To the Asparagus Festival with Maggie - California Day 3 Before Nap

The morning of the third day here in California was very nice for Mommy because I slept until 9am... that 11 am Texas time! Woo hoo. I was well rested for a busy day.

I woke to a happy house. Grandma and Lea were playing the marble game. Pieces fit together to make a tall track for mables to slide down in different ways from zig zag to round and round a little spout. I don't know who enjoys the toy more, Mommy or Lea. We both have a lot of fun with it. Grandma JoAnn was having fun playing too...
Grandma and marbles

Playing marbles is in the top great things about Grandma JoAnn's house. While there are a lot of toys and things to do I think the things Lea asks for most often are in this order 1) Can we water the garden? Lea has her own watering can and I have told Grandpa Ron to expect his water bill to spike with our little sea monkey around. 2) Can I play the pinao? I posted pictures of that yesterday... and 3) Can we play marbles?

After playing a bit the day got started.

Saturday was the day that Grandma got to take Lea all day. Mommy and Daddy's day to do what we wanted. Mommy wanted to go to the Stockton Asparagus festival! So we did. Dan and I drove to downtown Stockton and experienced the Asparagus festival. We did not try the tri tip sandwhich with asparagus or the asparagus burrito or the Aspararita ...
But we did try the fried asparagus. It was very good. It came with ranch and was yummy.

Like all festivals everything was overpriced, but we had a good time and it was worth it for the experience. We were glad we went. Here we are at the Aparagus Festival. Without being in charge of Lea we forgot all our sun smarts... no hats, no sunscreen. So we went from shady spot to shady spot and we both still got some pink parts. My chest got very pink and Dan's ears were very pink.


To ensure that we did not get lost, Grandpa Ron taught us to use his navigation syste, the Magellan.
I quickly nicknamed the little voice "Maggie." I thougth I was very clever until we visited their website to check for updates and found a whole "Ask Maggie" section. Dan and I had a lot of fun making fun of her. She says "Calculating Route" every time you do something she doesn't appove of or didn't tell you to do. We teased that she was thinking "I am now[computer pause] taking you the [computer pause] long way [pause] because you didn't listen]." We had whole imaginary converstaions with Maggie. And Maggie got us back.

I wonder exactly how much research went into determining that the "boop boop" sound was less annoying than "turn, turn, turn, here!" when approaching a turn.

We had to stop for diapers on the way home so Maggie has the capability to look up stores. Well I thought I'd be different and visit K-mart since we don't have those in Texas anymore. So I picked the address and Maggie sent us on our way... only to find an REI sports store where the K-mart use to be. OK, so they tore the K-mart down, I get it... "Maggie, take us to the Walmart that you show a few blocks away." There was no Walmart! JoAnn and Ron said there was never a Walmart there so Maggie I guess was teasing us back. We ended up at ... Safeway. I don't think I've been to a Safeway since High School. It was far more fancy than the Safeway in Lake Jackson ages ago. I had to use my Tom Thumb card. [Sherry - they have Trader Joe's here, but we didn't think they'd have a good deal on diapers so we didn't go in. OH and one more shop note... today I ACTUALLY saw an S Mart. I couldn't get a picture because we just drove by, but I was thinking of Evil Dead Part 3 'Shop S Mart.' Who knew there really was one!] Here is the safeway we ended up at... am I taking too many pictures?


While Mommy and Daddy were out Grandma and Lea made a stepping stone with Lea's hand print.

It turned out so pretty. And is today they put it in the garden.

Califronia: Day 2

On Friday of our California trip... and for those who are not related to Danno (or as Dan's mom calls him, Danny B., very cute!)... we are in Stockton, CA which is I guess about an hour and a half north of San Fransico (we'll find out tonight, Saturday, because Dan and I are going out to meet an old friend, Philip in Oakland and have dinner in SF... but that's tomorrow's post).





Our first full day here started with a bit of shopping, where Mommy continued her good luck and found more cute $6 shirts! (Before I left Texas I used a Penny's gift card from JoAnn and managed to find a bizarre sale where I got 6 shirts for $6 each! My good luck continued at Lane Bryant where I got 2 shirts).

