walkathon

By beautiful Daughter.

These are from yesterday. Evelyn looks SO GOOD in that shade of blue!

The school is hard at work preparing for a production of 'Peter Pan'. Evelyn will be a mermaid called 'Moonglow'. She has memorized her lines, and last night we worked with her on knowing when to say them. She is SO excited about being in a play.

We had a disagreement about what she wanted to wear yesterday. She picked out a nice outfit that matched for colour and was weather appropriate, but the shorts had gotten WAY too short. They were like little hot pants.

So, I had to try to explain to her why she could not wear them to school. I don't care if she wears them at home, or under a dress, but not paired with a t-shirt. This was trickier to explain than I thought it would be. I did not want to bring in the concept of 'sexy' or anything like that. That was not the issue for her anyway!

She could not understand what the issue was, because usually, my objections are that her chosen outfit is too warm, or cold, or way too un-coordinated for her to wear. This outfit was none of those things! So, she eventually, after some pouting and sitting curled up among the clothes in her laundry hamper for a few minutes, allowed me to chose an alternate outfit to wear. She apologized for being rude (without prompting!) and stated she decided to change her attitude, and will like the outfit I chose for her. She has really matured lately in her self control and emotional control. I'm so proud of her when she stops herself from totally loosing it and pulls herself together.

This last photo is from playgroup yesterday. These are Ethan's closest friends in the group. The boy in the red shirt is Nicholas. He and Ethan are inseparable when they're both there. The girl on the far side is Nicholas' twin sister Julie and the little guy in the striped shirt is Corstian. The group took advantage of the nice day to head to the park.

At one point, Ethan tossed some sand in the face of Corstian. Sand throwing is a big 'No-no' for obvious reasons. Thankfully, it did not go in Corstian's eyes. Ethan immediately fessed up to his misdeed and apologized without any coaxing on my part. For that, I am very thankful! Later, when Ryan asked him about his day, Ethan told Daddy that we went to the park and he played with Nicholas, but he threw sand in Corstians face and that was not good. So, I think he really internalized that lesson!

In other news, the house showing on Monday went really well. The wife, apparently, loved the house. But, they want to build a HUGE garage and are not sure where they could put it... So, we are trying to figure out exactly where our property ends on the treed side of the lot, to see if they could stick something over there. Alternately, at the very end of the property, in the back, they may be able to build something, but they'd have to be careful of the septic field and would need to put in quite a long driveway to access it. Ryan and I have both tried to find the survey stakes with a metal detector, but we have not been able to find one yet. So... we wait. When I talked with our realtor yesterday, she said the husband is away to work now for a couple weeks. So they likely would not move on the sale until he returns. In the meantime, our listing was the 'featured property' in the LLB paper, and also had an add in the Athabasca paper. I am hoping that we may be able to show it again this weekend.

This afternoon, I am planning to take the kids to a co-workers house to see her baby lambs. The kids are so excited to see a farm.

Ryan is still waiting to hear back from the position he applied for. He is hopeful that he will get a call soon.

music night, toothpick towers and raindrops

Evelyn, her kindergarten class, and 3 older students from her school participated in a night of music in Lac La Biche. The older girls sang and rapped the majority of the song, and the kids joined in for the chorus. It was that popular song they're playing on the radio now about a waving flag. It was cute, and even Ethan has learned how to sing it.













Ryan is doing a science unit that involves evaluating and learning about the strength of objects. For a demonstration he is planning, we all pitched in to build several types of towers out of toothpicks and marshmallows. Evelyn worked on this tower based in square units for about 20 minutes. Shortly after I took this photo, she decided her design was too unstable and was not going to work. So, she took it apart and promptly ate all the marshmallows. I'm not sure if her evaluation, or her desire for some treats was the main motivator for her taking it apart!

Earlier in the day, I gave her a princess makeover using the 'hair' and makeup from her Disney makeover. This is why she is wearing fake hair and eyeshadow in this photo!







