Disneyland Day 2



On Monday, we all headed down to Huntington Beach. It was near perfect weather at the beach. We started our beach adventure by wandering some of the shops near the pier. One block in Jake made us very aware that he was done shopping, and then Tania called, so we headed down to the beach while everyone else finished shopping.

Jake loved the beach part of the beach, he was running all over enjoy the sand. We dug a couple holes and buried him a couple times which he wasn't so sure of until he discovered he could wiggle just his toes up out of the sand even while his legs were still covered. As for the water part of the beach, he wasn't so sure of that. The first wave that came alond and washed the sand from beneath his feet kind of made him nervous. He still wasn't so sure of the water and waves when I held him and walked out into the water, so we didn't push the issue and went back to the sand and spent some time with grandma who shared her Jamba juice so she soon became Jake's favorite person of the moment.

Buried Treasure

After the beach, Jason, Jake and I went back and got showered and ready for the traveling part of our day. We first went to visit my cousin's, Scott and Tanya, in Westminster. They are the last remaining Maccarthy's in California. We had a far too short visit, but it really was great to see them. It was the first time they'd met Jason and Jake, so that's always fun.

From Scott and Tanya's we embarked on the high speed, high stress journey to Los Angeles. The drivers there really do live up to the stereotype.

In LA we got to visit the twins I nannied in Virginia right out of highschool. They were Jake's age when I finished my contract with them. Now, they're 10. Holy Crap! I never thought I'd see the day that my nanny kids would be holding my child! (I somehow didn't get a picture of just Caroline, she was of course busy busy busy.) Tania wasn't quite home with the kids yet when we got there, so we just hung out and got to know her boyfriend, Brian. Next thing you know, Caroline and Spencer are busting through the door screaming my name. This made me so happy. I love those two and I'm always so afraid they'll forget who I am. Luckily, we're ten years down the road and they haven't, yay!

Tania made us a tasty homecooked meal of BBQ grilled chicken and sweet potatoes, then we headed over to Westwood Village (where Spencer had to help me navigate) to get cookies at Diddy Riese. This little cookie shop always has a line out the door and rightfully so. The cookies are A-mazing and at $4 a dozen they're hard to resist. Last time I was there a couple years ago, I bought a half dozen then sat on the bench in front of the store and ate every last one. This time, I got 2 dozen and took them back to the hotel to share. You just can't keep something that good to yourself.



Spencer holding Jake, WHOA!

Tania, Spencer, ME, Caroline, Jason, and Jake
Love Spence's face.

Jut me and my kids!

Another, with Jake lovin' Spence

 That night Bryan and Kati had arrived with their family, but we didn't get to see them until the next day since we didn't get home until about 10:30. We did however get to drive around and get to know the neighborhood surrounding Disneyland until nearly 1 am trying to get Jake to sleep. Joy of joys. I can't blame the poor guy though, he was likely just overwhelmed and confused by everything going on. Sadly, this wasn't the only night like this.