And because we can’t get enough of celebrating, the theater group also wished Thing 3 a happy birthday, too!
55 kids are apparently in the group for this production (“Beauty and the Beast, Jr.”), but luckily, only about 30 of them were called for Friday rehearsal!
Yep, so after this, we still have ONE more birthday celebration — the party at Santa Cruz gymnastics coming up next weekend!
We’ve been having some epic storms, but we did get treated with a cool and sunny weekend day! The kids and I went to see AAT’s “High School Musical” and Louden Nelson. We knew a few of the kids in it and we’d seen their flash mob dance performance the weekend before on our way out of Walnut Avenue Cafe (where we’d just eaten with my Bootcamp Buddy, Kendall). It was a great show and the kids got some good runaround time with the Other Dylan, Finley and Cleo, and Shayla and Sophie (all theater buddies).
Yes, this one is often pensive and moody these days. 🙁
On the other hand, this one is often jolly and happy!
Climbing around:
And, just because these kids were awesome, here’s their flash mob video:
If you look hard, you’ll see us emerging from the restaurant (I think I have my pink running jacket on that day)!
Also, here are some pictures of the storm damage to Highway 17 and alternative routes over the hill….
https://www.facebook.com/nick.moless/media_set?set=a.10154626617431284.1073741833.615776283&type=3&pnref=story
This girl is losing teeth left and right! They’re coming out way faster than they’re coming in!
Here’s the latest note (2/11/2017):
And here’s the top row of teeth, devoid of most of her choppers!
…the girl can sing! Here’s Chloe singing “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana” on her birthday.
Well, just like that, we have a 5-year old in the house! I took her to her well-child check-up this past week and her stats are as follows:
Height: 3’5″ (20%)
Weight: 33 lbs. (10%)
She’s a little one, just like her big bro!
She was all jolly and happy — she has thus far associated the doctor’s office with stickers and a free book — until it was time for vaccinations. Poor thing. But she is now officially cleared for Kindergarten registration!
Her actual birthday was a holiday, so she had her last ever SG2 birthday circle on Tuesday.
I recorded the little bday chant for posterity:
Oh, yeah! And the “growing song”…
And, finally…happy birthday:
Earlier that morning, we took the time to decorate a batch of mini cupcakes for her birthday circle:
More birthday morning fun!
We made the cake recipe from an Amelia Bedelia book (vegan!) and had slices for breakfast the next day!
She gets a whole lot of love from both Cameron and Dylan. I’m so glad they’re good to her!
Silly faces:
More serious:
Wish time. We hope all her wishes come true:
Yeah…I know. I caved. Despite our losing battle with Stuff, I went and bought her a singing Moana doll to add to the pile of toys we already have. But look at that face!
Later in the day, Tom brought the kids downtown (I was at work that day) and we enjoyed a bday lunch together….
I’m acutely aware of just how much she is growing and changing with every passing day. She is so funny and articulate and so grown up and yet still such a little niblet. I am aware that someday soon, she won’t fit on my lap in the same way as she does now…she can still fit entirely on my lap with her legs curled up, but someday all too soon, her legs will be all long and lanky and they’ll spill over the edge of my legs no matter how hard I try to keep them “in!” She still prefers to sit on my lap at meal times (and whenever she possibly can!!) and I dread the day when that changes!!
She is definitely her own little person, distinct from Cameron and Dylan. We’re looking forward to her future self, but I wouldn’t mind if time slowed down a little either….
Dylan officially started working on his 5th Grade Science Fair project today! We brewed some Jasmine green tea, sterilized some jam jars and filled them with tea, dissolved sugar (#1 has white sugar; #2 has brown sugar; #3 sucanat) and added some SCOBY. Then he covered the jars with a paper towel and set them aside to start to ferment.
The very coolest thing about this is seeing his enthusiasm and excitement in doing this project. He is seriously excited, so excited, in fact, I actually mistook his eagerness to get started as anxiety for not having enough time to complete it! As it turns out, he has plenty of time to complete it!
Here are the 3 samples on Day 1:
This one is a close-up of the white sugar sample:
Will post an update on any interesting results!
