Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve at Aunt Sally's - most of the kids (plus Jen!)

Griffin at his Uncle Doug's looking stylish.

Train set from Griffin's grandparents, Papa and Beppa

Django with her new stuffed bear friend, Meh (like her meow)

Griffin concentrating on unlocking his secret invisible ink journal from Grandma & Grandpa

Getting ready to write in his journal

Monday, December 03, 2012

A boy and his cat

Griffin and Ella, his protector from nightmares.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Griffin 1, Tooth 0

It was a hard fought war, raging over weeks, Griffin and the other front tooth locked in battle.  Who would win?  The first front tooth had gone without much of a fight months ago, but this second front tooth did NOT want to come out.  It was hanging on any way it knew how, holding on with both hands, chaining itself to the gums, never giving up.  Griffin was determined to win, chomping on every apple in sight, twisting it, and writing the word "wiggle" on his hand to remind him to wiggle it out.

In the end, the tooth lost, but not without a journey to the dentist.  Dr. Bhanji worked her magic and vanquished that tooth.  Now it lies tranquilly in a plastic box labeled "My Tooth" in Griffin's Tooth Fairy pillow pocket, never to bother Griffin again.

The winner and still champion, Griffin the Toothless!


Thursday, August 09, 2012

Yellowstone, 2012

Griffin and I had a fun adventure in late July/early August, we spent 10 days driving from Seattle to Yellowstone and back.  Along the way we slept in a tipi at a ghost town, camped for two nights in Yellowstone, saw geysers, mud pots, bears, bison, elk, and a cavern.  It was a fantastic trip!


Tipi at Bannock State Park Campground

Old schoolhouse in Bannock, MT

Wagon and buildings in Bannock, MT

Hotel and buildings, Bannock, MT

Herd of bison, Yellowstone National Park

Bison

Old Faithful Inn

Old Faithful

Old Faithful

Bison right of way



Campsite at Norris Campground in Yellowstone

Griffin working on his Junior Park Ranger papers, he earned his badge!

Griffin asleep in our tent (it got down to 38 degrees at night)
'
Black bear (two years old, according to the ranger there)

Bison and blue sky

Griffin watching bison herd through binoculars

Fountain Paintpot geysers

Elk

Griffin watching elk

Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT

Monday, June 18, 2012

Halloween, 2011

I am so far behind.  Here is Griffin the ninja from last Halloween.

Griffin and his friend Tommy, Iron Man just before they went trick-or-treating

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Spring Break 2012 - Disneyland!

Griffin and I went to Disneyland over Spring Break, five days in Southern California and three of them at Disneyland and California Adventure.  I was looking forward to this so much, as Disneyland is one of my favorite places in the world, and it is a special place for our family.

On our first trip, when I was about 11, we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and the whole experience was magical.  The last night Jake and Dad used their last E ticket (yes, it was that long ago) to ride the monorail back to the hotel, but I didn't want to use my last ticket for something so mundane.  My mom offered to stay with me to go on one last ride.  What I really wanted to go on was Space Mountain, but I knew it wasn't her favorite ride, so I chose the Haunted Mansion instead.  Then we trekked back to the Disneyland Hotel on foot.

The next trip, my dad took both of us over spring break because my mom had just gotten a full-time job.  We acted like three kids all week long, playing video games in the Starcade, laughing so hard in the Mexican restaurant next to Thunder Big Mountain Thunder Railroad (we never could remember the name) and having an amazing time.

I met Jake down there once when he was driving around the western U.S. and we had our usual good time.  A few years later Jake bought me a Haunted Mansion poster, a duplicate of the one in the tunnels leading into Main Street, and it didn't fit into his car after he had it framed.  I think he drove home with one door tied shut just to give me that special gift.

Being able to take Griffin there was something I've been waiting for, at least for the past three years.  Seven seemed to be a good age to take him for the first time, and it was.  The best part was that he didn't know!  I had been planning this trip since January, and we didn't leave until April 23.  It wasn't until we pulled up at SeaTac that we told him, and the poor guy was so confused, but eventually he understood and was so excited.

The first night, just after we arrived, we went to a Character Dinner at Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel.  We met Snow White, Goofy, Minnie Mouse, Rapunzel, Dale and a few other characters.  It was a lot of fun and the food was great, a big buffet with good adult and kid choices.

Going into Disneyland!



On Day 2 the weather wasn't supposed to be nice, so we went to the Natural History Museum next to USC, which has lots of dinosaur skeletons, and then we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific, where Griffin had a staring contest with a ray and they also have birds you can feed.


Day 3, Carousel in front of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (which we rode three times in a row late one night)

Griffin was chosen twice for the Jedi Training Academy to fight Darth Vader!

Proving his worth

Toontown

Meeting Mickey Mouse!

Riding the Railroad


Now, my favorite series of photos, from a few hours spent in California Adventure.  They were doing a lot of construction so we didn't have access to much of it (Cars Land opened this last week and we will visit soon!).  We ran into Sulley from Monsters Inc. as he walked out, so Griffin was one of the first to get a photo, or as it turned out, a series of photos.  Sulley was great, goofing around with Griffin for a few minutes until we were both laughing so hard!

 


 



Just as we thought he was done, as I took what I thought was the last "real" photo of them together, Sulley put his hand up right over Griffin's face.  It was hilarious!



It was an amazing week.  Griffin and I both had a fabulous time, and I'm confident Griffin sees Disneyland through the same magical lens that I do still, even 30+ years after my first visit.