David, Pinecrest Halloween Party

Here is another short clip of David playing musical freeze tag at school.

David Robert, Pinecrest halloween parade

This is David at his Halloween party today at school. They were playing musical freeze tag. He didn't like the song they were playing becasue he said it scared him.

Isn't it Grand?

I've always referred to my neice Desiree, and nephew Anthony's kids as my great-nephew or great-neice. While talking to someone at work yesterday, they told me that actually, they were my grand-neices and nephews, and that their children would then be my great-grandnephew or great-grandneice.

I thought about it, and I guess it makes sense.

David is Mary's grandson, and she is my sister, so I'm not his grandmother, but I guess I would be his grandaunt.

My mom is Katie's great-grandmother, so I guess when Mary's grandkids have children, they will be her great-grandchildren, and my great-grandnephews or neices.

So do I now start introducing David as my grandnephew and Hannah as my grandneice? I looked it up in google and found that in America, it's still referred to as great-nephew, but in Brittian, they do Grand. I think, after considering it, Grand makes more sense, since Grand indicates 2 generations away (mom, grandmother) while great indicates 3 generations distance (mom, grandmother, great-grandmother), why should David and Hannah, who are only 2 generations away from me (neice, David--nephew, Hannah) be great? If Katie calls me grandma, shouldn't David and Hannah consider me as grand Aunt?

More Riley's Pictures

I took these with film so it took longer to get them back from Sam's Club. Katie, first getting there.
Hannah, Desiree, Katie, Mary, Heather, David and I.
Hannah, walking around the patch

Katie trying to pick up a pumpkin Katie

Hannah

Heather & Katie

Ashley & Hannah

Desiree & Hannah

Hannah & Desiree

Heather & Katie

Blake with Katie & Hannah. They both love him. Desiree & Katie

The kids had a really nice time there.

Mickey & Minnie, Ichabod Crane and the reappearance of Eddie

Iron Maiden, in the 80's, had a mascot, Eddie. He was a scary looking guy that everyone immediately recognized as Eddie. He made his appearances in larger than life form at concerts. In my life, today, I have my own "Eddie" and he too, is larger than life. He is in the form of a double long, extra heavy, fear evoking, 100 lb. stroller. He made his appearance again last night.

On Friday, Heather, Katie, David, Desiree and I all headed to California Adventure for Mickey's Halloween Time. I have to say that it was really awesome. No lines....lots of candy...adorable costumes all over and just beautifully decorated--totally Disney.

David dressed as Mickey. He was super cute. He had a puffy tummy and the ears. Katie was Minnie and just as cute. Most kids were dresssed as Disney Characters. They had candy spots all across the park where you could go and get candy. When you first go in, they hand out candy bags. They gave out Snickers, Ghiradelli, carrots, raisins and dried puff fruit for babies, taffy and other things. They had stations where the characters were dancing and you could dance with them. We got to dance with Sulley and the Incredibles. Most of the characters walking around were Villians. Cruella DeVille walked around and saw Katie and told Heather, "ew...a baby mouse..why would you bring that rodent here?" lol. She was in character so we just laughed. They also had the guy from "Meet the Robinsons" walking around and he was creepy looking. They had the witch from Snow White and other characters. Daisy was at one of the dancing spots.

We went on a few rides. Katie loves rides now. Heather's boyfriend, David, had never been on Soaring Over California before so I watched Katie while they all went on that. She's not tall enough for it yet. That's my favorite ride so I was secretly sad that I couldn't go on but they'll be other days.

Mickey's Halloween Time is definately going down as an annual tradition. Totally worth it, despite the 3 hour traffic congestion. URRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!! It just so happens that Disneyland is South and in route to Universal Studios, Dodger Stadium, Knott's Berry Farm and Los Angeles. We went on Friday. At rush hour. All these venues were having Halloween things going on too so we were smart and went on the 14, 210, 605, 5, but yeah...the 210 was crammed packed and it still took us 3 hours.

On the way home we saw a Diesel in flames. I mean, HUGE flames. The Firemen were there drilling a hole into the cab to release pressure.

