Our Last Day

I have a vacation hangover. Mia and I both caught Gavin's chest cold and I feel like crap. I decided to spend the afternoon looking through my photos from our last day in San Diego rather than at the snow on our front lawn. Mother Nature insists on torturing me.

We spent Saturday in our familiar stomping grounds, La Jolla. We spent the afternoon at La Jolla Shores and headed to Nana and Papa's for dinner. As always, the kids had a fabulous time on the beach. The weather was a bit cool but they didn't notice. They worked on their sand castles and before long Tristan and Jolie were swimming in the ocean. Our land-locked garage houses two boogie boards so they have to put them to use when they have the opportunity. I also enjoyed watching Mia play in the surf, running away from the waves as they rolled in.

Dinner at my dad and Nancy's was a highlight. We had pizza off the grill (if you haven't tried it you're missing out), a great salad and brownie sundaes. The kids hit the hot tub and caught up with Nana in the kitchen. We love being invited to their place!

The Sun is Our Friend

Gavin has been asking questions lately about the sun. What would happen if the sun exploded? What would happen if the sun burnt out? How many million degrees is the sun? Being the excellent physicist that I am, my standard reply is that the sun is our friend. There would be no life as we know it without her.

There's nothing that reinforces the value of the sun more than living in a cold climate during a long, never-ending winter. That's why we come to places like this in April (The Welk Resort, Fallbrook/Escondido area). We like it here because there's a lot to do and it's HOT. We were here three years ago at spring break and we noticed it was a good 10 degrees warmer than being right on the coast. Perfect for April if you want to swim and hang out at the pool.

Disneyland

We spent yesterday at the Happiest Place on Earth. This was no casual day in Disneyland. We went with a plan and a purpose. We had just one day (more about that later) so we had to make the best of it. We got up at 5:00 am, left just before 6:00 and were standing at the turnstiles before the park opened. We met up with Grandma and Aunt Lisa in Fantasyland and with Dan and Grandpa just in time for Pirates of the Carribean (they ran into some problems parking.) We were able to ride several rides and get some valuable FastPasses before the park got CRAZY busy. We partied all day long and finally left about 10:00 pm as the fireworks were going off. We all fell asleep within minutes of our heads hitting our pillows around 11:30. What a day!

We booked this vacation through our timeshare exchange in protest to not getting our exchange for Hawaii (we ended up having to rent a Marriott timeshare in Kauai). I challenged the guy on the phone to find us a place in SoCal over spring break. He came through so we scheduled it. That was last year about this time. A few months ago we heard about Disney and their "Give a Day, Get a Day" promotion. We each did volunteer work (we made blankets for Project Linus) and got a free pass to Disneyland. So despite the spring break crowds and the hour and a half drive, it was a great opportunity.

Now onto the hightlights:

Tristan: Indiana Jones (he got to be in the driver seat of our Jeep), Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Tristan also got a big rush out of being our runner for FastPasses. Throughout the day we sent him across the park with our entrance passes and a cell phone to get FastPasses to use later when the lines were long. I think it made him feel very grown up to do this on his own.

Jolie: The "teacups" continue to be Jolie's favorite. She's our notorious scaredy cat. I'm actually starting to wonder if she has a legitimate fear of heights. I've learned not to push it. Later in the evening we split up and I took Mia, Gavin and Jolie to Mickey's Toontown because Jolie wanted to ride little kid rides with Mia. When we got there we disovered there was only one actual ride. It was a little roller coaster. During our 45 minute wait to get on the ride I could see that Jolie was getting more and more nervous but we were too far in to get out. We stayed through the line but opted out when it was time to climb in the car. We did end up meeting Mickey Mouse in Toontown and had our photo taken with him, so I guess it wasn't a total waste.

Gavin: Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Mansion. I loved watching him on his second trip through the Haunted Mansion. He was mesmerized! I'm not sure if it's his BIG imagination that made that ride a hit or if he was fascinated with trying to figure it all out. Gavin is also a thrill seeker. He went on absolutely everything (Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, Thunder Mountain...) I'm still trying to figure out how a kid can be afraid of the Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp and can't watch Finding Nemo but is ok to have ghosts flying all around him and can go down roller coasters in the dark. It's all quite baffling to me.

Mia: The moon and the dancing girls in Small World, the teacups (we had to get back in line after Dan told us to go ahead without her the first time around), King Arthur's Carosel and the CONCEPT of meeting Mickey Mouse. Ask her what happened when she saw him up close and personal and she'll tell you... she "FREAKED OUT".

Grandpa: The Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room

Grandma: Small World and avoiding lines by sitting with Mia.

Lisa: (I need to ask her)

Dan: Splash Mountain (anyone have a petition for bringing back "Song of the South?") He also enjoyed pointing out that we were in the Happiest Place on Earth every time a kid melted down or there was unease in the universe.

