11/8-16/2019 LA trip
11/8
James and I took the day off while kids were in daycare. We went to Starbucks reserve, pineapple match bubble tea (just ok), walked around capital hill. After getting back I was really sleepy. I laid in bed, don't even know if I fell asleep at some point or not, until it was time to pick up the kids.
11/9
Morning - leave pictures
Ella whined about being afraid of thunder striking her dead and wouldn't come with me. (A couple days ago we were out splashing and suddenly there was thunder. Ella paused for couple seconds then ran to the door crying.) Mimi stomped too hard and splashed all the way up to her coat. I threatened Ella with crepe cake and finally got her outside. I criticized the girls for some time. Neighbda said hi on his way to the car, broke our tension and we continued to have some splash time.
Afternoon - travel
Ella and I watched frozen on the plane. Towards the end she repeatedly took off the headphone and told me she 看累了。And laid on my lap for about half a minute, then bolted up to continue watching. We finished the movie, and started a little bit of isle of dogs, which was unexpectedly gory. Ella seemed to not notice when a dog bit another dog's ear off. James reported he started watching walle with mimi, until mimi said she didn't like the 'little sad car'. So they watched frozen too.
Delta left Mimi's car seat in Seattle. We waited in the airport for a long time, waiting for Delta people to give us a substitute car seat.
We took the Dollar shuttle to get our rental car. The girls cutely asked 是交通堵塞么。为什么车不开了。Mimi cutely asked 车没有油了么？我觉得车没有油了。In a squeaky voice. After a bit Mimi got angry, possibly because James restrained her from wiggling. She slapped James, slide down to the floor, headbutted James's knee. The car shook and Mimi almost fell. Neighbouring people helped shield her and James picked her up to sit in his lap. Mimi gave him a good hard slap on the cheek. Neighbours gasped. Mimi cracked a smile, then quickly turned into pout and continued to slap James's chest. Ella remained cute and chatted with me about the dirty vent behind us, and how it looked like bee hive with lint.
We arrived at Dollar and Mimi seemed better. I stayed with the girls playing with car seat while James stood in line. I criticized Ella about running bare feet on the floor. Ella let me put her shoes on. While putting on shoes, Mimi started headbutting me. She kept complaining that she didn't like me criticizing Ella. I sternly said what did that had to do with her. She said because I was criticizing Ella I didn't hear her. I apologized and she seemed to accept, and went back to playing with the Delta car seat. After a long time we got a rental car. (Later I found out cost 320 instead of 240. And then a week later also a toll charge that's $6 with a $13 admin fee.)
We got to Ben's. The girls played nicely while we chatted. Mimi had 2 night terrors, James comforted her after about 10 minutes of crying. The 2nd one was short.
11/10
Morning - restaurant
The girls had an argument in the car. Ella disapproved Mimi's 3 swords and used her big 鹰眼 sword to chop them all. Mimi was pretty calm and continued her story with swords. Ella became agitated. At the restaurant Ella got increasing angry when I talked to Mimi while James ordered food. When we all sat down, I got the notebooks for the girls to draw in. Ella pushed her notebook away when she saw me gave Mimi one. I took her outside. She took off her top, then her pants, and started crying. She then peed. I wiped her legs, sat down and waited for her to cry. James gave me something to eat. While I was eating Ella toddled to me, I lifted her into my lap. She wouldn't let me hug her close, repeated 尿了你的裤子。I helped her put her clothes back on. Gave her a stern lecture. Asked her if she'd be angry if I played with Mimi. She said 我不会了。We came back. Ella chomped her food. Gina asked if the girls were ready for aquarium. If they liked penguins. Ella said 'I don't like penguins.' Gina asked what did she like. Ella said 'I like seo owl.' (seal) 'I don't like penguins.'
Morning - Aquarium
We followed Ben & Gina for the morning. Evie moved too fast, Gina came back a few times to inform us where they were. We finally caught up at snack. We went to pet jellyfish together. Then Evie left for her nap. The girls seemed tired but I wanted to see the otters. We snacked at the cafe, then went upstairs again. The girls followed us for more than an hour to see more animals. Unfortunately the touch tanks were too deep for the girls to touch.
We came outside and decided to walk to the lighthouse. It had a nice view onto the water at the top of the hill. Ella picked a small wild flower and asked if I could pin it on her head. I pinned it in her hair tie. She seemed happy. The girls refused to walk on the way back. We carried them most of the way back to the car. Ella fell asleep immediately after getting in the car. Mimi talked until we started driving and fell asleep.
