Parks & EVO

    Okay, look. I judged another mom, but no. Hold on. And I'm aware... that like, humans are flawed and we're all doing our best. I try not to be the one to cast the first stone and try my best to be understanding and genuinely give people the benefit of the doubt, but my scope of empathy only reaches so far.

Which... funny enough, is something Mr. Chicken pointed out to me that made me pause a little bit. I'll revisit that. He says I'm selectively empathic. Which is interesting!  

We begin June with a trip to the parks.

In the past, I wasn't one to go to Disneyland during the summer. Maybe one day, two tops if the craving hits. But I'd wait until August came around. This year, things are a little different and I've a little one to go exploring with. The heat is horrific but the cast members are the most darling with Mung Bean.

On this day I wanted to check out Trader Sam's new food items on our way out. Mung Bean was tired and over it. She's generally really chill and used to being out to eat, but she started being vocal and she did not like the food lol. So a server was really sweet and came over to talk to her, and brought her one of those LED ice cube things to play with. She also gave Mung Bean a sticker. 

Another reason why I don't sweat it at the parks is the staff are always so dear to us. ALWAYS. There hasn't been a single instance where we felt we were unwelcomed or a nuisance. They're happy to help. 

Anyway, we left and she slept on the way home. The food was your usual hawaiian/kind of japanese stuff. I don't know what I was expecting, lol. 

 

Oh man. 

SO... a while back, I bought Mung Bean a 13" CRT VHS combo unit. It's cute. And I bought her video tapes to watch on it and she learned to put them in and hit play and everything. Everything was fine. She was watching the videos I'd watch when I was a kid that my dad and I would rent from Blockbuster Video. 

So, she put a refrigerator magnet in the vhs slot and killed the unit.

Mr. Chicken took it apart and has been gradually working on it. Every time I walk by it I think of Bjork.

He got it to work... until he puts the shell back on. For some reason the gears start catching and make clicking sounds- won't accept the vhs. But when the board is outside of the shell, everything works perfectly. I don't know. I might have to buy a separate VHS player. Really rather not but... I don't know. Thoughts and prayers, I guess.

Here are the main ones she's taken to. They're from a company called Wee Sing. They did... do?... childrens videos with nursery rhymes and fun plots. I lived for these as a kid. They're special to me. It's been awesome to see her enjoying them just as much. 

So... the selective empathy thing that Mr. Chicken was talking about...
It's hard to put into words. 
Like... I feel a lot... for a scared insect that's skittering away from me at work while I try to carefully lead it into my hands so I can take it outside. I can imagine its terror, how scary the world is to it, and how horrifying I must be to it, surrounding it with my huge hands - it doesn't even comprehend what hands are. And my heart is pained for its horror. 

This just happened btw, I took it outside and set it on a flower low to the ground. It happens often. I don't know how they get in.

And... a couple weeks back, I was able to stop and remove the remains of a kitten from the middle of the road and take it with me to put it somewhere nice under a tree at a cemetery.

My heart breaks for so many... but the selective part is (I don't even think it's selective) I resent the general population because we know better; we can speak our grievances, and we have choice. Generally, people are equipped with these. Generally. Not all.

Those who aren't have my full unconditional compassion. Children, animals, the elderly. That's it. Oh, and sometimes... robots. But I think it's because it falls under the category of just being something that can't defend itself, and when people are cruel, it demonstrates and highlights the ugliness in people that just... pisses me off beyond words. There's a video somewhere of some streamer being a POS to a robot. It's infuriating. Not because the robot is being abused, but because this person chooses to be disgusting. And not only that, he does it as entertainment. And I dislike the audience who finds it entertaining. That whole... all of that... is abhorrent. 

