Summer at Disney-Jamie

My Dad's new Father's Day Shirt

Finally, into Pixie Hollow to meet Tinkerbell

Breakfast in Huntington Beach

Slumber Party in Apt#6

Summer Begins with sleepovers and the end of Disneyland. My brother, Eric brought his family to visit California the first weekend of Summer. Since he is the only sibling close to my time zone and the only nieces and nephew on this continent, I was excited to spend time with them. We first met at my Aunt Lynn’s house and all the girls under the age of 32 (me), Katie (11), Natalie (9) and Tara (6) came to my house for a slumber party. Since it was late I had the girls wash their feet and put relaxing lotions and socks on them to get them to calm down enough to sleep. It worked! In the morning we got breakfast at Starbucks and ate on the beach by the HB Pier. The girls were overjoyed to see the ocean again and super excited to drive the carpool lanes to get to Disneyland as quickly as possible. My Uncle Jim got the 8 of them (I still had my pass) into Disney for free and we went straight to Autopia to drive the cars. I drove with Natalie, Julie with Tara, Eric drove alone, Grammy with Jesse (3) and Pops with Katie. Everyone loves a great Autopia drive in the morning! Except, the car right in front of me broke down on the track and for the next 20 minutes we were stuck in LA type gridlock traffic. Once we got to CA Adventure the kids were happy to play in the big areas and sometimes wait in line for a ride. I mostly stayed outside with Jesse, since he was too small to ride and I get to ride all the time. The best kept secret of Disney (White Water Snacks) delivered a wonderful, yummy, cheap(ish) lunch in a secluded corner where we were not disturbed. Liz’s co-worker really helped us find a great secret at WWS. By the end of the day the kids were still hungry, tired and over stimulated. My parents (who finally get to see grandkids-a seldom treat in their life) spoiled the kids with presents on the way out of DCA. I remember being a small child and leaving a much less overcrowded Disney with my parents as a kid. My Dad used to give me $5 and say I could buy whatever I wanted. I think I usually got a pen.

When they left to drive back home I joined Liz and friends for the last night of our Disneyland Passes before we are blocked out for the summer. There was a new fireworks show and so many people that the park stopped selling tickets all together! Too many people! See you in August Disney!

For Father’s Day I got my Dad a Disney “Mickey Mouse Surfing” shirt and I ironed on slogans just for him. The front said, “Disneyland since 1955, Surfing since 1959, Dad since 1969”. The back had a matching palm tree and read: Eric’s Christy’s Mindy’s Justin’s Jamie’s Niki’s DAD! Also, we got DisneyPins and wrote the names of all the missing family members (10 were not there) and wore them all day. So the Disney staffers called me “Crit” and Tara “Rosie” and my Dad “Marc” and it felt as if we were all together for a moment. I think my Pops liked his Father’s Day at Disney and his commemorative shirt more than any tie or gift we could have assembled.
I am blessed to have a funny, supportive, non-conformist family who centers their ambition on doing what is right and their priorities on family. I am dedicating my summer to visiting them ALL. Eric’s family, check. Niki will be back from Albania when I go to DC to visit in July, check. I will stay with Crit in DC, check. I will fly to England to drive to Paris with Mindy’s family before they move to Mauritius, check. Then when I return to California Justin will come back from Iraq and his wife and baby will return from Spain, check. I love my family!