Afternoon - boba guys
We went to boba guys in a nice mall. The line was 20+ people, I waited a long time and got a horchata for the girls, and strawberry matcha for us. When I came back Ella was awake and Mimi still asleep. James woke Mimi up and we went down to the sitting area. Mimi kept whining while asking James for more boba, and screamed and slapped around when James poured some horchata in the boba (I got the boba in a separate cup). We criticized Mimi. She slid down the chair and started walking away with tiny steps, turning back every few steps to show us a grumpy face. I followed her. She kept walking, kicking curb lights when she found them. I directed her to take a big loop around the mall. When we got back James and Ella were gone. I informed her it was time we went back, lifted her and went to the parking lot. She didn't struggle. But once in the car started crying.
Evening - Hmart plaza
James comforted Mimi and we went to check out restaurants in the plaza. All shops had long lines except one. We went to Hmart and bought some asian pears first. James offered the girls cereal while walking. Mimi kept pulling her hand away from James and stood grumpily until James asked what she wanted, and she asked for cereal. I asked her to not pull her hand away and just ask James for the cereal. She obliged. James went to the car to stock pears. The girls and I looked at the fires together. Mimi noticed one fire was out during the time we were in Hmart and asked cutely what happened to it. She got me and stared at the place where there's no fire for a while. James came back and we ate at the restaurant with no lines.
Night
Ella announced 今天我要和爸爸睡。I said she could. Mimi said she was sleeping with ba ba. Ella said 今天你和妈妈睡。Mimi said 好的。Later Ella announced again. Mimi said 我不和妈妈睡。Ella said 你和妈妈睡。Mimi said 妈妈的脸臭我不喜欢。Ella said 嗯那只是螃蟹的味道没有关系的。Mimi 嗯'ed for a while. I asked if she didn't want to sleep with me. She said 我想和爸爸睡。I said they could both sleep with ba ba. Ba ba switched room with me so they could have the wider sofa bed to sleep on. James feet were dangling off the bed but they all fit.
11/11
Morning
I asked Ella why she didn't want to sleep with me last night. She said 我害怕你生气。I apologized and asked if she'd like to sleep together tonight. She agreed.
Mimi wanted to feed Winston. I asked her to ask Gina. She said 你问Gina. We went back and forth a couple times, and I said I didn't want to ask Gina. Mimi started slapping grumpily. I put her in my lap. She quietly sat in my lap and slapped. After a bit she went quiet. I tried to lift her up to stand, she forced to sit down. James came in and asked Mimi to come downstairs, Mimi grunted, James left. Mimi sat in my lap silently. I heard Gina talk and said 'oh Gina's still here, would you like to ask her?' Mimi said cutely 你以为Gina走了么。I said yes but she's still here. She stood up and led me downstairs. We said hi to Gina, Mimi went to Winston's bowl and noticed there was food. She seemed to assume it was from last night, since Winston as too excited to eat, it could be really from last night. She happily said Winston吃了 and chuckled at me.
Morning - science history museum
We played in the sand with falling flowers while James stood in line to get tickets. Ella wanted a petal on her head and I pinned one. She decorated her shoes with fallen flower buds. Mimi did too.
The girls started asking to eat immediately after we went in. We went to the LA history part first and the girls sat on the bench by the window, looked outside and ate. They asked continuously to eat afterwards. We explored for about 10 minutes and went to the cafe. After eating we went to the lab area right by the cafe. The girls explored for a while. They ended up both sitting on the bench in the middle refusing to leave. They wanted food and we gave them cereal. A stuff came by and told us we couldn't eat there. The girls seemed distracted and we went out and headed to the mammal bones. The girls kept asking which animal ate which animal. We then went to the dinosaur bones. The girls were mildly interested. Ella wondered off without me. I followed behind and stayed out of her sight. She wondered and looked, then wondered back to the long neck dinosaur where she started her journey. Then she started looking around and running from one side to the other. I went to her, she ran to me, said 妈妈你忘了我。I asked did I forget or did she walk off herself. She 嗯'ed, and said 你忘了我。I asked if she'd walk off again, she said 不会了。
We went to the 2nd floor and the girls both refused to walk. We went back to the car. The girls chatted with each other. James and I went back to the museum to use the bathroom separately. The girls kept on talking. We decided to go back into the museum. We snacked a little and walked the outside area. The girls seemed to regain some energy. We went back inside. Ella refused to look at bones. We convinced her to look just a little more. We went to a different exhibit and there were reconstructed animals. The girls ran circles around the big dark room. Mimi climbed hand rail in front of every exhibit. Ella squeezed in between every hand rail ends between every exhibit. The girls got into a little fight when Mimi tried to squeeze between a hand rail end too.
We went to another lab room. There was an excavation area with rubber sand and buried dinosaur bone models. Ella and James stayed there, filled the corner box with rubber sand, ignoring the bones. I took Mimi to roam the rest of the room. Mimi hid in different places. We then switched kids.
