer's Club. They have a fantastic technology where your child is assigned a wrist band; all they have to do to check in and out is hold the wrist band against a scanner.  There are hand washing stations at the entrance/exit.  A hand washing machine with two cylinders first spray water as you insert your hands, then soap, then water again.  And voila!  your hands are clean!  Towel dry, then you're done!

One of the places we docked was at Castaway Cay.  This is Disney's private Cay.  We reserved a cabana so that our children can rest inside the cabana if they got tired.  I don't know if this was a good idea.  The cabanas are way off on one side of the island.  I felt so remote from everything else.  The fun water playground was located in the middle of the cay, and it was really far away from our cabana.  We had to walk a ways to get food too.   The only good thing I can think of is, if you want that privacy and serenity, that's what you get.  Maybe for families that still have infants or children who must nap?  It just wasn't ideal for our family.  The lagoons in Castaway Cay were freezing the time of year when we were there.  But that didn't stop us from getting ourselves wet.  I think the best experience about the whole Cay was finding thousands of little hermit crabs crawling everywhere.  What we thought were just shells, were all hermit crabs!  Tiny, little, ones, millimeters long!  They were adorable and we all got a kick picking them up.  There's a rule though - no keeping anything found on the cay!  That's a rule - they want everything to remain where their natural habitat are.  Let me tell you, I totally would've taken some of those cute little things if I could.  :)

Our second stop was Atlantis.  We did a swimming with dolphins excursion there.  That was really fun.  Pictures will speak a thousand words!  These dolphins did tricks for us as well.   

All in all, it was a good experience, but I doubt I would want to do it again.  I don't have much complaints, but the one thing that is important to me was just not up to par.  Food.  Oh, the food was just...not...very...good.  I've been on another cruise with my husband when we went on our honeymoon years ago.  There are no bad memories involving food.  But this time, I was glad we only had 4 days on the cruise because I was really craving better food on land.  Sorry Disney.  

Disney World's Magic Kingdom

When we disembarked, we rented a car and headed to our next stop: The Magic Kingdom.  Disney World has 4 main theme parks: The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and The Animal Kingdom.  Disney World is huge.  I mean, HUGE.  It is the size of San Francisco.  Yup! We were only going to be there one day so we only went to one park.  The park was so crowded - I was so glad that my husband bought us the guided tour experience because there would've been no way we could've gone on more than 2 rides without it.  We got to go on one of the newest rides, the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, and my daughter met Elsa, Anna, and even Ariel.

Needless to say, she was a happy camper!

However, the tour guide will exhaust you.  I mean, they want to guarantee at least 10 rides.  So you just go, go, go.  We stopped briefly for lunch, but other than that, we walked until we finally dropped.  All the kids were passed out on our way to our hotel.  

As far as going back to Disney World, I don't know if I would do that again either.  I can't speak on behalf of those people who have been to all the parks, but I didn't find the Magic Kingdom all that different from Disneyland here in So Cal.  If you have more time to spare in Florida, I do recommend spending more time in Disney World.  There are so many parks with so many experiences that you can't experience here in So Cal.

Universal Studios Orlando

Now, this is a theme park I would fly all the way to Florida again for!  Oh!  Before you read this, you must know, I'm slightly biased.  I'm a huge Harry Potter fan.  I mean, HUGE.  I love the books so much, I'm begging my boys to read the series.  Sadly, they lost interest at book 4.  *sigh*  And I don't let them watch the movies until they've finished the books.  Luckily, they watched the first 3 movies to somewhat understand what's happening in the parks.  

Oh how I LOVED Diagon Alley and Hogsmead.  I breathed in every single detail, every sight, and every experience.  From Hogsmead, where there was butterbeer, to the Hogwarts Express where there were interactive windows (and a dementor too!), to Diagon Alley where there was Gringott's and Ollivander's, everything was absolutely perfect.  The show where the wand picks the wizard was fantastic.  And after the show, you get to pick your own wand.  There are two types.  Priced differently.  There are the ones that are just wooden sticks, and another interactive type where you can "do" magic spells in front of different shops throughout World of HP.  Of course being the big fan that I am, we bought five of the interactive ones.

Now, mind you.   Dragon Alley and Hogsmead are located in two different parks.  And you need tickets to both parks in order to enter both.  Hogwarts Expres will connect you from one park to another, but you still have to purchase the tickets to both parks.   

We bought the VIP Tour package for this place too, again, we only had a day.  As my good o'hubby knew I would be devastated if I couldn't see World of HP.  It was every bit as fantastic as I imagined it would be, and then some!  I'm SO glad that they're building one here in LA!

The Owlery

Gringotts - the dragon breaths fire!

Platform 9 3/4!!!!!

Moving portraits!

The Pensieve!

Dumbledore's Office

J "performing" a magic spell

Butterbeer!

THE castle!

All the HP simulated rides are uniquely for Universal Studios Orlando.  Our tour guide told us therefore some of the actors had to film for the simulation, since they were all originals, nothing was taken from the movies.  There is also a stage in front of one of the rides; at one point (I'm sorry but I can't remember which park it was), there was a performance by the Durmstrangs and the Beauxbatons.  It was beautiful.  Everyone was in character.  I was so excited when I saw them, I almost cried.  I'm SUCH a nerd.  I know.

When you order your butterbeer, expect it to be ridiculously sweet.  Therefore, one was enough for my family of 5.  We took a few sips and had to throw it away.  It was like drinking a caramel candy.  But at least we got the experience!  There are different versions of butterbeer, you can have it as ice cream, as a slushy, or a drink.  In hindsight, we should've gotten the ice cream instead of the slushy.

Our guide told us that when Diagon Alley first opened, to stay true to the book, park employees would act dumb when people asked for directions there.  But since no one could find it, they finally just had to stop the acting.  However, they till stayed true to the characters!  For example, when we got to the train station, we were holding our wands.  So the conductor, being a Muggle, told my boys, to be careful with those "sticks," since they have no idea what wands were!  Ha!  Little things like that made me happy.  :)

Oh, of course, there were other rides like Transformers, Minion Crush, Spiderman, etc.  Yeah, yeah, who cares if each one of those simulator cars cost about a million to make?  I only care about my World of Harry Potter!  :)

Please, if you have any questions, drop me a comment below and I'd be happy to answer for you!  Until then, I think I've made up for my dry spell!  Ta ta!

xoxo,

Lin