day seven - last day :(

This has been such a great vacation. It's the very first one that I didn't wait to go home! I wanted to stay longer! And I have definitely learned to appreciate James a lot more during this trip - I love him even more now! Our first stop today was at the local Safeway (surprise, surprise!). Again they didn't have already cut up mangoes so we picked up mango salsa instead among other goodies. Our plan was to visit Kids Space Museum in Pascedena today. When researching this place, we read that it will be much warmer than the city and it definitely was! This museum was unreal. There was a climbing structure looking like a small jungle with large leaves as the climbing platforms. There was also a giant ant hole that you can crawl from the basement all the way up to the second floor which I tried! It was pretty cool. I tried first to see how it worked and when I brought Matthew down, he didn't want to go in the hole. There was also a huge easel that was nature themed with running water coming from the top so when you paint on it, the paint only stayed on there for a few seconds. There was also a small sink with an air dryer which Matthew got freaked out with. We then went through the court yard with 6 long water fountain type things (hahahah I can't describe it any better!) It would sprout water up in a rhythmic pattern. Novel idea. We walked through to get to the indoor space that's like a gymboree type room where only children under 3 can play and they also offered story time and then an hour later a music time. We stayed for both as we met a little buddy (almost one year old) between the activities. He often visits this place with his grandfather, Gary as Gary got to babysit him on Tuesdays. Gary just recently retired and was familiar with Vancouver as he visits often because of family. Scottie, the little buddy, was very cute and Matthew got along with him well. We even had lunch together after music time. After lunch, we stayed to play with the water while Scottie went home for a nap. Oh yeah, before going over to the toddler side, a camera crew and reporter from CNN asked if we'd mind being interviewed on why we came for a visit today. We reluctantly agreed. It wasn't too bad though, I think I didn't look as scared and stage fright as I thought. But we'll see if the footage ever gets aired. Since Matthew napped on the way to Kids Space and on the way back, we decided that it was good enough for the day (an hour each way) unless we saw signs of him needing another nap. After we went back to the hotel to drop off/pick up a few things, we walked down to Third Street again. We walked (even Matthew!) all the way through Bloomingdales, the courtyard and up one block and back of Third Street (this walk would probably haven taken only 10 minutes to do, but at Matthew's pace, it took us about an hour). We bumped into some really nice locals who was feeding their newborn. They really enjoyed Matthew's company as he entertained them with his charm. They told us of a great Mexican place upstairs on the roof so of course we had to try it! Before we took the elevator up, Matthew and I went into Kitson while James went to the Nike store. Matthew was rolling the little Hop Skip suitcase around the store when all of a sudden he spotted an Elmo doll! He excitedly screamed out his name, dropped the suitcase and ran over to grab him. Then he wouldn't let go. He even left the store with it at one point! James finally broke down and agreed to buy it for him. So now ever since we bought him, he's gone with Matthew everywhere. The recommended Mexican restaurant had happy hour while we went. This meant bottomless chips and your choice of bottomless guacamole. It was only okay but James loved it. After dinner, we went inside to the food court to get mommy a hot tea. While I ordered, James and Matthew played in the play area that was a newly design play structure of a boat. A reporter from New York Times interviewed us about it and said that the article will soon be published... We went back to our hotel to put Matthew down early as we had a flight to catch the next day. So sad to leave. We returned to Vancouver mid afternoon the next day. Matthew was very good on the plane. He played for a bit, had lunch and then took a nap. Yay for me as I really wanted a nap too! Hopefully soon we'll get to go on another fun family holiday!

day six - Aidan's place and a looooong stroll...

Today we went to Aidan's place. It's a really, really big park that's wheel chair accessible. There's three play areas plus one big sand pit with a climbing structure in it. Aidan's place was created for a boy named Shane that was bound to a wheelchair. Unfortunately he passed away so this was built in memory of him. We didn't do too much today but it was a super long day! We played at the park till lunch, had lunch and then headed over to Rodeo Drive hoping to nap Matthew as we walked. It was just after 1pm and Matthew did not look tired at all. Rodeo drive was not fun so we quickly walked up and down the two streets and headed over to Melrose Place. When we were in Disneyland, we met a local there that told us about a cheap restaurant that was worth trying and it just so happened to be in the Melrose/Hollywood area, or so we thought. We found the restaurant and planned to park around there. The plan was to walk down to Melrose (it looked very close to the restaurant on the map), then we would walk back up to Hollywood Blvd and walk around there. The map was very deceiving. We ended up walking over 10km that day but definitely it was enjoyable as it was a very nice day. Matthew also ended up sleeping close to 3 hours so he didn't wake up until we got to Hollywood Blvd. One of the places that we wanted to visit was the Mann's Chinese Theatre. To our disappointment it was closed because Johnny Depp's new movie was doing its premiere. There were so many people there and also many that dressed up as Johnny Depp. We walked back towards the Griddle Cafe (where our car was parked). We ended up eating at a Chipotle's instead as James had a Mexican craving. I must admit that I enjoyed my meal very much. Matthew seemed to like the spicy dish as well and that's what he consumed for dinner. We went back to the hotel and called it a night.

