Aurora Wells

A couple of days before we flew to SoCal, Aurora and I had our H1N1 shots, and we developed flu-like symptoms the day we left Vancouver. I thought at first that we were just reacting to the shots, but after a few days it was clear that we were truly sick, with sore throats, congestion, and achiness. That probably should have stopped me from engaging in a high-octane slate of activities, but I wasn’t going to waste a single second of my precious time in California, so with sunshine and bull-headedness on my side, we soldiered on, this time to the zoo.

What a beautiful day to go to the zoo. Clear blue skies, moderate temperature, and hardly any other people to crowd you out of views of the animals.

With their babies tucked up nice and warm in the heated cave behind them, the grownup meerkats ventured out to sun themselves and pose charmingly for the zoo’s visitors. I’m not going to bore you with a bunch of animal photos; if you want to see those, check out my Facebook Chrismukkah album.

Aurora was less than enthused about watching the animals, but I’m told that will come with age. Her favourite part of the trip was running around on a heating vent in one of the viewing areas. Also note for future visitors to the zoo: there is a cool kids’ playground tucked into the farthest back corner of the zoo, not far from the rhino & tigers. Unfortunately, by the time we made it that far, it was pretty much time to go.

Did we relax the next day? NO! Off to Disneyland! Thanks to Aunt Ashleigh for having the good sense to come home from New York City and dance at Disneyland, because she was able to sign us in to both parks for free. It was great taking Aurora this time; she was only six months older, but so much more able to handle the frenetic energy of the place. The first thing she wanted to do, when she saw the rockets, was go flying to Cow Planet (a song by Sandra Boynton).

Here you can see It’s a Small World reflected in her cool Mickey sunglasses. I would have liked her to hear the classic song, but they’d changed it to all Christmas music inside. Still, it’s a keeper, and she liked seeing Nemo and a few other familiar characters inside. I tend to cringe when anything at Diz changes from what I liked as a child, but I should remember that the park is always in flux, renovating and incorporating new characters as time goes by.

Before I was a parent, I always thought those people were idiots, standing in line for a half-hour or more for an autograph & picture with one of the characters. But Aurora was thrilled to be able to meet Minnie, one of her favourites, and… pat Minnie’s lip? Thanks to David, Ashleigh, and Grandma Gail for gamely waiting while we took our time in Toontown. We almost got to meet Pluto and Goofy, too, but they were just leaving as we approached.

Fantasyland, which I haven’t spent much time in since my age was counted in single digits, was a big hit. Aurora enjoyed the carousel and Dumbo, and was out-of-her-mind ecstatic about riding on Casey Jr. around Storybookland. I’ve been complaining about Aurora’s new no-napping policy of the past month, but it turned out to be terribly convenient at Disneyland, when she didn’t have to go home for the afternoon to sleep. After Disneyland, we ventured over to the California Adventure theme park, where we rode on a couple of rides in the Bug’s Life land, and stayed to watch a Pixar parade. Aurora’s current obssession with the Cars movie was “refueled” by a sighting of McQueen and Mater in the parade, as well as a t-shirt and toys from Grandma Gail. (It’s gotten even more out of hand since then, with a new Cars Storybook and a set of Cars GeoTrax from Santa).

We took it easy after that, with a few days spent mostly at Grandma’s house. Cousin John, home from university for the holidays, drove down with Uncle Dean so he could visit, and meet Aurora for the first time. As you can see, they really hit it off.

Happy Chanukah, family & friends! (And sorry we gave you our cold, Grandma). Have a happy new year, too!

What better time to catch up on blogging my Chanukah photos than on Christmas Day? We’re up in Spallumcheen this week with Brian’s Mum & Dad, but I’ve still got a few things to write about our California trip, last week. This is the abbreviated version – check my Facebook photos for more pics.

Uncle Steve’s Chanukah present to me & Brian was a tour of Downtown L.A., a place that was less familiar to me than Manhattan, despite the fact that I’d grown up less than 30 miles away. Steve had planned a three-part-tour, of Downtown, Griffith Park/Travel Town, and Hollywood/Westwood, but we only had time for part one. Even so, it was jam-packed with novel and wonderful sights. By the way, if you ever want to be a tourist in L.A., go on a Sunday. The parking meters were free!

