The Twilight-Themed Baby Shower
09 Apr 2012 2 Comments
in not kids Tags: Friends, party, photos, shower, twilight
Last Sunday, I co-hosted a Twilight-themed baby shower. I thought it was awesome. The expectant mom thought it was awesome. Therefore, it was awesome.
Back story: My friend Shaina is pregnant with her fifth child. When she told me, I realized that she hadn’t met our group of friends until she was pregnant with her fourth child, and we didn’t know her very well then. I happen to think every child – first, second, fifth, tenth – deserves a shower, so I immediately offered to throw her one. Shaina said she didn’t need one, but it wasn’t about need, and she did look like she wanted one. I said something about her sparkling… and the Twilight-themed baby shower was born! Shaina is far more of a Twilight fan than I am, though I think I’m a little more “squee” about what I do like. So anyway… our mutual friend Liz offered to have it at her house. Shaina picked April Fool’s Day. I joined Pinterest and started planning.
Oddly enough, although there are tons of Twilight party ideas on the web, there aren’t a lot of Twilight baby showers. I took some of the movie party ideas and added a few ideas of my own. This blog post is mostly photos of what we did.
First, the invitation:
The fonts are Twilight (of course) and Times New Roman (in which the books are set). The background is from the digital scrapbooking kit Fanpire, by Tangie and the swirls are by Fairytale Studios.
Then, we planned the food. We decided to go with lasagna, because Bella makes it for Charlie. You can’t have Italian without garlic bread and salad. For snacks/appetizers, I made Rosalie’s Werewolf Kibble and sliced some apples. Although there are tons of Twilight cocktail and mocktail recipes, I decided to keep it simple. Shaina loved the blood type labels from Hostess with the Mostess, and I really wanted to use the punch bowl that Max and I received for our wedding back in 2002. So we got some Crystal Geyser juice and wrapped them in the aforementioned labels, and I chose Bloody Bella punch. For all of the food and drink, I grabbed some quotes from the books. Thankfully, I have the books in PDF, so I could search for the word “salad” and find two instances, in Twilight. (The papers and elements in the quotes are from the digital scrapbooking kit Fanpire, by Tangie.)
Don't you want to know if I drink blood?
Bloody Bella punch. "Drink" ~ Edward, Twilight
Drinks and apples
Shaina's daughter drinking Type B
Lasagna, salad, and garlic bread, with quotes from the books for each
Rosalie's Werewolf Kibble: this stuff is awesome and addictive!
Aren't you concerned about my diet?
For me, one of the best ways to incorporate a theme is to get an amazing cake. There are a number of Twilight cake examples online. Shaina picked one, and I called Jen of Jen’s Custom Cakes and Pastries. I gave her a picture, and she gave me this cake:
Cake toppers: All edible! The apple is a Rice Krispie treat covered in fondant
Jen’s cakes are always beautiful and tasty!
I tend to go light on decorations in general. Because most Twilight decorations seemed to be for nighttime parties, and this one was the middle of the day, I suppose I went especially light. I just got some red and black streamers for one room. I created a centerpiece for one of the three tables, based on the book covers. I couldn’t find a black and white chessboard, so the morning of the party, I made a chessboard using cardboard, 12×12 white paper, a Creative Memories square punch, and black paper. I also couldn’t find black and white chess pieces, so my Dad gave me some extra pieces that I painted white and red. The tulip is a fake white tulip painted red. Ironically, Liz has the “New Moon” tulips in her front yard, growing for real. Her husband offered to let me use one, but they were too pretty to cut. I sprinkled feathers liberally on this table and on the candy buffet table.
Twilight centerpiece
The candy buffet table? Yes! Shaina decided that she wanted a candy buffet as part of the favors. I actually had a lot of fun coming up with a candy for each of the Cullens and Bella. There were also a few random candies, chosen for looks, taste, or both, that I managed to fit in as well. Each candy was put into a glass holder and I typed up quotes to go with all of them.
- Bella = Strawberry Bon Bons
- Edward = Butterscotch
- Carlisle = Chocolate Band-Aids
- Esme = Caramels
- Emmett = Gummy Bears
- Rosalie = Candy Bling Rings
- Jasper = Sour Patch Kids
- Alice = Pixie Stix
- Breaking Dawn = Hershey’s Kisses
- Baby = Easter M&Ms
- Immortality = Old Fashioned Candy Sticks
- Volterra = Red Licorice
- Eyes = Black Licorice
Candy buffet
Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Chocolate Band-Aids
Esme Cullen, Caramels
Alice Cullen, Pixie Stix
"So are you going to be my Valentine? Since you didn't get me a fifty cent box of candy, it's the least you can do."
To complete the favors, I printed out bookmarks from Binty’s Designs. I also made a “Twilight Lullabies” CD, because Shaina wanted something baby-related. So I took the “soothing songs from the Twilight playlists and soundtracks” and put them on a CD. Everything was in a clear bag that Jackson and I decked out with sparkles.
