Swanky

The Disney Family Museum was pretty incredible. They have some amazing stuff there. Oscars, Presidential Medal of Freedom, the first known drawings of Mickey Mouse, a torch from the 1960 Winter Olympics, and more wonderfulness. We spent almost four hours in there and there were still some things that I would have liked to seen more of. But I loves me some Disney and also enjoys me some history. So the two came together there in a beautiful stew of joy and scrumptious learning. It was also good that we went to a soft opening because it wasn't crazy crowded. Just the purest of the Disney nuts. It only took us about an hour to get there from our house, but it took 2 and a half hours to get home due to a major backup from Van Ness to the Bay Bridge. From when we turned left off Van Ness until we hit the bridge was about 1 1/2 hours of mindless sitting in traffic. Not really super fun to do. But we made it home by 8, just barely.

Whilst the missus and I were there with her parents, my parents took our youngin's to the Kids Faire. Now with it spelt 'Faire' you just know it's gonna be fun, right? Totally right. They kids got some good pics with Spongebob, Scooby Doo, Curious George, Super Why, a stormtrooper, and a few others. But my parents aren't going back there. Why? Not because of our kids, who were great there. But because the booths there were for dentists, chiropracters, and a couple for pleasure parties, and one called "Swanky Moms" where they dress like hookers. I'm not making that one up. According to my mom, they should have called it "Skanky Moms".

And today my van is in the shop at the dealership because the ABS isn't working properly, and apparently they're the only people who can repair this system because it's the computer and not the actual hardware of the van.

But back on the bright side. Only two more games of Fall Ball, and tomorow is the WPA concert! I also just found out that Mike Birbiglia is coming to SF next month, but it's $28 a ticket plus a $10 'convienence' fee. So I'm not paying $40 a ticket to see him, he's hilarious, but seriously, these tickets for the WPA concert were $15 a piece. I don't know who decides how much things should be, but I want that job.

Wonderful

I know it's been a while, but golly if things ain't been busy at the Casa de Wally. Not really overwhelmingly so, but still busy. Little E has taken quite the liking to her school and enjoys every second of it. She seems to really enjoy throwing out her thoughts when I ask Big T how his day at school was. The answer to that one, if your wondering, is, "We played basketball. I was on the yellow team." That's basically it, any further prodding on what he did in first grade is based around what happened during the game they played at lunch or recess. So all in all, school is going well. He has his school carnival tomorrow night, it was fun last year, and should be good again this year, since we know what it is now.

I'm still trying to get him into Tiger Cubs. I think he'd have a great time there and it's simply a matter of where to do it and what time they meet. If it's all by our house, that should work, as long as they meet late enough in the day that somebody could get him there. There's a good 30-40 minutes between our house and his school, not to mention the 50 min or so from my work to home. We're living a very spread out life right now.

There's only 5 games of Fall Ball left including today, that has been keeping me away from other things for a while now. I get off work at 4, make the drive home and back to the fields and it's almost 5:15. The games start at 5:30, end around an hour later, put the gear away and fix up the fields, and we're home around 7:15. Eat, baths/showers/hose down in back yard, and it's bed time. We are for sure not doing this next year. I know I said that last year, but he had no other sports he could play right now. And don't mention soccer. I said no other sports he could play.

Sunday is our trip to the Walt Disney Family Museum with my in-laws for the special sneak preview for people who wanted to be in the special club. I get to go because I got them the tickets when they were in Disneyland. I had to get them the tickets, because they became available whilst they were there with my family. I'm looking forward to that. I likes Disney, I likes histories, I'm okay with museums. So, should be fun.

Next Wednesday is the Works Progress Administration concert in the city. I'm really looking forward to that one. The whole band will be there and I haven't been to a concert in a couple years now. And I really like their album. You can enjoy it over on your right there if you'd like. And you should like.

I also got a new battery for my van last night. It wouldn't start right away when I was trying to leave for lunch. Then it did, which changed my plans from visiting the grocery store for food, to a drive thru. I wasn't turning that thing off away from work. It seemed fine when I got it back to work, but then when I was leaving for the day, the locks didn't work quite right, then it didn't start again. Then, magically it did! And as I was driving out of the lot and had gotten a good quarter of a mile away from work, the battery light came on, and the van stopped working. It was like something out of a movie, the lights went off, the radio quit, the power steering and brakes stopped. and the van was coasting. I pulled over and got it started again and it made it home, thank God. So last night the fam and I made a trip to Kmart to get a battery, but they wanted $120! I wasn't paying that, so we went to Costco, and got one there for $70. After a trip to OSH for a new tool, I got it installed and working. But tomorrow I'm taking the van into the shop because the brakes aren't right. So this van is getting pricier and pricier by the day. Maybe it will work fine for a year or so and not require anything but basic maintainence. Maybe...

