Alex’s California Adventure Part 3, or “Sand - all the stylish toddlers are wearing it”

Nothing says California more than Mickey (check), sunshine (check), sand (see below) and shopping. So we went to the most surreal shopping “experience” that we could think of - The Grove. For those of you who have never been there, it’s an outdoor mall in Hollywood, right next to the CBS studios. This should tell you a lot because it seems like everyone typically dresses up as if they’re auditioning for something while they’re shopping. They have a trolley (which is so unnecessary - the mall isn’t all that big and it just goes from one end to the other), they have a cool dancing water fountain that mesmerizes all the kids and they have an American Girl Doll Place.

That place is a comedy all in it’s own to me. Let me digress for a moment….

I’m not a big fan of American Girl Dolls. I grew up with cheap dolls that provided all the entertainment and endless possibilities for creativity and imagination for me. American Girl Dolls are not only about $100 a pop, but they come with their own “stories” and, of course, there’s the endless amount of money you can soak into them for their accessories of $65 horses, $28 skating outfits and $118 beds.

And don’t forget the hair salon. Yes, you can get your doll’s hair “professionally styled” by a stylist at their stores and the prices range from $10 to $20. Plus, you can add on a Pampering Plus package for only $5 of a facial scrub! This is a doll, people!

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve said, “I’m so glad I had a boy” when I walk through that place.

Okay. Digression over.

Alex really likes The Grove. The fountain, the trolley, the nearby Farmer’s Market and the people. But especially the fountain. What’s not to like? Random patterns of splashing water with ear-splitting music. It’s like The Bellagio except the only money you stand to lose is at Crate and Barrel (although you at least have something to show for it, like a new blender or a stylish garbage can).

Then, while standing outside of a store, Alex decided to do something that he’d never done before. He started approaching people. He had always been a little cautious about people, happy to watch them from a distance. But suddenly, he decided to appoint himself the official greeter of American Girl Place (of all the places!) by standing outside and shaking the hands of everyone coming and going into the store. He would actually make eye contact with these people, shake their hand and engage in what conversation with them that he could. He loved it! He would eagerly go up to people and shake their hand. People found it pretty cute and I think Alex really keyed into this and did it again and again.

He had been showing more interest in socializing with people throughout the week, by waving to people in their cars while we were crossing the street, or shaking hands. But when we got home, he never repeated the shaking hands with strangers behavior again. I’m not sure what exactly it was.

The following day, we went to the beach for the morning. It was a gorgeous day. After a pancake and sausage breakfast, we walked down to the beach so Alex could play with some sand toys in tow. Of course, most of the sand ended up in his hair.

And then there were sand angels to be made.

Uh…we’re still working on that.

There were lots of surfers up and down the beach. Even surfer dads.

Later in the day, we took Alex back to the beach one last time before we were due to return home the following morning. This time, we took his shoes and socks off and he and daddy went to dip their toes in the water.

The water was kind of cold, as Pacific water tends to be, but he didn’t care. Alex especially seemed to like the feel of the sand between his toes and the feel of the water swirling around his legs. It’s one of the things that I wish we had available to us out in landlocked Colorado. But for now, we’ll have to settle for occasional trips to the ocean.

Our plane was due to leave at 9 am the following day. But when we got to the airport, we found that our flight had been canceled due to (get this) an airplane cleaner deploying the evacuation chute by mistake. It’s not like you can just bunch one of those up and shove it back in. According to the flight attendant that I spoke to, it costs about $10,000 to reset those things.

We were a little ticked originally, but one of the things that we’ve learned from past experience is that Alex is a very good reader of emotions. If you’re mad or upset, it’s best not to show it too much, or he’ll pick up on it too. We tried to remain as calm as we could (good advice in general, of course) but thankfully, Frontier Airlines had rebooked us automatically on the next flight out. I really can’t say enough about how fantastic our experiences with Frontier have been. We’ve traveled them a lot with Alex and their flight attendants are fantastic with Alex, even during the times in the past that Alex was crying throughout the entire trip.

All in all, it was a great trip. We all had a wonderful time and yeah, I might even consider making another trip with Alex. Now that he’s gotten older and able to understand the concept of traveling and how much fun it can be, he really got into it. There were some small bumps on the trip, but a good time was had by all.

We’ll have to try it again sometime.