Visiting Old Town San Diego Historic Park

On June 1st, 2014, the second last before I leave San Diego, we decided to go visit a place that we haven’t visited before. If you know San Diego well and have been continued reading my blog you should know, this place is “Old Town San Diego State Historic Park”. The Old Town Historic Park is located in the Old Town neighborhood of San Diego and it is a state protected historical park. We thought it might be kinda fun to visit Old Town in the morning and have lunch there, and then we can take to trolley to Downtown. The reason why we’re also going to Downtown is actually because that my host family asked me where I want to go and I answered Downtown so they wanted to bring me there. My host family is really nice!

Cover Photo - Old Town San Diego

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Dining in the Gorgeous Hotel Del Coronado

Today, April 11th, 2014, is the last day of Uncle Paul’s third visit. We of course all don’t want him to go because he is also so kind to take us to cool places or nice restaurants, but it’s impossible for him to stay for too long since he also have people to take care of in Chico. The good thing is, he will visit here again in June when my family comes, so my dad can will be able to see “His host dad”, and I am very looking forward to it! On his last day in San Diego, we decided to go to a really beautiful place to do some shopping and have lunch, that is, the Coronado Island. It is an affluent resort city located across San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego, I have actually been there once with my host family, it’s about 5 months before when I first got here, and we were just there for dinner. But today, we are going there in the morning instead of afternoon, I believed that we will see another beautiful side of the Coronado. 

Hotel Del Coronado and the beach.

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Beautiful Beaches and shops: Point Loma

Time flies, today, April 10th, 2014, was already the fourth day of Spring break, also the penultimate day of Uncle Paul’s visit… Uncle Paul took me to many cool and new tourist places the past three days and also today, I love them all, and I really hope this week will never end so we can go even more places! Haha Fortunately, there is one more day tomorrow, the last day we can go out to somewhere together. The place we went to today was Point Loma, it is a seaside community within the city of San Diego. There are many beautiful beaches, nice restaurants, and fine shops in Point Loma, and of course, the best thing about going to Point Loma is that you can enjoy the fantastic view of Pacific Ocean and the California Coast.

A street in Point Loma.

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The Hero Ship: USS Midway Aircraft Carrier

Today, April 9th, 2014, was the third day of Spring break. Uncle Paul and I decided to visit the USS Midway Museum. According to Wikipedia, The USS Midway Museum is a maritime museum located in downtown San Diego, California at Navy Pier, it consists of the aircraft carrier Midway. We have walked past it or even parked in its parking lot before, but I never actually got on it before, so we think it would be a really interesting place to go. It is just in the downtown area, and people are able to see it from very far away, I think it is definitely a landmark in San Diego.

This picture was taken in the control tower on USS Midway.

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Birch Aquarium & La Jolla Cove

Today was the second day of Spring break, just like yesterday, Uncle Paul took me out to some famous tourist places in San Diego. Before we go, Uncle Paul and me went to a coffee shop to read newspaper, relax and have some drinks. I woke up at 7 o'clock today, just like the normal school day. We first took boys to their school, and then go straight to the coffee shop. The coffee shop we went to is call The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, it is located in 4S common center. There was only one person in the shop by the time we got there, so it was kinda nice. I had a cup of Latte and Uncle Paul had some tea. I felt really relaxed just sitting in the coffee shop and read some internet articles or play games with my iPad, or even to chat with Uncle Paul. We should definitely go there everyday!

(For cover photo) The spectacular view of the shore, the ocean, and the sky. Looking down from the Birch Aquarium.

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San Diego Seal Tour Adventure

Today, April 7th, 2014, was the first day of our Spring break. Uncle Paul, again, flew down from Chico and come visit us. Unfortunately, boys' school has their Spring break two weeks after my break week, so I have a week off while boys don't, it's kinda bad since we can not do activities together, but on the other hand, Uncle Paul can take me to some places that boys might not want to go, so it's also nice! Yesterday, before Uncle arrives, Jason took Ethan and me (Brennan was feeling sick) to a huge electronic store called "Fry's Electronics" just to look around, that store (or let's say, mall) was incredibly big, it even has a restaurant and a small aquarium in the mall! And it sells everything as well, from speakers, TVs to electronic parts, it's just unbelievable! Well, maybe it's just another "American size" thing, nothing too special Haha. After looking around at the electronic store, we went to a place called Invasion Laser Tag to play a quick Laser Tag game. We actually went there before once, and it was still fun this time! We then had lunch in Southern California Style fast food restaurant - In-n-out. Although it's my... 4th time having In-n-out (and having the exact same food), their classic cheese burger still tastes so good!

