Birthday Weekend!

I had a GREAT birthday weekend!! Susie came into town last Wednesday and spent a couple days with us down in Pasadena. Ellie really enjoyed having Susie pick her up at school with Daddy.

On Friday, we drove up to Santa Barbara and had a special birthday dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Santa Barbara. Then we headed back to my parents house to have cake and open presents. Ellie was even nice enough to share her crown with me on my special day!

On Saturday, we all headed to downtown Santa Barbara to check out the Summer Solstice parade. The family found some space on a curb, got ourselves some smoothies for lunch and waited for the parade.

While we waited we purchased some confetti filled eggs. These have always been a great tradition during the solstice and fiesta in Santa Barbara. You buy the confetti filled eggs and crack them on your friends heads. While Susie and I had grown up with this tradition, Nick had actually never experienced this. So, Ellie and I took turns cracking the eggs and pouring confetti all over Nick! She thought it was hilarious. So we did it to Susie too!

This parade has a reputation for being unique. Ellie said it best when she said, "Mommy, this is a different parade". Yep honey.

That afternoon we had a special family dinner. My grandparents and Aunt and Uncle all came over and we had a tri-tip dinner with cake and ice cream for dessert. It was fun to visit with everyone, but having Susie in town made my birthday extra special! And not just because Ellie, Susie, and my mom made me a special princess crown cake.

It was a fantastic birthday weekend. Thanks everyone!!

End of School Party

Earlier this week Ellie's preschool held a party for the end of the year as well as to say farewell to all the kids who are going to kindergarten next year. I wasn't able to attend, but Nick made it. Nick reported that the program (singing and performances by the kids) was entertaining.

The show got (kick) started with a performance by some of the kids who participated in the school's Kung Fu extracurricular offering showing off their skills. 

Then.. the kids who were "graduating" onto Kindergarten doing a group performance.. followed by some of them doing solo acts. Some of Ellie's good friends showed a ton of guts by getting up there to sing songs on their own. Some sang and one even played the piano. Ellie showed a lot of patience by sitting nicely in the audience and clapping when they finished and took their bow.

Of course, Ellie's friends on stage weren't the only ones singing.  Almost all their friends from class seated in the chairs just below the stage sang along.. including Ellie -- loudly.

Then it was time for the kids who were staying for another year or more to do their performances.  Ellie really enjoyed dancing, but didn't feel much like singing.  (This is despite her having no problem at all belting out "Doe, Ray, Me" at home.)  The kids have been practicing for about two weeks. Ellie would come home and tell us all about going to the "stage" and how we should bow. She would sing and dance and even taught us the twist.

She really got into a song that included portions of the dance where the kids are called to FREEZE by the singer. Ellie hit those parts right on.. not missing a beat.. and striking a pose each time the song told her to freeze.

Ironically, though.. as much fun as she's had doing it at home.. Ellie did not feel like doing "The Twist" for the next song.  Wonder why.  She told me afterward she was shy.. but I didn't buy that after having watched the prevoius dance/song.

After the show we ate lunch.. chowing down on chicken nuggets, pizza, spaghetti & bowtie pasta, as well as the fruit salad we brought as part of the pot luck.  Ellie's favorite part of lunch, however, were the mini cupcakes.

Now that the kids had plenty of energy (and a sugar rush to burn off), Ellie and her friends spent the next half an hour or so splitting time between the school's playground and hitting bunches of balloons (that had been decorating the stage) into the air like volleyballs.  They also spent some time dancing and spinning on an impromptu dance floor.

It was a pretty fun party.. and Ellie wishes her friends who are moving on good luck in "their big, big kid school.  I'm a big kid and I'm in a big kid school, but they are going to a big, big kid school."

Disneyland - June 2012

We went to Disneyland!

We spent two days at the Disneyland Resort and went to Disneyland and California Adventure. We also spent a night at the Grand Californian Hotel. I was impressed at how much Ellie remembered from our last trip there last August. Ellie was so excited to go and knew exactly what her priorities were. In an amazing combination of time management, knowing Disneyland inside and out, and the strategic use of the FastPass everyone got to do everything they wanted.

The best thing about taking a 3 year old to Disneyland is watching the amazement, joy, and honest excitement on her face. When we walked down Main Street USA just as the park opened at 7am on Tuesday (after leaving our place at 5:30am) she was so excited and amazed by everything.

 We hit the big 3 rides of Fantasyland first: Peter Pan, Dumbo, and the Tea Cups.

Of course, Ellie knew what to expect on those three rides. We then went on a couple rides that she wasn't that familiar with. Now, Ellie s 36 inches tall. Which apparently is tall enough for some really thrilling rides!