This last photo is from today. It was a very gray, rainy sort of day. Evelyn decided to dress to match the weather and came out of her room, stood straight and tall, and declared "I'm a raindrop!" After taking a photo of my little raindrop, I reminded her to get used to the weather. When we move home to the island, there will be LOTS of rain and cloudy days.

On that note, I cleaned my house thoroughly yesterday, and today we heard from the realtor that someone from the LLB area wants to come look at the house tomorrow! So, at around 11 am, we will be heading to the school while some stranger looks around the house. It's a bit of an odd idea, but I hope it will bring great results! So... guess what I'll be doing tomorrow morning? Cleaning - again!

snow white - the home grown stage play

A quick update

House hunting went well. There were 4 properties that interest me. Any of them will work, each have their own good and bad points. I was able to spend a little time with the Parrish and Sahota's and their friend Christina.

We will have to wait until our house gets an offer before we put an offer on one of them. Or, there may be another house that will come onto the market and blow all the others out of the water!



Back at home, Ryan has applied to a grade 2 position at a private school in north Nanaimo/Lantzville. Please pray that this will work out well.

Ethan has been helping around the house, cutting grass with Ryan and doing odd jobs. We have noticed him rubbing his eyes and sniffing quite a bit. His eyes get red and puffy and he says they itch. It sounds like he has some environmental allergies. Tonight, he went into the bathroom, got a bunch of lotion, and rubbed it in his eyes! His rationale was that when his skin is itchy, we put lotion on it, so lotion should help his eyes too! Yikes! He does better with Benadryl, so I'm pretty sure he has Hay Fever.


Evelyn has been great at helping keep the house clean. She sorted the laundry without me asking her, and happily cleaned both her room AND Ethan's room. She is going to be singing a song in Lac La Biche tomorrow night, and in early June she will be a Mermaid in the schools production of Peter Pan.

The kids had 'camp out's' in their rooms last week. They made forts in their rooms and Evelyn actually slept all night in hers. Ethan kept kicking his and then it would fall in. Eventually, he gave up and went to bed.








#1 is actually 4 bedrooms and a bunch of small rooms in the basement. (the listing says 8 bedrooms) They have done a lot of work on the structure of the house, but there is a bit left to do. It is close to the hospital. Evergreen Way.

#2 is completely done inside, is a short walk to Departure Bay beach, and has a cool rock wall in the back yard that looks like it would be fun to climb. This house needs new windows. King Richard Drive.

#3 is also completely done inside, is close to all the malls in the north, and, if Ryan gets that grade 2 position, it would be close to that school too. It has a nice back yard, granite counters in the kitchen, and it needs the roof to be re-shingled. Doreen Place.

#4 is in a nice neighbourhood, has a great, bright kitchen and a massive amount of space in the basement. It needs quite a bit done in the basement, and the upstairs bedrooms and closets are tiny. This was my favorite house until I really thought about how much needed to be done. Now, I just like it. Hillside Ave.

Our house is listed!

Check out our listing!

Please, pray that we sell quickly, and at asking price. All of you who live on the island will appreciate how much we want to move home. There are a lot of pieces that need to fall in place, but I know it can happen.

Lot 7 Caslan Crescent

Our asking price is a bit lower than I had hoped. The idea was to excite interest and hopefully sell faster. This weekend is a very busy one for Caslan, and we hope to have an open house for a couple hours on Saturday. This may attract some of the 'city people' who are up for camping.

I have 3 properties in Nanaimo that are on our short list. I hope that one of them, or some other perfect house I have not seen yet, will be on the market when we receive an offer on this house.

So, the waiting game begins... I am believing on God for great things to happen. He has blessed us immensely in the past, and I expect those blessings to continue to pour forth on us.

Before and after

It's been a 4 year, gradual process. The kitchen is probably the most dramatic change. The paint colour made a big difference too. I'm very pleased with the outcome. For those of you who have actually been up to visit, the 'after' photos will look different even from the time you visited. I don't think anyone (except our babysitter Serena) has seen how it looks now!