(For title picture) We saw a aircraft carrier drove by when we were on the boat tour

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Bought a Jawbone Jambox Bluetooth Speaker

Again, I got something awesome on eBay again. I really love eBay, because I can always get something I want with a really good price on it. Meanwhile, I also really hate eBay since eBay charges me total 15 bucks for selling an $100 Target Gift Card. well, it's another story, but NEVER SELL THINGS ON EBAY!

This time, I got a Jawbone Jambox Wireless Protable Bluetooth Speaker on eBay.

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Disneyland Trip - Day 3: California Adventure - Pt. 1

How time flies, it was last day of the trip already. Just like yesterday, we packed our clothes, had a quick breakfast, and headed to Disneyland. But today, we were not going to the original Disneyland Park, we were going to the new California Adventure Park. The park opened in 2001, and it is the second of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort Anaheim. I think there are more "old-kids" rides in California Adventure such as California Scearmin' and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Just as usual, both Disneyland park and California Adventure entrance were very crowed, we had to wait for a while to get into the park.

One of the most popular attraction in California Adventure: The California Screamin' Ride!

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Disneyland Trip - Day 3: California Adventure - Pt. 2

(Please read the first part of this post first: Disneyland Trip - Day 3: California Adventure - Pt. 1.)

We visited Cars Land today! (I will mention it later)

After this quick but awesome trip around California, we went to one of the most famous attraction (but it's not in the video...) in California, Hollywood! Well, of course, not the real one, we are still in Disneyland, we went to the Hollywood Land! This area are inspired by the 1930s Golden Age period of Hollywood, I really love it since I kinda like some old-fashion buildings, that's why I also love Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland so much, it is inspired by the 1920s of Los Angeles. The reason why we were here was because we are going to get ready for Elisa's "Disney Junior's Live on Stage" show at 2:30, this was the only time when she could take a small rest. Before lining up for the show, we just walked around the Hollywood Land. There were not too many rides in this land but some nice gift shops and maybe some stages. When we finally got into the show theater, we were surprised because we have to sit on the ground, there was no chairs in this theater, I guess it's because this theater was designed for kids to dance and sing. But we were actually expecting to sit on some nice, soft chairs and take a rest during the show... I have to say, the actual show was pretty good. Although it was designed for little kids, I still enjoyed it a lot, I love the decorations on the stage and the music of the show, plus, seeing all small kids dancing, singing and replying silly answers to the host was really interesting. I remember that there was one time when the host asked something like "Do you want to discover Mickey's clubhouse?" (which, of course, she expect kids to answer YES), and I heard a kid behind me answered NO really loud. That was just really funny!

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Disneyland Trip - Day 2: Disneyland Park - Pt. 1

Yeah!!! This day was finally here! It's day for visiting the world happiest place, Walt Disneyland! Disneyland opens at 9 today, so we woke up at 8, and had a simple, quick breakfast. Our hotel offers free breakfast, it was very basic, and there has not place for us to eat so we have to eat in our room, but it's actually a good thing since we can finish it fast have save time to have fun in Disneyland! As we were on our way to Disneyland, we could see some rides in California Adventure Park such as California Screamin' and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, that make boys and me even more excited! By the time we arrived Disneyland entrance (about 8:45), there were already lots of people waiting there to get in to the park, it took us at least half an hour to go through all processes and got into the actual park, processes including backpack check, which can make this 40,000-visitors-per-day park much safer.

One of the rides in Disneyland, the Space Mountain

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Disneyland Trip - Day 2: Disneyland Park - Pt. 2

(Please read the first part of this post first: Disneyland Trip - Day 2: Disneyland Park - Part 1.)

Disneyland Mickey's Soundsational Parade (I will mention it later)

Buzz Lightyear, one of the main characters in the movie "Toy Story", even has its own ride, called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We went on it after riding Matterhorn, it didn't take us too long to wait. I remember that I have played this in HK Disneyland, we basically just have to use laser guns to shoot wherever targets are. I got 13000 points at last, but Ethan and Jason got much more points than me, I guess they know the trick... At the exit of the ride, we can send the photo of us on the ride to our own e-mail for free, I of course did send it, but I looks dumb in the picture. Ha ha.