The next day we got ready for the long awaited Riley's Farm. I've been waiting and waiting to go and so looking forward to it. They have a Sleepy Hollow dinner event there. We took Katie, David, and for the first time, Hannah. The kids were all dressed in Halloween outfits and looked adorable. The farm was really pretty with the changing leaves and such. We've been here before, but in Summer.

Katie and Desiree

Katie, Mary, Ashley, David and Blake

Katie and I, and Katie and the Great Pumpkin (below)

The donkey wasn't here last time we came.

Katie and Heather

Dinner was at 6:00 so we got there about 5:00. We were all starving because we hadn't eaten all day. The kids played outside, took pictures and ran around for a bit. Katie and Hannah petted a donkey and David fed a goat. At 7:30 we were just getting to eat. They had a band playing old time music. The barn was decorated with red and white checkered table cloths, lanterns and white Christmas lights all around. It was very quaint, but also very crowded. It was hard with the babies because we were squeezed in so tightly and the kids were squirmy.

Each table had to scream in order to win the prize of eating first. Of course, our table won. Hannah was the loudest of all. She was so excited when she heard the people screaming YEE HAW that she was clapping and yelling and smiling from ear to ear. It was cute watching her have fun.

The food was awesome. Baked beans, roasted corn on the cob, biscuits, baked potatoes, salad, chicken or steak. Everything was delicious. Katie LOVED the beans so much that she literally wore them. All over her face and dress. YUMMY. The hot apple cider was WONDERFUL!

Afterwards, we took the kids out to the car to change them. Earlier in the night I had discovered that I left my lights on while on the 138 and so my car wouldn't start. I came out to try the car, but it still wouldn't start. The kids were beat, so we went in to ask for help with the car. This was a long process. We had to wait about 30 minutes. In the meantime, Mary waited at the car with David, Katie, Blake, Ashley, Heather, Hannah and Eddie. Katie and Hannah were sitting in Eddie but then Hannah got tired so David got in Eddie and Mary rocked Hannah in the car. The story relayed to me is that Mary saw a bear. She grabbed the kids, closed the car door, forgot David in the stroller, he was crying...Heather walked up and said, "that's a dog".

We got the car started, but my car has this anti-theft alarm on it so because I opened the door while the alarm was activated, but the battery was dead, it went off. I don't have a code to enter so now everytime I start the car or open the door, the alarm goes off for about 4 minutes of constant BEEP!!! I have to call Honda today when they open to find out how to get a code. Last night, poor Heather and Katie, and later myself, had to crawl out of the window in order to get out and not activate the alarm. I didn't want to wake up my neighbors since I got home at about 11:30.

Recommendations: Disney's Halloween Time, wait until the kids are 5 before you take them to Riley's.

Sarah Palin, Saturday Night Live

This is hilarious.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

At night, when I babysit Katie, she likes to go for walks on the street. She's as pleased as punch to get past the driveway and onto the street. She likes going house to house, looking for cats, leaves, and listening for dogs.

Last night, she finally caught a kitty cat. She's been trying for weeks but they always outrun her. Last night, as she was preparing to climb the huge brick wall, us big people refer to as a "curb", she was shocked as was I, that the kitty actually crawled under her chin to rub his back. It seems he itched and was anxious to have someone scratch him, even it was a rug rat. He laid on the grass and let her pet him and scratch him and gave her a good 10 minutes worth of time before he finally ran off. Katie really enjoyed herself. I did my best to not show her how much I despise kittys and resisted the temptation to hiss at him to make him run off.

Later, as we drove along (her in her little Step 2 push car), she saw the moon and said "moon". It was nice and full last night and super bright. I then asked her where the stars were and she looked up, pointed to the array of stars and said, "star".

She's so adorable. She finished off her adventure by putting drowsy into her doll stroller and pushing Drowsy around for a while. She was a good mommy and only left Drowsy in the middle of the street a few times, in order to run after the cat again, and to bark back at a dog.

