January 26 - Picture Dump Part 2

.....continuing.

Jaxxie's ear flipped inside out and he looked so cute I could not even stand it!! 

Oh buddy!!

When Mara chooses her own outfit... Lol!

Post-Zumba 

Cheshire Abigail! 

Abby & Jaxxie keeping mommy' feet warm.  How sweet.

Jax & me watching scary movies.

Mara loves her auntie.

Took Mara swimming and I wore a bikini... mom bod for the win! 

Abigail decided she didn't like the new food corky brought home for the frenchies... so I made her an egg at the same time I made one for Mara.  My dogs aren't spoiled or anything...

January 26 - Picture Dump

Okay... here's a bunch of randoms (not in order)....

Abby & Jax being watchdogs (doesn't Jax look handsome in his Christmas scarf!)

Parenting Mara has been kind of tough these last few weeks.  She's in a hitting/scratching/biting/tantrum phase.  This is what my face looks like after a rough day.  I had people asking me if I had a cat! Lol

The view from the top of the hill by my house.

Little miss in her chair.

Eggs + broccoli + tomato + avocado + tortilla = THE BEST DINNER EVER!!!

My little goofball. Love her!! 

The cutest pair of butts in town.

Mara running around with her skirt on her head.  Just another typical day at home. Lol! 

Mara Soleil helping her daddy build ikea furniture. 

My mom and I baked heart shaped cookies one day.  Yum! 

To be continued....

Dilemma Follow Up

This decision isn't set in stone yet but we have made a tentative plan for Mara's preschool.  

After much consideration, we decided to pursue the expensive preschool.  Here are the main reasons why:

1) It actually isn't THAT expensive.  When I did a little more looking around, I found that the "expensive" one we were looking at was actually not atypical - the "inexpensive" one was!  There were 2 other preschools I was interested in and one was more expensive by about $30 a month and the other was only about $10 less per month.  So... it was not the exception, but the rule.

2) Mara likes it.  She was not as comfortable in the other two schools.  She was hesitant, shy, and clung to me, whereas at the "expensive" preschool, she was running off to play by herself within 2 minutes of arriving for the open house.

3) I like the people better.  Everyone I met at all four schools was nice, I just like the people best at this particular school.

4) I managed to get the price reduced a little.  By going for two half-days instead of three, I knocked about $220 off the monthly price.  Still expensive, but better.

5) Mara will be going to public school for kindergarten and onward, so I won't have to pay tuition for that.  I feel it's worth it for her to get a decent foundation in the world of learning.

So that's where our thought process went.  Mara's currently on the waitlist, hoping to begin her in May in the 18-24 month classroom.  If there's no room for her by May, we'll start her in November in the 2-2 1/2 year old classroom.

So excited for her!  She will have a blast!  She's very social and very independent, so I think it'll be good for her (and for me.)  Love that little bug of mine!!

Another Birth Memory

First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who commented on yesterday's post about preschools. I value and appreciate all your input.  I am glad for different viewpoints because it's easy to get hung up on one perspective.  So thank you!  I will keep you updated on what ends up happening.  :)

Okay, on to today's post.

Last night, I was nursing Mara to sleep in the rocking chair.  It was dark and quiet in the room, no sound except the white noise machine she sleeps with making the sound of gentle rain.  She had fallen asleep nursing, but I didn't want to move just yet.  I found myself thinking about the nighttime and how lonely it can sometimes feel to be awake at night.  (Mind you it was only like 8:30pm but it was completely dark.)  Thinking about that lonely, middle-of-the-night feeling brought back a sudden, strong memory from the night Mara was born.

My water broke at 8:00pm on Saturday, November 22nd.  We finally made it to the hospital about 9:30pm.  After taking ages to ascertain whether my water had indeed broken (there was really no question), they were cleaning the room so it wasn't until about 11:30pm that I was even admitted officially.  The pitocin was started at about 12:15am on Sunday, November 23rd.  The nurses and the doctor advised Corky and me to try and get some sleep before things really took off.

