MMMMmmmm......

I love that this

turns into this.

In fact, I love it so much, that the very next day, this

turned into this

with the help of this

and this.

Sad to think that tomorrow it will turn into this

and this?

Until then, we will enjoy!

Recipe found here

This is what happens when you eat pretzels while at the pool

And, yes, Zach did this all by himself.

Ry's very first last day of school

Miss Amee, Miss Becky, and Ryan


Last Tuesday was Ryan's last day of preschool for the year. To commemorate, I will share what he has learned this year.

Learned: How to share one girl with 8 other guys.
Did Not Learn: Girls have cooties.

Learned: Field trips are fun, especially when they involve candy and cookie factories.
Also learned: Candy tastes better than most other foods.

Learned: Miss Becky likes to hear what goes on in your life.
Did Not Learn: You shouldn't tell Miss Becky everything that goes on at home.

Learned: Poop is a funny word.
Did not learn it from me.

Learned: How to paint with brushes, fingers, toes, and sponges.
Does not understand: just how much mommy treasures the pictures he brings home.

Learned: All of the letters and the sounds they make.
Also Learned: Body parts and the sounds they make.

Learned: it's fun to be the "special leader" and bring the snack.
Also learned: some children are allergic to peanuts.

Learned: School is fun.

Did not learn: Most kids are excited to have summers off. It was very tough for Ryan to learn he will not be going to preschool during the summer.

It was very fun to watch Ryan go to preschool and learn a lot and grow up a bit. In September, I sent my baby to preschool. Now we have a little boy on our hands. So fun!

Days 3&4: Legoland

So it's taken almost 2 months to document our 5-day vacation. Wow. So here's the rest of it: sandwiched between our days at Sea World were 2 days of Legoland. Neither Dave nor I had ever been there, so we didn't know what to expect. We'd heard it's good for little kids and we found that to be a very accurate description. And since we have little ones, it was perfect for us. But don't go if you don't take a kid under 5 years old. Most of our fun was watching our kids have fun.



March was an excellent time to go - the place was nearly empty. On some of the rides with no line, the workers let us stay on and ride them again and again and again and again and again. Fantastic. I think we only had to wait in line at all for 3 rides. And those rides had the best invention ever - a Lego play area for the kids while the parents wait in line. Brilliant. Every amusement park should have these.





Legoland is full of fun play areas for the kids and, yes, all of the props are made from Legos. Somebody has way too much time on their hands, especially the person who built the New York scene. I think it had over 6 million Lego pieces.



One of the play areas was a little water playground and of course I forgot to bring the towels, so now we have a Legoland souvenir towel. The water was really cold, and well, it was March, so the kids got cold pretty fast!




Ryan was very brave and rode on his first rollercoaster here (the Coastersaurus) and liked it the 1st time. After the 2nd time, he said it was too scary because it went too fast. So the next day, we told him it went slower that day. And yes, he did believe us and learned to like the rollercoaster. Speaking of fibbing, Ryan also learned to tell a lie while here at Legoland. He had a major meltdown when he learned he was too short for the dragon rollercoaster. So we went to ride the horses next, not realizing there was and age requirement as well as a height requirement. He was tall enough by several inches, but not 4 years old yet. And those smart workers ask the child (not the parent) how old he is, . Luckily, I had enough time while waiting in line to coach him. "Ry, how old are you?" "3." "No, you're 4 now. How old are you?" "I'm 4!" Good job, Ry. So am I a bad mom for teaching him to lie or for forgetting his 4th birthday? Ry, sorry I forgot to celebrate your 4th birthday.

Zach experienced his first waterpark adventure here and also fell in love with Lucky Charms and couldn't get enought of those little marshmallows. Interesting combination, as those little

marshmallows sure make a sticky mess when they get wet.

Definitely the #1 deciding factor when making my next vehicle purchase:

Front-row parking at Legoland! Don't worry - Volvo actually has some fans in the world. They have some kind of weird partnership with Legoland and there are a few front-row preferred parking spots reserved for people who drive Volvos. Or you could just have some dignity and drive a non-Volvo and park in the next aisle over. And in case you're wondering, not one of the Volvo-designated spots was ever occupied. Sorry Volvo, maybe try again at Disneyland. But I guess Ryan enjoyed driving his Volvo, maybe because he could drive all by himself.

So there you have it - our entire vacation given in full detail, complete with this creepy Lego-pirate guy with 2 prongs for fingers. Enjoy the slide show - it took forever to upload!

Happy Birthday Zach!

