Eve and Naomi pose with Ariel

Continuation of the princess garden (part 1 was with Jasmine). Ariel dons the post-human dress here (and also thankfully is covered up).

This was their first visit.

Aw, how sweet! A hug!

Escape Naomi! Escape!

I like how her signature includes bubbles. Nice!

Ed

The Sun Sings - New Animation

Here is a new animation I produced. It's about how the sun might not be as good of a singer as we'd think he is...



=^)

Thanks!

Ed

With Jasmine in the Princess Garden

Here Eve and Naomi are with Jasmine in the Princess Garden. You basically wait in a long line (which was relatively okay for us because we got there first thing, before they opened on Thursday morning), and then you go in and meet each princess, one at a time. They have three princesses in the garden, and they pretty much rotate between the six main ones (Snow White, Jasmine, Sleepy Beauty, Belle, Cinderella, and Ariel).

That day they saw Jasmine, Ariel, and Belle (which is fine, because they saw the other ones earlier that week). We actually won't even watch Sleeping Beauty with them yet because Maleficent and the Dragon are so scary.

I'm glad they have Jasmine covered up and wearing a long dress.

Ed

Naomi and Daddy on the Buzz Lightyear ride

Here is a photo of me on the Buzz Lightyear ride with little Naomi. Fun! I think Naomi only hit a few targets, but I was still very impressed! =^)

Ed

Naomi met Jessie from Toy Story 2 and 3

On Thursday, we were back at the petting zoo, and this time instead of Pocahontas, we ran into Jessie from Toy Story 2 and 3. Naomi was the only one of the girls interested in meeting her.

Ed

In front of Mickey's Fun Wheel

So this was Tuesday morning before we had lunch at Ariel's Grotto. Later that day, Eve and Naomi went on Mickey's Fun Wheel with Katie. Later in the week, my friend Gruia and I took the girls. That thing's high. =^)

Ed

Meeting Aladdin and Jasmine

Also on Monday, Eve and Naomi met Aladdin and Jasmine after visiting Tarzan's Treehouse. Jasmine wasn't in Ariel's Grotto (on Tuesday) with the other princesses, so fortunately they saw Jasmine first (their first princess; Yay).

Ed

53 characters and 57 attractions

Daddy's a Disney dork. Here's proof.

At the girls' 6 days at the Disney parks, Eve and Naomi saw 53 different characters and did 57 different attractions. Here they are...

Characters the girls saw:

Day 1 – DL
1. Alice
2. Mad Hatter
3. Queen of Hearts
4. Cruella Deville
5. Mary Poppins
6. Bert
7. Goofy
8. Pluto
9. Minnie
10. Mickey
11. Winnie the Pooh
12. Tigger
13. Eeyore (Naomi only)
14. Aladdin
15. Princess Jasmine
16. Fairy Godmother

Day 2 – DCA
17. Stitch
18. Army Men
19. Ariel
20. Snow White
21. Belle
22. Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)
23. Cinderella
24. Koda
25. Kenai
26. Chip
27. Dale
28. Donald Duck
29. Jessie (Toy Story)

Day 3 – DL
30. Storm Troopers
31. Darth Vader
32. Darth Maul
33. Pocahontas
34. 2 female mice from Cinderella

Day 4 – DL
35. Genie

Day 5 – DL
36. Silvermist
37. Tinker Bell
38. Clarabelle Cow
39. Female Chipmunk
40. Pinocchio
41. Gepetto
42. Daisy Duck
43. Peter Pan
44. Wendy
45. Lilo

Day 6 – DCA
46. Max (Goofy’s son)
47. 2 Monsters Inc. teenage monsters
48. Boo from Monsters Inc.
49. Sully
50. Buzz Lightyear
51. Flik (Bug’s Life)
52. Female Ant (Bug’s Life)
53. Slim (Bug’s Life)

I didn't list the duplicate characters (like when they saw a character again after the original time), because that would be too painful. But for the attractions, I listed out the repeats. I just didn't count them more than once...

