ThucLam is Better than Nam

like always, every summer, i go to ohio. this time was a little shorter than normal cause of all the other trips ive made and will make. instead kf staying the normal two months, it would be about two weeks. and this time, grandma was in vietnam so it would be mom and cau ngan watching us. recently y vien and khoi have been joining the summer tradition in ohio which has made everything a lot louder and more screechy. yay. summers in ohio are always more enjoyable because summers in arizona are literal hell. mom and cau still had to work so all of us just played and messed around most of the day. sometimes we went out to eat, cau took y vien and tq to see the new minions movie, the adults went to a nice restaurant one night, and nam, bien, and i watched totoro. khang chose this one movie one night, and everyone sat in the living room watching it. there was this one day where mom said that we had to bike to dairy queen. thats okay, bien, nam, and i have done it before. but then she said that all of us were going, so bien, nam, and i grabbed the bikes quickly and rode to dairy queen before the walkers. once we got there, nam made bien order for himself, which made him look like a doofus, cause he  couldnt even do that right, so nam made him go get the spoons, and he couldnt find them, so then nam made him throw away our trash. the walkers came about 15 minutes after us and we were finishing our ice cream as they were starting theirs. we left first, and nam made bien open the door. he pulled on a push door.

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Yeah I lied, we didn’t go to EPCOT day 3. Sorry.

Pretty normal morning routine at this point, I wore the dress that Tien gave me. TQ ate yogurt. I packed gummies for a snack. And then we set off for Magic Kingdom. This is the biggest park in Disneyworld and it has the most rides, so we would have to come back for a second or third day to finish everything. When we got there we had to take a ferry to the actual park. Cinderella’s castle is ginormous. When we got through the gate, we headed into a gift shop where TQ and I found the ears we wanted! TQ got the Electrical Parade ears and I got Tiana ears. Outside h the e gift shop we stood by a tree to watch the parade pass by. Frank was watching the whole thing and got a lot of interactions with the characters. Everyone loves Frank. After that we went in front of the castle for a show. Frank liked the show as well. Then we made plans to go to Fantasyland to get food at Pinocchio’s Village Inn. They had very good cesar salads for some reason. And Coke. After we ate the first ride we went on was It’s a Small World. A boat ride around the world while that stupid song plays over and over. It wasn’t bad at all. But I wouldn’t do it again. Then TQ and I wanted to go on the carousel and the line was super fast so that was a quick ride. Then we got in line to meet Tiana and Rapunzel. This line was unexpectedly a very long wait. But anything to get Frank to meet Disney princesses. After the princesses we went on Peter Pan’s Flight, I think that’s what it’s called, all these rides’ names get mixed up so just hang in there with me. Basically we ride above the city of London and the whole story of Peter Pan. Very calm and nice. I forgot what we did after that. I think we went to Winnie the Pooh? I think. It was another story ride that went through a whole plot. At this point we had made it to sunset and we had been in Fantasyland the entire day. The fireworks show wasn’t until 9:20 but we had to get a good viewing spot so we went to the castle and got a spot at 8. Annie got me a funnel cake which I was looking forward to the whole trip. It was good very very Disney funnel cake whipped cream strawberry castle Frank.  The whole castle had a projection on it with the fireworks as well and there was so much to look at. Fireworks are kinda loud though. Tinkerbell was supposed to come out and fly over the castle but since it was raining she couldn’t. After the awesome fireworks show we ate and Casey’s Corner and then had to fit one last ride in. Space Mountain. I thought it was like a cool space ride with planets and stars everywhere. It was pitch black. And we were zooming everywhere. I kept think my arms were gonna get cut off if I raised them. I thought I was gonna die. Looking back, the actual ride wasn’t that scary, it was just the opposite of what I was expecting. And nobody was telling me or TQ what the ride actually was so we were going into these rides mostly blind. Space Mountain scarred me for life. Then we got in the car and drove home. I totally forgot what we ate but I’m sure it tasted delicious. Normal night routine as always and sleeping wonderfully because of exhaustion.

