Graaaaaandaaaaaalf......??

(FYI, the title of this post is in reference to that scene towards the end of The Return of the King where Frodo first sees Gandalf again since his little tumble in Moria with nasty ol' Mr. Balrog. And yes, Tim's dad's "grandpa name" is truly Grandalf. Yes, it is permanent, and it will be the name by which Will is referenced by our children for the rest of their lives. And yes, it appears that others in the family are getting in on it, too. Heh heh.)

Anyway, Grandalf was here!!! Tim's dad visited us in Pasadena for several days. He brought us treats from the homeland (woohoo!), took us out to dinner (double woohoo!), and provided wonderful, blessed babysitting services (triple woohoo!!). The primary purpose of his trip was to attend Weston's baby blessing, which happened in church on Sunday. (Tim did a wonderful job, and Mommy over here got a little teary-eyed, needless to say.) However, a teeny, tiny, additional motivator for his visit was DISNEYLAND!!! Tim and his dad spent a whole magical, fun-filled day there, and of course, Will got his cherished "1st Visit!" button. We visited lots of other fun places during Will's stay, too, like Santa Monica Pier, Travel Town, Hollywood, etc., and we ate at several California institutions like In 'n Out and King Taco, along with our beloved Tarantino's. Overall, we had a great time with Grandalf, and we miss him!!! Here are some photos:

Weston and Grandalf meet for the first time ("Yesss!! This shoulder is super-comfy too! I'm sold!")

Santa Monica Pier
Grandalf meets the Pacific Ocean for the first time
Dinner at Bubba Gump on the pier
Father and son after a long day at Disneyland
A tasty In 'n Out picnic at Travel Town
Grandalf entertains the wee one
Timmy likes trains!! Don't you, Timmy?!
The priesthood holders in Weston's baby blessing
The men plus Mommy

Happy family cuddley cuddle!
Three generations of Andersons (... Would it be wrong to say that each generation gets cuter? Haha, just kidding! Love ya, Grandalf!)
Grandalf reading Uncle Topher's latest email from Hungary out loud to little West
Bye-bye for now, Grandalf! Thanks for everything!

Celebrity Sightings

So, I don't know about you, but I think it's totally exhilarating to spot celebrities. The question is -- what do you do when you see a celebrity?? Do you scream and shriek and attack them with giddiness? Do you approach them casually and strike up a conversation? Or do you do what I do -- freeze and very conspicuously avoid eye contact altogether?

For some reason, that's the reaction that (regrettably) almost always occurs when I see a celebrity, even if I'm tempted to the point of near-bursting to approach them, compliment their work, and ask for an autograph or photo. Why is that? I guess I don't want to be awkward or inappropriate or out of line, although sometimes I think that celebrities would rather enjoy a compliment from a fan. So, I guess I'm still trying to figure that one out. :-)

Anyway, here is a list of some of my more notable celebrity sightings. (These are the random sightings, by the way. I'm excluding concerts, TV tapings, book signings, etc., where seeing a celebrity is guaranteed.)

Celebrity: Nathan Fillian

Location: Disney's California Adventure

Best Known: Yay Mal!!! Long live the Browncoats!! For me and Tim, it is definitely, absolutely, 100% Firefly and Serenity. Although, he's also been in cool things like Waitress, Desperate Housewives, Lost, etc.

Notes: We passed right by Mal and his lady friend in California Adventure, and I totally (silently) freaked out to Tim. However, even though Mal is one of the few celebrities whom I would eagerly approach to gush over and request a photo, Tim restrained me, and he passed on, not even knowing how much we adore Firefly and how much we wanted Mal and Inara to ultimately declare their love for one another. :-)

Celebrity: Dennis Haysbert

Location: (two sightings) Once at Houston's restaurant in Pasadena, and once on the walking path around the Rose Bowl stadium

Best Known: President Palmer, we love you!!! (24) Oh, and he's the Allstate guy. We'd buy insurance from you any day, President Palmer!!

Notes: He's very tall. Very tall and rather imposing. Nevertheless, when we saw him at Houston's having dinner with a few other people, it was the highlight of our lives. We were very grateful to our friends who invited us out to dinner, for arranging such an exciting celebrity sighting for us.

Celebrity: Holly & Bridget

Location: Disney's California Adventure

Best Known: Nothing that I can think of, except for their ridiculous reality show on E!