My Dear Zachary,

Happy birthday (yesterday)! Pardon the cliches, but I can't believe you're 1 already. It seems like just yesterday Ryan was talking to the "baby Fritz" in my tummy. Even though you've only been here for 1 year, it seems like you've been a part of our family forever. I have had so much fun being your mommy.

We have all enjoyed watching you grow from a small, helpless baby to an independent little boy. We were excited to celebrate when you changed from sleeping all day to sleeping all night (especially mommy). Dad and I are so glad that you chilled out quite a bit and love to hear you giggle and see you smile more often.

As you've grown and have become more independent, it is sometimes a struggle when you won't hold still on my lap. That is why I still like to hold you after you have fallen asleep. Even though you are technically not an infant anymore, you will always be my little baby boy.

Thank you for smiling and growling back at me when I often growl at you in frustration. As you empty out the cabinets and drawers, I do find it silly when I tell you "no no" and you shake you head no and do it anyway, giggling. Although I will never understand your fascination with the vacuum or putting shoes in your mouth, I love to sit back and watch you play with "toys."

It has been fun to see little glimpses of your personality, like when you cried when opening your presents, because you didn't like to see the wrapping paper rip. I love your hugs and your slobbery kisses - you have such a tender heart. Thank you for being such a good baby! Please be a good toddler!

Love,

Mommy

Days 2&5: Sea World

As part of the trip, we went to Sea World. First stop: the Arctic exhibit. Have you ever seen a walrus eat? Very strange. It would put the fish in its mouth, chew it up a bit (I'm guessing), then it spit it out against the glass for us all too see, then sucked it back in. Yum. Zach was a little scared of the walrus. Every time it came to swim next to the glass, he cried. So cute!




After the walrus, I put my camera away and sort of forgot to take it out again as we walked around the park and saw everything. We saw all the shows - except for the dolphin one, it was closed - and I didn't take any pictures of them. That's right - no pictures of Shamu OR the sea lions. Sorry. Guess we'll have to go back. But here's a nice picture of the flamingos and my 2 little animals.


Sea World does have a few rides now and a fun play area for the kiddies. So when they were playing/riding, I did get the camera out.

Zach got a little tired of riding in his stroller and this was his preferred method of traveling. Cute, until he fell out. Not fun, guess we have to strap him in now. So if he only crawls in circles or has slurred speech, we'll blame it on the stroller.

It was nice to let him out and play. He really liked these blocks, and I couldn't get enough of him playing with them. So when I sorted through our pictures of the trip, I realized most of them were of Zach playing with the blocks. Again, sorry Shamu.





Once again, Dave and I succeeded in doing something that is rarely accomplished: completely wearing Ryan out.

San Diego, Day 1

Last week we took a trip to San Diego. Ryan was so excited to be in Calnifornia that he couldn't sleep. That's right. He woke up at 3:00 am that first night and wouldn't go back to sleep. And he wouldn't let us sleep. So finally at 6:30 we got up and got ready for the beach. Dave and I were ready to change our airline tickets and go home that day since we don't do that well with limited sleep. Luckily for all of us, Ryan changed his ways and slept well that next night. I think we wore him out.

With it being a Sunday, we didn't want to do too much. So we started out at the beach. And let me tell you, the beach is pretty empty (and cold) at 8:00 in the morning. We did all the beach stuff, complete with building a castle, finding shells, and burying Ryan.

Zach wanted to get out and play, but he didn't like to sit in the sand. He did like to eat it, though.

After the beach we went back to the hotel and hung out at the pool for the afternoon. The pool was much warmer than the beach, so I joined the boys swimming. Zach loved his whale and I was grateful for Ryan's life vest, as there weren't any spots shallow enough for him to touch the bottom. While at the pool, Ryan came running to us. "Mom, someone threw something at me." After looking at him, right away we knew that Ryan got pooped on. "I don't like it when birds throw poo at me." Me neither, Ry. Me neither.

What happens if you pull too hard with wet hands?

You fall!

After the pool we went for a drive up to see the temple. It was very beautiful. Such a distinct-looking temple. And we forgot to have someone take our picture as a family. So here is our forever family, minus Dave.

It was difficult to find a place to eat right off I-5. We didn't want to venture too far from the freeway in fear that we might get lost (no, we don't have GPS). So we stopped in at Whole Foods to see if they had sandwiches. Now I'm not an organic person. I don't mind if my veggies were grown using fertilizers and insecticides. But let's just say I didn't recognize a lot of the foods in there. It was as if I was shopping in a different country. Do people really eat this stuff?? Anyway, we got some tasty pizza from the deli and found a new treat - two-bite blueberry scones. Even little Zach loved them. Too bad there's no Whole Foods store here, or we might have a scone problem. Well, that's all for day 1. Next up: Sea World.