Bookmark and CD in bling-ed bag
I almost forgot about the Mini Moose banner. For reasons that are kind of long to explain, Shaina and her family call the baby “Mini Moose.” I saw this banner and created a banner in the same style. Shaina found Twilight-inspired paper at JoAnn Fabrics. I printed large letters in the Twilight font and cut them out. This is the banner on my table – I didn’t get a really good one of it on the wall.
Mini moose banner
I should probably add a picture of Shaina, huh?
Shaina and plate
February Break is Over. Hooray!
27 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in routine Tags: Cassie, Friends, Jackson, school
I’ve been very fortunate to make some new friends at Jackson’s new school. Unlike my son, who is “a friend to all,” I’m not very good at making friends, so I was worried. But I differ from some of my new friends. Several of them lament the end of breaks. I am all too happy that break is over.
I love my son. Jackson doesn’t do well with unstructured time. I feel guilty for not being able to give Cassie or Jackson the appropriate amount of attention. I had Jackson alone for almost six years. The only time Cassie and I have alone is Jackson’s school time. Now that she’s four months old and capable of organizing her daytime sleep (according to Dr. Marc Weissbluth of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child), I really want to get her on a nap schedule so she gets the sleep she needs.
When Jackson is home, Cassie does not have a routine. We had playdates on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She slept at the park while I was standing up rocking her twice. (And boy was that painful!) I don’t think she slept at all on Wednesday. What we do is all about Big Brother.
Of course, Big Brother doesn’t see it that way. We have to leave places early because of Baby Sister. We have to run errands to get Baby Sister’s formula, diapers, and “teeving toys.” We have to be quiet if Baby Sister is actually, by some miracle, taking a nap.
I’m not complaining, exactly. I love both of my children and I am glad to have both of them. It’s this illusion of balance. I really do feel that Cassie gets the short shrift, but Jackson’s life is impacted just enough to make him feel marginalized. Meanwhile, I’d just like to play with my kids while keeping the house relatively clean.
What? It could happen.
Having Enough White Friends
16 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in issues Tags: a gate at the stairs, Friends, Jackson
Yesterday, in my review of A Gate at the Stairs, I wrote:
What stuck with me the most was an incident that occurred on a playground. Emmie and another (white) girl are playing nicely. The girl’s mother, mistaking Tassie for Emmie’s mother, suggests that the two girls get together for a playdate sometime. You see, the girl doesn’t have any black friends and – Tassie cuts her off, saying “Mary-Emma already has a lot of white friends.” She doesn’t want Mary-Emma to be a lesson for this girl, an example.
When I asked Max for his opinion, he said he’d probably side with Tassie. I’m not so sure.
In almost all literature for parents who have adopted transracially, we are encouraged to make friends with people of our children’s ethnicity, culture, and/or color. We are essentially told, “Go make friends with black people.”
How is what the other mother asks any different? She would like her white child to have non-white friends. She is actively seeking diversity in her child’s life. Maybe it would have ended badly, and Emmie would end up some sort of token friend. Or maybe, Emmie and this girl could have become true friends.
Without being inside the other mother’s head or seeing her body language, I don’t know if what she asks is unacceptable. The writer doesn’t provide us with any insight. She simply writes that the mother sees the two kids getting along and asks Tassie for a playdate.
I suspect that one of my white friends specifically wanted to be friends with us initially because Jackson is black. We also shared some ideology, so that probably helped, but I know this person values diversity and wants her children to be friends with people of different colors and backgrounds. No one ever made a big deal of Jackson being black, and I don’t think the parents pointed it out to their kids in any way. If we hadn’t had anything in common, it would have been very awkward, but we do, in fact, have a lot in common. We’ve since grown apart, because the kids go to different schools and play different sports. However, I don’t particularly mind how we “got together.” Again, this is just a suspicion, nothing that we ever talked explicitly about. I don’t know how I would have felt if she had said, “Hey, your kid’s black, let’s play!”
If she had said that, I can’t say I’d blame her. With so much emphasis on making friends with people who look like our child, there have been times when I’ve wanted to say, “Hey, your kid’s black, let’s play!” I also have said, “We need a playdate; Jackson needs more friends who are boys.” (He’s very popular with the ladies.) Does that mean the moms should be offended because if their kids were girls I wouldn’t want to play with them as badly? Maybe they should.
Frankly, I’ve never been good at making friends, so if anyone shows an interest in being friends with Jackson or me, I’ll take it. I’d rather accept the invite and see what happens then be offended and take some sort of squishy moral highground.
Jackson’s Lego Animal Birthday Party
02 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in birthday, Jackson Tags: birthday, Friends, Jackson, legos, photos
It’s been over a week, but I wanted to post some pictures from Jackson’s Lego animal birthday party.
Jackson and I made these Lego minifigure head marshmallow pops:
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| From January 2012 Jackson’s 6th Birthday |
The secret to getting the black gel icing to stay on their faces? Let them air dry overnight. They’re quite yummy.
