Me Too You

September 27, 2010

Halloween Time at Disneyland: Getting over the scaries

Halloween Time at Disneyland

My favorite roller coaster ride of all time is Space Mountain at Disneyland. I’m sure there are more thrilling rides out there, but 1) I haven’t had much chance to go on “adult” rides much in the last several years and 2) this ride makes me laugh out loud the entire time. Seriously, I giggle. Throughout the whole ride.

Last summer, Lily and I rode Space Mountain with my BFF, Jen, and her daughter (who does NOT go on “baby rides” anymore – she is 3 weeks younger than Lily). We waited an hour in line. Lily was nervous, but excited. After her “first space flight,” she jumped up and down. “I love it, I love it, I love it!”

Ben? Nope. Completely not interested. Even though he is completely into space. He is the kind of kid that has to be persuaded to try something, with no pressure, and once he tries something, he will be really into it. But he has to get over the mental hurdle first. And he wasn’t ready. Ava? Not quite tall enough, but getting there. And her fear level is quite low, so as soon as her body catches up, we’re golden.

Last weekend, I was invited to fly down to Disneyland (with my family) for a special media event to kick-off of “Halloween Time.”

Our family is bridging the preschool and early elementary school age groups and while we still enjoy the Winnie the Pooh ride (Ava could ride this again and again and again….), some of us are JUST starting to like roller coasters. And to be scared for a little bit of fun. While Lily loves roller coasters, Ben and Ava are not quite there. That is….until we joined Los Angelista’s family and a tour guide for 3 hours in the park last weekend.

As we were standing in line for Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy (during Halloween Time, Disneyland turns my beloved Space Mountain into a freaky ghost galaxy, as the name implies – this is not Casper the Friendly Ghost and is NOT for the faint of heart), we made a plan. Jeff and I would take turns and whichever of the kids wanted to go could go and the others (all?) would stay with the waiting parent. About 1 minute away from our turn to get strapped in, Los Angelista’s husband said nonchalantly “I just close my eyes whenever I am scared on rides.” Ben immediately said “I’ll go and just close my eyes the whole time.” Ava: “Me too!” Lily: “Me too!” I was stunned. Okay….let’s go!

Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy at Disneyland

They did it, the rode this incredibly scary ride. I’m pretty sure they closed their eyes the entire time, well maybe they peeked a bit. As the car pulled up a the end of the ride, a second passed before three screams came out “That was AWESOME!!!”

Well, after that, nothing was scary. We headed to the Haunted Mansion which is decorated SO cool in a mishmash of Halloween and Christmas, inspired by the movie Nightmare Before Christmas. Our favorite roller coaster become Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – the bats in the dark cave didn’t bother us a bit. We visited the Evil Queen from Snow White and had a surprise visit from Cruella DeVille. (Ben did hide during part of this…. he is not much for characters in costume, although both were so good and evil). An aside: you can vote for your favorite Disney Villan on the Disneyland website – kinda fun.

Meeting Snow White's Evil Queen/Stepmother

We were treated to a fun dinner with other bloggers at the Big Thunder Ranch (I highly recommend this place – awesome BBQ, Toy Story cowboy/cowgirl/Woody/Jessie themed so not overly girl or boy gender specific, and a fun place to go for an alternative to some of the other Disney character breakfasts or dinners).

At dinner, our tour guide, Chris (he is is one of the “ghosts” that leads the Haunted Mansion tours), gave us a keepsake that the people going on the Haunted Mansion tours receive – a green flashing necklace with a big, mysterious, heavy key. The key is rumored to unlock a secret room in the mansion…and can only be used post mortem…. {cue spooky cackle}

Lily the trailblazer

The next morning, we braved some new rides at Disneyland for a few hours – Ben and Lily even did the Indiana Jones, Temple of Doom ride. Oh, did I not mention that Ben dressed at Indiana Jones ALL day long? Too funny – he happened to be wearing an Indy shirt and saw the hat/whip/gun/sword/treasure pouch set. Love at first sight. I’ve never seen him dressed up like this. INDY!!!

