What have we been doing that's kept me from blogging much?

I'm glad you asked. Since the girls turned 3 we have been busier than ever. Though I have done many things with them in the past, they have now experienced firsts in a class type setting where Mommy was not in charge. Some of these I have blogged about, but others have slipped through the cracks, so here's my pictoral blog to document these events.

They had their first:

gymnastics class,

ice skating lessons,

swimming lessons,

soccer class,

art class,

and they got their first pair of Keens.

They are doing well in all of them, and if time permits I will blog more on each individually (just for my own personal historic value.)

Conversations with Sam

Last night I got the girls their very first Keens and gave them to them this morning. They were both so excited. I had mine on at the time and halfway expected them to see the similarity, and they did, but not to mine, or even to Liz and Andrea who they see wearing them frequently. Nope, after putting them on Sam quickly pointed out that they were just like Valeries. Specifically Sam said, "I luf these. They're just like Balrees."

Conversation #2 overheard from her swimming lesson.
Teacher: Sam, can you put your face in the water
Sam: No
Teacher: why not?
Sam: Cuz it's yucky.

Nuf said.

Pans are hot

Note to self:

Do not put a pan of cookies in the oven to bake, and then jump in the shower. The resulting burn on your abdomen from taking the hot pan of cookies out of the oven when you get out of the shower is not worth the time savings.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day (a day late) to all my friends and family that are fathers. I hope your celebrations were great.

Since Bill doesn't blog, here was his day. He was allowed to sleep in till 10 by his loving wife (that would be me) who had Eggs Benedict waiting for him when he got up. The hollandaise sauce was great if I do say so myself.

After breakfast we packed up the kids and headed to Santa Cruz for a nice day on the beach. It was quite windy when we got there, so made for a chilly day. It seemed to warm up a bit, and the girls had a great day playing in the sand. They did not want to leave, but we were eventually able to lure them off the beach. After beach time we had a very nice dinner at the Crow's Nest. Our table had a lovely view of the harbor so we could see the lighthouse, and watch the boats coming and going. We also shared a delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert. The girls thought it was great, all of us digging into the same dish.

To top off the day, the girls and I stopped in a local shop while Bill got the car. They saw a pirate sign there, declared it was just like the silly pirates (that's what they call Pirates of the Carribean) at Disneyland, and wanted to get it for Bill. How could I say, "No"?

Finally we headed home, the girls went to sleep, and Bill and I watched Logan's Run.

I think it was a nice day for him (and us). The only thing that could have made it better is if Stacey could have been there, but she had to work.

My kids are officially "Those kids".

I'm very frustrated right now. Tonight we had an opportunity to have dinner with a bunch of friends and possibly go skating afterwards. Granted the wait for dinner was long for two 3 year olds, but their behaviour really pushed me over the limit. Between biting me on the butt (literally), hitting two friends, pushing Val over, jumping up and down, and screaming there weren't many people they hadn't offended. Yes, I know they're three. Yes, I know they have a limited attention span. No, I don't think I'm expecting too much of them, but maybe I am. What's the solution? Do I stay home and only take them to the park where screaming, jumping, and acting like little monkeys is ok? Do I continue to take them out and disrupt entire restaurants full of people? I don't know the solution, but I may have an idea.

I'm thinking we need to make a lot of dinner dates and be prepared to walk out and go home the minute they misbehave. Why dates? Because they don't seem to act like this when it's just me and Bill. So, if you would like to meet us somewhere and not have dinner with us, let me know. Who knows? Maybe they'll start behaving and we'll actually get to have dinner with you instead of leaving.

Bill's Birthday Song

A short little diddy with a 90 degree twist just like Bill. ;)

A little paddling fun from Disneyland

Sam did a nice job paddling and generally in sync with her side of the boat.

Riley dictated the paddling pace on her side of the boat. Since she was 2/3's of the way back, it made it a little difficult for her side of the boat.

So very zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Stupidly I stayed up till 4:00 A.M., yep 4 A.M. folks, sorting through pictures from Bill's birthday and Disneyland. I just got involved and didn't realize how late it had become. In any case, you can see Bill's birthday pics, but the Disneyland ones may be a while in coming. I have managed to sort the 350 down to 200, but that is way too many to load to Flickr, even for me.

Disneyland and other news...

Last week was Bill's birthday. We had a very nice party attended by many friends and family. The BBQ was great, but the company even better. After the party we hung out with his sister, had a bottle of champagne and went to bed. The next day we got up and headed for the house of the mouse for a few days.

New things about Disneyland.
1. It will not be our last trip with the stroller though I thought it would be. We used it more than ever before on this trip. Don't know why, but the girls were much more in need of being carried, so it's a good thing we had the stroller to put them in.
2. Pirates of the Carribean is constantly changing. Of note this trip is that the crab is missing from the first scene after the waterfalls. The girls were the first to notice this as it is one of the first things they look for. That, and the seagull on the pirates hat. Also, they've added a boat to the scene where Cap'n Jack Sparrow is hiding out in the dress shop. The pirates over the archways have changed too. One is now holding a powder keg and the other two are posed differently though still drinking. The disturbing part is that all the pirates were a bit more dressed up. They were a little too fancy, and not as piratey as they use to be.
3. WE GOT TO RIDE THE NEW NEMO SUBMARINES BEFORE THE GENERAL PUBLIC! Woo hoo! That's right, we got to preview them before their official opening date. We got to do this because as Annual Passholders we entered into a drawing to be one of the first to see it, and we won. It was pretty cool. The submarines are roomier, don't have that diesel smell anymore, and have been spruced up a bit. The ride, while still a submarine ride had a few Disney special effects that were surprising. Bill tells me there is a YouTube video out there with the whole ride posted, but I don't want to link to it as I think that spoils it for when you get to ride it. BTW, it officially opens today.
4. ToonTown has way better pizza than the Pizza Port in Tomorrowland.
5. There is NEVER a time when Peter Pan does not have a line. This is not true for the rest of the rides. Everything else we could time so we didn't have massive line waits.
6. The girls are now tall enough (barely, and only because they had shoes on) to ride the bumper cars over in the bugs life area of California Adventure.
7. Kids meals come with a whole tray of fresh fruit in the picnic area just past the bugs life area whereas in the rest of the park you get a fruit cup with the kids meals for the same price.

I'm sure there's more, but that's it for now.