I made four Lego animal cakes:
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| From January 2012 Jackson’s 6th Birthday |
The brown one was North American animals, the yellow one was Asian and African animals, the white one was (Ant)Arctic animals, and the blue one was ocean animals. I used a Betty Crocker recipe that my friend Kelly found. I used loaf pans, which worked really well for the Betty Crocker and Pilsbury mixes I used. The Trader Joe’s mixes overflowed the pans and caused a fire in the oven. Jackson was very impressed.
Finally, I made the gift bags by cutting circles out of animal-print paper and gluing them onto blue lunch bags:
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| From January 2012 Jackson’s 6th Birthday |
The party itself was really great! All of the kids who said they were coming, came. Most of the parents stayed. Cassie was a big hit. She spent some time asleep on me, then my friend Autumn took her for awhile.
Jackson wanted to build a jungle, so for free play time, the employees had the kids build pieces of a jungle. They put them together to make King Cheetah jungle.
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| From January 2012 Jackson’s 6th Birthday |
Here are a few more shots for family and friends:
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| From January 2012 Jackson's 6th Birthday |
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| From January 2012 Jackson's 6th Birthday |
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| From January 2012 Jackson's 6th Birthday |
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| From January 2012 Jackson's 6th Birthday |
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| From January 2012 Jackson's 6th Birthday |
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| From January 2012 Jackson's 6th Birthday |
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| From January 2012 Jackson's 6th Birthday |
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| From January 2012 Jackson's 6th Birthday |
It Will Always Be Marine World to Me
29 Jun 2011 1 Comment
in activities Tags: Friends, Marine World, photos, Six Flags
First, apologies to anyone who reads this because it’s an adoption blog. I promise I have some adoption-related posts planned for the very near future. It’s just that summer is very eventful around here!
On Monday, my friend Kelly and her daughter Cassidy took us to Marine World – that’s Six Flags to all you people who didn’t grow up around here.
Backstory…
When I was a child, Marine World Africa USA was located in Redwood City. In 1986, they got too big for the site, so they moved to Vallejo. They took the animals on an ark across the bay, except for the larger marine mammals. They closed down the Bay Bridge and trucked the killer whale across, with people spraying her with hoses. We saw it live on TV in class. Anyway, in the late 1990s, Six Flags bought it, so it became Six Flags Marine World. A couple of years ago, they changed the name to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. I just call it Marine World. I’m stubborn like that. (As an aside, Oracle now sits on the old Marine World site. They even have the water skiing lake there.)
A little more backstory…
The last time we went to Marine World was July 2009. Then, we went with 3 other families. It was fun, but difficult to balance what everyone wanted to do. I also wore really stupid shoes and ended up in serious leg pain for several days after.
Back to the present…
This time, we just went with Kelly and Cassidy, who are season pass holders. They had coupons so they could get us in for free. (We like free!) We immediately went to the Celebrate Shouka show. Jack said that he missed Shouka. In the stadium, we ate lunches that we brought while waiting for the show. This time, we did not sit in the splash zone.
Posing in Front of Shouka's Stadium
Shouka
The kids danced to the music before the show. Jack loved that Shouka could nod and shake her head, and that she “waved” her tail “good-bye”.
Shouka waves goodbye
After Shouka, we hightailed it to the Temple of the Tiger for the tiger show. Jack was jazzed that he was older than the tigers who performed. He loved seeing the tigers drink milk from a bottle. He decided that he is going to become a tiger trainer.
Swimming Tiger
We stopped somewhere in the middle of the park to pose with Petunia Pig…
Cassidy, Jackson, and Petunia Pig
All the while, of course, Jack wanted a souvenir. First, he wanted a stuffed Shouka, then a stuffed tiger, then a dolphin… And Jack wanting a souvenir made Cassidy want a souvenir.
One of the only things that hasn’t changed about the park is the dolphin fountain at the entrance. We took a few pictures.
Jackson and Mommy
Jackson and Cassidy
After the shows, we went to the Looney Toons area so the kids could ride some rides. I went on the teacups with the kids. They wanted to go fast. First, being the only one spinning a teacup for several minutes is hard work. Second, looking at the center of the teacup for several minutes is nauseating. Third, even if a child says she’s OK, you should definitely slow down when she looks stoned.
I went and got some crepes, which took forever, while the kids did the rides. Then, we headed over to the sea lion show. There was a drunk guy in the audience who was doing the pirate’s lines. Do we really need to get drunk at Marine World in the middle of the afternoon? Anyway, Cassidy got to pet the sea lion, but Jack didn’t, which made him a little jealous.
We proceeded to Sting Ray Bay to try and pet a sting ray. I’ll have to post about Jack’s minor obsession with sting rays. (It’s a long story.) Unfortunately, none of the sting rays came close enough for Jack to pet them. I did get to pet a couple. They’re rough, like rubbery sandpaper.
From Sting Ray Bay, we went to the Walrus Experience. Jack had never seen a walrus before.
Cassidy and Jackson touch a walrus tusk
We missed the dolphin show, but we’ll see it next year. Instead, the kids went on a few more rides. We all rode the train (which used to be Thomas, but is now a generic train. Weird.) We went through the Shark aquarium, where Jack got to walk underneath a sting ray and see it’s “smile”. My camera wouldn’t work in there, so I don’t have any pictures. But it was really awesome. I could probably spend about an hour in there.