We went outside and walked a little in the rose garden until it got too muddy. Then went back to the car.
Night
Ella had a night terror and wouldn't stop crying. I took her outside. She was naked except diaper and panties, since she took everything off and insisted she didn't wear clothes at nighttime. After walking a little Ella cried she wanted to go back because she was cold. She stopped crying and we held hands and walked back.
11/12
Morning - battleship
The battleship had a 'find vicky' game where the girls had to find 10 posters of vicky the dog. The girls loved it. The girls walked through the ship and climbed the steep stairs. After coming down a steep stair slowly and carefully. Ella saw a Vicky and excitedly ran to it, fell to the ground, and scraped her knee badly. She then whined that it hurt and asked me to carry her rest of the way.
Afternoon - in & out burger, boba guys
We got in & out across from the mall with boba guys, the same we went couple days ago. We woke the girls after nap, went down to the same spot and ate. James got some snacks from whole food sand the girls ate diligently with me. Ella bounced excitedly while eating the fries and fell off the bench in slow motion. We then got drinks from boba guys and finished them. We wanted to go to the beach, on the way James got sick so we went back to Ben's. Gina and James cooked dinner while I played with Evie. The girls played well by themselves. Evie played with a 16pc puzzle. Later when us adults were chatting, Mimi called me to look at her puzzle. She had put it together except two pieces were switched. I asked her about the empty holes, Mimi said she didn't know why they were there. I asked her to switch them, she switched them, looked at the puzzle, got up, happily ran circles.
11/13
Morning
I gave Ella the big cherry dress. Ella loved it and ran around showing Mimi her 大裙子。
I brushed Ella's teeth. Mimi refused. I said I'll pack toothbrush and will brush her at snack time. We got ready to go. James tried to brush Mimi again and she refused. I repeated about brushing before snack. Mimi said she wouldn't brush even if there's snack. I got frustrated because she wouldn't listen, and remembered her walking off at the mall a few days ago. I decided to discipline her since we had time and only had plan to go to the beach. I asked Mimi to brush or stay at the house by herself. Mimi shutdown and looked away. Ella said 不要生气了Mimi. Rwar rwar. And pretended to be dinosaur. Mimi chuckled. I offered to brush her again. She turned her head swiftly. I said we were going out and let Mimi make her decision by herself. James decided to stay with Mimi. After a while he came out and said Mimi wanted to go out and wanted to talk to me. I went back to the house. Mimi saw me and said 我不喜欢你妈妈。I informed James Mimi needed more time, and convinced James to be with Ella. I set a timer and went back to check on Mimi. Mimi was happily playing on the climber with winston. I took her in the bathroom, took all things out, and held the door closed. Mimi started banging the toilet paper hanger against the wall. I set a timer and opened the door to ask her how she felt. I repeated a few times without improvement, Mimi kept turning away from me and banging the toilet paper hanger. I told her I wanted to help her be better, because my tantrums made me miss good things. She helped me be better so I wanted to help her be better too. She listened, I don't think she understood. I felt I wasn't helping her and cried. I held her in my lap and cried. Then I said I would get James and we could go out together. I tried to lift her but she wouldn't budge. I force lifted her and she started crying. I gave her to James, James comforted her. She recovered quickly. James comforted me and I felt better. The girls played while James went to the bathroom. Mimi ran to me, stared at me, and kissed me on my leg. I kneeled down, she came and hugged me.
Lunch - Cluck to go. Tian ren.
We got Fried chicken and boba. All tasty. At fried chicken I got notebooks out for the girls while waiting for food. I mentioned I couldn't tell which one was whose, so I'd write their names on the books. I wrote Ella's first. Mimi pushed hers to me and asked cutely 妈妈你也帮我写amelia.
Afternoon - crystal cove beach
We took a long loop down to the beach, back up, and around back to the parking lot. The view was great. Ella walked diligently. Stopping to beckon James and Mimi now and then. Mimi required some carrying and a lot of encouragement to continue. After walking the beach and getting back to the top, Ella asked what was the red in the sky. I said it was the sunset, and we should get back to the car before 野动物 came out. Ella became distressed, whined and asked to be held. James offered to sing together, Ella became happy. But repeatedly asked if ye dong wu was coming out soon. We stopped just before the parking lot to sit down and watch the sunset. Ella became distraught and repeated 我要回车里。James tried to convince her without success. I felt pressured since I mentioned the ye dong wu. I yelled at Ella to pick what to do, watch sunset and eat dinner, or don't watch sunset and don't eat dinner. She decided to go back to the car and don't eat dinner. I carried her back to the car. On the way, Ella said sweetly 我回到车上就会开心了。妈妈我会开心的。I reflected and said we'd go to dinner since it was a dinner with friends.