Ben as Indiana Jones

Thanks Disney (and Los Angelista’s awesome spouse), who made it fun for us to be scared, we now have roller-coaster-riding-maniacs on our hands.

Ava's sweet, fun (and scary!) faces - at Disneyland

About Halloween Time at Disneyland: From Sept. 17 through Oct. 31, families will celebrate Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort as they interact with some of Disney’s most beloved characters decked out in seasonal costumes. Some of Disney’s more sinister characters – the Disney villains – also get into the “spirit” of the celebration at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure parks. Guests will also enjoy Haunted Mansion Holiday and a scary adventure at Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy. Mickey’s Halloween Party, a special ticketed event, will run for 10 nights including October 31.

Disclosure: To attend this special event, Disneyland Resort paid for my family’s airfare, our hotel stay at Disneyland Hotel, park passes to Disneyland and California Adventure and some meals in the park. I received no additional compensation for this or any posts on this blog regarding Disney theme parks or products. Opinions expressed herein are solely mine and do not reflect the opinions or policies of the Walt Disney Company or its affiliates.

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By the way, we loved the newly redone wing of the Disneyland Hotel. We had stayed at this hotel about 3 years ago and the difference is amazing. The nightlight/music box is ingenious. Ava was absolutely convinced that Tinkerbell flew over her spreading fairy dust all night long. Wish we had a headboard like this at home!

Nightlight/music box in the Disneyland Hotel rooms

Watch the YouTube video of the nightlight….

Posted in Getaway, Let's Party | Comments Off

August 22, 2010

Posing as a Canadian: Our trip to Newfoundland 2010

Robin and I at Regata Day in St. John's, Newfoundland

Just a few days ago, we returned from a month long trip to visit my twin sister, Robin and her family in St. John’s, Newfoundland. As luck would have it, we managed to hit pretty much the entire summer season there in this eastern island off the mainland of Canada. “The Rock,” as Newfoundland is sometimes called, has some pretty unforgiving weather – rain, sleet and misery is how my brother-in-law terms the usual state of affairs. But…on sunny days, it is gorgeous, and everyone runs immediately outside to dance naked in the sunshine. Ok, not really naked. But Newfoundlanders definitely bare more skin that I would in 60 degree weather (what is that in Celsius again? 15 degrees? Help me out, Canadians?). I still found myself going around mostly in a sweater and jeans in the Newfoundland summer.

(By the way, I traveled to St. John’s with the 3 kids, while my hubby batched it for a couple weeks and joined us at the end for about 10 days. The kids traveled great – thanks Air Canada for the 7 hours of movies…though I saw Catherine/Her Bad Mother last night and she told me that Virgin America flies a Toronto to San Francisco route and I am in love with that airline, so next time, Virgin! At least for part of the way.)

At SFO, ready for takeoff

Newfoundland is a pretty cool place, despite the unforgiving weather. My sister has great friends, a culture that is centered around social events (drinking and eating, drinking and eating, drinking and eating), and a slower pace that we subject ourselves here to in Silicon Valley. There is a large Irish influence in Newfoundland – sort of like how Montreal has the French influences and Nova Scotia the Scottish. For instance, the drinking. There is a lot of drinking done in Newfoundland. Though the traditional Newfoundland drink is “screech” (an awful rum, maybe only found in Newfoundland) and not scotch. I was screeched in long ago, so am practically a Newfoundlander. Screeched in? You don’t know what that means? Oh. Well. Ok, I’ll tell you. CFAs (Come From Away’s – which is what Newfoundlanders call people who come to visit from other places) are pretty much obligated to be “screeched in,” a ceremony presided over by a natural-born Newfoundlander, involving standing in an ice-cold bucket of water, kissing a cod, reciting a poem (or something) and drinking a shot of screech. Really, it is fun. I think I was actually screeched in in Bermuda….by my brother-in-law when he and my sister lived there. I know….why did they ever move from Bermuda to Newfoundland??? Well, Newfoundland seems to be one of those magnetic places that people who are born and raised there want to leave for college or to travel, but then they always come back. It is a dream goal of mine and my Robin’s to live next door to each other someday, but for now we ride in a lot of airplanes.

