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!

Valerie update: pink flowers, stuttering, silly games with Daddy

Valerie has been saying so many funny things lately, I want to try and write them down before I forget. She cracked me up the other day talking about the characters from Madagascar, Alex the lion, and Marty the zebra - and I asked her what the giraffe's name is (the correct answer is Melman) and she said "Helmet."  She is really, really into movies right now, and especially the story of Cinderella (the books and movies). I think they are very real to her. Most nights when we are tucking her into bed, she starts talking about Cinderella's sisters tearing and ripping her pink dress to shreds, and then Cinderella getting a blue dress. That part made the most impact on her, along with Lucifer the cat.

She loves cats, but Lucifer is scary - along with all shadows, deep voices, and loud noises. Including her own shadow, and when Rich sings in a low voice. She is so scared of everything. When we were walking home from the park last night as it was getting dark, we saw the outline of a mom lifting up and hugging her child in front of a restaurant. Valerie was scared of them because it was dark. It will be interesting to see how she does with Halloween coming up. We are planning on throwing a Halloween party and I hope our decorations won't be too scary for her. There is a house on our street with lots of spiders, bats and skeletons up, and she doesn't seem to be afraid of that; she loves it. We will try to steer clear of deep voices and loud noises and I think she'll be fine.

One of her favorite things is smelling all the flowers whenever we walk past them, with a particular focus on pink flowers. She gets so excited about pink flowers, and we often play "I spy," and she always spies with her little eye "something pink" and it's always something pink she's wearing, or pink flowers if there are any to be found. I had to yell at her a couple times for plucking flowers in our front yard, so now she knows not to pluck them, but she will pick up the ones that have fallen on the ground and carry them to and from school with her. And then toss them in a garden somewhere. She even loves the fake flowers we have in our house and sometimes asks if she can hold them. So sweet. One day we went for a walk down the main street downtown smelling all the flowers, and she was really shoving her nose into them and had yellow pollen all over her nose and upper lip. Now she thinks her nose turns the color of whatever flower she is smelling - usually pink. "Look Mommy, my nose is pink!" One of these days I will get a real pink bouquet just for her, I think she will love it.

It's also really cute when we play "I spy," and she spies something pink and then says "Mommy, now you spy, now you spy!"

She started sleeping in her big girl bed at the end of January this year, soon after turning two, and I wondered how long it would be before she would learn she could get out of bed and leave her room by herself. I finally got my answer! Sometime in September she started getting up from her nap, opening the door and coming out to find us. But only sometimes. She still lays in her bed and calls for Mommy and Daddy most of the time. So, the answer may be about 8 months to start getting out of bed by herself, but still only on occasion.

Her most amazing trick these days is memorizing her favorite books, which right now are Daisy's Birthday Party, Cinderella and the Silver Slippers. She can nearly recite the first two in their entirety and is just starting to work on the third.

She had a few episodes of stuttering a week or two ago. Very strange and unlike her, she is such a verbal and articulate talker for her age. She would get stuck on simple words, like I and say I- I- I- I- I- and would get pretty frustrated several times in one sentence. It was certainly frustrating to listen to. We didn't think it was cause for concern but we googled stuttering, of course, to see what the experts suggested. Nothing surprising, but we learned not to finish her words for her, wait patiently, and don't make her repeat herself or try again. I also read that I should try to speak more slowly, which makes sense because I probably read and talk too fast sometimes. I started making an effort to talk and especially to read more slowly to her. I'm not sure if it made a difference but fortunately the stuttering only lasted a couple of days and dissipated.




Valerie loves playing silly games with Daddy. She thinks her daddy is just the most hilarious guy in the world, up there with Elmo, Mickey and "Helmet" the giraffe. They love playing the whisper game, where they sneak around the house talking in whispers. They sneak up on Mommy, or go quietly searching for objects. I don't remember ever doing that as a child, but luckily Rich knew about that one, because boy is it fun. They play patty cake at super fast, super slow and regular speeds, and usually bake a cake for Valerie and Daddy. We also just showed her the hand-slap game, which is apparently also known as red hands. She loves watching Mommy and Daddy play and is just learning how to play, although her reaction time may need a little work. She also loves games of using her hand over her (or daddy's) mouth to make funny sounds (ie, wa wa wa wa). She is still a fan of peek-a-boo, or as we call it, "where's Valerie?" The simplest games have her hysterical with laughter, and her laugh is definitely the cutest sound I can imagine in the world.

Our biggest struggle with her is limiting screen time. Nothing new there. She would watch shows every minute of every day if we let her. Her favorite shows right now are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Road Rally, Winnie the Pooh, Dinosaur Train, Super Why!, Curious George, Dora the Explorer and Elmo's world, and her favorite movies are Cars, Madagascar, Cinderella, Frozen and the baby einstein baby signs DVD. Cinderella is even a little too scary for her... she loves that baby einstein DVD. It's so soothing. I just got Tangled from the library for her and I can't wait to show her that one... I hope it won't be too scary.

I had to smile when I dropped her off at school this morning and she immediately went up to an older girl and complimented her red jacket with a fur-lined hood: "I like your jacket! It's so pretty!  I really like it." I couldn't believe how grown-up she was acting; not jealous or trying to take the girl's jacket, just giving her sweet, enthusiastic compliments. She sometimes tells me she likes my jewelry or my dress when I am dressed up but this was the first time I've heard her compliment a classmate. Such a proud moment!

