Winter Fairyland

We went to the special winter Fairyland. They decorated the place for Christmas, and were open until 7pm. They had Santa and a dwarf elf there to see for free (well, for the price of admission). It was waaayy better than some sleazy mall Santa visit. There was plenty to play and climb on, plus some large slides, tame baby rides, and animals to look at.

John remembered this dragon from our visit on Halloween and ran to it saying hi dragon! he has a long serpentine body with bumps to sit on and climb on.

This guy blows bubbles and the babies like to stand under him and catch bubbles. He's toward the entrance, near the long dragon.

We looked at all the pretty lights and ran around and rode some rides, but John wouldn't even enter the chapel where Santa was posted. He's sick of churches. when we made him go in, he cried No Santa, and drooped to the floor and crawled backward out the door, I guess so he wouldn't attract attention from "the Claus"


(I stole this photo off the internet, the dragonhead and bubble guy on mushroom too.)


He eventually had a long fit (missed his nap) and it was very very cold out (48 degrees or so). John finally calmed down and we saw one of the famous puppet shows. He like it, but at the end tried to run up and catch the "dolls."

We stuck it out to the end and John danced with some of the "animals"(people in costume) but refused to get too close or shake their hand. He wouldn't get near Santa. Oh well, next year.


Proud tradition of scary Santa...

more fairyland

these dark pictures are inside the little Children's Chapel, which was decorated for Christmas. Santa was sitting in here on the right of the fireplace, but John wouldn't go near him. I took these photos after the Red Demon left and the chapel was left empty.

There were giant paper flowers hanging from the ceiling.

They had an Indian Diwali festival room too, as well as a Hanukkah display. the Diwali room was beautiful and smelled like exotic spices. The Hanukkah display was kinda lame. Wish I got a picture of them as well, but it was hard keeping up with John

inside Meistro the Whale's mouth. There is a fish aquarium down there.

here is John in the big sandbox they have

we went to Children's Fairyland for Christmas

Here is John on the Alice in Wonderland Merry-Go-Round. This was for babies and went really slow, even for a Merry-Go-Round. There was no one in line, so John rode it 3 or 4 times, getting on a different character each time.

John wouldn't smile while on this ride. He would just sit there looking completely zoned out, but satisfied.

John sat in this flower throne without prompting.

A sheep with her holiday color on.

Even the spider from Miss Tuffet's garden decorated her web for Xmas.

John loved this guy in a fox suit, he kept running up to him and talking about him. He wouldn't actually shake his hand or hug him, but he touched his tail a few times.

Guy in full body fur suit, he's cool.

Santa, no way! Be gone, Red Demon!

Horse wearing her Christmas hat. there was also an alpaca here, some chickens, ducks, goats. You couldn't touch any of them, but they were dressed up.

Horse again.

Cookie Monster

I made a batch of sugar cookies and I had some left in a tupperware container. Last night I put John to bed at midnight and turned on Toy Story for him to watch. He seemed to be settled into bed so I went upstairs to our bedroom. I got up at 8am this morning to make Charles coffee and feed the cats. There was John asleep in his bed. He had gotten up in the middle of the night and found the cookies and he was passed out in the middle of them. They were spread all over his bed, with one bite taken out of most of them, and half the cookies totally eaten.

Amy's Wedding

weekender

Uncle Bob came to visit us on Saturday. Charles had to work in the morning for Revolution Test Prep. Then Bob came over before I had a chance to clean up the tornado that hit my living room! Charles brought home a flank steak and we grilled it and some zucchini. John was a little shy of Bob, but when I told him to go take his nap, he ran to Bob for protection! He actually climbed in his lap and cuddled down with him and his blanket. Then I gave him his bottle and he lay next to Bob on the couch, drinking. It was too much excitement, though, and he couldn't go to sleep. I had to take him and make him lie down in his crib, where he protested for a minute and then went to sleep. We chatted with Bob for awhile and then he had to go.
On Sunday, we went to church and John actually played with someones 14 month old grandson, who was much smaller than John. They were running around playing tag together in the nave during service. Then we went to Berkeley, and John slept in the car while Charles and I parked outside of Totland and ate a sandwich. I had to wake up John and put him in the park so Charles could go to GoB and play 40k.
John had a lot of fun running around the park. It was quite warm, and he played at the water play tables for while (I knew this was there and I brought 3 extra outfits and extra shoes this time!)
Someone was having a birthday and they rented a bouncy house and put it up in the park and let everyone use it for free. I made John wait an hour so the bigger kids could have their fill of active jumping before I let him go in. By the time we went in, it was full of the little kids and their moms and dads. I went in with John and sat in a corner. John was too afraid to jump. He just stood there, and then he came and sat down in my lap. He watched the other kids for awhile. Then he got up and walked around a little, and then crawled out the opening. I guess he had enough. I went with him, and we went back to the sand and swings.
There were a bunch of ride on cars and pushers people have brought to the park when their kids out grew them. John was very interested in these. He got into a Flintstone type car, foot propelled. But he could only manage to go backwards. So I had to push him around. We must have done 10 laps!
Finally it was time to go. It was getting dark and I thought John was getting sleepy. We went back to GoB, but Charles wasn't ready to go and John wasn't sleeping. I took him to Ben and Jerry's and we got some chocolate ice cream. John usually won't let me feed him off a spoon, but he did for ice cream!
Then we went back, washed our hands for 10 minutes, and went home.

Seminary weekend

We all went to seminary on Friday for orientation.
I wish I had a picture that fully shows how beautiful the campus is. This is a picture of the chapel.

We packed up John and went early for 9am breakfast. There was another little boy staying with his mom and dad in the dorm there. He was 15 months old and his name was Jackson. I was hoping John would play with him, but he was not interested.


We ate breakfast and then we started on the tour of the campus. We went to the dorm for the out of state students, and John wanted to play with the piano in the meeting hall there. He did not want to continue on the tour. He started throwing a fit, so the group with Charles went on and I took John out of the dorm. I turned my back on him and I thought he would follow me, but he got up and ran in the other direction. When I turned the corned to find him, he was jumping in the sprinklers, getting all wet! I let him do it for a good long while (he was enjoying himself and the damage was already done). When he finally got cold from that cold water, he got out and I changed him. I had thought ahead and packed 2 extra outfits, but I neglected to bring extra shoes! So, John and I spent time wondering around campus with no shoes on.
We caught up with Charles an hour later. He was sitting in on a class. Then we went to a prayer break with him. John relaxed on the couch and drank some milk. Then he got up and left, and I had to go with him. We wondered around some more and talked to the groundskeepers. Then it was lunch time. We got in the car and went to a near by golf course in Tilden Park to get lunch at the cafe there. John was restless and running around the cafe and the putting green. Then we went back to campus and John finally passed out in his stroller. We went to an informational meeting about class requirements and financial aid, and John slept for 2 hours. Then it was time for me to go to work. We got in the car and Charles dropped me off at work, then took John home, dropped him off with Nana and then went back to the campus for a BBQ dinner.