Home Life

Just some random cute moments....

Parker looks cute in his towel.  He's even cuter when you can see how small he looks standing there!

What a happy thing for a parent to find in the morning--everyone reading quietly!  Rest assured, this doesn't happen every day!

Spencer has a fascination with attics, probably because of books about magical things happening in an attic.  So when Andy announced he was putting some baby stuff up there to store it, Spencer got excited.  I don't know if it met his expectations, but he can check it off his bucket list.

They snuggled up like this to watch a movie one night.  I think they'll always be best buds.

 Supposedly two heads are better than one, but I don't know about these two....

 Yep, probably up to no good!

 He's not quite as accomplished as Spencer yet, but he sure does practice a lot!

 Can't get enough sleeping baby pictures.

After we finished the boys' rooms downstairs, we converted their old room into a playroom.  Parker loves to sit at this table and play with cars.  Put a little music on or throw a brother in there with him, and he's a happy guy.

Disneyland Part 2

The next day, we explored the other side of the park, which is called "California Adventure."  This was my favorite.  It seemed more geared toward the younger children, although that's just the opposite of what people told me before we went. 

Each morning, the boys would hurry down the hall ahead of us.  When we got to the elevator, this is what we found....

That was before we saw the green army men from Toy Story!  Spencer volunteered to be one of their recruits. 

You can't tell, but most of this "street" is just a big mural.  Even when you're standing right there, it's hard to tell where reality ends and the illusion begins!

"Cars Land" was probably the most sought after part of Disneyland for us.  It's like walking into their favorite movie!  We took a tractor ride at Mater's Junkyard. 

Then we saw Lightning McQueen at the Cozy Cone Motel!  These characters are very real.  They talk and move with real facial expressions.  Pretty impressive!

White wall tires--only the best!

Who's that snazzy babe?  There was a HUGE line for this Cars ride, but Andy got us fast passes so we zipped to the front of the line.  Whew!

We got in these cars that look just like the ones in the movie.  There's another one right beside us so we can "race."  It was quite a ride!


So that's pretty much our trip in a very small nutshell.  I think we all had a great time, but it was nice to come home and get some sleep!

Disneyland Part 1

 We went to Disneyland!  It was a first for all of us.  We kept it a secret until we were all in the car, going to the airport.  It took a long time before the kids realized we weren't joking!

The first day we relaxed, enjoying the sunshine and the pool.

Never hurts to brush up on the swimming skills.  Carson is still brave enough to jump in.

Spencer practiced his breast stroke.

That night we went to a pizza place where Carson ate us all under the table!

Next morning--Disney!!  The flowers were amazing...if I tried to plant a Mickey Mouse flower bed, he would probably look warped. Since none of us knew much about the rides, we started with Splash Mountain--big mistake!  Carson and I are not thrill seekers, so when we plunged down a couple of "waterfalls," we were not happy about it.  In fact, I know I was screaming and Carson cried and yelled, "I HATE IT!!  I HATE IT!!"  He didn't trust anyone for a while after that.  Andy and Spencer went off to do more thrill seeking types of things while Carson and I looked for the tame rides.

He wasn't bothered at all by this big whale from "Pinocchio."

A carousel is a sure bet.  We both enjoyed that.  I was surprised at how many babies (even infants) were there.  We left Parker with my parents and I was glad we did.  There wasn't much there he would have enjoyed or been big enough to do.  Maybe when he's old enough to get through the car wash without crying he can go to Disneyland too!

If you know anything about Star Wars, you know that it's every boy's dream to be a Jedi knight.  There was an interactive show where kids can receive "Jedi training."  Spencer was a "chosen one."  They all wore Obi-Wan-Kenobi robes and were taught how to fight with a light saber.

Then the stage rose into the air and Darth Vader and the storm troopers appeared!

Here is Spencer fighting a bad guy named Darth Maul.

All the little Jedis reported to their superior officer.  The opportunity of a lifetime!  I noticed another little boy in pajamas with a tracheotomy on his throat.  He had obviously been through some rough times.  Someone made sure he got to participate.  The look on his face was priceless.  He was beaming!  It made me all weepy just to watch him, sweet little guy.
 

Spencer and Andy went on the adventurous rides.  This was Space Mountain!

Carson and I did the rocket ride together.  I have to say I felt pretty brave doing all these rides where you fly around in the air.  Heights are not typically my strong point.

This is how we all felt at the end of the day!  Time for dinner and bed!

So we went to dinner and when we came back, we saw that the maids had been in to tidy our room.  They laid out Carson's blanket, folded his jammies, and posed his favorite stuffed dog, Pongo.  How cute is that?!  Carson left them a note the next morning saying, "Thank you for cleaning our room.  From, Carson"  Everyone we encountered was very nice.  I guess you have to be pleasant when you work so close to Disneyland!

Baby Animal Days

We went to the second annual Baby Animal Days and saw lots of cute babies!

I don't know if this boa was a baby or not, but the kids thought he was pretty cool.  I can't imagine sitting there all day holding a snake.  Blecchh!

This is enough to freak out a mother!  Parker didn't mind too much.  He just looked at it for a minute and then started pushing it away.  He sure wasn't scared, though. 

Baby turtles!

Parker's first pony ride!  He smiled the whole time.

Spencer's horse was named Sam.

What is it with Carson and his always-crooked helmet?  May (the horse) was good to him though.

Cute little chicks!  Too bad they're only cute for a few days.

Parker loved them!

Carson's chick was so weary from being handled all morning that it fell asleep in his hands!  I don't think Carson would have minded holding him through his whole nap.  I love this picture!

Aww--Parker's favorite--ducklings!!  The look on his face says it all.  He didn't necessarily want to hold the duckies, but he sure enjoyed being close to them.

Love the floppy-eared bunnies!

The little ones got a ride on the baby train.  This was another first for Parker. 

Carson's Birthday

 Carson is six years old!  At the end of his birthday I asked him, "Well, how do you like being six?"  He shrugged and said, "It's just the same as being five."  I hope it's not too much of a letdown!

Lego motorcycles from Spencer

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit.  This was Grandma's first prolonged encounter with Dakota.  She got a little slobbery.

Reading about sea animals together

Parker likes hanging out with Grandpa.

Carson asked for lemon cake this year (not chocolate!) and asked to have this number six candle instead of six individual candles. 

He got his own bat wings! 

Grandparents are the most rapt listeners you can find.  Even better than the dog!