Notes: I'm actually really embarrassed that we recognized these two. Tim and I were waiting for walk-in seating at Ariel's Grotto restaurant when they walked in, along with a whole posse of other people (a couple of whom were sporting Playboy hats). No cameras, though. They're very pretty, and they seemed really friendly, although it was a little disturbing that one mom (also in the waiting area) shoved her four-year-old daughter towards Bridget to get an autograph in her little Disneyland autograph book. Anyway, no words were exchanged by us, even though Bridget was standing against the wall right across from us for about 10 minutes. (Holly, on the other hand, was being swarmed by people a little farther away.) Oh, and they didn't have any extra room at the restaurant for Tim and me. Bummer. I still really want to eat there.

Celebrity: Dustin Diamond

Location: LAX

Best Known: Why, SCREECH of course!!! Haha. Hahahaha. (Although since then, he has unfortunately become rather infamous as a weird, bankrupt, porn-star type. Ew.)

Notes: Mr. Diamond and some lady friend were waiting in this massive line at U.S. Airways at LAX, just three or four feet away from me. (I say "line," but it was really more of a giant, rippling mass of flushed-faced, angry, overly be-suitcased people. Oh, it was Christmastime. Yeah.) Dustin and I, along with lady friend, all appeared to share our annoyance in common, although no words were exchanged.

Celebrity: Snoop Dogg

Location: LAX

Best Known: Hmm... I guess his music. Or his insane new reality show. Can't say I'm a big Snoop fan, though.

Notes: This was a Tim sighting, when he was flying home to PA one time really late at night. Snoop Dogg and his posse went by him at the airport, apparently also about to board a red-eye.

Celebrity: Jane Kaczmarek and Bradley Whitford

Location: Street corner in San Francisco

Best Known: Jane as Lois in Malcolm of the Middle, of course... and Brad as Evil Eric in Billy Madison. (Yes, I know that's sad. Yes, I know he played a critically acclaimed role in The West Wing. I don't care. He'll always be Evil Eric to me. He really should've eaten some of those Delicious Triscuit Crackers.)

Notes: I get bonus points for this one, because I saw them walking TOGETHER along a downtown street in San Francisco. Jane had this blazingly bright magenta overcoat on, and Brad was wearing a light brown leather jacket and jeans. Oh, and here's the best part -- they walked RIGHT BEHIND Tim and me as we were waiting for the crosswalk!! But did I say anything? Nope! I just froze, and they passed right on by.

Celebrity: Glenn Close

Location: Salt Lake City Airport

Best Known: Hmm... either 101 Dalmations or Air Force One, for me anyway

Notes: Kudos to Dana C. on this one, because she actually flew out from Philadelphia on Ms. Close's flight. When Tim and I went to pick up Dana at the airport, we got to bask in the presence of this celebrity as she stood next to the baggage carousel (with her foot up on the edge of it, like she owned the place).

Celebrity: Dermot Mulroney

Location: El Dorado Golf & Beach Club, Los Cabos

Best Known: My Best Friend's Wedding

Notes: I was at El Dorado for work, meeting with the Director of Sales in this outdoor cantina at the golf clubhouse, when Mr. Mulroney walked by with someone. I'm guessing he was considering purchasing himself some fine ocean-view real estate.

Celebrity: Ethan Hawke

Location: Salt Lake City Airport

Best Known: Reality Bites, of course!!!

Notes: Okay, this is only a *probable* celebrity sighting. I'm still 50/50 on this one, because although it looked almost exactly like him, and although he actually made eye contact with me while passing through security, I'm still not totally certain it was him. The main reason: I later saw him waiting in line at Southwest Airlines. Sure, Southwest is fine and all, but wouldn't the real Mr. Hawke pay up for Delta at least??

Disney Baby!

Editor's Note: The best picture in the entire world can be found at the end of this blog post. However, no peeking ahead!! You must admire this post in its entirety prior to skipping to the end. :-)

This past Thursday, Weston went to Disneyland for the FIRST TIME EVER!!! YAAAAAY!!! Admittedly, Tim and I were a little worried about how it would go, but we've reeeeeaaaaally been craving going back to Disneyland, so we decided to go for it and visit the park for a short, half-day experimental adventure with the Tadpole. And we're really glad we experimented! We left around 2:30 PM and returned around 11:00 PM, yet during that entire time we went on exactly six rides, and spent the rest of the time either driving or trying to figure out how to be there with a baby. Haha! But even so, it was SO FUN to be back.

We were stressed when we left for Anaheim in the afternoon, because Weston had recently decided that he LOATHES bottles with a passion, and only takes them after 30-45 minutes of screaming and crying. We really wanted to intersperse his regular feedings at the park with bottle feedings, but weren't at all sure how the bottle feedings would go.

