Daily Ramblings - Birthdays and un-birthdays

Our household was recently hit by the dreaded lurgy (which is one of those British phrases I'd very much like to get people using here in the US).  A couple of weeks ago, Owen brought home a daycare cold, which resulted in getting me sick.  He recovered pretty quickly but, having given the munchkin all my antibodies, I didn't fare so well.  After the cold symptoms dissipated, the following week of sinus headaches led me to the ENT doctor.  He congratulated me on the general disturbing state of my sinuses and tonsils, then sent me home with a 10 day dose of antibiotics.  The drugs had just taken hold on my infection when Owen started coughing and wheezing, leading to a weekend trip to urgent care where he was diagnosed with bronchitis.  Now we have to give him breathing treatments with albuterol twice a day, which essentially means we wave a wand that is spewing vapor into his mouth and try to get him to stay still for 10 minutes while it works it's magic and opens up his airways.  There is nothing fun about this.  Trying to get a six month old to stay in one spot for 10 minutes is hard enough as is, let alone with something that he doesn't understand shoved in his face.  If he doesn't start crying straight away, I will potentially spend those 10 minutes trying to wrestle the wand out of his hands because he's trying to eat it.  This morning he thought it was a gigantic straw and was trying to suck liquid out of it, then got frustrated because it wasn't working.  The kid is too smart for his own good.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, we did have cause for celebration.  Owen turned 6 months on Monday. That's half a year since he burst into our lives and changed us forever.  I can hardly believe it.  In that he was sick, I didn't get to do the photoshoot that I was hoping to, but snapped some pics on my cell phone to commemorate.  I'll do a proper photoshoot with him in the next couple of weeks.  I'd say his "blue steel" is pretty good already though.

Yesterday, it was my birthday.  I'd say 34 is a relative non-event, and the universe did feel the need to remind me of that as I struggled with car trouble and a wheezing baby, which meant my celebratory dinner ended up being Indian takeout, obtained and hand-delivered by my loving husband.  It certainly wasn't the ideal birthday but, in the end, I was surrounded by my boys (the big one, the small one, and the furry one) and I can't complain about that too much.

Daily Ramblings - The happiest place on Earth

Warning - picture heavy post ahead!  :)

A couple of friends of ours recently gave us Disneyland passes to use.  It's been at least 3 years since I went, and even longer than that for the husband, so we were excited to grace the gates of the Magic Kingdom.  It's amazing how no matter how long it's been since you went, or how you remember it when you were a kid, Disneyland hasn't really changed over the years.  There's a comfort to knowing that the things you always loved about certain rides are still the same.  Just remember to watch your ankles (on account of the stroller brigade) and wear lots of sunscreen (ask about my funky tan lines)!

The Haunted Mansion - totally could have done without that terrible movie with Eddie Murphy.  Is it bad that you really only go on this ride to see which of the ghosts decides to hitchhike with you at the end? 

Tom Sawyer's Island and the local pirate ship - ahoy matey!

My timing on this photo was pretty spot on.  We tried taking video while on the ride, but discovered that dark tunnels and blurs of movement probably invoke more motion sickness than the ride itself!

Splash Mountain from the top.  I just adore all the little critters that are inside - Brer Rabbit and Fox and Bear....

We headed on over to California Adventure, which I will admit was a bit of a bust seeing as all the lines were super long at that point, and even the Fast Passes were either broken or for really late.  It gave us the opportunity to get in the air-conditioning and see the Muppets in 3D though.

I'd never ridden the California Screamin' roller coaster, so we did manage to sneak that in, as well as the Maliboomer (where do they come up with these names?!)

We finished off the day with a visit to the husband's grandparents for dinner, who live about 10 miles away from the park, then came back to check out the fireworks.  As far as I'm concerned, the fireworks are a must at Disneyland.  I don't know how they do it, but they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside every time!

What's your favorite Disney story?