Category Archives: The Travels

Children’s Halloween Parade

22 Saturday Oct 2011

Posted by in The Adventures of Little T, The Family, The Travels

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We have a town nearby that reminds me of the town from The Gilmore Girls. We spend a lot of time there going to farmer’s markets, family-owned restaurants, and coffee shops. Big T and I dream of retiring there someday. We imagine ourselves rolling hand in hand in our electronic wheelchairs, making our way to their little movie theater.

Today they had their children’s Halloween Parade. Speaking of that, Big T and I had a gigantic communication mix up this morning. I’ve been working on getting my photography business running and taking care of Little T, so it’s been kind of crazy and I’ve been busier than usual. I guess I didn’t explain our schedule very well, and Big T had it in his head that we were going to Disneyland instead of 10 minutes down the street to the town next door. I kept wondering why he was putting so much thought into packing Little T’s lunch, asking if we’d be back in time to go to dinner with his friend, etc. It all made sense when I turned the other way in our car and he asked why we weren’t on our way to Disneyland. It blew our minds, we had completely different ideas in our heads as to how this day was supposed to be. Whoa.

Here was the beginning of the children’s parade. Little T knew something fun was about to happen and we couldn’t stop this kid from wandering towards all the action!

I stayed out of the parade so I could snap pictures of Big T and my little snugglebug. Little T started out walking, but he soon decided that Daddy’s shoulders were much better.

Here’s a few of the other cute costumes:

Even the animals were in the Halloween spirit:

Towards the end of the parade, we stepped out and decided to watch the band behind us. Theo loved the drummers the best. Do you think we may have a future band geek on our hands? I write that lovingly as a from a former band geek. :p

And then the Inland Pacific Ballet came by. I can’t believe it’s almost Nutcracker time.

We finished the day at the Last Drop Cafe. Our favorite coffee shop, and not just because they have Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’ve watched Little T grow up over there.

You see? It really is like an episode of the Gilmore Girls. Much better than an episode of I Love Lucy, which is how my life usually feels. 😉

The Happiest Place on Earth

27 Tuesday Sep 2011

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There was a time when Disneyland was my second home, or maybe my first home-if you count the hours I spent there. I worked over in Fantasyland and met my dearest friends while I was working for “The Mouse”. On my last day of work, I sobbed as I walked to my locker for the last time. Merlin from “The Sword in the Stone” saw me crying and asked why I was so sad. I told him it was my last day, pointed to a trashcan, and said I was going to miss everything-including that trashcan. He gave me a Medallion (usually reserved for children who pull the sword from the stone), and said he hoped that I had many adventures ahead of me. Now I have the medallion hanging on my dresser and use it to entertain Little T while I change his diaper. Diaper changing is an adventure in my book. I loved working there and was sad when I had to leave. My housemate/Little T’s Godmomma/best-friend, still works at the park for Disney Fairytale Weddings. I like to live through her and pretend it’s also my job to go wine tasting and sample cupcakes.

My friends like to take a trip to Disneyland during the holidays to see the decorations. It’s the best time to visit because it’s beautiful, the weather is cool, and the crowds are low.

Here’s a few pictures from our trip…

The parade:

The teacups:

The Challenge Trail

M, who has been my best friend since the day we bonded in the employee parking lot over bad boyfriend breakups:

J, my other best friend who I met when we asked her to play Tinkerbell for a spoof the Cast Members were performing. Eat your heart out, Tinkerbell.

MIA: my friend S, who I met while eating the most amazing Indian food I’ve ever had. She couldn’t come and we missed her.

And California Adventure at Night:

My favorite time in the park was at night, after all of the guests had left. I liked to listen to the music and walk through the empty streets of Disneyland. They’re stricter about these things now, but back in the day we’d play teacup basketball, do matterhorn races, take tours of the rides, and tell ghost stories in the Haunted Mansion. When I think about working at the park, those are some of the things I miss the most. Those special days where you’d get a phone call from someone after hours who’d say something completely unexpected like, “Hey, you want to play synchronized Dumbos?”

It wouldn’t be the fair without…

04 Sunday Sep 2011

Posted by in The Family, The Travels

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A carousel ride for Little T:

A new food that was begging to be fried:

Wagon travel:

Giggles over daddy’s jokes:

Bike riders in the fair parade:

Goofy husbands who get excited about portals:

Grandmas that love baby snuggles, and babies that love Grandma necklaces:

Pure fun. 🙂

P.S. If you’re liking what you read, please give the link below a quick click.

