"Happy Daddy" 7/31/10

Since we were in CA for Marc's birthday this year, we had a belated celebration with my family. My Mom and Grandma came up for some lunch, gifts, family time, and best of all, cake and ice cream!!

We made a yummy lemonade cake. Here is a link to the recipe we used: Lemonade Party Cake Marc helped me make it the day before. After lunch Marc helped me frost the cake, put the decorations on, and put the candles in.For the very first time, ever!, my little man helped light the cake. Whenever we let him do some "big boyish" it make me feel both proud and sad. Proud that he is growing up to be such a smart, caring little man and sad that he isn't my little boy any more.
I don't think there have been any candles lit in the last 6 years that anyone has gotten to blow out themselves. ;-)
For every occasion Marc makes a collage project and card. In this picture Marc is explaining to Daddy all the things he drew on his card. The cutest one was a picture of Daddy sitting at his computer. :-)
As Marc opened his gifts, the kids played with the bows and ribbons. These are pictures of Daddy's 2 cutest birthday presents.
I hope Marc had a good birthday! I know everyone else had fun.

Carnival Time! 7/27/10

Every summer our local library has a summer reading program. Every year we participate by reading, going to preschool story time hours, reading, going to elementary school story hours, reading, reading, and more reading.
At the end of the program, the local store and 7Up sponsors a free carnival for the participants. There are a few carnival games, like ring a can of soda.There was popcorn, chips, cookies, juice, and ice cream sandwiches to snack on. They were giving out reading tattoo. Both the kiddos wanted one, so here they are sporting their new "ink". ;-)
The local fire department brings out one of their pumper trucks and hoses the kids down! Marc looks forward to this every year. We were told ahead of time that there were going to be water activities so Marc had his suit on for when the fire truck soaked the kids.
Marc's favorite water activity was this inflatable water slide. He waited in line to gone down it about 5 times. The last time he did it he decided to mix it up a little and go down head first.
It was a very fun and free 2 hours! :-)

Clean Teeth! 7/21/10

One day Samantha told me she wanted to brush her teeth like Marc does. That afternoon I happened to be going grocery shopping anyway, so I bought Samantha her very own toothbrush and toothpaste. She got a pink & purple Elmo & Abby toothbrush and My Little Pony toothpaste. :-)
Of course, the first time we brushed her teeth it was a family affair. ;-) Everyone crowded into the bathroom to help/watch.After we got done brushing I told her to spit the toothpaste out into the sink. Well, as I was lifting her up to the sink, she swallowed it. Still, ever weeks later, she swallows it (don't worry, it's training toothpaste without fluoride) and sticks her tongue out over the sink to "spit" it out.
She feels like a big girl being able to brush her teeth like her big brother does.

Grandchildren Therapy 7/21/10

After being gone on vacation for 2 weeks, my Mom said she needed a little grandchildren therapy.....she missed my munchkins. :-) So we planned a day to meet at the Meijer Botanical Gardens.
The first thing we always do in the Children's Garden is the tree house. The kids tested their (and ours) animal knowledge in the lift the panel trivia questions in the tree. Grandma and I did pretty well. ;-)Part of the tree house is a cute little table and chairs with a tea set and dishes. It was hot out that day so Samantha made sure we were all well hydrated. ;-)
I wanted to get a picture of my little "peeps" in the bird's nest, but my littlest "peep" wasn't in the mood to get her picture taken right then.
This bridge is a suspension bridge that wiggles as you walk across it. We went round and round in circles always coming back to cross the bridge again and again and again, you get the picture. The first time she stepped onto the bridge she was a little nervous....she quickly got over that!
Gee, guess what...Marc likes that bridge too! ;-)
After we finish with the tree house we head over to a log cabin that usually has some old fashion, hand-made toys to play with. We went and played there for a few, until we got overrun with a daycare group.
After the log cabin we head over to the sand pit. Since it was so sunny and hot out we quickly found a shady patch of sand and began to play. When we took Samantha's shoes off and put her in the sand she did NOT like it! We weren't sure if she didn't like the ground moving under her feet or the feel of the sand between her toes.
After some time to get used to it, Samantha "dug" right in! She scooped up sand and poured it over Grandma's feet and into her hands and buckets. After a while we went to the other end of the sand pit where there are dinosaur bones buried and the kids dug some up.
When we left the sand pit we walked along the walking path. We found a little hut that had puppets for a puppet show. Marc didn't stand still long enough for me to get any pictures of him. I was, however, able to snap a picture of Samantha helping a butter fly give Grandma a kiss.
The last stop we always make is the water area. There are small replicas of the great lakes for the kids to drive boats around, and just plain get wet! There are also a few misters scattered around. Marc likes to stick his head directly in the path of the water. So, of course, our little miss copy cat had to do the same thing. ;-)
In the water area there is also a small fountain-looking thing of kids playing. It used to be just for decoration, but kids quickly found out that it is fun to splash around in the water. It now smells very heavily of chlorine. ;-)
I ended up with 2 very wet children! I learned early on to bring their crocs for them to wear in the water areas and a change of clothes for them to change into on the way out.
It was a very hot, but very fun day!

