Disney!

M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E! Disneyland is awesome! The new Cars Land opened in Anaheim and my parents hooked me up with a trip to Disneyland to experience Radiator Springs. Holy cow, talk about a fun overload!

What was even better was that my grandma and grandpa AND some of my cousins joined us - so the trip was really off the charts. We had four days at the parks (Disneyland and California Adventure) and we literally road on every single ride in both parks. Whew, it was endless happiness.

We saw a 3-D movie with the Bugs Life characters. I think my favorite part of the show was actually watching my dad. He doesn't love bugs or snakes, even pretend ones. So he was holding my mom's hand tighter than I was and when the snake in the movie lurched out I heard a high pitched scream...I'm still telling myself that it didn't come from my big, tough dad, but I think I'm in denial. At the end of the movie the bugs "run" underneath your bum to leave the theatre, (even the seats in Disney are magic!). Again, this was not a high point for my dad. But it sure was funny!

Then it was off to address my obsession with cars - all types of cars. I drove the Autopia cars several times - but for some reason couldn't get the same adult to ride with me again. I think everyone wanted to experience my road skills. My grandma was recounting the experience to my mom and used words like, "Wham, wham, slam, wham," not sure what she was talking about. I even got to wear an authentic Luigi tire as a hat on my head (it may have been a little big...)

I flew through the air while riding Dumbo, soared in the sky riding in Peter Pan's pirate ship, road Mr. Toad's wild ride, shot at targets in the Toy Story fun house, and went more than 100' in the air on the Mickey Mouse carousel!

While waiting for the big parade to start, my cousin Ozzie and I decided to use the empty street as a good sword fighting location. There were lots of gasps from crowd members and a few women who were utterly appalled saying things like, "where are their parents. Thye're going to poke an eye out." My mom did admit that it was hard to watch because in her words, "This is going to end badly." But for the record, no one lost an eye and Ozzie and I had a blast. So relax people, they're just swords!

There really was more fun than I can possibly recount in a blog post. The place definitely lives up to all of the hype. I've already asked when we're going back and told my folks who else needs to join us. I know Mickey and Minnie have homes right there on property, maybe we could just move in with them and live there!

A Real Eggstravaganza!

The past few weeks have been filled with non-stop Easter fun - endless Easter egg hunts, lots of friends, and fun surprises. We even had time to enjoy The National Kite Festival in between the egg hunts and treats! The pictures capture our adventures best....

 The bunny isn't quite as creepy as he was last year. Depending on the bunny, I even smiled for photos.

 This was a MASSIVE egg hunt at a local part. I found a golden egg and scored a prize!

 This year I got better at hunting for eggs. This hunt was at the community house in our neighborhood.

 Opening up the stuff in my Easter basket...

 Some of the loot I scored at an egg hunt at my friend's house!

 I finally got a sear sucker suit to match my dad!

 Family Easter Picture

Me and my dad flying our shark kite at the festival...

 My mom and I doing a kite-flying jumper (but dad snapped the picture early)

Shoot

This word has been used around our house a lot this past week. For starters, my mom was out one night and my dad and I were hanging out. I guess my dad said he'd have me bathed and in bed reading stories by the time my mom got home. My mom walked into the house to hear, "Shoot" come from down in the basement. "Dave? Hey Dave, where are you guys?" was my mom's reply as she walked in the door. This is what she found....

Then some of our favorite friends, the Cook/McQueen family got a fantastic opportunity out west and decided to move their family. We are thrilled for them but I must admit that a little piece of me said, "Shoot, my buddies are moving away." So we played and played and played before they hopped on the plane and headed out of town.

It FINALLY snowed around here - real snow, the kind of snow you can make a snowman out of. It was so fun to wake up to. And I know this makes no sense to anyone outside of DC, but at the mere mention of the "S" word (snow), grocery store shelves are cleared, it's impossible to buy a shovel at Home Depot, and everything - and I mean everything - gets shut down.

They really don't have the equipment to handle roads in the snow and frankly,

when you have people from literally all over the world living in one place, driving in the snow becomes a bit chaotic (think South Africans, Australians, Floridians, and Hawaiians all driving on the same roads in SNOW!)  But for whatever reason, nothing - absolutely nothing got delayed or cancelled because of the snow. SUCH A BUMMER! So my dad and I shoveled the walkway, had a snowball fight, and continued to procrastinate until my mom finally told my dad, "Your work isn't cancelled today." "Shoot," was his reply. Oh well, at least we enjoyed it for a minute.