Thank you~Momma J

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Belated Birthday Party Post

28 Sunday Aug 2011

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My Dad and Step Mom had Little T’s birthday party at their home in the Central Valley a few weeks ago. Little T always has a great time when he’s around his family and cousins, and it turned out to be a very nice day.

Papa G and Nonnie T took care of the food, while Big T and I were in charge of the decorations. I wanted to throw a themed party, but the decorations were a little last minute because we didn’t have time to organize. I took an early trip to the Dollar Store and grabbed some balloons in Little T’s favorite colors.

Birthday Balloons

I cut out some orange stars to scatter on the table and decorated with some other things I found at the Dollar Store. Big T was impressed at my star making skillz. That’s what happens when you’re a former kindergarten teacher. Do you think I can put star making on my resume?

Big T and I ran out of time to decorate and had to call Aunt D and Uncle T to come and watch Little T while we set up with my Dad and Step Mom. Little T was asleep when everyone arrived for the party. He was really startled when he woke up and was surrounded by people. It’s sooooooo hard to be a baby.

When he woke up, Ro was there to give him a birthday kiss. He said, “Hey, Ro. I’m not old enough for this stuff yet.” Then she told him to get over it and gave him another one.

Speaking of Ro, they were up to all sorts of shenanigans in Papa G and Nonnie T’s playroom. Ro decided this toy was for climbing.

Little T agreed.

After they played for a bit, it was time for the birthday cake. Little T had no idea what was going on with the whole singing and the candle stuff, but when we presented him with a slice of chocolate cake, he decided he was down with the whole thing. He had two slices.

Little T’s favorite thing to do was climb the stairs and his older cousins were there to help him. I love how one of his birthday balloons is stuck to T’s leg in this picture. I also love how he’s wearing less and less clothes as the day went on.

When he was done stair crawling, he practiced walking with Uncle J.

After the party, I slipped into a food coma because Papa G and Nonnie T had a dangerous amount of good food.

Little T decided to come to my rescue, so he sat on my face and brought me to my senses with his stinky diaper.

His plan worked. Thanks baby, Momma knew you’d be there when she needed it.

P.S. Change your diaper, Little T.

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San Francisco Trip

24 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by in The Family, The Travels, vegan

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I love San Francisco. I love the history, the weather, the culture, and the food. I lovveeeeeee the food. Before I start posting about the food we ate, I should clear something up. The person I was staying with asked me how on earth I eat so much without gaining a ton of weight. I wish I could say I’m one of those people who can eat whatever they want and not suffer the consequences, but that’s simply not the case! When I’m home, I follow a low-fat strict vegetarian diet with no dairy. When I go on vacation, I splurge. When we travel I try to stay in places with a kitchen so I don’t go too crazy (because I always feel gross when I verge too far from my routine), but occasionally on vacations or special dinners, I eat.

A lot.

This was one of those trips.

Okay, so back to SF. Big T told me we were going to have to take public transportation to save some taxi $$$. I panicked as I imagined hauling Little T, the car seat, the stroller, and our luggage around. After a good hour of mulling it over, I decided we could pack everything we needed in two backpacks so we’d only be carrying the car seat and the stroller. To tell you the truth, it was kind of a fun challenge!

We’d planned an evening plane ride so Little T would sleep, but he was really excited when we got to the airport and didn’t sleep until the plane was in the air. Once we were in the air, we were both happy to get snuggle time and Little T fell asleep.

He's such a little snuggle-bug.

On the airport, we utilized our electronic gadgets to get us through the short trip. Oh technology, how I do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

1. Watching an episode of “Modern Family on our iphone.

2. Reading “The Help” on my kindle.

3. Knowing exactly when our bus was coming.

4. Landing and being able to search for coffee.

The next night, Big T and I had a date at Millennium. It’s our favorite vegan restaurant because it serves unapologetic vegan food. By that I mean, there isn’t “fake meat” in sight. It’s pricey, so this was only our second visit and the third probably wont come for a while, but it’s always worth it!

We ordered a White Russian to drink.

For an appetizer we had fried oyster mushrooms with a carrot salad and a lemon dressing.

Fried Oyster Mushrooms

For my entree, I had this pastry that had a savory flavor and was filled with potatoes:

Big T had a grilled portabella mushroom with risotto, and for dessert I had chocolate lava cake and he had a berry cobbler.

The next day, I managed to convince Big T to travel out to Berkeley. The reason? I wanted Cinnamon Rolls, and I wanted them bad! We went to Cinnaholic, a vegan cinnamon roll shop. This is the way it works over there. First, you get a gourmet cinnamon rolls. Next, you pick a flavor of frosting. They have about 20 different flavors and we were feeling so overwhelmed! After you decide on the frosting, they let you pick a topping. I decided on the plain frosting with cookie dough. Big T had mint with oreos, and the helpful lady at the counter (who was so friendly, we could have stayed and talked with her for an hour), said her favorite was lemon frosting and raspberry. I’m going to have to try that next time.