Some fun local things people in St. John’s say:

Costco is still referred to as “The Price Club” even though the name changed at least 10 years ago
Every plastic bag is called a “Sobey’s bag,” Sobey’s being a grocery store chain
The “Outer Rim Road” is on every map and people will tell you to “take the Outer Rim Road to….” BUT there is actually NO Outer Rim Road. It is the Trans Canada Highway and all the signs say that, not Outer Rim Road. Confusing much?

Walking down George Street, a street in downtown St. John’s lined with bars that is sometimes closed off to car traffic for festivals, you will likely see some jigs being danced and hear lots of fiddle and Celtic music. It is very FUN to go out there at night and it doesn’t take long for CFAs to learn the words to the classic Newfoundland songs. Rock/celtic Newfoundland music exists too – heard of the band Great Big Sea? Simply awesome. We saw them in concert about 7 years ago. Gossip (as heard on a plane from St. John’s to Halifax on my way to BlogHer’10 in NYC): the lead singer of the lead singer of Great Big Sea is good friends with Russel Crowe, who comes to visit St. John’s quite frequently. I’m sure I will be hanging out with them on my next trip.

Lin, Robin and I at the George Street Festival on Regata Day Eve

What did we do there? With five kids aged 7 and younger, it was pretty lively. We broke up fights and made them clean up their messes. Oh! And we did some fun stuff too. We…

hiked around the beautiful ponds that are everywhere in Newfoundland

Ben at Kent's Pond

built houses out of “dinosaur eggs” in the forest where my parents are camped at the East end of their year long RV trip

Hannah and Lily at Pippy Park Campground

swam at the Murray’s Pond clubhouse pool

The kids play "whirlpool"

played with new toys

The birthstone fairy house surrounded by NYC sanitation vehicles (photo credit: Ava)

had lovely grandparent time

Bedtime with Nana, Papa and the girls

celebrated Regata Day in St. John’s (which coincided with my dad’s 73rd birthday)

Regata Day (a rowing race) in St. John's on Quidi Vidi Lake

hiked Signal Hill

Robin heading up the Signal Hill trail

played at Salmon Cove beach

Ben and Sam have a game of chase at Salmon Cove beach

taught our daughters yoga

Lily and Hannah do vinyasa

built sand castles

Hannah's "turtle island" at Salmon Cove beach

toured graveyards (6 year old Ben’s favorite activity….I know, a little morbid, but actually pretty interesting and Halloween will be FANTASTIC this year! We are planning on building an awesomely spooky graveyard in our front yard.)

At the Anglican Cemetary by Quidi Vidi Lake

climbed around in the fog at Cape Spear Lighthouse

Cape Spear in the fog

gardened

Robin planting around her new rock wall

went whale watching

Ava, Ben and I on the whale watch boat (we struck out that day, but had a nice ride)

climbed like monkeys

Lily climbs a pole aboard the whale watching boat

cooked and baked lots of healthy, organic (most vegetarian) food

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from the Kripalu Cookbook

and our most fantastic day had to be our last, when we went to the Ferryland Lighthouse. This is perfection, I tell you. Gourmet picnic lunches (SO delicious), gorgeous view (we did see some whales too), lovely hike to get there. Nice

Ben holds the flag up to signal for our gourmet picnic lunch at Ferryland Lighthouse

Ava, Lily and Sam skip along the rocks at Ferryland Lighthouse

Lily at Ferryland Lighthouse, ready for picnicking

Our lunch at Ferryland Lighthouse - curry chicken sandwiches, orzo salad, chocolate cake, lemonade

Ava rock surfs at Ferryland Lighthouse

We had a blast. The kids want to see Newfoundland in the snowy winter (which they actually have, when they were babies). We tend to have visitors to California from Newfoundland in the winter who like to get AWAY from the snow and come to the sun, but I’m sure we’ll get to St. John’s in the winter someday.

