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Last weekend our friends the Hammerstrand family came up from San Diego for a visit. We went to the apple orchard to pick apples, but the apples were all picked out. So we were going to pick berries, but the berries were all picked out. We could have picked pumpkins but we didn’t want to carry them. So, well, we had lunch and went home.
James and I took the kids on a bit of a hayride back to the car while Michael and Beth walked Magnus and the strollers. The strange woman on the left who is posing for our picture was not part of our group.
We were able to go out to dinner without the kids on Saturday night which was nice. And the next morning Hunter and Jocelyn were wearing their jammies and Beth’s and my boots:
All in all, a fun weekend…
So the reason for our Disneyland trip was the visit of my roommate from college, Rachel, and her two kids, Peyton and Sophia. My sister, her husband, and my niece Sydney joined us, and so did my friend Elaine and her two kids, Zach and Rachel.
The kids had a great time running around and riding on the rides and Disneyland really is the most perfect place ever. None of the other parents are judgemental when your child melts down or runs away from you, because they know it will happen to them later or their kid is just getting over such a fit.
It’s a fun thing to do, and, we feel fortunate to be able share such an experience with our friends.
Yesterday we went to Disneyland. Here’s a snap of the two men brave enough to marry the Webb sisters. (Working title: “Gay”.)
This one’s called “Super Gay”. And I mean that not in a discriminatory way, but more in the I am a child of the eighties and our two adjectives for something stupid were “gay” and “retarded”. Probably the reason the nineties became so p.c… hmm.
Anyway. Here’s a question: Who takes a five-month-old to Disneyland? Answer: lots of people. Magnus was a champ. Only a little angry at the beginning because he couldn’t get a good enough look at what was going on. That’s him above with his two Dads, I mean his Dad and his Uncle Charles. Magnus rode the merry-go-round, the storybook ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Jungle Cruise. Not bad for such a little guy.
His sister, however, did way more than a two-year-old should…
Riding all the kiddie rides (except Peter Pan that was freaking CLOSED! and Small World which was broken down when we got to it, and we forgot to go back later.) and several of the big kid rides too. One of the advantages (?) of being a giant child. Hunter did not care for the Pirates and as the day progressed and we were out on Pirate Island (formerly Tom Sawyer’s Island, but hey, who reads anymore?) it became evident that Hunter did not care for caves at all.
Hunter also did not care for the Haunted Mansion, but it turned into a good opportunity for a bit of a rest and a snuggle. And her favorite ride was Splash Mountain, a.k.a., the “log boat”… a ride that, in retrospect, was a little too intense for a two-year-old. There is a seriously huge drop at the end and Hunter pretty much tried to pitch herself onto the floor of the “log boat”.
There’s more to report, but, Magnus is awake and Nala sounds like she’s going to eat the puppy…
Hurricane Kurtz has hit 2175 Larimore Lane…
My roommate from college, Rachel, and her two children, Peyton, 5, and Sophia, 2, are here for Memorial Day weekend.
That ought to put the kibosh on having more children… feh.
Tomorrow: Disneyland!
On Saturday we went down to see our friend Shannon Johnson’s new pad. A converted artist’s loft that she has decorated to look like something out of the pages of Domino; every piece has a neat story about where she found it or how she made it look just so. (I really need to exert myself and do something in my own home…)
Anyway. We went down to the Claremont village for lunch and a bit of a walk about with Shannon and her sister Chris, who are pictured above swinging little miss Hunter. A lovely afternoon.
On our way home, we picked up our niece Sydney for a sleep-over.
Of course, Hunter is too young to actually have someone “sleep” in her room because she would keep that person up all night long. And, it turns out, Sydney hasn’t ever spent the night away from her mom without one of her brothers or older cousins. There was only a bit of a melt-down, which was fixed on our end by a phone call to my sister. We failed, however, to take into consideration what such a phone call might do to my sister…
But everything ended well and Hunter enjoyed having her cousin Sydney at her disposal for twelve hours…
And finally, on Sunday, Michael’s sister Sheila and her husband Craig came over for lunch and to bring us one of her puppies. Or maybe I should say bring Hunter one of her puppies.
This is Apollo. He was born in Holland, get this, on Hunter’s and my birthday, and will be seven months old next week. He’s actually taller than Nala (who is seriously not happy about having him in the house…), but she outweighs him by quite a bit, and hasn’t been shy about putting him on his ass. So far he’s so sweet and gentle and I don’t want to jinx us by writing that he hasn’t destroyed anything yet, but he hasn’t.
We might re-name him, and he’s still adjusting… but while he does not seem to care for walking next to the stroller, I think he’s going to do just fine.
The other Hillman family wasn’t able to join us on Easter Sunday, but they were able to join us for dinner last night before their grandmother returned to the wilds of New Mexico.
Here are Hunter and Magnus with their cousins Brian, Breanna, and Bryce.
Probably should have put Gramma in the picture too…
Had the Hillman Family over for lunch and an Easter egg hunt yesterday. Magnus has had a few sketchy outings in the last couple of weeks, but he handled the crowd well. And Hunter had plenty of people to drag outside and coerce into pushing her on her swings.
Was a lovely day, and, a good time was had by all. Or at least by us. Ha.
Yesterday afternoon Avery Beal and her mother Alisa, one of my friends from school and a Michigan State alumn (but we don’t hold that against her…), came over to visit. We had a nice visit, though I am always painfully aware of how boring we are whenever we have guests. All I have to talk about is my children and the occasional rant against the direction in which our nation is headed, though it was fun to catch up on a little school gossip.
Michael spiced the visit up a little by coming home, showering, and coming back downstairs in his pajamas. He’d been threatening to hold a “Naked Thursday”, so I suppose it could have been worse.
Alisa brought Magnus a couple of cute little outfits including an adorable little Hawkeye tee shirt. I never would have bought a Michigan State tee shirt for her daughter. This officially makes Alisa a better person than I am. She also brought Hunter a giant purple ball that was/is a big hit. (Hunter is sitting on the couch next to it right now…)
Is curious to think how much life has changed since I met Alisa, for both of us. Marriage, babies, new homes…
I feel old.
Kara and Kate went home yesterday. Here’s a recap of our activities:
We watched seven movies. (Eleven if you count the daily viewing of The Sword in the Stone… Hunter’s current favorite). God bless videos on demand.
We painted my living/dining room. Yes, the Galer twins came all the way from Iowa to paint our house. And I’m so glad they did… it would have taken me a week to paint that huge room.
We purchased, though didn’t quite manage to eat, $125 worth of junk food.
And neither Kara nor Kate said “No” to my daughter a single time… giving her cookies, their Blackberries, etc.
Oh yeah, and Kara spent the last twenty-four hours of her visit working on a video slide show of Hunter’s second year while Kate organized the photos on my computer.
It doesn’t sound like much of a vacation, does it? But it was sure nice having them around.
My good friends the Galer twins, Kara and Kate, are here visiting from Iowa City.
Of course the weather is shit. But, as almost any Iowan will agree, at least it’s not snowing.
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