Summer Vacation Part 2: Disneyland

The day finally arrived.  DISNEYLAND!

I have to start out with a story.  Everything was going smoothly.  Vita had gotten a good night sleep the night before and ate a good breakfast.  We left early and got a great parking space.  The diaper bag was packed with extra changes of clothes, snacks, diapers, etc.  We slathered on sunscreen.  We loaded everything out of the car and took the tram from the parking lot to the main gate.  We paid admission, walked through the gate, and proceeded to open up the stroller and get going... and what did we discover?  As it turned out, the stroller did not have the straps that hold the baby in place!  I must have taken them out to wash them and I never put them back in!  

Let me back up to tell you about the stroller.  I bought the stroller when I was pregnant with Vita because I assumed I needed one.  However, I NEVER used it... not even once.  I tend to use a sling for a baby, and once the baby learns how to walk they walk on their own or we carry them.  We're just not stroller people I guess.  I saved the stroller because I knew I would have another baby but I still hadn't used it with this baby either.  I was about to get rid of the thing when I remembered we were going to Disneyland and I figured this would be the one time we'd want a stroller.  So really I held on to the stroller for three years just for this one day, and when we arrive at the front gate the stroller doesn't have an essential part and cannot function.  

Fortunately, we're all good sports, so we abandoned the stroller to the lost and found, and headed into Disneyland with a three year old, a six month old, a diaper bag... and our own two arms.  We were on a mission.  We were going to have a magical day no matter what.  We didn't let it slow us down at all, and in fact it made us quite nimble when trying to maneuver through crowds.

Right inside the gate, we met Goofy and stopped for a photo.


We headed into Fantasyland first, where they have rides for the younger kids.  Can you spot Vita and I getting ready for Dumbo to lift us into the air?


There were many rides that even little Anabelle could ride (with assistance).  Here's Ernie getting her set up on the Merry Go Round.


The girls rode together and exchanged silly smiles.


Never one to pass up a photo op, we walked into this teacup.


Vita loved meeting the characters even more than going on the rides.  Here she is meeting her two favorite fairies, Videa and Tinkerbell.



Vita was excited to meet the princesses also.  She got her face painted in preparation.


They asked what two colors she wanted.  Can you guess?  Pink and hot pink.


There was a long line to meet the princesses.  Anabelle napped in my arms, and Vita made herself quite comfortable as well.


First Vita met Ariel, who she greeted with a hug.


The next princess (Sleeping Beauty?) was Vita's favorite.  In fact, I thought she might explode with happiness when Sleeping Beauty said Vita looked like she was a princess too.



Finally, Vita met Jasmine, and they danced together for a little while.


Of course, no trip to Disneyland would be complete without meeting Mickey.


By the way, Anabelle was such a trooper.  She did great all day!  She didn't cry once (unlike certain other members of our party).  She was able to go on lots of rides, she napped and ate like a champ despite the noise and distractions, and she loved everything!  I had braced myself for the worst, especially after we had to ditch the stroller... but everything went great all day!


Here's Vita posing with Winnie the Pooh...


And Tigger too!  (Unfortunately these two shots are blurry.)


We got to Disneyland at 8:30am, and Vita finally crashed at around 6:30pm.  She was asleep within five minute of starting the car, which is a good thing because we drove from Disneyland all the way back home to Santa Cruz after a very full day.  As you might expect, the girls slept great through the seven hour car ride, and somehow Ernie and I managed to stay awake and get everyone home safely.

Summer Vacation Part 1: LA

It's hard to travel far with a baby, so our summer vacation was a drive down to LA to visit Grandma Marianne, Grandpa Vito and Uncle Pat and to go to Disneyland. Vita has been very excited about all of this, and you can see her in the picture below getting ready to meet princesses.


Once we got to LA, Anabelle got acquainted with Grandma and Grandpa's house.


Vita got some baseball lessons from Uncle Pat.

And had a nice chat in the shade with Grandma Marianne.


We also spent some time just hanging out in the front yard.  Some of us were even hanging from trees.