I couldn't sleep, but Corky did.  He slept from about 12:45am until about 4:30am.  Those 3 hours and 45 minutes were some of the longest, loneliest, most painful hours of my life.  The pain didn't hit like a ton of bricks, rather it was a gradual increase of pain, but by about 2:00am I was in serious pain.  The contractions were strong, long in duration and came close together.  (Any moms who have been there wince at the sight of the word "pitocin".  I know I do.)

The nurse would pop in to check on me every now and then, but I was largely on my own for those hours.  The time ceased to exist, actually.  I felt as though I was in an ocean of pain - tossed around, upside down and drowning in waves of pain.  Then up to the surface and I barely had time to catch my breath before another wave would come and sweep me away again.  And through all those agonizing minutes, Corky slept. 

I remember feeling somewhat affronted that he would sleep through this and leave me to deal with this horrendous pain on my own.  But at the same time, I had told him to sleep.  For one thing, there wasn't anything he could do for me anyway and for another, one of us needed to have our faculties about us for the following day, as it was apparent that this could potentially be a long labor.  God knows I wasn't going to be very sane for very long at that rate.  So while I was somewhat miffed that he was sleeping, I was glad at the same time.

Also, I think a part of me didn't want him to see me in pain like that.  Although he did end up seeing it because by 4:30am I woke him up with my whimpers of, "ow, ow, owwwwww. I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay."

Even as a child, I hated to be the only one awake at night.  Staying up all night, unable to sleep, was a very real fear of mine up until I was in my early teens.  To this day, I'm not sure what made that such a scary idea.  I just always hated it.  I guess I felt like I was the only person alive in the world when everyone else was asleep and I wasn't.  Not totally rational but scary nonetheless.

All that pain was totally worth it though.  That little girl is my world.  She's upstairs sleeping now... I always miss her when she's in bed. :)

Struggles of a Different Kind

Alrighty.. here's a new dilemma.  This is not something I have much experience with, but I find myself in the middle of it: Money.

We're not rich.  We're not poor.  We're "fine".  This means we don't live paycheck to paycheck.  We have enough to go out to dinner every now and then.  I've never had to pinch pennies for groceries and I'm good checking my bank account balance once per week.  We can't afford an SUV, even though that would make life easier for me, but we are a 2-car family.  We own our home.  Bills are not a problem.  We bargain shop but if something's not on sale and we need it, we can buy it.  That's what "fine" means.

Now, however, I am looking for preschools for Mara.  Registration for most preschools begins in January.  Mara is only 14 months old (on Saturday 1/23) but she is very social, very bright and very independent.  She is bored at home - and her behavior shows it.

I have found a preschool that I believe is a perfect fit for her.  It's only for two days a week, half days.  But it's EXPENSIVE AS HELL.  In order to send her there, we WOULD be living paycheck to paycheck.  We WOULD be pinching pennies for groceries.  Bills MIGHT be a problem.  Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but... seriously.  It would definitely cramp our economic style.  

So now my dilemma is this:  Do I send her to a different preschool that I don't feel she'll get as much out of, and save money?  Or do I send her to this preschool that I KNOW she likes (we've visited a few times and she always runs right in, totally comfortable) and where I know the staff and like them, and have money be a little tight?

If this were you and your kid, what would YOU choose?

Having Some Trouble

Nothing is really wrong... I just haven't felt great about myself lately.  Not TERRIBLE, but just.... not great.  

It seems like I'm getting triggered by everything under the sun.  

I feel guilty for eating, guilty for not working out harder, guilty for feeling this way knowing that my daughter is watching my every move.

I feel as though I should be embracing my body for what it can do and what it has done, but all I can focus on is how I wish I had less fat here or there, or that my thighs were smaller, or my arms were less flabby, or that my stomach wasn't as sticky-out as it is.

This might be stemming from something that happened on Tuesday when I was teaching my Aqua Fit class.  I had the class going around the edges of the pool (doing the "whirlpool") when one of the ladies asked, as she passed me, The Question.

"When's your baby due?"  

Pause.  
My brain went oh no.  Not again.  Because there are several things about this situation that I hate.  1) It obviously means I look pregnant to a degree and 2) when I tell her that I'm not she's going to be all apologetic and shit, and feel bad, and it's going to be awkward.  It always is.

And it was.