And just to make things a little more interesting, during the drive to Disneyland our car decided to overheat on the freeway, requiring us to turn off the air-conditioner (in the 85-degree heat), open the windows, and even blast the heater out of the vents. Don't worry, our car ended up making it, but we were... heh heh... a little worried for awhile there! And Weston was just fine, if you're considering the question of child abuse. He slept the entire time, and fortunately the open windows helped to blow the heat right back outside.

We finally arrived at the park, and after a sweltering feeding in the car while inside the parking garage (the child was famished, so... yeah...), we headed to the tram and drove to the entrance. We first had to renew our annual passes, which took a little while... then we had to find him a "First Visit" button, which we couldn't find (until later)... then we had to get Fast Passes to Indiana Jones (my favorite ride)... and then we FINALLY rode something. So, Weston's VERY FIRST ride at Disneyland was... (drum roll please)... Jungle Cruise!!! I was a little paranoid the whole time that he would freak out, but he did just fine, and maybe even enjoyed the jungle scenery a little bit.

The rest of the day was spent navigating the crowds and monitoring the baby's hunger levels. Fortunately, both Disneyland and California Adventure have these fabulous Baby Care Centers, with nursing areas, changing tables, and even teeny tiny flush toilets for potty-training toddlers! (They were so wee and little, those toilets, I just wanted to hug them!) So, that was great. And because the Baby Care Centers were super nice and convenient, I just ended up feeding Weston myself throughout the afternoon and evening, and we never had to worry about bottle issues. And the Tadpole did SO well... he mostly dozed all day, I think because it was so nice and noisy at the park and on the rides. So, he gets an A+ for the day! And FYI, the rides we ended up going on were Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, Indiana Jones (just Jean, heh heh), Mike & Sully to the Rescue, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion. Oh, and we visited the Mission Tortilla Factory, which we ALWAYS do in order to get our free, warm tortilla. Yum.

Here are some photos from our day at the park:

Look at us! We're part of the stroller people now! (We used to scoff and scorn the stroller people, and mock them for being slow and cumbersome. Well, now we scoff and scorn the non-stroller people, because they don't get out of our way fast enough. Move it, or we ram!!!)

I tried to look cuter than Tinkerbell in this photo. Shockingly, it did not work.
This is how Weston looked for the vast majority of the day. All except for dinnertime, when Tim and I were trying to enjoy our burritos... as usual, that was when he decided to cry and wail for attention. C'est typicale.
Oh, and sometimes he looked like this, too. Haha! I know, Child, Disneyland is a lot to take in that first time. :-)
FIRST RIDE OF HIS LIFE!!! Jungle Cruise, baby!
This is the part of the ride where the boat driver almost always jokes that the lions in the den are just protecting that "sleeping" zebra. Hahaha... good one...
Passing beneath the eighth wonder of the world, the backside of water!!! (Yes, this is another joke that is almost always made by the driver during the ride. Can ya tell that we go to Disneyland a lot?)
We busted out the baby carrier for part of the day, too. (Check out the wee sun hat! How precious is that.)
The darling family on Mike & Sully to the Rescue in California Adventure.
Even though a giant animatronic she-monster (aka Roz) would generally be considered slightly interesting, Weston instead is raptly admiring the ceiling.

Hooray, we finally found a "1st Visit" button! That's going in the ol' scrapbook.
Yay! We had a fun day! I love Disneyland! Yaaaaaay! Aaahhh happy ahhh!!
Family photo by a friendly park employee, just before leaving the park.
And finally, the BEST picture of the lot: the FIRST time that we've been able to capture Weston's smile on camera!!! AWWW!!!

"Schooooooool's Out...... For...... Summer!!"

Tim's spring term at Art Center is officially over, hooray!! He's gone for five terms straight now, without any breaks, so he is sincerely, deeply looking forward to this summer off from classes. (He'll still be a TA for three classes with a professor that he loves, and he'll also continue to work in the Illustration department. But no classes and no homework finally, yay! Actual time to spend with Wifey and Tadpole in the evenings, yay!!)

Here he is, compiling his artworks for an internship fair:

And here he is, looking cute in front of his display:
The last Working Title club meeting took place last week, and it featured a speaker (the guy in the hat) who works at Lucasfilm. It was a good time had by all:

Cuddle time with Captain Duckie Bum!

FYI, Weston looks bigger and bigger each day. I love how Wendi put it: he's a tank!!

A Most Unexpected Greeting...

Today was the greatest day of my life.
Okay, second.
Third.
Top ten, for sure... We got a card in the mail from the Terminator.

