Everybody laughs the same in every language because laughter is a universal connection.

Yakov Smirnoff said it..

Alright.Alright. Got the theme park pics uploaded. The dull ache in the back of my knees is finally starting to wear off.. I should start typing.
I might need to google descriptive words. Seems like words fail me when I spend a day so busy and having so much fun.

So.Saturday early mornin'. Rory had went to bed early we had turned all the lights out and made the house quiet so we could rest, even if we couldn't sleep.
We got up and ready - Ri's mom came to pick up Rory.. which was scary for me- Rory was really excited tho...even though she was a little sad she couldn't go to Universal with us.
Val showed up in the huge Vimo(Van/limo) with a driver.I meant to take a pic inside the vimo, it is very cool. It was a LONG ride there- complete with lots of excitedness, giant sodas, and potty breaks.


Not enough potty breaks because the long walk the the parking lot had me doing the pee-pee dance.Then had to buy our tickets.

Yay we're here too!!..( I wish I had got a better picture)..
I wish I had taken more pics all together. We were having so much fun riding soo many rides and such, I guess I didn't have time.

We went to Universal Studios 1st . -excited to see what seemed like soo few people in the park.
1st stop the new ride . the Rip Ride Rockit..
or the never ending line for it
that is where everyone in the park seemed to be(is that Scooby doo?)... In line, watching the cheesy video report the directions of how to chose a song to play on the ride.(you pick your own music to blare into your headphones) with everyone. .. except our driver Cameron who declared rollercoasters were not for him. Val was nervous.

We finally made our way more than halfway into the line, before the cheesy vid starting playing a new segment that told us we should have put our purses in a locker (or left them with Cameron ).. seriously? Why was there not a sign at the entrance?(there is on other rides) Luckily , they seemed used to the occurrence, when we got to the top a girl was waiting to tell us where to wait, and where to go, I handed my purse to Ri and he ran down to get a locker. .. the girl was really cool too she complemented my piercing and my hair and made silly small talk with us in between helping load people on the ride) .

we chose our cheesy songs and strapped in


This ride went SOO awesomely fast I think I held my breath for the entirety of it ..


and my hair fell down.. it was in these cute side balls/buns
I didn't really expect it to stay up tho.

Aww.. Rory would have loved to see them



Next we rode Twister.. or more we got herded into a HOT theater with a bunch of other people - and then pushed into a replica of a falling down tornado hit house..
- see the car coming in the ceiling



I've always loved the line more than the ride...but twister is a pretty cool-- ride....well, experience is what they call it ,I think.
A little too close to home perhaps as I sit on my step watching the rain writing this..Luckily , it didn't rain then, it was HOT even.
Really really hot. Rory spent the day in the pool with Ri's mom,she can touch the bottom now :)..
anyway

Walking by the mummy, and seeing no line, we decided we would ride it next.Me and Val got our pic with the stilt guard ..dude was creepers, We asked for our pic and he just stared-no answer...
"so, we re gonna go ahead and get our picture with you"


-this is where I suddenly realized I am taller than Val.


See... creepers:
The Mummy was more of a roller coaster than we expected. We thought it would be like kingkong was.. a 3d ride thing. Nope. completely indoor rollercoster. In the dark, going backwards.Mummies popping out at you like a haunted house. .. and we had brought poor Cameron along- but his face in the ride picture was so epic that other people where pointing it out as we got off.
oogling The back to the future car
We stopped and got pizza and drinks at some place in the "new york" area.. I was too hot for pizza , I got some fresh fruit from a vendor outside-and felt like a weird health conscious skinny chick as people stared at me eating fruit in there. I just get soo nauseous when I am overheated.

We rode Jaws next, half hoping to get a little wet, but only our butts got wet.-eww.

Woohoo simpsons ride..



We were all eager to ride the Simpsons ride.. the line was a bit long, and I feared it may not live up to expectations- it did not disappoint. the jokes were very funny- and even though it was one of those 3d rides you really felt like you were falling and spinning.Cameron and Val both said they had to close their eyes for some parts and remind themselves they were in the same room.