Mr. Chicken also said I'm kind of unapproachable. Sort of agree. This came up because there's this ongoing funny thing with another friend group of our friends... and everytime we all end up in the same room, some of them do not approach me or say anything to me whatsoever. I don't think I'm unfriendly or unapproachable, but Mr. Chicken says I look a little oof. Which is a damper because I don't even try anymore. But I'll be honest, when I make attempts to greet someone and get ignored, they stop existing to me and I just don't try or care lol. 

So, I don't know. I just don't like rude or heartless people. It's a choice to be cruel. A kitten was trying to cross the road at a 3 way stop sign. Someone made the decision to speed through the stop sign anyway. Nurses make the choice to abuse the elderly who cannot speak or fight back. Adults make the choice to hurt children. The cruelties people choose to act out on the helpless are heinous. And rude people are not company I wish to keep. So I will save the spider, the water bug, the praying mantis, whatever. I'll talk about elderly and child abuse. And animal abuse. That's where my empathy lies. Even Hannibal Lector couldn't stand rude people.

Another visit to parks to heal me and bring my daughter happiness

There's this blind box scenario thing in Fantasyland. You go into this room that's split into 3 meet and greets, and it's the princesses, but you don't know which ones you'll meet. It's fun. Mung Bean loves the surprises and getting to see the pretty spectacle.

It's funny, I didn't really push princess stuff on Mung Bean. She's seen the old Disney films but that was the extent of princess exposure. I don't know if she likes the whole princess thing or just thinks they look cool. Until she can vocalize it, I'll keep taking her to see them.

I had no idea Stitch had a show or whatever. That was cool.

Ayyyye.

It's cool to see Horace and Clarabelle together ^_^

Anyway, here's another trip lol

Our boy was out, had to say hi.

I dressed her up as Ortensia, she was wearing her ears and I was bounding as Oswald. :3

Her first time meeting Pooh. My heart was melting. We were the last group to go up to him before he had to leave. She wouldn't stop hugging him lol, so he did the thing T_T

He took her by the hand and walked with her to his little exit area

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH 

T____T

I GET IT NOW

IT'S THE BEST FEELING

SHE WAS SO HAPPY

AND I WAS SO HAPPY

AND EVERYTHING WAS WONDERFUL

I was just... a mess.
Sigh.

Before leaving, I went and did a cute little shoot for us at the pier. We took a lot of cute pictures. Was a really good day.


EVO 2026

We left for EVO that week. Soooo excited!

The drive was chill. Mung Bean slept pretty much the whole way. And we got our room upgraded because the one we were supposed to get wasn't ready. Tres naicu :3

We chilled, met up with family for dinner and got our badges. Mr. Chicken I think went to go check in with the guys while Mung Bean and I retreated to our suite.

On our way up lol... this older gentleman boards the elevator and compliments Mung Bean. She's adorable, he says. Also says he likes her Xbox shirt lol. I said her dad got it for her, he laughs and says it's a good shirt, he used to work at Xbox for like ever, but retired recently. I said that's awesome, her dad works under Microsoft at Blizzard. The whole thing was silly, but wholesome. I could tell he got sentimental seeing Mung Bean. He probably remembered being a dad with little ones, working with Microsoft too. 

A WEB OF BEAUTIFUL CONNECTIONS. 

Our interaction made me smile. SEE, I'M NOT UNAPPROACHABLE.

I'm actually a sentimental sap. A romantic. I love wholesome stuff. 

^_^

Mr. Chicken gave me his Steam Deck. I was gonna get one but he ended up getting a competitor console instead. Yay :D

It's nicer than I expected. I was playing Tormented Souls 2 on it after Mung Bean would go to bed. And omg... this part made me sad lol. 

There's this creature on the table, right? I'm looking at it from a separate operator room, looking in... into an incinerator. And I was about to turn the switch to incinerate. And even though that thing would kill me... a part of me felt bad LOL. I didn't want to burn it alive :( It was unconscious and like... there's something in its guts that I needed to unlock something to proceed with the game, but it didn't feel good. When I clicked the switch, it writhed. And it made me really sad lmao.
I was like, damn. Burning alive would suck so bad. 

