I Know What I Did Last Summer

But do you? Probably not. Herein is where I digest my epic journey. Blogger won't let me upload photos right now, so hang in there...

So, Leg 1 of the journey landed us at John Wayne Airport in Orange County California. This is where my parents make their current residence. We got there on a sunny Wednesday morning and wasted no time in checking out their digs. Their apartment complex is, to borrow a phrase from Fancy Nancy, super posh. It has two pools that have cabanas around them, and fountains of water everywhere and basically looks like a resort. So we swam quite a bit.

One thing you should know about Chad and I is, we like to eat. We like to find distinctive places and try them out. Sometimes we find out about these places by watching Man vs. Food. Several years ago, we went to New York and tried Fried Chicken and Waffles at Sylvia's. Not too good... but we tried it. Here, in L.A., we tried Phillippe's French Dip Sandwiches. These on the other hand, were delish.

We went to the beach. It was only 15 minutes away. How awesome is that? We spent our day splashing around and jumping waves, searching for sand crabs and making the sweetest sand fortress you've ever seen. It outlasted a lot of waves. The very best thing about the beach, for me, was, watching Andrew enjoy the waves. The last time we were at the beach with waves like this was before he was 1 year old, so it was all brand new to him. I hope I never forget his squeals of only what can be described as pure joy, as the waves crashed against his legs. He just laughed and laughed. It made me so happy just watching it.

We went to an Angel's game. Growing up, we were Dodgers fans all the way. Part of the soundtrack of my childhood includes the familiar voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully. So when we discovered the Dodgers were playing the Angels, only 20 minutes away, we had to go. And I'm not gonna lie-- it felt a tiny bit traitorous when these picture taking people called us over to take a picture and told us to yell, "Go Angels!" Unfortunately, the game we watched was seriously the most boring game I've ever been to. Dodgers won though, so I guess we felt justified. Aubrey started the game wide awake and excited for the fireworks after the game, and ended the game asleep on my mom and my dad's laps. Andrew was awake through the whole game but fell asleep DURING the fireworks. Chad and I, and my parents, DID enjoy the fireworks the whole way through without falling asleep.

We went to the San Diego Zoo. Not 20 minutes away like the Angels game and the beach. And because of traffic, it took us for.ever. to get there and we were all a little crabby by the time we got there. But then we went right in and saw these little koalas sitting in their trees, and we all said, "awwwwwww!!!" and felt much better. Nothing like a little marsupial to lighten the mood. There are so many cute animals there that we saw. We walked all over the place. We had to stand in line to see the pandas. They were cute too. And we saw some baby elephants which were adorable. We ate our dinner right outside their little habitat. Actually, it was a really BIG habitat. When we asked Aubrey what her favorite thing was, it was the pandas. When we asked Andrew, it was, riding on the huge escalators around the zoo. That child loves his electronics.

Also, we celebrated Aubrey's birthday there. She was really thinking outside the box this year so for her birthday dinner, this was the menu she chose: Homemade cheese pizza, Blue Jello, Corn on the Cob, and frozen peas. Instead of a cake, she wanted a birthday pumpkin pie. And here is where we pause and recount the story of: The Peril of the Birthday Candles; or, we could also call it, Aubrey Singes Off Her Hair. All was going well until she leaned in to blow out her candles... and that's when her hair caught fire from the candles on her birthday pie. I guess long hair and a pie with candles on it don't mix well. Luckily, my mom was right there and put it out quickly with her fingers with only a very few hairs actually getting singed off. Of course this was quite tramatic for Aubrey, with her exclaiming, with all the melodrama she could muster, "I almost died!!!!" If you recall, this was the same thing she said after scraping her face on the driveway a year ago. Luckily, she's come through both incidents just fine.

We also spent two days at Disneyland. It's the Happiest Place On Earth for a reason. It was so much fun. Our first day, we got there right when it opened and rode Space Mountain, Matterhorn, and Big ThunderMountain Railroad. Andrew was tall enough to ride all three and so we took him with us. He's definitely not a thrill seeker and after those three was very wary of anything that began with a tunnel. And we basically lost his trust because we'd say things like, "it's fun! It's not scary!" Well, to him it definitely was scary. Fortunately he got over his tunnel phobia when he rode Small World. He actually ended up riding that one about four times. That and the carousel were his favorites. The carousel I know he rode more than 10 times. I still catch him at home singing, "It's a Small World after all, It's a Small World After All..." Aubrey I think enjoyed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There's also a really cute parade we went to as well. The first night we stayed for fireworks and it was a rerun of the Angels game except that mom played hunchback on the way out because she carried a sleeping Aubrey on her back from Fantasyland to the busses that take us to the parking lot. That was super strength for you. The second day at Disneyland we met up with our friends the Gruwells who were also visiting family in Cali. It was more of the same- super fun rides. It really wasn't too bad either day with Fast Passes and waiting times and stuff.

To Be Continued... next on Stolle Family Epic Journey... They drive to Northern California and see Chad's aunt, grandma, and Monterey Bay Aquarium...