Grandma JoAnn got Lea a "webkins." Lea picked out a spotted frog that she named "Hello Frog" immediately. Lea's charms conned the sales girl into giving us the deal on the frog, even though he wasn't one of the "select" webkins offered. Lea has been carting Hello Frog around, but we haven't had a chance to go online and set him up. I've been told by expert sources, Grandma JoAnn and Kenny that the webkins are pretty darned fun. Grandma also bought marigolds (Lea insited on yellow flowers) which they planted while mommy was napping. I think I mentioned that in the last post.
Then the real fun started around 3pm. A noshfiel, if you will (Norwegian for pre-party and probably spelled very wrong) for the big birthday party on Sunday. Did I mention the day we arrived was Grandma JoAnn's birthday? And Sunday is Grandpa Ron's birthday. So we are their present... well, ok Lea is their present, Dan and I are just the bow and wrapping that made the package, tee hee.
So there were a few people couldn't make it Sunday so they came over for yummy grilled steak. Gary and Lucile Bebee - who came to our wedding and are loads of fun

Kenny, Lucille and Gary

Christy, JoAnn, Ron and Danny

Christy and Denton also came so the kids could all get to know each other.
Gary and Lucille brought one of their grandsons Ryan who turned 2 years old on Saturday.

Annie and Stephan were the defalt care givers. Both took immediate control of the tots which was great for us adults.

Stephan took good care of Ryan, saying "Mom you're right being grown up isn't good at all, it's hard. Don't have kids!" He was very helpful and good about keeping a watch on Ryan and Lea sometimes. He also made us a gourmet treat of almonds on a stick (toothpick). They were great!
Stephan and Ryan

And Annie was a good little mother and took Lea under her wing. They walked all over the house and garden holding hands. Lea sat and listened to Annie play piano for a bit (just playing around, not actual songs I don't think). But Lea couldn't help but join in and as long as Lea plays with her fingers not her whole hand Grandma JoAnn lets her play at the piano.

Annie and Lea at the piano

But mostly we kept the kids outside. Lea and Annie looked for bugs in the garden with the eye-spy, but didn't find any to Grandpa Ron's joy. The garden here is very beautiful with gigantic colorful roses and a beautiful design. Their backyard is small, but a real get away all on its own.
Lea and Annie in the garden

Ryan on the swing with Lea and Annie

I got all the grandkids to swing. Stephan was already on the swing when I asked so he participated by not participating. They may look like a motly crew, but they are great. I sat and talked to Kenny for much of the evening. He is going through a phase or perhaps identifying himself with the punk/goth/emo look, even with a promise from his mom that he can dye his hair red if he does well in school. I felt I could identify with him because I still like to think I have a bit of the punk rocker in me... perhaps it only comes out with my pink skull rain boots and jeweled skull hair clip, but I don't think there's anything wrong with red hair, if you get good grades. So I really enjoyed talking to Kenny. He drew us a picture and will perhaps draw some for us to bring home. He is a good artist, but focused on 13 year old boy things about destruction and mahem... but boys will be boys.

Lea (2 and 3/4), Annie (9 next month), Stephan (10)and Kenny (13).


So it was really fun to see the much grown niece and nephews. We hope to see them again Sunday.

There was much conversation that ranged from the GPS units to politics. We watched the kids play and we ate grilled steak with asparagus (it is in season here... wait until the next post! It involves the GPS and asparagus too!)

Lea flies the friendly skies

So here we are in California! Having a fantastic time. Of course we had to fly to get here and while I was worried a bit about a two year old on the plane, it was a great experience. Although, even as well behaved as she was, boy did we get glares as we passed seated passengers while boarding. There was one woman who I think could have been arrested for the thoughts her eyes conveyed. And even the flight attendants didn't show much enthusiasm for us, but at the end we got some cheery good byes. While waiting for the other passengers to deplane, we tried to teach Lea to say "Ba-Bye," but she couldn't quite get the inflection of disdain that the SNL sketch had.

Fortunately we had no major delays, despite some crazy delays by American and the weather in Dallas the past few weeks. Our flight was 10 minutes late and we only sat in the lounge long enough to have a breakfast biscuit and watch a few planes take off.
Here is Lea in the airport

The flight was fun. Lea is a great traveler, just like everything else she takes it pretty much in stride. We did talk a lot about how it would be very loud and I think that helped, because she did not like the noise of taking off. We watched some Strawberry Shortcake on the computer and then the computer battery died so we did all kinds of things, including a puzzle! Who would have imagined a puzzle was a great airplane activity, but it was. It was almost exactly the size of the tray table so we took one piece out at a time and put together Mickey and Minnie from the ladies at the bank (Thanks, it was fun!).
Lea on the plane starting the puzzle.
And finally we landed.
Grandma JoAnn was at the bottom of the escalator awaiting our arrival. Lea got a big hug as soon as she hit the ground.The only eventful thing that happened was the bottom busted out of my giant suitcase, lovingly nicknamed "the body bag" because of its size. I've had it since the beginning of college I think. It has toted A LOT of clothes A LOT of places. I don't think we lost any thing, just a corner came loose. But we are going suitcase shopping before we leave or coming home in garbage bags, tee hee.

As we waited for our luggage, Grandma JoAnn had presents for Lea. Lea got a cute puppy and a rabbit that sings on a key chain.