And finally, M.O. and Sarah came over to play. They brought me an awesome Easter bag filled with the coolest stuff including stickers, bubbles, cars, treats, a sticky hand grabber, and even my first Whoopee cushion (that thing is hilarious!). They also gave me two water guns. M.O. and I faced off on the porch - an interesting battle because I'm half his height so I got hit in the head and he got hit well, below the belt. Ready, aim, shoot! Here's us in the heat of the battle.

Membership has its Privileges

I'm an official card carrying member of the Arlington County Library. My mom read me "Ron's Big Mission" last month. This book is all about a little boy who's not allowed to check out books at the library because his skin is a particular color. He can read any book he wants, he just can't check them out. So he goes to the library every week, reads books, and leaves empty handed. One day, he takes a stand and demands to check out some books. The librarian knows Ron very well because he's her "best customer." Still, she says, "Ron, you know the rules, I can't check these books out to you." Ron doesn't give up and stands up for what's right. The police are called, his mother is called, and still, Ron stands his ground. Finally, the librarian walks into the back, fills out a card in his name and allows him to check the books out. The best part? Ron grows up to be a NASA astronaut!

I LOVED this story. I've read books about Dr. King and know that, thanks to him and many others, every kid can play on the playground, check out books, and go to the swimming pool. So, I stood up for what is right and told my mom, I want a library card like Ron. And off to the library we went....

I'm also a member of the city of Arlington, this too, has its privileges including endless parks, museums, and kid-friendly activities. We recently enjoyed a night movie at the Arlington Planetarium.

And me and my buddies Landon and Brody went to the Long Branch Nature Center. Check out the tee pee we found while on the outdoor nature hike!

4x's the Fun

One grandparent is good. Four grandparents are fantastic!
I scored huge last week when my Nana and PopPop from Vermont came for a visit at our house at the beginning of the week and then we flew to my Grandma and Grandpa's house in Utah at the end of the week! There was no end to the entertainment, story readers, activities and LOTS and LOTS of spoiling. I loved it!

My PopPop is a good athlete and quite the competitor so I challenged him to several games involving both athleticism and brains. He and I teamed up for a fierce game of Go Fish against my dad and Nana. I'm happy to report that we blew them out of the water and felt no guilt at all. Soccer was a different story. I gave him the smallest soccer ball, trying to put him at a disadvantage. Unfortunately for me, he's just that good. My dad even resorted to pushing me down several times to try and win. But alas, PopPop prevailed in that sport.

We also took on word and picture matching cards. I think the point of this game is for me to practice my letters, but my dad turned it into a race and tried to match them faster than me. I didn't know what the picture of yarn was so he took advantage of my lack of knitting knowledge and crushed me at this game. All and all, it was a fun fun visit.

Then it was off to Utah. As our good luck would have it, the snow started falling and kept falling throughout our visit so we had incredible ski conditions. When we weren't skiing we were playing in the snow. They had to keep an eye on me because when I fell over you couldn't see me anymore because the snow was so fluffy and deep. I loved having my dad toss me into the snow. I'd land like a brick and be completely stuck until someone dug me out - it was awesome.

Grandpa shoveled out a sledding track for me in their front yard. I followed close behind and supervised his operation. Check out my sledding skills. When I wiped out - which was often - I would roll as far as I could and see how much snow I could get to stick to my face. No one else thought this was fun, something about frost bite. They sure missed out!

We also had awesome snowball fights... 

My awesome cousins, Lindsie, Troy, and Mallory, came skiing with me. And even though they could ski anywhere on the mountain, they hung out with me on the easier slopes. I sure am lucky. My dad was being cautious and had me between his legs as we skied down the hill. My cousin Mallory zipped by and well, my dad just couldn't keep up so I pushed off of his legs and said, "I've got this," and away I went...literally. Talk about freedom. YAHOOOOOOO!!! Everyone started cheering and then a bit of silence, followed by panic...I had no clue how to stop. They quickly caught me and all was good. That is until I pointed my skis down hill again and whoooooosh, I was gone. My cousins thought it was hilarious. My parents, well, they got a workout. And if my dad couldn't quite reach me before a large stationary object - such as a tree - he sort of karate chopped me (aka clotheslined me!) to bring me to a stop. And me? I just smiled all the way down the hill.

My grandpa worked with me on technique. We settled on what I called "erching" for stopping. When told to stop (by panicking adults) I would just skid sideways (aka "erch") and fall over. While not pretty, it did do the trick...most of the time. The skiing definitely wiped me out. Sometimes I erched just to sit in the snow and relax for a minute.

  

At night we hung out with my cousins and aunts and uncles. My grandparents even took us to the dinosaur museum where there were tons of cool things to check out, including this shark that almost ate us!