California Vacation Part 2

It is already a months since we were in California. I am trying to catch up, but the heat is not very conducive to work of any kind. Well, as you might remember, we spent Thursday morning at Disneyland and then Jason had to fly home, while Karla picked me and the girls up, to stay another week at her place in San Clemente. We had a lot of fun. There is something to be said about live in Southern California. Since it was a holiday weekend with July 4th coming up on Tuesday, we had to carefully plan our excursions, to not mingle with the biggest crowds. So immediately in Friday we drove to San Diego to visit Seaworld. I had not been there since my first arrival in San Diego 13 years ago. Seaworld was a huge disappointment after spending those days at Disneyland. The park has mainly restaurants and souvenir shops, offers just the shows and a few Aquarium views and looks all together run down. Off course the crowds, the heat and the fact, that you had to be at every attraction at least 30 minutes in advance,did not help the situation. The dolphin and orca shows were sappy and corny and you should think that a huge company like Seaworld would focus on animal preservation and not just salute the war on terror. Marlene liked the shows and now wants to be a marine biologist, so she can work with orcas (we are definitely at the right spot for that). Einar and Amelia were at first fascinated by the "fish" (how do you want to call a dolphin or whale in front of a toddler?), but 30 minute shows push it for the little ones. Oh, yes, did I mention there is no shade at the big amphitheaters? After less than 2 hours with the high point being a duck and her ducklings, we left to have a late lunch/early dinner at D.Z.Akins, the great Jewish deli by San Diego State, where Jason and I went to school. This is probably the best Jewish Deli outside of New York. We bought some Challah to make French Toast the next day as well. Not even 5 minutes on the freeway on the drive home all three children had fallen asleep. After those strenuous days we took it slow the next few days. We mostly went to the pool, the beach or the mall. Karla and I even got a movie in ("The devil wears Prada"), by taking turns watching the kids. It was quite hot down there, so we tried to get to the playgrounds early. Karla goes to several Mom's groups who meet at various playgrounds. I like, that a lot of the playgrounds down there have huge sail covers over the structures against the intense sun. finally on Tuesday, July 4th, we went on another excursion. This time to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We figured that this is a BBQ and beach day, so there might not be that many people there and we were right. Off course it helped, that we were there right for opening. We took the train ride through the open displays and afterwards walked around to see more. Again, the babies in the strollers and the heat put limits on things, but everyone had a great time. It was fun to go into the bird exhibit and see the Lorekets. When it got too hot we left to go home, cool down in the pool and bbq some hot dogs for dinner. Karla made an incredible potato salad. From Karla's place we were able to see two fireworks. On the front there was a nice show over Dana Point and from the back balcony we looked due south towards a pier in San Clemente. Marlene and Einar love the fireworks (Amelia was asleep). Wednesday was our 3rd day for Disneyland. Since we were not good in getting out of the house early, we decided to get there in the early afternoon, when a lot of the morning people leave to cool down. We started out at California Adventure with the "Aladdin" musical, but the babies only lasted 5 minutes inside the theater, so we had to leave. We rode the "Monsters Inc." ride, danced with Pluto and headed over to Disneyland. Since we were still missing a picture with "Sleeping beauty", because the batteries of the camera had given out, we were lucky to see Aurora just as we entered the park. Our walk down mainstreet lead us to the castle again. Marlene and Karla went on the "Peter Pan' ride while I waited with the sleeping babies by the carousel. Afterwards we cooled down in the "small world". Some ice cream, a few characters and rides later, we feasted on the famous smoked and roasted Turkey legs. Our last ride was "Winnie the Pooh", before we headed over to see the parade. After that it was time to go home. We were all tired and exhausted from the day. Thursday was the day to head back to Seattle. Since it was an afternoon flight, we had enough time in the morning for packing and getting ready. Karla had recommended that I take the carseat inside with me instead of checking it, in the hope we might get an extra seat for Amelia. It worked and so we had a whole row for ourselves. All would have been great if Amelia would not have decided that carseats are for cars and the airplane is for playing around. She was not happy. The first hour she screamed in several minute intervals, which made us a lot of friends. The sleeping aide did not help, she just stayed awake until landing (yes, she fell asleep as we touched down), and kicked the seat in front of her. It will be a while until I fly with both of them. This flight was not a good experience. Altogether we had a great time in California. It was a fun trip and we loved like always staying with our gracious hostess Karla. Thank you so much.

So much is happening

We have so much going on, that it is difficult to keep up with the blog right now. As most of you know by now, Amelia started walking 10 days ago. She was sitting on the floor in the middle of the TV room when she decided to get up and start walking. And she has not stopped since. The newest game is to chase/or being chased on the kitchen-living room round. Yesterday she ran it 10 times and then her legs buckled. That of course did not stop her. She continued running just to fall every few steps. She is sleeping pretty well theses days. Well, so this mobility creates problems for me, because she explores everything in the house. In addition to walking, she climbs everywhere. Today I found her with scissors, that I had left on a shelf at my eye level! She had climbed on the sofa and from there up on the side of the Ikea Shelf. She was proudly holding them while I nearly had a heart attack. So the only time I have peace to write something is when Amelia sleeps and Marlene does something else. New here is a short run through our last 2 weeks. After we returned from California, Marlene had a dance-camp at Magnuson Park. And this last weekend we went camping up to Orcas island (there will be a separate blog). We had a lot of fun, but again, camping with a 1 year old has its challenges. Our garden has partially turned into a jungle. We are going to have tons of tomatoes. The raspberries are just done and I see tons of pears and apples in the future. I think it is time to buy a pressure canner.