I'd like to leave it at that, but I guess I should elaborate, for the sake of accuracy (this blog may be a lot of things, but a factory of lies it is not). We got a card in the mail today "written" and "signed" Governor Schwarzenegger and his first lady, congratulating us on our baby. "Congratulations on the birth of your new baby, blah, blah, blah... As parents of four fantastic children, yadda-yadda... feed them, keep them healthy, etc..." Pretty generic until you imagine Arnold himself reading it to you, and then offering the chance to live if you just come with him. It was pretty exciting.

My governor can beat up your governor.

Edit: I guess I should clarify... the image above is what I wish the card had been. It was really just some fluffy watercolor painting Hallmark number...

The Super Mario Bros. Theme (after a fashion)

Amazing!!

I think there are certain people out there who are in a contest to come up with the most bizarre things imaginable...


http://view.break.com/487616 - Watch more free videos

Favorites

Lately I've come to realize that Weston, though yet a wee infant, has several Favorite Things that appear to represent the highlights of his young life:

(1) His best friend, The Window;
(2) Mama's special recipe Creamilk;
(3) Warm and cozy chest-naps on Dad;
(4) Anything that provides jigglement (the front carrier, stroller rides, car rides, roller coasters, etc.); and
(5) The sweet, satisfying relief of a good burp (spit-up optional).

It's great being able to feel like we're getting to know The Tadpole a little bit better these days. He smiles more and more each day, and also seems to have longer periods of environmental engagement (as opposed to sleeping or blank staring... although he still enjoys these activities too). So, on that note, my favorite thing right now is (yes, you guessed it) my little Tadpole! Here are some of my other current Favorite Things:

(1) SLEEP. Well, sleep has always been a highlight of my existence, ever since day one. However, a good stretch of sleep is now especially delightful. Weston actually went 7.5 hours between feedings the other night, which was astounding!! He has since regressed back to the 4- or 5-hour stretches between feedings, which means a couple nighttime naps for Mommy and Daddy of about 2.5 to 3 hours each. (Whoopee.) Hopefully our periods of slumber will once again increase to a blissful 4 or 5 hours.

(2) Ben & Jerry's. I rightfully consider myself a Ben & Jerry's conoisseuse, given that I have sampled almost every one of their pint flavors, that I am a certified Chunk Spelunker, and that I have in the past received a lovely collection of B&J paraphenalia (direct from Vermont!) due to my unwavering devotion and impressive kiss-up poster-making. The 2008 flavors just came out, and I've tried all but one of them so far (with the last remaining flavor resting peacefully in the freezer as we speak). I highly recommend the Imagine Whirled Peace variety. Yay Ben & Jerry's!

(3) Disneyland!!! Tim and I haven't been to Disneyland since having a baby, and we are pee-our-pants ecstatic to pick up a couple more annual passes and start going again. It'll be a whole new thing with The Tadpole (dealing with feedings, cryings, ride restrictions, general crowd frustrations, etc.), but we adore Disneyland and are thrilled to introduce Weston to it. I'm especially excited because I can go on all the rides again!! (Assuming that Tim takes the baby... after all, the baby's the one who kept me off the coasters in the first place, heh heh... but at least he's detachable now). Love it love it love it.

Tim has been constantly busy and phenomenally sleep-deprived this week with final homework assignments (term ends next week), so I'll spare him the bother of compiling his favorite things, and just go ahead and do it myself. They'd probably sound something like this: Captain Duckie Bum (aka baby), pizza, Carl's Jr. Six Dollar burgers, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, HD & surround sound, Disneyland, and of course, Syd Mead. There are probably many others that I'm missing, but those are the things that come to mind first. :-) What a swell guy I have.

Anywho, even though I've already written a pretty piece here, I'll go ahead and post some pictures as well, in order to try to temporarily appease my reader demographic that I like to call The Insatiables (Mom and Uncle Joe, I'm looking in your direction). So, here are a few photos from the past week or so:

Cuddle time with the little guy! (I find my boys to both be so adorable.)
Weston in his dashing overalls and wee sneakers:
Ahh, hold tight, Tim, he's going to fly away!!
Weston's first trip to a Working Title Club meeting at Art Center:

Father and son look one in the same here...
Tak and Jacob get acquainted with The Tadpole:
Jean taking a picture of herself in front of her desk, given that she is the family photographer and no one ever takes pictures of her unless she forces them or sets the automatic timer:
Okay, okay, I'll ease up on the camera bitterness and simply admire a darn cute baby!!