As an update, I got my letter of hire, but it did not include my FTE (0.77), so I am waiting for a revised letter (the bank needs the FTE to calculate the mortgage). Shortly, I expect to have a pre-approved mortgage that I can use to go house shopping! I am planning a trip (just me) mid-May to look at several houses. I hope to place an offer and possibly have an inspection of our future house done before I leave. If you're interested in getting a link of the top 5 houses we are considering, LMK and I'll send them to you...I'd appreciate your opinions.

Ryan is still waiting to hear back on one position he applied for. The postings for teachers have not gone up yet, so it's still a waiting game.

Once I have an approved mortgage, I will look into selling our house. Overall, we have taken one step forward, but have many more to take before we are 'home' again.

Photos of April

This has been an odd month for weather. Hot and sunny, then a blizzard with enough blown snow that I got stuck coming home from work, then, the following week, warm and sunny again! Now, it's westcoast weather - overcast, raining, windy and cool. The trees are just starting to get a green tinge, the grass is turning green, the birds are back...I love spring!

Some Photos of the house

Here are a few photos of the house so far. The burgundy is all gone, new trim, new counters, new floors, new paint colour in the kitchen.

an update on things here

For my lone friend who is not on FB and has been wondering where my pics of Easter were... here's a few, more can be found at this link:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=212856&id=650696549

Here are a few photos of our visit to Lloyd over Easter. The weather was perfect and the kids spent a lot of time outside.



On Sunday, we went to church with the Brands. Technically, the church is in Saskatchewan, so we even left the province for Easter!

Evelyn was able to join in the kids singing. She actually did really well, especially considering that she only practiced a few minutes before! It was SO cute to see her and Juliana up front in their white dresses.

The kids played really well together the whole time. I can't remember any fights. Usually there is one spat between the girls when we visit, but I don't think there was this time! The boys had a couple quick little issues, but did really well together too. The three boys spent about an hour plunking chips into the 'connect 4' game we picked up. Even little Ben was doing his part to fill it up and dump it out. The object of their game was to fill it up, not get 4 in a row!

We made the resurrection biscuits again. They worked out pretty well, though we discovered it worked best when we folded them in to little round balls before baking.


Since then, I have been working on getting the house ready to sell. I'm STILL waiting on my counters.... I will call on Monday to see where they are at. I have painted all the doors, and closet doors and have cut (by hand, with a miter box) the trim for the doors and some of the floor baseboards. The new trim looks really sharp! I will need to rent a saw for the day to finish the floor trim. My baseboards are an inch taller than my miter box, so the corner cuts where the board is on edge are almost impossible to do cleanly. I've just done all the straight edge cuts that I can lay the board flat, and the corners for the doors that, again, I can lay the board flat for. I changed the colour on the kitchen walls a bit. Now it's a darker blue/gray. I like it. I have thought I should have gone darker in the kitchen since I first painted - and I was right! I think it will look really great with the new counters....whenever they come... Once I finish those three outstanding jobs, I will consider myself pretty much done!

I plan to post 'before' (like when we first bought the house) pics and 'after' pics when I have everything completed. I'm pretty proud of what I've done to the place!

So, it looks like I have a good reason to put all this work in. I interviewed for a 0.77 permanent position in Nanaimo, and, pending satisfactory reference checks, I have the position! It is on a mixed medical and elective orthopedic surgery unit. It is well staffed, and sounds like it has a good team atmosphere. I'll admit, I'm not excited by ortho, but the jobs that do excite me are all filled internally, so at least it's an 'in'. I was also offered a casual position in the ER in Nanaimo (in their waiting-for-a-bed holding pen). I think I will call that manager and accept that offer as well. Ryan will continue to look for a position and work toward getting on the sub list at least. Nothing is finalized yet. But that's where we're at so far. My start date will be July 27th. That is the extent of my knowledge so far.

There has been some interest in our house already, so I don't think we'll need to list it with a Realtor. I like that that keeps more money in both our pocket, and the potential buyers pocket too.

And that's an update on things here!

http://homeparents.about.com/cs/eastercrafts/a/eastertradition.htm

Some really neat Easter baking ideas.

