Allie had the typical Southern Californian weekend for most of the weekend. Mr. W had ordered a new bicycle hitch rack for the car (I think it’s a Thule) and had been itching to try it, so on Saturday morning, we drove out to the historical old town district in San Juan Capistrano, Mr. W hitched the covered kiddie trailer to his bike, and we rode along a riverbed bike path a few miles to Capistrano Beach.
It’s a pretty beach that was relatively empty at 9am, except for a 5K race going on behind us. The beach even set up a handicap access to the water’s edge.
Allie plopped herself in the sand and immediately started the now-familiar process of shoveling sand into her little bucket.
Allie had so much fun frolicking…
…and climbing…
…that she didn’t want to leave.
She was eventually cooperative when we strapped her back in her trailer for the ride back to San Juan Capistrano.
We had brunch at Sarducci’s, and on the way back to the car, Allie got to play on a playground at the park, and even got to go bouldering! She loves to climb. She’s not very good at it, yet, but she always makes the attempt.
We got home in time for Allie’s noon nap, then went to a local park and playground to let her play with other kids. Allie gravitates toward any ball and most of the kids’ parents are generous about sharing. Her daddy helped her climb more playground toys, go down slides (she now does it on her own as long as I’m at the bottom to catch if needed), pushed her on swings, and she loves steering wheels and picking up handfuls of sand to help other kids build their castles or fill their buckets. One young boy was climbing a high kids’ rock wall and made sure he called his mom or dad over before climbing each time, announcing in a well-trained manner that he will never climb without an adult present to watch him in case he falls. Something to remember when Allie’s old enough to do the same.
On Sunday morning, we took advantage of our annual pass and Allie’s current under 2 age and hit up Disneyland again. With the time difference, I woke up later than I’d wanted so we got to Disneyland at 8:30a, half an hour after it opened. But it was still enough time to tire her out, which was the goal, so that she could take her noon nap an hour early under the new time. Allie got to explore Toon Town.
She knocked on doors and rang doorbells to see what special effects are in place.
She got to drive me around on a firetruck.
She met some of the residents of Toon Town.
She accidentally drove into the mailbox of a resident.
Allie: “I’m sorry I crashed into your mailbox, Mr. Goofy.”
Goofy: “It’s okay, it’s nice meeting you anyway. I’ll see you in court.”
Allie tried to hire the firm of Chip & Dale to represent her, but no one was in, so she settled down to wait by their mail box.
Since neither Chip nor Dale showed up, she first tried hiding behind a ladder. But she remained highly visible.
She finally got the great idea that she’ll just disappear. She hid among the shipments bound for the next train.
Success! We made it home, Allie had lunch in the car on the way, and right around noon, Allie hit her nap on time and slept over 3 hours. She woke up for a whole different new adventure, one that wasn’t as fun… see the next post.
In 2010, I got this photo taken at Disneyland near the Pooh ride, and in jest, I captioned it “Me and my honey.”
Between then and now, 3 years later, some things changed, including they honey jar props. Here’s in the updated 2013 version of “Me and my honey.”
Allie’s started playing peek-a-boo while eating. It (unfortunately) goes like this:
Allie: *grabbing steamed carrots or a skinned orange wedge*
Allie: *bringing it to her eyes*
Allie: *smearing it on her eyelids and forehead while covering eyes with hands*
Allie: PEEK!
Often it goes into her hair as well, and she ends up looking like a certain scene from “Something About Mary.”
We’ve had more park time, lake time and Disneyland time recently. This one-nap thing is great. Here are some favorite photos.
Saturday, 2/23 at our Lake:
A princess needs her castle, but Allie destroys them as quickly as her daddy makes them.
The little digger experiences wet sand for the first time.
Sunday, 2/24 at Disneyland:
The weather was forecasted to be warm, but we neglected to think about what it’d be like from 8a-11:30p (before her nap), so Allie ended up underdressed in her long-sleeved onesie, dress and leggings.
So we HAD to get her a jacket. A Disney Princess jacket. One with enough room to grow in.
Even tho we rode on the Monorail, Finding Nemo Submarine ride, Storybook Land boat ride, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, the Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean, Allie was the most excited on the Disneyland Train. She’s learned to wave at all the people passing on the trains, stagecoaches, and rides (because people at Disneyland wave back), so she was happy to be on one. Unfortunately, after sitting idle for awhile, an announcement was made that the train would not be leaving the station after all due to injury to the conductor. Mr. W somehow learned the guy had a heart attack. So we got off. Allie was very patient and very good about having not gone anywhere, as well.
Saturday, 3/2 at Sycamore Park:
We met up with my parents for breakfast at Julie’s Cafe near their house (which service was so lacking it caused me to write a rare review on Yelp about it), then my parents suggested we go to Sycamore Park a couple of miles away.
That park contained the most intricate playground I’d ever seen, with multiple tiers of bridges and paths with play activities up and down and all over. Allie was still a little young for much of it, but she got some help from Daddy.
There are lots of surprises around the corners, such as this slanted, protruding window.
Daddy was suddenly very intensely busy for a long time. Turned out this is what he was doing…
We did find a separate toddler section, where a little girl 3-year-old was running around. Allie happily went up and said “hi,” then hugged the girl, who hugged back, then the two played together for a bit, but I didn’t photograph them in case the girl’s mom had an objection to a stranger getting a photo of her kid. So here’s daddy playing with her again.
Later that Saturday afternoon, we hit the Lake again, where Allie and her daddy were busy as crabs.
Allie had fun bringing her little bucket to the lake’s edge to fetch water for her daddy so that he could make castles for her again, although she had too much fun shaking the bucket on her way back that she spilled all the water, twice. Plus, there was a girl around 5 who settled down to build sandcastles a couple of feet from where we had set up and the girl kept panicking and freaking out anytime Allie walked in her direction, blocking her sand mounds and yelling “NO! NO! NO!”, even when Allie was just trying to get to the lake behind her, and it annoyed me, so we eventually went to play at the playground there instead. There were much friendlier and less spazzy kids at the playground and Allie made some friends. (Even that girl’s mom kept saying, “Sunshine! Stop that, it’s okay!”)
Sunday, 3/3, at Disneyland:
Yup, we hit up Disneyland again on Sunday morning, to get on rides we didn’t get to the week before. Small World finally opened up after being down for months for renovation. Allie loved it and now anytime we hum or sing “It’s a Small World,” she will bring up her hands and snap her fingers while bobbing her upper body or head left to right in time to the music. The ride was too dark for photos without flash, which was not allowed. We also went on the Alice in Wonderland ride, and on the way out, Allie thought she’d visit the Mr. White Rabbit’s house, which was just her size.
Me: Hey Allie, wanna ride the spinny teacups? It was one of mama’s favorites!
Allie: Seriously?
Allie: I’m outa here.
Thanks to the stepkidlet who is a multi-year premium passholder, we found the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride way in the back corner of New Orleans Square, which featured Pooh characters being carried away by balloons, balloons for Pooh’s birthday party, balloons everywhere. Allie was very happy to point out all the “bbbloon, bbbloon, bbbloon!”s to us. Outside the ride, we saw some of Pooh’s sweet props and we couldn’t resist.
Allie: Mom. Seriously. This is getting ridiculous.
The flying Dumbo ride got a “meh” rating from her.
Hubby passes on his shotgun know-how.
The littlest chauffeur in all of California Adventure. Hopefully, she doesn’t learn her driving skills from her daddy, or it will be Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride all over again.
Mr. W: Did you have fun this week?
Allie: It was acceptable, dada.
