Better than Chinese food and a movie

Happy holidays! This year we decided to try for a family adventure over the break, flying down to Southern California for a few days at Disneyland and then renting a near-beach house with our extended family (the cast: from NY, my brother B and sister-in-law J and their month-younger-than-L son M; from Michigan, grandma and J; with planned special guests: many childhood friends who now live in LA) for a week. The idea was sound, though perhaps we should have anticipated the season of winter sickness; I don't think we've all five been healthy at the same time since before Thanksgiving, and the boys in particular had a variety of fevers, coughs, and colds over the past week. I even took them to the doctor a few days before the flight to make sure we weren't going to be totally crazy for not cancelling the whole thing -- the doctor just shrugged and wished us a good trip.

So, come Christmas Eve, mima graciously dropped us at SeaTac airport for a trip to the cute little airport nearest Disneyland. L was in a stroller, and with the smaller aircraft, there was a staircase to take at SeaTac, so we got to go (as Z would say) "a sneaky way" way past the actual gate through approximately half the airport, to a service elevator, down through a narrow corridor, and then outside along the edge of the tarmac weaving through a construction zone, to finally board the small airplane from ground level. I think perhaps we could have just carried the stroller down the stairs, but ah well. The boys did fairly well on the flight, though there was no sleeping. Upon arrival, I was happy to see it was about 20 feet from the gate to the baggage claim to the rental car. And Z was very happy about getting to perform a close inspection of the baggage claim; bags in hand, we headed out to try to figure out where the heck to get dinner and baby supplies on the night of the year that everything closes early. We successfully found an open restaurant option that served the boys' favorites (where O was fascinated by four different colors/flavors of syrup), as well as a drug store for diapers, before heading to our hotel to crash out before our first big day with the Mouse.

On Christmas, the coughing and sniffling were continuing, so everyone was dosed up with Tylenol, and after breakfast at the hotel, we crossed the street and were into California Adventure. After a quick stop at Guest Services to pick up a "first visit" button for L and find out about the new version of the Disability Access Service pass, it was time to hit some rides! The boys had been too small last time for the biggest attraction at the park, so we headed there first before the lines got too long. L was already down for her first nap (not a great first night of sleep for her at the hotel), so Meh hung out with her while I took the boys -- but a gracious employee (I mean Cast Member) explained that we could do a rider switch, which lets a parent who's staying with kids who can't ride swap in to the fast pass line immediate -- and take a few people with them to boot. So lo and behold, it wasn't even 9 am and the boys had already ridden the most popular ride in the park twice. From there we hit a few more of their favorites in Cars Land before breaking for lunch. Double bonus -- the boys' lunches came in Lightning McQueen containers. That didn't actually encourage them to eat it, but at least we had our first happy souvenirs (and bonus storage, more on that in a moment) for the trip.

In the afternoon we decided to try a show (possibly my first since the classic Tiki Room in my youth), and they of course had a 'Disney Junior' one that featured the boys' favorite show (as well as a few others - loving the cross-marketing). The boys did an excellent job queuing up patiently, and soon we were into a carpeted auditorium with like a hundred kids and their parents/guardians sitting on the floor. I think it turned out to be the perfect place to rest for 30-45 minutes, as the boys were pretty wiped out from the big morning. The show itself turned out to be fabulously cute, with impressively cartoon-like large puppets of the various characters. Everyone was holding up iPads and taking videos, so I'm sure you could find several hundred versions online. Jake was saved for last, and there was a grand adventure that ended with a volcano erupting gold doubloons (circular pieces of yellow and gold paper) that fluttered down to the floor, which O shovel-hoarded into his aforementioned Lightning McQueen case (see, storage!).

Though the crowds continued to grow, we actually did pretty well with more rides in the afternoon; while the Tower of Terror (that O had long insisted he really wanted to go on) turned out to be a bit too intense for the boys (Z: "You did not like that tower of terror"), we did find a clear new favorite for Z with the Goofy rollercoaster on Paradise Pier. In the evening, we had hot dogs, corn on the cob, churros, and watched the evening parade (which L absolutely loved), before heading back to the hotel to collapse in a heap before the fireworks show even started.