Read A Thon

Thank you to all who donated to Evelyn's read-a thon. It went well! Evelyn raised $81 toward the class field trip at the end of the year.

My 'Little Sister' and I read a few books to the class. She did a really great job reading and kept the kids involved and interested. This was the best I had ever heard her read, so I'm very proud of her.

One of the community members who has a small menagerie brought in a de-musked skunk! She (the skunk) was named 'Stinkerbelle' and she had just come out of hibernation. I learned that once a skunk sprays, it takes several days before they can do it again. Also, during the winter, they hibernate but will rouse for short periods, go outside to forage, and will empty their musk glands before returning to hibernate. That explained the occasional skunk smell I'd encountered over the winters!

Evelyn was really into the skunk and could explain what hibernation was, and could name some of the things that skunks eat. She is my little science buff - I love it!

On another topic, the snow is beating a hasty retreat now (even in our yard!) With temps in the 10 - 14 range all week, I think it may leave for good! I took Ethan for a walk when I got back from the school. We saw some pussy willows starting to bud, and one neighbor is starting to set up his green house.

Ethan is determined to start a rock collection. He had not yet clued in that I toss whatever rock he brings into the house back outside as soon as he's lost interest in it.

Tomorrow is the 100th day of school for Evelyn's class. She needs to bring in 100 0f something. I thought about pennies (our babysitter Serena's idea) but decided to do gummy bears instead. The highlight for Evelyn is that the class will now have a pet fish. She has been telling me about the coming fish for months. I think it will be a guppy.

Tomorrow is also the Easter Party for playgroup. So, anyone who knows anyone in the Boyle area with pre-school kids, tell them to come and join us tomorrow!

This past Friday, I went to Bonnyville to do an exam for certification in ACLS. That was very stressful! 2 of my co-workers also came and we all were exhausted by the end. At least I managed to pass (just) so have my certification for another 2 years.

Over the weekend, I painted all the burgundy out of the house. Now, everything is primarily tan/beige coloured. The entrance look so much brighter, and the dining area looks more modern. My trim has arrived and the counters come at the end of next week. I still need to paint the kitchen a darker gray and paint the kids rooms, finally, install the trim and counters then I WILL BE DONE!

We are still waiting to hear about jobs for us. Waiting.... I got a few names from an old friend who knows someone who works in Nanimo. I'll investigate further tomorrow. So, we are preparing, but are not definitely going anywhere as of now.

This weekend we plan to head to Lloydminster to visit the Brands for Easter. That should be a lot of fun.

That is pretty much all the news from Caslan!

Once again, winter sticks around at our house.

This happens each year. Every other house in our area is thawed and grass, except ours. It's right at the property line too! It is so funny to be out driving, seeing nothing but brown grass, then, as you turn into our crescent...Bam! It's winter at the Cracknell's!

The plus side of this phenomena is that we get lovely warm temps and snow to play in. So, that's what we did yesterday.


Of small note, look who went inside and got his own mittens! I guess he DID learn from past experience!





















Evelyn pretended she was a superhero standing on top of a tall mountain. Daddy diligently worked at shoveling out the snow under her, creating a large overhang. Eventually, she did fall through.



















She has been trying out some model poses lately too. It's really amusing to watch her slip and fall and cover it up perfectly by striking a pose and smiling.

We went to a salon on Friday to have our bangs trimmed. What a mistake! I do a better job than they did. Ethan's hair is uneven and needs touching up, my bangs are not well curved . I am trying to thin out Evelyn's bangs a bit, so will need to pin aside the longer portion for a while. Since she's cut her hair short, she loves to wear her hair with a side part and a barrette holding her hair to the side. I find I gather some of her bangs into the barrette anyway, so hopefully the process won't be too awkward.










I also spent much of the day cleaning our bedroom, tossing papers, packing books, dusting etc... It looks much less cluttered. I de-cluttered the kitchen and took photos to see how it would present. I will need to pack away all my displayed china and move most of the appliances off the counter. It's surprising how even a little 'decoration' looks like clutter in a photo.