Attractions the girls were on:

Day 1 – DL
1. Peter Pan’s Flight
2. King Arthur’s Carousel
3. Sword in the Stone
4. Dumbo
5. Gadget’s Go-Coaster
6. Minnie’s House
7. Mickey’s House
8. Chip N Dale’s Treehouse
9. Donald’s Boat
10. Goofy’s House
11. Disneyland Train
12. Splash Mountain
13. Winnie the Pooh (Joanna also went on this)
14. Tarzan’s Treehouse (Eve only)
15. Inside Sleeping Beauty Castle

Day 2 – DCA
16. Parking Tram
17. King Triton’s Carousel
18. Mickey’s Fun Wheel
19. Toy Story Midway Mania
20. Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train
21. Tuck & Roll’s Drive Em Buggies
22. Muppets 3D
23. Playhouse Disney (show)
24. Turtle Talk with Crush
25. Sorcerer’s Workshop

On Day 3, my dad joined us.

Day 3 – DL
26. Autopia
27. Finding Nemo Submarines
28. Buzz Lightyear
29. Astro Orbitor
30. Alice in Wonderland
31. Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
32. Snow White’s Scary Adventure
33. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
34. Teacups
35. Storybook Land Canal Boats (Joanna went on this)
36. Casey Jr. Train
37. Tiki Room
38. Jungle Cruise
39. Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin

Starting on Day 4, our friends the PAs joined us, so the girls did some repeat rides that the PAs wanted to go on.

Day 4 – DL
40. Princess Faire
- Alice in Wonderland (Joanna went on this)
- Teacups
41. Matterhorn
42. Space Mountain (Eve only)
- Buzz Lightyear
- Dumbo
- King Arthur’s Carousel
43. Big Thunder Ranch Petting Zoo
- Splash Mountain (Eve only)
44. Aladdin Musical (in Disney's California Adventure)

Day 5 – DL
45. Pixie Hallow
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- King Arthur’s Carousel
- Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
- Gadget’s Go Coaster
46. It’s a Small World (on the ride, I spotted characters from Aladdin, Lilo & Stitch, Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, Lion King, Mulan, Peter Pan, Woody/Toy Story, Alice in Wonderland, & Pinocchio)
- Jungle Cruise
- Tarzan's Treehouse
- Splash Mountain (Eve only)
- Winnie the Pooh (Naomi only)
47. Celebration Parade
48. Star Tours

Day 6 – DCA
49. Mulholland Madness (Eve only)
50. Jumpin Jellyfish
51. RS Rustworthy
52. Soarin Over California
53. High School Musical 3 show
54. Brother Bear Tree House (Eve only on the zip line)
- Mickey’s Fun Wheel
- King Triton’s Carousel
55. Flik’s Flyers
56. Monsters Inc.
57. Pixar Parade


Yup, I'm a Disney dork. =^)

Ed

Naomi Awestruck

My favorite Naomi moments in Disneyland were when she couldn't get her words together to talk to a character. In particular she stared at Pocohontas and said, "Are, are, are, are, are, are ... are, are, are, are, are you Pocohontas?" with reverent awe. She spoke similarly with Ariel, but without so many preceding 'ares'.

Here she is in both of those incidents.




When the girls saw Ariel (and Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, and Snow White), they wore their dresses. Eve wore a Sleeping Beauty (Aurora) dress, and Naomi wore a Snow White dress.

Joanna Loves Oranges!

We were surprised to find out recently that Joanna loves oranges. She will suck on a section until all the juice is out or we cut it up for her and she eats bite-sized pieces by sucking on them and then mostly swallowing the residual pulp. The challenge is that she usually gets pretty filthy. She ate half an orange on the day I took these pictures & you can see her yellow/orange belly where the bib was less than effective. Our camera finally died so these are from my phone and not high quality.

My friend lost his wife to her mom and Argentina

So my rapper friend lost his wife to her mom and Argentina. He made a few verbal attempts to go visit his wife during her visit to her mom (that kept getting longer until they moved back to Argentina), and he even tried to visit her in Argentina, but her mom kept making up excuses.

But those were only verbal attempts where he tried to talk his way into visiting. So I still think he should run after his wife (hunt her down and show up and confront her about it), but I think he wants her to want to come back to him.

Anyway, here's the tragic song he wrote for his wife:



I hope it works out.

Ed

Switching beds and chairs

So parenting is an art... an art where all the rules change every day or so.