Dinner - Brandon & Sarah. 牛肉面. Somisomi
While waiting for dinner, the girls drew and torn their notebooks. I was concerned it wouldn't last till the next day. About half the book was gone. The dinner was good. Us adults chatted and the girls listened and wiggled.
After dinner we went to somisomi downstairs. The soft serve and fish were perfect. The adults chatted and fed the girls. There were sea creatures on the wall, the girls grabbed at them and made their narrative of them getting caught and eaten. They grabbed the same creature and crashed together. Ella pulled Mimi's hair. She then let go and kissed her. Mimi stared at her with angry face. Ella pulled her hair again. We diffused them and headed to 85c bakery next door. Mimi grumped outside with James and Bradon and Sarah. While Ella shopped with me. Afterwards the adults chatted outside. There was a cute toddler who kept approaching the girls. The girls united, avoided him, and criticized him.
11/14
Morning - hungtington garden
Ella kept feeding Mimi berries from her dress. They seemed to have fun.
The girls loved the garden. Mimi kept saying she was 收藏的爷 and picked up different fallen vegetations. We walked for many hours. We took a break from nature to look at an art exhibit. The girls refused to walk after the art exhibit. We carried them to the car.
Afternoon - temple
Ella fell asleep soon after we started driving. Mimi didn't sleep and happily sang about all might. We stopped for tea. James went to get tea. I chatted with Mimi. She gave me some cute videos. She suddenly said 憋不住。I took her to the bathroom, she barely had a pee. I asked if she just wanted to get out of the car. She said she just wanted to get out of the car. I asked her to ask to get out of the car next time. She agreed. When we came out of the bathroom, she suddenly pulled away from our hand holding. I asked if she'd like to hold my t shirt instead. She did and we went back to the car. I got her into the seat and James came out to buckle her. She started 不要爸爸. Jam comforted her a little and buckled her. She fell asleep soon after we started driving. James found a Chinese temple while I was in the bathroom. We headed there.
After about 20 minutes Mimi woke up coughing. She then started tantruming 不要爸爸 all the way to the temple. Mimi had calmed down a bit when we arrived, although still tantruming but sounded more awake. After we parked I asked if we could find 唐三藏 in the temple. Ella asked some questions and Mimi listened quietly. She then said 我不要妈妈应为你没有给我配白龙马。She said so quietly I asked again and she said again. I made a little put down gesture by her and said I pei her a bai long ma. She smiled. The girls loved the temple.
On the car ride back, the girls kept asking me the story about 孙悟空and 唐三藏。I told them different snippets I remembered. At night laying in bed, Ella told me repeatedly she wanted to see 真的唐三藏。And repeated my story about tang san zang 成佛 after getting 真经。She talked nonstop for what felt like more than half hour.
11/15
Lunch - sup noodle & park
I liked the refill and fatness of sup noodle. It was too much for James. Mimi after eating some fries said it was 辣。When asked what was spicy, she said 我不知道。是白白的东西。James realized it was garlic. There was not much after James and I ate the garlicy fries. We got more bread from 85c.
We went to a park afterwards to burn some time before nap. There were different ducks and birds in the pnd. A few we never seen before. The girls were excited and labeled them ye and lao and ba and ma.
Mimi requested to go to the 好玩的地方。We gave them 10 minutes on the playground, then an extra 摇摇on the double swing car.
Afternoon - Newport beach
Ella woke up happy. Mimi woke up grumpy, and threw her shoe under the car. James stayed and disciplined her. They came out soon after. We played in one area of the beach until sunset.
11/16
Last day in LA
I played with the kids for the morning. I got bored and grumpy. I wanted somisomi on the way to the airport. James found one in a mall. The mall was big. When I got back to the parking lot I almost finished the food. I then couldn't find the car. I got wifi on the other side of the mall and messaged James to pick me up. James picked me up and was distressed. He asked if I wanted to waste time because I was angry about being bored in the morning. I assured him I was angry but did really get lost. There was traffic and James panicked a lot. We arrived at the gate 30 minutes before boarding, and boarding was late. I took the girls to see the planes, the view was not very good, but the girls still got really excited.
On the plane I asked Ella if she could pick a new movie. She picked how to train your dragon. I paused the movie on take off and Ella fell asleep right away. After an hour I poked her and called for her to get up. She remained sleeping. I asked her to wake up and drink some apple juice. She shot up, immediately spotted the juice on her table, drank a sip, smiled and looked at me.
Mimi had a tantrum at park n jet for unknown reason and slowly walked away. James got her back.
We went to Ranch99 for dinner. Mimi was grumpy. I went to the bathroom with Ella. We came back to an empty table. James came back with Mimi later. Mimi was still grumpy. James took her out again. She came back sweet.
