A Walk in Walt Disney's Footsteps

For our fabulous 4 year anniversary, Greg took us on a tour at Disneyland entitled "A Walk in Walt Disney's Footsteps." It was a tour based on the history of the park as it pertained to Walt Disney. It was WONDERFUL!!!

Here are some neat things that we learned:

*We were shown where the smallest hidden Mickey was located in the park.

Do you see it in the middle underneath the "A" in MAIL??*The Tiki Room was originally supposed to be a restaurant, but during the show nobody ate, and in the restaurant industry that doesn't do well for profits...so the idea was nixed and it became just a show. The attached kitchen is used for Main Street.
*The Tiki Room has a basement that is the exact same outline as the building, when it opened it used to house a computer the size of the basement to run the show...now it holds 2 laptops on a table.
*The Tiki Room is run completely by hydraulics!

Here is Ophelia, one of the original singing flowers...she is since retired but comes out for the guided tours. All the makeup is done by hand on these!!!*The top of Sleeping Beauty's Castle is actually backwards, it was supposed to face the other way but the Imagineers decided it looked better this way. *The statue at the end of Main Street in front of the castle originally had Mickey holding an ice cream cone...and Walt Disney is 2 inches taller than he really was. He always wished he was taller, so the sculptor made him 2 inches taller in the statue.
*Walt originally wanted the Jungle Cruise to have live animals...then he was informed that they would sleep during the day and hide at night...so they made the animals robotic, and they never miss a cue!
*Behind the buildings in New Orleans Square you can see ship sails...Walt wanted it to feel like a "port town" and had those put in. Take a look next time, you'll see them.
*In the Club 33 lobby there is a picture of 3 musicians....they were Walt's personal band and 2 of them have since passed. One, named Earl (I think) is still alive and plays in the alley near the shops outside Club 33 until it gets too hot or too cold, then he goes inside and plays his guitar in the Blue Bayou. We got a picture of him there playing and got to say hi. I've been to Club 33 who knows how many times and never knew that about that picture!!
*The castle's bricks get smaller as you get towards the top...it's called forced perspective..they wanted the castle to look taller than it is. Out of all the Disney resorts, it is actually the smallest castle!!
*On opening day (July 15) they had laid the asphalt on Main Street the night before and it was a heat wave the next day and it re-softened...so all the women in their best stillettos left heel prints all over the place!!
*Walt Disney died a few weeks before Pirates of the Caribbean opened...so they had a scale model they had built and still had, and they put a doll of him in something with wheels and wheeled him through the ride...he did end up getting to ride the ride before he died!!
*Mickey wasn't the first character Walt came up with...he was supposed to be a lucky rabbit named Oswald but someone snatched up the Copyright and they couldn't use him, so Mickey was created. Just recently the Copyright for Oswald expired and it became free game again, and Disney bought it!
*Donald and Goofy and Pluto were all small role characters and somehow evolved into the co-stars you see today.
*It's a Small World began as a ride for the World's Fair....and when it opened at Disneyland children from around the world were invited to bring bottles of water from their country and dump them in the Seven Seas Waterway.
*Walt Disney's old apartment was right above the Firehouse...the night he died a Cast Member went up and turned on his reading lamp by the window in memoriam...to this day that light is on 24 hours a day in respect of all the hours he spent working there. Take a look, it's always on!!
*The Matterhorn was built to cover up the pylons (Not sure of the spelling) for the old Sky Buckets because the poles were eye-sores. It is hand made and no two pieces of rebar (again, spelling) and steel are the same shape or size!

After our 3-1/2 hour tour was over (didn't even seem like that long!!) we were treated to a lunch in a private area and then we headed off to ride a few adult rides while the kids weren't with us.

The one ride I really wanted to see was the "scary" Space Mountain...what a waste. We waited for about 45 minutes and it wasn't any different than the regular ride. The ghost was just kind of a image throughout the ride, it never once felt like it was anywhere near us. Bummer...

Overall it was a great Anniversary and for dinner we went out to TGIFridays after coming home and spending some time with the kids. We were at Disneyland from about 9am to about 3pm and we were exhausted. How people stay for the whole day we will never understand!!!