DERAILING.

MOVING ALONG.

We snuggled and fell asleep. It was nice. I like hotel beds and she seems to sleep better in them too. Win!

The next morning we were off to find our friends.

Mr. Stupendous showing Mung Bean his tool of the trade.

Please don't cut your hair again omg

While pools were going and Mr. Chicken was watching his coworker, I went to go check in on our friend at the museum.

This years theme was villains, obviously. It was amazing.

He did a phenomenal job. The museum gets cooler and bigger every year. I can't fathom the amount of work it takes to bring it all together but it was fly. Love this guy, he's dope. We love picking his brain. JRyu is good people.

The museum also had a fun little thingie where you can relive moment 37 and get parried for all eternity. Mung Bean also made friends with a Chun-Li bean. :3

That first day was brutal. Purchases were made.

Hot sauces make me happy. Saw the booth and name. It was over for me. Got the two pack. We tried them on food throughout our stay and they're delicious. I absolutely love the green sauce. 

Finally got something from this artist. Christian Angel. I would've loved a print, but I'm honestly so slow to get them framed. I even have a print of my placenta made with my own blood on cardstock. Waiting to be framed. It's the most metal thing ever, next to eating my placenta in pill form. But, I'm stupid and forget the measurements and hate measuring and deciding how I want them displayed and what kind of frames to get... it's too much. So I just hang them bare. It's gross and evil. I know.

So I got a gaming mat. Mung Bean can do her activities on it.

OH.

So, we got hand rolls at bar-ito. I forget how much it was for 3, I think it was $33 or $35, something stupid like that. This is what you get. I think you're paying for the packaging - which... is the biggest scam in commercial history. Throw it out. All of it. I know some people love packaging and like, rationalize it being extravagant. I'm not that person, so all of this extra stuff was so unnecessary. But whatever. 

They're good, but they're not worth that. For 3 tiny hand rolls. The scallop one was the best because it was like yuzu and spicy. The toro and salmon were bare bones. Toro was overpowered by the rice and nori. I learned that toro needs its own stage. Toro is the star. No need to embellish it. 

Good, but just be aware.
The ramen was really good though, for what it was.

There was a salty suite that night that Lifa was hosting. I think it was pretty much all Riot / Blizzard peeps, except for me and one other person lol. 

Good times xD

/follow

No one asked me what I did for a living! Phew!

Except Frankie (Stupendous). He asked me what embalming was, and a few other questions, and he got sad kinda. Totally normal. I try to make it as palatable as humanly possible, which is an uphill thing because our brains are hardwired to reject death. It's always hit or miss. T_T I'm sorry Frankie. You're very sweet.

DAY 2

Little bit nutso with room service breakfast :(

Everything was good!


Day 2 was when Mung Bean and I got into our cosplay. So much fun waaaah

I need to redo so much of it. And I forgot my scalpel T_T

It's okay though, we had a lot of fun. And ran into this amazing Faust cosplay. I wanna get an LED in the new helm I'm gonna make for him but I'm stupid. Looks so cool though. 

We got so many compliments again this year lol. Someone also said they remembered us from last year, that was delightful. 

Aaaaand we found a special booth! We didn't see it the previous day and wondered if they were there this year. YAY.

Mung Bean will know her blessings   

We asked our friends to donate, too lol
Small world. Turns out someone working the booth is homies with our friends' sibling.

I love this organisation so much. Their results are actionable, consistent, and constant. It's great seeing the waves they make for children in hospitals. So... we try to help.

I especially loved the charity quest this year. It's all for raffles but I just wanted to contribute. It's not often that so many organisations like this are all together at a convention, so hell yeah.