Homer was putting his fingers in my ears.
I loved all the cheesy simpsons stuff. Ri kept telling us to wait to buy souvenirs but we couldn't pass up the simpsons kids shirts. Val got Seth a Bart shirt, and we got Rory a pink Lisa shirt that says "Daddy's Girl" (Rory LOVES it)

Poor Cameron(am I spelling that right?) did not seem as amused.
-Oh.while I was standing there taking pics and absentmindedly bobbing my head to "do the bart man" someone came up behind me and said "Rock those locks".. I turned and it was some other guy with dreads.It was weird. I just laughed and waved.

We avoided the kidzone- with all of our feelings of guilt- Rory and Seth would have loved that..
and jumped on ET.
I have been to universal a few times but never rode it. Everyone always told me it was lame and cheesy..

I think I like lame and cheesy though

Rory would have loved it.
..We rode Jimmy Neutron too..do I need to type it again?

Sightseeing in the Hollywood area

we also saw some little mini parades with Scooby and the critters from Madagascar ..
With Marilyn and Lucy


checked out some hats
Val even tried out dreads
we rode terminator- which was pretty much exactly as I remember it 10 yrs ago. and crowded.but at least it was air conditioned.

Then we went to islands of adventure- ready for more coasters and to get wet. Thing about that, I didn't get hardly any pics there. We put our stuff in lockers or left it with Cameron- who did not want to ride the BIG coasters ,or get wet.

We rode the Hulk coaster first. Thankfully, islands of adventure seemed much less crowded than universal studios-there was hardly any line. We waited in the small line to get front row seats. That ride is soooo soo fast,you can feel your face pushed back...and my hair stuck to the seat.
We rode spiderman..which was cheesy.and explored the marvel comic stuff. I bet we would have never been able to drag Seth out of that area.

We headed for toon lagoon next ..
Lagoon is not just a cutesy name. .. place is wet.
1st stop was probably the wettest of all. Popeye &Bluto's bilge-rat barges- we handed our bags to Cameron and jumped in the fast moving line

It is probably a bad sign when the guys you get on the ride with have brand new swim trunks on, and start stripping off their shoes and shirts and putting them in the middle under a tarp. I worried my shoes would get wet, but I didn't want to take them off.. I tucked my feet under the middle.. and hoped it wouldn't be too bad.(my shoes did not get wet.. but my drippy clothes fied that problem later) .
First thing our barge did was turn around so me and Val took the brunt of the 1st splash- right down the back of our pants.-insert new board shorts dudes laughter- Val might have had the worst seat on the boat, she got a spray right in the ear too..
We all got insanely soaked. dripped our way through the park.
We rode a log ride next. I screamed soo loud in Ri's ear on the fall he said it sounded like a horror movie scream.

Jurassic Park was next.. the 1st part is all chill and calm ride talking about dino's.. I am going to say it again...
the kids would have loved it. .. maybe not the 2nd part, and I don't think Rory was even big enough for it.

We rode dueling dragons next- weaving our way through another dizzying empty line. We picked fire instead of ice.Its one of those rides where your feet dangle..so it twirls,spins a lot. AND the "ice" track weaves through it so you pass the other coaster along the ride-
OMG that last spin was enough to make us all feel our lunch.I am not prone to motion sickness but that even hit me for a second. Everyone getting off that ride looked drunk.

it was getting late- Universal closes at 7pm . We peeked in a few shopping places.Drooled over overpriced candy. Detoured through Seuss Landing- I love everything in Seuss Landing

I knew Rory would love this sign- she loves that book.



Rory saw that pic and really wants to ride that one.

On citywalk we stopped and got over priced dinner. Soo sore so tired, but I was also painfully hungry. Moe's was pretty good. It was much better when our taco and burrito fell apart on our chips.
We hurried to get to the vimo and chill. I ended up sleeping in the vimo most the way home. We had planned to drink and stuff, but we never did.it was super nice to have a driver still, and he ended up being really helpful the whole trip.
I jumped in the bath when we got home- cold and sore from being soaked all the way home.
Ri's mom brought Rory home. Rory sleeply looked through pics, told me about her day, and loved her new shirt. We all crashed really early.