4 YEARS

What an amazing 4 years it has been!!!

Thank you Greg for being such an amazing Husband and Daddy!! I love you and can't wait to see what the next 4 years brings...and the next 4 years after that...and the next 4 years after that...

Ah heck...we have forever to see what other kinds of adventures we can embark on.

I love you and can't believe how lucky I am to have found you. Can you believe it's been 4 years since we got married....I bet we never thought we could accomplish so much in 4 years. In that short time we got married, had 2 beautiful children, bought our first house and even found ourselves owning a Minivan!! Can you imagine what is in store for us in the future?? I think we make a pretty amazing team!!

Better late than never, right??

Sorry for the gap in posting....I've started back to work and Greg just started his vacation/FMLA time so once I'm done with work we've been enjoying doing things with the kids and just being together as a family. We've been spending a lot of time just sitting on the front lawn and enjoying the cooler weather and playing together...

We've had a Home Depot project and lots of cuteness going on around here since the last post and a group of family and friends even headed out to San Diego to try out for our FAVORITE game show, Wipeout!!

So, let's go in order....

Two Saturdays ago Karyl, Freddie and I headed over to Home Depot for a project, only to discover that they were only a small part of a City Safety Fair in the Costco parking lot. It was awesome!! As we were pulling up they had a Emergency Rescue helicopter land right in the middle of the parking lot. Karyl thought it was awesome, and I have to admit that even I got a little giddy seeing it!!

Then she made her project, which was a firestation coin bank....

And then we walked around the booths for a while where Karyl learned to "Stop, Drop and Roll" and even got a neat fire hat for demonstrating it!!

After walking around for a while we headed home (the boys had requested chicken bakes from Costco since we were so close...).


Then, this past Saturday Greg, two of his sisters and our friends Mele and Misi headed down to some obscure restaurant in San Diego to audition for Wipeout (I would have loved to have gone but someone has to watch the kids, right?? I figure next year I'll get to go while those who got on the show stay home!!). They had a BLAST. They left super early in the morning, only to be the first ones there in line but they had lots of fun and laughed so much they came home with sore face muscles!!

And yes, some of them did make it past the initial interviews and there is a possibility that 3 of the 5 that went are going to be on the show!! We're not going to ruin the surprise on here, but if they do get on we will let you know what nights to watch and you can see for yourselves who made the cut!!

That seems like a good summary of the past week or so. Freddie is doing AWESOME...we can't believe it's been only 3-1/2 weeks since his surgery. You'd NEVER guess this guy had just been put through the ringer, he is happy and healthy and has started talking!! Yep, he was saying Da-Da, but now even that is more distinct when he says it and he can say Karyl...yeah, that's right, no Ma-Ma but Daddy and Karyl have earned a top spot in his newly forming vocabulary!! No crawling yet, but he does have his 2 bottom teeth (yay!!) and is getting closer and closer to crawling every day!!

Karyl is growing right before our eyes too...since the cooler weather is upon us we have started pulling out the jeans and long sleeve shirts from last year (she has lots of them that she got for her 2nd birthday) and lots of that stuff was kind of big back then....All the pants that were too long are the perfect length now (she's grown at least 3 inches) but they are still too big around the middle...this girl is a tall and skinny beauty!! She has also grown like 2 shoe sizes since then, but with her momma having such large feet we were kind of expecting that!! She turns 3 in six days and we can't wait to see what this new age brings us (other than the already apparent "Princess" attitude and the ability to negotiate effectively...well, with Grandpa at least).

Also, tomorrow Greg and I are celebrating our 4th Wedding Anniversary...can you believe how fast the time flies??

American...nope, I'm Canadian....

I used to be proud to be an American, but as of today I am seriously considering introducing myself as a Canadian to any foreigner I might meet. Why you ask?? Because I don't want anyone to think that I might have had anything to do with voting someone like Barack Obama to be our president!! I didn't vote for him and as every new day passes I am more and more proud of my decision to vote against him!!

