Jane does come too and has also been a Disneyland trooper. It is nice because she is able to come on quite a few rides with us and when she can't we just take turns.
Outside Toad Hall from Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Colin has been on this ride close to 10 times (the line is usually short and he gets to drive a car which is a good combo).
We got to meet Woody at the Halloween Roundup, but Colin was sad to not also meet his horse. Even just now Colin was looking at this photo with me and all he could ask is "where is Woody's horse?" I told him he had to go to the barn to eat some food and he said "oh yeah" and ran off to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano.
Colin gives Jane some love in the stroller. He really can quiet her down when she is fussy. He is so cute because he now sings her "I am a child of God" when she cries and tells her "I know, I know." She adores him.
We are lucky to still keep in touch with a lot of people we knew as teenagers. Ted and Juliet fall into that category since we all met our freshman year of college. They came to visit from Arizona so we could take our kids to Disneyland and to go to the opera. We love seeing them and are always sad that we do not live closer together. Their little girl is just 3 days older than Colin and they do pretty well playing together. Colin has missed her terribly since she left. She was not a big fan of many of the Disneyland rides. I think the above photo summarizes a lot of her Disney Day. She loved the Princesses, but the first ride she went on was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, which is a little scary (he ends up in hell). Brian did not think much about taking her on it because Colin loves it (since he gets to drive a car). Many of the rides are quite dark and could be very scary to small children. We still had a great time and both kids loved the parade.
Ted and Juliet are also expecting twin girls in a few weeks! Juliet is about the cutest pregnant woman I have ever seen and I was so impressed she made the trip to see us.
Colin looks a little too big to be in a stroller, but he is still only 2 and gets tired from walking. We realized he is 40 inches tall so he can go on pretty much everything except the Indiana Jones ride. Since he loves the Matterhorn, we are going to try him on a few other big rides. Brian and I took turns on the Indiana Jones ride and when I told Colin Dada was on a little scary ride Colin answered "I want to go on a scary ride too!" I think we have a little dare devil.
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Here is Brian's bit from the OC Register's review:
Brian Stucki, as her suitor in disguise Count Almaviva, introduced a plush, lightweight tenor, evenly gauged and delicately ardent.
We also liked this comment on the OC Arts blog:
Young Brian Stucki promises to be a world class bel canto tenor if he sticks with the repertoire. He seems to have it all (looks, voice, acting talent, intelligence) and he was able to convey both sides of the Almaviva persona (head-over-heels in love young dufus and imperious artistocrat who expects people to jump when he commands) And his glorious Rossinian embellishments (along with those of Jennifer Rivera) were to die for. I’ve seen Barbiere many times and never heard anything like those two. (Stanford Olson came close in his youth.)
(Thanks Bill Keiser)
We have been so lucky here in California because our friend SueAnne's brother's family lives less than 2 miles away from where we are renting. They have been very fun and take good photos. Thanks Zollingers!
This is just a close up of the youngest. Other people in the photos had eyes closed but I loved this little face. Brian had told him to smile with his teeth.
Brian was holding the reflector to bounce the flash and that is where the youngest is looking. So cute!
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The show opened last night and things went very well. Brian sounded great and seemed to have a good time with it. I am not one to write a review, but I was very happy to see what Brian has been up to and kind of even teared up at the beginning because I was proud of his hard work. I stumbled across the singer who is playing Rosina's blog (Jennifer Rivera) and she mentioned a recent conversation she had with the director:
[he cited a] study Time magazine did a few years back, where they made a list of the 50 most difficult jobs. Number one was some crazy kind of rock climbing without ropes, number three was neurosurgery, and number two was - yup, you guessed it - opera singing. So when people say "it's not brain surgery" we can reply "that's right - it's MORE difficult."
The cast all did great and it was a really fun production that was well received.
Photo credit: Nicholas Koon
Oh yeah, the opera opens tonight (The Barber of Seville with Opera Pacific in Orange County). Brian is still sleeping so he will be well rested for his work. We really are here for his work and not just Disneyland. It is nice that Brian's work also turns into a family vacation, but he really is working.
Toi, toi, toi Brian!
We made it to the parade and Colin loved it, although he is picky with his music and was critical of some of it saying "I no like this song!" He kept grabbing our necks to get our heads down to his level to make sure we could see what he was seeing. Jane was a little overwhelmed and started crying.
We finally made it to Disneyland yesterday, or Mickey's house as we have been telling Colin. Colin has been properly prepared (or brainwashed?) because Sue Anne got him 3 DVD's of old Mickey cartoons from the 20's, 30's and 40's along with Toy Story and Monsters Inc. We love the old cartoons and some of them are very crazy. (There must have been a lot more chewing tobacco back in the day because there are lots of spittoon jokes, along with chamber pots and several deal with alcoholism and involve animal abuse, but they are mainly just crazy little music videos.) He has been transformed by Mickey and kind of cannot get enough of him, although his true affections seem to go for Minnie. He is always very concerned when she is not in a cartoon.
In Toon Town, we first went to Minnie's house to find her but she was not there. Colin now talks about how we have to find Minnie. I was asking him yesterday where she was and he told me she had gone to the store to buy bananas. Mickey was home, but the line took Brian and Colin about an hour to see him. When Colin got there he was very shy. He loves looking at these photos.
We also met Pluto and Colin was also shy. It must be a little overwhelming for a 2 year old to process.
Sweet photo with her Daddy's hand
10 weeks
Three months
Fourteen weeks, and planning how to take over the world.
Jane has been in a hurry from the beginning, It was just last September when we started to think about another baby and then two weeks later we were pregnant (much, much faster than we thought). Her timing has been so amazing since her birth made it so we could be home this summer for my Dad's last days. We are very grateful she is here.
During my growing up my mom had a cross stitch on the wall that I obviously looked at because I think I have it memorized. It said something like:
I hope my children look back on today and see a mother who had time to play.
For there will be time for cleaning and cooking but
Children grow up when you're not looking.