Cinnamon roll from Cinnaholic Bakery

We took the BART over to Mission. Little T had a great time sitting with us and taking the BART and the bus and shouted gleefully at people entering and exiting. I think he was saying hello and goodbye in baby babble.

Little T is a subway pro.

Mission is bright and colorful, with amazing murals all over the place. Here was my favorite building:

A Building in Mission

We went to a Mexican food restaurant that has a lot of vegan options. Amazingly, we found room to eat, even after the cinnamon rolls.

Ordering lunch in Mission

On the way home, we stopped at the Stern Grove Music Festival. The concert was beautiful. We made our way to the side area so Little T could run around without being disruptive. It was a nice end to a fun day.

Stern Grove

Practicing Walking at Stern Grove

We were sad when our trip came to an end, but we were also glad to have a few weekends at home. Our yard is getting a bit overgrown and we have animals to snuggle with. I also have a few projects at home that I’m looking forward to getting started on.

Big T with all of our things at the bus stop.

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It’s the little things…

22 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by in Quick Snippets, The Family, The Travels

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I’m amused. After spending a week researching things for Little T to do in San Francisco, it turns out the best place to be was our friend’s house. Go figure.

Here were Little T’s favorite activities…

Playing with the foot massager:

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Shouting and hearing his echo in the hallway:

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Walking around and around the spinning chair:

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Admiring the colors on their rainbow blanket:

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And shouting at us through the bars of their Ikea lamp.

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Little T should write a SF travel guide for babies.

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Southwest airlines makes me grumpy.

21 Sunday Aug 2011

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Our experience as a transracial family has been extremely positive so far. The only time we’ve been made to feel uncomfortable is when we fly Southwest Airlines. They always make a big deal out of seeing Little T’s birth certificate. Once, the airline stewardess even went as far as to say, “how do we know he’s really your child?” She demanded to see his birth certificate, AND his adoption papers. Excuse me, but it isn’t your job to play airline detective. I looked up their policy on showing birth certificates. It’s true that they need to verify a child’s age if they are under two, because they need to make sure they are young enough to qualify for a lap seat. So the reason for showing birth certificates is proving he’s young enough to ride on a lap, NOT to prove that he is our child. The airline stewardess was way out of line and it upsets me when I wondered what Little T would think if he was old enough to understand.

Ultimately, we need to get on the plane so we hold our tongue and show proof of his age, even though we know we’re being singled out because our family looks different. But THIS time, we were irked more than usual. This is because when we were in line, the family in front of us had a child that was the same age as Little T and they were also flying with their baby on their lap, but they were not asked to show a birth certificate. It left us wondering, why don’t they ask everyone this question if it’s airline policy? My best guess is that they saw the video of my husband dancing and decided he looked suspicious. But in all seriousness, what would you conclude if this kept happening to your transracial family?

I don’t know. Maybe it’s nothing. I try to think of explanations or reasons that we would keep getting singled out, but it’s just not sitting well with us.

Outsmarted again.

14 Sunday Aug 2011

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So here’s the thing, with all the traveling we’ve been doing, Big T and I’ve noticed that Little T has been experiencing what some might call separation anxiety. With our home.

Every time we get back from vacation and walk through the door, we watch as Little T screams in delight and proceeds to crawl ten laps around the kitchen, down the hallway, and through the living room. He shouts with glee at the cats as he passes them by. The cats, of course, return his gaze with disgust. My guess is they were hoping they were finally rid of the dude.

This excitement is a major issue when we return home late at night. Little T gets so worked up, that it’s impossible to get him back to sleep. Last night when we got home at midnight from a trip to my dad’s, I sat in the driveway with the car running while Big T went inside and made Little T’s bottle, said hello to the animals so they wouldn’t be loud, and got Little T’s crib ready. Then we tiptoed with Little T into the bedroom, laid him down to sleep with his bottle, and silently high-fived each other as he drifted into la la land. Success!

Big T went to get the luggage, and I sat there while Little T finished his bottle and made sure he was really asleep. Once I was certain he was dreaming of bottles and banging drums, I started to quietly creep out of the room. Just then, Little T shot up like a bullet with his eyes wide and his arms over his head, and shouted as enthusiastically as he could, in what can only be a tribute to the musician by the same name, “GAGAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!”. So yeah, we couldn’t get him to sleep until 2:00AM.

I think we’ll aim for getting home during the day from now on.