Sunday , poor Ri had to work- I felt like i had a heat exhaustion hangover.Rory and I walked to the store of a small bottle of milk, we got some candy and soda too.
I made soup for dinner.Rory went to bed early. It was amazing I started to think maybe a night with her gram had fixed her schedule..but we both woke up at 1 am feeling sick.
..I didn't throw up.. and I thought maybe it wasn't so bad. Monday, I was lazy and dizzy but I felt-so -so.Rory played in her kiddie pool for a little while, while I uploaded pics...

Today,however I am clearly sick. Ri had wanted us to go out on a boat with Kalani and Rita this morn. I couldn't even move. He decided he would go on his own and go to work after. I woke up hours later.. with my entire head stuffy and swollen. Fevers too. and grumpy. nothing is working I can't find anything,we are out of everything, and the child destroys everything as fast as I can clean it.
grr.
Ri teased that I got the swine flu at Universal.
Not funny.
He should be home soon... with groceries. Thank goodness.

PEACE AND TOFU CHICkEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

Of cousins and critters

A Super Quickie while I rush to get me ready for the trip to universal studios(yes, we are going despite my need to feel frugal and responsible-Ri is promising we will buckle down after wards..not that We haven't done that before)


Anyway. Rory an I didn't do much while Ri was working this week. Cleaning and playing..


We are still keeping horrible hours.. you wouldn't even believe me if I told you.
kalani stopped in to visit Wednesday night(Ri had got off early and spent the day surfing with him)- kalani used to be our neighbor and have Noobies litter mate sis Mitzy(but Misty passed), he was eager to see Noobs... We didn't expect Noobie would be eager to see him.But. Oh my god.
She jumped up and practically climbed in his lap the second he came in the door. I ave NEVER seen her do that to anyone but me and Ri(and she doesn't even do it to me anymore because she knows better than to jump)!
He stayed and chatted for a bit.had some birthday cake.

Thursday We finally took that HUGE load of babystuff to Sari and let Rory play with Lily

they were soo cute calling each other
CUTENESS.

Sari has a black &white kitten.. Can you imagine how in love Rory was?


Then we stopped into visit Lissy to.
Rory made Lissy a birthday card she was excited to give her.


Oh and we had to meet Lissy new dog-- Rosco
I expected some larger pit bull mix mutt- but instead its this little guy and judging from his paws he won't get much bigger.
We guess he is some sort of Jack Russell /pit bull mix- he has more energy than a room full of sugared up toddlers.He tremmors with pent up energy when made to lay down. Poor dog. Lissy is gonna need a tredmill just for him

Yes SHe also has kittens. She put and ad in the paper bt no one has called. She is going to put up flyers too.- and fix her damn cat.
Rory really wanted a kitten. Lissy had grey and white cats that are sooo soo cute, and little black cats. Rory got really broken hearted hearing that Lissy was going to give away the kittens.
( ..and because she really wants one. ) We explained how we were afraid to bring home one so so tiny, and how she is the one that said she wants to go find a fully grown "oreo color cat" and that would probably be best, and we should wait and see about moving 1st... but she tantrumed a bit.
...yes.that was very hard for me. I didn't want to argue with her. I wanted to grab up the sweet faced black kitten she said liked her and run home- and hope it got along with Noobs. Ri played with the kittens but just kept shaking his head no-no the whole time.
meanie.

Ri made dinner.and brought me a fountain soda and some chips( I was starving)

oh. and I stayed up until sunrise. And we smoked too much.


Now. I have dishes and laundry to do. and Rory is trying to pack her entire room into a bag for a day trip to her Grammy's house(lets not talk about how nervous I am about that) a floor to clean , hair to fix and A memory card to empty.
-fingers crossed- I should have a ton of awesome pics next blog post

PEACE AND TOFU CHICkEN GREASE
BABYHELLFIRE

Gene Simmons,Elvis Costello,Tim Burton,Billy Ray Cyrus,Rachael Ray,Claudia Schiffer ,Rachel Bilson & my hubby walk into a bar

....lol.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIAN!!! I don't care if you don't like this pic, baby - it's recent...besides, you are old ,and stuff ,so I should be making these sorts of decisions :p
lol .
I love you :) Thank you for being my best friend,an awesome daddy and a great hubby.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥



Updates updates updates.-

We ran out of food... well, no that isn't true.
We had all the bulk stuff beans , rice frozen veg and all, but we ran out of staples and convenience items fresh fruit/veg, milk,butter, bread, snacks,coffee,...

