SoCal! Disneyland and Newport Harbor

BOY were we excited to take Valerie to Disneyland! We knew we had to take her this year while we are (just barely) within driving distance of Disneyland in Anaheim, California and she is at the age where it's all real and magical. We had talked to some family at Sara and Dannon's wedding back in October about our plans, Tom and Karen, and they enthusiastically offered to have us stay with them in Mission Viejo. We gladly accepted their offer and determined the last weekend of February would be a good time to go.

We picked Valerie up from school on Friday and started driving right around the evening rush hour, in hopes of making it to their house not too long past midnight. It's a six hour drive without traffic, and rush hour added about 45 minutes to the trip, plus we stopped for dinner at Ginger Cafe in Gilroy. The drive was pretty smooth once we got south of San Jose, although it was very dark (I hate driving in the dark since I got LASIK - I see big halos).  Rich thankfully took over the second half of the driving.

We woke up on Saturday morning to sunshine, palm trees, and a gloriously beautiful SoCal day! It was absolutely perfect for Disneyland, about 75 and sunny. Unfortunately, the entire population of California, all 40 million of them, also thought it was a perfect day for Disneyland. So much for a random February weekend not being too crowded. I'd hate to see what it's like on a peak summer day. My god. The crowds.

We had a nice big breakfast with Tom and Karen at home and then we got ourselves ready for the day and headed out. It was about a 30 minute drive, plus the slow crawl into the parking lot, where we had our first taste of being herded like cattle. Finally, around 11 am we were there!! We brought the stroller since we knew Valerie wasn't going to make it through the whole day walking. She tires easily. I also had Minnie Mouse ears for her to wear, but she wasn't interested in keeping those on, so we never did get a picture with those.

 

Our first sighting in the park was Belle, meeting a long line of fans just inside the gate. At first we just walked in and took in the sights. People, characters, balloons, storefronts, the castle which I learned is not Cinderella's castle like the one at Disney World, but Sleeping Beauty's. We caught a bit of an abbreviated live action Frozen show, and then got in line to meet the princesses in the Royal Hall. We got super lucky and got in line before it got very long, and it was definitely a highlight of the day. Valerie was scared at first, but the first princess in the hall was Belle, and she did a wonderful job making Valerie feel comfortable enough to smile and get a hug and a picture. The next princess was her favorite.... Cinderella, who was also wonderful and gentle and chatted with Valerie about her mice friends hidden all over the park. The third was Snow White, who was a little too in character and scared Valerie with her startlingly high pitched voice.

  Next Rich and Valerie got in line to ride King Arthur's carousel, the first ride of the day, and then we "pulled the sword from the stone."

After that it was time to find some lunch, and we had a cafeteria-style meal at the Plaza Inn, where I got a plateful of extremely overpriced spaghetti and Rich got fried chicken meals for himself and Valerie, who did not remotely need an entire meal for herself. I nearly passed out at the amount of food we threw away but I pulled myself together and tried to let it go, in the spirit of Elsa.

We walked around some more, despaired at the monstrous lines for everything, walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle, and rode the Mad Tea Party teacups. We wanted to meet Mickey and Minnie in Mickey's Toontown but the lines were so long we gave up and went to see a show instead - Mickey and the Magical Map, which was great, and we all enjoyed sitting down.

 

  

 

After that we tried to get Valerie to nap in her stroller, to no avail. We gave up on that and headed to Main street to get ice cream before Mickey's Soundsational Parade, which again was awesome. The highlights of the day were definitely the shows, parades and fireworks. Disney knows how to put on a show, there's no denying that.

We then got in line to ride the Flying Dumbos and the sun went down while we stood in that line. We squeezed the three of us into a dumbo for our third and final ride of the day, and then went out to Downtown Disney outside the park to find beers. The lines and crowds were really starting to wear us out. We each drank a nice cold, refreshing beer to help us gather our strength for fighting the crowds once more, and we went back in to find a spot to watch the Paint the Night parade and the Disneyland Forever fireworks show.

There were no spots to be found. We circled and circled and finally squeezed into a spot on the ground behind several tightly packed rows of people. By this time Valerie had passed out in the stroller and we let her rest for half an hour til the parade started.