day five - happy 20 months!

For Matthew's 20 month mark, we decided to go visit the LA Zoo as they had a special Sesame Street theme with appearances from Grover, Ernie, and Bert. James lined up for the photo ops right when we entered the Zoo while Matthew and I checked out some animals nearby. The line up was about an hour long but it didn't seem that long as we got to explore some of the park by foot and it took Matthew a while to go from exhibit to exhibit as he got distracted by everything going around. As our turn approached, Matthew and I headed back to James so Matthew could sit in his stroller for some lunch that we had previously bought from Safeway. Surprise, surprise that James googled the closet Safeway to our hotel so we made it a routine every morning we were in Santa Monica to visit and pick up some breakfast sandwiches for the morning, pre-made sandwiches for lunch, and then some deli meat, cheese, crackers or bread and fruits for Matthew. It was actually a great idea on James' part to plan this as it saved us time and money with buying food before we did our excursions for the day and it was definitely a more healthy choice than what was offered at the places we visited. Matthew was very happy to see Grover and ran to him to give him a hug. After our one picture (we were only allowed to take one picture), we strolled him to see some animals in the kid's area. I'm not sure why this section was specifically for kids as the animals we saw weren't common at all. Matthew was happy when we first got there, but then almost immediately he became super fussy so it was our sign to put him down for his afternoon nap. He slept for a good two hours as James and I explored all the cool animals in the zoo. We saw elephants, tigers, chimpanzees, zebras, giraffes, and a whole bunch of other animals before Matthew woke up. This zoo is insanely huge! We stopped by the playground that they had in the Zoo and played there for quite a while before we left to go back near our hotel. This time we tried a different Korean Taco trunk that wasn't as tasty as the first. The first truck that we ate at last time was closed for some reason. We then stopped to watch some entertainers in the park before heading down to the Pier. We walked around and then head back to the hotel. It was a very tiring day as we were in the sun almost all day. I got burnt, and got a really ugly purse tan! It's gonna look lovely when I'm in Vegas next week! When Matthew went down for his sleep, I went downstairs again to try and attempt to get free wifi. Woohoo, it worked! We were given free wifi for the rest of the trip! I pulled the face time card with grandparents and they gave it to us.

day four - first day into the city

We moved to our other hotel today that James Price lined. It's the Sheraton Delfina located in Santa Monica. It was so nice! Great work, James! I was very, very pleasantly surprised. Clean, modern, my kind of hotel! And I think James was happy that I was overly satisfied as he probably got sick of me complaining about the dumpy hotel we were at previously. After doing laundry at Crappy Inn, I mean the Candy Cane Inn, we went straight to Skirball Cultural Centre. It's part of the Jewish Community Centre. Skirball, was a Jewish lady that dedicated her time in creating a place for children. This place was quite impressive. Right as we entered, the lady behind the counter was very helpful and when asked where we are traveling from, she got so excited as she used to travel to Vancouver every other year for a family vacation. She directed us where to go but we decided to grab lunch at the restaurant in the centre before heading to the Noah's Ark area. As we entered Noah's Ark, the lady who greeted us informed us that everything within reach was free to touch. This place was divided into three sections: cause and effect area where the kids can turn things to make them move, the interactive area where the kids can do imaginary play and also climb on the climbing structure (I got stuck at one point!), the third part was for arts and crafts and for story time. Matthew and I made a voodoo doll in the arts and crafts room and then when storytime came, he plopped himself in the front row. It was very cute. We also went upstairs on the rooftop to dig in the archeological area for some fossils. Again, this place was pretty cool. After checking into the Sheraton, we did our 10 minute stroll to the Pier and this was when Matthew got his late afternoon nap. We were thinking he'd fall asleep in the car but didn't and seemed okay without a nap. But since he was getting a wee bit fussy, we put him down and he went down no problem. We walked through Bloomingdales and oh man oh man! It's heaven to me! Right when we entered, I was surrounded by beautiful purses by Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Burberry, Tory Burch, Rachel Zoe...the list goes on and on...But since this trip was all about Matthew, James didn't plan any free time for mommy to shop :( I only got to cruise by as they all whispered my name, taunting me to touch each and one of them... After leaving all those beautiful purses, we walked down the ramp to the Pier but since it was on the dock, the ground was quite bumpy as we strolled Matthew for his nap. We decided to visit the Pier after he woke as we didn't want the bumps to wake him up so back up the hill we went. We stopped off at the first food truck we saw. It sold tacos, Korean style. It was tasty and cheap. I think it was $2.50 for a taco. We tried a chicken and beef one. Matthew woke up by the time we finished walking on Third Street, a Robson type street with shops. James saw Johnny's Burgers as we strolled and said that it was one of the restaurants he wanted to try so again, we had burgers! I finally found a cheap sweater that I would potentially wear again. I've been looking to buy an extra layer since Disneyland. LA wasn't as warm as I thought so I barely packed anything warm. The sweaters in Disneyland were way too