We had all three girls' car seats in the back of our car, and Joanna was in the middle. It really got difficult because Naomi would keep bugging Joanna and maybe even hurting her (or at least keeping her awake). We know Naomi's little heart wasn't being malicious... just playful.

But still... something had to be done. So when it was time to upgrade Joanna to the next carseat up, Katie moved Joanna to the right side and Eve to the middle. So now Eve is Joanna's protector. Naomi occasionally reaches over Eve to play with Joanna, but Eve usually tries to stop her, and... the bottom line is that our car trips are filled with less of Joanna crying and us reaching back to stop Naomi. Ahh. So much better!

Likewise, Naomi was/is at the age where she won't stay in her bed when we put her down at night. She constantly turned on the light, opened the door, snuck out to go play, check in on us, tell us something random, or go sleep on a couch or floor instead. Eve went through this too (only worse because she went on rampages eating vitamins and ripping up stamps). So with Eve we eventually put a child lock on the inside of the door.

But we didn't really want to do that again (especially because Naomi's good about going potty). So, Eve was on the top bunk bed and Naomi was on the bottom. We switched them so that Eve is now on the bottom and Naomi on the top. This makes it harder for Naomi to get out of bed and easier for Eve to stop her, come get us when Naomi's out, or to simply turn the light back off if Naomi turns it on.

So far, things have been a LOT easier! Also, because Eve is so much more peaceful and obedient now, we "see the light" with Naomi and have faith that we can "break her" too. =^)

Parenting is being more stubborn than your children.

- Ed

Eve and Naomi visit Winnie the Pooh

Also on Monday (1/25/10), we went over to Splash Mountain. I took Eve on Splash Mountain first and came back for Naomi. (Later I found out that I could ride with both by sitting in the very back.)

When Eve and I came back, Naomi (with Katie and Joanna) was in line to see Winnie the Pooh and Tigger (Naomi also saw Eeyore).

So we had Eve join Naomi, and they got this picture taken.

This was in January 2010. The 2010 border wasn't available yet. =^)


- Ed

Overheard . . .

On Tuesday, Naomi quickly asked if she could use scissors again. Since we told her she could have them after Disneyland an we'd walked in the door oh, an hour before, I told her it was OK.

A couple of hours later Eve was searching high and low for scissors. She asked me if I knew where they were. I suggested she ask Naomi - knowing as I did that Naomi had used them earlier. When Eve posed the question Naomi answered confidently,

"Da scissors are in Heaven."

Eve disagreed and asked again. Naomi says, with raised voice,

"Da Scissor are in Heaven!"
"No they're not!"
"DE'RE IN HEAVEN! DE'RE IN HEAVEN!"
"NO! STOP! MAMA!"

and Eve starts to cry in frustration, so I step in.

kp

Eve and Naomi meet Minnie and Mickey

Also on Monday, we went to Toon Town and Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse. After waiting in line for Minnie, we got to tour Minnie's house, Mickey's house, and then get a picture with Mickey as well.

- Ed

Cruella and Eve

When we first entered Disneyland on Monday, Eve wanted to meet Cruella, so we had Katie and Naomi wait in the longer line for Mary Poppins.

Eve is holding her binoculars. I think she wanted to bring them to Disneyland so that she could "spot all the fairies." =^)

- Ed

Our anniversary celebration at Disneyland

So Katie and I like to spend a day at Disneyland with just each other and without the kids, in order to celebrate our anniversary.

We pick up free anniversary buttons at City Hall and enjoy the cast members wishing us a happy anniversary.

Our highlights were the Toy Story Midway Mania ride, the Buzz Lightyear ride, and we had a great skipper on Jungle Cruise (he really went all out to sell his jokes).

We also went on Pirates, because we knew the girls weren't ready for that. And we went on Splash Mountain. Katie got her legs wet, but I managed to get through unscathed. =^)

Katie and I ran into Jasmine and Aladdin after we went on Jungle Cruise:

We also pick out a memento each year to celebrate, and this year it was a Woody snowglobe because we went on Midway Mania and enjoyed that.

I'm sure you care more about photos of the girls, so I'll work on those next. But we started with our anniversary celebration on Sunday, 1/24/10, while my parents spent the day with the girls, visiting the ducks at Pearson Park and visiting George Washington Park, where Katie and I got married.

- Ed