She keeps growing so fast and doing and saying new things every day.... it's all I can do to try and record as much as I can. I know there is already so much I've forgotten. How quickly the days fly by and turn little babies into big kids!

The Great Houdini Escape Room and Half Moon Bay beach

We started off the weekend with a picnic dinner at the last movie in the Menlo Park outdoor movie series, Cinderella (the new live action version). HUGE success. I saw the movie in the theater when it came out and I wasn't sure how Valerie would do, since it seemed a little dark and sad for her, plus it's pretty long - but she LOVED it and she sat riveted to the screen the entire time. She got a little scared when Cinderella was escaping the ball and the magic spell was wearing off - I think it was a little too loud and chaotic. And when Cinderella ran into the stag in the woods, she made a loud outburst about a "MOOSE!" and the girl in front of us laughed. But overall I was really impressed. For a 2.75-year-old, she does great watching movies!

Rich, on the other hand, was appalled by the Prince-Charming-will-save-you message and the focus on appearance. I tried to convince him we can still teach our daughter to be her own woman even if she loves Cinderella and I think he came around. On our way home, I asked Valerie if she wanted to marry a prince. She said no. I'm not too surprised though. The prince really does not interest her. She just wants to get her hands on that sparkly blue dress and glass slippers. OOoohhh I hope she grows up to be the next Vera Wang or Jimmy Choo! Yes please!!

Saturday morning we did our usual workout shuffle, cleaning up the house and napping, and then our new babysitter came around 4:30 and we headed up to San Francisco to celebrate our friend Angela's birthday.

What a FANTASTIC time! Angela's husband booked The Great Houdini Escape Room at the Palace of Fine Arts for our group of 11. We had 80 minutes to solve all the puzzles and riddles and unlock all the keys to escape the room, which apparently only 25-30% of groups succeed in doing - and we made it out in 66 minutes! We were all feeling pretty proud of our skills and starving for our 8:00 dinner reservation, although not as desperately hangry as we thought we might be since they kindly provided some pretzels, almonds and snack mix in the room.

Dinner was also excellent. We ate at Sessions at the Presidio and had to refrain from licking all the plates. These cheese dumplings with cilantro pesto were especially tasty! As were the desserts and cocktails. The meal was perfectly paced, too. We loved our server, who made great recommendations and kept the beer and cocktails flowing, and enjoyed getting to know Angela's friends. It was such a fun group and the night flew by!

The only downside to driving up to San Francisco is.... driving through San Francisco. If given the choice between driving through San Francisco and having burning coals jammed into my eyeballs, I might choose the coals. So many people and cars and stoplights and endless frustration. Luckily, the drive home around midnight was much nicer, and luckily Rich was driving because I couldn't keep my eyes open. Much like Cinderella's coach, I turn into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight.

Sunday morning we met Rich's biodesign group at Hanahaus in downtown Palo Alto for breakfast and a working session which ended up lasting til almost 1:30. We had planned to drive to Big Basin for a hike afterwards, but by the time they finished we needed to head home for naps and knew we wouldn't have time for Big Basin.

The naps were definitely needed for all of us. We woke up around 4 and still wanted to squeeze in a small Sunday adventure, so we decided to head to Half Moon Bay for dinner and some beach time. It worked out perfectly. We got to the beach at Half Moon Bay at 5:30, with an hour and a half of daylight remaining, and Valerie got to chase the surf up and down the sand to her heart's content. We kicked ourselves for not bringing towels or a swimsuit for her, but we let her run around in her diaper and managed to get her sufficiently dry and sand-free for dinner.

Dinner at Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. was a highlight of the weekend. We sat outside on their lovely patio under heat lamps, overlooking the harbor, and ate delicious shrimp, truffle fries, ahi tuna, clams and mussels, with refreshing beers and cocktails. We had a clear view of the lunar eclipse from our table, Valerie was on her best behavior, and we got to dance to the live music. The most perfect family night out. We can't wait to go back there again.

A+ weekend, California!

Cinderella days

We checked out Cinderella and the Little Mermaid from the library today, as part of the Exposure-to-Disney-and-its-Princesses plan prior to our upcoming Disneyland trip.  Valerie chose Cinderella to watch first. She is pretty obsessed with all things Cinderella, and the other day when we were reading it, I asked her why she likes Cinderella so much.  She said because "she has a ball gown." The prince is not even on her radar at this point.  It's all about the dress and the shoes.

I even let her try on these shoes at Kohl's the other day. How fun are these?  $40 though. Sorry, we will not be bringing these home for $40.

hmmm... random, yet appropriate. #googleimages

Things Valerie Said While Watching Cinderella:

During previews:
-I want to watch Cinderella!
-Where's Cinderella?

During opening credits:
-I don't want Cinderella, I want Ariel!

in her defense, could these opening credits be more boring?

Once movie starts:
*slack jawed zombie style raptness*
-I don't like it! It's too scary!
*hiding behind pillow and freaking out*
-That cat is trying to get that little mouse!
-I want Ariel!
-I don't like it!
-What did they do to her dress!?
-What happened to Cinderella's dress?!

Enter fairy godmother:
*zombie mode*

-What happened to her glass slipper?!
-Where is her glass slipper!?
-I don't want Cinderella, I want Ariel!

Movie ends:
-I want to watch Cinderella again!




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