Disneyland!

Excited.

Excited.

Excited.

Excited.

Excited.

On our way to the first ride of the day, Indiana Jones' Adventure. It's early, and the park's not crowded yet. The sign at the entrance to the ride says the wait is 5 minutes. We discover that there's no line -- it just takes 5 minutes to walk the line area. By the time we're done with the ride a few minutes later, that whole line area, long enough that it takes 5 minutes to walk it, will be filled with people waiting.

The ride is exciting.

Obligatory Matterhorn picture. We haven't been on the ride yet. Once we do, Buster will like it, but Daisy, who'd been game, finds it too scary. For the rest of the trip she refers to the Matterhorn as Bad Mountain.

At the Princess Fantasy Faire, reuniting with her long-lost friend, Belle.

Getting an autograph. Or making a grocery list maybe.

Ariel. Daisy's sporting her happy birthday button. It's her birthday week.

Princess Tiana.

Buster planted himself here and said, "Wake me at a quarter to Matterhorn."

Teacups.

Getting the obligatory Mickey Mouse topiary/Disneyland depot shot.

The obligatory Mickey Mouse topiary/Disneyland depot shot.

Mom!

Whee! Space Mountain. Too cheap to buy the picture.

Uh-oh. He's licensed.

Hitchhikers! Hit the ditch!

Mickey.

In the gloaming, waiting for It's a Small World.

Whoa, it's like this looming magical looming magic thing.

Sleepy. Dark. Waiting for some nighttime show thing that's going to scare the pants off of Daisy, because everything at Disneyland, no matter how cutesy and adorable and fun it starts out, always ends up with fire and explosions and smoke and foreboding music. We weren't able to get shots of Princess Tiana and Ariel blowing up in belches of smoke and flame, but let's just say Daisy didn't like it much. Time to get back to the hotel and go to sleep.
8/9/10

Buster plays a joke on Dad

Hey, say "cheese" two times.
Cheese, cheese.
Ha! You fell for it!
Fell for what? I don't get it.
Yeah, I don't either.
12/2/10

On the way to Disneyland

We walked there.

A stop at Uncle Jeff's. My nephew, Bailey.

I like the idea of him, but this is about as close as I'm gonna get.

A pause in the game of fetch.

At the hotel. It really is fun here!

Free fireworks show courtesy of some joint in the neighborhood.
8/8/10

Birthday party

What do you know, another princess dress.

Making crowns with Clementine.

And Taylor.

And Bella.

The finished product.

Fireman Taye.

Pink Posie.

Carina takes a whack at the Dora piñata ...

... which quickly gets a little disturbing.

Hi Mia.
8/7/10

Birthday

Boots.

A present from Buster.

Just what she wanted! Really.

Princess dress.
8/6/10

Bubbles

Are just really fun.
8/2/10

Daisy masters the rings

Precita Park.
8/1/10

Daisy goes to work

For months, Daisy has been saying, "When do I get to go to work with you?" I keep telling her it's kind of boring at my work, but she really wants to go, so finally we picked a date and she came to the office with me.

The commute: Walking to BART.

On the train with Statue of Liberty Bear and a sleeping bag, Mom's smart idea.

The morning was spent being cute, meeting people and watching a DVD, none of which was evidently photogenic. So now it's lunch time, and before lunch, we wash our hands.

A sandwich on the Embarcadero. Note the Bay Bridge reflected in the window.

A better shot of the bridge.

Another movie. After this, Daisy said Statue of Liberty bear was getting tired and she wanted to put her down for a nap under my desk. I said that sounded like a good idea. She went off -- I was not sitting at my desk -- to do that, and after a while I noticed it was taking a long time, so I went to investigate.

Like father ...
7/30/10

Travis Ishikawa

You sort of had to be there, but then again, it didn't make much sense to those of us who were there: There was a brief infatuation with Travis Ishikawa over the summer.
7/25/10

Soccer!

and more. Coming soon.
10/16/10

Picture day

"Because I like to smile."

Daisy on why she liked picture day at school.

10/9/10

Who could she be emulating?

We'd been talking about whether Daisy remembered when she actually met Mia, her good friend from preschool. She couldn't quite remember the actual moment, which happened when they were both 3.

A little while later, we were all leaving the house, when Daisy said, "Wait, I have to check something on my computer." She ran over, tapped a few keys ...

... and said "Mia and I met in 1947."

7/25/10

A relationship, distilled

Buster: You are the craziest person I've ever met*.
Daisy: You are the nicest big brother I've ever met.
Buster: You don't know any other big brothers, that's why*.

* Not said in a nice way.

9/16/10

Baseball signs

I'm going to the Giants-Dodgers game Wednesday night, so Buster made me a sign to bring.

On Friday I'm taking both kids to the game against the Brewers. So Buster made himself a sign too.

We may be approaching the face-painting years.
9/14/10