On to day 2, and it was time to visit the classic Magic Kingdom side of the park. Despite what felt like an agonizingly slow start on behalf of the boys, we somehow made it to the opening ceremony, where they walk back a rope and people gradually get to fill in the park. Our first few stops reflected our pattern from the boys' first visit: Peter Pan, then a ride on the carousel next to it. Big hits with all; L was big eyed and smiley for the ride to Never Land, and both O and Z were excited to be back. We even spotted the evil animatronic queen glaring down at us from the windows in the castle across the way (I'd never noticed her before -- point Meh!).

We next made a beeline for Star Tours, since with the boys' first Star Wars trilogy screenings recently completed, the boys had said they were super interested in seeing R2D2. O was talking through much of the ride, but both of them seemed to have a great time. Afterwards, a first: the boys were allowed to go through the store and (gasp) pick out one thing to purchase. We'd cued up the fact that they offer very cool build-your-own lightsabers, and the boys immediately settled on those, with O getting a green one 'like Luke', Z making a red one, and me completely botching the assembly steps until a staff member came over and helped us out. A ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean and it was time for a New Orleans lunch, at which point we got the phone call that grandma, J, uncle B, aunt J, and the very new cousin M were closing in on our location -- hooray! After a failed attempt to ride Indy (I'd forgotten that this was the one ride the boys weren't tall enough for - thank goodness, meltdowns averted), we headed back over toward Tomorrowland to meet up with them and take a bit of a breather through the now super busy park, where O and L both promptly conked out. Z and I went to check out the Iron Man exhibit at Innoventions, and when we returned, L woke up and the extended family arrived (while O's epic nap continued). Z and I got to meet a few familiar faces along with uncle B, aunt J, and cousin M. The rest of the afternoon featured an insane line at It's a Small World (which had been re-dressed for Christmas and with variants of Jingle Bells mixed in -- talk about merging two of the most persistent earworms in the literature), after which uncle B, aunt J, cousin M, grandma, and J all bailed (I felt bad that they'd come all the way to Disneyland for like one ride!) for M's afternoon nap. We stuck around to watch an outdoor show (again, hilariously cute -- a "Jedi Academy" training show that pulled up a bunch of volunteer kids on stage and eventually had them all queuing up to duel with Darth Vader to hilarious comments from the jedi like "They just keep getting shorter!"), grab a snack, and then finally head out in the evening for an In-N-Out drive through dinner, followed almost immediately by exhausted, conked out kids in the backseat as we drove to the family's rented house in Redondo Beach. An exhausting but very fun first two days in California -- more adventures starting today!

The full set of pictures from Disneyland (and the rest of our LA trip) to be found here.

Treasures (and also geocaches)

Last night we had a late abandon of our planned Parents Night Out, as both boys had temperatures. But fear not, O suggested "the next Star Wars", so it was on to The Empire Strikes Back. Z actually fell asleep, but O stayed riveted through the whole thing -- though he talked his way right through the whole father reveal, so I had to back up the film to make sure he caught it. Mind. Blown. ("But why?")

Today all of the fevers had broken and the boys were wild, so it was time to get them out of the house so L had at least some shot at a nap. I decided it was time to continue exploring the boys' new geocaching obsession, and a nearby park looked to have multiple secretly just-out-of-sight treasure troves.

Geocaches are often a bit tricky (on a previous visit to this park, we'd wandered around an area that clearly had one, but couldn't find the specific stone/fencepost/nook where it was stashed), but for cache number one today, we had found the right location in about 10 minutes, and 5 minutes later I emerged with a waterproof canister attached to a wooden bird; O and Z were both delighted, commenting on it and wanting to check it out and pose with it for a picture for mommy.

Spot two was a bit trickier; these often depend on both luck and a bit on the accuracy of GPS reporting and your phone's magnetometer; for the latter two, my phone is pretty lame. We walked past some kind of busy bike obstacle course event in progress, but waded around it towards the second tagged spot, and explored at least two wrong paths before finding the correct one. While we were looking, suddenly a beautiful deer walked out of the woods in front of us. I stopped the boys, whispered, and pointed her out to them, and we all looked at each other for a half minute before she hopped away -- it was very special to be able to share that with O and Z. And that sustained us through the remainder of the search; 20 minutes and several more backtracks later, I decided to check an area that was in plain sight, and sure enough, a sneaky puzzle (also bird-shaped) contained our second treasure of the day. The boys had a great time, and it was just so nice to be able to spend it with them in nature and in pursuit of a family goal resulting in a few little shared discoveries.

