Hickson Day Care

I pulled the table out so the kids could each have a side
and they insisted on sitting next to each other... so cute!

On Friday we had Robert and Connor for the day. For the most part Robert and Molly entertained each other and Connor watched them run around... oh, and drooled... a LOT. The poor guy is teething and just got his first tooth. Connor went down for an early morning nap around 9:30 and slept for an hour and 45 minutes. He probably would have slept longer, but Molly ran off and before I could stop her I heard our bedroom door swing wide open and slam into the wall. Yeah, that woke Connor up. Shocking, isn't it?


Robert David! Where are you going with my daughter?!?

The kids all had lunch at the same time. I then wound Robert and Molly down with a little Sesame Street and they were napping by 1:00. I was able to get Connor down for a second nap of an hour and 45 minutes during Robert and Molly's three hour nap which was nice. I had him in our little infant travel bed in the living room and about 10 minutes after he went down our mail lady showed up. I bolted over to Sadie and held her face and told her under no uncertain terms she better not make a sound. Usually the mail lady causes her to bark like crazy. Her eyes went back n' forth between me and the mail lady, but she didn't utter a peep... and Sadie lives to see another day.


Winding down with some Sesame Street.

After nap time the kids played a bit more while Connor watched from the jumper. He really does love that thing. Jarrod came to get them a little after 5:00 and we all headed out to dinner.


Drooling on everything he can get his hands on.

For the rest of the pictures from the day click here.

Disneyland pictures

N did pick up two new lenses before we left (one was a fish eye lense) and took a TON of pictures. However, N has his process. That includes importing the pictures from his camera to his computer. Then he goes through and rates them, tags them, and tweaks them. He widdles down the massive to collection to the best of the best and THEN he uploads them to a gallery. I'm not sure how many pictures he took, but it has to be hundreds. Hopefully I can convince him to throw up a quick "Best of" gallery so you don't have to wait for the whole edit process to take place. He's enjoying some time with the guys on a friend's boat today, but tomorrow he's on Molly duty while Lucille and I see the new Sex and the City movie. He has no excuse during nap time to do anything other than PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES.

Fingers crossed you folks see something soon. They will be worth it... his camera is super sexy.

In the meantime you can check out Jenn's Disneyland gallery. Sorry, but the Choun's picture go into the void of their personal computer to never be heard from again.

Disneyland, Character Breakfast

We checked out Wednesday, but went to the Character Breakfast first. On the way in we got a group shot with Pluto. I sat Molly between N and I with our backs facing the window. This way she could see the characters (which she kept pointing out), but wasn't in a position where they could come up behind her. She was not quite down with the whole taking pictures with characters thing. I had been pointing them out to her as I saw them over the course of the trip, but whenever I mentioned going over to take a picture Molly refused. She was much happier pointing out Sleepy Beauty and the Fairy Godmother every time they passed by from the nice confines of her chair between mommy and daddy. The breakfast was buffet style and Molly dug the Mickey pancakes and fresh fruit. We stuffed ourselves silly and then headed back to the room to pack.

I packed up while N did one last con call. We were going to caravan back with the Jodoins as the Chouns were staying another day. We were on the road by 10:30 and Molly was crashed out an hour later. Unfortunately we had to stop for gas so we woke her up around 1:00 and she was NOT happy about it. She spent most of lunch snuggling N. When we got back in the car we set her up with some movies on the iPad, but she never fell back asleep. Still, she was content and we were able to drive straight through and got home a little after 5:00.

All in all it was an excellent trip. I'd have to say it was more for me than for Molly as the only way she's going to remember it is from pictures, but it was still fun to do with friends. The fact that under 3 got in free didn't hurt either. Still, I think 5 or older is probably a much more realistic age to take kids to the park. Jamie (turning 7 in July) was able to go on a lot more rides and with her you didn't have the burden of a stroller/diaper bag. I'm not saying I regret going as we were able to hang out with good friends, but as for whether or not it was worth it to take a 3 year old I would lean towards "Wait until they are a bit older"... unless you go with friends and just want to hang out.

Disneyland, Day Three

Tuesday was another early entry for those staying on property so we decide to make the most of it and head on down. This time the park wasn't set to open until 9:00 so that meant getting there at 8:00. Phew! Molly was pretty much back to normal at this time and we hit a few more rides. We did Astro Blasters first as it was one of the rides that always seemed to have a crazy line. Walked right on and did it twice as we met up with the Jodoins when we got off. Unfortunately I had my Revo sunglasses in the side pocket of my shorts and somehow managed to crush a (glass) lens when getting up. That sucked.

