Much anticipated trip

This past week a friend of ours called to see if we wanted to use some tickets to California Adventure. They were going to expire the next day. Uh, hard choice, yeah we'll take them. Lil Sis was beyond excited and hoping to see some characters. Specifically Minnie Mouse.
A couple years ago when we had a pass to Disneyland I made a scrapbook for Big Sis of all the characters she met. Lil Sis loves to look at the book and asks us occasionally to take her to Disneyland.
We had fun, despite the fact that Lil Sis was limited by her height (not many rides for those under 40"). Lil Sis also insisted on taking the camera from me and being our photographer. Needless to say I have a ton of random shots of people. A few surprised me, but most of them made it to the trash. They were unflattering shots, given her height or they were shots of random tourists. One woman who sat across from us on the tram got a lot of screen time.

We got lucky!

Good for a laugh

So maybe you'll laugh til you pee your pants or maybe you'll be offended. (I must admit the former and not the later!) Take a look and see...

Awkward Family Photos

It was one of those days that you dread

Warning: If you don't like needles don't read this post! (Not for the faint of heart.)

Big Sis is getting ready for Kindergarten. And that means a trip to the doctor. Last week she received 6 shots. (Bad mom that I am sometimes, didn't keep up on her immunizations. So poor thing had a full dose.) She handled it pretty well, only a few tears during the process.

Per the doctors orders we went to the lab today to have from blood drawn for tests. I had Big Sis all prepped for the event. She asked if it would hurt and I told her it would pinch and then go away. I was not prepared for what happened. The nurse could not get the needle into the vein. Why don't the just take the needle out and start over instead of poking around for what seems like minutes to find her tiny little vein. Finally she got it going. Things were okay, just a few tears. Lil Sis was patiently waiting. The ordeal was now over, or so we thought...

Ten minutes later I am shopping at a store nearby when my phone rings. Its the nurse. We forgot to run one of the tests, can you come back in? Aaargh!!! I informed Big Sis that we would need to go back. She seemed okay until we got into the room. Panic, hysteria, and sobbing ensued. She clutched her arm and fought like crazy to keep it away from the nurse. It probably didn't help that the nurse kept apologizing to me. Lil Sis was in the room and exclaimed, "I am leaving, I don't want to be in the room with the crying." Great, just great. Okay what should I do. I guess Lil Sis can't get into too much trouble so I opted to stay with Big Sis.

I explained that we needed to have the tests done to Big Sis. I informed her that I could either hold her arm still or she could choose to hold her arm out for the nurse. If she chose to do it, it would hurt less. She was brave and chose to give me her arm. This time thank goodness the nurse got it right on the first try.

The situation was so out of hand that it was laughable. Is the trauma going to be way worse next time for Big Sis? Was Lil Sis traumatized by the situation? I am really hoping its like childbirth and they will forget what the pain was like.

So I guess now we are ready for Kindergarten, eight band-aids later!

Another visitor...

We were so lucky to have Uncle A & Aunt E come visit. No trip to California is complete without going to the beach. DH took Uncle A surfing at Doheny and then later we all went for a ride in the surrey. It was fun despite DH attempts to live on the edge.

I know it looks like she's licking the brake, but she's not!
Harnessing the waves or something?Uncle A teaches Big Sis the finer points of wave chasing.
And their off!

And now no trip to visit the Robins is complete without visiting the Balloon at the Great Park. The girls miss Uncle A and Aunt E already and please note that you are invited to come to Lil Sis' birthday party. You are the only ones that made the cut along with her bestie Pita. When I informed her that you would be living too far away, she said that you should just fly with an airplane to get to the party. When do kids start to learn the concept of money?

She insisted Uncle A carry her everywhere. So lucky to have a willing uncle, cuz mom certainly wouldn't have schlepped her around.