Nine months a lady

Happy nine months to Eleanor! Unbelievable that she's already grown so much and is already showing the petite personality of happy, smiling, giggling, and vocalizing little girl. Today was her nine month well check; the report card:

• Weight: 19.95 lbs (50th-75th percentile)
• Length: 27.5" (25th-50th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 16.8" (10th-25th percentile)
• Hgb: 12.3 (yes, another random new test metric to figure out - but apparently normal values for L!)

She fell asleep on the way to the appointment, and though she had to wake up and was a little cranky for the doctor, the actual shot she got was responded to with a single cry, then a sigh and snuggle. She slept again in the car as Meh drove to get her Chanukah nails done in a very Chanukah (blue and silver, very nice!) color scheme.

Tonight we had family movie night and chose a film that I had remembered liking very much when I saw it (jeez, probably 15 years ago) but that Meh had never seen, The Iron Giant. While Z was a bit squirmy and O was asking questions roughly every ten seconds, we all enjoyed the film (yes, both Meh and I were crying at parts) -- a very solid recommendation to others, whether you have kids or not. It was also fun to hear so many familiar voices as the animated characters, and I'd forgotten that this was one of the pioneers of computer animation (the robot) meshed with hand-drawn animation (everything else).

Christmas dinner

When I first moved up to Seattle, I knew precisely one person, from a summer program she and I had attended while in college. Today, at long last, Meh and I took the family to her delightful and highly successful new(ish) bakery. Congrats to Robin! And a huge success with our own food critics; the boys were big fans of the giant cookie sandwiches.

I mentioned yesterday that Z loves associating holidays with months, and that he was very much looking forward to Christmas. When he learned that we don't actually "do" Christmas, he was sad -- though he certainly brightened up when I indicated we'd be in Disneyland for the holiday this year. And then friends-of-friends C and T expressed an interest in doing a bit of a 'cultural' exchange, where we'll host them for a Shabbat/Chanukah dinner in a few weeks. So tonight we went over to their house, which they had just finished decking out for the holiday (with not only tree and ornament, but also trains, model houses, and more), for a very November Christmas dinner. The kids made snickerdoodles, there was much playing (in two separate playrooms no less) with friends, and everyone even warmed up to the family's friendly golden retriever after a while. Some of the adults even busted out with carols, and it was a lovely evening. Happy almost December to everyone!

Double dates

With Thanksgiving now past us, Z has been focusing on the upcoming month and holiday associated with it - "In December we'll have Christmas!" Er, hm. But at least Chanukah makes the list as well. I do still love the selections (and spellings) that comprise the Z bank holiday calendar; my favorite is "short day", which we figured out to mean days where he has a half day at school.

Movie nights have been a popular non-school-night activity with the boys. Last night we at long last introduced the boys to Star Wars (and despite many online nearly religious debates of correct ordering, we opted to open with Episode IV). O definitively proved himself to be my son by declaring during the opening titles, "This music sounds like Superman!" Both boys had a great time, and O definitively stated that his favorite part "was where they blew up the bad guy space ship". We'll have to slot in the rest of the original trilogy soon; that prequel trilogy is still TBD.

Today the boys each had an activity with a non-parent. Mima and O had lunch at a shockingly original location before heading onward to the local art museum for a project making a toolbox. O did a fabulous job with his, and though the paint is still drying, he *really* wants to put all of the tools that used to go in a little plastic box into the new toolbox. And Z got to go to his favorite park with former summer camp counselor E, who was visiting from university for the long holiday weekend. When Z had heard about getting to hang out with E a few weeks ago, he was super excited -- so much so that on an art project that came home with the names of people he was thankful for, E showed up. (Fear not, the entire atomic family and grandparents made the list as well.) All in all, an excellent time for the boys, and some good quality time for Meh and me to spend with L as well!

