Dark hair like me. Anya & Liya had mock elections at their school today. Driving home, Angela asked each girl who they voted for and why.
“Obama,” said our kindergartener. “Because he has dark hair, like me.”
“Huh,” said Angela, digesting this reasoning, what it means about race, and (to be honest) slightly disappointed, considering that the night before we had talked about how both senators’ educational policies differed.
Liya continued: “And his family has dark hair too, like in my family.”
Jan was the mystery reader in Liya’ classroom this morning. He read “Davy’s Dream”.
Totally toddling. Bree has officially made the transition from crawler to toddler. Angela’s heart is breaking as she watches Bree toddle out of babyhood.
We leave for L.A. We pick the girls up from school around lunchtime, then head to the airport.
Girls do okay on the flight, although Sabriya is very wriggly. She’s sitting next to Jan, and doesn’t stop moving the whole flight. At one point, an attendant hands Jan a cup of ginger ale and ice, along with a snack pack. Jan puts the drink on the floor so he can open up the snacks for Sabriya. While he’s doing that, Bree gets down on the floor, then picks up the cup of ginger ale and dumps half of it over her seat and the other half on the floor. While Jan’s trying to mop up the liquid on the seat, she splashes around in the liquid on the floor. While Jan’s trying to take off her wet moccasins and find a place to let them dry, she takes off her socks and stuffs them into the mostly (but not entirely) empty cup.
Get to Long Beach Airport as the sun is going down. Angela’s dad meets us, we drive back to Johnny and Zenni’s house. En route, we learn that the power’s gone out! Luckily, it only went out after they’d finished cooking dinner. We arrive and eat dinner by flashlight. With no light, we all turn in early. The power finally comes back on around midnight.
It’s cold and rainy in Seattle—but beautiful and sunny in L.A.! In the morning we drive to a nearby aquarium, but the roads are blocked off, so we go to a lighthouse instead. Jan’s not feeling great, so sleeps for most of the afternoon. Angela takes the girls swimming at the pool in the apartment complex of Zenni’s coworker. Sabriya loves the water.
Trip to Legoland. Trip takes a bit longer than expected with multiple stops to use the restroom. Once inside the theme park, the first stop is the Build & Test area. Anya and Jan build cars to race down a track, while Liya plays with Lego letters. Anya’s car beats Jan’s repeatedly. Lunch in the “knight’s castle” corner of the park, followed by a long bout of playing at the nearby giant play structure. Run up and down the rope stairs and tube slides for a long time. Johnny follows Anthony and Brian around, but complains its hard to crawl through the tubes. Johnny, Zenni, Anthony, and Brian compete in the fire engine race—and win! Anya makes everyone walk all the way back to the knight’s area so she can ride a jousting “horse” around a track. The line is so long that, in the time it takes her and Liya to wait in line, Johnny and Brian have gone on the dragon roller coaster twice. After the horse ride, everyone goes on the dragon coaster. Anya and Liya love it and make us do it again. Jan’s not feeling well, so sits out as Angela takes Anya and Liya for a ride on the serious Technic coaster. The automatic camera of the roller coaster takes a shot of them that shows grimaces of fear on both girls’ faces. We wrap up with a long visit to the big store. Anya spends a long time considering how to spend a Lego birthday gift card from Johnny, and ultimately chooses a 1,000 piece Ferris Wheel kit.
Trip to California Science Center. Outside the museum, there’s a big pickup truck attached to a giant lever; we have fun lifting the truck. Inside Angela gets kudos for the best frizzy hair when she touches the van de Graf generator. Her dad spends a long time at the earthquake exhibit. We get to see a lizard molting. Sabriya plays in the toddler’s area.
Later that day, for dinner Jan, Angela, Johnny, and Zenni go out for dinner at Christine’s.
Last day in L.A. In the morning, we visit a nearby Trump golf course and walk down a bluff to a beach. Anya and Liya want to dig a hole in the sand down to the water table; Jan helps. After they’re successful, a big wave rolls in. Jan and Liya hop out of the way, but Anya backs up into the hole they’ve just dug and gets soaked below the waist. She later decides to make herself new “socks” out of plastic dog pooper-scooper bags she gets from a dispenser.
In the afternoon, we visit a nearby park. Cheng-nan and E-moon fly two kites, then let the kids take turns flying them. Brian lets go of the kite reel, forcing A-gon to chase it down.
Since the Long Beach Airport has lousy food options, we make a quick stop for Popeyes on the way to the airport. E-moon’s excited for an excuse to get Popeye’s fried chicken. Our return flight waits for an hour on the ground, then loses more time in the air. Instead of arriving at 9:30, we get in after 10:30. All three girls are passed out, and we have a bunch of luggage, so just getting to the car becomes a logistical challenge.
Anya and Liya have a piano “recital” at the Sanctuary in West Seattle for teacher Emily’s students. It’s a rather, um, organic affair. Mac and Cheese is served as dinner. The girls declare that they’re not going to play anything, which is too bad because Mom comes too. After a bunch of other students play tiny little compositions, Liya bravely decides she wants to play one of hers, and does so. Angela had planned to play a Bach Invention, but couldn’t find the music, so plays “Fur Elise” instead.
Anya and Jan finish the Lego Ferris Wheel that Anya bought at Legoland. Anya decides that she’s happy she bought the Ferris Wheel instead of a box of Lego pieces.
Anya had her first sleepover with a friend here at home. She invited carpool friend Kaila Frazer to come and stay the night. The afternoon was fairly nice, so all five of us went on a walk across Madison Park to the secret dock by the wetlands, and on the way back we picked up Kaila and all walked home. Anya, Liya, and Kaila played with Playmobil toys for hours, spinning elaborate stories as background for the toy action.
Sabriya played happily for a long time with a marker and its cap. She’d pop the cap off and laugh, then struggle for a while to put the cap back on until Jan would help her. Then she’d take the cap off again and laugh. Jan finally told her it was time for bedtime and took the marker from her–and she went nuts. She really likes pens and caps.
Thanksgiving Day. Angela did most of the cooking while Jan watched the girls. We had Ty, Susana, and Zoe over for dinner, along with an international student from Macau named Louis.