Robert requested It's a Small World as it was his favorite. All of the kids seemed to enjoy that one, even Connor (7 months) was paying attention. We went on the small train ride (Casey Jr. Circus Train) and then stopped for snack time as we met up with the Chouns. Molly was still working on her fruit cup when everyone else got on the Dumbo ride. As soon as she was done eating she requested her blanket and stroller and I obliged. Once again she was content to take in the sights from her comfy ride. I don't blame her as I'm pretty sure my feet were numb at this point.

The next stop was Toon Town (it opened at 10:00) and we did the Roger Rabbit ride first as that was another one that tended to have a long line. We wandered about for a bit trying to get some good pictures in and then headed to lunch. We went to Tomorrowland so we could hop on the big train that goes around the entire park after lunch. Molly pretty much used N as a pillow and laid down next to him the second we got on. The next stop was the Main Entrance and N decided to take Molly back to the room for nap time. Robert and Jarrod joined him and I sat with the Chouns for the rest of the ride around the park. We went back to the Main Entrance where Jeff and Jessie took off. Julie, Jamie, and I went on the Haunted Mansion again and then met up with Jenn in California Adventure for Soarin' Over California. After that we made our way back through Downtown Disney while Jenn hustled back to the room to pick up Connor so Robert could get back to his nap.

That night we decided to head out to dinner and went to a local Red Robin. Molly once again inhaled a grilled cheese. However, she also ate all of her cantaloupe along with mine. It wasn't all crap, all the time folks. We tried! I went back to the room with Molly for bed time and N met up with the guys for some hot tub time along with a few games of Settlers.

Dinseyland, Day Two

We had covered most of Disneyland on Sunday so we decided to start the day at California Adventure on Monday. My main goal for the trip was to have Molly see Princess Tiana (check) and go on the Monsters, Inc. ride. She actually woke up that morning and, "Monsters, Inc. on the iPad" were the first words out of her mouth. Since it took her a while to warm up the day before we decided to just let her watch her movie and have some fruit and yogurt in the room first. California Adventure was not going to open until 10:00 so we had plenty of time to make our way over. N had a con call at 10:30 so we hit Monsters, Inc. as soon as it opened and then he took off to do his calls. After the first ride we were joined by the Chouns and Jodoins (who had already done some rides at Disneyland) and we went on it again.

We then hit up Bug's Land and went on most of the kiddie rides in that area (Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, Tuck and Roll's Drive'Em Buggies, and Flik's Flyers). It was nice and shady which was excellent because it was starting to get quite sunny and warm. Next stop was lunch. The Jodoins took off at that point and I went to meet up with the Chouns (who headed out a few minutes earlier). By the time I get to the ride they are waiting in line for I look down and realize Molly is fast asleep. N is done with his work calls and is on his way back to the park so I wait to have a quick hello before Molly and I head back to the room for nap time.

After nap time Molly and I meet up with N and Jarrod at the House of Blues for happy hour. I realize I left the diaper bag on the bed so I head back to the room to grab it while N does a quick trip to CA Adventure for yet another go on the Monsters, Inc. ride. I think we have a favorite.

Jarrod was having a massive IHOP craving so we meet up with everyone and walk over. It's right on the edge of the Disneyland property, but still a mile away. We arrive and they actually seat all 11 of us in one massive booth. They take our drink order and then Molly is done. She's usually really good in restaurants, but I saw no reason to force her to stay when she was clearly done for the day. She was feeling much better today than she did on Sunday, but still not quite 100% so we head back to the room. It was almost 7:00 and I saw no reason to force her through a meal. We got back to the room and I set her up with Monsters, Inc. and she inhales the better part of a banana. I flip through the room service menu and when I mention grilled cheese Molly lights up. She eats her grilled cheese, fruit cup, and carrot sticks and is definitely winding down for the night. I get her in a nice warm bath and she passes out quickly after.

Dinseyland, Day One

Unfortunately, Molly had a little bit of a head cold when we arrived at Disneyland last Saturday night. She was not quite herself and had a constant snotty nose. We checked into the hotel around 9:30 pm, but bug was not able to fall asleep until 10:30. We were just going to let her sleep as long as she needed and then meet up with the Jodoins and Chouns as they were planning to take advantage of staying on property and enter the park an hour early at the lovely hour of 7:00 am. Then Molly woke up at 6:20 with the (very loud) proclamation of, "Molly's awake Mommy!" I nudged N and asked if he wanted to get ready and meet up with everyone since we were up anyway. Lo and behold we were the first ones out. Funny how that works out sometimes.