tacky and expensive. And since Scrooge, aka James, came on this trip he discouraged my shopping habit. I merely got away with a matching t-shirt for Matthew and I, and a couple of souvenirs for my teachers and Matthew. My purse strings were tied too tightly... We got back to the hotel to put the little guy down. Afterwards, I attempted to ask for free wifi as this hotel only provided complimentary wifi in the lobby. I got denied...twice...boo!!!

day three - last day at Disneyland

Today we went to California Adventures. There was a line but definitely not as long as the Disneyland one. This side was mostly rides. It's incredible how big these parks are, I wonder how much their property tax is?!?! Our plan today was to walk around California Adventures and then go back to Disneyland to get our Dole Pineapple drinks and more bacon wrapped asparagus...yum! We weren't planning on having lunch earlier than 11:00am but then we walked by a stand that was selling turkey legs. A whole turkey leg; something that wasn't a hamburger! Woo-hoo! The three of us munched on it and got pretty full but James still managed to down a corn dog! We spent a good 30 minutes at these steps that Matthew couldn't pull himself away. He's quite into walking up and down steps and then once he gets to the last step, he likes to "jump" off of it. His jump is quite funny as he bends his knees and gets down quite low and then extends his body to only quickly step off the step one foot at a time instead of landing on both feet. We then lined up to take a picture with Mickey Mouse. To our surprise, Matthew ran up to him and hugged him. Then we went to the "It's a Bug's Life" area and rode on the rides there. James and I didn't like those rides. A lot of spinning around but Matthew enjoyed them. The nice thing about going to places where it's full of kids is that there are other little munchkins around to entertain each other while waiting in line. We also went to the carnival area to play some of the games there. For the record, I LET James win at my game - ski ball, so he got the credit in winning Matthew a little Bulls eye doll that Matthew lost a couple days later at the LA Zoo :(. We went back to Disneyland when Matthew went down for his afternoon nap. As the line ups for a picture with Minnie Mouse and Pluto were short, James and I decided to line up to take the pictures. Pluto was very nice. He saw that Matthew was sleeping in his stroller after we took our picture and went up to him, lifted his sun shade and posed for a picture with him. What a nice doggie! This night, Matthew woke up about three times right when we put him down and cried a bit. The little guy is sick :(

