"Why Not?"

A new phrase has emerged. "Why Not?" is quite commonly asked around these parts. Here are some examples of its usage:

Quincy: What's that?
Me: I don't know
Quincy: Why not?
Me: Because I can't see what your pointing at
Quincy: Why not?
Me: Because I am driving and can't look at you
Quincy: Why not?


Dan: Don't throw your hat on the ground Quincy
Quincy: Why not?
Dan: Because it is raining and there are puddles, we don't want it to get dirty and wet.
Quincy: Why not?
Dan: So you can wear it

and so it goes....

Today he did not want Dan to come with us when we went to run some errands. This is how it went:

Me: Can Daddy come with us?
Quincy: No! I am going to say bye-bye to Daddy.
Dan:(making a sad face) Can't I come too?
Quincy: (angry) NO! Daddy, you go take a nap! Come on Mommy.

by the way... he did eventually allow Dan to join us. I was glad for this!

Slimey the Worm

I have re-discovered through my two year old the joy of Sesame Street.

I love Slimey the worm. He really is the best character of them all.

That is all. Carry on.

California: Final Thoughts

My trips to visit California are never long enough, and are far too infrequent. I miss my family and friends, and I always leave wishing I had more time to visit more people... it seems I always miss out on visiting at least a few people I had hoped to see.

Thank you to my mom, who always graciously opens her home to us! She has a beautiful home with a lovely view, and all the old folks in her neighborhood loved us in our mammoth, beige Lincoln. Quincy is lucky to have an involved Grandmother (or Babo, as he calls her?!) and we were so happy to have a night on the town baby-free!

I am grateful to my brothers who kept Quincy quite entertained throughout the entire trip! He would have been perfectly content doing nothing but playing basketball and the drums with them the entire 7 days.

Grandpa shared his chocolate milk with Quincy and built a fire everyday, and that's all it takes to make a two year old happy. What a swell Grandpa!

California: Day 7 & 8

Day 7 & 8: Disneyland and Adieu

At last, what we had all been long awaiting for! DISNEYLAND! We were so excited and ready to go... but in true Voigtlander form... we left much later than we had planned. That's OK, it allowed us a chance to eat delicious Breakfast Burritos! Yum! (Don't worry, we ate almost nothing but Mexican food during the entire trip!)

I was pretty disappointed to hear from Dan that the battery on our camera was nearly totally dead upon arriving at Disneyland, so our photos are limited... and poor, as we had to buy disposable camera's. Oh well, at least we have our memories, and a reason to return. We all remembered the long lines as soon as we go there, and getting in was no exception. We were amazed when it took us nearly an hour to get from the freeway to the inside of Disneyland. We immediately broke up into two groups... Grandma and Grandpa with Quincy, and Dan, Jessica, Tyson and I took to running to Space Mountain. It was an excellent day, not too busy at all. We zipped right through so many of the rides we were shocked! I think the longest wait we had was for Space Mountain at 45 minutes, and that was only because some dink dropped his cell phone and the whole ride had to be shut down in order to retrieve it. We spent the day going back and forth, sharing Quincy and sometimes breaking up into smaller groups. I tell you what, having cell phones sure makes it a whole lot easier than it ever was when I was a kid!

Quincy was amazing throughout the whole thing! He enjoyed (or at least didn't scream in terror) many of the rides I thought he would do badly with... Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain... just kidding, no Space Mountain. The moment that made the whole day worthwhile was seeing him light up at the sight of Mickey Mouse. Things are a little different than when I was a kid... now you have to wait in line to see Mickey, but we did (and a long line it was!) and when we finally got up to him you couldn't hold him back! He gave Mickey the biggest hug, and we all melted.

We stayed through an amazing fireworks display, and Quincy finally fell asleep while waiting for the tram to take us back to our car. It was a long day, but I think we all had fun! And I know Dad received more birthday wishes that day than perhaps he had during his entire life combined! They really make a point in wishing all the birthday people a Happy Birthday! It was neat!

Finally, after all our excitement, it was time to get to go home. Luckily I signed up to receive text alerts if our plane was delayed, and on our way to the airport I got a text that it was pushed back about 90 minutes. It was a beautiful day, brilliant sunshine and in the mid to upper 60's, so we decided to stop off at La Jolla Cove and see all the Seals with their babies. It was nice way to end our trip, and we both agreed that we really were not ready to leave. We could have stayed for much, much longer... and I think that if I had said the word, Dan would have moved down to Cali in a flash. But, truth be told... I love Washington too, and I couldn't leave it so easily. So... we will just continue visiting, maybe just more often.