I have floor and window trim on order. It should arrive this week. I have tried to order counters, but the guy at the store who orders them is off sick. I have to wait until he returns before I can order it....Small towns!











I have applied to a few positions in Nanaimo, but, discouragingly, have not heard back. I had felt confident that they would jump at the chance to hire me. I fit the position perfectly. So, we can not move forward until one of us gets a FT job. No mortgage approval, no selling, no moving until that happens. I feel like I'm sitting still, rocking back and forth, twiddling my thumbs and waiting... I think this is the sort of situation where I will learn a lot about myself.

A couple days in Edmonton

While Ryan went to a conference in Edmonton for a couple days, the kids and I took advantage of his hotel room and spent the days exploring the attractions. Though we live fairly close, we tend to spend our days in Edmonton doing errands and not sight seeing.

So, we visited the Zoo and saw the Harbor Seals and Sea Lions having a training session. We also saw a large snake that was in the process of shedding it's skin.

At Science World, the kids thought the exhibits were all pretty cool. Their favorite part, however, was the interactive play area. Ethan LOVED the water table, and Evelyn spent most of her time in the construction area. The kids also put on a short puppet play and explored the world of forensics as they tried to solve the mystery of the missing weather dog.

Other highlights were visiting the pool at the hotel and simply staying in a hotel. By the way, should you need a place to stay in Edmonton, the River Cree hotel by Marriott is excellent.

An Update on March

I'll start out this post with some photos to make you laugh. Evelyn and Ethan dressed as Dora, dancing do her 'dance party adventure'. They are making a silly face to make the grumpy old troll happy again. They also had to shake their maracas, wiggle their hips, do a pirate dance etc... It's good entertainment for a cold day.




Next up is a photo of Ethan in his most recent of bizarre sleeping places. He fell deeply asleep on top of the heating vent in the bathroom. I think he's starting to enter that phase where shadows and other things become very scary. He seems to seek out places in full light to settle in for the night. Just so you know, we moved him back to bed after taking this photo :-)













Some final photos from the winter of 2010. Overall, we had much less snow fall than the past few years. The temps were milder too. Only one prolonged cold spell, and the rest of the winter was around -10 to -18. Not too bad!

Now, one of these kids is wearing their mittens, the other is not. Which one do you think will be melting into tears the next time they fall into the snow?



If you guessed Ethan, you're right! Yes, son, the snow IS cold. That's why I told you to wear your mittens!

Evelyn, responsibly wearing her mittens, had a blast being buried in the snow. I had hoped we could try making a fort or a snowman, but the snow was more like white sugar. It felt like free-flowing tiny ice crystals. No forts or snowmen with that snow!

Read A Thon

Evelyn's kindergarten class is having a Read A Thon on Tuesday March 30. From 1230-1530, they will be reading as many books as they can. Community members, Friends and Family are all welcome to come out to read with the students.




Money raised will go toward a class field trip and party for the end of the year.



I encourage you to come out and participate. Spend a little time reading with Evelyn's class!




She will be collecting pledges over the next couple weeks. Please consider supporting my budding reader, and her classmates.

(First picture is from summer 2008. Evelyn is around 3, Ethan is around 18 months)

(Second picture is from Spring of 2006. Evelyn is about 18 months old)

Disneyland 2010

After thinking about how to post about our trip, I have decided to take a travel agent sort of a spin. What worked, what did not, our favorite parts, and what we would do differently if we went again...

To view more photos, follow this link to my Facebook photo album: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=200341&id=650696549&ref=mf

and Brenda's FB Album: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=199333&id=705116223

First off, the kids did not know we were going. They were told a few days before that we were going on a plane to see Nana, but we were NOT going to Victoria. We told them it was a surprise, and they were content with that. They never once tried to guess where we were going - even when I asked them to guess. They just replied "It's a surprise!" and left the issue there. I think this was a good way to go. We did not have to deal with the constant questions and chatter that would have resulted from them knowing, and they did not have a chance to build up all sorts of expectations about the park.