We went to the other side of the park, through Butterfly World. I spent a lot of time trying to photograph moving butterflies. My camera’s good, but not that good. This is probably the best shot that I got:
Butterfly
There’s another area with kids’ rides and a giant play structure. The kids played there for awhile.
Jackson on the swings
From the rides, we went to see the rest of the animals. Giraffes, lions, tigers… and cheetahs! Jack is also somewhat obsessed with cheetahs. I didn’t know Marine World had cheetahs. Jack showed the cheetahs how fast he can run.
Cheetah!
On the way out of the car, we met the Flash. But Jack all of a sudden got shy, so I posed with Flash. (If I had superpowers, I’d want super speed.)
Flash and Robyn
Jack and Cassidy each got their souvenir. Jack got a white tiger cub, whom he named Kasha, after the girl tiger in the show. (Last time, he got a white tiger he named Rajah. Thus, Rajah is now a daddy.) Cassidy got a Shouka. They both love their animals!
Jackson & Kasha and Cassidy & Shouka
A good time was had by all!
Monterey Bay on Sunday
22 Jun 2011 2 Comments
in family fun Tags: Friends, Monterey Bay Aquarium, photos, Santa Cruz
I have been to Monterey twice, I think. Maybe three times. Once, I went with my friend Wendy, who was visiting from Los Angeles, and her mom, who was visiting from Ohio. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium only to find a line out the door and well backed up onto the street. We didn’t go.
When I brought up the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Christy thought it was a great idea. So, we planned to spend the weekend in Santa Cruz and drive down to Monterey on Sunday. We got our tickets at AAA (and saved $3 per ticket) on Friday.
Now remember, we had spent almost 12 hours at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on Saturday. Everyone was kind of dragging. We had to get the house cleaned up and we had to pack our things. It took about 2 hours. Then, we had to get from Santa Cruz to Monterey – another hour. Our family arrived first. I had to go across the street from the Aquarium to sit down – my legs were hurting from the previous day. But I got a good picture of the entrance:
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
The first order of business was to eat lunch. The Aquarium cafe is PRICEY. Jack and I were the first ones done, and we asked a man where the otters were. They were going to feed the otters, and we wanted to see it. We were told, we got the others, and we parked the kids in front of the great glass windows to see the otters. They got plastered up against the glass with the crowd. I didn’t get to see the otters much at all, though I did get a good picture or two.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
We found ourselves with the jellyfish next, which Morgan really dug. I actually got a lot of good jellyfish pictures. I’ll spare you, though, and just post the coolest ones.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Sunday was Father’s Day, and I managed to get a good shot of Jack and Max waiting in the entrance to the jellyfish. (Jack got scared of the dark in the exhibit, so we were waiting for the others to be done.)
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
We headed over to the touch pools. These were always my favorite parts as a kid – now too, really. There were starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, crabs… Here, Jack and Caitlyn are touching a starfish.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Oh, and there were abalone. I got into a discussion with a volunteer about how yummy abalone is. Mmm…
There was a big children’s play area near the penguins.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
The kids were very interested in the water play area and in the dress up area. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is right on Monterey Bay, and there are some amazing views. So I didn’t get any water play shots, opting instead for…
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
I did get lots of pictures of the kids playing dress up. Jack was a sting ray.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
I think Anika and Caitlyn were both octopi. They were all playing with stuffed fish as pets.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Jack was very cranky in the afternoon. I knew that we wouldn’t be coming back to the Monterey Bay Aquarium anytime soon, so I wanted to see as much as possible without him melting down. I took him separately from the other kids and found a quiet exhibit. The problem? It was an exhibit on how fishing is destroying sea life. We saw a lot of pictures of dead sea turtles. It made Jack sad, of course! We went from dead sea turtles to see a presentation about great white sharks. It seemed to be a nice break, and everyone appreciated the time to sit and rest. We decided to see the flamingos.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Which for some reason included a cow.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
In the flamingo exhibit, there were live sea turtles and live penguins. I wanted to make sure we at least tried to see everything, so we went over to the Monterey habitats area. The giant octopus was all curled up. There was a diver in the Kelp Forest answering questions. But Jack was very keyed up tired. We took him to the gift shop – actually, there are several gift shops in the Aquarium. He wanted a stuffed animal. Of course. The Hammerhead Shark was $40. He didn’t think the otters were fluffy enough. We finally found a “blue whale” (which looks more like a gray whale, but whatever) for $20. Done.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
I tried to use Yelp to find a place to eat. I wanted breakfast, so I looked for diners. I found Archie’s American Diner, 3 miles away… well, really .3 miles away. So we drove when we didn’t have to. And the place didn’t serve breakfast. What kind of diner doesn’t serve breakfast? I have decided that I hate Yelp as a finding places to eat app. I must find a new one. The diner’s bathrooms were some of the ickiest I have seen outside of gas stations, so I didn’t use them.