California: Day 6

Day 6: Palm Springs - The Yakima of California*

Since we knew that we would be on our feet all day the next day, we decided this would be a good day for a long drive and lots of sitting. We decided a drive to Palm Springs might be fun. Dan loves all things mid-century, and Palm Springs is the capitol of Mid-century style, so he of course never wanted to leave! We specifically drove there in order to go on the Aerial Tram up to Mount San Jacinto State Park, taking a rotating tram from the valley floor at 2,643 feet all the way up to the Mountain station at 8,516 feet in just a few minutes. It was quite a ride, and of course Quincy didn't bat an eye! He has no fear! I had been on once before, but it was prior to the addition of the rotating floors on each tram, allowing you to see your entire 360 degree surroundings.

Teaching Quincy to pop his ears

* For you non-Washingtonians: Yakima, WA has a large sign declaring it the "Palm Springs of Washington".... which is kinda goofy to us, because it really seems about as far from Palm Springs as you can get. So we laughed as we entered Palm Springs saying... it's the Yakima of California, right.

California: Day's 4 & 5

Day's 4 & 5: Legoland and Balboa Park

On Monday, we woke up late (at least I did...hey! It's my vacation too!) and decided to pay a visit to Great Grandma Geno. We had a very nice time sitting with her and chatting, and Quincy was quite content playing with all of the doggie toys, much to Nikki's (Grandma's dog) dismay. After a little bit, we had to get going and Grandma had a bus trip to go on but it was so good to see her. It is so nice that she is living down in Vista now, so that I can visit her much more often than I could when she was living in Paradise, CA.

Thanks to my friend Leanna's blog, I learned that the last hour of Legoland is free... no need to pay for neither parking nor entrance fee's! Sweet! It was great, especially because Quincy is really too little for almost any of the rides, and not to mention it is crazy expensive! We picked up my mom from work and headed to Carlsbad. We spent almost all of our time playing around the water feature, and riding the two rides Quincy could go on several times. It was fabulous because there were literally no lines at all!

We picked up Jessica at the Oceanside train station, as she had just spent the last week visiting her friend Jen in Visalia. Quincy immediately recognized Auntie Chet amid the crowd and ran to her for a big hug! We left Quincy with my mom and went out for burgers with the little brothers. It was fun hanging out with all of them, it doesn't happen often and we always have some laughs.

Tuesday, Day 5, my Dad had the day off as did Jessica, so we all headed to Balboa park. It was a gorgeous day for it, not a cloud in the sky! (Ahhh... California weather is the BEST! )We even saw a firetruck and a fire engine parked in the same parking lot as us, and the firemen let us check out their truck. Quin was dumbstruck! We wandered around the huge park, and eventually Quincy, Dan and my Dad went into the Model Train Museum while Jessica and I wandered through some of the free museums and gardens. Sadly, the main reason we went to Balboa park was to ride the train they have near the zoo and we got there only to discover it only runs on the weekends! Too bad! I guess there will always be next time! There is still so much to do in San Diego, we will never run out of activities!

Jessica and I are pretty dang photogenic. We can't help it. It is in our genes I suppose.

California: Day's 1, 2 & 3

How time flies when your having fun! We have just returned from our much too short trip down to California. We packed in quite a lot, so for my reader's sake I have broken down our trip into a few shorter segments.

Days 1, 2 & 3: Tractors and Weddings

We arrived Friday evening, and after a stop in Old Town for some yummy Mexican food we headed to Grandpa's house to play the drums. He had been demanding this for several days prior, even once refusing to leave the car and telling Dan to drive him to Grandpa's house to play the drums. That boy sure loves to bang on those drums! He is a natural.

Saturday morning we headed to the Vista Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum to check out the tractors. Quincy was in hog heaven. They also were having a Civil War Re-enactment that weekend which was amusing, everyone all dressed up and playing the part.

That afternoon, my dear friend from High School Erin McWhirter became Mrs. Harold Horn. It was a beautiful wedding, held at the Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas. I had never been there before, and it was quite a lovely place for a wedding ceremony. I was able to see so many people I hadn't seen in so long. It was good, and what made it even better was than my dear mother took Quincy home after the ceremony so that Dan and I could not only enjoy the reception baby-free... but also so that we could stay in the Gaslamp District of San Diego overnight. It was good fun, and I am always amazed to see how many people roam around the streets even on a cool March night.

We leisurely woke up Sunday morning and took a slow drive back up to Vista. Quincy hardly even noticed our return Sunday afternoon, he was far too involved in playing Basketball with his uncles. Between the drums and basketball, I am surprised we had time for anything else! At least his loves are well balanced... music, sports, automobiles.