The big reveal happened as our car came to a stop outside the park on the way to the hotel. The kids were sound asleep, but we woke them up and told them to look out the window. Their reaction was not what we expected. The true excitement and enthusiastic response came about 10 min later, after they had a chance to process our big surprise. Ethan's responses were completely unrelated and random. I have no idea where his thoughts were! Maybe still in dreamland!



We were in the park by 1 pm! We stopped in the hotel long enough to change into shorts and t-shirts, and grabbed some sandwiches from the local 7-11.Ryan's Mom Brenda (Nana) met us around 7 pm after flying in from Victoria.

I priced out how much it would cost to rent a second stroller at the park:$15 a day! So, instead of renting, we bought a second umbrella stroller for $40 and saved some money (and we get to keep the stroller!) The other bonus to buying vs. renting is that you can take the kids right back to the hotel in the stroller, and not have to make them walk. I think all airlines offer 'gatecheck' for strollers so you can also use them in the airport and right up to the door of the plane. I think this was a great way to go. By the end of each day, I think we had walked at least 10 km. That is way too much for most kids to handle. (BTW, I love the stroller we got. It's from Sears, and has comfortable padded handles which are taller than most umbrella strollers. It also has a sun canopy. It was really was really easy to steer too. Overall, a great buy!)

Our first stops, once in the park, were to the City hall to ask for some '1st visit' buttons (free! they also give out stickers and several other buttons), and a quick gift shop visit to buy some autograph books and a pressed coin holder for the pressed coins we planned to (and did) collect over the trip. The characters like using 'sharpie' pens to sign with, so I packed a couple of brightly coloured pens and we were prepared to collect autographs of any characters we might come across! We then proceeded to check out the rides that the kids were most excited about. The 'Dumbo' ride was top of the list, but, since it had a really long line, we chose to make the 'Casey Jr. Circus Train' our inaugural ride instead.

Meeting the characters was one of my goals for this trip. I'm glad we made it a priority, because the kids are still talking about their times with the characters. I think it was a real highlight for them. When Evelyn met Princess Aurora, (Sleeping Beauty), she was wearing her Tinkerbell costume. 'Aurora' told Evelyn that Tinkerbell was one of her best friends. In her quiet play tonight, Evelyn remembered this small comment and made sure that she included a small picture of Sleeping Beauty in the little home she had constructed for her little Tinkerbell figure. Her thought was 'If Princess Aurora and Tinkerbell are best friends, then Tinkerbell will want to have a picture of her friend in her house'.

I think one of the key things that allowed us to have so much interaction with the park's Cast Members was that we sought out the experiences, and volunteered or joined in when the opportunities arose. It helps that our kids are very extroverted and love to be the centre of attention! They danced in the 'Dance party' parade, got their photos taken with multiple strangers (mostly for scavenger hunts, and for Japanese tourists), Evelyn got to do a word scramble while waiting for a parade, Ethan got to be a young Jedi Padawan in the Jedi Academy, They danced with 'Stitch', hugged and met and enjoyed almost 20 characters, made many little friends while waiting in lines, and they took every opportunity to meet and chat with other kids and adults. Through them, we discovered that a large portion of the park's visitors were from Canada! I guess we were not the only Canucks who wanted to escape the winter for a few days! We found that we ran into the same little friends a few times as we waited in line-ups and again at the airport. It made being in such a large crowd feel more like a community.



We took the kids on many rides. Ethan, at exactly 40" with his shoes on, JUST made the height requirement for many rides. I saw many kids turned away because they were just half a cm shorter than he was. So, measure your kids, and consider postponing your trip until they reach that magic number! He would have been so disappointed to have to sit out on so many rides. Disney does, however have a 'rider switch' option on many of these rides. This allows one adult to wait with a child who can not ride, while another takes an older child on (or rides on their own) then, when the first rider is done, they can switch and the second person gets to go to the front of the line. This greatly reduces wait times for the second person, so both adults can enjoy the ride. I took advantage of the 'Single Rider' option on some rides. By asking the cast member at the line entrance, you get a ticket that allows you to walk to the front of the line and only have to wait a few minutes. You then fill in an empty seat that is not filled by the groups wanting to ride together. This is the way to go! It's even faster than the 'Fastpass' option on many rides.