I woke her up to watch the parade, which, of course, was totally worth it. Amazing lighting, costumes, sound, music, dancing, moving floats... an epic display. We loved the parade, and the final fireworks show was absolutely spectacular. I can't even imagine the budget for these shows and all the special effects. Just wow. It was really worth battling the crowds and staying for.

As soon as the last show ended we made our way back to the car, and, starving, began our search for some food. I wanted Cheesecake Factory but there was nowhere to park, so we tried to get to Panera, but they were closed, and we finally came to the last resort - Burger King. Rich got a burger, I got a veggie burger, and while not one of the better veggie burgers I've had, I was so hungry it sure tasted good. We drove back to Tom and Karen's and passed out, grateful to have survived the day.

Sunday morning we slept in, had a lovely breakfast of pumpkin waffles and fresh fruit out on the patio, and got ready to drive to Newport Harbor for a day on their boat, the Genty Lee. It was a perfect, relaxing day after the Disneyland craziness. We made sandwiches for lunch and cruised around the harbor, while Tom and Karen told us about the various celebrities and scandals associated with the harbor homes we passed.

 

 

Then we headed out to the ocean and saw seals, whales and dolphins up close. It was amazing! Valerie fell asleep and missed the whale, but she needed the rest. We cruised back into the harbor and  got a nice dinner at the Cannery (I think?) to end the day. What an absolutely beautiful day with our wonderful hosts, we could not thank them enough for such a fabulous visit. Every minute was jam packed and we can't wait to get back down to SoCal again, hopefully with more time to spend!

Sarah visits / Our Spa Day Adventure

My best friend in the world Sarah came out to visit for three and a half days in February and it was sooo wonderful to see her, and to show her a California good time. I had a packed itinerary planned for us, and after I picked her up from the airport we headed straight to Picchetti Winery for a wine tasting to set the mood. She arrived a bit shaken due to a crazy windstorm that caused her flight to have a scary rough landing, and at the winery we watched out the windows as strong winds blew the trees sideways.

All the craziest things always happen to her, so it was only fitting that she brought crazy weather with her.

We went out for a Mexican feast her first night at Vive Sol, which sounded like it would have delicious food and margaritas. The food lived up to the hype but unfortunately the drinks were bad, fake and too-sweet, which was disappointing. We filled up on yummy food anyway and rolled ourselves back home.

strawberry cupcake from Sprinkles Cupcakes

Our most memorable and hilarious day was Thursday, our spa day. I had gotten a groupon to Fremont Day Spa for the two of us to get massages, facials and body scrubs. We arrived and were shown to a small room with two beds in it - for us. Apparently we were getting a couples massage! This was unexpected, but we laughed and were game. A woman and a man came in to do the massages, and the woman asked us which of them we preferred to massage us. The man evidently did not speak a word of English. We indicated it didn't matter to us, so the woman went to Sarah and I had the man, and they started our massages.

I had a very thorough full body massage with extra emphasis on my buttocks and thighs, and then we flipped over onto our backs, while staying covered under the blankets. The next step was the body scrub. The woman proceeded to uncover all the parts that would get the scrub - arms, legs, and belly - and I asked her to please cover my belly back up, I did not want my belly scrubbed. Arms, legs and chest would be fine. It did not take long to conclude that the body scrub was a terrible idea. It was quite chilly in the air conditioned room and as our masseuses scrubbed us all over, all our exposed and now-wet skin grew ice cold and we began to shiver.

Next, we were supposed to go shower all the scrub off before beginning our facials. The woman asked Sarah, "you and your friend, go shower together?"
"There's just one shower?" asked Sarah. The woman confirmed there was one."We'll take turns," she said, and the woman gave us robes to wear, and Sarah went to take her shower first. I lay in the room, freezing and shivering, and waited til she came back to go take my shower. The hot water thawed me out, thankfully.

Then we lay in the room, covered up with blankets again, warm and comfortable, to wait for the facialist, a different woman, to come in. We laughed and laughed at the tiny shower where we were supposed to go shower together. There wasn't even room for two people to shower at once! "We could have taken turns rinsing each other off," we laughed.

