Sunday, February 24, 2008

YEAR of a MILLION DREAMS

We arrived in Florida Thursday, 25 October, @ approximately 4:30pm. Yippee, the southern California fires didn’t hamper our vacation plans. We meet up w/my mother & step-father who were anxious to see us (or quite possibly Dominic), and then we headed off for my sister’s place. We picked up Chenoa, Aron & Christian & then we were all off to dinner & back to moms. Friday was going to be a big day for us, our first family trip since before both Chenoa & I had kids or were married & that was to Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay. Well this time we were off for good ol’ Walt Disney World. Well enough said, read below.

Highlights from our Walt Disney World Vacation!!!
DAY 1 (Magic Kingdom):
We spent from opening to closing (0830-1900) at the Magic Kingdom, rode 20 attractions & seen 4 shows. Okay so the Magic Kingdom is mainly for older children & adults, however, fun was had by all. We explored everything from Tomorrow Land to Mikey’s Toontown; Adventure Land to Fantasy Land; Frontier Land to the Liberty Square down to the shops on Main Street. Our first venture was the Walt Disney World Railroad. After we took a ride throughout the entire park & returned to where we started (kind of had to because we parked the strollers outside) we were lucky winners of Dream Fast Passes. The passes allowed us fast entrance to all the major attractions throughout the Magic Kingdom, including Space Mountain. Totally an awesome day, tiring but awesome. We concluded our evening w/a family dinner at Bob Evens, great food & good times.

DAY 2 (Animal Kingdom):
Again yet another long day from opening to close, although not as long as Day 1, (0845-1700), at the Animal Kingdom. We rode 6 attractions; seen 4 shows & 1 parade, this park was more for the kids which was great considering they spent all day w/us at the Magic Kingdom the day before. Although we weren’t lucky winners of the Dream Fast Passes like the day before, we were able to use our tickets on rides to obtain fast passes on those we wanted to ride. Chenoa even managed to get an additional fast pass for the Expedition Everest ride which was good for up to 3 people, totally cool you rock Chenoa. We also got to watch a few shows which the boys really enjoyed, shows like Festival of the Lion King; Finding Nemo the Musical; Flights of Wonder (w/birds including the bald eagle) & the 3D It’s Tough to be a Bug. Totally great shows & the boys, especially Dominic, liked to see Nemo & the Lions.
Some of the best parts of the day was going on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. We got to ride on a jeep touring the African Savanna seeing wild animals roaming free. We saw hippos; elephants; lions; giraffes; gorillas & rhinos. Seeing Aron, Christian & Dominic’s face light up w/excitement when seeing all the animals, especially Dominic, he was imitating all the animals that he could (so cute you just had to be there). Another great feet was the Kali River Rapids ride. Normally I wouldn’t get on that ride, but I didn’t want to be a wimp. Hey it was over cast & drizzling & that’s when my sister looked at me & said that I was getting wet anyhow, so I figured why not. Let’s just say that I got wetter from the down pour than the ride itself, but it sure was fun. I raised the stakes on step further from the day before and road the Expedition Everest ride, let it be known that this ride is more awesome that Space Mountain. I used to ride roller coasters w/my eyes closed, but not this time. Totally a wild ride. This ride rides you up to the top, while at an incline, taking you to the end of a broken track. Not to worry, this ride was made that way on purpose. At the top, you wait for like 2 seconds & then you go back down backwards at what feels like warp speed. At the beginning of the ride I warned the other guy in my cart that I do scream rather loudly when scared. He assured me that he was used to it, but that he was afraid of heights. This man was afraid of heights, but had been on that ride at least 2-3 times, what a brave soul. Tam, myself, my sister & her 2 boys (one 5 & the other 6) all were on this ride. The youngest got scared, but Aron the oldest, was caught in a picture w/both hands in the air having a grand ol’ time. With the extra fast pass Aron went on the ride again w/his mom & grandpa. Not to worry the minimum height requirement was 44 inches & both boys meet the requirements. All in all, Day 2 was great even though we got rained on (mostly at the end). We finished the evening w/dinner at Shoney’s w/yet another family dinner.

DAY 3 (Downtown Disney):
Since we didn’t have to get up early to hit the park, we all got the chance to sleep in a little. We all got up at about 0900 & was ready to go to breakfast by 1000. Since we don’t have Cracker Barrel in California & it was just down the street we decided to have breakfast there. Maybe it wasn’t a great idea. Let’s just say that we got there at 1015 & was told that it was a 20 minute wait, but we didn’t get seated until 1100. Not good, especially when we checked on our place on the list and were told we were up next after a party of 14. We decided that was fine, that party was called, but then after that so was a party of 16. Oh, that wasn’t good. My sister gave then manager a little what for. Long story short, we were seated but service wasn’t great. The boys were getting hungry, especially Dominic, which made them more restless & irritable. Let’s just say that Tam really knows how to make a restaurant get quiet. The scene was worse than that of the Hooter’s incident in Louisiana on the Boardwalk. In the end we finished our breakfast & the manager kept repeatedly apologizing. After breakfast, we headed to Downtown Disney. We only stayed about 2 hours & let’s just say for those who have been to the Downtown Disney in California; the one in Florida is far bigger. We mainly walked around the shops, but did take a little train ride (well the little ones anyway), and take a few pictures w/action figures and fat boy Harley's.

SUMMARY:
1. Tam started collecting Disney pins for Dominic, so each place we went he got at least 1 pin.
2. Today Dominic road a train ride by himself w/his cousins. Okay so the train ride wasn’t anything but a small circle, but he did it by himself.
3. Ironically, Tam collects Harley Davidson t-shirts, but he doesn’t have a Harley, some day maybe/hopefully.



Starting the New Year Right...

Things have been going fairly well for The Duong’s over here in Okinawa. The New Year started off with a bang and firework show. We all stayed up till the stroke of midnight, well except for Dominic, he was knocked out on the couch. From our living room window, we have a good view of American Village and they were setting our off fireworks, it was a good start and fiery start to a new year. If any of you are interested to know, this is the year of the rat. Here are some of the happenings of 2008 from us over in Okinawa.

We were finally moved out of the Wes Pac Inn in December and moved into our new home. The place is called Hawk Town II. We live on the fourth floor of the building and we have a pretty good view of the Pacific Ocean. We also have a pretty good view of
American Village. American Village is a shopping center that is geared for Americans over here. It is pretty cool place. There are a lot of shopping centers and stuff to go. There is a big Ferris wheel that was built in 2000 when we were in here the first time. Anyways, the apartment is great. It has three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, living, and dining room. Oh yeah there is also a utility room. It is a great place. I’ll have to post some pictures for you to see for yourself.

In our building there is a lady who runs a daycare center, Sunshine International Daycare and Preschool. Dominic has been going there since the 2nd of January. It is very convenience for us and cheaper. The first day the she meet us and Dominic, she instantly loved him. She calls him her own child. We love it there and so does Dominic.

January was not all that exciting and not eventful, just your everyday life of work and hanging out with family and friends. Now February was exciting for The Duong’s. This month marks a new road for us. Nyoka is pregnant with our second baby. This time it is going to be the same as last time. We are going to find out the sex until the baby is born. The tentative due date is going to be the 4th of October. Heath there is no promises that the baby will be born on the 18th. Dominic seems to be happy about the coming of the new baby. We ask him where the baby is and he is saying tummy and points to Nyoka’s tummy.
Well that is all of the update form us here in Okinawa. The pictures will be uploading and the links are going to be on the right hand side down in the Picture Gallery section, enjoy.

The Duong’s