And I had to pretend like it was really no big deal, and explain that I have diastasis recti and that's why my stomach sticks out, and I also have a hernia behind my bellybutton which is why it sticks out also.  A lot of time people assume I'm pregnant because my bellybutton sticks out as it did when I was.

But then she said, "oh I didn't notice the bellybutton," which indicates that her comment was based solely on the fact that she saw my stomach pooching out.  Awesome.

Anyway... it was awkward and annoying and I wished it hadn't happened.  Since then I haven't felt awesome about myself.  Sigh.  

So here's my PSA:  DO NOT ASK IF SOMEONE IS PREGNANT, AND DO NOT ASSUME THAT SOMEONE IS PREGNANT.  EVER.  EVER.  OKAY??? EVEN IF THEY LOOK LIKE THEY'RE NINE MONTHS PREGNANT AND ABOUT TO POP, JUST DO NOT ASK.  BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.

End rant.

Be Grateful

One of my besties texted me this morning asking me to sub her Zumba class tomorrow.... because she got hit by a car in the parking lot of the gym last night.

OMG!!!!!!

So freaking scary!!!!

And I was feeling so miserable because Mara had been up basically all night with teething pain and therefore I was up too.  I was feeling pretty sorry for myself (and let's face it, there was some reason for it) but when she texted me all I could feel was grateful.

Grateful she was okay.
Grateful it wasn't me or anyone in my family.
Grateful that the guy who hit her stopped and helped her.
Grateful that she asked me to sub for her (kind of an honor).

And it made me think about the night I just had (which was following a day when I didn't feel great), up with a whiny, fussy, boogery Mara.  

Yes it sucked.  Yes it was difficult.  Yes I'm very tired.  Yes I'm sore (my neck is cricked, that rocking chair is not comfy to sit in for more than 20 minutes).  But my baby snuggled with me for such a long time... that does not happen often.  She is so busy and so wiggly and so active that she almost never snuggles.  But last night, when she was in pain, she wanted Mommy.  

That makes it all worth it.

I Can't Believe I'm Saying This....

I cannot believe I'm saying this.... but can it please just be Spring already?

I know, I know.... 
What am I saying?? I HATE Spring.

Yes, this is true, and I still do, but this winter has been heinous for us.  It started with the stomach flu in early November that took down Corky and Mara for a day or two.  Then a respiratory bug came through and caused Mara's nose to run all the way up through Thanksgiving weekend.  

Then came the second round of stomach flu the first week of December.  That one knocked Mara and me to the ground for several days - longer than the first bout.  Add to that round 5 of mastitis for me and I was as miserable as I've ever been.  Follow it up with a few colds and then, because why not, a double-whammy Respiratory-Bug-and-Hand-Foot-And-Mouth- Disease for little Miss Mara over Christmas and it was a pretty miserable household that Santa would have encountered.

The Respiratory Bug caused some lovely post-nasal drip that has blessed Mara with a wet cough since before Christmas.  Thankfully she felt okay over New Years and through our vacation to Disneyland, but now she's dealing with incoming molars and yet another virus - this one bringing with it a 102 degree fever, body aches and stomach junk.

And now I have it too.  Yay.

Can it be Spring already?? So over this!

The Dyatlov Pass Incident

There are very few things creepier, in my opinion, than the events of February 2, 1959 on the slopes of Kholat Syakhl, in the Ural Mountains of Russia.  What exactly those events were is unknown to the world to this day, but it's safe to say it was something terrible.

In January of 1959, 10 experienced ski-trekkers set off from their university in central Russia, with an intent to reach a mountain just over 6 miles away called Otorten.  It is interesting to note that the name Otorten translates to "don't go there" in Mansi.  This was  perhaps a warning that the skiers should have heeded.  Of the 10 students that set out on this trek, only one would remain alive.

On January 25, the group of students took a train to the province of Sverdlovsk Oblast, alighting in the city of Ivdel.  They then traveled by truck to the northernmost settlement of Vizhai.  It was from here that they set off for Otorten, on the 27th of January, 1959.

