Halloween and Festivities

An amazing unicorn was ready to hunt for treats on Halloween.  I scored this number for $4 at Sister Katie's neighborhood garage sale.  She looked a bit like Rainbow Brite.  

Trinity took her around the neighborhood while I held down the fort.  I graded papers while waiting for children to arrive.  They were gone for a little over an hour, and in that time I graded 4 class sets of 25 tests, greeted 3 rounds of Trick or Treaters, and consumed no less than 17 mini "fun size" Hershey and/or Reese's candy bars.  

She had a great time until she returned home to discover that I was giving candy to other children.  She then lost her mind and threw herself on the kitchen floor for a 10 minute tantrum that resulted in   "going to her room" time.  Good times!  

On Friday of that week, Trinity and I had our first parent-teacher conference with Genevieve's preschool teacher.  I was nervous that she was going to tell me my kid was the annoying one who never stops talking.  Thankfully, she did not.  G has made a lot of progress with her self control since school started in July.  She received a glowing report and I was quite proud.

We celebrated by taking her (us) out for margaritas and milk.  

It was a gorgeous day in Indy so we went to Bakersfield and gorged on chips and queso.  

They have the best margaritas.  

We toasted our 4 year old's academic achievements with milk and tequila.  

We spent all day Saturday and that night at Abby and Papi's.  G hung with the boys and Caroline while Pat and I went to all of the Christmas open houses with my sister.  

We were too busy shopping to get pictures.

Caroline and G caught fish in Abby's pond.

Caroline caught them.

G clapped.

On Sunday we headed home for a Matilda Jane event.

Go ahead and laugh.

I have lost my mind.  

My MJ lady hosted an event at a local salon.  She had the clothes there, and the girls could pick out an outfit, have their hair and nails done, and get pictures with a photographer.

I was hoping for a cute shot for my Christmas card, and one that did not include my face.

After being bibbidi bobbidi booed, my kid was a pro.

She sat perfectly still while I called local pageant officials and the John Casablancas modeling agency.

I cooed and practiced her routine with her.

Then this happened...

she proved once and for all that my hopes of being a child model's mother were all for nothing.

She had the photogenic prowess of a frightening Old Navy mannequin.

It was bad.

Like, I was embarrassed.

Her face morphed continuously from a fake cheerleader grin to a laxative commercial grimace.

Somewhere in between those two she often settled on a Betty Boop style lip pursing pout.

It was bizarre.

I had to look away. 

We wrapped up the event by eating some seriously darling cookies.

While she ate her cookie she magically transformed her attitude/face back to her usual cute self.  

I cannot wait to see the pictures.

         

California Days 4 and 5

On Thursday my parents journeyed on to Northern California, and Genevieve and I spent the day relaxing at the pool.  We stayed all week at the Residence Inn next to the convention center.  Not exactly my pick, but it was a great location for both the parks and T's business.  It was also great to have a separate kitchen and living room.  G fell asleep most nights by 7, so T and I retreated to the living room for at least another hour. 

I was out by 8 local time after all of that walking!

They had a rooftop pool and splash pad.   

G got a cramp from swimming laps and had to eat a banana.

Snarf.

The three of us went out to dinner at Roy's.  It is a chain restaurant, but the ambience was fun and they catered big time to my ants in her pants child!  

Our waiter's name was Jesus, of course pronounced the Spanish way, but he lived up to his namesake.

He was beyond kind and patient with Sassafras.

She had pineapple upside cake, which was amazing.  My child is obsessed with pineapple.  

She also enjoys taking pictures now.

Friday was our last full day, and Trinity was done with the conference.  

We called a car service to move us to the Grand Californian for our final night.  

Staying on property is really the way to go.

It was so convenient.  The hotel had tiny rocking chairs and played classic Disney cartoons.  

We left our bags at the front desk and were able to get in early as guests before the Magic Kingdom officially opened.  

My child actually loved Pirates of the Caribbean.  I remember thinking that ride was scary, because I thought it was scary when I went on it with her!  

We hit up some attractions that we didn't get to do with Mom and Dad like the Jungle Cruise and the Enchanted Tiki Room.  There was also a fairly short line for Dole Whip, and Trinity had never experienced that excellent fluff.

Genevieve was a fan. 

