California June, Part 1: Disneyland

On our first day in Southern California, daddy and I went to Disneyland.  Mommy had to work and would be arriving late that night, so we had the whole day to spend at the park.  Good thing, too, because we had so much fun we did not want to leave!  Disneyland has always been special to daddy, and I can see why.  To delve into multiple realms of fantasy, to be fully engaged in such a festive and well managed environment; you cant help but smile.

We went straight to Fantasyland first, riding Mr Toad's, Dumbo, the Tea Cups, and Alice in Wonderland before I insisted on getting my first set of mouse ears (see above).  The marketing geniuses at Disney added a tower in the park in honor of Rapunzel, which of course made me giddy:

Next, we rode  Its A Small World.  I was excited to spot Jesse the cowgirl:

and here's a video of the ride:

We spent the afternoon in Adventureland and New Orleans Square.  Daddy's favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean, but he wasn't sure if I could handle it.  So we started on Pirate's Lair (the island formerly known as Tom Sawyer's), to see how I did with pirates and skeletons.  Turns out, I couldn't get enough!  Like I told daddy, I dont think skeletons are scary - skeletons are normal anatomy.  Ghosts, however, are scary.  We skipped the haunted mansion.

One of daddy's favorite birthday celebrations as a kid was when he and some friends went to Disneyland and spent the entire afternoon running around Tom Sawyer's island.  We crawled through the same tunnels and lookouts (now modified for the pirate theme):

After our adventure on the island and a little lunch, I felt ready for Pirates of the Caribbean and asked daddy to go on it.  I was a little scared at first, clutching daddy as we entered the dark part of the ride.  But as soon as the first waterfall was done, I was laughing and smiling.  What a thrill!  When we were done, my first words were: "lets do that again!"  So we did.  Again and Again.  4 times!

After that warm up, Splash Mountain was a piece of cake.  And I even rode in the front!
And here's a clip from the Jungle Cruise:

After almost 10 hours at the park, we headed out to Knott's Berry Farm and picked up a kick-butt chicken dinner.  We took it to mommy when she arrived at the airport that night.  On to Alisal in Solvang!

A California Kind of June

Hello everyone!  I just got back from 10 days in California.  I went to Disneyland, Alisal, and Mammoth.  It was awesome!  I've got tons of great photos and videos and I'll post them over the next few days.  Here's just a sample of the best:

Cedar Ridge Winery

A new winery opened late 2009 near the Cedar Rapids airport.  It is about 15 min from our house.  On Friday nights, they have live music and a selection of meats and pizza to eat.  I like to go with daddy so I can dance to the music!  Here's a video from our last night out:

Also, we saw an exhibit on money at the Iowa Children's museum.  I look good on a bill!

My 4th Birthday!

Yesterday was my and Gran's birthday!  My friends at school made this really cool poster for me!

 I brought Hawkeye black and gold cupcakes to school to share with my friends and they all made brithday cards in craft time. 

Thank you, Gran, for all the cool pirate stuff!  She gave me a ship with little pirate figures and a treasure chest with pirate gold and a pirate flag.  Daddy and I played pirates all afternoon; he was the captain!

Thank you mommy and daddy for my first bike!  It is pink and purple, my favorite colors!  And it has a basket that can hold my stuffed animal doggie.  I rode it to the garden and back.  The pedals take some getting used to, but I like it.

We had a family dinner at Orchard Green.  I am sorry that Gran and Granmimi couldn't be there but we had an awesome dinner.  Here I am blowing out the candles!

Fun in Chicago

As promised, here are photos from the family trip to Chicago last week.  Mommy had a medical meeting, so daddy and I went to play while mommy sat in boring meetings all day.  Dad-dad and Uncle Steve were also there, so that was fun.

In matching owl jammies, mommy and I cuddled and watched the Royal wedding.  Of course we needed to wear our princess crowns!  We all loved Duchess Katherine's dress and the use of greenery in Westminster Abbey.  Very beautiful!

Daddy and I spent all day Friday at the Science and Industry Museum.  He describes it as "Disneyland for science geeks".  I was just happy to be out playing around with daddy.  Daddy was just giddy with all the exhibits and kept hugging me and saying how much fun he was having and how glad he was I was there.  Cool, huh?

A few years ago, the museum built an enclosure for their U-505 submarine captured during World War II.  It was VERY impressive!

The porthole makes a comfortable seat!

Not a bad place to sleep for someone my size.  But the sailors on the sub were a bit bigger than me . . .

Let's see what's for dinner in the sub's galley!

After crawling around the sub, I had to get a snack.  So I buried my face into a cupcake!

They have an airplane hanging in the main rotunda area.  So we had a seat and pretended we were flying to Los Angeles.  We were sitting in Sophie class, of course!

Finally, they have an exhibit exploring the movement of spheres in liquid and gas mediums.  At least that how daddy described it.  I just thought it was a fountain and a playground!

On Friday night, we went out to dinner with Dad-dad, mommy, and Uncle Steve.  Here I am being escorted by my "entourage" 

Ok- this is wicked cool.  The Chicago Children's museum has a MASSIVE climbing gym that is made up like ship's rigging.  It spans over three floors!  No kidding!  I have seen it before but I never had the courage to do it from the bottom (my first trip to the Children's museum is recorded here: http://sophiehouse.blogspot.com/2009/12/chicago-shopping-trip.html ).  This time, I DID IT!   I CLIMBED THE WHOLE THING!  YAY!  The following are a couple of photos of me in the rigging.

Thank you, mommy and daddy, for taking me to Chicago.  When are we coming back?

Tulips!

We just got back from Chicago and I have some GREAT photos from Daddy and I at the Science and Industry Museum and the Chicago Children's Museum.  But first I want to post some photos of our tulip garden.  We got back from our trip and found that tulips are at peak RIGHT NOW!  YAY!

Daffodils!

 Our daffodil are out and they peaked late last week!  They are so beautiful!  They are daddy's favorite flower, but I like them very much, too!

 These are in front of our house

 These are in the fairy's garden in the forest

 This is a nice bunch near the front of our yard by the street.

 But then we had a late snowstorm on Saturday!  On April 16th!

The snow was gone by the afternoon, but we got a little reminder of winter.  I thought the daffodils would be devistated, but they're mostly OK.  The magnolia blooms vanished, however,  Oh well.  The tulips are beginning to bloom so I'll write again when we have pictures of those!