Jack fell asleep within 30 minutes of getting in the car. He used his new whale as a pillow. He slept the entire way home, including a gas stop at which I ran into a Target to use the toilet. He stayed asleep after we got him in his bed, and didn’t wake up until the usual time the next morning.
All in all, a successful trip with lots of good memories!
Santa Cruz on Saturday
21 Jun 2011 1 Comment
in family fun Tags: beach, Friends, photos, Santa Cruz
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk didn’t open until 11, so we had a nice, leisurely morning to get ready to roll. It was cold and gray. A lot of people don’t realize that cold and gray mornings are the norm on the California coast, even in San Diego.
We got into the parking lot ($12) and walked over to the Boardwalk. We had to stand in a long line to exchange our Costco tickets for real wristbands. At the front of the line, we had the kids stand in front of the measuring board.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Jack and Anika were both 42 inches, so they could go on most of the rides either by themselves or with adult supervision. We headed over to the other side of the Boardwalk for the kiddie rides.
I’ll spare you the litany of all of the rides. Caitlyn was tall enough to go on all of the rides and she really wanted to do most of the adult ones. She did go on some of the kiddie rides though.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Jack and Anika on the dragons
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Jack and Anika on the boats (I helped them pick the S.S. Cotton Candy.)
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Caitlyn went on a ride with “the kids”.
Somewhere in here, I got to go on a ride with Christy and Caitlyn – the tornado. I also went on the Riptide with Christy, Caitlyn, and Jack. The Riptide is old-school. A lot of the rides have been replaced since I was in high school. My favorite, the Waverunner, is no more.
The Boardwalk added this cove area with more kiddie rides. We went on the family roller coaster. I hate roller coasters. But I went on with Jack and Max anyway. I don’t like being jerked around. I vastly prefer spinny and flying rides. But the family coaster wasn’t so bad.
From there, we did lunch! The food offerings at the Boardwalk have improved greatly. Of course, the prices are still astronomical!
We did all of the rides in the cove area, including the space bumper cars. I liked them far more than regular bumper cars. They were easier to drive. Jack was able to move around in them, which he can’t really do in regular bumper cars.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Jack was obsessed with playing games. Jack and Max went off to play some games down the Boardwalk. While Christy and Caitlyn went on the Ferris wheel, and Anika went on some rides by herself, I sat down for a bit. Jack and Max came back with Rainbow, a large stuffed bird. Max won him for Jack at the “spray the water into the clown’s mouth” race game. Jack thinks he won.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
After the kids played more games – Anika and Caitlyn played a fishing game and won, which Jack whined about because he couldn’t play the fishing game (he had already spent his allotted game money), we decided to go down to the beach. It had warmed up and the sun had come out just before lunch.
If I’m driving 3 hours to the ocean, then I’m going in the ocean, gosh-darnit! And I knew that Jack wouldn’t stay out either. So we sent Max to the car to get the beach stuff, while everyone else went on the swings. It was Jack’s favorite ride of the day, and one of my favorites. I don’t think I’d been on those swings before. It was great to be able to ride a grown up ride with my little man.
Changing into our suits took longer than I would have liked, but we did it, and we made it through the youth beach soccer tournament to the surf.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Jack went in and stayed in, up to his waist. I was with him, of course. He was freezing – it was about 66 degrees. I asked him if he wanted to go back. He said no. I asked him if he was having fun. He said no. I said, “So you’re not having fun, but you don’t want to get out of the water?” He said, “Yes.”
Boys!
The girls didn’t have suits and stayed further on land, playing in the sand.
After a brief period of being in the ocean, we returned to the Boardwalk and changed again. (Did I mention that Jack dropped his bathing trunks in the toilet? *sigh*)
The kids were starting to get a little cranky, so we had junk food! Christy and the girls had ice cream, I went all the way back down the Boardwalk to get a chocolate/caramel apple (and some salt water taffy to bring home), and Jack got his cotton candy. He had eaten all of it by the time I got back to the benches.
Caitlyn wanted to go on the people mover that went over the park. So did Jack. I don’t do heights, so Max had to go with him. Anika wanted to do something with Morgan. So I got a little alone time. I went to a gift shop and got Jack a shirt. (Max had only packed 1 shirt for 2 days. Oops!) Then, I went on the Pirate Ship.
The Pirate Ship was one of my favorite rides in high school. I have pictures of me on it with my good friends on Senior Ditch Day. Apparently, now, I’m too old for this stuff. I felt nauseous and not at all carefree and flying. I’m sure the two tween girls I ended up next to thought I was very strange. I’m glad that I went on, because I would have regretted not having done so. Still, it was sad to have something that used to be so joyful be so… not.
I got to the other end of the people mover and waited just a few moments for Max, Jack, and Anika. The four of us were going to do kiddie rides while Morgan, Christy, and Caitlyn did the Big Dipper.
