Sara M. Epstein » Epstein, Party of Three ...

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ca adventure | mika and master b hit the waterpark

here’s the scene:  he woke up early, it’s nearly 11AM and he hasn’t had a nap.  he’s tired from the previous day of fun (including no naps) at disneyland, and he’s really not interested in doing much of anything.  it’s hot.  mom asks, “do you want to play in the water?” and he responds with an emphatic “no, no!”  i think mimi even asked if he wanted to go walk in the water.  “no, no!”

and then, after returning from a roller-coaster ride,  mika heads into the water park.

and from a safe distance, he watches.  he hangs on to the railing in case someone tries any funny business.  “mika, watch out!  it’s gonna get you!”“come over here by me where it is safe and dry!”  man, it looks like she is having fun …maybe i’ll just stand out here with her … after all, it’s just water, right?check out how she does that standing on one foot thing.  that looks awesome. “hang on to me mika!  i wanna try!”“this is awesome!!!!!”“you guys are a bunch of sissys.  this is so fun!”“let’s catch it with our hands!”“now let’s get crazy and run underneath the water! woo hoo!!!”we love mika for many reasons, but the unwavering trust master b has in her is powerful.  he went, in a period of about 3 minutes, from a boy who refused to even get near the water, to a boy who was running and splashing.  he had a ball.  he loves his mika, and so do we.

Grammie - May 18, 2012 - 9:57 pm

what a great story of two people who really love each other!

disneyland | the parade

the parade at disneyland runs twice per day and everyone and their brother wants to see it.  i was the prime spot-saving candidate since i wasn’t taking master h on any rollercoasters, and i was wielding a double bob stroller filled to the gills with stuff.  but boy did i underestimate the task of saving spots for the parade.  i had to channel my inner nasty woman and scare off about 25 people that tried to squeeze into the 4 ft by 4 ft space of sidewalk that i was saving for my dear family and friends.  and, in case you are curious, not one of them was any kind of match for my inner nasty lady.  grrrrr …

we had great seats and master b, most importantly, had a spot on the curb to sit and see all of the beauty as it passed by in front of his eyes.

he saw princesses …and even peter pan …and mary poppins …it was just fantastic! after the parade we hit up one of the disneyland baby centers and it was incredible!  they make it so easy to bring little babies to these parks.  it is so stroller friendly, and the baby centers are nothing short of amazing.  they are equipped with individual changing stations, a nursing lounge, kitchen and microwave.  it was awesome!  and everyone was so friendly!  see, master h thought it was great too …here’s a cute picture of mika, mimi, andi and larry hanging out on a park bench.  towards the end of the day our feet were getting tired! after the parade, some of the group hit up a few more rollercoasters, and then we staked out a spot for the fantasmic light show.  we were really early … like, 3 hours early.  seriously.  but we didn’t have anywhere else we wanted to go, and we ended up scoring front row seats for the show. uncle jon entertained himself with some light sabers that andi brought. grammie followed suit …and so did master b …master b watched some tv shows on my phone while chilling in his brother’s baby seat. and mika snacked on an apple …i snuggled master h who was sleeping soundly.and then, as they were killing time, daddy taught master b the art of the one-armed capture.  master b is now an o.a.p.t. (one-armed picture taker) in training …and here is his first capture.  not bad for his maiden voyage, eh?v sat patiently waiting for the fantasmic light show to begin.and then …it did!  and it was incredible.  master b was so sleepy at that point.  he hadn’t taken any naps and had been awake since 6:30 a.m.  it was pushing 10:00 by this time and he was weary. and although it was one of the most incredible displays of lights and action, it just wasn’t enough to fend off mr. sandman.  master b finally gave in. after the show we escorted out our mickey balloon (thanks grammie!) and said ‘good night’ to disneyland.  see you next time!

disneyland | the anaheim rv park

we pulled our trailer down to disneyland and stayed in a rv park that is about a mile away.  it was so awesome!  we were not sure what to expect, but we knew we were comfortable in our trailer, so we figured we would give it a shot.  if you have a trailer, it is totally the way to go!  we stayed at the anaheim rv resort park.  here is a snapshot of what the park looks like.