We saw this booth first and it made me happy.
I threw my money at them and they gave me a bunch of cute little things, and even though I don't play DnD, I bought dice. lol

I think... these charities move me so much because of how healing a game can be for someone. It's powerful; these adventures, conquests, stories that we get to play out. A few generations ago, gaming was seen as trash behavior with zero benefits, but I've experienced meeting players who relied on social games to feel connected again. In its prime, Pokemon Go had the elderly enthusastically walk around care facilities trying to catch Pokemon. Custom joysticks are created by organisations like Able Gamers to provide every player an even playing field.

Rest in dopeness, Brolylegs

I fantasize about getting my mom a gaming PC so she could play World of Warcraft, but she shies away from it. I'm convinced it would fill her days after retirement with excitement. I haven't lost hope, lol.

Anyway, that's my rambling.

Hand crafted, cute, clicky blind box stuff? Yes! I bought like, 3 over the course of the weekend. Just kept coming back lol.

Shuddup, Homdray

That right hand though, gotta throw it up

Day 2 was so much fun. She got alllll of the love and compliments.

My mini Faust
^_^

We slowed down a lot for Day 3.

Bought too much stuff T_T

This Ikea Subzero was precious.
To my surprise, it was the same Faust cosplayer we saw the day before, lol.

And as always, a sweet farewell to JRyu
until the next noodle date

That night, we met up with fam and went on a search for noodles. We tried this hoity toity italian place but they were like, it's a 2 hour wait and the next opening is at like 9pm or something- with an attitude. It was gross. So we left and went to this Chinese place that was actually really beautiful inside. The food was incredible and Mung Bean approved. Not to mention how SWEET and so dear and precious our server was. She was just mesmerized by Mung Bean and kept coming back to hang out with us and talk to her. 

Man, forget that Italian place lol. Blessings, tho!

Much less chaotic this year for us, but a lot of fun nonetheless.
Good times. Loved every minute of it. I love EVO T_T

Ophe was glad we were back. And what better way to reset after a con than to enjoy some noms ^_^

It wasn't long before were were back in the parks, lol.

We decided to grab some lunch in Downtown Disney, and happened to be seated by a family of 4. I got humbled, lol.

TLDR: Out of state parents with a child and screaming toddler trying to not have a meltdown or take out their frusterations on each other :(

It was sobering. I looked at Mr. Chicken and our baby, and .... yeah. Sometimes things go wrong, but we have our peace, and access to places that nurture that. And. I can't take that for granted ever. 

Mr. Chicken took the day off the come with us to Disneyland. It was such a sweet, brief day.

Omg look at that guy on the left of the stormtrooper. Dude. The stormtrooper approached Mung Bean and me, but she got shy and hid behind my leg, so the trooper walked towards Mr. Chicken and said he wanted to check his "Data pad", but said dada pad. We're all laughing and this... [redacted] walks up to the trooper mid conversation, taps him on the shoulder and goes "yo canigeddapichur wichu"

Like.... I had to take breaths. 

The trooper looked back at him quick and turned back to Mr. Chicken to resume their interaction, and the GUY WOULDN'T STOP HARASSING THE TROOPER. HE WOULDN'T LEAVE HIM ALONE. HE KEPT DOING IT. 

"ay lemmegeddapichur"

This disgusting ________________________(redacted)______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. Pero, here we are. Coño.

OH. SO. JUDGING A MOM. HERE WE GO:

We were heading back to our stroller after getting off of the Winnie the Pooh ride, and we see people kind of congregating in the middle of the walkway. I spot a kid, maybe 5 years old, putting a duckling down from just handling it. I'm startled, and get kinda pissed because that's forbidden (park rule and NATURE rule), and I'm wondering wtf the kids' parent is. Or are. As we make our way through the crowd, I see ducklings scattered around everyones' feet, and the mother duck franticly running around trying to gather her babies. 

I'm getting pissed off now because people are crowding her trying to get close to her ducklings. I don't wanna make a scene, but wanna block people so we slowly move forward, careful to avoid the babies.