Stu Miller Pumpkin Patch, Lancaster, CA

We took Katie to the pumpkin patch yesterday. She had a good time. It was nice and breezy. I LOVE it.
She picked out a pumpkin and decided to roll it around like a ball.
It was much harder to get her to pose this year. Last year was simple. She was so tiny. She's grown so much in a year.
She seemed to enjoy picking them up. I think she thought they were balls.

Katie and I. HUGS.
She kept trying to hug the goats. They kept trying to escape.
She had tickets for the swings.
She went on the swings twice. SHE LOVED THEM. She giggled and laughed and didn't want to get off.
She finally decided on a bigger one but she couldn't lift it.

It was a nice day. The weather was a little nippy, but I had a great time. We just relaxed and let Katie have the run of the place and let her just walk around. Katie likes walking around and exploring on her own. She was wearing a Dora shirt and everytime I would say, "where's Dora?" she would point to it on cue. She knew the difference between Dora and the Pumpkin. I didn't even know she knew who Dora was, but apparently she likes her.

We got Pumpkin Carving Kits for Heather and this new Light Bright type of pumpkin kit for Dave Dave. It's called Deluxe Kids Fright Lights. You hammer them into a hallowed out pumpkin with a small wooden mallet that comes in the set.

Heather made me a pumpkin like the one pictured below, last year. I took it to work for our Halloween Party. She's great at carving pumpkins. The ghost below is a sample of how Dave Dave's kit is supposed to work.

We're going to get the pumpkins at Wal-Mart because they were too expensive at the patch.

My 39th Birthday - 100 years of Disney Magic

For my 39th Birthday Heather bought me a ticket for Disney on Ice, 100 Years of Magic. We took Katie. Mary, Desiree and David also had tickets and joined us. Actually, Desiree bought the tickets first, so we joined them.

Here we are entering the theater. YEAH! This is Katie's first show. You can't tell, but she's wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt that Ashleigh bought her. It has her name on it and a picture of Mickey.

We could have bought these photos, but the lobby was dark and the pictures weren't coming out clear, even with their professional cameras. Besides, we couldn't get the kids to cooperate and look into the camera.

Inside, next to the ice. Behind the girls is Sleeping Beauty's castle. I'm not sure what Katie is looking at.

Me and Katie next to the ice rink before the show started.

Katie, Mary, David and I, in the lobby. David is wearing a "Burber" King hat.

Katie is just like her grandma. She likes pop pop with her show.

Thanks for the ticket, Heather. I love you.

Sea World...at last, the story can be told

So, we got up early to go to Sea World. We planned to leave at 7:00 a.m. Heather was in a car accident and her door got damaged. Jorge got her a new door at a salvage yard and put it on, but it didn't work right. Now it doesn't lock and it still won't open. David, Heather's boyfriend, got out of the car and locked the car.


Katie was still in it.


Now comes the heroic story of a 3 year old.


We tried and tried to get the door open but we couldn't. I suggested we try going in through the trunk. Well, Katie was fastened in her car seat, in the center of the backseat. We tried to push the backseat down so I could crawl inside to get Katie out, but it wouldn't budge enough. We tried to have David crawl in because he's only 3 and tiny, but we couldn't get a large enough opening. Thankfully, Katie seemed to be amused and wasn't crying. Thankfully, also, it wasn't mid-summer and HOT. Finally, Heather was able to push the seat down far enough for David to squeeze in. Katie was still belted in, now parallel to the backseat floor. I'm sure she wasn't sure what was going on. David squeezed in and HE DID IT! He got in! He was very proud of himself and starting beaming from ear to ear. There were cheers. "YOU DID IT, DAVID. YOU RESCUED KATIE!". There were applause. David was proud. He sat there, kissing Katie, smiling, and giggling, but not opening the door. We called to him to open the door. To pull up on the lock. He continued to smile and kiss Katie. We called to him to come close to the window and pull the lock up. He continued to smile and play with Katie. Hmm.....Finally, he pulled the lock up and we were able to get Katie out. It was now 7:30.