James and I took the day off while kids were in daycare. We went to Starbucks reserve, pineapple match bubble tea (just ok), walked around capital hill. After getting back I was really sleepy. I laid in bed, don't even know if I fell asleep at some point or not, until it was time to pick up the kids.
11/9
Morning - leave pictures
Ella whined about being afraid of thunder striking her dead and wouldn't come with me. (A couple days ago we were out splashing and suddenly there was thunder. Ella paused for couple seconds then ran to the door crying.) Mimi stomped too hard and splashed all the way up to her coat. I threatened Ella with crepe cake and finally got her outside. I criticized the girls for some time. Neighbda said hi on his way to the car, broke our tension and we continued to have some splash time.
Afternoon - travel
Ella and I watched frozen on the plane. Towards the end she repeatedly took off the headphone and told me she 看累了。And laid on my lap for about half a minute, then bolted up to continue watching. We finished the movie, and started a little bit of isle of dogs, which was unexpectedly gory. Ella seemed to not notice when a dog bit another dog's ear off. James reported he started watching walle with mimi, until mimi said she didn't like the 'little sad car'. So they watched frozen too.
Delta left Mimi's car seat in Seattle. We waited in the airport for a long time, waiting for Delta people to give us a substitute car seat.
We took the Dollar shuttle to get our rental car. The girls cutely asked 是交通堵塞么。为什么车不开了。Mimi cutely asked 车没有油了么？我觉得车没有油了。In a squeaky voice. After a bit Mimi got angry, possibly because James restrained her from wiggling. She slapped James, slide down to the floor, headbutted James's knee. The car shook and Mimi almost fell. Neighbouring people helped shield her and James picked her up to sit in his lap. Mimi gave him a good hard slap on the cheek. Neighbours gasped. Mimi cracked a smile, then quickly turned into pout and continued to slap James's chest. Ella remained cute and chatted with me about the dirty vent behind us, and how it looked like bee hive with lint.
We arrived at Dollar and Mimi seemed better. I stayed with the girls playing with car seat while James stood in line. I criticized Ella about running bare feet on the floor. Ella let me put her shoes on. While putting on shoes, Mimi started headbutting me. She kept complaining that she didn't like me criticizing Ella. I sternly said what did that had to do with her. She said because I was criticizing Ella I didn't hear her. I apologized and she seemed to accept, and went back to playing with the Delta car seat. After a long time we got a rental car. (Later I found out cost 320 instead of 240. And then a week later also a toll charge that's $6 with a $13 admin fee.)
We got to Ben's. The girls played nicely while we chatted. Mimi had 2 night terrors, James comforted her after about 10 minutes of crying. The 2nd one was short.
11/10
Morning - restaurant
The girls had an argument in the car. Ella disapproved Mimi's 3 swords and used her big 鹰眼 sword to chop them all. Mimi was pretty calm and continued her story with swords. Ella became agitated. At the restaurant Ella got increasing angry when I talked to Mimi while James ordered food. When we all sat down, I got the notebooks for the girls to draw in. Ella pushed her notebook away when she saw me gave Mimi one. I took her outside. She took off her top, then her pants, and started crying. She then peed. I wiped her legs, sat down and waited for her to cry. James gave me something to eat. While I was eating Ella toddled to me, I lifted her into my lap. She wouldn't let me hug her close, repeated 尿了你的裤子。I helped her put her clothes back on. Gave her a stern lecture. Asked her if she'd be angry if I played with Mimi. She said 我不会了。We came back. Ella chomped her food. Gina asked if the girls were ready for aquarium. If they liked penguins. Ella said 'I don't like penguins.' Gina asked what did she like. Ella said 'I like seo owl.' (seal) 'I don't like penguins.'
Morning - Aquarium
We followed Ben & Gina for the morning. Evie moved too fast, Gina came back a few times to inform us where they were. We finally caught up at snack. We went to pet jellyfish together. Then Evie left for her nap. The girls seemed tired but I wanted to see the otters. We snacked at the cafe, then went upstairs again. The girls followed us for more than an hour to see more animals. Unfortunately the touch tanks were too deep for the girls to touch.
We came outside and decided to walk to the lighthouse. It had a nice view onto the water at the top of the hill. Ella picked a small wild flower and asked if I could pin it on her head. I pinned it in her hair tie. She seemed happy. The girls refused to walk on the way back. We carried them most of the way back to the car. Ella fell asleep immediately after getting in the car. Mimi talked until we started driving and fell asleep.
