a day of yay!/boo.

so i managed to totally horn in on a lunch outing with my friends lilcee and tater by replying to one of their conversations on twitter.  it really wasn't my intention to finagle an invitation to join them, but it was a total win for me and the bean.  heh.

tuesdays are the one day of the week that we have nothing going on, and lately we've been heading out to disneyland to ride some rides and get a little exercise in (like you didn't already know).  but it was nice to have something else to do for a change, and after i got my dose of the 30 day shred done, i got us both ready and out the door.

as soon as we got on the freeway, i noticed that i'd forgotten my wedding ring.  crap.  my hand feels so naked without it, and my thumb kept rubbing the empty spot where it usually is.  then a guy totally merged in front of me without bothering to see if it was clear.   and an old lady did the same thing as she lumbered over four lanes to get into the carpool lane.  then the car ahead of us damn near slammed to a complete stop.  on the freeway.  oh, and that first asshole who cut me off did it again as i was transitioning onto the next freeway. 

i was so frazzled and irritated, i was thisclose to just turning my apparently invisible ass around and going home to curl up into a ball and suck my thumb.  but i wasn't gonna let those jerks foil my plans and ruin my day, dammit.  i couldn't let them win.  so i soldiered on, chatting with the bean and explaining to her that i'd laid on my horn for a full minute because the people on the road are morons weren't paying attention and needed a heads-up. 

by the time we pulled up at the farmers market, i'd calmed down and was ready to have some fun.  i lucked out and found a sweet parking spot, and we rolled into pottery barn kids at the grove for storytime.  but it seemed that the crappy attitude on the freeway spilled over into the moods of the folks who'd brought kids for a story.  all of the little chairs set up were occupied by parents and nannies, leaving almost no room for other kids who were arriving.  and as lilcee and i found a spot to squeeze our kids into, more people arrived and either demanded for us to move or squeezed through us rudely without so much as an "excuse me" or a "sorry."  i swear, manners are completely non-existent in this society nowadays, and when the parents are assholes, that obviously means they're not teaching their kids how to be polite.  ugh.

we were happy to get outta there when it was over, and with about 15 minutes before tater was due to arrive, we decided to take the girls to see santa.  i know, i know, it's not even december 1st yet, but he was there, we were there, and there was only one other kid in line in front of us.  sue me.

the girls were excited, although you can't tell from the look on mini cee's face and the fake, joker-like smile on the bean's.

we weren't really allowed to take pictures inside - obviously, because santa and his elves need to make a profit - but tater (who found us inside santa's workshop) managed to get a couple of the girls anyway.

there was a video camera rolling during each kid's encounter with santa, but with a $30 price tag for a DVD, we skipped it (despite the utter cuteness of watching them walk hand-in-hand to see the man in red).  i opted instead to buy the photos on a flash drive (so high-tech and fancy!) instead of prints, and these are my favorites:

we headed back over to the farmers market to grab lunch, and for me and the bean that almost always means magee's for corned beef.  the others followed suit, and we sat and chatted and watched the girls devour their macaroni & cheese along with slices of meat.  before we were done, both kids needed to hit the potty, and when we got back we found our table cleared of all dishes.  this would normally be totally cool, except that we hadn't exactly finished our meal.  poor tater, she tried so hard to tell the woman that we weren't done, but she either ignored her or didn't understand what she was trying to say.  funny, i thought "no" was pretty universal, but maybe not.  in any case, i'm about to draft a strongly worded e-mail to the folks at the farmers market to unleash the wrath of a woman whose delicious lunch was cleared away way before i was ready to say goodbye.  hmph.

the girls were easily pleased, though - a little ice cream goes a long way.  watching them reminded me of earlier this year, when we met up with nanette and em for lunch at this very same spot.

for the bean, it's not a visit to the grove without a stop at the american girl place.  she let out the most awesome maniacal laugh as we walked in, and had a blast running around with mini cee and showing her all the fun stuff.

i swear, she isn't choking her friend in this shot.  they really love each other.

our last stop was at the coffee bean, where everyone got something to whet their whistle.  the bean lasted for about five minutes in the back seat before she passed out cold.  too bad it didn't last, though - we got home in 40 minutes and the moment i put her down in the house and covered her with a blanket, she woke up and refused to go back to sleep.  drat.

oh!  and only in l.a.:

i'm not gonna lie, i would totally take the teen and rock-ell on this tour.  i bet it's super fun.

egging the bean on

we kicked off easter weekend with not just one egg hunt, but two.  the first was bright and early, starting at 9:00.  the big draw to this one was the fact that a helicopter was going to fly overhead and drop 4,000 easter eggs for the kids to scramble after.  a clusterfuck for sure, but the teen and i really wanted to see that mess.  the hub, not so much.  so off we were to check it out.