Cut the turkey

For this episode of "successful picture of three kids", I present some blur, some looking off camera, but at least all smiles. Happy Thanksgiving! We had a festive and high energy celebration of 22 people (14 adults, 8 kids, 2 babies); needless to say, it was a bit hectic - but lovely and yummy as always; Meh and mima outdid themselves, selecting the breast only cuts from the grocery store meant way too much turkey (though far more success with the actual carving), and of course the challah was in high demand. Grandma and J came to visit from Michigan for the week as well, and had a lovely time hanging out with the boys and L. Grandma even got to put her very first girl in a dress (though one of her friends later disputed this, recalling grandma helping out with one of that friend's baby daughters).

Of course the boys had their traditional sleepover at grandma and J's hotel (it sounded like some amount of sleeping actually did occur, though many stories were read first). L continued to show off her backwards crawling to everyone's amusement, and even chowed down on most everything that was at the Thanksgiving table - turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and more.

In earlier news, this past weekend was another rainy/gloomy affair, so I decided to introduce the boys to the pastime of bowling at a local alley. It was like turning back time walking through the door, with the same combination of banner beer ads, funky carpet smell, pull tabs, and of course the classic rental shoes. Thankfully, these fine folks offered automated bumper bowling, where bumpers would physically pop up in the gutters when it was the boys' turn and then back down for mine -- it mostly worked. The scores were embarrassing (well, mine was), but everyone had a great time rolling (or in O's case, hurling) the ball down the lane. And there were even some light math lessons ("you knocked down 3 pins - how many are left?"). Z was a great fan of everyone's bowling, and would hilariously bowl, cheer quickly, then run back to his seat to watch the ball slowly (sooo slowly, though the boys' balls only got stuck like five times) wobble down the lane. The shoes were the favorite part for O, as of couse they had his favorite color (blue) in them.

Near sighted

O's class pictures were Thursday, and he was arguably more excited than we were about the big day. Without a word or cue from me, he picked out his own ensemble and came downstairs in the morning looking quite dapper, ready for his pictures. "Wow, I look very good today!" And he knows it. This spells trouble I suspect.

In other news, L continues to be pretty much in love with her brothers, with many smiles and giggles as she watches them and as they all play together.

Today the boys and I had an early guys' movie morning, allegedly at a "sensory-friendly" screening where they would turn down the volume and turn up the lights just a bit. When I bought the tickets, I double checked we had the right screening, and the staff at the ticket counter first had a blank look and then nodded and said "yes, that's the [mumble] screening". As far as I could tell, it turned out to just be a regular showing, but the boys loved every minute of it and did a great job of quietly watching the movie and mowing through an oversized bag of popcorn. Afterwards, there was a giant version of Baymax in the lobby, and Z confirmed for himself that the robot was indeed as huggable as had been depicted in the movie.

Last Prize

Tonight Meh and I had date night, going to see a special screening of a beautiful newly restored print of Meh's favorite unicorn film at a fun city movie theater that serves up food before and during the show. Before and after, the original author of the book (and writer of the screenplay) himself was signing books and memorabilia. We enjoyed the movie (cheesy music, several corny lines, and all!), and then Peter S. Beagle himself took to the stage to answer questions and then help draw raffle of various prizes (artwork, posters, original film cels, etc.).

At the very end, there was one extra special raffle prize whose winner would get to go up on stage with Peter -- and yup, Meh won! She was so excited that she almost bit it getting up onto the stage, but she recovered and was rewarded with a shirt slightly modifying a quote from the movie, and whose explanation was a regaling of the story that somehow Peter Beagle was the first to author a story involving a female unicorn. Meh also picked up a book (unicorn-themed, by a Seattle writer who was at the screening as well) and a cool tote bag that had the entire text of the book printed on it in tiny but legible type, and forming the silhouetted shape of the lead character. What a fun and magical evening!