The facial was my favorite part of our spa day; the woman did a great job and my skin felt soft and smooth and wonderful afterward, although she did make some interesting comments. After we indicated it had been a while since either of us had had a facial, she said "You're lucky you're still young!" and had a good chuckle.

We made sure to leave good tips for our masseuses and facialist and then we got back in the car and died laughing all the way home about our bargain spa day, featuring a couples' butt massage, freezing body scrub and single shower.

The rest of the weekend was relaxing, fun and uneventful - we got our nails done, went shopping, had cupcakes, worked out at the gym, ate Oren's hummus, walked around Stanford campus and the art museum, had the mimosa sampler at Local Union 271, went to a chocolate tasting downtown that her husband Ben bought for us, had ice cream cookie sandwiches at CREAM, and got to catch up on life. Having so much girl time was a revelation; I don't get nearly as much since we moved out here and I miss it SO MUCH. I'm so happy Sarah was able to get away for a long weekend to come visit and we'll always have our spa day to look back and laugh about. I love and miss her so much!!

chocolate tasting

South Lake Tahoe Ski Trip

Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend was a long anticipated trip to South Lake Tahoe with most of the biodesign group and their families. Elise and Jonathan found an amazing house big enough for everyone to stay in (which was available!) and managed the planning of a monster trip for our group of 17 adults and 5 kids, ranging in age from tiny 2-month-old baby Charlotte to Valerie at 3.

The house was perfect and had gorgeous views of the lake from the hot tub deck, definitely its best feature, as well as its location, just a few minutes from the Heavenly Ski Resort.

view from the deck

We decided to stop in Sacramento and rent an SUV for the drive up into the mountains since we weren't sure if there would be snow on the roads and chains needed on our tires. It turned out we wouldn't have needed chains after all, but the extra space was nice with all our stuff, including Rich's skis. We overpacked and were just barely able to squeeze ourselves and our stuff into Rich's car for the drive to Sacramento. We didn't end up needing the air mattress, sheets, or potty seat... but oh well. At least we didn't need diapers!! I tried to take notes on this experience to pack lighter for our next trip, but, on a ski vacation with a toddler, you're going to have a lot of bulky stuff. All our coats, snow pants, thick layers, boots, and ski equipment would have been difficult to condense any better.

Friday, the day we arrived, was Elise's birthday, and I made a buttermilk spice cake recipe with brown sugar cream cheese frosting from her pinterest board to bring - and the well stocked kitchen even had candles and a lighter when we arrived. We first stopped for dinner in town, which was less than satisfying for me... we tried to get into one of the nicer sit-down places but there was a long wait everywhere and Valerie was melting in a hurry so we ordered from Baja Fresh. My vegetarian bowl was lacking in flavor and Valerie was on her worst behavior the entire time due to hanger (a blend of hunger and anger, not the thing you hang clothes on). She refused to eat the quesadilla we ordered for her and tried to run away from our table and cause a scene. Mama was in serious need of a drink after our long drive and that crappy dinner.

We finally made it to the house and selected our room for the weekend - we stayed upstairs with the other 3 families with kids. Our room had a bunk bed that was a double on bottom and twin on top. It said "ABSOLUTELY NO CHILDREN UNDER 6" should sleep on the top bunk, so we quickly determined Valerie would be fine up there. It did have rails so there was no danger of her rolling off, and she did fine. She navigated the ladder up and down by herself with no problem. I had brought ear plugs, so I was prepared to sleep in the same room with her, and on the same floor with the babies. The ear plugs did the trick and I never heard any crying during the night. Sharing a double bed with my husband, on the other hand, was sucky and uncomfortable as always, but, ya know, first world problems on your Tahoe ski trip. Occasionally enduring cramped sleeping quarters helps me to appreciate my spacious comfortable bed, I tell myself between gritted teeth.

All complaints aside, once we finally arrived and got settled to wait for the others to trickle in, the drinks started flowing, and it was a fun chill night by the fire talking and listening to our playlist with the group.

We enjoyed the amazing view of the stars from the hot tub on the deck once it got warm enough, and I stayed close to the blazing fire in the fireplace when inside.