Of the group, 2 were women and the rest were men, all between the ages of 20 and 38.  Igor Dyatlov, 23, was the leader of the expedition, and it was after him that the pass was eventually named.  Yuri Droshenko, Yuri Krivonischenko, Alexander Kolevatov, Rustem Slobodin, Nicolai Thibeaux-Brignolles, Semyon Zolotariov and Yuri Yudin were the remaining men in the group.  Zinaida Kolmogorova and Lyudmila Dubinina rounded out the expedition.  All except one, Yuri Yudin, would perish on the mountainside less than a week later, under horrifying and unexplainable circumstances.

On February 1, the ski-trekkers, minus Yuri Yudin who turned back because of illness, began their journey through what would eventually be named Dyatlov Pass toward their destination.  The weather conditions were bad and the hikers set up camp on the exposed mountainside, a mere mile away from the edge of a forested area.  Why set up camp there instead of moving into the forest?  Surely experienced mountaineers would have known that the woods would have provided some protection from the harsh Russian winter.  Yuri Yudin, the sole survivor of the expedition, speculated after the fact that it was likely because Dyatlov wanted to practice camping on the exposed mountain slope instead of in the safety of the woods.  Alternatively, he may have found it preferable to camp where they were instead of losing a mile of altitude by descending to the woods.  We will likely never know for sure but for whatever reason, they camped right there on the side of the hill.

Sometime during the middle of the night on February 2, 1959 (Semyon Zolotariov's 38th birthday), something horrifying happened.  It is unknown to this day what exactly befell the hikers, but by February 12th, a telegram that Dyatlov had promised to send to their school had not arrived.  Yudin, who had returned to the university, didn't think much of this, as Dyatlov had said, when they parted, that February 12th was only an estimate and in fact he expected it to be later.  But when another week went by with no contact from the expedition, the hikers' families began to worry.  By February 20th, they were demanding a search and rescue operation be launched to find the missing students and, it was hoped, bring them home safely.

The first volunteer search parties were sent out shortly after.  On February 26th, the hikers' tent was found.  The rescuers, mainly students and faculty from the university, and later expanded to include military, were perplexed by what they saw.  The abandoned tent was in ruins - torn from the inside and half-covered with snow.  Inside the damaged tent were some of the hikers' boots and winter coats, but no sign of the students themselves.  Nine sets of footprints, some wearing one shoe, socks or completely barefoot, led away from the tent in all directions, indicating that the group had scattered.

The rescuers couldn't imagine what could have happened to send nine experienced mountain hikers screaming out of a tent, half dressed in the middle of a snowstorm in the mountains of Russia.  They concluded that something must have terrified Dyatlov and his friends so severely that they feared for their safety if they were to remain where they were.  But where had they gone?  And were any of them still alive so many days after the incident?

Continuing on their search, the rescue expedition headed toward the forest.  The footprints leading away from the tent, which had initially gone in all directions, seemed to converge and lead toward the woods.  Nearly a mile to the northeast, the rescue party came across the bodies of two of the hikers - Yuri Krivonischenko and Yuri Doroshenko.  The bodies were found beneath a cedar tree, and it appeared as though they had tried to light a fire there as well.  Branches were stripped off the tree up to a height of 15 feet, and the hands of at least one of the men were scratched and bloodied, indicating that he had tried to climb up the tree for some reason.  It is unknown whether he was trying to climb the tree to evade someone or something, or to gain a better vantage point from which to view the surrounding area.  Even more baffling was the fact that both men were found naked except for their underpants.

It is known that people suffering from moderate to severe hypothermia (a concept not out of the question for Russia in the middle of winter) sometimes remove clothing, a phenomenon known as paradoxical undressing.  Is this what happened to Krivonischenko and Doroshenko?  I can't imagine they would have been sleeping in their underwear in a Russian blizzard, particularly not in mixed company.  Did they remove their clothing in a hypothermic daze?  Or did their peers survive them and remove their clothing to use to keep warm?  If this was the case, were they still alive now?  

At varying distances between the tent and the cedar tree,  three more bodies were found face down in the snow.  Expedition leader Igor Dyatlov, Zinaida Kolmogorov and Rustem Slobodin were found, in various states of undress, in positions that lead searchers to believe they had been trying to return to the campsite.  Slobodin, it was discovered, had suffered a head injury that resulted in a cracked skull.  Despite his injury, it was concluded that he, like the rest of the hikers' whose bodies were found that day, had died of hypothermia.