More Pictures

Since this is a huge blog, I decided to split the pictures in half.

The Disney Vacation

I know, it took me a long time to write again. I can't believe that we are already a week back from California. Needless to say, it was a great vacation. We left early Tuesday morning the 27th of June, just to spent half a day at Sea-Tac airport, because our flight got canceled for technical reasons (apparently the breaks did not work, when they tried to get the plane out of the hangar). Actually I was happy when they announced that the flight was canceled, because I rather not fly in a questionable plane. Due to Jason's great timing (he walked by the podium on his way back from the bathroom, just as they announced the cancellation), he was first in line and so we got 3 seats on the 11.45am flight to Orange County. It was a long wait, considering we had gotten up at 5am, but there is a fabulous playground in the terminal which took a lot of energy out of the girls so they both slept during the 3 hour flight. The drive from John Wayne Airport to Disneyland is only 20 minutes. Our room was ready, so we could check in immediately. We were on the 9th floor with a beautiful view over "Disney's California Adventure Park". After lunch at the Storyteller Restaurant at the "California Grand", we got some supplies at a supermarket and Marlene and I spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel pool. Besides the regular pool, they had a wading pool for Tots and a big waterslide for all ages. Jason and Amelia stayed in the room to rest. Since the day had started so early (and since there was no way Amelia would go to sleep with the rest of us awake), the lights were off by 9 pm, even before the nightly fireworks. The next day started early again, because Amelia was up by 5.30, which woke up Marlene, which started a chain reaction of not falling back asleep. Jason had heard that there is a 7am early entry into Disneyland. They newly remodeled "Pirates of the Caribbean" Ride had reopened just 2 days earlier and we wanted to try to be in line early, because regular wait time was about 4 hours. The "early" entry for Wednesday turned out to be 8 am, but when we got to the gates at 7 am there was already a long line. At 7.30am they allowed people to enter the park and walk the Mainstreet area. Everyone for "Pirates" was supposed to line up on the left. By the time we got there (did I mention Pushing and shoving?) there were about 400 people in line and we decided to stay on the non-pirate side. Looking back it was a good idea. Marlene turned out to be afraid of all the dark indoor rides like "Pinocchio" and "Mr. Toad", so we would have never made it to the actual Pirates ride (a lot of people took their small children). We had a lot of fun in the castle area, where most of the family rides are. At 8am there were not many people and within the first hour we had been on the Teacups, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, the Carousel and the Small World. I guess the kids liked the "small world" best. It is colorful, slow, and airconditioned. Next stop was Toontown with Mickey's and Goofy's houses. The line to meet Mickey was to long, so which we just visited Goofy. For a little rest we entered the train that goes all around the Park. After half a round we exited at New Orleans Square where we had a second breakfast on beignets. It started to be really hot, which made everything very difficult for Amelia. Back at the Castle, we visited the big " once upon a time" princess store. Jason decided to head back to the hotel with Amelia, while Marlene and I stayed at the store (airconditioned) to listen to Sleeping Beauty tell her story. It ended around noon and so it was time for Marlene and me to walk over to the other park to Ariel's Grotto for our Princess Lunch. We nearly did not make it, because Marlene had a serious meltdown (she was tired, hot and hungry). At Ariel's Grotto, we did not have to wait too long for our seating,since it was only the two of us. We had a great table right where the princesses come out. It is great to sit in an airconditioned restaurant and to eat a good lunch, while Jasmin, Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty come to your table. We got all their autographs and, off course, their pictures. After lunch we joined Jason and Amelia at the hotel, where we all took an afternoon nap. Around 5pm we were back in business going to California Adventure Park. We wanted to try some of the rides there, but the lines of the grown up rides were too long. Instead we rode some of the ones that were suitable for Marlene. We were just in time for the "Blockparty" with many of the Pixar characters. We danced with Woody, Buzz, Sully, Mike, and all the bugs from "Bugs Life". After Jason and Marlene rode the Ferris Wheel ans Neptunes Carousel we walked over to Disneyland for the evening Parade. We had a nice spot in the shade and did not mind waiting a bit. The Disney Parade is really worth it. Big Floats with characters in most beautiful costumes brought huge smiles to little girls faces. This ended our first day in the park. We took the second morning slower and had the "Lilo and Stich" breakfast at our hotel. While we feasted on a great buffet, our table was visited by Lilo, Stich, Goofy's little brother Max, and Pluto. Amelia was not sure what to make out of these things looking at her. She started to cry when they came to close. After breakfast we checked out of the room and went back to Disneyland. It was still before 9 am and so we headed for Tomorrow Land to ride on the cars (this must have been the latest thing when the park opened 50 years ago, now it seems like a very retro piece of history). Next stop the rides at the castle, where Marlene declared that she would never ever "Mr Toad" again. We walked through Frontierland towards Adventureland. Today we had time to go on a cruise on the Steam Boat "Mark Twain". Since we were meeting with Karla at 2.30 at our hotel, it was time to slowly head back. The midday heat was getting to us. So we preferred to wait in the airconditioned Lobby. Now it was time for Jason to get back to the airport and fly home. Marlene, Amelia and I drove with Karla and Einar to their place in San Clemente to finish the day with a nice dip in the pool.