A December to Remember

This holiday season, the Harveys stayed in California, and everyone else came to us!  We had lots of visitors - Mimi, Papa, Liz, and Dave - and a full schedule of holiday events and activities.

Before all our visitors arrived, we made a visit to Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.  For my non-Alameda readers, Christmas Tree Lane is a street in Alameda (Thompson Street) where every house puts up amazingly festive Christmas decorations each year.  Every house participates, and most have their own theme.  It's quite a sight and is the subject of lots of California news coverage - and even a visit from the Governor this year.

Virginia got to meet the motorcycle gang behind these hogs:

Winter Wonderland:

If she sees Thomas the Tank Engine, it's a fair bet he'll get a hug:

Liz and Dave came to town a few days before my parents, which gave us a chance to spend time together.  Thomas and Dave went off on a beer odyssey in Sonoma County, and Liz and I took Virginia to the Christmas party at Wee Play, followed by a visit to see the (very real) Alameda Santa Claus.

Disney Magic!

In the fall, Thomas and I spotted a Southwest fare sale that was too good to be true.  Naturally, we decided that another Disneyland trip was in order... $39 each way from OAK to SNA has to be put to use!  We had taken Virginia to Disney when she was about 22 months old, but we thought she'd get a lot more out of this trip at a few months shy of her third birthday, and we were certainly right.  She knew even more of the characters and was ready to dive into the experience.  And we were especially thrilled to get to see all the beautiful Christmas decorations.  Thomas and I had never been to Disneyland during the holidays before and it was pretty magical.

We spent the big bucks and sprung for a Disney hotel this time around, just to see how the experience differed from our usual plans (we usually stay at the cheap places across the street from the main entrance).  We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, which had just been renovated and was quite nice.  Virginia especially loved the headboard which had a carving of the castle and lit up with a fireworks display.  Thomas and I especially loved the newly added tiki bar, Trader Sam's.  The hotel was a bit more of a walk than some of the non-Disney places, so we'll see whether we stay there again.

(Trader Sam's Menu and Drinks:)

We hit Disney hard.  Because we stayed at a Disney hotel, we got early entrance one morning.  We took advantage of it to ride all the Fantasyland rides that usually have terribly long lines.  It always helps to avoid lines with a toddler in tow!  As always, we used Ridemax to plan our trip and were able to avoid most lines altogether (yes, we are geeks and use a software program that minimizes wait times, but it is truly a miracle product - we've been using it for years and we get to ride 5 times more rides than everyone else in the park).

It's hard to sum up everything we did in our three days, but it was a blast.  We got to hang with Uncle Doug, who joined us for one of our days in the park.  Virginia wanted nothing to do with Thomas and me when Uncle Doug was around, so she accompanied him on all the rides.  We met pretty much every Disney character available during our visit - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Chip & Dale, Alice, Winnie the Pooh, and Sleeping Beauty to name a few.   We had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen in our hotel, complete with visits from more of the characters.  

Virginia's favorite ride was Winnie the Pooh, which we rode 5 times.  She loved that the doors that the cars went through were dripping with honey.  Every time we passed through them she exclaimed "Honey Doors!"  Other favorite rides included Finding Nemo and Dumbo.  Best of all, Virginia even braved the Matterhorn!  She just met the height requirement, so we decided to chance it.  It turned out to be too long of a ride for that kind of intensity and she cried a little near the end, but we don't think we did any permanent psychological damage.  Our gal is tough!

Thomas and I ended up hobbling home with blisters on every toe, which means our Disney visit was a success!!!  Can't wait to go back.

 Loving Winnie and Friends:

"When I see an elephant fly..."

The family chilling with Donald:

 Virginia's favorite character right now is definitely Alice in Wonderland!

Giving Thanks

This Thanksgiving, we decided to stay close to home and out of the friendly skies for once.  The Harvey clan all gathered at Susan and Peter's home in Piedmont for a delicious meal and good times.  Virginia loved having her Uncles Biggie and Douglas in town for the celebration.

Boola Boola

We held our annual Yale-Harvard game party at our home in Alameda again this year.  As always, Yale completely folded, evidencing its embarrassing lack of football prowess for almost as long as I can remember.  But we had a grand time reuniting with old friends.  Virginia and Sebastian O'Neill (son of one of our classmates) played a rousing game of football in the yard, and Virginia got the chance to meet the newest Bulldog-to-be Andrew Alexander (son of Vanessa Alexander, one of my dearest Yale friends).

Uncle Ray and a Trip to NC

November was a sad month for the Neeland family, as we lost my dad's younger brother Uncle Ray to a combination of cancer and a heart attack.  Virginia and I had booked a flight to see him, but he died the week before our visit.  It was a blessing that he was no longer in pain, but tragic because he was far too young.

