Gaby's First Trip to Disneyland

Happy Memorial Day!!! We hope you had a great long weekend! At the Tsimanis household, we enjoyed a visit from Grammy and Grandpa Arnie on Friday, with a trip to a yummy burger joint for dinner. Today, we spent some fun time in Venice with Babushka Maya, Aunt Galya and Uncle Fima - the weather was beautiful and Gaby seemed to really enjoy the fresh air!

Last Monday, the 18th, was Gabriela's first visit to Disneyland! We took advantage of the free admission on your birthday (it was my birthday) and Alex, Gaby and I headed out to D-land. To get Gaby in the mood, we started out introducing her to Minnie Mouse at Grammy and Grandpa's house. Gaby received as a gift from Lisa's friend Melissa (Mo) - a pair of Minnie ears with her name on the back so we had to try those on her too. Let's just say she has room to grow into them!!!



Of course you can't escape the lines at Disneyland - but who knew we'd have to deal with one just to get into the parking lot!!!! Actually, that was probably our worst line of the day. Here are Alex and Gaby in the parking lot - she had a nice meal and was ready to go! We brought the Minnie ears with us just to see how many photos we could snap of her in them before she went nutso on us...so far, so good!

OK - we finally made it into the park! Here we are at the entrance in front of some amazing flower plantings in the shape of Mickey Mouse - I have to wonder how many gardeners and consultants they have on staff to get the flowers just right.

We made a bee line to "It's a Small World" - we only had to wait a few minutes in line before we got on the boat. We finally gave Gaby a break on the mouse ears!

Here we are on the ride. We probably annoyed the others in our boat because we took photos non-stop. Growing up near Disneyland and going several times a year as a child, I have such fond memories of the place - I just didn't want to miss a single experience documenting Gaby's first trip. She won't remember this of course, but maybe she'll enjoy seeing the photos later when she's older.

Not sure Gaby knew what to make of it all - she was wide-eyed for most of the ride just looking back and forth from one side to the other. I took some video of her at one point - it was hilarious - here she was, wide-eyed and mouth agape and in the next instance, she was yawning as if bored!

A close up of our wide-eyed girl!!!

The family in front of us were kind enough to offer to take a photo of the three of us on the ride - Gaby showed us her Elvis pose!

We visited Toontown - mostly just to change Gaby's diaper and put on some lighter-weight pants - it was pretty warm that day. But we had to take a photo on this cute car...

Basically, Gaby lasted at D-land for two rides - Small World and the train. Here she is on the train - she seemed to really enjoy it! After the train ride, we met up with Grammy and Grandpa for lunch at Downtown Disney and they took Gaby home for the afternoon while Alex and I enjoyed some of the big kid rides!

We ended the day with an amazing Middle Eastern feast at Grammy and Grandpa's, finishing the meal off with a yummy cupcake with a singing candle on it! All in all, a great birthday!!!

What? I'm 5 months old already?

Gaby turned 5 months old Friday (May 8th). It came as quite a shock to her - the photo below says it all! Still, all is well in Gaby's house - she continues to grow and do new things. As of last Saturday, our most recent weigh in, Gaby was just about 18 pounds - a full 1.5 pounds heavier than at her 4 month appointment just three weeks earlier! Gaby's been dealing with a fair amount of congestion over the last month - the doctor believes the result of a dust allergy. We're doing all we can to address the problem but even still, Gaby remains in good spirits. We've had lots of fun over the last month - below we tell the story since our last posting in photos.

Gaby celebrated her first Passover this year. We enjoyed two seders - one at Babushka Maya's house on the first night and one at Grammy Michele and Papa Arnie's house on the third night. Below is a photo of Gaby wearing her froggy pajamas just for this occasion (at Grammy & Grandpa's house), courtesy of our dear friend Cookie Stern (remember the Passover song: "One morning when Pharoah awoke in his bed, there were frogs in his bed and frogs on his head...").

Gaby joined us for the first part of the seder before retiring to bed. Still a little too young to recite the four questions but we have no doubt she'll be in good shape to join her cousins next year!

Gaby continues to enjoy her baths - this was just too precious!

We finally put together Gaby's exer-saucer a couple weeks ago - here is Gaby's maiden voyage at the helm. She seemed so knowledgeable about it - turns out she'd been playing in the exer-saucer at her daycare for a week before she tried it out at home!

We've taken to exploring new parts of LA county when we can. A couple weeks back, we visited Montrose, a neighborhood in Glendale, just north and slightly east of Los Angeles. We had a lovely brunch, visited the local farmer's market, and then headed off to the Descanso Gardens, a beautiful public garden, nearby. Below are some photos we took with Gaby at the gardens.

Planes, trains, and automobiles - these are all the modes of transportation Gaby can now claim she has taken. Last weekend, we took a train trip from LA's Union Station to San Juan Capistrano to celebrate Babushka Maya's birthday. We had a good time on the train - it was just a little more than an hour down to Capistrano. Union Station is just a beautiful, old train station. We got there early and enjoyed walking around the station and the outside grounds.

We met up with Aunt DeeDee (Alex's sister) at the train station in San Juan Capistrano - she came up from San Diego to celebrate with us. We enjoyed a great brunch at Rios House Cafe, just across the train tracks from the train platform.

After brunch, we walked around the charming stores in a historic district of San Juan Capistrano and then went to visit the Mission nearby.

Just this weekend, the three of us enjoyed a visit to Larchmont Village, an area of LA not far from the gorgeous homes of Hancock Park. It's a neat street with lots of shops and restaurants. We had brunch and walked around, visiting some of the beautiful, albeit over-priced, stores on the street. Just a really relaxing way to spend a Saturday.

Here's Gaby and mommy in Larchmont Village - don't you just love this sun hat?

And finally, today was Mother's Day! My first as a mommy - what a wonderful day! We enjoyed brunch with Grammy, Grandpa, Uncle Jeff, Isabella, Michael, Lucas, and the entire Kaye family. Check out the photo of Gaby sitting up - it's the first time we've seen her sitting up unassisted - OK, she was upright on her own for 10-20 seconds but it's something!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there!!!!