Christy managed to get some aerial shots for me.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Fortunately, Jack and Anika were getting along again. There had been a disagreement earlier over whether to go on the red plane or the white plane. Jack actually cried. But they went on the Speedway and had fun, and the helicopters and had fun.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Then, Anika, Jack, and I went on the Starfish. The Starfish is like the Scrambler – it’s a spinny squishy ride. It’s one of the few rides my mom would go on. This was probably my favorite ride of the day. Jack didn’t like it as much because he was in the middle, getting squished by Anika. Anika liked though. I hope they’ll remember the good parts, and not the squishy parts.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Caitlyn, Christy, and Morgan wanted to go on the Hurricane, which used to be the Mouse, and then the Little Dipper. I used to go on that one. No more. *shudder* Jack and Anika wanted to play the “Claw” games. Anika wasted 50 cents trying to get a stuffed animal. Jack actually won… a pair of Jackie O sunglasses. I told him that he looked like Auntie Ann.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Everyone was hungry and we didn’t want Boardwalk food, so we walked across the street to get some pizza. It didn’t suck, but it wasn’t great, either. They had a TV on and Jack was able to correctly identify all of the different baseball teams that appeared. (But that’s another post…)
After dinner, we headed back to the Boardwalk and the arcade. Our Costco tickets had come with tickets to other paid attractions, as well as some free tokens. We were standing in line, trying to figure out what to do. A boy of about 11 or so was behind us, and he obviously knew what was what. He told us we were in the right line to get tokens, and that “The Vault” was the Laser Maze listed on our tickets.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Jack and I wanted to do the Laser Maze, which ended up being a big dark room with a “vault” in it. You had to go through the lasers to get to the vault, like Parker from Leverage. Neither Jack nor I is Parker, so we didn’t do too well, but we did have fun.
At the arcade, Jack and I played a lot of air hockey. I wouldn’t let him win, but I didn’t try to smash the kid either. He tried to play some pinball, but it didn’t work out too well. We found Max and the others. Then split up again… it was all very chaotic. Jack was out of tokens and wanted to play more games, but it was about 9:00 pm. The girls had more tokens, and they had been playing games that gave tickets. Jack only had 6 tickets. We figured out that he could get 6 glow in the dark bugs. I wanted to go on the carousel with Jack, and Anika wanted to go on the carousel with Jack, so everyone except Max came to the carousel.
The Santa Cruz carousel is 100 years old. It’s one of the only carousels that has a ring toss. If you sit on an outside horse, you can grab rings and throw them at a clown. If you throw the ring into the clown’s mouth, lights go off. My mom did this with us. She got the rings and let us throw them. I wanted to do that for Jack. So I did. But Jack wanted me to throw the rings. He was fascinated by it. And I actually did get a ring in the clown’s mouth once.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
When we got off of the carousel, Max had an interesting story. The boy who had been standing behind us in line at the arcade ended up being near Max when they were turning in tickets. The kid got what he wanted and still had over 1000 tickets left. So he gave them to Max. Max bought 3 stuffed animals – 1 for each kid – and 2 glow in the dark bugs. Now Jack has his very own cheetah, Elena.
We took Jack home, driving the 3 coastal miles. People were having bonfires. It made me wish, again, that we lived on the coast. Someday, I hope! It’s always been a dream of mine.
On the way home, Jack said that he loved the boy who gave him the tickets. I told him that was something to thank God for – the unexpected, kind things that happen. Jack was bathed and in his jammies when our friends made it home. All of the kids ended up going to sleep around 10:30. It was a very long day! Jack said that he did have a lot of fun, and that’s what counts.
Santa Cruz on Friday
20 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in family fun Tags: Friends, photos, Santa Cruz, vacation
My friend Christy’s family is moving so she can go to grad school. Before they leave, they’re trying to do a lot of the things in California they’ve never done. Christy hadn’t been to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk since she was a pre-teen, so our family went with their family. We stayed in a small beach house about 3 miles away from the Boardwalk. We arrived Friday afternoon, after a 3 hour drive. The house was just a short walk from the beach.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Anika didn’t want to go near the actual ocean. She stayed in the lagoon.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Caitlyn and Jack walked right up to the ocean. So did I, with my amazing camera. How amazing? Look at this sail boat:
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Anyway, Jack and Caitlyn both loved running away from the surf as it came up on the beach.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Caitlyn was building a sand pyramid (we didn’t think to buy sand toys). She was squatting in the sand when a wave came up higher onto the shore than she was prepared for. When it hit, she fell flat on her bum. I’m sorry, but it was funny!
Moments later, karma got me when I went into the waves a little bit to get a picture, and I got wet to the knees. Too bad my capris were mid-calf. The cuffs ended up getting full of sand.
Caitlyn was cold – just because this is the California coast doesn’t mean it was 80 degrees. More like 60. So, I persuaded the children to sit on some real driftwood and pose for a picture.
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| From June 2011 Santa Cruz Monterey |
Then we walked back to the house.
Max made us all a lovely barbeque dinner, followed by mini-carrot cakes from Trader Joe’s. The kids did not want to go to sleep, but sleep they did, eventually.
The next day, we headed to the Boardwalk…
Because there are so many pictures, I’m leaving this as a cliffhanger. Pun intended.