it was outfitted with nice clean private restrooms, a jacuzzi, pool and laundry facilities.  we will definitely go back and stay here again next time.  it was quite a bit cheaper than paying for 3 nights in a hotel, even considering the gas that we put in the truck to pull the trailer down there.  we loved it!

disneyland | a trip thru adventureland

disneyland is full of amazing and entertaining things!  we visited most of the “lands” during the day, and found a few of them to be particularly toddler friendly.  we took a ride on the jungle cruise that was pretty neat.  there were a few surprises that master b was not sure about.  but we think he had a nice time. master b held on to that piece of chocolate chip cookie the whole time we were on the boat.  he was so sleepy, i don’t think he even realized that he had a cookie in his hand.we saw some of his favorite creatures along the way … elephants …and giraffes …and then it was time to get off the boat. we found our way back to grammie who was sitting with master h, and then it was time to feed him. so we all sat and waited for master h to finish his milk.auntie v did a little work while we waited in the shade. and then, with a full belly, we moved on to the next attraction. 

disneyland | mickey’s toontown & more

this is the first of what will end up being a series of disneyland posts.  there are too many wonderful pictures and we had too much fun to try and shove it all in to one humungous post.

so, it starts on the shuttle bus after we parked in the disneyland “woody c” lot.  master b was in a moving vehicle and was not strapped into a car seat.  he was thrilled and not quite sure what to do with himself.

we got there and ran into some more folks we knew.  andi, larry, mimi, as well as jon and v joined mika, grammie, and the rest of us on this fine day. master b was outfitted in his mickey shirt and ready for some action. momma was pretty excited too. and we knew we wouldn’t loose andi because she had on her ‘undercover’ sunglasses.master h was also super thrilled to be at disneyland.  so much so that he required a cat nap before we even made it in the gates. jeff and jon set up the groupme application on their phones and it worked out great for our gang of disneyland visitors. we kicked off the day by heading back to mickey’s toontown.  we expected that master b would be thrilled with it since it was the home of many of his favorite disney characters.we made a quick stop off in front of a huge whale.  i bet billions of pictures have been taken in front of that whale. :)we found these two in toon jail.  and with their one phone call, they got in touch with master b who was able to bail them out. 

mickey’s house was awesome!  master b really enjoyed taking  a look at all of the mickey artifacts. we all did a double take at the washing machine.  it was washing mickey’s clothes … but at first glance, we thought that mickey was in the washing machine. “guys, are we sure that wasn’t mickey in there?”and then it came time to meet the man himself.  we were all excited. master b was a bit rushed and ended up not wanting to stand with mickey and have his picture taken, but andi and larry stood in his place.  super cute! we moved on and found some more interesting toon town attractions to explore. grammie and jon hung back with master h who was still peacefully sleeping in the stroller. we found pluto.  he was awesome and took a really sweet picture with master b and daddy. then we climbed to the top of a big boat and admired the view of toon town down below. master b headed down to find grammie and lead the way to goofy’s playhouse. what fun!  mimi and master b had a ball in the playhouse. mimi and daddy were calling master b in hopes of getting him to crawl thru the tunnle.  instead, he stood up and walked around to them … and said “right here”. :) after we wrapped up in toon town, part of the gang headed to it’s a small world.  they had a great time on the ride and i hung back with grammie and master h. master h was such a sweetheart and a great sport all day.  here he laid in the shade smiling at all the people walking by. once they came back, grammie, daddy and master b took a ride on the train.  that was, of course, a huge hit. we waited for the rest of the crew to come back and snapped a few sweet pictures. and master h asked, “mom, will you ever stop with that camera in my face?”  no son, i will not. i’ll wrap this post up with a snapshot of a delicious iced americano.  i may or may not have had more than my fair share of these puppies last weekend.  they were delish! 

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