California Trip: Work and Tourism

We spent the latter half of our trip to California in Pasadena so I could conduct several days of research in the Mary Austin archive at the Huntington Library.  I had applied in advance for "reader's privileges" and was even awarded a travel stipend by my department to help defray the costs of the visit.  I was a little disappointed that my research didn't garner any big discoveries, but it was still productive. I got to look at plenty of information that relates to my dissertation chapter and even got to read a draft version of the novel that will serve as the focal point in the chapter.  Once I start focusing my work on that chapter, I'm sure I will get a better idea of how the things I read in the archive will be useful.

Billy decided to stay in California with Nora rather than traveling back home early, and I am so glad he did! It was great for me to have them with me for breakfast and dinner each day, and it allowed us to do several "touristy" type things that really made the trip memorable.  One of my favorite Mary Austin stories, The Walking Woman, tells the story of a woman who finds contentment through a combination of love, work, and motherhood.  Obviously, this story has always resonated with me, and it felt just exactly right to be doing my archive research on her with Billy and Nora in tow.

This also meant Billy and Nora got to enjoy plenty of daddy/daughter time while I spent long days at the library doing research.  Fortunately the weather was great for our entire visit, so they went to several different parks and a children's museum in Pasadena.

We also got to see my good friends Krista and Jordan and their girls, Clara (5) and Evie (4).  They live in Oakland now, and thanks to a last minute Disneyland trip, we were able to meet them for dinner on Monday as they drove back up north.  Even for a super short time, it was great to see them and get to see the girls interact for a little while.

One of the unexpected perks of doing research at the Huntington is free access to the grounds, which includes 120 acres of botanical gardens.  I finished my research early enough on my last day to spend several hours wandering around the gardens with Billy and Nora, and we barely saw even a fraction of the property.  I can't believe I never went there as a kid!  We visited the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, and Children's Garden, but I would have loved to spend another day visiting the others.

We were fortunate to wrap up a great trip with a full day at Disneyland.  Initially we weren't sure how much Nora might enjoy the theme park at this age, but we decided to go anyway because I grew up going there regularly with my parents and siblings and wanted to be able to share the experience with my own little family.  We're so glad we went, because Nora loved it.  She is a big fan of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," a tv show for preschoolers, and she was so giddy about meeting the characters that she surprised me when she said the rides were her favorite part.  She handled lines up to 40 minutes long without a single complaint, and stayed cheerful and excited way past her bedtime despite not having a nap.  I was glad she was in good enough spirits to stay for the parade because she was jumping, dancing, and waving to the characters the whole time.  I don't know how much of it she will remember as she grows older, but she loved everything about it and for me and Billy, it was a perfect day.  I wish everyone in her family could have seen how thrilled she was with the whole day... but I guess we'll just have to go back!

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride was my dad's favorite and thus, our first stop.  It was pretty emotional for me to be there with Nora and Billy without any hope of ever going with Dad, but I know he would have been thrilled that Nora enjoyed it even though it "was kind of a little bit scary."

Oma's Visit

In June, my mom came to visit us for about a week.  It was great to see her, and it was a lot of fun to watch her relationship with Nora grow in person.  Nora is at an age now where she gets really excited anytime someone she knows from pictures is coming to visit her.  Before she sees someone for the first time in a while (whether it's a few weeks or a few months), she asks to see pictures of herself with that person (kids these days!).  Since Mom also sends Nora little video clips often, we spent several days getting ready for her visit.  I've said this before, but it's so nice to live in a time where Nora feels completely at ease with my mom right away, no matter how long it's been since she saw her in "real life," since she sees her on video and video chat fairly often.

We had great weather while Mom was here, so we got to enjoy a lot of outdoor activities!

We spent an afternoon at Aunt Vickie's pool: check out Nora's cool Portland Thorns hat Oma brought her!

We all got to go to an Orioles game together!  This is the only game I've made it to all year, and the Orioles got blown out-- so I'm glad I was with good company.  If they have to lose to someone, I'm happy for it to be the A's.

We went to a little festival at a park near our house that had crafts for Nora to try and included a hay ride (sans hay).

And Mom, Nora, and I went to Down's Park on the Chesapeake Bay to see the owls, play on the playground, throw rocks in the bay, and take pictures for Billy's Father's Day collage.

Sidebar: This is our third iteration of the "DAD" collage, but it's the first year Nora has been able to paint the letters herself!  Here are a couple of the out-takes I liked best:

While Mom was visiting, Nora's favorite song of the moment was "Say Hey (I Love You)." Originally sung by Michael Franti, I think Nora's teachers play her the dreaded beloved Kidz Bop version.  Here's a video of her singing the chorus!

Cherry Blossoms

When Nora was a baby, the cherry blossoms bloomed in DC during a visit from my mom.  It was fun to be able to share our first trip to see the trees with Mom, and I was surprised by how well Nora managed the commotion.  We went on a weekday to avoid the biggest crowds, though, so Billy was unable to join us.

Friends have been posting pictures of the trees all week, so I knew they were in full bloom.  When we realized how nice it was going to be yesterday, we decided to get ourselves out of the house as early as possible in hopes of avoiding the biggest crowds.  We were down by the Tidal Basin from about 10am until noon, and since this was also when the parade was going on, it wasn't too crowded to be enjoyable.  The metro stations were pretty busy, but there were definitely more people arriving when we were getting out of there, so our trip was well timed.

I learned my lesson last time that shooting pictures with a smart phone is insufficient.  It's shady underneath the trees, but there is so much light reflecting off the water that it's hard to get a picture where the faces are not obscured in a shadow.  I still don't know much about how to work my DSLR, but we managed to get some decent pictures that I wanted to share.  It was really the most beautiful day.  I wish the weather could be like this always.

Apparently you are not supposed to climb on the trees.  In my defense, she really liked it up there but we kept her off after Billy told me that.

Trying to get Nora to pose for a photo when there are ducks and dogs in sight is generally futile.

When I took the photo above, a man asked if we wanted one of all three of us.  How did he get the best picture of the day with a stranger's DSLR and only two clicks?

We have not been to the MLK Jr memorial since it opened in 2011, so we were glad it was easy to access from the tidal basin.  Nora liked having room to run around, and she really wanted to touch the waterfalls, but she was too nervous to step into the spray to feel the wall by herself.

Let's try it again, Mommy!

We walked back around on the White House side of the Washington Monument, so we got to see the Lincoln Memorial, Reflecting Pond, World War II Memorial, White House, and a few of the parade balloons from afar.  One of them was shaped like a panda, and there was a rainbow float behind it, so Nora liked seeing those too.  It was nice to see all of the mall on such a beautiful day.  There has been scaffolding on the Washington Monument for years, and it always seems like the Reflecting Pool is empty when I go.

Not surprisingly, when offered a frozen lemonade and a hot dog for lunch, she chose the former.  "It's so tasty in my tummy, Mommy!"

Nora liked the "trees with flowers," and she had fun seeing all the sights, especially when she was allowed out of the stroller to wander.  But mostly she liked riding the subway in and out.  We got her to order the doors shut and tell the train to start moving right before it did, so she was full of giggles about that.  She was tired and it was past naptime by the time we got back, but as we walked out of the station, she said, without any prompting, "Thank you for taking me on the choo choo train!  I liked that."

This is going to be a fun summer.