And of course I planned our itinerary so we were in California in time for lunch. The navigation system in Grandpa Ron's mini van magically took us to.... wait for it.....

.... In and Out Burger. It was worth the wait, believe me! Grilled onions and fresh cut french fries. Yum!

Lea got a Hat. She liked that more than her burger. I guess too many snacks on the plane. And this photo shows the adorable frilly purse that was Grandma JoAnn's present to her once we got in the car. The purse was filled with treats like a key, a crocheted button monkey, a dollar and a smiley face.

And on the ride home Grandma JoAnn bonded with Lea. We were hoping for a nap, but there was a bit too much excitement from both of them for that to happen. Lea did take a good nap when we got the the house though. She adjusted pretty well to California time, waking up at only 6 am here (8 our time, but it didn't feel like it to Mommy!)

Once Lea woke up from her nap, Grandma JoAnn wasted no time finding things to do. Lea go her own watering can and they've been watering the beautiful back garden. Lea asks over and over to water the garden. I told Grandpa Ron that his water bill would spike this month! That's our little water baby. Today (we are on our second day and I have much to post about today, but that will have to wait, except for this tidbit)... Today Grandma and Lea planted marigolds in the back yard. They look very pretty. No pictures of that because Mommy was busy napping.

(Notice the Stars shirt? Dan wore his Stars shirt as we were fresh off a playoff series win against the Ducks and are now playing San Jose which is about an hour or two from here. I must say Dan wasn't the only Stars fan on the plane! I saw at least one other hat.)

That night Lea got to help Grandma make corn muffins for dinner the first night. They were delicious! Grandma had a cute apron for Lea.

video of Grandma JoAnn and Lea making muffins.

What a difference a door makes.

To prepare for our long awaited trip to California Mommy used her birthday present from Daddy. A Mani/Pedi at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon. It was a very very very nice experience, although it did not include champagne to my disappointment. Nothing like getting liquored up while having your feet rubbed. But my nails look beautiful in Zoya Tia I got a wax treatment for my hands. A shoulder massage. The whole spa treatment for my feet. It was pretty fantastic, although not as luxurious a space as I imagined. I guess as I'd always walked past the red door I imagined champagne fountains and diamond chandeliers. But it was just a nice manicure salon with towels wrapped in red bows. So now I've experienced what is behind the red door. And boy are my nails pretty and my feet soft. Thanks Dan!

Grandma said what?

Grandma Lynn has made Lea quite a little golf fan. As we passed the country club by my work Lea said "Look at all that golf." And daddy said we could play if we paid the man at the gate a lot of money. Lea thought that was funny.
But over the course of Grandma Lynn staying with us and some babysitting, Grandma has had Lea watch quite a bit of Tiger Woods playing golf. We even watched some of the Masters at our house. So at dinner one night we were saying Hooray for something and Lea said "When Tiger Woods does good Grandma says 'Hooray!'." We were all thrilled and thought it was adorable... but she continued on, much to grandma's dismay. Lea said "And when Tiger does bad, Grandma says 'Crap.'" Groan. Grandma couldn't argue and we didin't make a big deal about it so we haven't heard it again. But, we've all learned a valuable lesson about what we say, even when Tiger Woods is not living up to our expectations.

Elephants, in East Texas?!!??

Yep! They came with the circus, but got stuck in a storm. We did not go to the circus in East Tawakoni, but Grandma had read that the Elephants would be lifting the big top and being fed for all to watch. Well, a big storm got them off schedule and make parking a night mare. We didn't wake up at the crack of dawn, but got out of the house by 8am and went to see what there was to see. Not much. But we had packed a picnic breakfast of pigs in blankets and lemonade so we made the best of it and went to the park where Lea could climb, run and swing. We ate our picnic breakfast and headed back to he Elephants. They were out! Out in the rain. We stood and watched them dig up mud and throw it on each other for a while and then headed home.


But leave it to a two year old to put things in perspective. We had told Lea the night before that we would go see the animals... or aminals as she says. And when we ventured out on the wet stormy morning we tried to not to get her hopes up, because we didn't know if there would actually be elephants. But you can't dampen a 2 year olds spirits! We got on the road and Lea said "There are cows, they are aminals!" Sure enough, even if we hadn't seen any elephants at all, we would have seen cows, sheep, birds and squirrels. Thanks to Lea I was reminded that, even though they are not exotic, they are animals and fun to watch just the same!



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Then the next weekend, April 5 Dan and I took Lea to the Shriner Circus at Reunion Arena. It was a blast. I would say a much better bargain than the Ringling Bros.

They had trapeze artists and an Elepahant that rolled on a barrel and skipped to Elvis music. They had a Human cannon ball and funny clowns. One that had a little dog in an elephant costume, like a stuffed animal that took off like a winded toy and surprised and delighted me. I was rolling with laughter every time that cute little dog/elephant took off. We had a great time for much less cost.