Some rides were too intense for the kids. We took them both on 'Space Mountain'. Yes, our kids have been on a major roller coaster - in the dark! What a great ride! The kids had a different opinion though. They liked the stars and 'going into outer space' but found it too fast for their tastes. The other attraction that was too much for them was a bit of a surprise. In the 'Bugs Life' area of California Adventure, there is a 4D movie attraction. (Evelyn LOVES 'Bugs life' right now, and was really excited to spend time in this area of the park) This particular attraction had the bugs teaching us humans about insects. The 3D movie was cool, but the added 4D elements were more than the kids could take. At one point, large spiders were lowered from the ceiling of the theater, and the benches we sat on had little 'cockroaches' scurry under our bottoms, and the stinger of another insect poked out of the bench into our backs at another point. Ethan had to leave part way through. The massive spiders dropping from the ceiling did him in, and he was screaming! The entire theatre and antechamber where we waited for the performance was built to look like it was a hole under the dirt. So, just sitting in the space made one feel a little creepy to begin with! This attraction should have a disclaimer that anyone under about 8 should probably not partake. Maybe even 10 yrs old should be a minimum age.

On the flip side, we all enjoyed the Peter Pan ride, the Muppet 4D attraction, the Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Nemo, Dumbo, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Carousels, Chew Chew Train and several other rides. Overall though, our focus of the trip was more on the entertainment and characters than the rides. When we return when the kids are older, we will focus more on the rides. I think the kids favorite ride was a slow moving train in the shape of a fat caterpillar from 'Bugs life'. The big feature of this slow moving ride was that it had scents to go with the massive, chewed food that we drove past, and at the end, the caterpillar burped. This was only enjoyed by the kids. The rest of us tolerated it - 4 times! because they thought it was so great.

One of the favorite things we did was watching the fireworks. They are SO GOOD! At one point, Evelyn (in her 'little teenager' voice) exclaimed "Seriously, am I dreaming!?" They really were wonderful.

My personal favorite activity was getting the kids makeovers at the 'Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique'. Reservations can be made over the phone in advance. Evelyn wore the Snow White costume that her Nana made for her, and Ethan wore a 'knight' costume we found at Chapters. They were styled and primped and doted over for about an hour. At then end, Ethan was knighted and given a cool shield with "Sir Ethan" printed on it and a sword (his favorite part was the sword!). Evelyn was presented with the makeup, hairbrushes and nail polish that was used for her makeover in a neat little backpack. The 'prince' makeover that Ethan got was not advertised anywhere, but it did exist! There were actually 3 little boys being done while we were there.






I loved seeing the excitement and pleasure that shone from Evelyn's face during the whole process. Ethan scowled most of the time, but never once protested. This makes me think he secretly enjoyed having his hair styled and glittered! Afterward, the kids got so much attention in lineups and all over the park.

Another highlight was the Character Breakfast we enjoyed with Mickey, Minnie, Stich, Pluto, and Goofy. The food was great, and we got to spend an extended time visiting each character. Ethan was quite ill for this meal. He had a fever and refused to eat. Even that was not enough to keep him from enjoying being sniffed by Stitch and hugged by Goofy.

The 'Pixar Play Parade' in California Adventure was another highlight. This is such a fun parade and featured most of the kids favorite characters. It seems that the Disneyland park presents a very abbreviated version of their parade in the off season. It's 'Dance Party Parade' was disappointing to me, but I think that was mostly because I really loved the full scale parade with it's elaborate floats that we saw on our first visit.

We tried to schedule low-key, indoor activities in the afternoon. The Hollywood back lot area of California Adventure was well suited for this. There are several theatrical productions available there. The kids seemed to need this down time and were refreshed after spending some time there, or outside the park for a couple hours.

