Grandma's Big Birthday Weekend

When Grandma's birthday rolled around, It certainly was a big weekend - not because of a milestone birthday (which it was) but because we had a full schedule on the books. Thursday was Grandma's birthday so we had to go to Disneyland to celebrate. We still couldn't convince the girls to go on Pirates "even for Grandma's birthday, pretty pleeeease?" But Grampa went with her and we all savored carved sandwiches at the River Belle Terrace, and enjoyed the Tiki Room and a few other attractions before the evening was out.

Saturday was the day for the family to share their birthday wishes and enjoy a delicious dinner at a cute retro table courtesy of Uncle Mike and Aunt Charlotte. It was especially nice to see how Kaitlyn had grown since we had seen her last. We think Grandma enjoyed having her grandkids around her just a little bit.

Sunday morning, we picked up Grandma for a fun morning in Hollywood. We had theatre tickets to see the newly remastered "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" at the El Capitan. Our VIP experience allowed us to enjoy popcorn and drinks in reserved seats in the orchestra section. Often, the previews are almost as good as the feature and in this case we were given 3D glasses just to watch one preview. (Apparently we were supposed to deposit them in some receptacle on the way out but Mom missed that part - so we have a few nice pairs at home)

The movie itself was amazing! Of course we knew how it was going to turn out, but on the big screen it was pretty powerful stuff. One anecdote from a Walt Disney biography has an eyewitness account of seeing Clark Gable weeping at the premiere when the dwarfs were keeping watch over a poisoned Snow White. After seeing it in this format, it's easy to believe. As always, the audience applauded and cheered at the end of the film.

We carefully made our way over and past the children scrambling to gather the confetti that had been released at the beginning of the movie, to the Soda Fountain for lunch and ice cream. We even surprised Grandma with a souvenir Snow White photo from the printing kiosk in the store. While everyone was eating, Mom hopped over to the kiosk with camera's memory card, added a border, pressed print and voila! one perfectly captured memory. You know, when we suggested the stack of plans to Grandma, we expected her to be tired of seeing us but it doesn't seem to have been the case.

My First.....

Scrapbookers are crazy people. Mom is hereby including herself in that category though she hasn't officially become one with the collective. She's ready though - learning to record our little lives by taking pictures of everything. When each girl needed an inhaler for bad colds, we joked about the missing entry in the baby books - "My first steroid". Well, Hallie had an experience that created the need for a new entry. My first broken bone. Or, shall we say, bones.

Good timing, too-about a week before the start of school. Chalk up another statistic with an accident in the home. She tripped and fell, landing on her foot as if she was going en pointe. Within a millisecond of her foot realizing it was not the foot of a prima ballerina, her toes crumpled beneath her, and all her weight. It was obvious it hurt, though she recovered quickly enough with the frozen corn on her foot. She also tolerated Mom poking around to isolate the area of injury, asking her to curl her toes, etc.

Thanks to Dad's horrible hand break of 1991, Mom had that much more to consider in terms of the gazillion tarsals that could be damaged. So, a call to the peds office allowed her to be squeezed in, a call from the ped to radiology to stay open for her and an x-ray confirmed 3 broken toes. This resulted (though 2 days later) in a visit to the traveling children's orthopedist for a cast. We're quite sure that, at this point, Hallie was proud of her wound and excited about a cast (Something along the lines of her pride in being toothless for picture day last year.) Ah yes, a cast that would be on for four weeks, followed by four weeks of taking it easy. Oh, did we forget to mention that soccer was starting and 2nd grade meant 2nd story classroom? So, her teacher, and a few others, learned how to use the elevator and Hallie read a LOT. As far as soccer was concerned she couldn't play for at least half the season. Consequently, people were stunned that we weren't trying to get our money back. Apparently, having her dress, hand out snacks and cheer on (oh, and be part of) the team was a waste of some kind? Don't get us started. She was a great sport from the get go and never once complained about having to wake up and go to a game she couldn't play.

Well, the cast has come off just in time for her to walk around Disneyland for Grandma's free birthday and she looks and gets around just fine. It's going to be very hard for her to take it easy without that weighted reminder but she likes to read during recess and sit and chat with the PE teachers. 4 more weeks til soccer!!!

(By the way, Dad actually took all these shots for posterity)

Fun in the Sun?

We gave ourselves an entire day to rest up from Anna's birthday stuff before heading down to San Diego for our usual stay. We cut it a bit short this time but had a great time - and a different time. It was a perfect week in terms of crowds but not for weather as it turned out, so we missed out on the beach and swimming. Who would have expected to be driving around in the rain in August? Food was disappointing this trip too but, at the same time, we hit all the places we've talked about for years and now know we don't have to be in any hurry to get back. Oh well, the rest was really great!

Our plan was to arrive at our leisure and visit the Night Zoo (it has improved greatly since we first attended years ago). Even in San Diego, an August day can just be too hot for a day at the zoo but the evening was perfect for checking out the new Elephant Odyssey exhibit. We even ate dinner watching the elephants have theirs. The girls were particularly intrigued by the fact that our utensils were made out of potato (completely degradable). The focus of the exhibit is Southern California's past and how it relates to today so there were a variety of fossil replicas and life sized models of animals. The live animals are the close relatives of the prehistoric ones on display. Having grown up taking many visits to the Page Museum and Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles (so admittedly, being a bit of a snob about it, but NOT being an expert, Mom thought it was a nice display that summed up the key points while really tying it to the here and now. We especially appreciated the little pillars that held examples of what made up the sediments of the soil over time. Back then - all natural. Now - plastic, paper, trash. It delivered the message for sure. The girls really took away a lot from the whole exhibit - though the fascination with the Dung Beetle was a little stronger than we had hoped (as evidenced by their interpretation of this stone feature at Legoland). They did learn about the elephants though and enjoyed the displays. It was particularly enjoyable to listen to big sister read to little sister! And...we made sure to head out in time to make it to the Moo Time Creamery in Coronado for the BEST ice cream flavors EVER. Well, mine were anyway. Dark Raspberry Chip and Double Chocolate. Mmmmmmmm!!

