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!