Side note: during our walk around the bay Ben and Adalee cuddled in the double stroller. He's totally put the moves on two different toddlers in the last two days. Like seriously. This boy has Trouble with a capital T written all over him.
I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ~Henry David Thoreau
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Back Bay/Newport Dunes
This morning Ben and I went on a Beachy Date with Brandi and Adalee. We went on a walk through the Back Bay with my mom, then we hit the "beach". I've discussed the Back Bay "beach" before. I get nervous about growing extra limbs or developing a tick from just being near bay water. But it's great for the kiddos. Plus Adalee is a super girly girl who doesn't like sand or the ocean...so...this was a good way for her to get acclimated. Because Ben and I love to beach it, and if they're going to hang with us this summer she's going to have to learn to love it! Just kidding. Kind of. But we did have "beach fun" as Ben says. We played in the sand, ate lunch, and mucked it up in the bay water. Even Adalee.
Side note: during our walk around the bay Ben and Adalee cuddled in the double stroller. He's totally put the moves on two different toddlers in the last two days. Like seriously. This boy has Trouble with a capital T written all over him.
Side note: during our walk around the bay Ben and Adalee cuddled in the double stroller. He's totally put the moves on two different toddlers in the last two days. Like seriously. This boy has Trouble with a capital T written all over him.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Beachy Date with Tres Dunlaps
This afternoon Ben and I joined a few of our favorite people for some fun in the sun. Steve, Karen, and Delaney came out from the hot, sweltering Inland Empire (a term I will never ever understand for that particular region) to play in the promised land of Orange County.
We only played at the beach with them for about an hour, so I don't have much to share. BUT I had a super proud mama moment. Ben shared! Delaney was hogging his shovels, and he followed her around on the sand saying, "Mommy, my shovels!" Now, while you might not call that sharing I do. Hitherto Ben would have simply snatched the coveted items from the perpetrator's hands and ran off. But not today. Today he just complained. I almost cried I was so excited. Later on when he had the shovels to himself, he walked over to Delaney and handed her one. I almost peed.
After the beach we came back to our place to dust off before going to dinner. Delaney taught Ben how to jump on the couch. Really looking forward to the forthcoming black eyes on that. (Just when the black eye from excitedly running for the books on the coffee table cleared up, Ben got a little overzealous with Buzz Lightyear and biffed it into the couch last night.) They jumped for a few minutes, then they spooned. I am positive I have never seen anything so cute in my life.
After spooning we went to dinner, where Ben promptly knocked over his milk, the top popped off, and the entire contents flowed freely onto my lap. I was covered in milk for the entire meal.
Thank you, Ben, for the milk bath.
But thank you MORE to the Dunlaps for a lovely afternoon. We eagerly await your return. :)
We only played at the beach with them for about an hour, so I don't have much to share. BUT I had a super proud mama moment. Ben shared! Delaney was hogging his shovels, and he followed her around on the sand saying, "Mommy, my shovels!" Now, while you might not call that sharing I do. Hitherto Ben would have simply snatched the coveted items from the perpetrator's hands and ran off. But not today. Today he just complained. I almost cried I was so excited. Later on when he had the shovels to himself, he walked over to Delaney and handed her one. I almost peed.
After the beach we came back to our place to dust off before going to dinner. Delaney taught Ben how to jump on the couch. Really looking forward to the forthcoming black eyes on that. (Just when the black eye from excitedly running for the books on the coffee table cleared up, Ben got a little overzealous with Buzz Lightyear and biffed it into the couch last night.) They jumped for a few minutes, then they spooned. I am positive I have never seen anything so cute in my life.
After spooning we went to dinner, where Ben promptly knocked over his milk, the top popped off, and the entire contents flowed freely onto my lap. I was covered in milk for the entire meal.
Thank you, Ben, for the milk bath.
But thank you MORE to the Dunlaps for a lovely afternoon. We eagerly await your return. :)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
A Day with Winnie the Poop
Last week Matt and I tried to go on a date to Disneyland. We failed utterly and completely. Today I went back for a date with my little Mr. It was (almost) perfect.
We left first thing in the morning and got there nice and early. We parked in Downtown Disney like we're not supposed to because the parking is on Matt's pass and I didn't want to pay $14. In Downtown it's free for 3 hours and $6 an hour after that. So I figured if we were there from 8-12 we would save $8. So we parked there, then while walking to the front I saw the Monorail entrance, which takes you right into the park. It was line-free, and I haven't been on it in a while. Since the theme of the day was Try New Things, it fit the bill, so we hopped on. Glorious. Ben got to ride a choo choo and Mommy got to skip a few steps. We call that "Everyone Wins." Except that when I got off the Monorail and down into the park I realized that I had no idea where my phone was. Poop. So we hung out with Raul for a while as people searched the trains when they came into the station. No luck. Because I'm of the opinion that stuff is just stuff, it's replaceable, a morning at Disneyland with my munchkin is not, I decided I would have fun, not worry about my phone, and check in at Lost and Found later. Except that for the next two hours while I was having fun all I was thinking about was my phone. Mostly, though, because my uncle works at the park and I was supposed to call him to hang out.