Thanks to our hosts, Robin and Mark. Until next time, we have gone to the Price Club for some last minute items, packed our stuff in Sobey’s bags and headed out to the airport via the Outer Rim Road.

Posted in Family, Getaway, My Twin Sis, The Great Outdoors, yoga | 3 Comments »

July 14, 2010

Anusara Yoga Immersion in the Tetons

Me outside the Yoga Tejas studio in the Tetons

I’m not sure how I can truly describe the past week in words. But….I’ll attempt. To say I have been journaling lately would be a bit of an understatement. Journaling as in writing with a pen in a notebook, not blogging/online journaling. Journaling has been something I have been working on for the month of July and last week provided a unique opportunity to delve deep.

My sister Robin and I have been planning for a couple of months to travel to Jackson Hole, Wyoming (a very cool mountain town bordering the Teton National Forest) for Level 1 (the first of 3 levels) in an Anusara yoga immersion course. We learned about this immersion from our favorite teacher on YogaToday.com, Neesha. If you haven’t tried Yoga Today, you really should. It is a bargain at only $10 a month for unlimited streaming classes and has really excellent content. I love it for home practice when I can’t get to a live yoga class. And I adore Neesha, who is such a positive force and has a way of talking me through poses that I didn’t think were possible (I have been known to tweet things like “Whoa, I just did a backbend for the first time in 10 years. Thanks @yogatoday!).

{No, I have not been compensated by Yoga Today for the above endorsement – I just really, really love Yoga Today!}

May 4, 2010

Running The Relay race #EatBlogRun style

The Eat.Blog.Run Team crossing the finish line in Davenport (Image courtesy of Tonya Staab http://www.tonyastaab.com/)

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of running The Relay race – a 199 mile race from Calistoga (in the Napa Valley wine region of California) to Davenport (on the coast of California a little north of Santa Cruz). I have run this race before, twice, about 10 years ago in 1999 and 2000. It is always a special race, because it is a team thing. You spend about 36 hours (or more if you dine together the night before the race and again after the race) with these people and really have to work together to get it all done.

I have A LOT more to write about this race….it was life changing/affirming in many ways. I LOVED this team – every single person is amazing and funny and smart.

Eat.Blog.Run Team socks (coordinated with TeamSparkle.com skirts) (Image courtesy of Tonya Staab http://www.tonyastaab.com/)

For now, check out our team blog, Eat. Blog. Run. – photos and stories will be going up there. You can also check out the (very funny!) twitter stream from the race at #eatblogrun.

Posted in Around town, Challenges, Doing some good, Events, Friends, Getaway, Getting Fit, It's all about ME, Let's Party, The Great Outdoors, Travel | 4 Comments »

February 28, 2010

A weekend at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel

Top photo by Carla Duharte-Razura, babyjidesign. All others by Linsey Krolik.

My recent travel buddies (Jill and Beth, two of my partners from SV Moms Group, and our photographer and friend Carla), and I jetted to Orange Country in Southern California last weekend to host an event with SV Moms Group, BitDefender and 20 or so other sponsors at the fabulous Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel. Really, fabulous is a bit of an understatement.

The place is gorgeous — the beach, the surfers, the lavender flowers EVERYWHERE (I think they actually pump a nice, clean floral scent throughout the whole hotel). The ceilings filled with intricate silver flowery lights. The rustic, beachy touches, like the log slab of a coffee table by the fireplace in the cafe. The beds – super comfy. The food – perfect. And the service, impeccable. If you ever get a chance to go to this place, even just for lunch at Restaurant 162 or to The Bar or to a wine, cheese and chocolate tasting at ENO, GO!