Molly was totally content to chill in her stroller, but that was it. She had no interest in getting out of her stroller and going on any of the rides. In fact when we did try to get her out she would whine that she wanted to go to Disneyland. I tried to tell her we were IN Disneyland, but I think she meant she wanted to go back to the room. However, she would calm right back down as soon as she realized we weren't going to take her out of her stroller and continued to take in the sights. N and I took turns hopping on rides with everyone else while Molly people watched. N also took her to go get a bagel and some OJ and she was much calmer after that. We slowly made our way towards New Orleans Square as Princess Tiana was going to perform with her Jambalaya Jazz Band at 10:30. That got Molly up. She stood to the side with her blanket bunched up in her arms, but she was out of the stroller finally.

So, what ride do we take her on first? Why the Haunted Mansion of course. It was next on the list of things to hit and Molly was pretty content for the most part. The only objection came when you were tilted back to go down to the next level. That she did not like, but quickly recovered and took everything in. After that we took the raft over to Tom Sawyer's Island and let the kids run around. Molly climbed to the top of the pirate ship and when we got back down she immediately walked over to N and demanded a snack. Once we got back to the mainland Molly wanted back in her stroller and we headed to lunch. Well, by the time we arrived to our lunch destination Molly was OUT. N and I had a quick bite to eat and then N headed back to the room with Molly for nap time. I ran to the store to get a few more snacky items since we had a fridge in the room and then met up with Julie and Jamie for some more rides. You will be happy to know Julie and I officially converted Jamie over to a Space Mountain junkie.

Molly was a little clingy after her nap so she cuddled with N on the bed while they watched their respective iPads (it's no longer my iPad, it's MOLLY'S iPad). When she was in a better mood they meet up with the rest of us for some more rides and then dinner. After dinner we quickly took Molly on as many rides as we could in Fantasyland as she had missed out on them that morning. We hit Snow White, Pinocchio, and Alice in Wonderland before heading back to the room for bed time. N was content to hit the hay early himself so I was able to sneak back out with Jenn and take advantage of the park closing at midnight. We hit Indiana Jones, Pirates, Star Tours (which is going away for good in a few weeks), Astro Blasters, and finally Space Mountain (which still had a half hour wait at 11:00 at night!). After that we were officially done.

Santa Barbara

Since we were heading down to Disneyland with friends I wanted to take advantage of the fact that we were driving and stop by Santa Barbara for an Uncle Kyle visit. It was far too quick as we arrived last Friday evening and took off again Saturday night, but it was still good to see Kyle and Cathy. Our plan was to take off just before nap time so Molly would sleep most of the drive. It worked... at first. Then someone took a phone call... No Names meNtioNed. Molly bug woke up and did not fall back asleep so she only got an hour and a half nap in. Which would normally not be that big of a deal, but she had woken up Thursday morning sounding like a smoker and on Friday morning she was a little snotty. She never had a fever or anything, but she just wasn't quite right. We made a pit stop and got back on the road. Molly entertained herself with the iPad until we pulled up to Uncle Kyle's house.

Molly LOVED bossing Uncle Kyle around. She kept yelling at Uncle Kyle to "come here" and "go that way" and he happily obliged. It was quite adorable. Saturday morning we walked over to grab a light breakfast and the plan was to stop by the park on the way back. Well, it was quite windy in Santa Barbara. You add that to the snot factor (aka "not quite right") and she was simply not in the mood. When we tried to get her out of her stroller she begged us to go back to the house... so we did. Molly did get a nice three and a half hour nap in that afternoon, but did not fall asleep in the car when we drove down to Disneyland that night. So she was wide awake until about 10:30.

The adults took advantage of Molly's early bed time and nap time and played a couple games of Settlers. Kyle won the first round Friday night with N and I hot on his tail. I then spanked everyone HARD on Saturday. :-) N also got Kyle and Cathy sufficiently addicted to Plants vs. Zombies on his iPad and purchased a copy for them as a way to square away the dinner bill. I wonder how many hours they have logged since we left?

The visit was far too short. Next time Santa Barbara won't just be a pit stop, but the actual destination. Still, it was good to see everyone and hang out. Until next time.

Lunch time

Spending the day with Robert and Connor.

Got nose?

In the jungle...

The mighty jungle....

Tickle war with dad

First N tickles her and then she tries to tickle his toes.

Post lunch train ride

Next stop nap time.

Post snack chill time

As soon as Molly was done with her fruit cup she asked for her blanket and stroller. No problem.

Disneyland!!!

Day 1, coming to a close... My happy girls had a happy day.

Dizzyland!

Chillin' at Goofy's house in Toon Town.

Lunchtime

I let Molly pick out her lunch today. She wanted watermelon, carrots, and black beans. Such a good little eater.