But enough of that, PICTURE TIME!!!!! And yes, it's totally worth the caps and sklamashun points.

Little E's first day of school. This is before she went in the classroom and was still superpsyched about it. Oh how soon that would change.

Getting her name tag on the first day, notice the super awesome dragon tattoo on her pre-school teachers arm. Not a good sign.

We went to the Nut Tree in Vacaville, but it's changed and almost non-existant now, but after we went to the outlets and she saw this in the Hello Kitty store and had to get a picture. She's very much in to "Take my picture, Daddy!" now.

There will be more pics of Big T at various places as soon as I get them off the camera. I'm working on it. I can sense your anticipation. I really can.

Cryin' Time Again

Pre-school day one over, another difficult start that ended up being fine. She was so excited to go, she had her backpack with her, she came to work with me this morning because I was going to take her for her first day. She wore that thing all over the house while she was getting ready. Which inspired Big T to wear his again. He hadn't been wearing it, as his teacher asked all students who weren't going to day care or riding the bus not to bring a backpack because there isn't a lot of room in the closet for them all. She wore it into my work and placed it ever so gently upon the table before she ate her cereal and colored for a bit. She watched some Sesame Street videos on my computer at work before it was time to go. She was very excited to get there and I had my hopes going that all would be well. I was very anxious for her and for me also.

When we got to her school she was ready to go and get in line. So we did and we were waiting for the teacher to come open the gate to let us into the playground next to the classrooms. All the kids and their parents were filing in to the different rooms (2 year olds, 3 year olds, and 4 year olds). We got into her room and she hung her backpack up on a hook and started to wander towards the cars to play, and then she came back and asked me to go with her. So I did. She didn't really play with the cars and just started walking around the room and I noticed that the teacher was making name tags for the kids on different shaped pieces of vinyl. So I had her go to the table and pick out her shape, and the teacher asked her name and wrote it on the tag and I put it on her shirt. Then I told her that I was going to have to go back to work and the first look of worry came over her face.

I started telling her that 'Mommy will pick you up.' And tried to distract her with Legos, babies, kitchens, cars, puzzles and other things that were nearby. I gave her what was to be the first of many hugs and high fives and started to leave. She called me back to tell me that "I really miss you, Daddy." and I started to get a little panicky that this wasn't going to be a clean good-bye. A couple goodbyes later, I waved to her and walked out the door and waited to see how it would go. An old classmate from my youth recognized me and we started talking when Little E came crying out the door at a full run yelling for me. So I picked her up and wiped away the tears and tried to take her back inside to the Play-doh table. She said she had to go potty. I thought that this would just be another excuse, but she really did have to go. We washed our hands and the realization that she had nothing left to keep me there hit and she just grabbed onto my hand really tight. One of the teacher helpers tried to help me distract her with a story, but she wasn't having any of that. Finally the main teacher came and got her and picked her up. I said good-bye and left. While I was saying she was straining to get to me with her arms out and crying screaming, "I want my Daddy." It was absolutely heartbreaking, and one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. And she's only 3. Now I knew she'd be okay in a little bit, but still. This was the first time she'd ever been completely on her own. She's always had either her older brother or a parent or grandparent with her. Now suddenly, strangers. Lots of them. And her teacher, though nice, has a couple tattoos on her arms of dragons, and one of the helpers is into piercings. They're really nice, but they're a bit scary looking.

I had to go back to pick her up with my wife to make sure that all was well. The teacher said that she just cried for a few minutes and then was fine. I asked Little E if she wanted to come back on Thursday and she said 'Yeah!', so that's a good sign. Another nice thing about Thursday is that my mom will be taking her to school and I won't have to worry about it as much. She'll be fine, I'm sure. But this was not a fun morning for me. Well, it was fun until about 9:03 when I started saying good-bye. I didn't leave until almost 9:20. I'm not looking forward to her growing up to much more right now. I don't know how much I can handle past this point.

Also, I'll post some pics soon. I have to get them off my phone, since I forgot the camera this morning. But I did remember two kids, extra clothes, two lunches and a snack, plus animals and blankies, hair bobs for Little E and I made her ponytail, which I was very proud of. I'm not really good at hairstyling yet.