Captain's Log, Week 211

This picture is magical.

Forgive me for this Captain's Log being one day late and also the longest Captain's Log ever. We just had so much fun with my family and spent so much time with them this week that I didn't have the time I usually do to put this together and had literally over 1,000 pictures to go through and pick from.

I love my family!


What Ellie said this week

Jason was attempting to teach Ellie how to play the board game "Sorry."
Jason: "Okay Ellie, now draw a card."
Ellie picks up a card and attempts to draw on it with a game piece.
Ellie: "There! I drawed a three!"

Me: "Do you want more frozen strawberries? More really cold strawberries?"
Ellie: "Yes! Put them there." (Points to a spot on her high chair tray.)
I put them there.
Ellie: "Well done!"

Ellie, as I was putting her to bed: "I'm all done with bedtime. I'm all done with bedtime. I want to go in the door and play toys with Daddy and Zelda."

"Oh no, a man truck!" - pointing at the golf cart the maintenance guy drives around our apartment complex

We're in the living room.
Ellie: "Mom, let's dance!" She looks over and sees me feeding Zelda. "Mom, no feeding Zelda."

At Disneyland.
Me: "Ellie, who's that on the picture?"
Ellie: "Minnie Mouse!"
Me: "No, it's Buzz Lightyear."
Ellie: "He's my underwear!"

Ellie: "I'm saying Alyse. I'm saying Alyse, mom. I'm saying Alyse with my mouth."

Ellie, playing with stuffed animals: "K, talk to you later! I need to call me back."

Playing with dinosaur magnets at Nana's house.
Ellie: "Are you sad? Are you sad, Mr. Dinosaur? Are you sad and crying?"
A minute later, as the dinosaur: "I don't want to go to the restaurnot because I'm sad and crying." (Moving the dinosaur to the bottom of the magnet board) "I want to go the restaurnot, but I'm sad and crying down here, because I have big feet."

Going along with that one above, lately she's been pronouncing "restaurant" either "restaurnot" or "esternaut." It's definitely a combination of "restaurant" and "astronaut."

Ellie: "I need to rub it. I need to rub the fish."

Ellie to Jason at bedtime: "You gotta go feed the dinosaur, Dad."

Ellie, playing with her toothbrushes: "I need mormon Jesus. I need mormon Jesus. C'mon, mormon Jesus!"
 
We're at King's Fish House, and Banks pulls into the parking spot next to us.
Ellie: "Banks! You're home!"

Ellie, with her finger up her nose: "I love food!"
Me: "You love food?"
Ellie: "Yeah, this is food." With her other hand, points to her finger up her nose.

Driving to my dad's house on Wednesday morning.
Me:  "I'm sad that Banks and Nan and Max are going to be flying on the airplane."
Ellie: "No Mom, you're happy!"
Me: "Yeah, I'm happy."
Ellie: "You're happy, cause you're not sad!"

We were at my dad's house on Wednesday morning, and Banks and Nan were getting ready to fly back to Thailand. I kept explaining to Ellie that they were going to go on an airplane. She started listing everybody that was going  on the airplane, and once she covered Banks and Nan and Max she started saying everybody else too. Then she got to me.
Ellie: "And Mommy's going on the airplane."
Me: "No, I'm staying here with you."
Ellie: "I'm going on the airplane too."

(To a baby doll) "Did you go peepee? Did you have an accident? I have to change her diaper."
Takes off the doll's clothes, runs over to the wipes, starts to wipe the baby's bottom.
"You have a big poopoo. There! I make it all clean"

Ellie: "I'll put these in the oven, mom." Slides some books between the slats of her crib so that they fall behind it against the wall.

Ellie: "Butter is yummy, Mom. Eggs are yummy too. Pirates are yummy too."

Ellie: "A pile of mess, Mom! A pile of mess."

Finally, lately she's been saying "little bit" as "libble bit" and it is so cute.


What we did this week

Oh, so much.

Last Friday was Max's first birthday. I took the girls over to the beach house, where there was going to be a little birthday party for him. When we got over there we found out that Debbie had gotten in a car accident. Luckily, she's totally okay, even though the car was totaled.

We sang Max the happy birthday song and ate some cake. :)

On Saturday we went to Disneyland. Jason worked Friday night and had to sleep Saturday, so the group that went on Saturday was me, Ellie, Zelda, my dad, Alyse, Tanner, Ezra, Banks, Nan, and Max. Since Jason was home, I had to take the girls by myself to the park and meet up with the rest of the group. I was super proud of myself for getting both the girls in the car and to the park, parking, getting from the far end and back of the parking structure down to the trams, on the trams to the park, and to where everybody else was at the entrance all by myself. And equally proud of myself for getting them home that evening. :)

We started out the day by going on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and then the big train over to New Orlean's Square. 

Putting on sunscreen

Touching the giant fake grass in line.

Max was a little afraid of the claw.

Before we went on the Haunted Mansion we had lunch at the gumbo place in New Orleans. (Their bread bowls are the best.) All the girls had clam chowder and all the boys had gumbo.

Lunchtime!

In line for the Haunted Mansion

We (my dad and I) were crammed in the second row. I think he would have appreciated the leg room in the front seats. :)

After the Winnie the Pooh ride, we took a break at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. We found a spot on the lower level right down by the water. We ate cotton candy and watched the canoes and boats go by on the river, and Ellie and Max played with and fed the ducks. Ellie was feeding the goose goldfish right out of her hand.