I glance back to check on the babies and see this girl, maybe 6 or 7, stand over a duckling, and to her mom, says "should I pick it up??" and her mom... she's holding her phone at her daughter, her eyes wide open and her too swollen for her hollow, bronzed face, fire engine red lips turn upward into a crooked, stiffened smile, "go ahead!"

I shouted at them "do NOT touch that baby. do NOT." I repeated myself to make sure they heard me. They stopped. The girl kinda walked away from the duckling and the mom put her phone down. At that point, another child next to the girl who was also trying to grab a duckling for a photo opp found herself trying to shake the mother duck off of her shorts. The mother duck had jumped up and bit her shorts and held on, desperately trying to get her to leave her babies alone. The girl panicked as she tried to shake the mom off of her. That was when I shouted at everyone "YOU'RE STRESSING HER OUT. DO NOT TOUCH HER BABIES"

I was livid. People started to disperse. We lingered a bit to watch for the babies, and this other mom started ranting to me, comiserating in disbelief, as disgusted as we were.

I couldn't believe it. I could, but couldn't. ESPECIALLY as a parent... wtf do you think that mother duck is going through??? Her suffering! Watching these noisy, clumsy giants grabbing her babies, hearing their little terrified cries for help? Like.... !?!?!??!?! the fuck!?!? STUPID. In a world full of ugly shit, these people choose to be horrible. It's so disgusting and embarassing. 

I was hot, hot as we walked away. A cast member was finally heading in their direction. Ugggghhhh.

So yeah. That was me judging the everliving shit out of all of those people.

Moving right along.

I've shifted a little bit in my approach to Disneyland recently. Historically, I'd gravitate to California Adventure, but since Mung Bean has joined the party I've had to learn to like, unlock other things to do in the parks. And it's been a lot of fun! I'm like... enjoying the parks through a completely different lens now.

Never cared much for the characters before. I hate lines, I don't chase and I'm not competetive. So when a character would come out, if people would surround them I'd just nope in the other direction. I STILL do that, but I wait in lines now lol. And lately I've learned about how fun interactions with the characters can be. Mostly from social media. This inspires me to track them down for Mung Bean.

We came, we ate, we walked, we saw, we shamed, we rode, and we left. :)

There's also a new food stall in Downtown Disney.

Lumpiiiaaaa! 

4th of July meant BBQ and peeps and a kiddie pool

He really likes hot dogs.

I don't know if like, he genuinely just loves how they taste (which, I get it. They can be alright) or if their crazy composition and resistance to like, rotting, appeals to him so much that he just fangirls over them. Or both, I don't even know. I say that because he teaches about embalming, and like, the whole point is to slow down decomposition with embalming. But hot dogs have a fabulous amount of salt and other chemical compounds that, under the right conditions, don't let bacteria thrive. So they're basically embalmed lol. Well. Sorta not really. They mummify if abandoned. Essentially. Like what the Ancient Egyptians did. They hot dog'd people. Not literally. Just. Dessicated them. Desaturated them. Think jerky.

Ok, Imma shut up. He likes hot dogs.

It was a fun day. We had a lot of friends show up, several with their kiddos. This honestly for me was a set up for Mung Bean to get to play with bean friends, lol. We put out her trampoline, pool and slide so the kiddies could all play together and for the most part, they all did. It was cute. The adults enjoying themselves was a bonus :P

Everyone wore the Skull Buddies matching shirt from EVO, lolol.

The fireworks were thunderous. SO loud it almost hurt. Not a fan. Someone brought sparklers for the kiddies! And we got to enjoy them, but later on ...

There was a wizard's duel.

More Disney trips.
I'm taking her to see the princesses more often. These visits are entertaining lol

She's been really receptive to them. On this particular visit, Rapunzel was so taken by Mung Bean that she walked her over to Ariel and gave Ariel a heads up to play Hide and Seek together.

