Club 33

I've been to Disneyland more times than I can even remember.

There's always a new side of Disneyland to experience.

There are still rides I haven't been on, shows I haven't seen, restaurants I haven't tried.

I checked one of those off my list this past Sunday.

And it was FUN!

In celebration of Jaclyne's birthday, we went to a Sunday brunch at Club 33.

It's a private, members-and-their-guests-only restaurant in New Orleans Square in Disneyland.

The entrance is right next door to the Blue Bayou restaurant and the exit to Pirates.

You ring the doorbell and give them the name on the reservation...
If all is well, they open the door and you are let into a little foyer.
There's a beautiful french elevator.
Everything looks very elegant and stuffy.
Yes, right where my girls were letting out little yelps and screams. It was elegant.
The hostess made sure that our table was ready and we were brought up.

I've always looked at the door full of curiosity about what's inside.

Going in...

Now, I finally know what's on the other side of the door...

 That, on the bottom right corner, is the toilet. Weird, huh?

A toast for Jaclyne's 27th

Mickey makes an appearance with Pluto for his guests.
Kate was beyond thrilled to see her old friend...

My fabulous meal

Sisters

The birthday treat...

The view or New Orleans Square from the balcony of Club 33

All in all, it was a pleasant experience. The food was good, the service was amazing
and the company was even better.
To top it off,  the girls were quiet and well behaved.

We had a great day at Disneyland the rest of the day.
The kids were especially loving it because Eric was able to come with us.
He doesn't have a pass and doesn't share our love for Disney so this
was a real treat for Kate and Charlie.

Poor Eric, Charlie made him go on all the big rides that Eric doesn't
really have the stomach for any more in his old age... ;o)

A shot at the end of the night...

At CA Adventure, there's a little area where they play completely inappropriate music for kids and
everyone gets to dance and hula hoop. It was neon and loud and the kids just loved it.

Here was probably one of the highlights of Eric's life.
He loves Dirty Dancing.
He loves any movie of that era, really.
So when "Time of my Life" came on and he was dancing with Kate
he did the lift with her and the pride on his face was priceless.

Mr. Charlie the hula hooper.

I am so glad to have been included in this special day.
It's surely one I will always remember.

Ella's 1st Surgery

One of the hardest thing any mother has to endure is

watching their child in pain or suffering and being helpless in soothing them.

I experienced this and it was heart wrenching.

Ella couldn't have food or drink for at least 12 hours before her surgery.

You try to explain to a 13 month old baby that they are unable to have their bottle at 4 am.

She kept crying for it and it made me want to cry too.

But I knew the risks that would entail if she had something to drink and then

was put under general anesthesia. Wasn't worth the risk.

She slept for the first time between Eric and me.

We spent a good part of the night singing to her and rubbing her hair and her back.

Check in time at the hospital was 7am but I could no longer take

seeing her cry for her bottle or food so I loaded her up in the car and brought her in earlier.

After getting her all checked in, we were shown to our crib.

She was given a tiny little hospital gown and the same Kaiser socks I was

given when I was in labor with her.

Her vital signs were checked with a tiny blood pressure cuff that she HATED.

She didn't like the feeling when it got tight. I don't really blame her, I hate that feeling too!

She would stop crying when the nurses came near her out of curiosity but

she cried out of pure hunger. I heard her stomach grumbling.

They let her bring one comfort item and that, without a doubt, is her blankie.

She smooshes her face into it and smells it and lays on it.

Out of all my kids, she loves her blankie most.

Really, only one person should have been allowed into the room with me,

but since my husband couldn't be there, the nurses were kind and let my mom and my "sister" Jaclyne

keep me sane while we waited for Ella's surgeon to be ready for her.

and thank god they were there with me because they really did help soothe her and me too.

When the time came to take Ella back, emotions ran high.

I said a quick prayer to god that all would go well and that she would

come out of this as healthy as she was when she went in.

I kissed her forehead and then she was given some "happy juice" to make her

 a little loopy and therefore making it a little easier for the anesthesiologist to take her away from me.
She didn't cry when they took her away.

He didn't even wheel her away in the bed either.
He carried her on his hip while the nurse wheeled the bed behind them.

She's special like that, my little Ella.

Then the waiting game started. It went relatively quickly as my dad arrived and

we headed down to the cafeteria to grab a quick bite before she was done with the surgery.

As we were walking back in the waiting room, I heard a nurse calling out Ella's name.

It took me all I had to try to keep my cool and not run back to where

 they were holding her in recovery. I wanted to be the one she saw when she came to.

I didn't want her to be scared and lost. 

At her bedside, this is what I was greeted with.

That lone tear just about killed me.

It took Ella about an hour to come out of the anesthesia fog.

She was irritable, inconsolable and very angry.

I am sure it was all out of hunger. That girl loves to eat and at

this point we were well beyond 14 hours with no food.

All she wanted was a bottle.

So, the nurse gave her a 2oz bottle of glucose water.

She finished that and immediately cried for another.
And then another.
Girl was HUNGRY!
After the 3rd one, they cut her off to see if she would tolerate it all.
_
My dad has secret magic powers when it comes to his grandbabies.
He charms them and entrances them with whatever magic it is that he whispers into their ears.
They will stay there for as long as it is that he will whisper.
I love that.

Her incision site and scar.
It will be hidden in her hairline when she decides to grow some hair.


and finally before we were discharged she was allowed some apple juice
and strawberry jello.

She was in heaven and back to charming all the nurses.

I'd like to thank all the lovely people who lifted Ella up in prayer and good thoughts.
They truly made me stronger and it helped immensely to know
that all the people I love and care for, even ones I don't know, were out there
in the universe hoping that she got through her ordeal and came out smiling.
I love you all. Truly.

I'm a Hot Mess.