On Saturday Valerie and I stayed back at the house while Rich and the other more advanced skiers went to Heavenly. Valerie got to snuggle with Elise and watch Cinderella, and then we ventured out into the snow to slide down the hill behind the house on our butts a few times. I tried to get her to nap, but that wasn't happening, so she joined me and William and Kelly in the hot tub while their kids napped. I wanted to go into town with Elise and Megan after that, but then she was finally ready to nap so no trips to town for me. Fortunately they brought back some sushi from the Naked Fish so I had a happy dinner.

sliding down the hill

That night was a blast. We played the most hilarious round of Cards Against Humanity, with teams of two since there were so many of us, and I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

Sunday was our big ski day. We rounded up our things and drove into town to rent skis and boots for Valerie and me. Since we had to carry our own equipment as well as Valerie's we moved at a turtle's pace to the line for the gondola. We finally got in line, and Valerie announced she had to go potty. I picked her up and hobbled in my ski boots to the nearby coffee shop to ask if they had a bathroom - they did not. The man behind the counter indicated the direction of the bathrooms and I ran/hobbled at top speed there. Valerie went potty and we successfully raced back to our spot in line.

What amazing views on the gondola ride up. Absolutely gorgeous panorama of the lake, mountains, trees and sky. We lucked out with perfect weather, too, about 50 degrees and quite comfortable. We made it to the ski area and found a nice tiny hill where we could put our skis on and practice before tackling the bunny slope. Valerie wasn't too thrilled. She saw a snowman nearby and all she wanted to do was build a snowman. Rich patiently insisted she practice going down the hill with him holding her by straps attached to her skis. He worked with her, and I practiced going down by myself, since the only time I ever skied previously was my freshman year of high school and "skied" is not an accurate term for what I did, which was fail to even attempt a single bunny slope.

I learned to angle my skis inward to slow myself down and made it down the tiny hill a few times, which I saw as enormous progress. Finally we went to get in line for the chair lift to the bunny slope.

The low point of the day for me was when we got to the bunny slope and I tripped trying to get off the chair lift, lost a ski and went down like a rock. The workers had to stop the lift and help me get up. I flashed back to my last ski experience, when I fell face down in the snow with my butt in the air and couldn't get up.

I pulled myself together and braced to make it down this very gentle slope, of which I was admittedly terrified. Though not as terrified as Valerie. Rich guided her very, very slowly down the hill, and I let myself pick up a bit of speed and get ahead of them. I was doing it! I did it! I practiced stopping and starting and slowing down, and going a little faster. I was soooo proud of myself for making it down the slope without falling! This was a huge success and everything I had hoped to accomplish.

Valerie kept saying, "Stop! Stop! I want to take a break." After several breaks we were able to coax her all the way down at a snail's pace. It was quite exhausting making it down that slope once. At the bottom, we made our way to the lodge for lunch. We got some overpriced but absolutely delicious vegan chili in a bread bowl and I was just happy to get those horrible, awkward, heavy ski boots off my feet. Rich wanted to go for another run after lunch, but the thought of waiting in the long line for the chair lift again was too much for both Valerie and me. We headed back to the gondola to go home and Rich went to hit some advanced trails.

The most difficult part of the day, it turned out, was getting back to the ski rental place with Valerie's and my skis. I carried mine and hers, and prodded her to stay with me. We both struggled to walk in our ski boots. We made it to the bottom of the gondola and I grabbed all our stuff, and exited on the wrong side. By the time I figured out where we were, I saw we were going to have to walk the long way around the gondola to get back to the rental place. We limped and hobbled and dragged our skis and finally made it, and I've never been so happy to be rid of a load of heavy gear.

It was another fun night at the house, taking pictures of the gorgeous sunset, playing games, singing songs, eating cookies and watching old music videos until we all crashed.

In the morning we all packed up to head home. Little Nicolas even took some of his first steps just as we were loading up the cars! We all had such a great time, it was sad to say goodbye to everyone and go back to reality. After we dropped off the SUV, we found a perfect little lunch at the Hoppy Brewing Company just down the road from Enterprise, and sampled their tasty beers. What a fun and memorable trip! It was definitely a highlight of this year with biodesign.