#390 - Disneyland with a Kiddo

The last time I went to Disneyland, I was a college student. So today's new thing was completely different: visiting Disneyland with my family. This was my hubby's amazing birthday gift to me, and it was spectacular! We were there before the park opened in the morning to purchase "ears" for TLG (see below). The lines for rides were very short so we got to try tons of rides! We walked straight on (no waiting!) to Pirates, It's a Small World, Buzz Lightyear, the flying rockets, King Arthur's Carousel and Winnie the Pooh. I think the longest we waited was 30 minutes (for Autopia and the Matterhorn, which only the hubby went on)... amazing. We had lunch in Tomorrowland and went on every single ride there except Space Mountain, which was closed for them to put up Halloween decorations. The only two rides TLG wanted to go on again were Small World and the teacups, and he really didn't like the Roger Rabbit ride. (I forgot how scary that movie was!)

We met Pluto and Mickey Mouse, and saw Snow White from afar. TLG and I had fun playing in Toontown with all the bells, switches and levers all over. We ate popcorn for dinner and stayed until closing time, running to get on "one last ride" (teacups for the boys, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for me). When it was time to leave, we had to stop on Main Street to buy souvenirs including a Mickey light saber for TLG. Then we hiked across the street to IHOP to have pancakes for dinner late in the evening.

What an amazing day we had, and some great memories for our photo album too. TLG is the perfect age for a first trip to Disneyland - he loved seeing all the characters and choosing which rides to go on. And I loved watching him explore and see all the amazing things Disneyland has to offer.

#389 - California Adventure

Today, our family flew to Burbank, CA then drove to Anaheim and spent the day in Disney's California Adventure. None of us had ever visited there before, so it was entirely new for all of us... and it was great fun! We met Mickey Mouse just inside the door of the park, had some lunch, and headed off for some rides. My wonderful hubby's favorite was the Soarin' Over California, I loved the California Screamin roller coaster and the Muppet-Vision 3D (of course). TLG's favorite ride were the bug bumper cars (though he seemed to like the Soarin' ride with his Dad too - upon exiting the ride, he was pumping his fists and yelling about how cool it was). Meeting and posing for a photo with Lightning and Mater was awesome (TLG looks tired here, but I think he was just in awe... when we were done posing, he patted Lightning and said goodbye). We also enjoyed the Pixar Play Parade which had many of our favorite movie characters in it, before they closed the park for the night.

#388 - Darn Fox Tails

We recently had to take our black dog, Ellie, to the emergency vet after hours. (The photo, left, is from the day we adopted Penny over a year ago, but it's a great shot of Ellie too.)

It was about dinner time when she started having weird sneezing attacks... and it got more bizarre when she started sneezing blood all over the kitchen. She continued to have fits as the evening wore on, and by the time my wonderful hubby got home from his evening activity, I was more than concerned. She wouldn't let us get near her, and it seemed to be getting worse. The final straw for me was when she started making a mess on the carpet outside The Little Guy's room as I was trying to get him to go to bed.

Finally about 9:15pm, we called All Creatures Veterinary Hospital, which had a vet on-call until 10:00pm. My wonderful hubby loaded up our poor pup and ran to the other side of town, where the vet had to put her under anesthesia and plucked a giant fox tail out of her nostril. Thank goodness for the doggie ER!

Our little Ellie has fully recovered and we have been keeping the pooches out of the dog run, where the fox tails grow. I do hope we don't have to experience this one again any time soon.

#387 - (Really Old New Thing) 50's Party

Waaaaaaaaay back in May, my sister hosted a costume party with a 50's theme, which we happily dressed up to attend. It was an awesome party, and each of my family members showed up dressed to the nines. Even my then-5-month-old niece had a poodle skirt! It was really fun to dress up outside of Halloween, and we had everything from Elvis to a beatnik to a high school coach (see left).

Rather than go back and re-number all my new things, I decided to just add this now, with this totally adorable photo of our family.

#386 - Local Water Fun

Today, I took TLG to the local waterpark for our first visit. While we did visit the waterpark in Branson last summer, neither of us had ever been to the Wild Island park here. Going on a Wednesday was a great idea: we had no trouble finding chairs to stash our towels, but I could easily see how a weekend would be really crowded. Not to mention, it was the hottest day of the year so far! Also, children 3-and-under are free every day, so that helped my pocketbook a bit! We arrived shortly after opening, got a locker and got right in the water. The splash area was not TLG's favorite, so we only went there for a few minutes. But the kids' slide area, the river, and the wave pool were each big hits and we visited each twice! TLG loves to be in the water so much... we may have the next Michael Phelps on our hands. I went down some of the kids' slides with TLG the first time or two, but after that I got "Mommy, you stay at the bottom and catch me. I can do it by myself." What a big boy! And all day, I got lots of: "Mommy, I love you." It was a great afternoon.

#385 - Surprise!

This weekend, I threw a surprise birthday party for my wonderful husband. I had lots of help from my hubby's parents, who assisted with everything from planning to getting him out of the house... it turned out to be about 30 people over for dinner and cake, ping pong and good times. All of my family from California drove in, which helped add to the surprise (they had all called to say "happy birthday!" throughout the day). I know it wasn't a complete surprise for him (he told me I asked him some weird question about surprise parties months ago, so he suspected something was going on). But all the logistics were a surprise - where, when, who. It was especially hard for me not to mention it in front of TLG, who is really good at surprising me with what he'll remember and bring up later! And since I'm a terrible liar, that part was difficult too. But what a special birthday party! Thanks, everyone, for your part in the surprise.

#382 - #384 - Convention New Things

After my wonderful hubby and TLG went home, I stayed on in Chicago another week to attend a national board meeting and five-day convention. While I was there, I...

#382 - Shared a Hotel Room with My Fantastic Mother-In-Law
One thing you should know: I have the world's best mother-in-law. She and I have a lot in common, and I am extremely lucky that we get along so well. I had convinced her to attend the convention with me, and we agreed that staying together would be best for all of our wallets. I really enjoyed sharing the convention highlights with her, attending concerts and workshops, and reviewing all the day's activities. I am so happy I got to share this with her!

#383 - Watched "Flight of the Conchords" Season 1
If you like quirky, musically-related television shows, and if you've never seen this one, please add it to your Netflix queue. Brit and Jermaine are two New Zealanders living in New York City, trying to make it as musicians. They are hilarious, and each of the songs they perform plays out like a music video in the episode... and each song is a different style, from pop-techno, to love ballad, to disco, to French rock. Hi-lar-i-ous, and kept me in stitches while I was waiting between board meeting and convention activities. Season 2 is also out on DVD but I haven't seen it yet.

#384 - Limo Ride to O'Hare
Yes, instead of a shuttle ride or a private car to O'Hare airport, I got to ride in a limo. (No, I didn't ask for a limo, and no, I'm not anybody important. They just had over 800 people all going to O'Hare at the same time from the same hotel. They brought out the big guns.) The last time I rode in a limo was at my wedding over five years ago! It was really classy and made for a great last impression of my time in Chicago. No frills in the car, I will report, but it was fun to pull up at the airport and feel like a million dollars.