The Living Desert

Last month our home school group took a trip to The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert. We had a great time.

They have a neat butterfly exhibit where you can go in and butterflies land right on you. While Michelle is way too much for butterflies, Catherine made some new friends.

And we got a lot of great pictures.

Michelle also got to ride a camel. She loved it.

And feed the giraffes. Again, loved it.

There was so much to see and do there. It was great. The weather was nice. The people were friendly. We were the only school group that day and it wasn’t crowded.

I tried to take Charlie on the carousel, but he did not seem to like it.

On the way home we stopped and got pizza for dinner, which made David happy.

Just another day of making memories.

Mickey's Christmas Carol

Every year since we have had our Disneyland Annual Passports, we go at Christmas time and enjoy the holiday atmosphere. This year was no different.

We met up with Mary, Tonya and Abby at Disneyland one afternoon and it was a great day. First we watched the parade. Michelle loves parades.

I love Disneyland at the holidays. The Haunted Mansion is transformed into The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Jungle Cruise becomes The Jingle Cruise. It’s A Small World gets a holiday theme and a break from that annoying song. It is awesome.

But this year we skipped all that for one thing.

This thing.

Michelle wanted to meet Princess Elena. Princess Elena was there as part of Viva Navidad at the California Adventure.

I waited in line for 50 minutes for this.

It was worth it.

Anyway, we walked around a bit and checked out booths they had set up with holiday foods from other cultures. We tried kugel from the Jewish booth and Michelle made a paper dreidel. We tried curry from the India booth and Michelle colored a Diwali card and made a paper lantern. We tried lamb from a Middle Eastern booth and Michelle made Christmas cards. It was fun.

We walked around and looked in the shops at all the fun holiday stuff.

Disney days are always good days.

Sing For The Moment

Yesterday my Aunt Sherri and Lin took Catherine, Michelle and me to see Sing. It was pretty cute. It was no Disney movie, but it wasn’t the worst movie I ever saw in a theater. (FYI… The worst movie I ever saw in a theater was Drop Dead Fred.)

Michelle liked the gorilla that sang. I was more partial to the pigs. Catherine liked the porcupine.

I give it a 3 out of five.

The best part was spending time with family. Especially since today my Aunt Sherri is undergoing knee replacement surgery.

We are sending her lots of love and healing thoughts.

A New Year

6 years ago I started a new job that would forever change the ideas I had of what I was going to do with my life. I was excited to begin and learn. Excited about the opportunities it was bringing to my family.

6 years can really change things.

I still have the same job. I no longer am excited. I am usually frustrated by the whole thing. I used to care about my coworkers and now I find a lot of them are no better than inmates themselves. I don’t see good in people. I see inmates.

Not too long ago, I decided to go ahead and try and remove that awful negative part of my existence. Nope, I am not going to get a new job. This one does still provide for my family and provides a lot of great benefits. I just am choosing to not focus on my work.

It made me laugh, because it made me think of it like a call girl and “you are just a paycheck to me”.

It’s just a paycheck.

This is not my life; this is how I pay for my life.

And truthfully, I have a pretty awesome life.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

When we took Carolynn on her graduation trip, it was a special day for another one of our daughters as well.

It was Michelle’s first visit to Disneyland.

She got her First Visit Button and wore it proud.

She seemed very excited when we got there. She was already pretty excited on the way because she thought we were going to the zoo. (She remembered the last long trip we took was the week before when we went to the San Diego Zoo.) Then we were in the parking lot and there were Donald Duck signs everywhere. (We parked on the Donald Duck level.) She got more and more excited as we rode the tram. (TRAIN!)

Mary and Tonya and the kids also have annual passports and they joined us on our adventure. Michelle didn’t want to get back in the stroller so she was holding hands as we walked to the front gates. She could see Mickey Mouse signs and all the Disney everywhere.

We finally get in and we see Donald Duck. She is a big fan. I pointed him out to her and she looked shocked. She froze and gave a little wave. But she didn’t want to go near him. Then a short distance away, we see Mickey Mouse. The same reaction; she waved. But then she saw Minnie Mouse.

And her whole life changed.

She tried to run over to her, but there was a line. David took her to get in line and I went to buy her a hat. I came back and found them still in line. But Michelle was a crying, sobbing, inconsolable mess. I had never seen such a melt down from her.

What was wrong?

In between sobs…

I wanna hug Minnie Mouse.
I love her.
I miss her.
I said please.

OMG Kid.

Waiting is not something she ever had to do before.

Finally it is her turn.

She runs to Minnie, stops half way, and comes back. She takes my hand and walks over to Minnie and gives her a hug. Minnie wipes her little tears and Michelle is very happy. She wave good bye to Minnie and her life is complete.

I was not sure what she was going to do next, so I send everyone else off to ride rides and I walk with her slowly down Main Street. She is happily looking in shops and walking along. David calls and says he and the rest of the group were in line for Pirates of the Carribean. Okay, let’s go try that.

I find them and the wait isn’t bad. She is standing in line with “her people”. (Whenever we were not together she started asking where here people were.) We got in the boat and she sat on my lap. She seemed excited for a boat ride.

She sat quietly until all of the sudden the boat drops down a bit of a waterfall. She yelled “Wee Haaa!” Until water splashed her. She doesn’t like water splashing her. She cried a little. At another point it looks like the boat is going to go through a waterfall. She didn’t not like that. But the water didn’t get her and she was fine.

She did spend the rest of the day singing…

Yo ho, yo ho… A pirate’s life for me.