The remaining four hikers were nowhere to be found.  As the days passed, hope of finding them alive dwindled.  

It wasn't until May of 1959, when the snow started melting, that the bodies of Alexander Kolevatov, Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolles, Semyon Zolotariov and Lyudmila Dubinina were discovered.  They were in a ravine, under several feet of snow, less than 250 feet away from the cedar tree where the first two bodies were found.  It appeared that they had taken clothing from their fallen friends in an attempt to keep warm.  Perhaps most interesting to the searchers was the camera found around Semyon Zolotariov's neck.  They did think it odd that, in the midst of an emergency, he had fled the tent with his camera but not his boots, but they were hopeful that the camera could provide some answers as to what had come to pass.  Unfortunately, the film inside the camera had extensive water damage and could not provide much information.

Perhaps most disturbing was the state of some of the corpses - Lyudmila Dubinina in particular.  She was missing her tongue, eyes, and part of her lips (Dubinina was reportedly found face-down in a stream and these external injuries were later attributed to putrefaction).  All of the bodies were reported as having a strange orange/brown tan hue to their skin and notably elevated levels of radiation were later detected on some of their clothing.  

It was later determined that six of the nine hikers had died of hypothermia and the remaining three had died from injury.  Thibeaux-Brignolles, Dubinina and Zolotariov all had extensive internal injuries - Thibeaux-Brignolles to his skull and Dubinina and Zolotariov to their chests.  The amount of force that would have been needed to inflict injuries as severe as these was beyond human capability.  The medical examiner likened it to the force from a car accident.  Interestingly, though, the bodies showed little sign of external trauma, further deepening the mystery of what exactly happened to these poor souls that February night.

The diaries and cameras found in the tent told investigators that the fatal event had occurred sometime during the night between February 1st and February 2nd.  Autopsy would later establish that the hikers had died about six to eight hours after their last meal, corroborating the timeline gleaned from the diaries.

There were (and still are) a great many theories circulating as to what happened that fateful night.  Theories from aliens to ghosts to military experiments abound, but the mystery remains today.

It was thought that perhaps the native Mansi tribe had murdered the students, angered by their presence in "their mountains."  This was dispelled, however, by the absence of incoming footprints and by the vehement denial of the Mansi people upon being questioned.  Besides, the tent was cut from the inside and the injuries sustained by Dubinina, Zolotariov and Thibeaux-Brignolles were not inflicted by humans, as earlier ascertained by autopsy.

Another theory that gained some traction was UFO involvement.  Another group of hikers camping that same night, some miles to the south, reported seeing strange orange spheres in the sky to the north, right around where Dyatlov's group would have been.  These lights had been seen before both by civilians and military.  Could aliens be responsible for these bizarre deaths?  That's harder to prove or disprove, but anything is possible.

A third theory, perhaps even less likely than the UFO theory, is that the group was terrorized by the Yeti.  Again, the lack of footprints makes this unlikely (aside from the fact that the existence of the Yeti is unlikely in the first place).  Unless the Russian Yeti can fly, it was probably not him.

A slightly more believable idea that was offered up was that an avalanche, or impending avalanche, had frightened the students out of their tent.  However, there was no evidence that an avalanche had indeed roared into their camp.  The tent was partially covered with snow but not buried.  The footprints were still visible.  It is possible that the group believed they were in imminent danger of an avalanche and cut their way out of the tent, believing it better to have a tent to repair than to be buried inside it beneath feet of snow.  We will never know for sure, but it seems unlikely that something would have led them to believe that an avalanche was looming.

Perhaps the most believable theory is that it was a military experiment that accidentally claimed the lives of these nine skiers.  In the 50s and 60s there were lots of military experiments happening all over the world.  There had been reports of the Russian military testing parachute mines in the general vicinity of Dyatlov's camp around the time of the incident.  Parachute mines are mines dropped from an aircraft attached to a parachute.  They are known to cause injury similar to those sustained by Dubinina, Zolotariov and Thibeaux-Brignolles - catastrophic internal damage without much external damage to show for it.