On Saturday evening, we curled up by the fire at The Bar, along with Ciaran, and talked for, wow, I guess it was hours? It was one of those times that even though we were all so tired, we couldn’t seem to wrap it up. Ciaran was telling us about her experiences at the Mom 2.0 summit conference and we just kept saying to each other “Ok, we should really go to bed….but what did you think about that?” Champagne and yummy crume brule helped too.

Even though I could have slept in a bit, being on a weekend without the kids, I got up early on Sunday morning and went for a walk on the beach. I breathed in the ocean air and sky. It was nice to be alone for a bit. At 9am, I met up with Jill and Carla and we headed to a yoga class on the cliff above the beach. Um, wow. Amazing to do yoga outside with such a great view. I really must find a way to do that more often!

The event went beautifully – the staff were so attentive to our needs and everything was just…easy. The next morning, it was all we could do to leave. We all REALLY wanted to stay another day! I would love to return someday soon with my family — I hear they have a spa and a great kids club in the summer….

Disclosure: The hotel did not pay for my stay and I was not obligated to write a post about the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, but they were a sponsor and partner of the SV Moms Group event that we held there for the LA Moms Blog and Orange Country Moms Blog bloggers. I am a partner at SV Moms Group.

Posted in Getaway, SV Moms, The Great Outdoors, yoga | 1 Comment »

January 1, 2010

My #Best09…Inspired by @GwenBell – Tea of the Year, Word or Phrase, Best Shopping, Best Car Ride, Best New Person

Continuing @GwenBell ‘s #best09 Blog Challenge…

Read all of my #best09 here.

December 16 – Tea of the Year

Fancy Nancy Tea Party

Lily and Ava were invited to our neighbor’s five-year-old birthday fancy tea party (ala Fancy Nancy) and it was so…fancy. If you are ever planning a little girl tea party, take a cue from Michelle (the five-year-old’s mom). The table was beautifully set, with feather boas thrown across on all of the chairs. Each girl had white gloves, a pretty berry and marshmallow bowl and a little jar of fudge for dipping at her place setting. Trays of flower and heart shaped sandwiches were in the middle of the table. Tea pots of tea, hot chocolate and milk were on the table – love those choices! Michelle confided to me that she found the glass tea cups at Goodwill for cheap, cheap! The girls got their own little cakes (pre-frosted) to decorate after their lunch.

Other fancy activities included: making bead necklaces, face painting, makeup, nail polishing, and…just playing in the backyard (my girls did a pretty even split of fanciness and playtime). Ava was probably a little young to sit still for the whole tea party, but the five-year-olds did very well.

Stupendous, splendid, fancy!

December 17 – Word or Phrase

“2009 was about letting go.”

At the beginning of 2009, I found myself over-committed and tried to trying to live up to being supermom/perfect lawyer. I wanted to start letting go of a few things and being ok with disappointing people from time to time. But it wasn’t easy. In fact, it wasn’t happening. As soon as I let go of one thing, I replaced it with another. Ok, maybe the other, new thing was more what I wanted to do, but it was still taking cycles and not freeing up my schedule much.

Then, in September 2009, Ben and Lily started kindergarten. Although I anticipated this to some degree, this change completely rocked my world. This was a MAJOR change for us – not only the place, but the time (after enjoying lazy afternoon preschool, leaving for school with 3 kids all ready to go for the day at 7:30am was…ahem….hard, VERY hard), the philosophy, the expectations, everything. Jeff was not around to help due to his work schedule and I was…barely keeping above water. I was worried that I would have to home school (and I am NOT a teacher!), because things were just going so badly with the adjustment. I decided that I would need to take a leave of absence from my law practice. With that…I felt a great sense of relief. I was able to focus on my family during that big adjustment time. I have had to let go of their babyhood and also of the notion of control. There are things I am still not happy with (homework in kindergarten, for instance!)…but I have let go a bit. After all, it is not possible for me to be as involved with their school as I have been with their preschool.