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Disneyland Trip - Day 1: Downtown Disney

Where is "The happiest place on Earth"? I believe most people would say it's Disneyland. I've been looking forward going to Disneyland for months since I moved to California, and today, Feb 8th, was like dream come true, we were going to Anaheim for 3 days during the break! Anaheim is where Disneyland Resorts California located, including the original, oldest Disneyland Park, California Adventure Park, and Downtown Disney District. We planned to go Downtown Disney to have dinner and do some shopping on the first day, and visit the parks on day 2 and 3.

A restaurant in Downtown Disney- Rainforest Cafe

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Solana Beach: beautiful view & fine gift shops

Today, we went to another famous coastal city in San Diego, the Solana Beach. We thought that today might be a nice day to go down there and have lunch. According to Wikipedia, Solana Beach is an affluent city in San Diego County, California. When we first arrived Solana Beach at about 10 o'clock, the weather was really foggy, and the sky was dark, there were only few people on the beach, and one person was surfing. To get to the actual beach, we have to walk through a park, so we decided to let Elisa play in the park. Karen, boys, and me walked down to the beach, it was a bit cold, and since the weather was foggy, we couldn't really look far from the beach. Karen told me that if the weather is nice, we will be able to see through all Southern California beaches, including the one we visited before, La Jolla beach. Elisa and Jason then came down to the beach with us, we took some pictures, and decided to head to the restaurant to have lunch. By the time we leave, the weather started to turn nice... well, it seems we doesn't have good luck today...

Solana Beach

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San Diego International Auto Show

(The content of this post happened on Jan 3rd, 2014 PST)

The San Diego Auto Show is an annual auto show held at the San Diego Convention Center in early January. As other cities and countries, this season seems to be a great time to hold auto show, because at the same time, Taipei also has a auto show going on. San Diego auto show is not a real big auto show, unlike the one in Los Angeles or New York. We planed to watch the auto show and have lunch in downtown, my mood was really good that day because the weather was nice and I was really looking forward to seeing the show.

In the Auto Show.

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Shopping in the Mall & Uncle Paul's Arrival

(The content of this post happened on Dec 22nd, 2013 PST)

On the second day of Christmas holidays, Mr. Paul Anderson arrived San Diego, and he was going to stay here for a week. Mr. Anderson is my host mom's dad, he was also my dad's host dad. Our relationship is very special, I will be in this family was because of his help. A month ago, I was in Ipswich finding a new host family, my dad asked Mr. Anderson for help, since Mr. Anderson is used to be my dad's host dad when my dad was studying in America's college, and they still keep in touch. Mr. Anderson is very nice, ha asked his daughter, Karen, if she would like to host me, and she agreed. So that is why I will be in here.

I always call Mr. Anderson "Uncle Paul", since every time when my dad is telling me his story in America, he always says "Uncle Paul". Uncle Paul live in Chico, a town in Northern California, a town which my dad used to study in. Because of his coming, we cleaned the house and went shopping at the mall.

Since I am in San Diego, the mall in here will be bigger than in South Dakota. Although it is just a mall, but to me, this was my first time visiting the REAL mall in America, so I took many pictures. This is also my first time visiting the real Apple Store, not a Apple authorized reseller. I love this store so much! We then went eat at a restaurant called Red Robin, it is a restaurant just like T.G.I. Fridays, their food are very good.

The Apple Store in the mall

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Just got my Bluetooth keyboard

Since I started writing my blog, it took me at least 45 minutes a day on writing and thinking what to write, because my English skill is not good. Sometimes, I have time when I was outside such as waiting host family at the hospital. I think instead of playing my phone, why not write blog posts? So I bought a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard on eBay, it can connect to my phone, and I can type on the real keyboard easily instead of the small screen keyboard.

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The first time shopping at walmart

(The content of this post happened on 19 Aug, 2013 CDT)

My host family will go Aberdeen almost every weekend, the major reason is to shop at Walmart. Walmart is a hypermarkets that sells almost everything, from food to television, we can get all of them from Walmart. Every weekend, we go Aberdeen to have lunch and shop at Walmart. We will buy enough food for the whole week.

My was very excited when the first time visiting Walmart, I saw many "new" and interesting things. Here has some pictures, I will describe each of them under the picture.

Entering Walmart

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