A portrait by the artist as a young man

Both boys love to watch L explore her new world. Last month we brought out some of the baby toys as well as the modular play mat (she of course enjoys disassembling it as much as practicing her plank pose on it. Z has taken to calling it her "privacy", since he knows that he and O aren't supposed to go on it, a concept reinforced when one of the folding gates came out to circle her toys (as much to keep the boys from playing with them as to keep their own toys out of the reach of baby hands and mouth). Yesterday, Z drew this excellent "Picture of Eleanor in Her Privacy" (2014, pencil on paper), which will most certainly adorn the fridge for some time. Nice job, Z!

Cache and Carry

What? That last post had not a single gratuitous pic of L? Just a Facebook link? Okay, rectified here, with a shot of her at the boys' new favorite indoor rainy day activity, jumping on large trampolines until they get sweaty and exhausted. She obviously enjoys going and watching the activities as well. You're welcome.

I've talked at length about O's obsession with "treasure" (perhaps encouraged a little too much by that trove he unearthed at the beach?); every time we go to a park, he's looking on the ground for treasures that he can keep. More often than not he spies litter (wrappers, bottle caps, etc.), but occasionally there's actually a penny or something interesting and non-gross enough to take home. Over the past few weeks, Meh reminded me of the sport of letterboxing, where people around the country hide a small artifact and then post clues online for others to find the item (and then rehide it for others to discover as well). Many of these are hidden in parks and woods, and sure enough, when I checked, the boys' favorite park was indeed a spot with a buried letterbox. Alas, the sport (or at least this trove) appears to have been aged out of fashion, as the boys and I followed the precise instructions but there was no letterbox to be found (the box had been hidden nearly 10 years ago, and the website was feeling a bit long in the tooth as well).

But never fear, in actuality it appears the pastime has rather just morphed in our connected mobile world to something called geocaching, where in addition to (or sometimes in place of) clues are provided GPS coordinates, and of course apps on every phone (yes, even mine) that let you kind of sort of orienteer to the prize. We returned to the same park, which claimed to have a geocache, and after the prerequisite 'exercise' (me pushing them on the swings), O and I intently followed the instructions while L snoozed and Z played with mommy. We looked very carefully at the hiding place, and lifted a seemingly innocuous rock to uncover a tiny black canister filled with a scroll of paper that you sign indicating you've discovered it. O was in awe and super excited, but also concerned when I indicated it was time to re-hide the cache for the next, um, geocacher? Afterwards, he talked about how cool it was, but how it wasn't treasure because you couldn't take it home with you. I asked if he wanted to do it again, and he said he'd rather find treasure. We'll just have to see if Z gets interested as well.

Sweet tooth

Early last month (like, the second day of school), Z lost a tooth at school. His teachers discovered this because apparently one of them noticed something in their pocket that hadn't been there a moment earlier; Z had decided to bring his tooth to the faculty rather than keep it himself. At least it wasn't thrown away -- it came home in a cute little envelope (and within that, in a little tooth-shaped pouch on a string necklace). Yesterday, a second tooth fell out - alas, this one was not recovered. But the lost tooth was perfect timing for a gap-toothed Halloween smile for Z, who did reflect on the holiday in the daily journal sheet he brings home.Z had declared many months ago that he wanted to be the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz -- and he was super pleased with the excellent version mommy devised; my favorite part was the silver spray painted funnel oil can hat.

Meh kicked off the holiday in style, with excellently ghoulish green chocolate chip and eyeball pancakes (as well as orange jack-o-lantern ones) for the boys this morning. During the day, Z reportedly had fun at his class parade (as per the journal above); I managed to entertain coworkers and trick-or-treaters alike at work with my costume. And in the evening, it was time to take the boys out to trick or treat -- everything was indeed awesome, as proven out by our costumes.

For those who haven't been watching The Lego Movie on a loop, that would be Emmet, Wyldstyle, and then the boys as Tin Woodman and the Red Power Ranger. She'd already gone to bed at this point, but here's a picture of our cute little winged fairy L as well.

It only took 7 years, but both boys successfully traversed the entire neighborhood - and with daddy solo to boot, while mommy stayed home to pass out candy to the other neighborhood kids. I was so proud to be able to stop at the foot of the driveway and watch the boys scurry up to the houses. Sometimes they even remembered to say 'trick or treat', and once I may have even caught them saying 'thank you' afterwards (despite me prompting them nearly every time -- manners, people!). We returned home to count the candy hordes and have one piece before bedtime. Happy Halloween!