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When I woke up, my feet hurt really bad and walking hurt for the first few minutes. We all got ready relatively quickly and got in the car. The line to get into Hollywood was longer than in Animal Kingdom but it was nothing compared to the lines for the rides. When we got in, we made a beeline for Galaxy’s Edge, a section of the park dedicated to Star Wars. The whole place looked like it was taken out of the movie, it was very impressive. Uyen had made an appointment at the Droid Depot to make her own droid. Kim and Luân ended up adding onto her appointment and made droids as well. Then, we went in line for Smuggler’s Run. It was another simulation ride that had you interact with the ship all the while. It was very fun, and I liked pressing all the buttons. The next ride we wanted to do was Rise of the Resistance but the line was more than a two hour wait, so we went to look for lunch. We settled on Woody’s Lunchbox and everyone got grilled cheeses and tomato basil soup, it was very good. Since we were in Woody’s Backyard, we decided to go to Toy Story Mania, where you had to shoot stuff to get points. I beat Tien. Afterwards we went to see the Indiana Jones show, and I thought I had already seen the majority of the show so I wasn’t going to be surprised, but the show had more parts than I thought it would. So it was pretty fun. And loud. After that show Annie wanted to see the Beauty and the Beast show. I enjoyed that one very much, even if it was kinda silly, I enjoy theater. Then we made our way to Runaway Railway. It was a trackless ride on Goofy’s train, which gets separated throughout the ride and it’s very fun. All the trackless rides are good ones. There was also a parade, I can’t remember if it was before or after the Railway, but I got to see Edna Mode. She’s my inspiration. We also got really good slushees, they were really good. After that, I really wanted to go on the Slinky Dog ride, and I figured that TQ would be able to ride it. And after talking, TQ agreed to go on it. This was the longest line we had waited in the whole trip. Not because of the actual line, the actual line was pretty average. But it started raining right when we were in the front of the line, and the ride got suspended until the rain let down. But eventually, after maybe an hour, we were able to go on the ride. And I thought it was thrilling. TQ didn’t enjoy it as much as I did. Actually, I think we did Toy Story Mania after Slinky Dog. Maybe. All I know is after we left Andy’s Backyard, we made a beeline to Galaxy’s Edge to get on Rise of the Resistance. This line was unbelievably long, it felt longer than everything. But it was only about half an hour more than an hour, which was good. When we got on the ride, we were on this space shuttle, then we got kidnapped by the First Order, and we passed this giant room with Stormtroopers. Then, the First Order interrogated us, before sending us into a cell. The Resistance saves us and puts us into the ride. This was a trackless ride. And it was so much fun. It was mind blowing. Even TQ thought it was fun. There is one slight drop, but that was fun too. This whole ride was a masterpiece. Now, my Star Wars knowledge isn’t like Nam’s but I could tell what was going on. It was amazing. Any other theme park is gonna be nothing compared to Disney. After that ride it was getting dark, so we would have to do the Hollywood Tower of Terror and the Rock and Rollercoaster the second time we come here. We all talked about how amazing Rise of the Resistance was. It was pretty awesome. What did we eat that night? I think shu mai and rice and seaweed. We were all beat up and tired.  So we went to sleep, and tomorrow, we would be going to EPCOT, Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