Well, we didn’t have much time with Grandma Sharon and Papa Willard during our last visit to LA, but we did get to see them — along with Uncle Jeff, Uncle Michael, Uncle Fred, Aunt Julie and Rocky.
When we arrived (from Anaheim), Papa Willard was just finishing up gardening and he shared some of his gardening wisdom with Dylan….
Papa Willard wanted to take Dylan on an errand with him the following day, but unfortunately, we had to head out early enough to get home by bedtime. Weather was once again just horrible. We dropped Tom off in Bakersfield and continued our harrowing journey home, making it back on Sunday night by about 7:30 or 8pm!
On our way home, we saw some breaks in the rain and also this beautiful rainbow! We were able to see both ends which made the kids wonder why they couldn’t see any pots of gold!
During that last visit to LA, Tom also visited Uncle Donald for what was to be the last time. We will miss Uncle Donald and will always remember him as a very kind and gentle person.
Well, our time at SG2 is coming to a close! Definitely bittersweet. This was my last time to chaperone on a preschool field trip!
I worked an inordinate amount of overtime all throughout the week to justify taking Friday AM off to join her (well, plus I had a deadline)!! I loved every minute of the morning with her! This was a great reward for the end of the week! She is such a generous and thoughtful friend and I loved seeing her be so interested in the displays and so motivated to find all of the things in their “scavenger hunt.”
Good buddies:
I love her.
Next week, we visit open house for middle school AND for incoming Dos Alas kindergartners. My babies are growing up!
Yeah. This was a grim day in US history. I really wanted to march but given this rare chance to be with the kids and do something they really wanted to do, we were at Disneyland! And it was pouring down rain.
Again, Tom was at his work meeting, so we planned to meet him in Anaheim later in the day. It took about an hour to drive from Chino to Anaheim–all in the pouring down rain. Dylan sat up in front with me and we chatted about all sorts of things — I love talking to him — all while hoping the rain would at least let up.
Big kids and I talked a lot about Alexander Hamilton since we were listening to parts of the soundtrack! And, I’ll admit, most of what I know about him is from the songs!
Anyway, as mentioned, rain did not let up, not even a little. But, we were determined. We headed to CVS and bought some rain ponchos and extra umbrellas. I was really, really, really, really reluctant to follow through with this Disneyland plan and I was super annoyed with myself for not having seized the opportunity to go the day before when it was clear outside! But, the kids looked so sad and crestfallen whenever I suggested maybe it wasn’t a good idea to go.
So, with ponchos and umbrellas, we walked 20 minutes from hotel to Disneyland entrance. During packing time back at home, I advised the big kids to pack their rainboots (I packed mine and Chloe’s), but I did not follow-up (due, in part, to the fact that my manager had assigned a bug to me that he asked me to resolve/update that night — via text message sent after I had already left the office — so I was irritated and distracted!)…so, poor Dylan and Cameron had soaking wet feet by the time we got to the entrance….And, it was still pouring down rain like you wouldn’t believe! And, there was a high wind advisory.
By this time, I was really reluctant. What would be open? What could we ride? Were the kids’ feet going to freeze off? Would they suffer from hypothermia?? Would we just be sitting in the Tiki Room?? And, too wet for the stroller, how many hours would Chloe last if she had to walk the entire time?? AND (so many “ands”), it was “premium pricing” due to opening night of Electrical parade so it would set us back ~$100/person to get in!
I suggested to the kids that we get some hot cocoa first (I was hoping rain would die down). We looked for rain boots in the Disney store and asked about finding rain boots elsewhere. No rain boots to be found anywhere!!! It’s sunny southern CA, after all!
Now, everyone was glum. Wet and cold feet, the highly-anticipated Disneyland trip in question…nothing but french fries to eat at the cafe and no sign of the end to the rain. While we sat there, we saw a mass exodus of people leaving the park! And, I thought and thought and thought while poor kids frowned and tried to enjoy hot cocoa.
I looked up “Things to do in Disneyland in the rain,” sent the kids across to the Disney store to look for flip flops (suggested as an alternative to enduring soggy shoes all day) and continued to wonder (while they were away–store was within eye sight of our table) if their toes would freeze even in flip flops!
