June

I don't have a clever title for this month.

There are a lot of things to say about June- mostly inspired by musicals- "they say when you marry in June, you're a bride all your life" and "June is bustin out all over".

Here's another thing to say about June: it's the name of the main character in my all time favorite (also new) TV show called "The Handmaid's Tale". It's the story of a distopian society that has taken to forcing "sinful" yet fertile women into birthing babies for what is essentially the "upper class". The story goes that the worlds food supply and quality nutrition depletes. Fertility rates plummet and those babies that are born often don't survive. It's a seemingly crazy story and yet, we as an audience can see so much of ourselves in it.

I'd like to write about the things that we've been up to but, today I have some more heavy thoughts. There has been a great deal of conflict in the US right now due to the POTUS, Donald Trump, and his "zero tolerance" immigration policies. People seeking asylum coming from South America have been detained and imprisoned. They've been separated from their children and some of them, I am told, will never be reunited. There have been a lot of nasty comments made on both sides of this situation/ argument (I'm not certain why there's even an argument- separating families is clearly wrong) and, I cannot abide by what I'm hearing about the treatment of these people. Comparisons are being made to the US closing borders to the Jews during the Holocaust and it doesn't feel like those comparisons are that far of a stretch.

I'm always nervous to write these kinds of thoughts down. What if I'm wrong? What if my information was misguided? What if I'm not taking a strong enough stance? Will I regret not having flown to Texas to lend a hand to the children in these detainment centers? Right now, I'm leaning toward that- toward dropping everything and going to be there and help in person.

I read that after a major crisis (school shootings, natural disasters, etc) there's often an influx of useless donations. Lots of "comforting" stuffed animals and clothes that "well meaning" people have cast off (shoes without matches and such)...come on people! What they need are toiletries, food, and love.

Scott and I have talked about solutions and of course that's easy to do- just talk about solving the world's problems. They're likely more complex than we can possibly understand. One thing Scott has suggested is that if we open our borders completely, it might force countries like Mexico to make some major changes in their economy to prevent their country from economic collapse. He makes a point. If the population were to dwindle to a point that the economy really began to feel it, adjustments would have to be made. Perhaps we are over simplifying. Scott's also read about how in Portugal they "decriminalized" all drugs and spent the money they were spending incarcerating drug criminals on education and drug rehab programs that focus on connection. Apparently the effects have been wildly positive. There's a Ted talk that explains how the opposite of addiction isn't sobriety...it's connection and provides a bunch of stats that support the idea that when individuals are connected to their community and family, they value themselves and avoid illicit drug use. Anyway, while we don't know how to solve the worlds problems, we are paying attention and we are trying to make a difference. More on that next post. :)

May the force be with you-

May was very eventful but the absolute highlight was taking Patrick to Disneyland for the very first time. We chose to do Disney in one day. Many people would argue that you can't truly do Disneyland in one day. I would agree with that. There are so many shows to see, shops to explore, and of course rides to enjoy. However, we really packed the day and had an amazing time. There are a few reasons we just decided to cram it into one day: 1- I was going to be in SoCal anyway because I had arranged a girls trip/ cruise that was set to head out of Long Beach on Sunday. I thought...why not grab Patrick and Scott and make Disney happen on Saturday. The other thought was that we kept telling Patrick that if he learned to pee and poo on the potty he would get to meet Mickey Mouse. While he didn't fully understand what that meant at first, having a deadline already scheduled was motivating for all of us to make that potty training happen! 2- lots of people will indeed do a week long pass to Disney but, after the cost of admission to the park(s), food, and hotel stay....that costs the same as a trip to Hawaii for the three of us since my parents own a place there. It's difficult to justify spending precious vacation time and money doing a week of Disney when Hawaii is so cost effective and much more relaxing.

One of the ways we maximized our time at Disney was by getting the "max" pass. It was just $10 extra/ ticket and allowed us to get fast passes directly onto our phones. We were eligible to get one fast pass/ hour. I will say, I was disappointed that the max pass only worked on a handful of rides. If I remember correctly they included Buzz Lightgear, Star Tours, Star Wars, Matterhorn, Mr. Toads Wild Ride, Its a Small World, Autopia, Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain...so all the big rides but NOTHING in Fantasy Land...many of those rides got to 40 minute waits or longer and those were the only ones Patrick could ride. There was one roller coaster in Toon Town that Patrick was able to ride. 

While the rides are great, the character meet and greets were the highlight for us. Patrick got to meet Mickey Mouse, Darth Vader, Ray, some storm troopers, and we saw Tiana walk by a couple of times. He had the sweetest encounter with Mickey Mouse. We walked through Mickey's house and I didn't realize that we had gotten ourselves into the line to meet him. The sign posted outside said that the line was 30 minutes long and I wasn't sure I wanted to wait all that time but, we found our way into the line anyway. It worked out nicely because when we got to the true line and waiting portion, we were watching old Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts on a big screen in his "barn/ studio". It was adorable and Patrick was delighted. When we walked inside, Mickey looked black and white and sort of "vintage" Patrick was charmed. His grin was so sweet and so big. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Such a sweet moment. He was a bit star struck but simultaneously super eager to go give Mickey a hug. We have the sweetest picture of him hugging Mickey and it was just so fun. 