...Wait,more coffee? yeah, I went though a whole big thing of Colombian when did I start drink soo much coffee? I think it was somewhere between napping at 9pm instead of going to BED for the night at that hour..
So- yeah we had the basics. Stuff to make stuff. The beginning of the week we made soups & had some evil junk stuffs from the convenience store .
.. I even followed this crazy urge to walk up to the store with Rory in search of coffee and candy. lol.


Ri even got off work early Wednesday and brought us Burger king instead of planning a grocery trip
-naughty naughty-though I think it was more a pre apology for running off in the woods with his buddy to act like teenagers ,bitch about life ,man bond, and celebrate his birthday....
Tell me is it some weird thing when men get to feeling older they want to be more childish and irresponsible for a day , and women do the opposite..
or is it just me?
with the anxiety of a sick nervy chihuahua , the last thing I want to do to add to my feeling of not having it together at "this age" is go out and be less together.I don't get it.which frustrates me.. but I am not really mad at him about it.

-He still wants to go out and do something this weekend .
Val's talking about renting the Vimo(van -limo)and going out somewhere. Ri is thinking Universal Studios ( they sent us some locals discounts),... it would still be pricey and we would need a sitter... and again I am feeling the opposite urge to be responsible,parental, and get the eff out of putnam and get shit together .
..so,wasting money partying without Rory just seems like the wrong thing to do right now.
ugh.
I dunno.
Yeah, maybe we could both use some sort of stress releif break.
---------thought interrupted child climbing on me making annoying noises and fighting her tiredness at DAWN and making this post near impossible---
What was I saying?

' We did finally tackle our LONG grocery list Thursday.. bringing to the store the most nonstop talkative child ever. She spent the entire day running nonstop commentary.. maybe she is tired.

Or my fatigue babble is contagious . She was extra cute and behaved we spoiled her a little picking out all sorts of snacks she would like


... but she also made the trip reallly difficult for us as we tried to remember what we needed from the two stores we have to go to in the small "city" just to get groceries.
The snack buying must have worked, I don't think I have ever seen her eat so much.
we have went through soo much food since our grocery trip.-sigh-



Lissy came over Friday night one her way back from visiting out parents with the baby-
She also found out the stray dog that has been hanging out in their yard is still there and planned to bring it home.She has been wanting a dog anyway and this little mutt took to her baby right away. -fingers crossed- that all works out with the cat , she is still trying find homes for that litter of kittens.

Anyway, we got some quality time with Nicco.
He is still after Rory's hair I had to put it up

He is getting soo big.

Lissy has not been online , until she gets the cable hookup because the decided at&t is the devil(perhaps so, but they hold the monopoly on phone companies in these parts)..

Lissy chatted awhile but didn't stay terribly long. We sort of talked about doing something the next day (Saturday) , like the zoo..but it ended up being really nasty out.
We just ended up kicking around the house really bored

... until evening when Harvey's girlfriend(er.ex gf?) showed up looking for a party Harvey told her he would be at.. turns out after their man bonding time Harvey up and left(well, he sort got kicked out too), word is he is hanging with a very bad crowd and she is worried. Lord .drama.
drama drama drama.
We still haven't heard from him. And sorry ,Ri I had no idea I was to be planning a party that night, lol.
After not getting any sleep Saturday I was sort of hoping to go out Sunday with someone.but Mom was busy and I couldn't get a hold of anyone. So Rory and I kicked around the house watching Dr.Horrible's sing a long blog again, and playing... Didya know Barbbossa and Davy Jones sat down for tea??



Too cute. Sometimes I just want to take pics of her toys.
Ri got off work early- but he went to the beach surfing with kalani instead of coming streaight home. Jealous! ,but I can't blame him.
Plus, He came home with the best pizza on earth from the little pizza place we used to live near.
God.I miss St.Auggy...
and lately Rory has even been sayng she wants to move near the beach(last month she cried at the thought of leaving this house).We must move back.