Day two of seven - first full day at the happiest place on earth

We arrived at Disneyland around 9:30am to join in on the 30 minute long line to get into Disneyland. James had purchased a three day hopper pass that allowed us to have access for Disneyland, California Adventures and Downtown Disneyland. With a tip from my bro, we used the first two days for Disneyland and then waited till the weekend (Friday) to go to California Adventures as he said Disneyland will be much less busy on weekdays. Indeed he was right. Most of the line up times for rides were approximately 20 minutes long which apparently is nothing compared to when it's peak season which could be an estimated 60 minute line per ride! We learned about Fast Pass at the end of our trip. We thought we had to pay for this addition but now we know that if you go to the ticket booth for each ride, it will issue you a time to come back which you then line up in a shorter line up for the ride. There's no additional fee. We'll do this next time. The first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean. James ensured that it was a safe ride for Matthew and I (who hates any sort of dips/roller coaster type rides). After 15 years of being with me, you'd think James would know my hate for these kinds of rides. I reluctantly lined up for this ride even though I had a feeling that both Matthew and I wouldn't enjoy it. The good thing was that there was barely a line up for this ride as the park just opened. We hopped onto the boat, and got comfy. Matthew started whining quietly as the boat ride started and it was getting darker and darker...then splash! A big dip! Matthew then whined loudly and I was bickering at James for picking this ride right when another big splash and another bigger dip came! Oh boy, was I pissed! Not only am I terrified of this ride, I'm trying to sing twinkle, twinkle little star to calm my little toddler without losing sight of the fact that I'm pissed at James for suggesting this ride! Finally, after what seemed like a 30 minute ride, we were off! At this point, I had taken James off the duty of choosing rides for the rest of the day. Then James excitedly encouraged us to go on the Winnie the Pooh honey adventure which was right next to the last ride. As much as I hate waiting in lines, I didn't care that others were hurrying passed us to line up as I stopped and quizzed the ride attendant of what we can expect on this ride. After my interrogation, we hoped on. Matthew was a bit scared as most of the ride was loud and dark. Poor little guy, we must have traumatized him! After this ride, we decided to go on the rides that were outdoors to determine what the little guy likes. And indeed we figured it out right away - outdoor rides where he can see what's happening is more his speed. We went on the Dumbo ride, Madhatter Tea Cup ride, the carousel, and the train ride that took us all around the park. He's very big on trains or what he likes to call it - "choo-choos". We also went on the Toy Story ride which was under repair the previous day. This ride was indoors where you get a gun and got to shoot at things. Matthew didn't enjoy it as much as it was inside and loud. We watched the 7:00pm parade and had dinner on the side lines - burgers again. Surprise, surprise as we've only been here for two days and I've already consumed two burgers. Matthew really enjoyed this parade and wanted to get up and dance. He was very good at finishing his dinner and then asking to get out of his stroller so he can bop to the music. After the parade, we went on the carousel again before we headed home. Again Matthew went down no problem.

three's company!

Vacations are always fun. Different places to go to, different things to see. This was our first family vacation with just us three. We got up bright and early on Wednesday (May 2). 8am was our flight out to LA so we woke up our little travel buddy at 5:30am and quickly got him ready. Luckily he went to bed easy the night before at around 6:30pm without a fuss so he could get maximum sleep. We bypass the customs line with our niffy Nexus passes and proceeded to pick up my last steep tea for the week. Matthew has proven to be a great traveler. He napped most of the time on the plane and woke up quite happy when we landed in LA at around 11:30am. We then went to pick up our ride and went straight to Candy Cane Inn where we called home for a few days. We chose this place because it was in walking distance to Disneyland. (Note to self for the next time we visit - for approximately the same price we could live in Downtown Disney) After checking in, we walked across the street to this little Mexican joint. This was the start of our Mexican and burger diet for the week. Yay, lucky me...but James was stoked! We finally got to Disneyland, just in time for Matthew's afternoon nap. Unfortunately the first time he set foot (or should I say set wheel as he was in a stroller) he was asleep :(. Too bad, but when he woke he was super alert, turning his this way and that to see all the exciting things

Disneyland had to offer. Before this trip, I had called ahead to try to make dinner reservations to Goofy's Kitchen as we were told it was a must do while we were there. It was (of course) a very kid friendly buffet eatery that served very kid friendly foods such as peanut butter and jelly pizzas, and mac n cheese pizzas as well as this was the one Disney themed restaurant that had the most characters that come out throughout dinner to sign autograph books and danced for our entertainment. Even though they said they were fully booked, we tried to get in anyway and luckily the wait was only 40 minutes so we decided to stay. All this goodness of course came to a pricey $80 that I cannot say was worth it food wise. But I think Matthew did enjoy the characters, but from a distance. Right when he saw Goofy, he took a few steps towards him and waved. As Goofy came closer to catch a high five from him, Matthew quickly ran the other way! After dinner, we called it a night and started our 10 minute walk back to our hotel. I definitely didn't pack enough warm clothes for myself as the nights were quite chilly. Both Matthew and I caught a cold while we were here :( Luckily for us, Matthew went straight to bed right when we put him in the borrowed pack n play. Even with the lights on and minimal noise we were making, he's snoring like a baby! Then James and I watched a movie (The Change Up) with the lights on! Night, night till tomorrow.