We decided to keep our plans for a visit to NC and spend time with the rest of the Neelands, and we were happy to have made the trip.  Virginia had not seen her Neeland side of the family in more than a year, and she quickly picked up where she left off with everyone.  Auntie Lynn smartly pulled Cousin Beth's old dollhouse out of storage, and it was a major hit with Virginia.  She spent many hours in Nanny's living room playing with those dolls.  We also visited the local park, ate at Dick's Hot Dog stand, and visited First Baptist Church (Virginia made it through 3/4 of the service, so we call that a success).

The dollhouse extraordinaire: 

Lovin on Aunt Lizzie:

With Auntie Lynn (a.k.a. the source of Virginia's fashionable wardrobe):

Virginia was obviously thrilled to see Mimi:

Serious conversations with Papa over the kitchen table:

Ready to go to church with Nanny:

Happy Halloween

Oompa loompa, doopity doo, I've got another costume for you!

I'm happy to report that Virginia thoroughly enjoyed her third Halloween.  This was probably the last year that we could select a costume for her, and Thomas went all out with his selection of the original Oompa Loompa.  He seriously considered having the costume made by someone on Etsy and paying the big bucks for it, but I luckily found a ready-made one on HalloweenCostumes.com this year.

We began the day with a trip to daddy's work to attend the "Horrorick Scarington" Halloween party.  Virginia happily decorated cookies and paraded around in her costume.  We then made a cameo appearance at GayGay's office, where Virginia put on a show for Susan's coworkers.  Then it was off to a chaotic Wee Play Halloween party with Kim, followed by a 2 1/2 hour nap so that she could rest up for the big night.

Trick or treating started early - about 5:15 for the toddlers.  Virginia was a little hesitant and wanted help in ringing doorbells and approaching new people.  But once she learned that there was candy involved, she came out of her shell a bit, saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" to everyone she saw.  We ran into a lot of her buddies while trick or treating, and she had a blast.  She also loved answering the door later in the night when we came home to hand out candy.

Here are a few of the best photos from the night!

First candy of the night with dada (a reward for wearing the green wig for the photo opp):

Best buddy Tasha at Chez Neumansky's Haunted Pumpkin Patch:

With playgroup pal Xander (aka Buzz Lightyear):

The Wallace girls from across the street (future babysitters!):

Oktober & October

Fall is here in California!  We started the month of October off right, by celebrating Oktoberfest at our favorite local German restaurant, Speisekammer.  Thomas and I enjoyed our German beer, and Virginia wore herself out at the jumpy house.

Virginia is getting very excited about Halloween this month.  She is finally at the stage where she fully understands holidays - the goodies, the decorations, and the rituals.  And Halloween is a BIG DEAL in Alameda.  The many old Victorian houses really lend themselves to creating a spooky atmosphere and the residents of them decorate them right.  To see a glimpse of some of the better Halloween decorations on the  island, check out our friends, the Neumansky family, and the Alameda Haunt Your House contest.

We made the trip last weekend to Moore's Pumpkin Patch out in Castro Valley.  Virginia's bud, Johnstone, came along and we rode teacups and enjoyed more bouncy house fun.  Very few pumpkins were purchased, but at least we wore the kiddos out for the morning.

Stay tuned for more spooky updates in the coming days...

Mimi and Papa Return!

We were lucky enough to have another short visit from Mimi and Papa in September.  They arrived 24 hours before I returned from Korea, so they helped babysit Virginia and keep her occupied until I got back.

I was apparently so beat from my travels to Korea that I forgot to take any pictures (I'll have to get the ones from Mimi's camera soon!).  We mainly just hung out and had some quality grandparent-grandchild bonding time.  Virginia was beyond thrilled to have them visit and literally talked their ears off the entire time.  Can't wait for their next visit at Christmas!

Grandfathers make great climbing apparatuses:

Dr. Virginia examines a patient:

A Week in Korea

Virginia was mommy-less for a week in September while I was sent to Korea for work.  This was the longest I have been apart from her, but she apparently did just fine while I was away.

The trip was pretty good - as far as business trips go.  I traveled with three other colleagues, and we had the good fortune of flying in business class in the new United lie flat seats.  Those can't be beat!  We spent most of our time in Suwon, but did get to travel to Seoul for a few hours of sightseeing.  Luckily, I wasn't totally lost because one of our colleagues who accompanied us was born in Korea.  She took us to some authentic places to eat and served as translator the whole time.  Best of all, I got to visit Si-Wook (one of the Whiffenpoofs from Thomas's year) and have dinner with him, his wife Claire, and baby Hajin.  It was a blast.