Then, finally, I asked a nice couple sitting next to us what the status of the parks was. They hadn’t gone in but were planning on it. But as season pass holders, they weren’t that concerned about not getting much done. However, they did recommend an app which I did download–it showed wait times and which attractions were closed, etc…
I restarted cost-benefit analysis: no wait times for everything, Small World open but Haunted House (a big-kid fave) closed, Pirates, Big Thunder Mountain, Hyperspace Mountain, Monorail open but Autopia closed, Jungle Cruise closed, but Indiana Jones open….Dumbo OPEN! Storybookland closed. Casey Jr. closed, Alice in Wonderland closed, Carousel open.
I decided, aw heck. There were enough open rides to make it worth their smiles. And, it was.
Thing 3 in poncho at the cafe waiting for the rain to subside…
Vegan hot cocoa made with almond milk:
Thing 1, trying to be a trooper:
After umbrellas inverted on way into the park, once in, it stopped raining!!!
Waiting for big kids at Big Thundermountain:
The big kids were super nice about accommodating Chloe since Universal Studios was kind of a bust for her:
And, yes, it started coming down again when we were on the carousel, but miraculously, it stopped once we got off! Throughout the day, it would rain, but we never had to put our ponchos back on…used the umbrella a few times, but we generally got lucky with the weather!
More Chloe love from the big kids–we all rode Dumbo:
Li’l cup o’ tea:
You can’t tell from that picture, but there was about a foot of water in the bottom of that cup!
Matterhorn!
Astro Orbit:
I think the castle was redone…:
Tom arrived in Anaheim in the evening and we discovered the hotel gave our room away so we were upgraded to a suite! Sweet! We decided he should join us at Disneyland as it was no longer raining and kids wanted to eat Gumbo for dinner and Cameron needed to ride Hyperspace Mountain with someone (Dylan did not want to ride).
After Gumbo dinner, Tom took Chloe and Dylan to find a spot for the parade and Cameron and I rode Space Mountain twice!! Only 10 minutes wait! Cameron and I got to the parade just in time.
Parade time:
Mom’s eye view:
Overall, it was well worth it and I’m glad Dylan persuaded me to head on in!
Tom had his bi-annual work meeting in Chino this year (where’s Chino, you ask?? Well, I had the same question! Read on!). It turns out Chino is in the LA area, so we decided to join him (as we usually do) and squeeze in Disneyland, Universal Studios and a visit to Grandma Sharon’s and Papa Willard’s!
It was pouring down rain — both coming and going, but we arrived safely around 3am and the next morning, while Tom was at his meeting, the kids and I did the following: 1) had free brekky at the hotel; 2) room key stopped working and we got locked out of our room and were not allowed to get in for about an hour (Tom didn’t list me as an “additional guest” so they would not give me access to the room and, no, he did not answer his phone when they called him!); 3) after finally getting into the room, we got ready for our activity; and, finally, 4) we went to Universal Studios.
Since we were off to a late start, I made (the bad) executive decision to head to Universal Studios thinking we’d want to get an earlier start the next day and have more time at Disneyland.
Well, it was a bad choice because, although it was forecast to rain, it didn’t! The big kids had a blast. Last time we were there, the Harry Potter lines were ridiculously long. This time, they got right on. Cameron loved the “Forbidden Journey” and rode it twice (once all by herself!). They also rode Flight of the Hippogriff (decidedly just “meh.”). We also squeezed in a studio tour.
Poor Chloe was stressed out for the vast majority of the trip. She was scared inside the Harry Potter ride (music was too scary and loud and it was a little dark in there!) and some of the effects on the tour were also scary! Because she was scared int he Shrek 3D thing, we skipped that, too. So the highlight for her was playing on the play structure inside Super Silly Funland (something we could have done for free in a park!!).
With that, here’s some pics:
Breakfast time!
Outside The Forbidden Journey:
One of my favorite wizards of all time:
Not much for little Chloe to do but retreat in the stroller!:
Flight of the Hippogriff seat test.
3D glasses for Studio Tour:
Adjusting for better fit:
On the bus!
A fake rainstorm to precede the really big one!
Playground time:
Choochy face:
Thing 2:
Actually, I guess it wasn’t a bad idea to do Universal Studios first! As next post shows, we had a great time at Disneyland and the weather kept lots of people at bay!
