Thursday, May 26, 2011

Just A Perfect Day

One of “our songs” is "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed.  Luckily for us, we have quite a few of them. Saturday was one such perfect day.

For me, a perfect day always starts out with a perfect run. This was no exception.  My friend Lisa and I ran a fast 7 miles up in the foothills of Rancho Cucamonga. It was perfect (except for the fact that we didn’t have time for the 10 I was hoping for).

Our good luck continued as we arrived to Disneyland with good weather, no crowds/lines (for a little while, at least), and a special sneak peek of the new Star Tours ride---3X since it was so awesome.

Magic KingdomIt seems as though all of our perfect days revolve around long car trips (Santa Barbara, San Francisco, St. George, etc.) to allow for good discussion, scenery, trip planning, bonding, and fun. This was no exception.

Family Road TripFather and Son Drive

Liam even got to take a turn driving this time. He’s not as much a fan of driving as I would have suspected, considering his love of all things wheeled (bikes, cars, trucks, strollers, etc.).

Autotopia

William’s perfect days (or any days for that matter), must involve him getting either wet and/or dirty.Happy to see himselfBig ball fountainFountain

Or an exciting new place to run around. Perfect Room

And a nice long nap, over by. His normal naps are 2-3 hrs, but only if he’s in his crib, or on a long drive. A Disneyland nap of 2:15---a record-breaking outside-of-crib nap. With an average stroller/car seat nap of 30-45 minutes and previous record of ~1 hr, that makes it a perfect day for Mom and Dad! Especially since we got to take turns on the big kid rides since our little one was sleeping.

For Steven, no perfect day is complete without a nice mountain hike,

Innoventions

lots of pictures of our adorable son,IMGP1007 IMGP1036 IMGP1000

And a Mormon Studies Lecture in the OC (not pictured since Liam and I dropped him off on our way home).

Steve even got to study for the Utah Bar while waiting in line for Star Tours. There are no pictures of this because just thinking about studying for the bar is boring, although rather necessary.

I prefer a fun day of laughing with my son and being crazy and silly together.

Teacups

Or a trip to somewhere exotic and interesting. Preferably with old, tired jokes.

Jungle Cruise and DadI’m glad I was able to convince Steve to get season passes.  I suspect many more perfect days ahead of us.

Friday, May 20, 2011

When Grandma Comes

We always have a fun time when Grandma comes to visit.  Last week, Grandma Garff was in Anaheim for a dental convention. We picked her up and went to Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.

Grandma and the chicken

It was awesome (and not just because of this cool chicken statue, but the food was great).

the chicken

Before dropping Karen off at her hotel, we stopped by Downtown Disney for a stroll. Liam couldn’t get enough of the Lego Store.Woody and GangKaren tried on a new hairdo hat.

New hairdoAnd the highlight of Downtown Disney (at least for Liam) was the Lightening McQueen jammies that grandma got for him and his cousin Daniel.

  All day long
When I went to put them away the next morning, Liam insisted on attempting to put them on himself.  After allowing me to help, he was so pleased with his new look.

Look at me Mom! He was so happy, we let him play in his jammies and with his Lightening McQueen car ALL DAY LONG.

Car PusherLightening McQueen Jammies

LIAm and lightening

It was a pretty amazing weekend. Luckily for us, we’re getting season passes and going back to Disneyland tomorrow.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Silly Billyness: “Achoo”, and “Lotion”

I know I’m biased, but I think my (*gasp* almost 18-month-old) baby has the sweetest laugh in the world. Luckily for us, and the rest of the world that is blessed by his happy laughter, Billy will get into laughing fits over the smallest things, as evidenced by these videos. Enjoy!

Dad came home from work the other day and sneezed. Liam usually laughs, only this time, he couldn’t stop laughing; eventually figuring out (in his own little baby way), how to fake a sneeze.Liam’s favorite part of the bath time ritual (besides splashing water everywhere), is the lotion after. I think he may be a wee bit ticklish.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Lemons and Books: A Festivitastic Weekend

On Friday we went to the Lemon Festival in downtown Upland.

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IMGP1425The lemonade was a little sour for William.IMGP1429But the suckers were just fine.

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As most of you know, William has has a big soft spot for giant cartoon characters.

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The Annual L.A. Festival of books is the largest book fair in the world and is a bonafide Garff family tradition. So, we went again on Saturday even though it moved from UCLA to USC.

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One advantage to USC: way more fountains than UCLA and it turns out that William loves fountains.

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We followed up with a visit to El Cholo. See you next year.