My dad had to leave us then, and the rest of us went over to Space Mountain to use our fast passes. Alyse and Tanner went in first, and Banks and Nan and I watched the kids by the big rolley-ball-water fountain thing. Ellie and Max loved it. I think we could have spent five hours there and they would have been perfectly content.

Ellie started sticking her face right against the (big, wet, rolling) ball and licking it.

Once Alyse and Tanner got back, we switched with them and went on the ride while they watched the kids.

 After Space Mountain we headed over to Fantasyland and went on the Casey Jr. train.

That was the last ride of the day for me and the girls and Banks and Nan. Ellie was getting tired, so I took the girls home while Banks and Nan stayed to have dinner with Tanner and Alyse, and then Banks and Nan took Ezra and Max home and Tanner and Alyse got to have a date night at the parks.

On Sunday I took the girls to church (Jason worked again Saturday night) and then in the evening we drove over to my grandparents' house for a big family dinner. This last week on April 30 was my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary! :D We had a yummy celebration dinner and got to see cousins and it was fun.

On Monday Zelda had her 6th month appointment. She is 13 pounds 13 ounces, 25 1/2 inches long, and has a head circumference of 44 cm. That's the 10th percentile for weight, 40th for height, and 90th for head. She's doing great health-wise (other than her allergies) and developmentally.

On Monday evening we had dinner with my family at King's Fish House.

Ellie showing off her tattoos.

On Tuesday we went to Disneyland again! This time Jason got to come, too, and we started in California Adventures. We went to the Sorcerer's Workshop, Turtle Time with Crush, Flik's Flyers, Soarin' over California, and then had lunch at Flo's v8 Cafe.

My new favorite family picture.

At this point the we split into two groups for a little while - Jason, Ellie, Zelda and I went back to Disneyland while the others (Banks, Nan, Max, Alyse, Tanner, and Ezra) went to Tower of Terror. Jason, Ellie, Zelda and I rode the big train to Toon Town, where we played in Chip and Dale's house and in the little post office/jail building. We then went to Fantasyland where we rode on Dumbo. (Ellie loves the Dumbo ride. We're pretty sure that's her favorite. That and the tea cups.)

Breaking out of jail.

This is where the rest of the group met up with us again, and when my Dad got there! (He had been on a business trip to Arizona on Monday and on Tuesday morning, but joined us for the rest of Tuesday.)

We took another food break at the Village Haus, then went on Splash Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, Jungle Cruise, and Tarzan's Treehouse.

Hahaha. Tanner and Jason. Ellie was really into Jungle Cruise. She thought all the animals were real, and there were a ton of them, and they were like ten feet away. It was as good as the zoo, and a whole lot faster. :)

Banging the drums.

Pirate Ellie!

After Jungle Cruise we had dinner at the Blue Bayou, which I have never eaten at in all the many, many times I have been to Disneyland. It was really cool (it's actually inside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride) and very yummy.

After we finished dinner, we had time for just one more ride. We had been wanting to go on Big Thunder Mountain, but it was closed because of technical difficulties for the second half of the day, so we booked it over to Fantasyland and got on the last round of the tea cups ride. Ellie loved it. She sat on Jason's lap and Zelda sat on mine (in the baby carrier). Jason made out tea cup spin around really really fast by turning the wheel in the middle, and Ellie was laughing and laughing. The paper lanterns above the ride were all lit up and changing colors, and we were just spinning around madly in this crazy rush of colors and it was so fun and crazy. Jason let go of the wheel and then Ellie grabbed it and started turning it, and yelled, "I'm changing the colors!" Apparently she thought whoever was turning the wheel was in charge of the changing colored lights. :) Finally the ride ended, and Ellie and Jason and I were grinning, and Zelda had a look on her face like, "I don't know what that just was, but please never take me on it again."

We were trying on Micky Mouse ear hats in the shop at the end. Ellie put on a skull/Nightmare before Christmas one, calling it a "panda hat."

We all rode the trams back to the parking structure. The others were parked on the way far side of the parking structure (where I always seem to be), but amazingly, this day Jason and I got to park on the first row and so had a pretty short walk to our car. Woohoo! (Anyone who's parked in this parking structure knows how big of a deal that is. When it was built in 2000, it was the largest parking structure in the US.)

Wednesday was the day Banks, Nan, and Max flew back to Thailand. :( I took the girls over to my dad's house in the morning, and we got to see them for a short while before they packed all their suitcases into the car and had to leave. It was really sad. This is the first time I've really been able to spend time with my brother in probably five years, and I miss him a lot. I'm going to miss their family tons until we see them again. And I know Ellie is going to miss Max, and ask for him and we'll have to tell her we can't see him. :( But we're going to google chat/skype with them, and hopefully that will help.

A herd of babies.

On Thursday Alyse and Tanner came and hung out at our apartment. It was fun and low key. :)

Also, this happened. Because a certain two year-old was rearranging the fridge.

On Friday I took the girls over in the morning to my dad's house, and we hung out with Alyse and Tanner and Ezra and our friend Candace. For lunch we went at met my dad at Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour. After that, we picked Jason up from our apartment and drove to Irvine Park. And we rented one of those little bike cars and rode it all around and it was so fun!!!! I've been wanting to do that forever. And it was awesome and seriously such a kick.

Also, we saw a million peacocks. Naturally.

And this morning Alyse and Tanner and Ezra go on an airplane and flew back to Florida. :(

This has been the best month having Banks and Alyse here. We enjoyed their time here so much and I am so happy that we were able to spend it together. I am really grateful that we had all this time together.

And that's the end of the longest Captain's Log post ever!