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I woke up pretty early, probably because of time zones or whatever it is. I went through my suitcase to find the outfit of the day, but since my mother packed everything for me I could barely scramble together a decent outfit. I had the dresses that Tien gave me last night but U was saving those for Magic Kingdom. I pulled together a white shirt and my blue skirt with white flowers. Kim gave all of us bracelets that acted as bug repellent and I just put it on my ankle. While driving there I almost fell asleep, even though the drive was less than twenty minutes. When we got there we had to get cards to pass through the gate instead of an online pass. This was to my advantage because I was hoping for a card to keep for memories anyways. Since Disney is celebrating their 50th anniversary, there’s a lot of exclusive 50th Anniversary merch. The cards were also decorated accordingly, you could get one of 50 characters on it. I got Minnie, and TQ got Simba. Once we got past the gate, we were greeted by this giant tree. It wasn’t real, too green to be real, but it was huge. I grabbed a map, which I would be collecting throughout all four of the parks, also for memories. I opened the map and see four sections branches off the mainland, Discovery Island, with the Tree of Life. We first went to Pandora, from Avatar. Now, I haven’t seen Avatar in years. The one thing I remember is blue people and banshees, and the hair connecting thing. The first ride of the day, and in me and TQ’s theme park experience, was the Rite of Passage. This line was longer than any line I have ever been in. And apparently all the lines at Disney were like this. Hooray. After about an hour of waiting we went into this simulation room, where we would be experiencing riding a banshee. You sit in a chair like a bike, and the whole room moves around as a screen in front of you plays the banshee ride. It was very fun, very cool. I’m having trouble figuring out how to describe the ride, so just look it up. TQ was terrified, she closed her eyes the entire time. So afterwards we went on the only other ride in Pandora, a river ride. This line wasn’t as long as Rite of Passage but it was very close. The ride was cool though. The best thing was this very lifelike animatronic at the end of the river. My memory is a little bit hazy after that but I think we went to eat after that. And then we got ice cream. And this was the beginning of my love for Mickey Ice Cream Sandwiches. Godly. There was a kite show, with Simba, Zazu, Timon, and Pumba. Very cool. Then we went on the Mount Everest ride. TQ was very intimidated but everyone else kept telling her there were no drops, and that it was a smooth ride. At first I thought they were saying that on accident and I attempted correcting them; the Everest ride is probably the third most “scary” DisneyWorld ride. It definitely had drops, a good few of them. And I also knew that it went backwards. The power of the internet. But I realized TQ wouldn’t go on the ride if she knew about the drops so I just let the adults mess with her mind. Tien kept on saying how she’s been on the ride before and how she’s a big baby with roller coasters so it couldn’t be that bad. It was bad. I was screaming my butt off. And I think TQ was crying. After that we got Coke. Now this started a chain reaction throughout all the Disney days, we all craved the Disney Coke. They had to put drugs in it or something because it tasted so good. Towards the end of the day, we went to Dinoland to go on this dinosaur ride, but it got shut down right when we were about to get on, unfortunately. So we decided to repeat the best ride of the day, Rite of Passage in Pandora. It was kind of across the park so we had to speed walk the whole way. Oh my goodness my feet were killing me. I think my blisters had blisters it was so gross. And I was wearing Vans. TQ kept hearing all of us talking about how fun Rite of Passage was so she promised not to close her eyes this time. The line was relatively short and fast since it was near closing time. The second time on that ride was just as fun as the first time. I concluded that these long lines were all worth it. As we walked out to the car Mom Facetimed and I just smiled and waved and talked about what happened. When we get home, Uyen and Tien make rice and seaweed. I don’t know why but this whole trip everything just tasted so good. Then, I showered and TQ showered and then we ended off the day but resting our blistered feet and going to sleep.

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Mom dropped off TQ and I at the departure gate as we boarded the plane to Orlando, for the Disneyworld trip where the two of us would be supervised with Uyên, Tiên, Kim, Luân, and Annie. The plane ride was relatively fast, I didn’t get to sit next to TQ, which was fine by me. I took the window seat next to this purple haired girl and her, I’m assuming, father. I fell asleep the whole plane ride. But right before landing I woke up, I like to look at the whole city right before landing. It would’ve been more enjoyable at night, but it was still nice. Kim picked us up from the gate and the rest of the gang came in the SUV. Seven people in a five seat car wasn’t very doable. So Annie switched and sat in the back after we parked at Lotte to get food. Then we went to Target for sandals or something. And I needed pimple patches. Then we went to this hot pot  place that had robots serving you. The broth was also so good, and according to Tien, the crab was the best that she’d ever had. TQ’s teeth were causing pain so I had to cook the noodles for like thirty minutes to get them really soft and mushy for her to eat. I ate until I thought I was going to explode. Then we went to a CVS to get yogurt for TQ. After that, we went to the rental house. Located in a townhouse community. It was big enough to fit all of us and TQ and I even got our own beds so we were happy. I showered, TQ showered, Annie did my nails, and then we fell straight to sleep, we were going to Animal Kingdom for the first day of Disneyworld. How exciting.