Howarth Park
12 Jun 2011 1 Comment
in family fun Tags: animals, carousel, Friends, howarth park, ponies, rides
Today, we went with our good friend Christy and her daughters to Howarth Park in Santa Rosa. We met up with Christy’s mom and with Christy’s friend Sabrina and her family. So, we had three 5 year olds, one 8 year old, and a few adults. On the way home, Christy pointed out that, after her mom left, I was the oldest one there.
Gee. Thanks.
We started out with a pizza picnic lunch, followed by some playing on the large playground.
Christy’s mom had to go after lunch, but not before hugs. Jack asked if he could give her hugs too. When I went to take a picture…
Me: Let’s take a picture of you and your girls.
The girls scramble next to their Nana… and Jack gets on Anika’s right.
Me: … And Jack.
(After we got home and Jack saw this picture, he lamented that he no longer had a Nana. We eventually mollified him with the fact that he has TWO Great-Grandmas, and that none of his friends has a GG.)
We got the kids into their suits to play in the water spouts… which were turned off on the half hour. So, we covered them up and headed for the rides.
Thanks to the generosity of Christy’s mom, all 4 kids got 2-lap pony rides. The ponies weren’t tethered. There were young people (I really am old) who were leading them around a great big loop through the woods. Jack’s pony was Lucy. He told us she was “wiggly”. The girls rode Midnight and Willow, and Sabrina’s son rode Kendall.
After the real ponies came the carousel. It was hard to get a nice picture of Jack on the carousel, though I did manage to do so when he wasn’t looking.
The carousel was right next to the train. It was a cute little train that meandered about the woods for a few minutes. Thanks to Sabrina’s husband, we got a picture of all of us on the train.
From the train, we went down the hill to the animal barn. Guess what they had there?
A calf! And we were allowed to pet her! We’ve never been allowed to pet a calf before. Jack wasn’t as excited as I thought he would be, but he did say that she was very soft.
The barn also included a goat, chickens & a rooster, bunnies, and guinea pigs, all of which were pet-able. Two sheep, a pig, and two doves were for looking, not touching. The kids got to suggest names for the animals. Jack decided that the white bunny with red eyes was Lightning Bolt, because bunnies jump fast.
The kids were begging to finally go into the water, and it was 3:00, so we went. I gather that the water was very cold. I think they had more fun running away from and around the water than running in it. I ended up getting into a discussion with a lady about my camera. (A high-end Nikon Coolpix, which I love!) I didn’t get too many good pictures in the water because I didn’t want to get my camera wet.
The kids spent the full half hour in the water, after which we dried them off. Christy and I gathered our things. Caitlyn read her new American Girl magazine and Anika and Jack played with Anika’s puzzle, both courtesy of their Nana. We finally convinced the kids to go get dressed.
Now, I’m a lady. And Jack is a gentleman. And because of how the bathrooms were, I couldn’t have him change in the ladies room. So I had to stand in the doorway of the gentleman (back to the entrance, of course). The layout of the restrooms was such that I wasn’t going to let Jack be in there completely by himself. An older gentleman had a problem with that. What’s my point? FAMILY BATHROOMS!
OK, so we got dressed, then the kids wanted to play, so they went climbing.
We hiked up to the lake. My knee and feet were not happy with me today. Jack really wanted to go in a boat. However, had too many people for a kayak, I couldn’t help pedal a pedalboat, and I wouldn’t do a rowboat or canoe. So we contented ourselves with trying to feed ducks. (We fed them duck food, which we purchased at the boat house. Bread is actually very bad for ducks. I never realized.)
While feeding the ducks, we saw a river otter! I got an acceptable picture.
(Next week, we’re going to Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, so we should have some really good otter pictures.)
The ducks weren’t really hungry, so we went back down the hill to the bounce house.
The kids bounced for a good long time, then decided they were hungry and thirsty. After 15 minutes on the playground, we headed for McDonald’s. But first, Jack had to show me how high he could climb.
We got back home a little before 8 pm. Max didn’t come with us, so he put Jack down for bed. When he came down, he asked, “How does Jack know about World War II?”
… But that’s another post…
County Fair 2011
03 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in family fun Tags: bunnies, carnival, carousel, chickens, county fair, eating, fair, Friends, games, Grandma Sandy, photos, rides
Every year since Jack was just shy of 1-1/2, we’ve been to the County Fair. This year, we spent time with two sets of friends! It was also the first year that it almost rained.
Yes, it’s California, in June, and it’s been raining. The last time I remember this happening was June 1993, the week I graduated from high school. Today’s high? 65 F. *sigh*
Another first for this year: Grandma Sandy was here! Max’s mom is visiting and we dragged her all over the fairgrounds.
We got there at precisely the same time as our friends Christy and Anika. We all went in and immediately went to get our wrist bands.
I’ve said it before: Kids get in free, but that’s because the rides cost so much. However, they had a buy 1, get 1 free on wristbands, so we paid $10 for Jack and Christy paid $10 for Anika. Not too bad, really.