What the leave did for me was to free up my mind to consider other things. And what happened after that month leave was that I was offered the chance to become a partner at Silicon Valley Moms Group, one of my long-time clients. I am now happy to be able to use more than just my law degree, but also my business degree and all of the experience that a bunch of volunteer positions on the board of Gemini Crickets and Explorer Preschool has given me. I am still doing deals, which I love. I am still negotiating and drafting contracts, which I love. I am doing a ton of writing, which I love. I am doing a lot more creative stuff, which I love. And I am a part of a team, which I love and which is something I have missed these past several years being on my own in my solo law practice. I still have a couple of law clients, but for the most part I am focusing my work on SV Moms and having a blast.

It feels good to let go of pressure, to do something a bit new, to take a risk and to just see what happens. By the way, if you haven’t already, please subscribe to the SV Moms Group newsletter (just go to www.svmoms.com and click on the box on the far right that says “receive the SV Moms Group Newsletter”) and follow SVMoms on twitter. Thanks!

December 18 – Shop

Anthropologie

I adore this store and my twin sister Robin and I have a new annual birthday tradition of shopping together at Anthropologie for our birthday. We used to buy things for each other and now we just…buy things for ourselves while we are together around our birthday. I love the romantic, eclectic look. They have great, classic kid toys and gorgeous kitchen items too. I could seriously spend A LOT of money in there. I usually do very little shopping during the year, so I do save up to splurge on this once a year. Above are some of our favorite finds of 2009. Robin bought Jeff and I the new bedding for Christmas – ocean….ah…thank you very much!

December 19 – Car Ride

All around Oregon, Jeff and I’s 10 year wedding anniversary

For our 10 year wedding anniversary, Jeff and I went to Portland, Oregon, last minute. We decided to stay a few different places during our 4 day getaway, so we ended up doing quite a bit of driving. We drove to Mt. Hood, past the Columbia River Gorge, from Portland to Eugene and into the woods by the river, then to the beach, along the coast and back to Portland. It was reminiscent of our life before kids, when we would just go for a drive as something to do together. We fought a bit over iPod playlists – we discovered that, left to my own devices, I tend to go for cover tunes…I have quite a few of them on my iPhone… – and I read aloud quite a bit from a book we bought at Powell’s Books in Portland, Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. More pictures, etc. from our trip here. We talked A LOT. We put our hands out the window and did that little wave thing. It was nice, very nice.

December 20 – New person

Maxine

Maxine, as I mentioned to you on the evening of our daughters’ preschool sleepover at school, I had no idea I would find such a GOOD friend in you this year. We met at the beginning of the 4Day class and our daughters quickly became best friends. Who knew that I would soon find myself hanging out at your house drinking wine and eating your delicious food (OMG, my kids LOVE your mac and cheese to this day!), planning camping trips, talking life and politics and dreams. You helped me, coached me (really, truly) to stop living such a crazy life and to focus on the important stuff. I loved being on the preschool board with you (pilates at the board retreat, anyone?) and participating in your French day at school (Tour de Explorer!). Thank you for sharing your friendship, your family, your “bugs”, your wine, your exuberance for life, your perspective, and your swimming pool. I look forward to many more years of friendship to come!

Posted in #best09, Ava, Fashion, Friends, Getaway, Girl stuff, Kindergarten, Lily, My Twin Sis, Works of art | 1 Comment »

Archive for ‘Getaway’

Halloween Time at Disneyland: Getting over the scaries

Posing as a Canadian: Our trip to Newfoundland 2010

Anusara Yoga Immersion in the Tetons

Running The Relay race #EatBlogRun style

A weekend at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel

My #Best09…Inspired by @GwenBell – Tea of the Year, Word or Phrase, Best Shopping, Best Car Ride, Best New Person

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