Smart little cookie

Last week (or it could have been the week before) Molly and I went to Trader Joe's to grab a few items. Well, we always swing by the sample station and this time they had Whoppee Pies. Molly was stoked! She kept asking for another bite of the "yummy cookie" and I obliged until the sample was all gone. Then Molly asked for more yummy cookie. I told her she got one and that was all she was going to get and start heading towards the checkout lines. Well Molly sees that we are getting ready to leave and pleads one more time for more yummy cookie. I firmly tell her no.

Molly is quiet for a moment.

Then she lights up and exclaims, "BREAD! Mommy go get bread!"

Guess which section is next to the sample station?

Yup, she's one smart cookie.

Happy Hollow

On Friday Molly and I finally made it to Happy Hollow Park and Zoo. It re-opened this year after an extensive remodel and I have been hearing great things about it. We didn't have a chance to explore everything, but I saw enough to know I wanted to pick up a membership.

Luckily we were also able to meet up with Bree and Logan (his daycare had an in-service day) along with Bev, Robert, and Connor. Molly spent the first hour or so taking everything in from her stroller, but finally got out to explore once Logan and Robert arrived on the scene.

First we let the kids run around the Leaping Lemur Trail and playground:



Then we headed over to the rides:





The kids checked out the Five Point Forest playground and grabbed a snack:





After lunch it was down to the Crooked House:







And then we called it a day...

For more pictures click here.

Clomp clomp

As soon as I heard that sound I grabbed my iPhone so I could take a pic as it only meant one thing... Molly was wearing adult shoes!

I think those are Auntie Bree's red slippers.

Mission Accomplished

I took this after we pulled into our driveway. Bug was crashed out before we even made it out of the parking lot.

Molly and I finally checked out Happy Hollow today. We met up with Bree/Logan and Bev/Robert/Connor. I picked up a family membership and fully intend to make the most of it this summer.

Bubble Master

Molly loves this bubble gun as she can do it herself. However she
tends to stop making bubbles so she can chase and pop them.

Hanging with Temperence...

Yesterday Molly and I watched Temperence, my great niece (her first cousin, once removed), for the day. We went to her place as it would have been a lot of back and forth very early in the morning for her mom Carina. Temperence was enthralled with Molly and spent a good part of the day just trying to keep an eye on her. Carina had a toddler music channel on when we got there and Molly recognized some of the songs (especially the ones from Beauty and the Beast) and some of the nursery rhymes. So Molly sang to Temperence. It was adorable. Molly was constantly "teaching" Temperence. She showed her body parts... especially toes... kept pointing those out all day. Molly also described each toy to Temperence and pointed out things like color and shape. Temperence took it all in and was mesmerized by the flurry of action that is Molly.



Temperence went down for her morning nap, but it only lasted 45 minutes and she woke up pretty upset. Her top two teeth are just threatening to break through and I do believe that was the culprit. We headed to the playground and Temperence watched Molly run around while chowing down on her puffs. This was after Molly fed her puffs from her own snack cup earlier that morning. So cute!



Molly did a quick lap of the park, but then came back to the bench in the shade I was sitting on next to Temperence in her stroller and kicked off her shoes. And by kick, I mean kick. Those puppies were launched into the air and landed a good 10 feet away. Molly did not like the itty bitty pieces of tanbark getting in her shoes and let me know it. She took one step on the tanbark in bare feet and then stuck to hanging out in the shade and on the grass.



After the park we went back for lunch and I set Temperence up in her booster seat with some cheerios while I got Molly's lunch ready. Well as soon as I sat down Temperence got pretty vocal with me. I offered her a bottle and she batted it away. Duh! She's eating solids now. Little girl inhaled one container and got halfway through the second before slowing down.



The girls played for a bit after lunch and then Molly started to slow down. I got her down first, around 12:30, and only heard her open the hall door once to throw out the toy ring she had been holding onto. I later learned she had traded this in for some cat toys she had come across. She babbled for another 15-20 minutes and then all was silent. Temperence started to fade so I got her ready for nap time (along with a dose of Tylenol for her aching gums) and she fell asleep on the bottle in bed. She napped for an hour and 45 minutes and got up just before 3:00. We had some quiet time in the living room and a little after 3:00 I heard Molly talking. She came out to join us and then we headed back down to the playground.

You can see how swollen her gums are as you can practically make out her top two teeth.

Molly lasted a little long with shoes this time, but still quickly took them off. She was much more interested in hanging out on the grass watching the airplanes go by. She even got Temperence interested in this activity. All in all it was a GREAT day.

With Temperence, it's all about the eyes.