Day 7 in CA - 7/16/10

Our very last day of vacation. :-( I woke up with a cold this morning too. :-( It was another hot and muggy day. :-( But, since it was our last day of vacation we were determined to have a great day!! :-) :-) :-)
We haven't been able to get to see Tigger and Pooh during their scheduled times out on previous days. We made a point to make it over to Tigger and Pooh Bear. The line was you saw Pooh and then went down the row and saw Tigger and then headed to the exit. Tigger and Pooh had just come back after eating hunny and bouncing (actually it was a person switch). Tigger did not have anyone with him so he squatted down and said hi to Samantha.We figured that Samantha was going to be a little shy when it came to the big 5 foot characters. We took her up and held her at the characters. As you could see in the previous posts she was not any too comfortable about them. When we were waiting in line for Tigger and Pooh, Samantha was standing in line. When Pooh saw that it was out turn he squatted down and Samantha went running.....straight into his arms. It was the cutest thing ever!!!
Samantha was SO excited to see Pooh. I guess all the times of watching "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" paid off.
After some loving and playing time we got a kids shot with Pooh.
Then we went down to Tigger. Samantha was so excited to show Tigger how she bounces. When she got up there, she got all shy with him.
As we were with Tigger, Brer Bear and Brer Fox came over and tried to steal some of Pooh's hunny.
Bumpa bought the kids some fun light-up, spinning toys for the kids. They had fun playing with them on our walk back to the hotel tonight. Thank you Bumpa!
It was a great 2 week vacation. Lots of fun with fun people at fun places. But, man am I glad to be home!

Day 6 in CA - 7/15/10

On our way into Disneyland this morning we noticed that Mickey was out in his classic outfit. So, of course, we had to make a side trip over to see him.In Toon Town the when a character is about to come out of City Hall a bunch of music starts playing. We happened to be sitting at a table right by City Hall when Goofy came out.
We were able to go inside of Mickey's house and play around. Marc even got to sit in Mickey's chair and act like the big cheese!
It was unbelievably hot today. Anaheim is normally about 84* and not humid. Anaheim decided to set a weather record. It was 93* and hot and humid! After some time in the hot & humid park we went to a little cafe across the street for lunch. We ate there last time we were at Disneyland so we decided that would be a good choice for lunch. WRONG!! Daddy Marc got, what we think was bad chicken in his pasta dish. Unfortunately he got food poisoning so we were stuck in the hotel for the rest of the night. :-(

Day 5 in CA - 7/14/10

Well, we have made it to day 3 of Disneyland! Daddy Marc wanted to be there at rope drop to see what kind of show they put on. We didn't make it there for the show, but we made it there for the rope drop. So we made a mad dash to The Toy Story Midway Mania ride. This ride is still somewhat newer and it does not have a Fastpass. The wait is usually about 45 minutes unless you are there right at open. This ride is a fun interactive ride where compete against the other person in your car by playing 3D midway games starring the Toy Story characters.I would like to introduce 2 of the newest Toy Story toys....
Since it was Daddy Marc's birthday we splurged and went to a character lunch called Goofy's Kitchen. If you have never been to a character meal before, the characters make the rounds and come to your table for interacting, photos, and autographs. Baloo greeted us when we went back to be seated.
The character meal we went to is one that serves breakfast and lunch food on the buffet all day. The pancakes are even shaped like Mickey!
The only place we got to see any Princesses was at our meal. They have become so popular that they have their our area with it's own wait time. At Samantha's age I couldn't justify standing in line for 45 minutes to see them. I think Samantha was kinda infatuated with Princess Aurora. Even when I am typing this Samantha is climbing on my lap saying "princess, princes, princess".
Chip came over to say Hi and play.

Chef Goofy took time out from cooking all the food to come and say Hi to us.
Peanut insisted on telling our waiter that it was Daddy's birthday. Our waiter brought over a cupcake with a candle for our birthday boy.
Dale came over too. It was weird to have the chipmunks separated.
For the first time ever in our Disney history, we got to see Mulan up close. She was beautiful!
Periodically all the kids would be called out to an area by the buffet to have a dance party with Goofy.
Pluto was there to tell us good-bye.
We even got to see Stitch.
Both kids were excited to see Handy Manny out.
Samantha even gave Handy Manny knuckles!
It was a fun birthday day for my hubby!