Thanksgiving with the Mouse

We had a quick trip to take in some southern California sunshine this Thanksgiving. Mike, Collin and I hopped on a plane to see the Uncles (and Auntie Virginia), Papa and Nona in Culver City. We were lucky enough to stay right next door to Chris and Todd in their friend's house. They were out of town and had a three year old so the house already came kid proofed and full of toys for Collin to explore. It was comfortable and perfect for our short stay.

Like any Hanada meal, Thanksgiving was full of deliciousness and copious amounts of food. We stuffed ourselves silly then got ready for our next day adventure to Disneyland. Mike and I unfortunately suffered the petri dish of our child so we were both trying to get over a nasty cold. Thanks to cold medicine I was determined to survive Disneyland (and Mike well he buckled through).



It has been at least ten years since I had walked inside Disneyland and it hit me with happy giddiness like being a kid. It's complete sensory overload with lights, crowds of people, many, many opportunities to arm yourselves with Disney merchandise, and of course rides. I don't think Collin was quite sure what to think.

At first he saw Chip or Dale (the giant chipmunk) and wanted a "big hug!" But alas there was a line for a big hug so we steered him another direction. A little bit of nostalgia from my childhood...the Disney characters used to walk around and spend more time greeting you and giving hugs, and now you have to stand in line to get a picture or go to a certain corner of the park. This I found a little lame, but I digress.

I spotted the Dumbo ride and we had to do that. Collin loves the swings so naturally he'd love the flying elephant. Thanks to Papa who kept him entertained while most of us stood in line for 45 minutes, we made it to the end and Collin got to fly up and down while dad snapped some pictures.

They also have a fast pass that lets you avoid most of the wait on a bunch of the rides. Thankfully we were traveling with Disney experts who knew about this...and the advantage of a large group meant that we could be waiting for one ride while someone else raced to get us fast passes for another ride. I hate standing in line and pretty much have little patience for anything over 30 minutes so this fast pass thing is pretty clever. Thanks Disney!

The park was also decked out with Christmas lights, trees and decorations so that made it even more fun and festive to take in. The weather was cool but not like the 20 degrees when we left Portland! We made it to the Jungle Cruise where Collin stared in awe at all the wild "animals."

The classic Pirates of the Caribbean ride now of course has Jack Sparrow and I still love this one. But, in retrospect it was a little scary for Collin. As the boat went into complete darkness, Collin let out a large whimper. And then when a "monster" over the waterfall screen showed up he screamed out and I started feeling really bad. Did we traumatize him, give him nightmares? Luckily he seems to not have any permanent damage. A few minutes after the ride he asked, "Again?"

He also helped drive a race car, played around in Toon Town (and could run through the houses over and over). I had to get him the souvenir Mickey hat with his name stitched on it which he promptly threw off. The Pooh Ride was also lots of fun for him (and clearly the designers were on acid). And, we had a loud dinner complete with live music which was entrancing.

Thanks to Papa, we also went on big people rides like Indiana Jones, Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Haunted Mansion (Christmas style). I was a little bummed to miss Space Mountain but was not interested in standing in a 2 hour line and the Matterhorn was closed down for maintenance.



Collin made it without any huge meltdowns and was wide eyed the whole time. We made it to past 6pm when he finally conked out and we headed home. Next time I'm sure Collin will be a lot more excited about the magic of Disney, but I'm glad we were able to take him. And THANKFUL we had supportive family with us. If it had been just me and Mike, surviving the whole day there would've been impossible and we would've missed out on any rides past 35 inches.



It really is magical knowing that he thought all this was real. And now that I've been re-engaged, we'll have to be back soon because we missed out on a Small World, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and more! And apparently California Adventure is opening a "Car's Land" next year. I foresee a fourth birthday adventure in our future.

Trick-or-Treat!

Halloween is one crazy ass holiday. It's an excuse to dress up, bond with strangers, purposely get scared and gain a massive sugar high. As a kid (up until an age that is a little embarrassing), my friends and I stalked the neighborhood with pillowcases to collect handfuls of candy. Ironically I don't even like American (cheapo) candy that much. Hit me up with the sugary chocolate they sell in Britain or Canada and I'm all over it. Still, there's something rewarding about dumping out a pile of candy at the end of the night and sorting it by chocolate, non-chocolate, and the "lame" pile. I'm not sure if the sorting thing is normal, I may have been a slightly OCD kid.