The Bonaventure used to be the most-photographed building in L.A., but now I think it’s that really tall round one instead. Aurora with her moose, Charlie, pose in front of the Bonaventure, near the L.A. Central Library.

The Biltmore Hotel boasts some pretty gorgeous architecture, and a super Christmas tree, too. (Chanukah table off to the side).

Pershing Square featured a big pile of snow for the kids to sled on, as well as booths for face painting, cookie decorating, and other holiday fun. Steve says they’re trying to lure more people to live downtown, by making it more people-friendly. We firmly steered Aurora away from it all, because we had places to go, things to see!

I didn’t realize L.A. has a huge public market, similar to Granville Island in Vancouver and Pike Place market in Seattle, but with way more hot chiles. It’s only been around for, like, 92 years!

One of the highlights of the tour for me personally was the Bradbury Building, an amazingly unique piece of architecture that has been featured in many movies and TV shows, most notably Blade Runner. Take a few minutes to read about its quirky history.

Something that cannot be missed, especially if you love a good sandwich, is Philippe’s, the birthplace of the French Dip sandwich. Each of the six servers has a lineup of customers, and when you get your food you sit at long tables with stools (or at one of the few booths). There is sawdust on the floor, the sandwiches are value-priced, and it feels utterly casual and democratic. The food was great, the atmosphere charged with history (it’s been around since 1908, which is like the Parthenon in Los Angeles years), and the coffee is 9 cents a cup.

Only one block away from Philippe’s is Olvera Street, the oldest street in L.A. It’s filled with fun Hispanic tchotchkes, even if an embarrassing fraction of them were made in China. I didn’t realize we weren’t supposed to take pictures in this hat shop until after the click of the shutter, but the photo was too cute to delete. To make up for it, I can only recommend that you go do some shopping there if you are ever in L.A. Although I did almost zero souvenir shopping on our trip, even at Diz, but I couldn’t resist a Dia de los Muertas figurine for me and a Peruvian sweater for Aurora. (Christmas shopping at Target was another story – I got a little carried away).

Steve watches Aztec fire dancers with Brian and Aurora at the Olvera street plaza. Thanks for the wonderful tour, bro. We are definitely going to take you up on the offer of another one the next time we’re in SoCal!

until somebody stole it in the Hanukkah game. And my cookies. And my gourd. Or so the song goes, right? Anyway, the Nestors and many of our friends and family partied it up right last Saturday at our annual Hanukkah party.

Brian the Goy and Ashleigh the Shiksa did their part by making the roughly six dozen latkes to feed us all, and did such a great job that they get to be honorary jews for another year.

Then there was the steal-a-gift game, which was a ton of fun this year. Aurora and Rafi, the toddlers, were given distraction gifts before the real thing got started, and then we got down and dirty. The theme this year was “Homemade, Preferably by You”, which inspired a lot of talent and creativity.

Here Aunt Ashleigh opens Brian’s gift, a jar of blackberry jam and a bag of a dozen truffles, both homemade by him (Lisa and Aurora decorated the box). She held onto it until nearly the end, but it was stolen eventually. Luckily, she was teamed with the formidable David, who managed to steal it back at the last minute.

Grandma Gail was delighted to open my gift, a jar of spiced candied pecans (being eyed by an interested Aunt Laurie). My godbrother Ben ended up with that prize, though.

Brian, who is male and has 20/20 vision, is not exactly sure what he’s going to do with the lovely beaded glasses holder that Cousin Sandy made, but he thinks it’s very attractive. I’m sure he’ll find a way to repurpose it – maybe for his safety glasses at work?

I picked out these great “snowball” cookies that my brother David actually made, but I didn’t get to keep them. Here’s the recipe: Spread peanut butter between two Nilla Wafer cookies, dip them in melted white chocolate, and sprinkle them with blue sugar crystals. Yum! I managed to steal a box of recipe cards and a gorgeous gourd vase, but in the end, I snared a fantastic prize:

A rainstick handmade by my Aunt Laurie. Despite all practical considerations of how I’m going to transport it back home, and where I’m going to put it when it gets there, I fell in love and had to have it, so I stole it from my brother (whose wife didn’t know where she was going to put it, either).