I was proud of myself at one point later in the day. I had ordered two too many fast passes for the Matterhorn ride. My dad and I were skipping out on that one so, I went to the very back of the line. By about 4:00, the line wrapped all the way around the mountain to the backside and the line was about an hour long. I figured...if I went to someone at the back of the line and offered them my passes, I could get $5-10 for them...success. I found some high schoolers and got $5/ ticket. Thus, I paid for 1.5 max passes because Patrick and I didn't even use them on many of the rides...he was too small for more than half of the rides that the max passes were working for. Did I feel guilty...maybe a tiny tiny bit however, they skipped the line and I got some money. Seemed fair.

We let Patrick lead the day in a lot of ways. I chased him around Tom Sawyer island- now called Pirate island or Treasure Island or something like that. I showed him the Tarzan tree. We rode lots of kiddie rides together. I took him to the potty more times than I could count. Funny thing about the potty...I must have been cursed at Disney because EVERY SINGLE sink I chose had an adjacent paper towel dispenser that was EMPTY!!! Every one! After the second one I thought...this is a fluke. Disney is so on top of this! There's no way I'm going to run into another paper towel thing that is out and IT. KEPT. HAPPENING. And, surprisingly, I wasn't annoyed. I just laughed. It's like Disneyland and I had a little inside joke going. Then, get this, when I was with my girlfriends on the Queen Mary on Sunday morning having brunch...the towel dispenser I chose when I washed my hands on the boat was dirty!!! Too funny.

Back to Disney-

We found ourselves exploring lots of parts of the park that I've never really seen (or at least remember seeing) because Patch is still so little and can't do lots of the big rides. One thing we all enjoyed was the Tiki Room. I was enthralled and the music was so great! I hear that the Tiki Room is getting replaced with something else eventually so, I was imagining the birds all being auctioned off at some charity event and becoming collectibles. If that were to be the case, what bird would I want? Probably Colette. I just like that name :)

We had such a delightful day. Pixar Fest was happening so, there was a really fun Pixar parade through Disneyland that I fully enjoyed since most of the Pixar stuff is generally in California Adventures and I was going to miss Sunday at that park. So, while Patrick and Scott rode Autopia, my mom and I watched the Pixar parade. So fun! They had characters from Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Inside Out, Bugs Life, and a few others. I loved seeing the inventive ways they created for the Pixar characters to move through the parade. De. Lightful.

 One of our last rides was "It's a Small World". We all got to ride that one together and Patrick sat with my parents. That is a ride that I typically don't rush to get onto so, it's been years since I've seen it and now they have all this Pixar stuff in there too. If you ask me, the Pixar parts felt a bit "reachy" and out of place but I understand why they would do that. I did love looking at all the details on the costumes and talking to Patrick about what the song meant was meaningful. In the days following our trip, he would sing the song in the car or ask us to sing it for him. 

We left the park around dinner time to grab some food in Downtown Disney. We ate at a New Orleans style restaurant and ordered way to much food- as usual. Patrick hadn't napped by this point and was kind of losing patience as Scott and my dad waited in line to order food. I didn't realize that he was heading into breakdown mode because my mom and I popped over into The Disney Dress Shop where they sell vintage inspired dresses made with licensed fabrics. (I didn't find anything that I loved-DARN IT) When we got back to the boys Scott asked if I would take Patch and occupy him over by the fountain. In hindsight, he probably just wanted out of the stroller but, I got after him for fussing and rushed him away from the crowds to calm him down and talk. We were across the way at this fountain and I was crouched down in front of him offering to take him out to eat when this kid walks up behind us just a few feet and projectile vomits! I don't think any got on us but the splashes of his vomit were close to us. Nasty. Well, anyway, Patrick was still occupied with his own tantrum but did calm down when I spoke to him down on his level and offered for him to sit with us at the table and eat dinner like a big boy. He did a great job after that and was quite pleasant the rest of the evening. Toward the end of dinner, he had to run to the bathroom which was just past the Lego store. Naturally Patch wanted to pay the Lego store a visit so, I told him that if he ate his dinner well, he could go there. We literally ran back to the table to finish eating (darting in and out of crowds of people...my trying to keep up with him) and yes, he did get to go to the Lego store. 

After that, my parents brought him back home for bed and Scott and I headed back into Disneyland to do a few more rides just the two of us. Around the time we got out of riding the Buzz Lightgear ride, the evening Pixar show was starting. There were sections of the path just in front of the castle blocked off and already filled up by viewers. It appeared there was no more room for additional people to try to watch the show. Scott and I were ushered through a path and Disney employees were trying to keep the crowds moving (they do, after all, have to worry a great deal about crowd control and making sure there are clear safe walking paths) so, we got clever and just kept walking in circles around the iconic statue of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney. Literally walking in circles while watching the show. It was awesome. I do love working the system. We rode the rockets in Tomorrow Land and had one last fast pass for Indiana Jones. One our way there, I heard live music playing and there was A SWING DANCE happening...yes....a swing dance at one of the performance areas near Mainstreet. So, naturally, Scott and I took a moment to dance and enjoy. It was definitely a highlight of the day for me.

Patrick said a few times throughout the day, "I'm so glad that I learned to poop and pee on the potty so that I could come to Disneyland". *heart eyes* That was the sweetest. I'm glad to buddy, I'm glad too.