Afternoon - boba guys
We went to boba guys in a nice mall. The line was 20+ people, I waited a long time and got a horchata for the girls, and strawberry matcha for us. When I came back Ella was awake and Mimi still asleep. James woke Mimi up and we went down to the sitting area. Mimi kept whining while asking James for more boba, and screamed and slapped around when James poured some horchata in the boba (I got the boba in a separate cup). We criticized Mimi. She slid down the chair and started walking away with tiny steps, turning back every few steps to show us a grumpy face. I followed her. She kept walking, kicking curb lights when she found them. I directed her to take a big loop around the mall. When we got back James and Ella were gone. I informed her it was time we went back, lifted her and went to the parking lot. She didn't struggle. But once in the car started crying.
Evening - Hmart plaza
James comforted Mimi and we went to check out restaurants in the plaza. All shops had long lines except one. We went to Hmart and bought some asian pears first. James offered the girls cereal while walking. Mimi kept pulling her hand away from James and stood grumpily until James asked what she wanted, and she asked for cereal. I asked her to not pull her hand away and just ask James for the cereal. She obliged. James went to the car to stock pears. The girls and I looked at the fires together. Mimi noticed one fire was out during the time we were in Hmart and asked cutely what happened to it. She got me and stared at the place where there's no fire for a while. James came back and we ate at the restaurant with no lines.
Night
Ella announced 今天我要和爸爸睡。I said she could. Mimi said she was sleeping with ba ba. Ella said 今天你和妈妈睡。Mimi said 好的。Later Ella announced again. Mimi said 我不和妈妈睡。Ella said 你和妈妈睡。Mimi said 妈妈的脸臭我不喜欢。Ella said 嗯那只是螃蟹的味道没有关系的。Mimi 嗯'ed for a while. I asked if she didn't want to sleep with me. She said 我想和爸爸睡。I said they could both sleep with ba ba. Ba ba switched room with me so they could have the wider sofa bed to sleep on. James feet were dangling off the bed but they all fit.
11/11
Morning
I asked Ella why she didn't want to sleep with me last night. She said 我害怕你生气。I apologized and asked if she'd like to sleep together tonight. She agreed.
Mimi wanted to feed Winston. I asked her to ask Gina. She said 你问Gina. We went back and forth a couple times, and I said I didn't want to ask Gina. Mimi started slapping grumpily. I put her in my lap. She quietly sat in my lap and slapped. After a bit she went quiet. I tried to lift her up to stand, she forced to sit down. James came in and asked Mimi to come downstairs, Mimi grunted, James left. Mimi sat in my lap silently. I heard Gina talk and said 'oh Gina's still here, would you like to ask her?' Mimi said cutely 你以为Gina走了么。I said yes but she's still here. She stood up and led me downstairs. We said hi to Gina, Mimi went to Winston's bowl and noticed there was food. She seemed to assume it was from last night, since Winston as too excited to eat, it could be really from last night. She happily said Winston吃了 and chuckled at me.
Morning - science history museum
We played in the sand with falling flowers while James stood in line to get tickets. Ella wanted a petal on her head and I pinned one. She decorated her shoes with fallen flower buds. Mimi did too.
The girls started asking to eat immediately after we went in. We went to the LA history part first and the girls sat on the bench by the window, looked outside and ate. They asked continuously to eat afterwards. We explored for about 10 minutes and went to the cafe. After eating we went to the lab area right by the cafe. The girls explored for a while. They ended up both sitting on the bench in the middle refusing to leave. They wanted food and we gave them cereal. A stuff came by and told us we couldn't eat there. The girls seemed distracted and we went out and headed to the mammal bones. The girls kept asking which animal ate which animal. We then went to the dinosaur bones. The girls were mildly interested. Ella wondered off without me. I followed behind and stayed out of her sight. She wondered and looked, then wondered back to the long neck dinosaur where she started her journey. Then she started looking around and running from one side to the other. I went to her, she ran to me, said 妈妈你忘了我。I asked did I forget or did she walk off herself. She 嗯'ed, and said 你忘了我。I asked if she'd walk off again, she said 不会了。
We went to the 2nd floor and the girls both refused to walk. We went back to the car. The girls chatted with each other. James and I went back to the museum to use the bathroom separately. The girls kept on talking. We decided to go back into the museum. We snacked a little and walked the outside area. The girls seemed to regain some energy. We went back inside. Ella refused to look at bones. We convinced her to look just a little more. We went to a different exhibit and there were reconstructed animals. The girls ran circles around the big dark room. Mimi climbed hand rail in front of every exhibit. Ella squeezed in between every hand rail ends between every exhibit. The girls got into a little fight when Mimi tried to squeeze between a hand rail end too.
We went to another lab room. There was an excavation area with rubber sand and buried dinosaur bone models. Ella and James stayed there, filled the corner box with rubber sand, ignoring the bones. I took Mimi to roam the rest of the room. Mimi hid in different places. We then switched kids.