We did, however, manage to squeeze in some good times. We went on Autopia, which was basically the highlight of Ben's entire life. He LOVES automobiles, really any mode of transportation. So getting to drive one was a pretty big treat. Mommy wasn't super pleased with the fact we got shuffled around several times on the loading strip and ended up waiting an extra ten minutes or so while the monkeys operating the ride tried to figure out where we were supposed to stand. But whatever--Ben just counted the cars and shouted out their colors (which he apparently knows). I let him sit behind the steering wheel and "drive," which he liked for about thirteen seconds, then he just wanted to label everything while I tried to steer and accelerate from the passenger side. He had the time of his life.
Then we strolled for a bit, headed to the little ones area, and meandered. I have given up on the Storybook land rides--they're way too scary. Snow White ends with the scariest witch ever, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride actually sends you to Hell. The line for Dumbo was too long, so we went to Toontown, which is B's favorite anyway. He could spend all day there. Lots of buttons to push and knobs to turn. And cars. The boy really likes cars. He also apparently loves Mickey Mouse, which is funny to me because I don't remember ever introducing them. Maybe he watched it at daycare. Whatever the reason, he has been running around saying "Mickey Mouse" for days, so I thought it was only fair we visited. So we went to Mickey's house. Ben went nuts. We also saw Buzz Lightyear on the way, who is Ben's newest obsession. For the first time, Ben didn't freak out with the characters. He couldn't get enough of them. Well, the first thing he did upon meeting a character (or anyone else) was show them his Lightening McQueen shoes. THEN he'd smile, give them a high five, and what have you. I didn't get a picture with Buzz because he was doing the whole annoying "Walk with me" thing. And I got a lame picture with Mickey because I was too lame to ask the cast member to take a picture. But I did man up with Goofy (or "Foofy" as Ben says) and ask his handler to take the picture.
After Toontown I figured it was time to track down my uncle. We did the Mark Twain Riverboat (another first for Ben), then asked the cast members how I could get in touch with my uncle. They said I should go to Lost and Found and find my phone. I asked them what I should do if whoever had found it had chosen to keep it. They had nothing for that. So I went to Lost and Found (which was outside the park, so it was a big time sucker). They didn't have my phone, so they had me fill out a thing. Probably to file away with the 100,000 other idiots who think some schmuck from Ohio will find it and do the right thing.
Anyway, we went back into the park and tried to track down my uncle. He works on Tom Sawyer Island, so we went to the docks and asked if they knew him (because out of the thousands of people who work there he's so popular everyone must know him). Surprisingly, Jeffrey did. So Jeffrey went to call my uncle. While he was gone and Ben and I waited, I gave Ben a snack. Then I opened up the stroller canopy because it was hot. Lo and behold, guess what was hiding in the canopy? My phone. Of course. Because while I thought to empty the diaper bag and search it three times, it didn't occur to me to check the canopy. I called my uncle, who didn't answer, and I left him a message. Then Jeffrey came back, said he called my uncle, and he was coming to see me. Turns out he didn't have his phone with him, either. Awesome. But it didn't matter, because then we spent a half an hour exploring the island with one of the guys that built it (that would be my uncle). Ben was in boy heaven. Dirt, caves, pirates, ships--what more could a little man want? Nothing, I tell you. Ben did not, however, appreciate the skeleton hand and eyeball that popped up in the cave. But hey, if that's the only thing he didn't like out of a long morning of waiting and worrying, we didn't do too badly.
In fact, Ben was a champ. He normally refuses to spend more than 10 seconds in his stroller, but today he was all about it. I only had to hold him in lines, and even then only a couple because he kind of likes playing in line. He was awesome. It probably helped that I was plying him with snacks every 30 minutes. Hey, I've learned a few tricks in my two years of motherhood.
After the island we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride (1. I had no idea this existed until recently; 2. Ben calls him Poop). Ben liked it, which kind of surprised me because it was pretty dark in there and he normally hates the dark ones. Maybe it was because whoever built it was all doped up on hallucinogens (it's really really weird). At any rate, it was a success with the midget.
But after that the heat was getting out of control and we were both tired and hungry. So we called it a day. The last score? The lady in the parking booth validated my ticket and we didn't have to pay that $6. Bonus.
Next week is our last week before we are blacked out for the summer, so I think we're going to do the rest of Disneyland and California Adventure. Maybe I'll keep track of my phone. And maybe I won't be so stingy with money and rigid with naps, and we can spend more time there. Maybe. Maybe we'll just spend the day with Poop.