we'd arrived about 45 minutes late, and as we made our way to the party there were already a gazillion plastic eggs on the ground.  poop.  but there were lots of fun-looking bouncy things and activities to go see, so it was okay.

as we got in line for the first bounce house ("tweeeeety bird!" the bean pointed), announcements were being made behind us and we learned that the main attraction was still yet to come.  yay!  apparently, the staff had spread half of the eggs and sent the other 2,000 up in the sky with the helicopter.  sweet.

as folks scurried to catch free t-shirts and candy being flung from the stage, the bean hopped right into the jumper and went to town.

because of the growing line, the kids were ushered out after about five minutes of bouncing around to allow more to enter.  and by then it was time to stake out a spot along the yellow caution tape to get a good view of the chopper anyway.  we'd only been standing there for a few seconds when we heard the whizzing overhead.

everyone watched in awe as the helicopter swung down way low and the dude sitting at the door started chucking bags full of eggs out of the side.  he realized that they were all piling up in the same spot, and had the pilot scoot up a bit in an effort to spread the wealth.

after what seemed like ten giant bags later, they gave us a wave and took off.

the bean had been given a sticker to wear that designated which age group she was in.  of course, we were on the very opposite end of where we needed to be.  by the time we got there, the crowd was pretty large and in charge in front of us.  bah!

of course, this meant that she had to squeeze through a bunch of kids - well, really their parents.  these grown folks were totally throwin' 'bows to get their paws on as many eggs for their little ones as possible.  sheesh.  my poor bean, still not really sure of what she was doing, did the best she could under the circumstances.

lately, she's been pretty defiant when i want to take pictures of her.  and she barely let me take one of the three sad little eggs she managed to grab.

of course, with all of the kids still occupied with the grabbing and snatching, this meant that the obstacle course she'd been eyeing when we arrived was completely empty.  and she took full advantage.

we got her out long enough to see if she'd do something else.  up the ladder she clambered, but when she got to the top, she saw that the only way down was via the rather steep slide.  and so she sat her little ass down and refused to budge.

you know what this means, right?  yeah.  after a few minutes of trying to talk her into joining the sliding fun, i ended up shedding my warm and comfy uggs to climb up the steps and slide down with her.  i'd handed my bag and the camera to the teen, who was busy texting or whatever she does with her phone, and in my haste to get to the bean forgot to remind her to snap a few shots of us coming down.  oh, well.  it was fun, and as we sped to the bottom together the bean decided she wanted to do it again - but only if i went with her.  uh, no. 

instead, she settled for another go at the obstacle course before we left.  except that by this time, it was pretty full of kids ranging in age from about 2 to 10.  she can usually hold her own with the bigger kids, but this crowd was crazed.  deranged.  seriously.  she tripped at one point and couldn't get up, and those bitch ass kids who were lucky the teen couldn't get at them totally trampled over her.  we could hear her scream and cry out, and all we could do was encourage her to get up and head on out.

"is she okay?" one stupid little girl who'd literally stepped on her asked us.  um, no, you dumb little ho.  does she LOOK okay to you?  and why are you asking us?  i wanted to smack her.  or better yet, find her parents and shove a size 7 right up their ass.

we got out of there pronto, and decided to make up for it with a second egg hunt - this time, one that i knew she'd have more fun at.  the gym where she takes her gymnastics class had one planned, and other parents who'd been before told us that it was really fun - but to get there early.  it was a solid half hour before the scheduled time, and we were pleased to arrive and find that we were only the third family there.  as we got in line, the bean made like a koala bear and clung to her sister, unwittingly showing off her "dora the explorer" chonies.

it didn't take long for the line to grow.  and grow, and grow, and grow.

when the doors finally opened, it was totally worth the wait.  there were a ton of eggs just waiting to be scooped up, and it was definitely less of a madhouse than the first event we'd been to.  the bean and the teen happily sashayed around, filling her basket in no time.

as instructed, once she was all done, we headed towards the door and emptied all of the candy into her basket, leaving the eggs behind for use next year.

and we were excited to find little slips of paper with numbers on them, which meant that she'd scored a couple of prizes in there, too.

before she claimed her prizes, she stopped for a quick hug for the easter bunny.  we hadn't had a chance to take her before, and so i was glad to get this picture (even though it's a little fuzzy, dang it).

she had fun selecting her two prizes - a fuzzy caterpillar and a blue ring, both of which lit up.

i tried to get a shot of her with that ring, but - well, you'll have to take my word for it.

oy.  three.  such a funny age.