Me: "It's a world of laughter, a world of tears. It's a world of hopes and a world of fears..." Did you know they've redone Small World? It's even better than it was before. My #2 favorite is Splash Mountain (we got stuck halfway up the big hill due to mechanical issues) and ofcourse just watching everyone have a magical time. That's always the best part.

Earthquake!

Yesterday we'd just been in San Diego for a few hours when the big 7.2 earthquake hit Baja. We had just checked into our place and Dan and the kids and I were in our living room/kitchen area. We're on the upper floor with windows all along the back wall that look over the golf course. Everything started rattling & shaking & swaying and it continued for what seemed like a long time. (One minute doesn't seem like a long period of time unless you spend the whole thing wondering if the ceiling is going to fall on you and crush you.) It was Dan who first realized it was an earthquake. My first instinct was to get everyone under a table or doorway. Dan had the better instict of getting us all outside. I need to re-program my brain against what I was taught in school (get under your desk). Anyway, no damage here but it was pretty scarry for a few minutes.

We've been getting after-shocks as well. They only last for a few seconds but it's weird to be lying in bed and feel like you're on a wave. I felt two or three last night, one of them was during the middle of the night and it woke me up. I probably should have followed my mom's advice and put shoes next to my bed. The thing is, if there were a big one during the night, my feet would be the last thing I'd be worried about.

April Fools!

No, this is not an April Fool's prank. This is the view from our front porch today. I'm not joking.

There was no shortage of pranks around here today. We were having so much fun playing April Fool's jokes that we were late leaving for school. Each year we get a little more sophisticated. This morning we found celophane taped over the toilets (Jolie), tissue paper stuffed into shoes (Tristan), Jolie and a classmate have been scheming for weeks in order to prank their teacher, and after Tristan and Jolie were off to school Gavin used April Fools Day as an excuse to do all sorts of naughty things, mostly to me. We'd gone outside to take a couple photos of the snow and I found myself locked out of the house (I was in my robe). He also soaked baby wipes in ice cold water and stuffed them into my shoes and he put celophane inside the computer (???). I was surprised when Fruit Loops came out of the Corn Flakes box a little later on (Jolie).

There's been no shortage of surprises today!

Happy V Day

Happy Zillionth Day of Winter!

We celebrated the zillionth day of winter this week by firing up the jet bath. I don't know that Mia has ever had the experience. You have to be pretty hardy to be in there. The water is deep and the bubbles even deeper when you mix bubble bath and high speed jets! Add Mr. Gavin doing cannonballs and it was quite an experience (Gavin's idea of a cannonball, at least in the tub, amounted to him sliding off the steep incline directly into the deep water and yelling "cannonball!" There's no doubt that Mia's going to be a tough little chick.

But then again, watching her in nursery, we already know that.

Sisters

Mia adores her sister. She follows her around when she's home and asks about her when she's gone. Yesterday Mia started crying when Jolie left for school. We usually drive Tristan and Jolie to school in the morning but yesterday my dad picked them up because he was going their way. Mia was absolutely heartbroken to see them walk out the door!

Jolie also jumps at the chance to play the role of adoring sister. It usually takes me a couple minutes to get to Mia when I hear her on the monitor. Jolie, on the other hand, jumps up the minute she hears her, "I'll get her!" Jolie has a special motherly voice she uses with Mia (for which I'm grateful because she often wakes up grouchy). She's always loved showing Mia off. When we've gone to help in her classroom she's paraded her around like her proudest possession. All the other little girls have played right along, oohh-ing and ahh-ing and telling Jolie how cute her little sister is.

Mia also loves to dress up in Jolie's clothes. He favorites are the ballet outfits. Not long ago, Mia actually pulled Jolie's skirt off her body after she arrived home from ballet (and immediately put it on herself). I'm constantly finding Jolie's shoes in the middle of the floor. When it's the snow boots I know that Jolie left them there. When it's her sparkly or fancy ones or her soccer cleats, I know Mia's been playing dress up.

How exactly Felicity (Jolie's $100 American Girl doll) obtained her recent hair cut, is still somewhat of a mystery. Jolie swears that she didn't do it. She blames her little sister. Although it seems to be something Jolie would be tempted to do, she's never lied to me so I tend to believe her. Mia, on the other hand, when asked about the incident, took full responsibility. (Then again, if you were to ask her if she shot Lee Harvey Oswald she'd take responsibility for that, too.) Nonetheless, I think this may be a case of one sister covering for the other.

*Photo taken the Sunday before Christmas. We came home from church early because one sister had a meltdown and the other is 100% unruly on a good Sunday*

Who Else Would Allow This?

Yes, this is my living room. And yes, that's newspaper, timothy hay, brussels sprouts and two guinea pigs (whom, in case you're not familiar with the species, poop a little black pellet every 10 seconds).

I think the fact that I didn't freak out when I came upon this scene this afternoon, not to mention the fact that I allowed it to continue, qualifies me for mother of the year.