And that's exactly what the three of them did in Ariel's little meet and greet room. My heart swelled. They were so dear with her. Waaaaahhhh T_T. After Hide and Seek, she got Ariel hugs. This was precious because they both like to shove forks into their hair.

And we had to stop by to see Winnie the Pooh. She adores him. I don't know if this was the same person as last time, but all of it was so sweet. T_T

God I love this. I just. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH EXCEPT FOR WHEN PEOPLE ARE RUDE/ STUPID BUT OTHERWISE IT'S FANTASTIC

We had to reclaim our joy in Galaxy's Edge, and were successful. Vader pointed at her again and she got shy, lol. But that guy wasn't there poisoning the good vibes for everyone around him, and that was just ... the bare minimum. The bar is low but we celebrate the good when we can, y'know?


And another trip :)

Another visit to Pooh

These droids are so cute. A bunch of them run around like little chickens.

We tried the cheese udon thing that's super popular from the cargo bay place. It was fine. Nothing amazing. Pym's Kitchen has better pasta. And Mr. Chicken impulse bought the Grogu jetpack sipper lmaoooo. It's mounted on the seat of his simulator rig. For hydration.

Ahhh, the princesses.
This visit was kinda brutal.

I've never seen Frozen. I think she's seen it once? Dude, we walked in and Anna excited walks over to us to greet her. Mung Bean said who tf are you m'am?? T___T

Anna was trying to be fun and interact with her. Mung Bean wasn't having it. Anna extends her hand to walk back to the center with her, Mung Bean just walks forward and Anna was like "alright" LOL. T_T

She was cold. Freezing. FROZEN. Poor Anna. She was sweet and played into it really well but we felt so bad. Mr Chicken said sorry as we went to see the other princess.

There we go. Someone familiar, lmao. Even then, Mung Bean was like, oh hey it's you. Sup? Mkay, see you later. Lol, she was smiley with Ariel and being kinda flakey, but warmed up to her.

Same with Cinderella, lol. She was probably like who tf was that, you guys know her? She tried to hold my hand LOL.

We watched Frozen that night. We had to. 
It was nice. I get the appeal. It's fine, not for me but it was quirky.


Daddy took us to brunch on Saturday! That means we can walk to Miniso right after :D

Did mommy get us goodies? Maaayyybe


Annnnd another trip earlier today. We've been feeling out Sundays.

The results are positive. We arrived late and still got good parking. 

I unlocked (learned about) another cardmember photo op spot in California Adventure. Score. Going there forever now. The characters change out throughout the day. This one's better because in Disneyland, it's always either Darth Vader or Kylo Ren. But here it's any of the Mickey & Friends gang, Spiderman, Stitch, and... Idk who else. Super fun. This was a first visit and there was no one in line! We got to have a lot of 1 on 1 fun with Minnie and Pluto. ^_^

Went on several rides today! The lines were short on so manyyyy! And she got measured for rides for the first time. Passing colors. It's crazy. I almost cried. 

We're amoebas on a massive rock surrounding a giant ball of exploding gas in a boundless black vastness beyond comprehension. Cheers to even having existed at all.

We watched Project Hail Mary.
I bawled my eyes out, multiple times.
So good.
I have to read the book.

My whole husband, beer in one hand, stroller in the other lol. 

I swear, I'm noticing more dads pushing strollers around! At least at the parks. Like, in groups too. It makes me smile. It's like this collective dad thing now, like they're proud of it. At least that's the vibe. I don't know. It's great though. Endearing. Mr. Chicken won't let me push the stroller, hahaha.

EXCEPT FOR THIS ONE GUY WE SAW LOOOL.

