Meeting Naomi

A couple weekends ago all of our excitement and anticipation was and we got the chance to meet our beautiful new niece Naomi. I had seen pictures and heard stories but nothing compares to meeting her face and face and holding her tiny little self in our arms. It was wonderful. She is such a sweet, easy going happy baby and it was so nice to see the Wilson FAMILY living life together. We're an aunt and uncle now, can you believe it?

I have to say I was really impressed seeing my sister in action. She is so in love with Naomi and so attentive - narrating and explaining for the slightly less than savvy the cause and meaning of Naomi's noises and and expressions. Her months of studying, classes and research certainly paid off. Not to say she isn't a natural (her love and care is natural) , but she was citing things she had learned from classes and the hospital and was sharing all sorts of new baby care information with me. She told me that a baby's cry is a "late" signal of hunger and pointed out all the things babies do prior to indicate its feeding time! Amazing. And I have to say, Naomi barely cried at all the entire time we were there.

Steve is very hands on active papa and you can see how much he adores his baby girl.. Naomi is a lucky baby girl to have two parents who love her so much!

It was hard to say goodbye. I was missing my sweet baby niece like crazy all week! We can't wait to see her (and mama and pops) again.

Here are some photos from our trip:

Here we are waiting for Steve to pick us up at the airport. We can't wait to meet our niece!



Such a precious baby girl! Doesn't she look so tiny there?



She kinda sleeps a lot:)



Holding her for the first time:



I love this little girl!



My pretty sister.



So pretty.



Look at that face!!



A yummy lunch out.



So cute.



I'll keep her, thanks!



Benner thinks she's pretty awesome too.



She snuggled right up!



Good morning!



So stinkin cute!



OMG, seriously!?!



She loves her mobile!



"Mama loves you!" - Sarah



Hi sweet girl!



I could just eat her up!



Also, here are some pictures with her and her Nain (Welsh for Grandma, remember?) from a visit just a few weeks before ours:





In papa's arms and the dress we got her!

Disneyland!

Thanks to our friend John, we got another day of fun at Disneyland! This time it was John and our friends Chapman, Dani and Greg. We had been excited to go ever since Benner learned that there was a recreation of the Muppet Theater in Adventureland. We didn't go to Adventureland on our first trip - this was our second time at Disney so we were excited to go.

This being our second visit, we are slowly discovering our favorites spots at the park. Here's what's on our "don't miss" list:
- Indiana Jones Adventure
- Space Mountain
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- A restaurant with a fantastic pulled pork sandwich and a side of fresh fruit

There was a bit of a heat wave that day but, we never had to wait too long for any rides thanks to the fast past system. Thankfully it was cooler in Anaheim than in LA, so it was actually a great day to go!

Here are a few highlights from the day:


Here we are, en route via Rufus, the Jong's van.


We dropped off Ivy June at her Grandparents house for the day, and she and I got in a little snuggle on the way there.


In line for our first ride: The Matterhorn! The Yetti in the mountain scared me for a second!


Benner driving solo and pretty excited.


Benner with the affable John Bayer sharing a laugh.


Benner and I, about to board.


Chapman and Benner, gettng excited for the tea cups.


Never too cool for a tea cup ride.


Well aren't we just precious?


Me and Greg, all ready to go!


Group Shot!

Among the many topics discussed that day, Disney secrets were one of them. After our visit I did some light research on the subject. You may be interested to learn the following:

- Walt Disney had a private Apartment at Disneyland. When Disneyland was being constructed, Walt Disney wanted to stay nearby to supervise. He had an apartment built above the fire station on Main Street where he could spend the night. Everyone knew when Walt was there because of the light left on in the window of the apartment. After Disney died a light has been left on in the apartment window in his memory. The apartment has been left the same way it was when he died but it isn't open for public viewing.

- Club 33 at Disneyland is a private members only club at Disneyland. It is located in New Orleans Square on the second floor near the Bayou Restaurant. Walt Disney wanted to provide a private place to entertain his guests, but he died before it was completed. When it was completed, it was instead opened as a private club with limited membership. There are about 400 members and the annual membership is about $1,000. There is a long waiting list to join that usually takes more than 5 years for an opening to become available. Recently the cost of joining was between $7,500 to 20,000 depending on the type of membership. Members who have reservations for Club 33 are given free passes to enjoy Disneyland for the day of their reservation. They also have a special parking area and are treated as VIPs.

- If you're already over in New Orleans Square, take a listen next time you're near the train station. That tap-tap-tapping you hear is actually a portion of Walt Disney's speech from the opening day of Disneyland in Morse Code. The full messsage, an abbreviated version of Walt's opening day remarks which loops endlessly, reads: "TO ALL WHO COME TO DISNEYLAND, WELCOME. HERE AGE RELIVES FOND MEMORIES OF THE PAST, AND HERE YOUTH MAY SAVOR THE CHALLENGE AND PROMISE OF THE FUTURE."

Home At Last!

We are glad to report that we are back in our apartment after two weeks of displacement due to the flood. It feels good to be back and we have so much appreciation for people who have to travel or live remotely for their jobs. Vacation is one thing, but having to live life every single day from someplace other than your home has its hurdles. It makes you realize how much we take for granted! Having everything in one place, the ability to cook, use a fridge, drink clean water for free, having mail delivered to you, basic cable and TiVo, to name but a few simple things we missed. But it was interesting in its own way to live every day like tourists in our own lives.

But you can't feel too sorry for us... we spent an afternoon at the pool and ventured up the street to Universal City Walk for dinner a couple nights. Before we got everything sorted out with our insurance company we spent the first night of displacement with our friends the Jongs. Here's some photos from our two weeks of home displacement:

Here's Dani with little Ivy June under her hair:


What does Mr. Jong do on his evenings at home? He putters around and fixes things, that's what! He's just so handy.


A view of the mountains from our hotel room:


The view from the elevator on our floor:


Universal City Walk


One of our date nights at Universal City Walk. We discovered a yummy brewery.


Ahhh!!!!


He's my favorite guy!


My view from the pool:


Benner's view of me in the pool: