Hey there. How the hell are you? It’s been a while. Again. I KNOW. Please, allow me to essplain. Not, it is too much, allow me to sum up (random Princess Bride reference FTW): summers are busy ’round these parts. My birthday, Dylan’s birthday, Tom’s birthday, plus 2 of my nieces birthdays, plus it’s summer! The season of fun and beaches and swimming and cold food that requires no cooking! Forgiven? Sweet.

Since we last spoke, I had myself a little birthday. Well, first, America had herself a little birthday, which we celebrated in true patriotic style by going to Disneyland. We don’t need much of an excuse to go to the Mouse House, but we’ve never been on the 4th, so we thought, hey! Let’s do it! It was fun, as Dland is wont to be, but a wee bit crowded. And ::whispering:: kind of a crappy fireworks show. I mean, they have a giant fireworks show every damn night for cripes sake, you’d think they would pull out all the stops for Murica’s big day. But alas, they did not, and Dylan was super pissed that Tinkerbell was not featured prominently (that’s how often we go to Disneyland: my toddler has pretty much memorized the choreography of the fireworks show). Meh, now we know. Here’s a gratuitous picture of my cute kid:

My big day is the 9th, but we celebrated a little early by taking a roader to San Diego with the little, Tom’s brother Charles (whose birthday is also the 9th), and his girlfriend Cheri. Drove down on Saturday, stuffed our faces with seafood and fancy ass cake from Extraordinary Desserts (if you like sweets, and you are ANYWHERE NEAR SAN DIEGO, go to this place. Go now!), got awesome ass presents (a tattoo for meeeeeeeeeee! More to come), and then did the obligatory Sea World trip on Sunday. Now, I had not been to Sea World since I was probably 8, so I had zero idea of what to expect. Which turned out to be a blessing, because I would’ve been really pissed by what we got.

Sea World is, basically, an amusement park with sea creatures. Dolphins, whales, turtles, sharks, all manner of fish and fowl, all present and accounted for, and adorable as all get out. That much I was prepared for, and looking forward to (and thoroughly enjoyed). But the amusement portion of the amusement park? Ummmmm, how do I say…thumbs down. We’ve been spoiled by Disneyland. Nothing compares to it. Food, rides, ambiance, experience: they think of everything. Sea World feels sort of like a big county fair with whales and aquariums. It was weird. But, we got the tickets for free thanks to Charles, and Dylan had a great time, so it was a successful day. Would we go back? For free, yes. I would never buy tickets. Unless Dylan wakes up one day and decides she wants to be a dolphin trainer, in which case I’d buy a season pass and live vicariously through her. Some more gratuitous pictures, for your perusal:

I will say, I was terrified of staying the night in a hotel with Dylan. She’s never slept away from home, and toddlers have this weird thing where they flip the fuck out for absolutely no reason and without warning, so I was prepared for no sleep at all on Saturday. Um, she slept better than anyone. To whit:

Didn’t even wake up when I changed her clothes. The key is, wake them up super early, deprive them of a nap all day, pump them full of sugar 2 hours before bed, and wait for the inevitable crash. Then take pictures and laugh at your passed out kid, and resist all urges to draw on them with a Sharpie and put their diapers in the freezer. Next time.

So that’s our first 2 weeks of July. We’re pretty much catching our breath this week before jumping right back in with more birthdays, parties, Disneyland, maybe another trip or two to who knows where. We’ve got time and a cool as kid. Anything can happen.