Lending to the military theory, it is alleged that when the reports finally became available to the public (which wasn't until the 1990s) that there were pieces missing and that the military was being secretive about the whole event.  Militaries are often secretive about things for reasons we cannot know, but speculations abound and of course conspiracy theories are rife.   The reality is that this mystery will likely never be solved entirely.

The events of February 2, 1959 in the Ural Mountains have sparked many debates, captured numerous imaginations, provided the basis for many books and even a major motion picture (Devil's Pass - 2013).  There are as many theories as there are unanswered questions.  

Today, a memorial rock stands on the ridge of Kholat Syakhl.  The spot where the tent stood and where the bodies were found draws tourists to this day.  A memorial statue stands somewhere in a wooded area, with the pictures of the nine skiers on it.  People still leave flowers on their gravestones.  What exactly happened to them is unknown and will probably remain so forever, but these nine students certainly have not been forgotten.  And as long as their story is still told, it is unlikely that they ever will be.

Sources: wikipedia.com, http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-dyatlov-pass-incident

Disneyland/California Pictures!

We hopped on a plane and jetted off to California on New Years Day.  It turned out to be a good move because, in our absence, the Portland Metro area experienced "Snowpocalypse"  and "Icemageddon," which is to say everything was shut down because of a few inches of snow and ice.

Anyway, I took a ton of pictures (and this isn't even all of them!) so be ready for a looooooong picture dump type of post.  Here we go!

Day One - January 1st, 2016

Upon arrival, we rented our cars (one for my parents and sister and one for Corky, Mara and me) and drove to the hotel.  Our hotel was like a 7-10 minute walk from Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks.  I was enamored with the full-length mirror, and proceeded to take a mirror selfie!  Not even ashamed.  It was a flattering mirror!

We decided to go find this particular café for dinner, so we packed up the diaper bag and Mara in the stroller and off we went in search of it.  Mara is such a Grandma's girl and held hands with my mom on the way to dinner.  Soooooooo sweet!

As it turned out, we never did find that café.  So we settled for a different one.  It took an interesting turn when, just after receiving our drinks, the fire alarm went off.  It seems that wherever I go, there are fire drills or actual fires!  It's happened in several hotels.  This café where we ended up was actually in the Grand Californian Hotel, so I guess my hotel fire alarm record still stands, although we weren't staying at this hotel.  It was still a hotel.  The funniest thing was that when we went back there on the last day of the vacation, the alarm went off again!  Unreal.

We went back to the hotel and put Mara to bed, at which time I decided to hit the gym.  How does the saying go?  You can take a fitness instructor away from her classes but you can't keep her out of a gym!  Or something like that.....

Day Two - January 2nd, 2016

Next morning's selfie.  Represent Zumbawear and my favorite flannel.  Grunge Portland Style FOR THE WIN! Lol.

My sister in the entrance to Disneyland.  We were so excited.

After walking around a little bit and getting our bearings, we decided to seek out some rides.  We first happened upon Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which I remembered liking the last time we were there, but they were closed at that time.  (It reopened a few hours later.)  In the meantime, my mom and Corky took Mara on Small World while my dad, my sister and I all went and stood in line for the Matterhorn.  We screamed our heads off of course.  It was awesome.

We also did Splash Mountain.  Why I thought it was a good idea to do a ride where you get wet in January is beyond me.  Needless to say, I was freezing for a good long time after that!  Still fun though.  The picture was hilarious, but I didn't buy it.

After a long day at the park and no nap, Mara was just D-O-N-E and crashed and burned.  We took this photo just a few minutes before Corky and my dad left to take Mara back to the hotel and put her to bed.  We bough sparkly Minnie Mouse ears for my sister and me and a huge goofy Goofy hat with ears for Corky.  I thought it suited him.  :)

After the guys left, we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and then went and got dinner at Jolly Holiday Café (I love Mary Poppins!)  My sister is a macaron fanatic and spied this huge Mickey-shaped macaron with raspberries in it.  I am not a fan of raspberries or macarons so I only had a bite or two and the rest was up to them.  It was pretty, though.