Everything happening to me is seemingly out to teach me a life lesson.

To make me stronger.

To show me my strength.

To make me cry and smile and just appreciate all the blessings I've been given.

Post after post about not being ready for my Charlie to start Kindergarten must be getting

old to you guys, my faithful readers, but I'm living it and man, it's not easy. 

Pair that with my little Ella getting operated on tomorrow morning and there isn't much anyone can

do to dry the tears. I'm an emotional mess and the slightest thing will set me off. 

Take today, for example.

I spent a good part of my day helping to clean my little man's future kindergarten classroom. 

Disinfecting the desks that would soon be his, arranging the books that he would learn to read this year,

washing the toys and stuffed animals he would play with...

I thought I was on a roll when all of this was accomplished with not a tear or sniffle in sight.

So, I bravely, with list of necessary supplies from his teachers in hand, made my way to

the back-to-school section at Target.

Rows of Crayola crayons, unsharpened pencils, reams of paper begging to be filled with drawings

and words, new pens and lunchboxes... It all made me so nostalgic for when I was 5,

when I was excited for the beginning of September for the start of school.

The Lists

As I was checking off item after item on the list, I found myself tearing up.

24 Crayons. Check. Weep.

12 Colored Pencils. Check. Tear.

2 large erasers. Check. Sniffle.

Get the picture?

I apologize to the teenagers in the paper aisle who surely found me very strange to

be crying over my dry erase board and weeping into my 2-inch 3 ring binder.

As you read this, I am likely crying again as Ella is in surgery and I am

waiting with baited breath for the surgeon to come out and tell me that everything

went beautifully and that I can come in and hold my beautiful girl.

That's the beauty of a scheduled post.

On the Road Again...

Our last day in San Francisco was a bittersweet one, as are the end of most vacations.

We were once again awoken by a Jaclyne who liked to dramatically pull open those lovely

room darkening curtains that I love so much about hotels. Way too early, I might add.

I am glad she did because the kids and I could have slept all day long with all the walking we've been doing
and we definitely wouldn't have been able to do everything we wanted the kids to see and do.

It took us forever to get out of the hotel room as it did every other morning...
It was a hot, hot day. One of the hottest days in recent history!
The kids were glad that it wasn't windy or cold so a walk sounded nice to them.

Yank Sing for dim sum was our destination.
We were sweating bullets and had to diffuse tantrums from Kate at least 3 times
but we finally made it down there.

We had our dim sum in no time at all. I love that place.
It's so fun to try new things, everything in a mini portion.
Here are some of the things we shared...

The dim sum is wheeled around to every table in the restaurant on little carts like these.

Charlie really enjoyed this restaurant.
He's definitely our little foodie.

 Charlie is my budding photographer. He always wants a camera to capture
moments that are special to him. I love to let his creativity flow but man, am I nervous when he's
got one of the cameras in his hands.

After lunch the kids were dying to try a cable car. Getting on one, with two men

yelling at you to hurry up cause they have to stay on schedule while handling 3 kids and

a huge double wide stroller is humbling. I wanted to cry. Why are some people so mean?

Anyhow, we took it to visit China town.

The kids on the car. Take note that Kate is barefoot.

They are watching the guy who so rudely yelled at us.

Charlie in China Town

Visited Full House house
1709 Broderick St. in SF is the actual house in the opening credits to the show "Full House"
It was pretty cool to see it.

Painted ladies

I would totally live in one of these beautiful houses in this gorgeous neighborhood.

Golden Gate Park is bigger than Central Park in NYC.

I only wish we'd had more time and that it wasn't one of the hottest days

in recent history so that the kids could have run around

and explored a little bit more than we let them.

We wanted them to at least experience some of the park before we left for home so,

a ride on the carousel seemed perfect.

It's funny how I've been to SF more times than I can count but it takes

traveling with the kids to see the city in a whole new light.

One of my goals this summer was to let Charlie and Kate experience what it was to have waves crash on their feet. So far, I hadn't done that yet so when we found this spot completely by accident it felt like

serendipity. I was looking to go take some photos of the kids with the Golden Gate Bridge

and we got something that was 10 times better. They practically got to swim UNDER the

Golden Gate Bridge and I got to photograph it!

Getting them out of that ocean was quite the feat. They adored letting the waves washed up to

their knees and pretending that they fell into the water by accident but they really just wanted to jump right in and didn't want me to be mad that they wet their clothing.

Needless to say, I wasn't mad and I got to experience some of my favorite memories of the trip.

Our view from the beach.

On the one side you have the bridge and on the other beautiful downtown SF and Alcatraz.

After baby powderin' them up til they look like ghosts to try to remove
all the sand in every crevice of their little bodies we were ready tog o to dinner.

Here's what you do while the momma and J are trying to navigate

their way up and down the hills that send Charlie into a fit of giggles and

make Kate squeal like she's going down a slide.

Stick fruit Cheerios anywhere that they will stay.

J wanted to try this restaurant as she'd heard good things about their tacos

and so before we left we had dinner at La Taqueria.

Here are the cool kids waiting for their tacos.

and yes, they were good, but nothing that we don't have in Southern CA also know as El Taco...

After our last meal in San Francisco we started our LOOONG trek home.

Ella was asleep already and Charlie followed not long after her. So, we were

left playing "I Spy" with our little Kate.

Everything she "spied" was pink.

And after we guessed what she spied she would reward us with a,

"Good job, Mama!" or a "Good job, Jackie!"

Thank god for that trusty laptop for keeping those kids entertained while we

drove those long, boring hours of the grapevine and the 5 freeway late into the night.

Here's the last photo I took of our road trip...

A beautiful, almost full moon.

and then we were home.
It felt like we would never get there.

It was a fabulous trip. I loved everything about it.