The Sword and the Stone

All Keegan could talk about for weeks was that he couldn't wait to pull the sword out of the stone at the Magic Kingdom. (He remembered the one from Disneyland, and he watches a movie where King Arthur pulls the sword out of the stone. Swords are a current fascination for him.) We got to the Magic Kingdom and had to explain to him that ONLY King Arthur can actually pull the sword out. Well-- what do you know, it's the year of a million dreams! Keegan starts pulling... and pulling... and up comes the sword! Don't think he'll ever forget it! Confetti, a "Hear-ye, Hear-ye" speech by a Disney employee, how Sir Keegan is the Ruler of the Realm, etc... it was GREAT!

Too Much Fun at the Magic Kingdom!

Ahhh, looking down Main Street, USA. We all know that sight, don't we? The first thrill of excitement you get in your stomach, thinking about the fun day to come! I guess what you don't expect is that when you are at Disneyworld, the entire East Coast is on some late spring vacation, and there are no lines shorter than 75 minutes, in the 85-degree heat, with 90% humidity!! We did manage to have a bit of fun, though. We played on Tom Sawyer's Island, got to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear, and of course, Peter Pan. And the play areas, we spent LOTS of time in the play areas, eating quickly-melting hot ice cream!

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Our first day at Disney World was spent cruising around the Animal Kingdom, April 20th, 2008. We spent a lot of time in "Dinosaurland, USA." We were climbing, sliding, and even digging up dinosaur bones! While the boys were napping, Chris and I got to take turns going on Expedition Everest! What an awesome ride! (That's the beautiful snow-capped mountain in the photo.) We also saw a 30-minute Nemo Live show/musical, which the four of us really enjoyed. Unfortunately, Keegan was about a 1/2-inch too short for all 40-inch minimum rides. "Maybe next time," he says, with a chipper attitude!

Fun on the Beach (Daytona)

We got to spend a bit of QT with the East Coast Parentals! The weather was perfect the whole time we were in Florida. Nice and sunny, with a bit of a breeze. Gotta love that "twilight" hour; we just don't have anything like it on this coast.

Daytona USA

We took our family vacation from 04/16/08 to 04/23/08. We had fun taking the boys to the race track in Daytona. The guys hung out at Victory Lane, as a part of our tour. And Chris decided to do a little something extra-- like going around a race track at 175 mph in a real Daytona track car!! What a thrill that was for him; he highly recommends it!

Comparing: Butts & Guts

This is what WE did in our 98-DEGREE WEATHER today!! ARGH. We went from giving the chilly house a little bump of heat first thing in the morning, to running the a/c for the first time this season! Hotsy-totsy as the boys would say. If this is spring..... I'm not sure I'm looking forward to this summer!!! We leave on our Florida trip on Wednesday. So, be sure to tune in about two weeks from now for some fun vacation photos! (We'll only be gone for a week, but I'm thinking that it may take a while for me to get things downloaded and uploaded!)

Tut Talk!

I was asking Tustin this weekend what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday party. "Tustin, do you want Lightening McQueen? or Mater?" He said "Mater..... Light-n Mc Mean... uh..." So I told him he had to choose one, and he couldn't make up his mind. I said "Tustin, pick one...." He very quickly said "NO PICK!" I told him "Yes, you have to pick." He looked at me like I was asking him to do this horrible thing..... and then I figured it out..... He gave me the look like "really?" and he very slowly, while looking at me the whole time, slowly moved his fingers up to his nose to PICK IT!! I started laughing, and I reiterated HIS phrase.... "no, no pick! You are right Tustin, No Pick, I'm sorry honey!"

Fun at the "WAP!"

We went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park last Saturday. Keegan got to do a little climbing. Tustin buddied up with a Rhino friend. And I just had to put this picture in here of Keegan pushing his brother out of the photograph. Keegan takes after his mom-- loves pictures, loves being in them, loves taking them, etc... When we asked Tustin to sit on the log next to Keegan, watch out! Keegan's first reaction was to push him out of the photo! Then we got a couple of decent ones from there. And, of course, a cute shot of our furry friends, the Meer Cats.

Keeganism...

We have had a couple of cats pass away in the last 3 years. Keegan knows that they are in heaven, and that the nice angels came and took them up to heaven. Every once in a while, he asks when Deli-cat is coming back. Of course, we tell him that once you go to heaven, you are happy up there, and you live up there forever. He started asking when Chammy was going to go to heaven, and when he was going to go to heaven. Toward the end of the conversation, he looks at me, very matter-of-fact like, and says "Mommy, could you please just call the angels and tell them that I never want to go to heaven?"

As Tustin would say....

"I cute!"

Fun at the Fields

There was so much to do for the little ones. They had a great play area with miniature houses to play in; ladders, slides, and even a small snow slope to slide down on a mat. (Pretty mushy by the time we got there.) They had this great maze made out of sweet pea plants all in bloom. Smelled so good as we were trying to find our way out! We got to go on a spring-time version of a hay ride-- the big wagon was pulled by a big tractor. It took us all around the beautiful flower fields. If we stayed a couple hours more, there was so much going on for the kids that we just didn't have time for!

Ranunculus as far as the eyes could see...

Keegan, Tustin, Mommy, Daddy, and Papa all took a trip to the Carlsbad Flower Fields today. It was a beautiful day! We had so much fun! Perfect, sunshiny weather, with a nice ocean breeze every now and then. And the flowers were just breathtaking!

Advice? Anyone??

Who would have thought that the decisions you make for your kid's preschool would be so difficult! (Okay, for those of you who have been-there/done-that, you know!) Well, I take it all back, this day in age, who you find to take care of your precious children IS difficult and stressful!

Keegan is in a preschool now, two days a week. (We just cut down from two full days to two half days, which has been helping with his anxiety issues incredibly! No more tears when I drop him off.) Well, he's been on a waiting list at another preschool since August! They just called me yesterday to let me know they are enrolling kids off their waiting list for their summer program!

This other preschool is GREAT! Feel free to check out their site if you so desire: www.canyonrimcc.com. I feel that it will be a much more "educational-based" preschool than where he is now. Where he is now is nice, but seems to be more of a "day care" than an actual preschool. He's not really learning anything, except socialization skills and listening and following directions (don't get me wrong, all that is VERY important), but he needs to be challenged with brain-work too. BUT-- this other one is much more expensive, a bit farther away, and do I pull him out of a place he is just getting used to, and make him start all over with his anxiety issues?!! If he doesn't start there until June, should I take him out of school right now all together, so he doesn't actually get attached to friends and teachers? Or do I keep him where he is now, to stay in the groove of having (wait, "getting") to go to school?

Signed,
In Turmoil, please help!

The Bunny Also Came to Nana & Papa's House!

We had a nice lunch at Nana & Papa's today, and the boys had another Easter egg hunt in the back yard. And we finally got a cute family picture-- gotta wait until everyone is in the right mood to attempt that!! And, you have to accept the ones with closed eyes as well!

An 85-degree San Diego Easter Sunday!

We took advantage of the beautiful day and played out back for a while. (See, Keegan doesn't ALWAYS smile for the camera; he sulks when he's on time-out!)

The Easter Bunny Came to Our House!

The boys SLEPT IN today (7:00 a.m.), and woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had been here over night. He hid lots of eggs around the living room, and a big basket of fun stuff for each of the boys.

Jumper Fun

There was a jumper at one of the Easter festivities we went to this weekend. Tustin didn't understand the whole waiting-in-line thing..... so he stood up at the front of the line for 5 minutes

crying "want IN there, WANT IN THERE!" When they finally got in, he was ALL smiles!