Home Sweet Home

We made it home yesterday late afternoon. I was so ready to be out of the car and I know Emma was too. When we first started that morning we were both so crabby...just bickering back and forth...until breakfast. Nothing fancy, but it hit the spot. Emma is a really good traveler, which is a relief considering how much she'd cry in the car when she was a newborn. She'll play with her toys, sing songs, or watch a video. She's such a mellow child. I love that about her.

On our way home, we of course stopped at Disneyland. I won't be back for a few months (I don't do Disneyland in the summer...yuck), so I wanted to go again. Our first day was more crowded than I had hoped, and was hot of course. The lines were longer and Emma wanted to be held more, so it all added up to be a long day. One entertaining thing we saw was while we were in line at pirates of the carribbean. Up in the tree house next to us on the rope bridge they had a show down between Indiana Jones and one of the priest people from the second movie. It was fun to see him up there with his whip... almost as good as watching the movie. I almost decided not to go back the next day and just start for home sooner, but then decided I'd give it a try. Wednesday was so much better!!! It wasn't as hot, or as crowded. We headed straight back to fantasyland and were among the first 10 people on Peter Pan. Yeah no line!! Then we went on Dumbo, the carousel, snow white, dumbo again, the tea cups, and story book land, all with very very minimal lines. We saw Goofy and Gipetto and that cat guy from Pinochio all ride on dumbo and the carousel. Emma thought that was hilarious. Then we went back to the Princess Fantasy Faire to meet some of the princesses. Ok, I've never done this before, but if you have a little girl it's a must! The line to meet the princesses is long and slow moving, but other than that it's fabulous. There are always 3 princesses there, and it changes all the time. I only hoped that it would be some decent ones for Emma since she doesn't know that many of them. I was worried that it would be Pocahontas, Esmerelde (from the Hunchback), and someone else that she'd never heard of. Luckily there was Belle, Cinderella, Princess Minnie, and Mulan. She doesn't know Mulan, but she got to see minnie as she was leaving. I was hurrying so fast to get a picture that it ended up blurry, but that's okay.

After meeting them, we went and sat for a story time with Aurora and learned about her story. They had an area for coloring with pages of disney characters that Emma liked. They had crowns with stickers for you to make, and a show on the stage where they teach you how to be a prince or a princess, and how to dance etc. We bought a cookie shaped like a castle and decorated it with frosting they give you too. It was so much fun up there, and Emma isn't even the girliest girl out there.

The rest of the day was fun, and traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be as we headed out of town. Emma is so happy to be home with Eric and all her own toys. She loves having her own bed again, and slept for more than 12 hours last night. She had fun playing with Kayla, and I hope they stay friends as they grow up, but it's good to be home.

Our Day Out

Yesterday Emma and I went off to have some fun.  First I had to stop at the Crate & Barrel in Beverly Hills.  I love that store, and since we don't have any by us at home, I stop by whenever I'm around one.  We then went down to the Santa Monica Pier.  Emma loves the ocean and the beach (even though she's only been there a few times before), and was very excited to see them again. They were setting up some crosses on the beach, obviously for Memorial Day.  Emma liked the wooden planks on the pier - mostly because it made the stroller ride a bumpy one.  We walked over to the Third Street Promenade to look in some of the shops.  Emma thought the plant dinosaurs they had all along there were pretty cool.  After a very nutritious lunch (Emma said she wanted fries), we drove to The Grove at Farmer's Market.  On our way we drove past the LA Temple.  I love that temple.  I haven't had the chance to go through it yet, but it's just a magnificent building.  When we past it Emma wanted to sing the temple song (I love to see the Temple).  We didn't spend long at the Grove, but it seemed like a fun place to go shopping.  We got back, made dinner and spent the evening at home.

Pool Party

The other day it was hot outside, so we set up a pool outside for the girls.  They loved it.  They both had fun splashing around.  For a while they were even okay with lightly splashing each other.  Here they are in action.

My Little Thief (in training)

Today I went to return a rented movie and to pick up a new one.  Great story so far right... really interesting I know.  While I was checking out the new movies and paying for them, Emma was standing there eyeing all the candy and treats, selecting her favorites and then putting them back at my request.  She had grabbed some chocolate covered pretzels, and asked for them.  I told her we had pretzels at Kayla's house she could eat when we got back.  I guess this wasn't good enough for her, because as I grabbed the movies and headed for the door, the employee made a little sound like "uhhh?", which caused me to turn and see Emma right on my heels carrying the bag of pretzels.  I guess she chose not to hear me when I asked her not to grab anymore treats.  Do I need to start worrying yet?  Either that or I could train her to take something better than pretzels.