Today , Ri had to work all day , I played school with Rory and taught her all about her favorite letter Lower case n . - She also likes lower case u ...but Ps , Bs , and Rs are her favorite to write. She surprised me knowing how to write so many. yes, I am still sort of feeling guilt about her skipping prek ...

Later ,after a littlest pet shop play break,and snack- we spent the evening making cards.. we made Ri a birthday card. More of a heart shaped pink valentine,and I made one for Rory.
Valentines in August. It was fun and cute.

Ri came home with cake his mom made him from scratch and we sang happy birthday.I still haven't had the chance to get him anything :(.



-Ok. the rest of the updates and linkocity
I am IN LOVE with this song

(concert vid ,so not great but the lyrics are adorable)


My hair is still crazy, yes?


yes. But I love it, and it seems others do tooo. which is such an odd surprise.


We still keep shit hours, my attempts to fix it this week seem to have made it worse. I am seriously considering putting Rory on a small dose of melatonin, to see if it would fix her poor sleep cycling. Seems Like I consider such monthly but then she seems to right herself and unright before I buy it. ..and Ri doesn't like the idea.

My BABY New blog has been given a name and location it isn't open yet I am still working on the 1st post, but PLEASE go ahead and subscribe

http://fairytalesandfaraways.blogspot.com/

(and yes made that header from scratch by myself,drawn in photoshop)

While you are subbing stuff, I am also on twitter and plurk and pretty much everywhere as babyhellfire..(facebook and myspace too)

Including this site called dailybooth I just learned about and joined despite reeeeeaahhhllly not needing another internets social site


OH! except at youtube I am Rianward ..because I stole his account.
..and why would I give away all this info??? Because I am addicted to the internet-join me..
and now, to go watch tv online and smoke instead of sleep.Yeah.still have not quit.


PEACE AND TOFU CHICkEN GREASE,
BABYHELLFIRE

Of old friends,family,CUTE kids,luau karaoke,and a circus diva

Ok. I have been a busy busy bee this weekend
- much to blog.I should start typing...but, but I think true blood is on! -sigh- responsibilities .

I had tried to get a hold of Lissy all day Friday in hopes of figuring out if she was going to a party an old friend/neighbor(s) of ours was having.
Three sisters that got together down here from across the country.. or world actually . The oldest (and preggy) sis had surprised their parents coming all the way from Germany!
I wanted to go almost out of obligation to friends I hadn't seen in years that had come sooo far, but we haven't been the closest in recent years,
and .well. everyone knows I am not great with the social anxiety.
Lissy called Saturday morn saying she planned on going with everyone, I asked if she would pick me and Rory up
( Ri didn't really want to go he wanted to rest and slack before Val's Luau) .. Though when Boo found out Ri was getting out of the party he wanted to hang out with him. Lissy had borrowed Mom's car thinking it would be the bunch of us and carseats-
So she ended up driving the huge boat all the way back next door my parents house with just us and two carseats :p .
It was really cool to see people I hung out with 10 yrs ago.I was really glad we went, and now sort of wished we had made time ,or planned to stay a little longer

Could we have imagined at 14 or 16 yrs old, our children playing together in ten years??



Rory made fast friends with Dakota - gah, I haven't seen them in soo long ! I still imagine her as a baby and now she has two little brothers!!
Soo cool to watch them play



Awesome to see Mel's baby who I have only seen in videos
and to see Sheila preggy.
It was sooo muggy and sort of drizzling . We hung out a little while, but we had to return moms car and get ready for Val's big 30 luau party
(which I planned on dragging Lissy to-and hoped Val wouldn't mind.)


super short cute vid lissy took
Somehow on our stop over at Moms,Mom and Amy managed to get a bit of real food in her.
... candy bribery the vid suggests. Thank goodness though because I hadn't get her to eat any of my friend Christie's awesome potato salad at the 1st party, and she found more sugar at val's... though ,I think she ended up giving all that candy from Grammy away to the boys when we got to Val's


Nicco hammed it up for everyone once he finally woke up.


Rory and Damien spent pretty much the whole party in the pool


Lissy got to meet the boy Rory says is her future hubby- and who Lissy thinks is a little Matt Damon.