For the rest of the pics click here.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday was a lovely Mother's Day. First of all N got up with Molly and I was able to sleep in to the unprecedented hour of 9:00 am! It was heavenly. Then we walked down to the corner to grab breakfast at Bill's. I wasn't quite expecting the crowd we were greeted with. Rather than hanging out (it was raining) we decided to just order our food to go. This worked out great as it was handed to us 5 minutes later and we were chowing down at home within minutes.



Grandma Lucille and Papa Jim showed up a little after 11:30. Grandma was going to hang out with Molly while Jim, N, and I headed to the movies to see Iron Man 2. Why Iron Man is released on Mother's Day weekend and Sex and the City will not be released until Memorial Day weekend I will never understand. I need to have a word with Hollywood! Still, it was an enjoyable movie. Completely ridiculous, but still fun.

We then headed over to Santana Row where we would be having dinner. I wanted to arrive a little early so we could deal with parking and give Molly a chance to run around and burn some energy off before sitting down. It worked like a charm.







We met up with Granny and Grandpa Marsh for dinner at The Village. This is the third year in a row we've done this for Mother's Day and I do say it's an excellent tradition. They had a special prix fixe menu for Mother's Day (along with being able to order things individually if you chose) that most of us went with. I ordered a delicious tomato bisque soup, Braised Boneless Short Rib (Cauliflower Puree, Blue Lake Green Beans, Buttermilk Vidalia Onion Rings), and a Three Layer Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake (Devils Food Cake with Peanut Butter & Chocolate Ganache Frosting, Peanut Brittle Crumbles). It was DIVINE!

Molly was incredible during the meal. She sat in her chair for an hour and a half without complaint. Sure, she had more bread than I would have liked, but she was an absolute dream. She was given a children's menu and some crayons to draw with, but was more content playing on her own. At one point N started to draw on the table (they had white paper over the white tablecloth) and Molly freaked out. She scolded him for drawing on the table and got very upset that this cardinal rule had been broken. It was actually quite adorable. Once she started to fidget Grandma Lucille took her out to explore while the rest of us finished up our desserts.



Unfortunately she wasn't quite in the mood to sit still for group photos after dinner. However, she made up for it with random running hugs and kisses.



Click on the K - April, May, June 2010 gallery for more pictures (pages 8-10).

Nah, we're not related or anything...

I just imported the pics from today and came across this one:



It's completely blurry, but I love the flowing locks. It's like we're related or something...

Jonah's 1st Birthday

Yesterday we went to my great nephew's first birthday party. It was a bbq and a gorgeous day for it. The birthday boy was sleeping when we arrived. Molly made herself right at home going through all his toys and playing with her other first cousin, once removed Temperence. The sun was shining so we quickly moved from the backyard to the front where it was nice and shady. Molly had a blast climbing over everything and exploring. She even stole all the icing off my cupcake in one efficient bite. Crack monkey came to visit, but it was a short visit. When the birthday boy finally woke up Molly entertained him. Jonah loves to just watch Molly in action. He's completely mesmerized by her. Molly had two colored ping pong balls in her hands and Jonah got very excited when he spotted them. He definitely recognized them and started repeating "Ba" over and over again. Molly shared and it immediately went in the mouth. Hey, he's one.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Carina and Temperence

Molly

Alesha

Chris and Temperence

Kim and Kato

Jonah

Kim, Jonah, and Molly

Kim and Jonah


For the rest of the gallery click here.

Thug life

Apparently Molly has some gangsta in her if her droopy drawers are any indication.

Happy Mother's Day!

N's last day at Google...

Yesterday was N's last day at Google so Molly and I decided to meet him for lunch so we could take advantage of his employee discount at the campus store one last time. Molly scored a Google hoodie, a You Tube beanie, and a Cookie Monster Google t-shirt. N and I each got another You Tube hoodie. I also scored a super cool Google beanie with ear flaps and tassels that is awesome!

While we were walking around the main campus I definitely got the feeling we should have done lunch more often. The cafeterias are amazing. There are also little restaurant like cafes all over the place specializing in different cuisines. Don't even get me started on all the freebies in the "break room". You will not go hungry at Google, that's for damn sure.



As we headed to the Google Store to do some shopping we walked past one of Googles many perks... the Endless Pools:



How many companies can say they have a lifeguard on duty? Molly also really dug the dinosaur sculpture in the main courtyard. Don't ask about the pink flamingos. It's a company secret.





We watched some beach volleyball...



... passed the company garden...



... on our way back to the car...



... where we bid daddy farewell as he rode back to his building on one of the many beach cruisers Google has for employees to get around...



Monday N will start his next adventure...

(for more pics click here)