Personalize your own free photo book

The next day found us at Legoland to meet Granny and Grandpa. It was an experience for all of us since they had never been and we hadn't been since they opened 10 years ago. The girls loved it and wanted to know when we were coming back before we were half way through our day. There was much more to the park than when it first opened and we steered clear of the area with the swim-suited children and all the splashing. But, we were glad to see that there were more lego structures in the Mini-land USA area and that the favorite little rides and play areas that we remembered were still there. As it turned out, those areas were the girls' favorites anyway. The new Sea Life Aquarium was a great addition to the park - small but had a fun design and a fact hunt to keep visitors busy. We also managed to get away having purchased nothing more than photos of the family and a couple postcards for the scrapbook. Well, OK. That and a Princess Leia key chain for Mike and a Wookiee key chain for me.

This free picture slideshow created with Smilebox

The next day's plans got called on account of rain. No beach, no pool. We did check out a restaurant that was featured in a segment of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - The Studio Diner and were lucky enough to hit just before the work week lunch rush. We only had to wait a few minutes. Because we felt we should we ordered a Reuben and a Monte Cristo. One of his didn't finish and the girls actually had the rest of the Monte Cristo for breakfast the next morning. Good stuff. Not great - diner food - but good and we can say we've been. Later, the weather did clear up enough for the fireworks to go off at the local venues. Our room faced them so we turned out the lights and watched a couple free fireworks shows before bed.

As always, we would have liked to stay longer but the prospect of trying to do things on Saturday and Sunday sort of defeated the purpose of being there crowd free so we headed back. The prospect of dinner at Lucille's (complete with biscuits and apple butter) on the way home made it a little easier to accept.

What Will We Celebrate Next?

If you know us at all, you know we are rule followers. Rarely bend 'em, kills us to break 'em. So, yes, we could have snuck our petite 3 year old into Disneyland for a few free trips, right? Ummm, no. If you know our kids, you know they speak plainly, often and well. What really would be the liklihood that we could get through the gate saying, "uh..she's two." (Miss "I'll be three in August"). Not a chance. So, the birthday gift card went towards her own pass - a piece of plastic, I might add, that has been anticipated as though it were a rite of passage.

The special event for the day was to eat at Ariel's Grotto where we would be dined in style and greeted by a parcel of princesses. Granted, we don't get out much, but the good Disney food is VERY good. Yep, you pay for it but you talk about it for a while - in a good way. And, the nice thing about the place is that you don't have to dress up and everybody else is taking pictures of their food too. These dining experiences run like a well oiled machine, too. Photo opp timed with seating, food timed with princess arrival, etc. The princesses don't spend a lot of time at each table but certainly enough. The dessert platter comes, as does a little treat with a candle, and the experience is over. The photos (at extra cost) are brought to your table and you're on your way.This day, we met up with Grandma and Grampa to help us celebrate. It was almost a routine - the month prior, Grampa had his free day and just a couple of weeks ago we enjoyed a day with Grammie for her birthday. We were becoming pros at navigating the birthday perks! True, we can't tell you much about what we rode in the park because it's so routine but that time together laughing and playing will be remembered forever.

Brought To You By The Number 3

Last year we wondered if we could get Anna to switch from saying "I'm 2 in August" once the birthday actually arrived. After that celebration anyone who asked how old she was was told "I'm 2 but I will be 3." The rest of the year showed the added days of maturity as those who asked were met with the response "I'll be 3 in August." And, not expecting an actual answer, they would be a little impressed when they were told the correct date. Not only that but as the day grew closer, she told everyone that she was going to Disneyland on her birthday which, of course, was true (hey we're not gonna pass up the opportunity to get some of our money back from the Mouse-but more about that later).

This year we gathered on the weekend before her birthday to celebrate Sesame Street style. With a large family and a menu of pizza, pasta, salad and cake, what more could we need? Lucky for Mom, the schoolwork was all done so she could give the party some personal touches in the form of invitations and favors. Lucky again that a rainbow cast of characters makes it easy to decorate. As always, the cake shop did a fabulous job too. To finish off the afternoon one little monster opened gifts while the other little monster looked on (and helped a little).

Anna was so excited about all of her gifts - from clothes to toys to books - that we had to tell her exactly when we could open and use each thing. Not only did she get a little bit of everything at the party, but she got a gift card for Toys R us as well. She took quite a bit of time considering all her options. Mom's only rule (other than age appropriateness, of course) is that the store be given the once over before any decisions are made. She, like her sister, is so pleasant in this type of situation. She asks if she has enough for ____________ and if we say "no, but it might be something to put on the Christmas list", she moves on. no begging, no crying, no expecting. Lucky Mom and Dad again. The choice was made with the selection of a "Barbie as TV chef" play set and the birthday was complete. Well, except for that trip to Disneyland. Stay tuned.......