Band minus one

We really need to book family portraits at some point; alas, our favorite photographer has moved south to warmer climes. But in the short term, enough of the family was assembled on the couch today that I was able to grab the camera and get a few shots of everyone but myself -- again, with varying degrees of success with regard to blurriness, smiling, and/or looking at the camera. This is hard stuff!

Heavy lunch

No idea why this was the case, but today at lunch, a SWAT vehicle belonging to the county sheriff was parked out in front of the boys' burger joint of choice. Z and O were beside themselves and almost couldn't be bothered to actually go inside and eat. A sheriff did go from table to table and give them sheriff's badge stickers, so that was another bonus. We'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to sort out what exactly the sheriffs do for rescues that utilizes tactical armored vehicles -- but the boys certainly weren't complaining.

Halloween is just around the corner, and while Z is talking about it nearly constantly, O has been living it even moreso, existing in full try-on-your-costume-practically-every-day mode. Actually at one point he decided he wanted to change costumes, but tough, we already picked yours out kid -- you can make your own if you really think a late audible is the way to go. Anyway, this morning, he was in full dress up mode. First he cobbled together bits of his Jake and the Never Land Pirates props, plus his British soldier pajamas, and declared, "I look like a soldier pirate. But also a bit like a captain."

Then, and I do not exaggerate here, not five minutes later, he'd done a full outfit change to his official Halloween costume, to imposingly stalk around the house.

Granted, he still hasn't actually seen these Power Rangers in any form, but that doesn't stop him from loving this costume -- until of course he decides he really wants to be a Transformer (which he also hasn't seen).

Poetry reading

Z loves to write, spell, fill in the blanks, work with bananagram tiles, read, and come up with creative sentences. He loves doing the portions of his "table work" (homework) that involve words, interestingly strongly preferring them over math (though he does well with arithmetic as well). When there isn't school work to do, he will often fill pieces of paper with words or sentences. This has occasionally generated what I can only really describe as poetry; an excellent sampling from yesterday: "One night I dreamed above the moon. I see your favorite day because I love you. It was a busy day of writing."

This past week I took a trip to LA to speak at a few conferences (and while in town, I was also thankfully able to stop off and replenish our tea supply in addition to meetings and catching up with some friends). I returned home just in time to help greet friend M arriving from the east coast, who after many years of threatening to visit finally found the right combination of airfares and schedule -- yay! We've been having a lovely time; she's become an immediate favorite with all three of the kids, and it's been great to catch up with her and also show her some of the boys' favorite stomping grounds.

Faculty dining

Getting pictures of all three kids together had to this point remained an impossibility that scientists hyptothesize may be related to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. But somehow the stars aligned for this rare shot of all three of them, more or less in focus, more or less smiling, and (gasp) a few of them even looking at the camera. I'll claim victory where I can.

The pumpkins have been picked out for what Z reminds us is 'almost Halloween'; we did trips on two consecutive weekends to the same farm/pumpkin patch for corn maze running around, hay rides, picking apples, jumping on a huge trampoline, sliding down slides on burlap sacks, and yes, picking out pumpkins to carve.

I'm afraid to tempt fate, but somehow it's still warm enough to sit outside to eat dinner in October. So tonight the boys and I did just that. O was so pleased to be having a civilized al fresco meal outdoors that I'd prepared that he commented, "Thank you so much for the yummy dinner, daddy. You're the best in the whole wide university." Flattery will get you anywhere, as will picking up new words (seemingly out of nowhere) slightly incorrectly and using them adorably.

Crawl, walk, run

A big milestone is seemingly just around the corner: L appears to be on the verge of crawling -- forward, that is. She already can scoot herself backwards fairly consistently, if slowly. If you dare to look away while she's on the ground, when you check back in mere seconds later, she'll often have rotated herself as well as moving surprising distances. Often you get an audible warning of this because she'll start complaining when she's backed herself up into a wall or piece of furniture.

So so close -- go L! (Or, perhaps, no need to rush - it's actually nice knowing at least one of the three is still fairly contained?)