We went outside and walked a little in the rose garden until it got too muddy. Then went back to the car.
Night
Ella had a night terror and wouldn't stop crying. I took her outside. She was naked except diaper and panties, since she took everything off and insisted she didn't wear clothes at nighttime. After walking a little Ella cried she wanted to go back because she was cold. She stopped crying and we held hands and walked back.
11/12
Morning - battleship
The battleship had a 'find vicky' game where the girls had to find 10 posters of vicky the dog. The girls loved it. The girls walked through the ship and climbed the steep stairs. After coming down a steep stair slowly and carefully. Ella saw a Vicky and excitedly ran to it, fell to the ground, and scraped her knee badly. She then whined that it hurt and asked me to carry her rest of the way.
Afternoon - in & out burger, boba guys
We got in & out across from the mall with boba guys, the same we went couple days ago. We woke the girls after nap, went down to the same spot and ate. James got some snacks from whole food sand the girls ate diligently with me. Ella bounced excitedly while eating the fries and fell off the bench in slow motion. We then got drinks from boba guys and finished them. We wanted to go to the beach, on the way James got sick so we went back to Ben's. Gina and James cooked dinner while I played with Evie. The girls played well by themselves. Evie played with a 16pc puzzle. Later when us adults were chatting, Mimi called me to look at her puzzle. She had put it together except two pieces were switched. I asked her about the empty holes, Mimi said she didn't know why they were there. I asked her to switch them, she switched them, looked at the puzzle, got up, happily ran circles.
11/13
Morning
I gave Ella the big cherry dress. Ella loved it and ran around showing Mimi her 大裙子。
I brushed Ella's teeth. Mimi refused. I said I'll pack toothbrush and will brush her at snack time. We got ready to go. James tried to brush Mimi again and she refused. I repeated about brushing before snack. Mimi said she wouldn't brush even if there's snack. I got frustrated because she wouldn't listen, and remembered her walking off at the mall a few days ago. I decided to discipline her since we had time and only had plan to go to the beach. I asked Mimi to brush or stay at the house by herself. Mimi shutdown and looked away. Ella said 不要生气了Mimi. Rwar rwar. And pretended to be dinosaur. Mimi chuckled. I offered to brush her again. She turned her head swiftly. I said we were going out and let Mimi make her decision by herself. James decided to stay with Mimi. After a while he came out and said Mimi wanted to go out and wanted to talk to me. I went back to the house. Mimi saw me and said 我不喜欢你妈妈。I informed James Mimi needed more time, and convinced James to be with Ella. I set a timer and went back to check on Mimi. Mimi was happily playing on the climber with winston. I took her in the bathroom, took all things out, and held the door closed. Mimi started banging the toilet paper hanger against the wall. I set a timer and opened the door to ask her how she felt. I repeated a few times without improvement, Mimi kept turning away from me and banging the toilet paper hanger. I told her I wanted to help her be better, because my tantrums made me miss good things. She helped me be better so I wanted to help her be better too. She listened, I don't think she understood. I felt I wasn't helping her and cried. I held her in my lap and cried. Then I said I would get James and we could go out together. I tried to lift her but she wouldn't budge. I force lifted her and she started crying. I gave her to James, James comforted her. She recovered quickly. James comforted me and I felt better. The girls played while James went to the bathroom. Mimi ran to me, stared at me, and kissed me on my leg. I kneeled down, she came and hugged me.
Lunch - Cluck to go. Tian ren.
We got Fried chicken and boba. All tasty. At fried chicken I got notebooks out for the girls while waiting for food. I mentioned I couldn't tell which one was whose, so I'd write their names on the books. I wrote Ella's first. Mimi pushed hers to me and asked cutely 妈妈你也帮我写amelia.
Afternoon - crystal cove beach
We took a long loop down to the beach, back up, and around back to the parking lot. The view was great. Ella walked diligently. Stopping to beckon James and Mimi now and then. Mimi required some carrying and a lot of encouragement to continue. After walking the beach and getting back to the top, Ella asked what was the red in the sky. I said it was the sunset, and we should get back to the car before 野动物 came out. Ella became distressed, whined and asked to be held. James offered to sing together, Ella became happy. But repeatedly asked if ye dong wu was coming out soon. We stopped just before the parking lot to sit down and watch the sunset. Ella became distraught and repeated 我要回车里。James tried to convince her without success. I felt pressured since I mentioned the ye dong wu. I yelled at Ella to pick what to do, watch sunset and eat dinner, or don't watch sunset and don't eat dinner. She decided to go back to the car and don't eat dinner. I carried her back to the car. On the way, Ella said sweetly 我回到车上就会开心了。妈妈我会开心的。I reflected and said we'd go to dinner since it was a dinner with friends.