Pool monitoring

..yes, I know I wore this dress last weekend, but it was just too fitting for a luau.
(I did have a flowery Hawaiian printish dress for Rory to wear, but she didn't really wear it until we left. -shutup- so , I like themes ..we also may have got Val a themed hello kitty hula stamper.... )


..and Val was really happy to finally meet Nicco . She said he is as cute as the pictures.So, if you are wondering, he really is that cute :)



..and there was much teasing Val about not being trustworthy anymore

Awww!!! Happy Birthday Valerie! My Sister In Law. :)

My parents even know her as my sis in law , and many people over the years including Val's parents considered Ri her brother. So, I did marry into a good family :)


Oh.. So Val, Forgive me for posting that video I am about to post.. sisterly love ;)

------
Did I mention there was BOOZE...
lots of booze???

and karaoke???


good times, good times...
especially when you get everyone to sing along to Sir Mix A lot 's I like big butts:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( I did not imbibe much in the booze or karaoke.. I am almost certain you'd need one for the other)

Rory was getting fed up chasing the boys around. Val's neighbor had little girls at her house and we walked over to bring back a playmate for her...

Rory was in heaven after that I think. ..
but I am not sure why they ended up laying in the middle of the floor??

and the girls babysitter is also dreading her hair- (the ballsy neglect method) she was interesting to talk to :)



there was some rain too, that sent most everyone inside to chat
Rory still keeps up with the big boys though


They tried to talk Jen &Ray into singing Folsom Prison but they wouldn't do it.
( Somehow Ri also avoided such ,
though Val did try to trick me into singing Bitch)




I managed to get Ri and I pretty soaked under the tent, pushing on the puddle that had gathered over our heads-Ok, I never said I was the brightest bulb in the box!


Rog (val's dad) - I love this pic of the of them so much I stole it from her myspace-
He continued his decade long tradition of calling me any A name except Angela,lol.



--How did I still manage to get a pic of him smiling when it was late and he was getting sleepy?

They left about then, with their normal person early schedule and all .
The little girls also went home.
Jen sent her little ones home with their younger sis, too.
Rory spent a lot of time inside playing Monopoly JR with Brad and Seth. She is pretty good with the big kids and even came out and held a few sparklers with them



oh, and got a tattoo.. but she had to make extra sure that it was "JUST a rubbing tattoo!"

The night wore on and the company grew pretty intoxicated. There were LOADS of funny, sweet and/or CRAZY convos going.

We jumped in the pool with the kids for a bit...
When we got out Val had already left the outside party and passed out in bed, so we headed home,
.... well ,after Rory raided the goody basket.
We had an awesome time. I know I am forgetting to post stuff- -but yeah ,we were wiped out.

Ri threw together a quick dinner and we all crashed out after eating.

Can you believe we were in bed before 1am!?!!?!
Ri says he didn't actually sleep well, and had to wake up really early for work :(


Nocturna-child tried to stay in bed and sleep in.

Oh ,she tried! ...and she really was as COMFY as she claimed to be when I tried to nudge her awake ,and she just snuggled me and rolled over. She asked if she could have PB toast and tv in my bed..as long as she was somewhat awake I let her.

Am I building a diva?

When she did finally get out of bed it was to gather up all of her luau goodies, and ask if we could go on a bike ride.
She looked soo cute in a Hawaiian print skirt and all her gear-
That we did a picture day

Do you remember picture day, getting in line by height(or alphabet) and being handed little unbreakable combs - and posed awkwardly???

...yeah, that is not really how we do picture day

She was being the daring young girl on the flying trapeze , because it was too hot to sit on the swing


I told ya she has been extra cute


It was far too hot to play, we didn't stay out long.
Came home melty and red faced. I put Rory in a cool bath WITH a popsicle- ah! I am building a diva!!!
She did try to take a short nap after getting soo overheated and having a two hour swim in the tub- but I didn't really let her . We snacked and watched disney musicals instead.. and yet, she is still up after Ri came home with chips and soda.

the devil.
Let's add that to my previous confession post, add that I messed up my vegetarianism eating gelatin in my gum, and a Hawaiian jello shot while you are in there ok.
that and a fear I may have lost an extension throwing the boys around Val's pool in the dark,I am paranoid about that,but
..probably not.surely not... -eek.

It's three am, Rory wants to cuddle, and I need to get ready for bed.