Next we went to the Haunted Mansion. The elevator ride at the beginning scared her. Thunder is loud and it goes dark and there is a scream. She calmed down and got on the ride. And she liked the ghosts. She has been telling us how much she likes ghosts ever since.

We took the train around to Toon Town. Michelle left her cuppie in the car so we went to find her a new one. They all had straws. She hadn’t mastered straws yet. But that was all they had. So we got her one shaped like Mickey and figured she could at least try it. She figured it out in a hurry. (Now I can’t keep her out of my drinks.)

While in Toon Town, we went to Mickey’s House. She liked checking it out and we waited in line to meet the mouse in person. She was getting tired by then and didn’t really want to go to him. One of the cast members took out picture. The rest of “our people” were riding a nearby roller coaster.

Michelle was sound asleep as soon as we got her back into the stroller. She napped while Tonya, David, and the bigger kids rode down Splash Mountain. I stayed with Mary and shared some ice cream with the non-splashers.

We split up after that and found Carolynn and headed out to eat. Michelle liked the Rainforest Café. Monkeys came to life over our table and they had pizza. Life was good.

After we ate, we met up with Mary and Tonya and the kids in the California Adventure. We rode a Little Mermaid ride that Michelle loved. We walked around and looked at all the cool stuff. Mary and Tonya took her to play games. She won some fabulous prizes.

We rode the Ferris Wheel. She wasn’t a huge fan of being up high. But as long as it was moving she was okay. She was getting tired.

She relaxed in her stroller as we explored Cars land; which is awesome and looks just like Radiator Springs. We were done for the night. We went to find Carolynn and head home. We watched the fireworks show and drove home. She was asleep before we left the parking lot.

And it is all she talks about since.

Can we go to Mickey Mouse’s house?

Can we see Pirates? Yo ho, yo ho…

Let’s go see Minnie.

We can’t wait for our next trip.

Wordless Wednesday

Wow. It has been a long time...

Picnic Day
June 2014
Apple Valley, California

March Of The Elephants

A few weeks ago we took a trip to the San Diego Zoo. We had memberships that were about to expire, so we wanted to get one last visit in.

We had been several times throughout the year to the zoo and to the Wild Animal Park. But Michelle never really cared or understood.

Now she knew. We told her we were going to see animals. She assumed we must be going to the jungle. She named all the animals she wanted to see.

Elephants
Giraffes
Tigers
Bears
Hippos
Rhinos

She chatted about it happily all the way there.

The first animals we saw when we arrive were koalas. She was surprised that there were no windows between her and them. They were just sitting in trees eating leaves. Right there.

Next we saw a cheetah. She loved the cheetah. She waved at it and was excited. She was excited for everything.

Rhinos!

Giraffes!

Birds!

But mostly she wanted to see the elephants.

So we went to the elephants. And she was so excited. She stood right up on the fence and watched them. She dragged everyone over to look.

After a small crying spell, we finally got her to leave the elephants.

She liked all the animals she saw and she had a great day. I am hoping we will get memberships again and we can take her to enjoy the animals more.

Sick

Everyone got sick.

Catherine had it. She was in her room coughing and sniffling and falling asleep at 2:00 in the afternoon.

David had it. He was in bed coughing and blowing his nose feeling miserable for days.

I had it. Coughing for days. Endless tissues. Nyquil to the rescue.

Michelle had it. Snot running down her face, humidifier in her room constantly. Lots of wiping. Lots of naps. Lots of cuddles.

Somehow though, Carolynn is fine.

I want her immunity.

Letting Go

We brought our little Pooky home almost 9 months ago. I can not believe it has been that long. She is growing up way too fast. Every time I pack up more of the stuff she has outgrown, I feel a little sad. I had to raise the bouncer seat up a notch. I put the baby tub away. She is getting too big for her infant car seat. My baby is such a big girl.

The saddest thing, what I was not ready to do, Michelle has given up nursing. She has been fighting with me for a few weeks. She pushes and fidgets and bites. She has no interest. I tried feeding her in quiet places. Tried waiting for her to get tired. She fights.

I don't want too see her hungry. So today, we have switched to formula. Last night we cuddled and said goodbye to nursing. I only cried a little.

It is a good thing. Michelle won't be so cranky. I won't have her attached to me at inconvenient times.

I can wear real bras again. I don't have to wear nursing friendly tops.

I can do this.

But why do they have to grow up so fast?

Lovie

When Carolynn was a baby, she had this stuffed Lambchop doll that went everywhere with her. As a matter of fact, one of her first words was "Chop". Then there was her blankie, she called it her "Key". It has Bugs Bunny on it and she got it for her first birthday. She still sleeps with it. She is almost 17.

Catherine had Cow. A raggedy old stuffed cow she got when she was five. I think she still sleeps with it. Then came Cow Jr., Cowalina.... You get the idea. There are quite a few.

Michelle is 6 months old now. She has always been fascinated with red things. She has a giant Clifford doll she loves. But being a big red dog... It is the same size as her. My friends Adrienne and Serenity gave her a Minnie Mouse doll at her baby shower. It is wearing a red dress with a red bow. And it is just the right size. She carries it about. She chews on it. She snuggles it. I buy her new stuff and she still reaches for Minnie. Crunchy, crusty old Minnie.


Today we went down to the Disney store to find her a new dress to wear for pictures. I bought her some new dolls. I picked up a second Minnie and packed it away, just in case.

Wordless Wednesday

See more Wordless Wednesday here.

Sweet Potato Time
January 2013
Apple Valley, California