Dinner - Brandon & Sarah. 牛肉面. Somisomi
While waiting for dinner, the girls drew and torn their notebooks. I was concerned it wouldn't last till the next day. About half the book was gone. The dinner was good. Us adults chatted and the girls listened and wiggled.
After dinner we went to somisomi downstairs. The soft serve and fish were perfect. The adults chatted and fed the girls. There were sea creatures on the wall, the girls grabbed at them and made their narrative of them getting caught and eaten. They grabbed the same creature and crashed together. Ella pulled Mimi's hair. She then let go and kissed her. Mimi stared at her with angry face. Ella pulled her hair again. We diffused them and headed to 85c bakery next door. Mimi grumped outside with James and Bradon and Sarah. While Ella shopped with me. Afterwards the adults chatted outside. There was a cute toddler who kept approaching the girls. The girls united, avoided him, and criticized him.
11/14
Morning - hungtington garden
Ella kept feeding Mimi berries from her dress. They seemed to have fun.
The girls loved the garden. Mimi kept saying she was 收藏的爷 and picked up different fallen vegetations. We walked for many hours. We took a break from nature to look at an art exhibit. The girls refused to walk after the art exhibit. We carried them to the car.
Afternoon - temple
Ella fell asleep soon after we started driving. Mimi didn't sleep and happily sang about all might. We stopped for tea. James went to get tea. I chatted with Mimi. She gave me some cute videos. She suddenly said 憋不住。I took her to the bathroom, she barely had a pee. I asked if she just wanted to get out of the car. She said she just wanted to get out of the car. I asked her to ask to get out of the car next time. She agreed. When we came out of the bathroom, she suddenly pulled away from our hand holding. I asked if she'd like to hold my t shirt instead. She did and we went back to the car. I got her into the seat and James came out to buckle her. She started 不要爸爸. Jam comforted her a little and buckled her. She fell asleep soon after we started driving. James found a Chinese temple while I was in the bathroom. We headed there.
After about 20 minutes Mimi woke up coughing. She then started tantruming 不要爸爸 all the way to the temple. Mimi had calmed down a bit when we arrived, although still tantruming but sounded more awake. After we parked I asked if we could find 唐三藏 in the temple. Ella asked some questions and Mimi listened quietly. She then said 我不要妈妈应为你没有给我配白龙马。She said so quietly I asked again and she said again. I made a little put down gesture by her and said I pei her a bai long ma. She smiled. The girls loved the temple.
On the car ride back, the girls kept asking me the story about 孙悟空and 唐三藏。I told them different snippets I remembered. At night laying in bed, Ella told me repeatedly she wanted to see 真的唐三藏。And repeated my story about tang san zang 成佛 after getting 真经。She talked nonstop for what felt like more than half hour.
11/15
Lunch - sup noodle & park
I liked the refill and fatness of sup noodle. It was too much for James. Mimi after eating some fries said it was 辣。When asked what was spicy, she said 我不知道。是白白的东西。James realized it was garlic. There was not much after James and I ate the garlicy fries. We got more bread from 85c.
We went to a park afterwards to burn some time before nap. There were different ducks and birds in the pnd. A few we never seen before. The girls were excited and labeled them ye and lao and ba and ma.
Mimi requested to go to the 好玩的地方。We gave them 10 minutes on the playground, then an extra 摇摇on the double swing car.
Afternoon - Newport beach
Ella woke up happy. Mimi woke up grumpy, and threw her shoe under the car. James stayed and disciplined her. They came out soon after. We played in one area of the beach until sunset.
11/16
Last day in LA
I played with the kids for the morning. I got bored and grumpy. I wanted somisomi on the way to the airport. James found one in a mall. The mall was big. When I got back to the parking lot I almost finished the food. I then couldn't find the car. I got wifi on the other side of the mall and messaged James to pick me up. James picked me up and was distressed. He asked if I wanted to waste time because I was angry about being bored in the morning. I assured him I was angry but did really get lost. There was traffic and James panicked a lot. We arrived at the gate 30 minutes before boarding, and boarding was late. I took the girls to see the planes, the view was not very good, but the girls still got really excited.
On the plane I asked Ella if she could pick a new movie. She picked how to train your dragon. I paused the movie on take off and Ella fell asleep right away. After an hour I poked her and called for her to get up. She remained sleeping. I asked her to wake up and drink some apple juice. She shot up, immediately spotted the juice on her table, drank a sip, smiled and looked at me.
Mimi had a tantrum at park n jet for unknown reason and slowly walked away. James got her back.
We went to Ranch99 for dinner. Mimi was grumpy. I went to the bathroom with Ella. We came back to an empty table. James came back with Mimi later. Mimi was still grumpy. James took her out again. She came back sweet.
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