Disney's California Adventure! Part Two!

Kate desperately wanted to meet Minnie Mouse. There was already a very long line of people waiting to meet her, but she chose to wait as Minnie's handler tried to shuffle people along. So when did Disney start this official line and handler thing to meet the characters? When I was at Walt Disney World in the early 70's (I'm a very old lady), there were no lines or handlers. We just walked up to Mickey Mouse and said "hi." Life was so simple back in the Vietnam War days. Minnie was worth the wait. She was definitely the friendliest character we met that day. She took her time, gave Kate lots of "eye" contact, and even got down to give her a hug. Kate was so happy, she gave Minnie a kiss on the nose. My first thought was, "Aww." But my second thought was, "Ech. I wonder how many germs are on that nose?" This was Minnie's handler. Is Disney really the "Happiest Place on Earth?" She was probably counting the minutes till she could punch out and get a drink.

Soo and Elizabeth met up with us again after riding the crazy rollercoaster and the "Tower of Terror." Kate was so happy to see Soo she busted out some dance moves.

This is a video of Kate dancing with Soo while waiting for the Pixar Play Parade to begin. Chris has a walk-on as "background."

The Pixar Play Parade!

Jellyfish. Ladies. Kate reached out and touched an orange hand. It belonged to this guy. Who is this guy? Boo. Don't know who she was supposed to be, but the ladies on the left were enjoying her. Kate waving at The Incredibles. She's never seen the movie, but Mr. and Mrs. Incredible were giving her lots of "eye" contact and it made her happy. Kate heading down the bunny trail.... Kate really liked the very tall chefs. Remy from "Ratatouillle," or as Kate used to say, "Rat-tat-tat-tat!" Heimlich, the overeating caterpillar. I love that his name is Heimlich. Though that might imply he's bulimic. Soo felt sorry for the guy who had to be Heimlich's butt. Flik and Princess Atta! Kate waved wildly at them. She really loves the first ten minutes of "A Bug's Life." When the evil grasshopper, "Hopper," shows up, she turns it off. The alien guys from Toy Story 2 sprayed water at us. Kate hid under her towel. "I don't like that, Mom." Soo, Elizabeth, Chris, and I didn't like it either. Actually, I'm not sure that anyone around us did. Several other characters hosed us, getting us really wet. Not sure why. Kate's favorite character -- Jesse! Yeeee-HA! One of Kate's favorite bedtime songs is "When Somebody Loved Me" (aka "the Jesse song"). "To infinity...!" This guy was one of the float-traffic controllers. Little scary. The parade ended. I was ready to go home. But then they blasted a VERY PEPPY Disney song through the speakers and Kate went to town again. She needed back-up dancers. After Kate's final number, we said goodbye to Soo (she was going to Newport Beach for the night), and headed home. Kate was so exhausted, she passed out in the car and snored all the way home. Before Soo left, she gave Kate a wonderful present -- Korean books! Kate loved them and wanted to take a separate photo with each book. She had a different pose for each... We convinced her to take a photo with all of them at the same time. She thought that was a pretty good idea. Thanks, Soo!

Disney's California Adventure! Part 1!