Other notable gifts: Uncle Steve won a gorgeous print of one of my Uncle Dean’s photographs. It’s a crane in flight at the Bolsa Chica wetlands, 15 minutes from Gail & Larry’s house.

My Cousin Anna briefly snagged a gourd decorated in an African theme, but that one ended up with the Africa fanatic, my Aunt Nancy. It was great to see Anna again, after so many years. We are not often in Southern California at the same time.

Aunt Laurie and Grandma Gail practically pee themselves laughing at something during the game. If you’re playing the game hoping that everyone will get the perfect gift in the end, you’re bound to be disappointed, but there are moments of sweet generosity as well as dastardly behaviour, and absolute hilarity is usually the result.

Life with Aurora is a pretty super adventure. It’s no wonder she doesn’t want to nap anymore (2 naps in the past 14 days), because every day there’s something new going on. Last week she wanted to spend all her time in Mater, with our battered old couch standing in for the battered old truck from the movie Cars. Mater is especially fun when you jump on him.

That old couch has hosted an unexpected wealth of play activity. Thanks to Olin for introducing the “couch as vehicle” concept. Now, when we’re not being Tiggers and jumping, jumping, jumping, we’re driving places in Mater the Truck. We often drive to Camaforna, or we head over to Barrett’s or Bombur’s houses. Aurora has cast her little Tigger in the role of Bombur (although despite being a striped member of the cat family, the resemblance stops there) for our trips to the Hammonds’ house. She especially loves it when we arrive at their building and have to go on the elevator (our kitchen) and push the buttons (on the microwave) to get to the right floor.

Sometimes, though, we’re in a hurry to get to Camaforna, or we want to go even farther, like Africa. That’s when we need the airplane:

Daddy cleverly set up this airplane for Aurora in the dining room. Raggedy Ann is the co-pilot; Aurora prefers to sit in the back (although you musn’t call her a ‘passenger’ – she hates that label). If you lead her through the procedure, she gets totally absorbed in the game, making sure everyone has their seatbelts on, listening to the flight attendant’s spiel about emergency exits and oxygen masks, and looking out the window to see Mount St. Helens or Tanzania. Airplane flights usually start with Aurora wanting to take one of her stuffed animals “home”, whereupon we fly them to Africa, the Rockies, or wherever they might come from.

Then there’s the characters she plays. One day last week, after reading The Three Little Pigs too many times, Aurora announced that she was now the Big Bad Wolf. But since she cast Mommy as another Big Bad Wolf, and Daddy, too, she then became the Little Big Bad Wolf. Those pigs don’t stand a chance, especially because Daddy always points out, “Why didn’t he just eat them before they finished building their houses?” Yesterday she carried Pooh Bear around, and said that she was Christopher Robin. Then she wanted to go to sleep at the North Pole (because we’d just read a new book about a penguin who had to move there). Right now she’s having “quiet” time in her crib, claiming, “I am Santa Claus! I am Santa Claus!”

Aurora doesn’t come up with this stuff in a vacuum. Daddy or I make a suggestion, or she sees something in a book, which gives her the idea. But the energy she infuses into every imaginary situation brings them to life, and you want to add more fuel to keep the fire going. I’m not a great puppeteer or actor, but at least I can keep taking her to the library every week, and get more books to recharge our creative batteries. My Mom tells me that her first year with me was the best time, but each year with Aurora just keeps getting better and better. I can’t wait to see what she’ll come up with next.

No, not today. That last warm afternoon in early October, when we still felt comfortable outside with no mittens, hats or jackets. When the sun (you remember – that big yellow thing that used to spend a lot of time in the sky?) shone on us as Morgaine took our pictures at Kits Beach Park. Here are a few of my favourite photos from that day.

I love the lens flare on this one – not a traditional choice for portraiture, but I’m diggin’ it. “Here comes the sun, doot’n'doo doo…”

There was a time when we carried Aurora around all the time, because she needed it, and there will someday come a time when we never get to carry her at all, because she’ll be too big. But for now, we love picking up our little girl, whispering jokes in her ear, and nuzzling that adorable little face.

The leaves had just started falling in earnest in the first week of October, so we had fodder for a great leaf-tossing game. I love the immediacy and vibrancy of this picture.

Morgaine managed to capture a fine slice of Aurora’s personality that day. Thank you so much, again!