La La Land

Your first trip out of the state of Texas was to a place far far away where palm trees grow right out of the ground, where city, beach, sand, tar rest gently upon a fault in the Earth's tectonic plates and where your Aunt Rebekka and Uncle Ross live: Los Angeles, California.

It was an amazing trip, full of long walks on the beach, great food, and good laughs (sounds kind of like a cheesy intro to an online dating profile). But it's completely true!

You got to meet your Great Aunt Anita and Great Uncle David (Pops' big brother!) They really liked you and even brought you some cool toy cars to play with, which you demanded that we open immediately so that you could let gravity put them gently on the floor.

You also got to meet (and re-meet) a few of Mommy's and Daddy's college friends: Big Mike and Evelyn (and their significant others: Lauren and Joe, respectively). While we were at dinner with them, we witnessed a shoot for a movie (or, more likely, a cell phone commercial). We could even be unwitting extras in this movie, since the shoot was taking place right outside the restaurant where we ate!
But, most of the time in LA was devoted to being spent with Daddy's sister, you're Aunt Rebekka, and Uncle Ross.

We did all sorts of fun things together, including a trip to a Roman Villa-remake called the Getty Villa. They even let you draw on an old Roman vase (made of dry-erase material).

(Are you sure I can draw on this?)

We went to the LACMA and saw an exhibit on Tim Burton's art! (You don't know who Tim Burton is yet, but I should steer you away from his remake of "Planet of the Apes" and more towards "Nightmare before Christmas")
And outside the museum, we played in the lamp posts!
But, what really interested you about the museum was their uncanny exhibit on how to put pebbles on a stone bench and watch them slide off. This provided almost an hour of entertainment!





We also went to the LaBrea Tar Pits, where prehistoric dummy animals got caught in tar, and then prehistoric dummy predators tried to eat that easy prey and also got caught in tar. And then thousands of years later, we can look at their bones and see what dummies look like.

Here we are recreating such an incident:
No one can save Uncle Ross now!

We finally got to go to one of Aunt Rebekka's Music Together classes. She gave us the CDs and we sing the songs and play them all the time. But we've never been to a class! Before the other kiddo showed up, you had the place to yourself and took serious advantage, exploring the big mirror and piano!






But then when class started, you thought it was awesome! You were such a good participant. And then came the bells:


You loved the bells so much that you didn't want to give them up, and proceeded to throw a fit for almost the rest of the entire class.


You kept going to the plastic bin where Aunt Rebekka had them stored, and when we wouldn't let you get the bells, you were upset. The saving grace from the bell crisis was the introduction to the plastic bin full of drums. This is a bit like trying to get rid of your rattlesnake infestation by getting a lot of coyotes.

So, once the drums were gone, you were still a bit bent out of shape, but, you know what? we still had a super fun time! And you loved Aunt Rebekka's class!

In fact, music was a big part of our trip! We played guitars...
And a trombone...
and sang (and laughed) a lot...



Daddy's guitar at home is always out, but I must admit, I didn't know how much you liked it until our trip to LA. Rebekka helped me realize that most of the songs you like are the same 3 chords, so I play a lot more at home now. A funny thing happened in LA, though: you requested a song!

I had the guitar in my lap and you came up to me and did your "twinkle twinkle" hands! So, you wanted to hear that song! Request granted (after all, it's the same 3 chords as the other songs!)

We went on a lot of walks, up and down Venice Beach...


We went shopping in stores that had dogs (not for sale)...
and stores that had Books and Cookies!




We hung and swung around...






And just hung out at home...in case anyone called.



It was a great vacation together in La La Land. It was so tough to leave, but there's always next time!

ps. There was some projectile vomiting too. Remind me to tell you about that sometime.

DFW => LAX: Your First Flight

About one week ago, you took your first flight in an airplane.

There was lots of build up: would your ears hurt? would you sleep? would you scream? would you want to run around the plane? oh no! will we survive? will our seat-C neighbor hate us?
And then, a very very nice let down: you were GREAT on board!
Our flight to LA to see Aunt Rebekka and Uncle Ross was early in the morning. We had to wake you up from a deep slumber at 6 am to get you to the airport, but, no, you did not fall asleep on the plane! We made sure that you were chewing food (yogurt melts, your favorite (which we chose on purpose)) and water! So, your ears never hurt too badly from the air pressure.

Take off was great! Then for the rest of the flight, you watched Baby Einstein on the iPad while sitting in my lap. I even successfully changed your diaper in the lavatory half way through the flight! Then, for landing we put the iPad away, and gave you more yogurt melts, so you didn't even think to meltdown.

You also occupied yourself during the flight by occasionally tearing up cocktail napkins into small pieces and handing the ones you didn't chew on to our neighbor in seat C, who was actually really pleased to be seated next to us. He learned your name and talked to you and everything. I kept you from taking his glasses.

Our flight home was equally uneventful, except that you fell in love. The little girl (about 7-8 years old) in front of you in 28A saw you for the first time when peered over the top of their seats. You saw her and got a little shy. Then she started playing peak-a-boo with you on either side of her seat, depending on where you were sitting. You would look for her, she'd see you and POP you'd fling back in joy. This little game was a big hit with you!



She was so super nice to play with you during no-iPad times and keep you fully occupied! She even tried to play with you during iPad times, but you were mostly ignoring her to watch your stories. But, on occasion, you'd get up, peer through the seats and grab her nose or touch her hand or just play more peakaboo.

Alas, the flight ended and we, in row 29, and the little girl in 28A went our separate ways. Perhaps you'll meet again someday, on another west-bound flight.

So, yes, it was very exciting because it was your first flight on an airplane! (and your second one too). But, besides the excitement of another "first" off the list, it was a peaceful, easy, uneventful experience! We'll have to travel with you again soon...and maybe sneak another free flight out of you before you turn 2 and the airlines start charging.

But, you ask, what about our trip? What about my first trip outside the great state of Texas?

Well, don't fly off the handle like that! We have plenty of stories to tell about your first out-of-state visit to Aunt Rebekka's and Uncle Ross's!

But for now, put your tray table up and return your seat back to its upright position (and put away your Baby Einstein-playing iPad), because this flight is over.