Our good friend, Soo, flew in from New York to race in Disneyland's Half-Marathon. That's 13.1 miles or 21 kilometers (for the Asians and Europeans out there)! Soo is such a close friend, we'd do just about anything to see her, even take a 3-year old to Disneyland during Labor Day Weekend. Whenever we told someone our plans, they'd look at us in horror, "Why would you do that??" So we decided to meet at Disney's California Adventure Park instead. Woody from Toy Story would be there (whom Kate loves), and it was supposed to be a lot less crowded. This was the line of cars off the freeway exit, waiting to approach the park. Of course, just minutes earlier I had announced, "We're here, Kate!" This was the line of cars waiting to get into the parking garage. "We're almost there, Kate!" This was the line of people waiting to get into the park (after waiting in line to buy the tickets). "We're um...almost there, Kate!" It took us 25 minutes to drive to Disneyland from our house, but an hour to actually get inside the park. I think Chris' face says it all. Looking on the bright side, it probably would've taken twice as long at the main park! Kate was extremely patient, but a little confused. "Why is this big 'R' here? Where are the rides?" A large-scale model of the Golden Gate Bridge behind us. It was like Vegas! Kate wasn't impressed. "Where are the rides??" Ah, we finally made it to A Bug's Land, where Kate got to ride Heimlich's Chew Chew Train and see, smell, and hear all the foods this German stereotype of a caterpillar likes to eat. Watermelon-scented rain! An animal-crackers-scented tunnel! We rode it two more times. Chris begged to ride Francis' Ladybug Boogie, so Kate and I indulged him. Everytime Kate gets off any kind of ride, she always looks like this. This is a video of Kate and Chris flying in a box of raisins: We finally met up with Soo (holding Kate), and her friend, Elizabeth. Kate was so excited when she saw her that she ran screaming across the park. Soo had been up since 4 AM and had run over 13 miles, but after Kate, she had the most energy out of all of us. Kate had been dying to go on a ferris wheel ever since she saw a picture of one in a book. Kate waving to me from the car. Kate won her first carnival prize!... ...a purple crab she appropriately named, "Crabby Crab." Hours of Disney madness + no nap = a loopy child and a fried Dad. We were waiting on line for the Toy Story 3-D ride for a half and hour, and Kate passed the time dancing and singing a drunken tune. Oh, that cortisol! Kate and I, waiting to be released like cattle onto the Toy Story ride. We walked by a live performance of "High School Musical 2," where a group of ecstatic dancers pranced around doing cheerleading moves and singing into their headsets. Kate was instantly hooked. "Let's watch this!" Chris obliged because he loves her so, and suffered in silence. When we were finally able to drag Kate away, she said, "That was fun!" I fear that Kate will wake up tomorrow and suddenly be a Jonas-Brothers-Miley Cyrus-That's-So-Raven-fanatic. Inside the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, Kate finally got to see some characters. She spotted Woody from Toy Story dancing on stage and screamed, "HI, WOODY!" After the performance, she grabbed my hand, "Let's go, Mom!" and charged him, getting to him first, ahead of all the autograph hounds. But as Kate stood next to Woody smiling and posing while I got the camera out, a large family of large people stood right in front of her and posed with Woody. Poor Kate. Even though she was staring at the butt of a large man and was getting a little scared, she kept smiling and posing. I pulled her out, the family moved away, and Chris got the photo (the first photo above). After a long day of screaming rides, screaming kids, and screaming cast members, we took a break inside the wonderfully air-conditioned Playhouse Disney theater...and screamed. Because the audience warm-up guy told us to. The a.c. was so heavenly, I would've stood up and break danced if they told me to. Bubbles from the ceiling! The Little Einsteins! Kate beamed and waved, "HI!! HI!!" when her best friends came on stage (she talks to an imaginary "Quincy" from time to time). We thought she'd go beserk and tear her shirt off, but she didn't. Maybe because June, the Asian one, looked kind of evil in puppet form. I wonder how long it will take for Disney's lawyers to find this site?

Maya Turns One

This weekend, we celebrated the first birthday of our good friend, Maya Elizabeth Proulx. Her parents, Anna and John, have obviously done a wonderful job. We caught up with old friends from Sundance, and our friends from Spain (formerly from Pasadena, now from San Fran), Amaya and Julian, even made it to the party at the very end.

Kate's blue frosting soul patch.

Despite the heat, Kate had a great time playing with Uncle Mike and chasing Julian around the backyard. Maya's Daddy, John (a jazz pianist), wowed the kids by hooking up the player piano machine to his grand piano. Kate thought it was very cool to see the keys moving by themselves. Happy First Birthday, Maya!