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This morning we would be leaving the campsite and going home. TQ and I had woken up kinda late but Nana and Pappy had gotten most of the stuff packed up and ready to go. We just had to brush our teeth and put our backpacks in the truck. The dogs were in the truck with us waiting for about half an hour before we got on the road. I enjoyed the ride down because of the view once again, and because it’s easy to fall asleep in a car. We got back to the house and unpacked everything from the truck. Nana and Pappy had to wash the cars and clean the house so TQ and I just hung around. Then after lunch, which was sandwiches, we took showers and then had dinner, then ice cream for dessert. Then TQ and I brushed our teeths. And then we went to bed.

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At 9am there was gonna be another presentation at the amphitheater with a bunch of birds. The were two owls and some falcon thing. TQ and I collectively agreed that the owls were pretty creepy. There was a lot of wind that day but I actually really liked the cool breeze. I asked TQ to play cards with me, and then I realized she has so much fricking luck it’s not fair. So I just played solitaire while TQ went on and on about her whole life with her online friends and her roblox addiction. The worst part about it was that it was kind of entertaining. Lunch was more sandwiches and then we went on another walk, this one was longer than the last one but I don’t mind. TQ was still going on the rant about her online friends and it kept me entertained, still. Once we got back to the trailer Nana and Pappy took naos while I continued with solitaire and half listening to TQ, who was still ranting about online people drama. We took showers and then went back to the amphitheater where they showed a video about sheep which was kinda cool. Then we went back to the trailer to sleep. Oh by the way, Nana and Pappy slept on the bed while TQ and I slept on the dining table which was pushed down and had cushions on top.

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In the morning, we had wake up really early and quickly get our stuff together and in the truck. I usually really like driving up to the campsite because the view is very pretty and it’s mostly uneventful. We had to make a one hour stop because our campsite wasn’t ready yet which was fine by me cause I just read the entire time. And the view was over a cliff which was pretty cool. Once we got to the campsite everything was unpacked really fast since we are mega pros. Nana made us sandwiches for lunch while we ate outside. TQ and I just read while talking about whatever we were talking about. Then we went on a walk around the perimeter of the campsite, which was smaller than I thought it would be. That night, there was gonna be a presentation of some sort at the amphitheater so we all decided to go. This park ranger talked about squirrels. And some other stuff, I don’t remember all of it but trust me, I remember tomorrow morning’s presentation.

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Last Thursday ThucDan dropped off TQ and I at Nhi’s house to wait for the arrival of Nana to come kidnap us and take us with her and Pappy on their camping trip. We were only waiting there for about 30 minutes when Nana came to pick us up. She had to go to the grocery store to get, something. While we were driving I had a very faint nostalgic feeling since this was the area of my childhood home. Once we got to the house, the dogs were the same, and we just chilled until the end of the day, and we had ice cream for dessert. Very good. TQ and I would be sleeping in the office on these two air beds. The next morning we would be leaving at 4am to ride up to the campsite.

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in approximately three weeks, i will be leaving middle school and entering high school. the difference between the two is that one of them is high.

i would be lying if i said that i’m not scared but at the same time i’m pretty excited. high school can’t be that different from middle school, and if anything goes wrong i could always just toss myself off a cliff, so i would say i’m pretty prepared. my top chosen electives are culinary, asl, and dance. honestly if i really think about it, i don’t have that much to worry about. maybe i’m just dramatic.

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