Outside the parks is the 'Downtown Disney' shopping area. We visited this area on our last day. It has the largest Disney store that carries almost every item that is offered in the other stores in the park. It's sort of a one stop shopping location. There is also a Build a Bear store that has costumes of major Disney and Pixar characters for their bears. I think this is the only location that they sell these costumes. There was some really cute things there. For older boys, there is also a store where they can build their own RC racing car. For the 8+ crowd, this seemed to be a 'must visit' location.

Another 'must visit' store is tucked away near the inside entrance to DL. This store allows you to design your own mouse ears hat. I enjoyed seeing what everyone decided would best represent them. Ethan's ears were lenticular (moving image) ears on a tie-died hat with 'Lightening McQueen' and 'Wall-E' decals. Evelyn chose furry, hot pink ears on a hot pink, furry trimmed hat, with decals of a castle and Tinkerbell. Ryan chose classic black felt ears on a black hat with a 'pirates' decal, Brenda chose black ears with pink rhinestones on a black hat with a 'mouse ear' gem decal. I chose pink ears with a flower gemstone design on a white hat with a Minnie Mouse and pink flower decal. This was way more fun than just picking ears off the rack. I think it is the only location that allows you to design your hat.

Our hotel room was pretty ideal. It had bunkbeds and a sofabed in one partitioned area, and a king sized bed in the main room. The drawback was that the hotel was much farther from the park than I understood. It took us about 15 min to walk to the security check point from the hotel. I estimate it was about 1.5 km away. The Howard Johnson hotel across from the park has rooms with a similar set up, and is much closer. I think I will try there next time we come. I had hoped we would be close enough that we could easily stop in to drop off shopping bags or take a nap.

One annoying security measure is a check point you must go through before entering the plaza between the parks. They look in every bag to check for...? Who knows!? They do not post any sort of information saying what they are looking for, or if you have the right to refuse inspection. I gathered they were looking for glass bottles (forbidden in the park) any alcohol, and ? bombs or guns? This sort of check point seems to be common in the US. I guess when you give people the right to bear arms, these sorts of measures become necessary!

Overall, we could have used one more day in the parks. But we only left a handful of things undone. Getting out of the winter was such a nice break. I am so glad that we decided to do this trip!

Budding artist

Evelyn's drawing and colouring skills have taken a big leap forward this past month. Here are a few of my favorite pictures that she's done:


This is a collection of Dora pics that she left on my pillow last night. It was her way of saying "I missed you Mom". One of the staff at her school pointed out that Evelyn tends to give her people a brown skin colour, while the other students give their people pink skin. I hadn't thought much about it before that comment. She does do that though. I'm still mulling over the psychology of this.







This one is Tinkerbell flying over the city. I love that she even gave Tink a skirt with a serrated edge. And made the buildings smaller to show depth and bring Tink to the foreground.










This one is a portrait of her new puppy (Stuffed dog!) from her Build a Bear party. She named the dog 'Christmas Dog' and has really enjoyed playing with it. She set her dog up and studied it as she worked on this portrait.















This one is all hearts and butterflies and heart-shaped sunshine. She loves Valentines Day and was thinking about it as she did this picture and the one after. I was impressed by her butterfly.
















This picture depicts Evelyn (in the yellow hat and pigtails) giving me (in the black outfit) a valentines card. She loves hearts now and is really working on drawing them . I think I'm a mommy hamster in this picture, with pink earrings.



We have lived a very quiet life these past few weeks. I've felt really introverted and have gone on a reading spurt. Purely escape novels. Mostly by Beverly Lewis. It's nice and good to do this once in a while. I know that next week and a few weeks after that will be really busy, so I think I'm preparing myself.

We are leaving for Disneyland on Saturday. Tonight, after supper, we plan to tell the kids that we are going on a plane to visit Nana. This is ALL that we will be telling them. They can ask questions as they see fit, and we will answer them honestly (though vaguely), without revealing our true destination. I fell giddy with excitement over this trip. I am SO looking forward to the moment they figure out where we are actually going. We will be home next Wednesday, so 4 nights and 3 1/2 days in the park. It's going to be so much fun!!!! I'm planning to start packing today after I finish the laundry. All the kids Disney themed clothing is going to disappear into the suitcases. SO EXCITED!!!