We got in the car and headed South. San Diego here we come.

Nothing is as enjoyable to me on a long, cold ride as a cup of coffee. I always have a cup when heading out in the mornings. Coffee makes me pee.

We drove for about 2 hours. David never fell asleep. Talk, talk, talk. Talk, talk, talk. David never fell asleep. Katie slept for a little bit. I had to go pee. I could feel the color on my face changing. I was sure I was green. I was becoming more and more uncomfortable. Finally, I got off the freeway and used a bathroom.


We pull into San Diego Sea World an hour later, watching the clock the whole time. We had 9:00 reservations. We arrived at 8:55.

Me: "Do you have the tickets?"
Heather: "Yep". What about David's ticket?
Me: No response. Bugged out eyes.
Heather: "Didn't Desiree give you his pass?"
Me: "No she didn't. I have to go peeeeeeeeeeee".
Heather: "oh no! Katie just threw up!"

Katie decided this was the perfect time to do her poltergeist impersonation. She threw up at least a cup of curdled milk--all over the place. She was wearing an adorable Elmo outfit so she could take pictures with Elmo at breakfast. Heather didn't bring her a change of clothes, other than a pair of pajamas for the evening. Katie stunk badly. She was covered in white cottage cheese. Heather wanted her to get at least a couple of pictures with Elmo in her outfit so she cleaned her up with wipeys and away we went.


I had to pee. I ran. Thankfully, there were not a lot of cars in the parking lot. David was slowing me down. I hoisted him up and ran with him too. Cursed warm, delicious, soothing coffee.

When we finally got inside, we went to eat breakfast with the characters. We saw Elmo and Big Bird and Zoe. The breakfast was not much to speak of. We have had the breakfast at Disneyland and thought it would be the same, for the price, but it was not much more than a continental breakfast at a decent hotel. Some scrambled eggs, waffles, dry cereal and milk. David ate one bite of sausage. Katie, still smelling like throw up, at a few pieces of Life cereal. I, arguing with Heather, who left me to carry her, tried to maneuver my 40 lb. purse, Katie, and David, and grab breakfast. I had a waffle.

The characters were moving around and we took a picture with Big Bird. I wanted Elmo and the staff promised he would come to our table, however, he never did. Katie and David got a kick out of seeing them though, and Katie tried to dance with them. What can I tell you? She has moves.

After breakfast, I took her into the restroom and gave her a sponge bath in the sink and washed her clothes with the hand soap. I changed her into long sleeved pajamas with the expectation that her other clothes would dry in a couple of hours and we could change her back into her Elmo outfit. Because of the marine layer, they never dried and she remained in her jammies for the whole day.

Both of the kids got pictures with Big Bird, Zoe, Cookie Monster and Bert & Ernie. Bert and Ernie are personal favorites of mine. When Heather was little, I spent many hours watching Sesame Street. I'm truly a fan.

Sea World has this awesome play area for kids. You climb up a large net to get into the bridge area and you run down one bridge, cross over to a hut, cross over again, to another bridge, run down....and get lost.

David went up one side, as fast as Dash, and I lost him. His mother is one tough bird. I feared for my life. I sent David and Heather up to find him while I stayed down and watched Katie. She played in a soft moon bounce type area, with large foam blocks. I kept my eyes open for David but could not find him. After several minutes I saw him walking with a woman. I nearly jumped out of my skin and ran up to him only to realize that he was smarter than all of us and had gotten staff to help him find us.

Once we found him, we took some pictures with Elmo. They had a section set apart to take pictures with Elmo and there was absolutely no line. They take the photos in front of a blue screen and then photo shop Sesame Street in the background and sell the pictures for $12. They are pretty good about you using your own camera though.

We decided to take the kids on some rides. Katie has only been on a couple of rides before. This was new to her. We took her on a little worm that goes around and up and down. I thought she would be scared, but she liked it. A lot. She clapped when it was over and shook her head when I told her it was time to get off. Next we took them on what are like tea cups. They liked those too. There are only 3 rides at the Bay of Play but lots of fun water games. Water and my hair don't mix. As the humidity rose, so did my hair. I was like a Chia pet and just wondering how large my hair would finally get. I think I was 6'4" when the day finally ended.

