My own 'dear photograph'

Have you seen this... click right here...

I love the idea here, return to a place in your past and retake a picture.  I pack a special picture with us to take to Disneyland--to Ariel's Grotto, one of my favorite places to go and we go every time, buy the pic with Ariel every time, so I was thinking I could do this ev.er.y time.  I can't promise not to bore you with it e.v.e.r.y t.i.m.e...well I don't pinkie promise or anything...wink wink...

so anyway...I forgot the pic I brought in the room (epic fail)...off to plan B...I used our pic from that day instead of the oldie, but it was still a goodie...

I tell you what, taking this pic was harder than I expected! In fact, I wish it had come out better than it did--but the great thing, is I know I'll be back soon to take another! 
(I'd change the framing up some I think)
 Have you taken a dear photograph yet?  I'm dying to find more to take...Just as soon as I get the house cleaned up from the trip and the Halloween decorations up!

Hangin' with the Mouse

Well we came to do just that...you know in the Latin sense (and this is a big post in the picture sense--I can't help myself!)

~Veni Vidi Vici~

Veni--You heard some about how we got there...

Vidi--We saw a lot of sights...

Lilly Bean was doing some serious spinning, well sorta... 

 One of the best places to eat in the park is Ariel's Grotto.  Where not only do the adults get yummy food, the ladies get to visit with the princesses!  It's quite fun for kids of all ages! (have I become a crazed Disney fanatic--perhaps!)

'all ages' hehehe

Having two little girls, it's about a lot of princesses...funny how that want to dress up is so pervasive...we have a lot of dress up clothes, which it actually took the girls awhile to get into, but now--now now now--there is no stopping them! That Belle dress has been worn no less than 7 times since...

And as far as Vici goes...really by the end of every day I think the parks had mostly conquered us!

Road Trip

We got up early to drive through the desert.  The kids were all excited to get on the road.  I was surprised how they all got ready so quickly. We had a tasty breakfast at the truck stop Flyin' Js at the border...it's where we stop everytime and fill up.  Funny how people are such creatures of habit isn't it?  Really though, the bathrooms are clean and there are choices of drinks and snacks for all.
One thing I'm excited for is our new family mascot or where's waldo or Sarah-Jules the duck...she's some lovely resin yard art that I picked up at Lowe's to go globe-trotting with us..well at least amusement park hopping :) So expect to see her in quite a few pics from our vacay!

The drive wasn't too painful, we got off the 'planned route' for about 10 minutes, but there's always some way back to a freeway in Cali. As a side note, boy howdy does my boy child need to work on his navigation skillz, they are enough to make you mad...the pitfalls of GPS, he's never really had to read a map in his 15 years!
Our room wasn't ready on arrival so we left our luggage and went into the park.

  First order of business? The new Ariel ride of course! The teen threesome had already made their departure for the fun and fast rides.

I love how Disney does all the styling of rides so well

I think I should do this in my house somewhere...thoughts?

 I was tired from driving alone (one point for the ugh-ness of single parenting) but walking around with the little ladies was actually really fun. 

 We hit up some rides, played in the water...so much for not getting the stitches wet. (side note- frown for no pool time)...

we were super excited to meet Mulan!  We love her movie so much--moms of daughters, there is some great girl power in that flick, so remember to put it in your movie wheelhouse!

The kid section of California Adventure wasn't terribly crowded, we did almost all the rides in less than an hour--love that!

always climbing

this face just cracks me up

we had a great first (half) day in the park...not too crowded, just a wee bit hot and going at our own pace.

Some Days

are dark days.

i went to work out today, realized i hadn't shaved my armpits in long enough for peeps to notice.  that was darkly embarrassing.

seriously.

you think you're going to get through a divorce and start moving on and put the pieces back together.  and you know what, you're wrong. so wrong.


my divorce is into it's second month of finality.  i've kinda been dating a nice guy.  i've even been to disneyland (cue announcer--shelly, you're divorce is f to the inal what are ya going to do now...shelly yells "I'm going to Disneyland!'  ahhhhhhh I wish)


but there are moments.  actually there are a lot of moments.  when you're lonely.  when you wonder if you did the right thing considering the marriage was so short.  when you crave adult conversation and question yourself for leaning heavily on your teenager to help you be an effective person and parent.  when you crave adult interaction (especially when you don't work a regular job, so there aren't normal co-workers). or you crave other adult activities.

today's moment goes like this. 

 I check the mail (which is something I don't have the skill set to check daily--lamesauce I know).  there is no child support check.  I wonder why?  since I'm new to this whole thing I think perhaps it only gets sent to you once a month?  I dunno.  ahhhhhh the interwebz and I are such good friends...I do some research make some phone calls...turns out no payments to me have been made (besides the first one).  The previous payment didn't come from the employer (state requirement) it came from the ex factor personally...that doesn't make any sense?  You see, he told me he talked to HR about sending the whole check to me so he wouldn't get behind.  Turns out he didn't talk to HR, he didn't have the chance because he's been suspended.  he tells me this suspension is only a 'temp' thing--hahaha--it's been 'temp' for the last 2 weeks...um, yah...sounds like termination to me.  a big fat firing.  oh dear blog, dear dear blank sheet.  even you are laughing at me, because you know he was also fired from his last two jobs and was unemployed for 18months after the second firing...you harbor so many of my dirty little secrets


oh that whole paragraph kills me,  and we're not just talking death by grammatical error here peeps.  oh my foolishness doesn't just end there...oh no it actually goes further, but that is a post for another day.  as real life is calling.  putting on a face that has nothing to do with this moment for the children that I am lucky to mother and be distracted by...


Lesson Learned: Trust No One.  Especially no one called the ex-factor

Injured--Bean Down Bean Down!

Less than two days before we left on our trip we had a guppy down for the count!

Yup, her first stitches!  She got into a fight with a bowling ball and the ball kept a chunk of her chin as proof.

You see...while I was with Gman, watching some swooshing...

the little ladies went bowling with their dad (another groupon usage--are you surprised in the least? and yes, me facilitating the quality time... but hey, at least the quality time was had)

my little bean ended up with four stitches, not so bad really.  Her dad had a really hard time with it, in fact I thought the doc was going to have to give him something to get through the stitches.

  Me? notsomuch...considering I counted how many I've had in my thirty odd years while we were waiting for the anesthetic to kick in and have you gotta guess as to how many? over 60! Yup!  Wacky right! Seven once without any anesthetic--there's a good story there for sure...

I was proud of her getting through it relatively calmy (in the just-turned-three-calm of course) granted they wrapped her in a sheet like a burrito and 'hid' her face with a  paper cover (like they have at the dentist to catch your spit!) to make the stitching easier.

Not sure if she'll have a big scar, but under her chin is not very noticeable dontcha think?

Does it make me a less sympathetic mother to not worry that she had to go through all that at such a young age?  I think it strengthens her and I tell ya what, she is one tough cookie!

The next day we went back to the nursery, 

so I could use yet another online deal coupon, and she seemed as perky and full of life as ever...at one point she attempted to tug one of their very large carts down the aisle, fell over, ended up covered in debris...she stood up, hands on her hips and boogied around the cart, so that she could 'order' her big bro to take it instead...

Lessons learned:
 1-facing a stressful situation with the ex factor is not terrible
2-rushing to use up a nursery coupon the day before you leave on a trip equals a terrible idea--the plants are still waiting to be planted this weekend...
3-oh and all these pics from my iprecious iphone don't look terrible on here--prepare yourself for more!