She ate the whole thing.  

We skipped over to California Adventure and used our final Bibbidi Bobbidi torture tickets to jump the line for Radiator Springs.  

You can see G's excitement here-

my child is going to be a rule breaking wild woman.

I just know it.  

We waited in line for something else, and G captured the essence of her parents.

I got nostrils 'n knees, people.

Nostrils 'n knees!

I should patent that phrase to describe my look!

We ended our day on the Soaring ride, which was my favorite of the whole trip.  We were soaked on the Grizzly River Run ride and dried off whilst eating toddler hot dogs.

We were exhausted and dunzo by 6:30.

We were snuggled in bed by 7:30.  

I brought a snack. 

That was a chocolate and M&M covered rice krispy treat on a stick.

It was excellent.

Duh.

We slept amazingly well on the super comfy bed.

We had an early flight out on Saturday morning.

To our dismay, we discovered our bag was 30 pounds overweight.  

Oh, for shame.

I have no idea how this happened, because we (Mom and Dad) bought the Elena dress and I bought a blouse.  Yes, I still use the word blouse.

It's a dying word.

Alas, the kind Frontier airlines lady brought us a box and we shoved 30lbs worth of stuff in it.  Genevieve wrote her name on it.

Then we were off back to Indiana.

It was a wonderful trip!

California Day 3

Trinity was finished conferring by 11:00 on our third day, so we left Anaheim and drove to Newport Beach.  We lunched at Pelican Hill, the beautiful resort we visited when I was pregnant with Lady Genevieve.  We stayed for a week in June of 2012, and I have been itching to get back ever since.  On this trip, I settled for lunch by the gorgeous pool.

The view was breathtaking.

G did not understand when I told her she had been there before. 

She was quite content at our table overlooking the pool.  

This is the evolution of a conversation between YaYa and G.  

My parents also spent a week at Pelican Hill after my glowing recommendation.  My mother was in heaven too. 

California at its finest!

We stopped by Sprinkles on our way back.  

I'm so predictable.  

Day 2: California Adventure

 We were up early for day 2 at California Adventure.  I loved that park!  

Genevieve spied Daisy as soon as we walked through the gates.

In true YaYa fashion, my mother bulldozed her way through the crowd to be first in line for a photo.

I've learned that not many people mess with a 6 footer with silver hair.  

We used our first fast pass to ride Radiator Springs in Cars Land.  This was by far my favorite ride.

It was so cute and so fun!  It reminded me of drag racing down Wabash Avenue in high school:)  

You can see the people racing behind us.

We rode this three times during our visit.  

Yes, I'm wearing leggings as pants.

That's  a big no no.

I'm also wearing Minnie ears, so there's that.

Fashion at its finest. 

Next up we rode in dancing Luigi cars. 

We went nonstop all morning in Cars Land.

We moved on at a slower pace with Doc McStuffins.

Mother normally eats like a bird.

On this trip she ate like a bird whose food was stolen by a kid.

We saw Mickey!  

Mother and I used our razor sharp elbows to uppercut others.

Ha!  

California Adventure had a sneak preview for Disney's new film, Moana.

It looked so cute.

Anything with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in it is clearly an Oscar contender.  

At that point Bob bailed and returned to the hotel for a nap.  The girls soldiered on.

The Bug's Life rides were all geared for G's age group.

This was Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.

Disney likes a pun as much as I do.

It topped out at about .25 mph.

Mother took this picture of us and I recall thinking about what a great photographer she is.

In horrified fascination, I watched her zooming in on the family behind us.

As we got off the ride she was like, "I got a great picture of you all!  I'll text it to you!  What's your number?"

Oh, mother.

She has never known a stranger but this era of social media and texting has elevated her friend making game.

Where's G?

Just lounging around. 

She's a natural in front of the camera.

Mom staked out this primo parade viewing spot.

At this point Bob had rejoined our party, but not the wanting to be in a picture part of the party. 

Mom and I started on vino.

G and I were with my parents in Disneyland for two days.  We had one full day with Trinity at the end of the week.  

I found it interesting that people plan lots of dining reservations.  I owned those two parks by fueling up on Dasani water and churros. I also ate at least two toddler meals.  

Those are for ages 4 and under, but no one checked my ID.

True story.

More to come!