After the rides we decided to go see some shows or find the Star Fish and aquariums for the kids to look at. We stumbled upon horses. Clydesdale's to be exact. Drummer, Sammy, and Dallas. Two things I learned about Clydesdale's. Three.

1. They are HUGE

2. Heather's boyfriend, David really likes them.

3. Me, not as much.

The horses were very large, to be sure. I mean, about 8' tall where the saddle would go, not counting their heads. Extremely large animals. I showed Katie and David them and told David their names. We were ready to keep moving, but Heather's boyfriend, David, stayed about 20 minutes and couldn't get enough of them. I just wanted to leave. The kids wanted to play. I didn't want to be rude, so we waited and waited for him to get his fill of Drummer, Sammy and Dallas. Then he took some pictures with the truck outside and we moved on to the Star Fish.The starfish were pretty cool. Katie and David got to hold them. After that, we decided to eat. David went inside and saw the pretty pudding cup with whipped cream and sprinkles for only $4.95 and had to have it. I also got him a kids Chicken meal for only $8.00. David ate the maraschino cherry off the pudding and was done. Katie was asleep and woke up just at the end of lunch in time to get a few french fries. I ate jello.While walking to a show, we saw face painting and let David get his face painted. He had never gotten his face painted before. We showed him his options on a board and he picked a spider. A very cool spider. He sat still and let the girl paint his face. When he saw himself in the mirror, he beamed! He was so proud. He had been getting wet earlier, at the Bay of Play and didn't have his shirt on for a bit.

We never made it to a show. We kept missing every one. On our way in, they didn't have any maps available so we spent time walking around in circles.

We found our way to the Sky Cabins, which I LOVE and paid $3 each to go across the water. Sky Cabins rock. Why did Disneyland get rid of them?

The sky cabins were going to be the end of the day for us, but NO! Little David was walking and because he's learning to read, was reading a sign that said R A P I D. Well, dern it, doesn't RAPID look an awful lot like DAVID? So he turns and says, "I want to go on the DAVID". There is no line so I tell him I'll take him. I'm sure that I won't get too wet because it's off season now and no longer summer. We get on and get SOAKED. There is no line so when it's our time to get off, we just stay on and go on again and get SOAKED. David loves the Davids. He thinks they are awesome so we go on a third time and get SOAKED. His face gets wet this time, so he grabs my white blouse and wipes his spider painted face all over it to dry his eyes. His spider did not look quite the same after he was done. Luckily, he had clean, dry clothes to change in to. Unfortunately, I did not. I had to drive home all the way, wet, with the window down, because the car stunk like hot throw up by the time we got back to the car.

So, this was our day at Sea World. All the crazy events of the day had us worn out. I dropped David off at my mom's with Desiree. I sat there talking to Desiree about all the days events, when suddenly, I heard a loud bang that sounded like it could be a gun. I jumped up, stared at the door, turned to Desiree, who casually says, "that was weird, huh? He just kicked the door and ran". I had no idea that anyone had kicked the door and ran, but apparently, Desiree, who was facing the door, saw a 14 or so year old boy kick the door and run. There have been a string of robberies in my mom's neighborhood, ever since this Section 8 family moved in. I guess my mom was next on the list. Fortunately, they saw us sitting there and ran off. Thank God they weren't more aggressive. Desiree woke up my mom and we called the police. The police arrived and David, who was still awake, comes out of the bedroom with black paint all over his face, looking abused and neglected and we have to explain to the police that he has face paint on and they look at us suspiciously as though we don't bathe him.

Now we all have alarm systems in the house and my mom just paid $1600 for a new chain link fence to be installed in her front yard. A week later they did a raid at that house and had a write up in the Antelope Valley Press. Hopefully, they will be kicked out soon.


So that was my day. It started with us not being able to open a door and ended with one being kicked in. How ironic?