For Collin's first "real" Halloween, he dressed up as a sheriff with mom and dad as his prisoners. Side note: finding a women's prison outfit that was not skanked out proved to be an impossible feat but luckily I found a boy's costume that fit me. Trick-or-treating with my kid is not the time to look like I just walked out of Frederick's of Hollywood.








We ventured out to the 'burbs for a more family friendly neighborhood to go trick-or-treating with Collin's friend Hailey, who was dressed up as an adorable puppy. He also met Owen, aka Spiderman. The three toddlers were definitely some of the cutest trick-or-treaters out and were met with lots of "awwws."







The neighbors were in the Halloween spirit with fog, spooky music, screams and decorations from dancing pirates to hanging skeletons. Collin didn't seem too perturbed by the scary houses, so long as he got to collect his candy. Ringing the doorbell was probably his favorite part, and he pretty much froze whenever anyone opened the door. (Hailey spoke for the group with her cute little girl chant of "twick-or-tweat"). There were a few meltdowns when we tried to convince Collin to refrain from eating the candy as soon as he collected it. We caved in a couple times especially after he got a treasured lollipop.





Trick-or-treating lasted more than half hour and Collin collected a fair amount of candy. Well, it couldn't compare to my pillowcase days, not to brag...



I'm looking forward to many more Halloweens to come as a chaperone with Collin until that fateful day he insists on going by himself.

Oh the hilarity

The Perfect Pumpkin

We visited Baggenstos Farm in Sherwood to find the "one."

Fun at the Beach

We spent a relaxing three days in Seaside with our friends Ben and Sara and their adorable tot, Flynn. Since weather at the Oregon coast is pretty fickle we were lucky to get sunshine and enough warmth to walk barefoot on the sand and wade in the ocean. Collin and Flynn were sweet together and loved playing chase, building sandcastles and of course getting as wet and as dirty as possible. Boys.

I also got to experiment with my digital SLR camera. I took a photography class and am excited to say I can now use the manual setting! And I have a better understanding of aperture, shutter speed and lighting. Of course I still have a lot to learn. Photography is not as intuitive as I thought. I have a definite respect for photographers who do this as a profession.

And then there's Photoshop which brings a whole other complexity. I'm playing around with Photoshop Elements but to get into the more detailed stuff think I'm going to need to take a class. It could take hours wading through all their tutorials...

Here are some of my favorite shots:

Sleepy babe after a hike


Riding the waves (no that's not any of us)


Nothing beats running on the sand with a stick


Ooh yucky


Love the foot prints


In Collin words, "I touch the sky!"


Flynn loves his spaghetti


Gorgeous beach sunset


Lots and lots of seagulls to chase


This looked fun


Let's catch the waves!


Haystack Rock


Up close at Haystack Rock


Can he get any cuter, seriously?


I really like the colors, contrast and composition oh yeah


Cute boys, I wish the background wasn't a tarp though. Maybe I can photoshop this one day to a beach scene.

It's been fun but it's time to move on

Well I'm officially out of the 20's.

My early 20's were full of awkward angst ridden, quasi-child, kind of moments. Feeling lost. Trying new things. Trying to hide who I was. Way too many days of being hungover. Travels. College and graduation. Living on my own for the first time. Trying to find a job I didn't hate.

Then I met THE guy. I found a job I didn't not just hate. I get to wake up every morning and feel good about what I'm doing.

And along came the baby carriage. And of course that was a total game-changer.

I grew up a lot this past decade. I figured out what love means. How friendship evolves. What it feels like to breathe in a newborn's sweet smell and know he's yours. To take risks.

To know I'm a talented writer. To understand that change isn't easy but it's necessary. I learned not to be so quiet. And to stand up. But to also value myself and know it's okay that I'm shy and not miss type A personality.

To the 30's I say bring it on sista. I'm ready for you. I look forward to learning more and trying to make sense of this crazy world.

Rub-a-dub-dub

Collin has gone through many different phases with baths. Our first experience with a sponge bath went like this:


For a while we took him in the shower with us, he actually seemed to find that soothing. But that phase quickly passed and we were back to the baby bath. And then a fun inflatable ducky that went into the bath tub.







Then he graduated to being in the big bath tub all by himself. He was loving that until a few months ago when he would scream and try and claw his way out of the bathtub.

And now he's back to a happy water tot. Mostly because of these annoying water crayons that bleed all over, cost $6 and last about a week.






He stays until his skin is puckered and wrinkly.


How dare you take me away from the tub!