Look Mommy! I'm tall enough!!

Tall enough for what? What?!? A ROLLER COASTER!

See the orange shirt in the  second to last car? See the little blonde sitting next to the orange shirt? That's Ellie! On a roller coaster! Its the Gadget Go Coaster in Toontown.

"I went really high and really fast. I liked it Mommy!" -Ellie

If I'm sitting on the left side, who is driving the car??

Oh, that's Ellie!

"Daddy, was your car really bumpy? Our car was really bumpy" - Ellie

Well, "bumpy" is what happens when you can't see over the steering wheel and over correcting everytime the car hits the guardrail. 

Ellie not only went on Dumbo, but also went on the Astro Oribitor. Yep, she was tall enough for that as well!  

As scary as some of the Fantasyland rides are (she did not enjoy Snow White!) she loved Alice in Wonderland. It may have been that she got to sit by herself in the front of the car (or caterpillar)...

We also went on a few brand new rides for all three of us, all were in California Adventure. There was an Ariel ride, Monster's Inc. ride, and a Toy Story ride. All got thumbs up from all of us. Nick and I also fell in love with the Toy Story Ride. Ellie wouldn't wear the 3-D glasses so she didn't get the full effect, but this ride was AMAZING and so much fun.

In California Adventure, Ellie went on the giant Mickey ferris wheel. You know where I was? Not on the ferris wheel! I got my thrills from the California Screamin' roller coaster.

We made sure to get in line right away to meet Mickey and Minnie. Ellie wasn't too happy to see Mickey, only because she was so much more excited to see Minnie. We got some good family photos as well.

Ellie was really a trooper, waiting in line patiently, taking a nap in the stroller both days, and even being an amazing little girl at dinner at Blue Bayou. There were only a few meltdowns, but that happens when you stay up late, get up early, and are too excited for anything.

Did I mention she napped?

Yeah, she did.

Did you know that Disney has a Rider Switch program? Basically, if two parents have a young child and want to go on the rides where you have to be over 40 inches tall for, one person can wait in line while the other stays with the kiddo. Then, one the parent waiting gets to the front of the line, they get a special pass for the other parent to get to use the FastPass line or go right to the front. Hence, during nap time both parents can go on Indiana Jones and Thunder Mountain. Have you ever noticed that near some of the over 40 inch tall rides, there are rides with no height requirements? With single rider lines and FastPasses and Rider Switch, one of us could go on Space Mountain or Splash Mountain or something else while the other took Ellie on Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, or the Carousel.

We also got to meet some of Winnie the Pooh's friends including Eeyore, Rabbit, and Tigger!

Ellie loved the parade. She was so excited that she sat patiently on the curb for over 30 minutes waiting for the parade. Well, maybe the ice cream and flavored ice her parents bought themselves and shared with her that made the time go by quickly. She was so excited and waved to everyone and danced along with the music.

Did you know Ellie loved all the Disney princesses?? She wanted to meet them all and get a princess dress. At the end of our first night, we took Ellie to the Bippity Boppity Boutique and let her pick out a princess dress for herself. She picked a Sleeping Beauty dress. She was so happy and it was such a great experience for her to pick out her dress. (tip: if you stay at a Disneyland Resort hotel, anything you buy in the park will be delivered to your hotel so you don't have to carry it with you. Perfect when you don't want to carry around a princess dress!) We also got a crown, which has some pretty lights for night time. Ellie didn't necessarily want to always wear the crown, but she felt that someone should be wearing it...me!

Our second day we went to breakfast at Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure. Ariel and four of her friends were there and were more than happy to visit with Ellie and spend time with her. The food was good, the view was great, and watching Ellie get so giddy and happy to see her favorite princesses was awesome. She gave each one a hug (after being a little shy with Snow White) and posed for photos. We also took time to go meet Rapunzel who has a home in Fantasyland.

Those smiles in the photos above are pure joy, excitement, and happiness from Ellie. She was so happy and felt so special to get to meet all of the princesses.

The first day Ellie stayed up and watched the fireworks at Disneyland. She declared that now that she is bigger, she wasn't afraid of the fireworks. However, according to Ellie, the better show was the water/light/video show at California Adventure, "World of Color". We got some reserved seating and had great seats. Ellie sang along (loudly) to all the songs much to the delight of people around us.

Ellie's favorite rides:
1) The Baby Ride (aka It's a Small World)
2) The pirates ride ("its not scary anymore!!")
3) ARIEL!
4) "Buzz Lightnin'".. as Ellie called it (aka Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters)
5) and, The Baby Ride again

We all had a fantastic time.

A truly fantastically, magical, amazing time!