Before the circus and at intermission they had elephant rides, pony rides and bounce houses. Lea chose the bounce house (to her parents delight since it was $4 cheaper than the elephant rides).

She had a blast bouncing. There was a slide that I thought she was afraid to go up, but once I got where I could watch her try to walk up the little rock climbing like wall I realized she was sliding because of her socks. I felt so bad, but once she got he socks off she was a sliding little giggle box!




Of course if you ask Lea her favorite part, it was the elephant. Lea kept asking when the elephants were coming back. Thank goodness they kept bringing out the elephants for the kids to ride. Because that was all Lea was interested in." When are the elephants coming back?"
So with her obsession with elephants I thought she would enjoy standing on the platform the performing elephant stood on. I wanted to take her picture...


Well as you can see, she didn't like that idea. It was too high. Apparently hurling yourself down an inflated slide three times as high is vastly different than standing on corrugated metal platforms built to hold a 3 ton animal.

But we got down and had a good time for the rest of the show. Of course there could have been more elephants, but then I think that's Lea's opinion of everything. "How was breakfast?" "Oh, there could have been more elephants!" But at least we got two weekends full of playful performing pachyderms!

Tiny Tot Tea

The day before Easter we had our Tiny Tot Tea party. We had Judy from work and her granddaughter Dylan (5 years old), as well as Pam and Andrew and their two girls Anna (almost 4 years old) and Molly (almost 2). It was just the right amount of kiddos. And a good helping hand from Becky, Michael, Teddy and Trevor who visited with us.


It was the frilliest girliest thing Lea and I have yet to endeavor and it still was too frilly. No fancy dresses, but hats... big fun hats with flowers. I cut foam flowers and the day before Lea glued the center onto flowers that we made for our fake garden in case of rain and pinned to her easter hat. Here is Dylan and Lea in their hats.


All the girls played so well together and had so much fun, but because Dylan was older she would take Lea by the hand and lead her around. They hid in the Elmo tent in the living room and played follow the leader in the back yard. It was so cute to see.

And what's a tea party without a mad hatter... Dan fit the bill thanks to the hat I made for him.


The hat did not fit Lea, but it didn't stop her from trying it on.


We set a long tea table so everyone could pour. The other girls were more interested in playing with Lea's toys, but Lea could have poured and poured for hours. In one of the videos at the end there is a discussion on camera about where such talents will lead her in life. She was very good about not spilling (much) and poured into tea cups and then back into the pots and back into the cups. She was thrilled when Judy asked for more tea. That is what she remembers from the party and she'll tell you, "Judy wanted more tea." Because Lea got to actually pour tea for someone instead of just into the cups that mommy drank to keep them from overflowing.







After the fun of pouring, spilling and a tiny bit of drinking tea, it was time for the egg hunt. 4 girls, 52 plastic eggs and endless amounts of fun. They were adorable with their bags and baskets, searching out the treasure of beads, animal crackers and stickers.



A gaggle of girls on the hunt. Here are Molly, Anna and Lea together. What a cute bunch!


After all the eggs had been found and cookies and candy munched, it was time to decorate eggs! We moved the table outside and prepared for rainbow eggs and rainbow kids.


Over a month or so I kept the eggs we used for breakfast, carefully broke the tips off and filled them with plaster. That way the kids had some eggs they could not break. In fact Lea tosses them around the kitchen crashing and banging and rolling like little rocks.
Here is one that turned out especially cool because the plaster spilled out onto the egg when I was making it. Other eggs just look like eggs, but they all ended up with flat bottoms so this one sits near my desk at work, perfectly preserved. (We also had 30 hard boiled eggs, and most survived. A few got broken and Judy's dog ended up eating one when she brought it home. But over all they turned into deviled eggs for Grandpa Dan's birthday party, but that's another post!)


We had several color cups and stickers. The girls (and some adults, Judy) like to put the eggs in color after color after color. We had some really unique eggs. Here is Lea trying to decide on what stickers to put on her eggs.


A few lovely shots of our guests, Pam & Andrew


Judy & Dylan


Here is our messy girl. I don't know if you can tell in the photo, but there is green color running down her leg. Both Lea and I had dye on our legs and all over our hands. We went to dinner with my mom who didn't know what to think of our almost black finger tips from all the dye. It washed off in that night's bath.


And finally it was time to say good bye. This was the aftermath of the tea party. I just thought this photo was funny. To me it says "A good time had by all!"

We really had so much fun and look forward to doing it next year. I loved coloring eggs with everyone! We'll get more creative as the kids get older!

And some good long videos of the day:
1. Discussion of Lea's future career
2. Anna & Lea pouring tea
3. The egg hunt is on
4. Coloring eggs: good messy fun!