We were walking up the bridge that goes over Pirates of the Carribean, and in front of us was this mom pushing a massive double stroller. Like, this horizontal chonker. And her husband was a little ways ahead of her on his phone. Mr. Chicken looks at me and we're both totally judging LOL. We passed them and I immediately was like, not that she's not capable or that she's not strong... but leapin' lizzards, lmaooo. I don't know. It was just. She was huffin and puffin pushing that chonker uphill. He could've like, Idk. Maybe he asked her earlier and she said she got it. We'll never know. This only inflamed Mr. Chicken's ego as primary stroller pusher, lol. As it should. I'm grateful Mr. Chicken wanted to be a dad and a husband instead of wanting a kid and a wife. Said it before and I'll say it again - there's a difference.

Our visit today ended on the most wonderful, magical note.

As we were leaving, we spotted Daisy by the meet and greet spot next to the gates. We quickly made our way to her. No line!

She was so animated and sassy! She would shake her skirt at Mung Bean, and Mung Bean was so fascinated by her colors and feathers. It was so sweet. The handler for Daisy noticed Mung Beans purse - Oswald! Daisy acknowledged it as she held it and looked at it. They shared a few more moments together before we said thank you and the cast member told us that Oswald would be out in 5 - 10 minutes if we wanted to stick around. 

Stick around we did! We found a spot to sit and waited a few minutes until I spotted Oswald coming out from around the corner. He's scanning the crowd and spots me, and waves! He sees Mung Bean! 
By this point, I had her wearing Oswald ears. Dude, Oswald runs over to us and greets her and TAKES HER HAND... AND. AND STARTS WALKING

I'M TRYING TO KEEP IT TOGETHER. HE .. 

HE SIGNALS ME TO FOLLOW HIM

I'm screaming internally, obviously. He walks with her to the center of the square, shooing people away that get too close omfg. My brain is like, HEAVENS TO BETSY. 

When they get there, Oswald /targets her and makes her his whole world in those moments.

The cast member / handler was just as sweet and protective of their space. He'd kindly direct people to stand back and tell me "It's okay, mama" when I thought they were taking too much time together. He was so kind and reassuring. They were so focused on Mung Bean and Oswald having their moment. 

Thank goodness that [redacted] didn't just materialize right there and tap Oswald on the shoulder for a picture.
"yo canIgeddapichur wichu"
Can you imagine? I'd faint from rage.

Ahhhhhhhhh...
And then the handler/cast member asked me if I also wanted a hug from Oswald and a picture T_T
HE WAS SO EMPATHETIC. It was almost like he knew I love Oswald too, even though I wasn't wearing any Oswald merch this time. Hmmmm. I wanna tell myself that maybe they recognize me but that's a long shot and I can't let my ego get bigger than my post-pregnancy hair loss. It's a balance.
But of course I said yes, and he took a bunch of photos. 
I wish Mr. Chicken had been with us, but he's so sweet... he parked a little ways out with the stroller to not get in anyone's way. This is his nature. My gentle, sweet husband. Also he hates crowds and being cornered, so. I get it.

When we said goodbye, we were glowing with the biggest smiles on our way to the exits. And then a cast member ran up behind us and stopped us.

I'm thinking like... did we steal something by mistake?! LOL. He said that Oswald wanted to give a special gift to Mung Bean. An Oswald lanyard! He said it was very special because it's hard to come by Oswald merch anymore but Oswald said it was just for her from him. 

So, I'm ugly crying internally, obviously.

We thanked him profusely. Our hearts bursting and smiles beaming. He encouraged her to start her pin collection! I wanted to tell him we already have a bunch of Oswald pins we've collected over the years, but it was overkill and didn't want him to think we were weird. So we left the park with full hearts and happy loopy over what happened.

And the last thing was to try that lumpia place that opened up.

"Big Boi Lumpia Co."

They were good. You get a pack of 12. Tiny ones. Not very Big Boi. 

"Lumpia for ants" - Mr. Chicken

Good snack though! I'd get them again.

Anywho, it's 2am. Mr. Chicken and Mung Bean and cuddled up waiting for me.
I hope everyone's having an okay month. That's all we can hope for. The bar is low :)

Nighty night, sleep tight. Drink water