My mom and me posing in front of the lights.

Later that night, my mom offered to hang out in Corky's and my room while Mara slept so we could go back to Disneyland and do some of the rides we didn't get to do earlier.  We went  around 9:30 which was when the nightly fireworks would be going on, in hopes that the lines would be shorter.  We made a beeline for Space Mountain, as that was one of Corky's favorites as a kid and earlier the wait time had been estimated at 2 hours!  It was down to 75 minutes when we got there, and it ended up being only about 40 minutes.  We did Mad Libs on my phone in line to pass the time.

Corky in line.

Me in line.

We're in!

Off he skips!

I remember being about 6 years old the first time I went on Space Mountain and I was PETRIFIED!!!!  When we went on it this time (the first time since then) I could immediately understand why I was so scared.  It's pitch dark, all you can see are little pinpricks of light (stars) and you're flying along a rollercoaster track that you can't see and you have no idea what direction you're going to be going next.  It was so fun, but so intense and over so quickly!

Day Three - January 3rd, 2016

Mara looking cute as always. :)

On the third day we went to California Adventure.  I was SO EXCITED for this because I remember loving some of the rides there, especially California Screamin'' (the rollercoaster.)  The lines must have been really short when we were there last, in 2004, because I can remember my sister and I riding that coaster again and again, probably 6 or 7 times total!  Anyway, the lines were long this time so we went and got Fast Passes for California Screamin'  and then went and ate lunch.  While we killed time, we took Mara to A Bug's Land, the area of the park devoted to the movie A Bug's Life.  My mom, dad and sister took Mara on a ride where they flew in circles inside a giant applesauce box.  Adorable!

My sister and me posing near the line for California Screamin'

Us on the ride right before the take-off.

My sister and Corky wanted to go on Tower Of Terror.  I'm not a fan of freefalling so I got another Fast Pass for California Screamin' instead.  I ended up sitting by this girl who had received a bunch of fast passes from someone else so she gave me one, and I went again!  In total I went on this ride 5 times this day.  The last ride I asked the attendant if I could sit in the front.  He agreed and I had the BEST ride up there! 

We went to Tony Roma's for dinner.  My sister loves ribs but was unimpressed.  Mara had fun running around the restaurant, making friends with anyone and everyone and throwing her macaroni on the floor.  Here she is drinking her milk out of her sippy cup.

Day Four - January 4th, 2016

On our last day in California we went to Universal Studios Hollywood.

I wore my Minnie Ears Hoodie.

We got Front Of Line passes which allowed us to skip lines for everything.  It was more expensive (by about $50) but pretty worth it considering waiting in line with a cranky toddler is NO FUN.

My parents, my sister and Corky all went to a Special Effects show that I knew would be too scary for Mara.  I remembered having done it the last time we were there and I knew it involved loud noises and fire.  So we let them go on ahead and we went and did our own thing.  We walked all around the upper lot and discovered the Minions area.  We decided to go on a ride just the two of us.  It was pretty much like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland except it was bugs instead of elephants.  Mara was pretty unfazed.

We continued to walk around for a while and then found a spot in the shade to hang out and share a snack of cheerios.  Mara was cheesin' so hard for the camera!

CHEEEESE!

We went on the Studio Tour, which was cool but Mara was so sleepy by this point that she was begging to nurse.  So I just nursed her and she fell asleep still latched on.  This wasn't a problem at all until we entered the earthquake simulation.  The tram was bouncing up and down like crazy... while Mara was still latched on.  OUCH!  

Perhaps my favorite part of the day was when Corky, my sister and I went on The Mummy ride.  This was the only time we did buy the picture.  It was SO HILARIOUS.  Out of respect for my pride and my sister's pride, I'll not post it.  But the picture is so funny it makes me laugh every time I look at it.

This was the 2nd night we went to that café and the fire alarm went off.  My sister was posing with her fancy (virgin) drink at the table while we waited for our food.

I couldn't resist a little bodychecking in that glorious mirror!

Over all it was an awesome trip!  I really can't wait to take Mara back there when she's older so she can go on more rides and do more stuff.  It was really fun and I'm so glad we went!  I needed the break so badly.