Jack started out snippy. He went on the carousel with Anika, but didn’t want to ride a horse. I was getting cranky, so we sought out some lunch. Max took one bite of a hot dog and decided it was the most vile thing he had ever eaten. Then, he and Jack got some pizza. I had corn on a stick and a baked potato.
Jack played the darts & balloons game and won a panda. He actually had a choice between a (cheap knockoff movie version) Transformer and a panda, and he chose the panda.
We tried to go on some rides, but the kids were too short for the ones in the middle of the midway. We made our way to the front and kiddie rides.
On the way, we found the wild animal tent. We saw a parrot, a cockatoo, 2 huge tortoises – which the kids got to pet, sleeping ferrets, an alligator, snakes, a monitor lizard, and 2 real kangaroos.
The wild animal tent was conveniently located next to Jack’s school, Antioch Charter Academy II. (I wonder if the school gets half days on fair days.)
After the animals, we went on the train that went around the fair. It was fine, but not what Jack thought it was going to be.
When we got back to the kiddie rides, the kids – OK, my kid – was in a much better mood. They took turns choosing which rides to ride. They rode almost all of them. Jack is just over 42 inches, it seems. (The same height as Anika.) This means he can ride all of the kiddie rides now. Next year, he might get to 48, and then he’ll be able to ride the rides in the middle midway.
As usual, I took an insane amount of pictures, some of which you can see at the end of this post.
I almost forgot – while there, we ran into a friend of mine from the Moms’ Club. I left the Moms’ Club when Jack was 2-1/2, but I remained friendly with a few members. It was good to see Kristen and her kids.
Finally, Christy and Anika had to leave. But, at the same time, some of our new friends arrived! Gilly is 3 and one of Jack’s new good friends at his preschool. Her parents are very cool people, so we were quite happy to have them join us. (Gilly has a baby brother who is turning 1, too.) Jack and Anika went on one last ride – the caterpillar roller coaster. Anika didn’t want to go on it last year, but Jack went on by himself. This year, they both went together.
After Anika left, Jack went on the caterpillar roller coaster with Gilly and her dad. We went on down to see the animals from the 4-H, and stopped for a pony ride on the way. It was Gilly’s first pony ride! Jack rode Max again. He rode Max last year and asked specifically for him this year. The guy was impressed that Jack could point him out. (Their names are on the saddles, and Max was the second word Jack could read, thanks to his Dad.)
Upon arriving at the animal tent, Jack declared: “We have to find someone who works here.” Jack is 5, so he can join 4-H and raise a bunny or a chicken. He’s been looking forward to this all year. In fact, when we were on the tour train ride, and the tour guide mentioned the auction on Sunday, Jack said, “Mom, we have to be here on Sunday so I can get my animal.” I explained that it wasn’t that type of auction.
We finally found someone who could help us out. She’s a poultry leader, and told us that Clayton/Concord has a great poultry leader. She was really selling us on raising a chicken. I’d prefer a chicken to a bunny. I don’t think Max concurs.
We really didn’t spend that much time in the barn. Jack didn’t even get to pet a cow. Jack wanted his cotton candy, so we got some of that for the kids to split. He, Gilly, and Gilly’s dad then went on a bunch more rides. (And I had a caramel apple. Tasty.)
Jack was actually very helpful with Gilly. He held her hand and helped her on the rides. He helped her get buckled a few times. He had to be told not to pull her. Now, under normal circumstances, I would have worried that Jack was bossing Gilly. But Gilly is a girl who knows what she wants. She doesn’t really let Jack boss her. Still, she seems to adore Jack, which I think is cute.
Gilly is of mixed heritage too (her mom is from St. Lucia). At least one ride operator thought they were siblings. I thought it was cute. It also made me nostalgic for events that haven’t happened yet.
The fair had a Kids’ Zone, which was filled with musical instruments. All of the kids played the drums. Jack and Gilly played some string instruments. Jack played some electronic instruments. I like the Kids’ Zone because it’s a departure from the regular fair. Kind of a time to charge batteries.
After the Kids’ Zone, the kids went on even more rides! They rode the carousel twice and the dragon roller coaster three times. Oh, and the teacups twice, once with Jack doing the spinning and once with Gilly’s dad doing the spinning.
Instead of sticking around for dinner, we decided to go out to a local family restaurant. We said goodbye to our friends and headed out…
Jack asked if we could go to the fair every Friday. I had to remind him that it only comes once a year. He was bummed. In a way, I am too. It would be so great to be able to have that atmosphere all the time. But then, I suppose, it wouldn’t be special.
‘Til next year!
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- You must be 42 inches tall to ride this ride
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- Anika and Jack on the dragon coaster
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- Anika and Jack on the dragon coaster
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- Jack and Anika on the Jeeps
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- Jack and Gilly
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- Jack riding Max, the pony
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- Jack saying hello to a bunny
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- Jack on the carousel
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- Jack and Gilly on the dragon coaster
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- Gilly and her dad with Jack on the Super Slide
The Fairs of the Past
- County Fair 2010
- County Fair 2009, I didn’t document, because it was so close to my mom’s death.
- County Fair 2008
- County Fair 2007