Vita helped Grandma Marianne make dinner, and it was delicious!


And they enjoyed some snugly time as well.


Next, we went to the Natural History Museum.  Here are Ernie and Vita checking out some dinosaur bones.


And whale bones, too.

The museum also had an insect zoo.  Check out this tarantula!

Next post....  DISNEYLAND!

First word? Mama!

I believe it's time for few updates about Anabelle and her rapidly developing skills and personality.  Anabelle is getting more mobile every day, and is practically (but not quite) crawling.  She rolls and pivots and pulls and drags herself across the floor with the palms of her hands... whatever it takes to get the object she's after, or to hide from us.  She's always scooting herself underneath the furniture, as you see in the picture below.  Actual conversation: (Ernie) "Jenny, have you seen the baby?"  (Jenny) "Have you checked under the couch?"  She's such a silly girl!  Maybe she'll be a cave explorer when she grows up.


She's also happy and giggly almost all the time.  She sits up, and tries to stand, and she loves to play with anything and everything.  She loves her toys, but she also loves anything else just as much... such as a crinkled up piece of paper, a sock, a cell phone, or anything dangerous or expensive.


Finally, she's starting to get close to talking.  In fact, she's saying "mama", and even though she might just be exploring how to make sounds, or mimicking the words we say, I like to think she does know what she's saying, and I'm counting this as her first word especially since she says mama a lot now (particularly when she's hungry).  She also says "gaga" "baba" "lala" and a few other silly baby babble sounds.

May Days

These days, as Anabelle gets bigger, knows how to sit up, rolls all over the place, and is almost crawling, she is much less fragile and Vita gets to play and interact with her more.  They hug and play and laugh all the time.


Anabelle looks so cute in Vita's old hand me downs.  These pajamas bring me right back to Vita's baby days and I remember so many snugly bedtime routines in these.  This developmental phase, right around six months, is SO much fun.


Anabelle is also starting to expand her vocabulary of noises.  Although she still loves blowing raspberries, she's also starting to say things that are a little closer to words.  Lately she loves making "g" sounds, mostly "ga ga ga ga ga..."  Anabelle is also eating more new kinds of foods, and we try a new food every few days.  She loves to eat.  

Do you see the puffy, swollen gums inside this mouth?  I think a tooth is starting to work it's way out, and it's keeping Anabelle up a lot at night lately.


Vita has as much fun with Anabelle's toys as she does with her own.  She loves to show Anabelle how you're supposed to play with things, and Anabelle loves to watch her big sister.  In fact, I don't think there is anything Anabelle loves more than when she has Vita's full undivided attention.

This Sunday, Grandma Victoria came over with an old friend of hers and we all had a blast.

Here's Vita doing Jacky's hair.

Finally, our BIG news is that we just adopted four baby chicks, just a few days old.  They are so sweet, and they already have distinct personalities.  You can already start to see who is at the top of the pecking order, which chick is smartest, and who's the sweetest, too.  From left to right, they are: "Heart Pumpkin" (named by Vita), "Lucile" (named by Jenny), "Skeeter" and "Professor Cluck" (both named by Ernie).

Here's a close up of Lucile.

And another of Professor Cluck, looking quite distinguished indeed.

Fun in the Backyard

It was a warm spring weekend here in Santa Cruz, so Ernie and Vita decided to have a camp out in the backyard on Friday night.  Here they are setting up.

Ernie and Vita built a campfire, toasted s'mores, and had a great time.  However, it wasn't quite warm enough for Anabelle, so Anabelle and I stayed inside and had a cozy and snugly night of our own.  Here's our view of the backyard setup.

On Sunday, we filled up the kiddie pool for the first time this season, and headed back into the yard for more fun.  Anabelle wore this cute little swimsuit that Vita once wore... and seeing Anabelle in this same suit (and same hat) was like going back in time to Vita's baby days.


After a few hours splashing and playing, we had some watermelon in the shade.  The perfect end to a perfect weekend.