We left first thing in the morning and got there nice and early. We parked in Downtown Disney like we're not supposed to because the parking is on Matt's pass and I didn't want to pay $14. In Downtown it's free for 3 hours and $6 an hour after that. So I figured if we were there from 8-12 we would save $8. So we parked there, then while walking to the front I saw the Monorail entrance, which takes you right into the park. It was line-free, and I haven't been on it in a while. Since the theme of the day was Try New Things, it fit the bill, so we hopped on. Glorious. Ben got to ride a choo choo and Mommy got to skip a few steps. We call that "Everyone Wins." Except that when I got off the Monorail and down into the park I realized that I had no idea where my phone was. Poop. So we hung out with Raul for a while as people searched the trains when they came into the station. No luck. Because I'm of the opinion that stuff is just stuff, it's replaceable, a morning at Disneyland with my munchkin is not, I decided I would have fun, not worry about my phone, and check in at Lost and Found later. Except that for the next two hours while I was having fun all I was thinking about was my phone. Mostly, though, because my uncle works at the park and I was supposed to call him to hang out.
We did, however, manage to squeeze in some good times. We went on Autopia, which was basically the highlight of Ben's entire life. He LOVES automobiles, really any mode of transportation. So getting to drive one was a pretty big treat. Mommy wasn't super pleased with the fact we got shuffled around several times on the loading strip and ended up waiting an extra ten minutes or so while the monkeys operating the ride tried to figure out where we were supposed to stand. But whatever--Ben just counted the cars and shouted out their colors (which he apparently knows). I let him sit behind the steering wheel and "drive," which he liked for about thirteen seconds, then he just wanted to label everything while I tried to steer and accelerate from the passenger side. He had the time of his life.
Then we strolled for a bit, headed to the little ones area, and meandered. I have given up on the Storybook land rides--they're way too scary. Snow White ends with the scariest witch ever, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride actually sends you to Hell. The line for Dumbo was too long, so we went to Toontown, which is B's favorite anyway. He could spend all day there. Lots of buttons to push and knobs to turn. And cars. The boy really likes cars. He also apparently loves Mickey Mouse, which is funny to me because I don't remember ever introducing them. Maybe he watched it at daycare. Whatever the reason, he has been running around saying "Mickey Mouse" for days, so I thought it was only fair we visited. So we went to Mickey's house. Ben went nuts. We also saw Buzz Lightyear on the way, who is Ben's newest obsession. For the first time, Ben didn't freak out with the characters. He couldn't get enough of them. Well, the first thing he did upon meeting a character (or anyone else) was show them his Lightening McQueen shoes. THEN he'd smile, give them a high five, and what have you. I didn't get a picture with Buzz because he was doing the whole annoying "Walk with me" thing. And I got a lame picture with Mickey because I was too lame to ask the cast member to take a picture. But I did man up with Goofy (or "Foofy" as Ben says) and ask his handler to take the picture.
After Toontown I figured it was time to track down my uncle. We did the Mark Twain Riverboat (another first for Ben), then asked the cast members how I could get in touch with my uncle. They said I should go to Lost and Found and find my phone. I asked them what I should do if whoever had found it had chosen to keep it. They had nothing for that. So I went to Lost and Found (which was outside the park, so it was a big time sucker). They didn't have my phone, so they had me fill out a thing. Probably to file away with the 100,000 other idiots who think some schmuck from Ohio will find it and do the right thing.
Anyway, we went back into the park and tried to track down my uncle. He works on Tom Sawyer Island, so we went to the docks and asked if they knew him (because out of the thousands of people who work there he's so popular everyone must know him). Surprisingly, Jeffrey did. So Jeffrey went to call my uncle. While he was gone and Ben and I waited, I gave Ben a snack. Then I opened up the stroller canopy because it was hot. Lo and behold, guess what was hiding in the canopy? My phone. Of course. Because while I thought to empty the diaper bag and search it three times, it didn't occur to me to check the canopy. I called my uncle, who didn't answer, and I left him a message. Then Jeffrey came back, said he called my uncle, and he was coming to see me. Turns out he didn't have his phone with him, either. Awesome. But it didn't matter, because then we spent a half an hour exploring the island with one of the guys that built it (that would be my uncle). Ben was in boy heaven. Dirt, caves, pirates, ships--what more could a little man want? Nothing, I tell you. Ben did not, however, appreciate the skeleton hand and eyeball that popped up in the cave. But hey, if that's the only thing he didn't like out of a long morning of waiting and worrying, we didn't do too badly.
In fact, Ben was a champ. He normally refuses to spend more than 10 seconds in his stroller, but today he was all about it. I only had to hold him in lines, and even then only a couple because he kind of likes playing in line. He was awesome. It probably helped that I was plying him with snacks every 30 minutes. Hey, I've learned a few tricks in my two years of motherhood.
After the island we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride (1. I had no idea this existed until recently; 2. Ben calls him Poop). Ben liked it, which kind of surprised me because it was pretty dark in there and he normally hates the dark ones. Maybe it was because whoever built it was all doped up on hallucinogens (it's really really weird). At any rate, it was a success with the midget.
But after that the heat was getting out of control and we were both tired and hungry. So we called it a day. The last score? The lady in the parking booth validated my ticket and we didn't have to pay that $6. Bonus.Next week is our last week before we are blacked out for the summer, so I think we're going to do the rest of Disneyland and California Adventure. Maybe I'll keep track of my phone. And maybe I won't be so stingy with money and rigid with naps, and we can spend more time there. Maybe. Maybe we'll just spend the day with Poop.