I know, you're wondering why the shame for our Country all of a sudden??? I saw the headlines this morning, apparently they are handing out Nobel Peace Prizes now based on what you promise to do, not whether or not you actually accomplish anything. That's right, Mr. Obama is the newest Nobel Peace Prize Winner....*shaking my head in disbelief*

So here's my question...if I promise to halt global warming, stop war around the world and stop racism can I have a Nobel Peace Prize?? I mean, apparently, you don't have to make good on what you say...you just have to TELL everyone you're going to change the world.

The only reason I am writing about this on the blog is because when we make this in to a book for our family to keep as a "diary" of sorts, I want to be able to look back and say "ah, so THAT was the day I officially decided that the world had lost its mind."

Poo Poo Party!!!

YAY!!! For the past few weeks we have been trying to get Karyl to use the toilet...and this morning I took her to the bathroom and put her on the toilet and told her to sit there (nicely of course) until she put something in the toilet. I gave her some toys and water and a few minutes later I went back to check and there was poop in the toilet!!!

We clapped, and high fived and she got to put a bunch of stickers on the wall chart!! Now...let's see if we can do it again, maybe on her own this time??

How many more days??

OK, so I just looked at the countdown for New Moon and did anyone else get excited when they noticed it is now LESS THAN 50 days away???? I can't wait!!

Karyl craked us up again today....when she makes a mess I will ask her to pick up her toys and she will say "mommy, you help me" and most of the time I will say "No, you got them out now you pick them up." Well, today she was with grandma B and she asked her to get the puzzles down to play with, then apparently she got sidetracked and started playing with something else. Then, Grandma B asked her to pick up the puzzles and Karyl looked at her and said "you got them out, you put them away." And, well, grandma B realized that she HAD gotten them down for her and logically, her answer made sense....although it was slightly disrespectful, luckily grandma B has a good sense of humor and just picked them up and laughed it off.

On the plus side, this means she is listening to me and understands what I'm saying when I tell her to clean up...now to just get her to actually do what I tell her....

Marvelous Monday and Fuzzy Freddie

This morning I got a text message from Greg's cousin, Jennifer, saying that she was going to be at Disneyland...so what did I do?? I packed up the kids and headed over to say hi!!!

We met Jennifer and her friend, and we rode the Holiday themed Haunted Mansion, and we were even able to get Karyl on it and for her to enjoy it!! She used to be afraid of it and for the last year refused to ride on it, but we've got her back on the wagon and she LOVED the pumpkins and the other decorations!!

Here are a few cute pictures from this morning...Freddie was such a trooper!!!

Jennifer and her friend on Haunted Mansion....

Freddie and me enjoying the air conditioning on the ride!!!

Karyl super excited to get on the ride and see all the pumpkins and deocrations!!

And here are some pictures of Freddie from yesterday...with his buzzed (fuzzy) head. He looks super cute, right?!?!

He looks so much better with all the Steri-Strips off!! I finally pulled them off yesterday morning during his bath, he just looks a little more normal with them off.

And this picture is for Auntie Kendra....

Between this picture and the one above you get a pretty good idea of what he looks like sans Steri-Strips!! You can see him in person on Thursday =)

Oh those kids....

Here are some cute pictures from this afternoon of Karyl and Uncle David...they drew all over the sidewalk with chalk and danced around. Uncle David even showed Karyl how to make it "rain ice." They took the crushed ice from the fridge and continually threw it up in the air....great...

Anyways, 2 cute pictures of Karyl and David...

Then here are 3 pics of Freddie with his head buzzed. It's amazing how fast this kid's hair grows back. I didn't touch where they shaved his head for the surgery and I can't believe how fast that grew back!! These are also good pics of his scar...all the dried stuff is starting to come off and the Steri-Strips are slowly working their way off. The scars on the side of his head look awesome!!

I know you're wondering so I'll tell you...the orange-ish looking stuff on the front of his head is the stuff from the surgery...it's fading, but there's no easy way to get it off...so we are aware it's there and looks silly!!

And look at those killer blue eyes!!! Blond hair and blue eyes...what a babe he's going to be!!

Lowe's Project

This morning we headed to Lowe's for our twice monthly project. This week it was a Firetruck and they even had the real thing there for the kids to see after they made their trucks!! Karyl still isn't brave enough to climb up on the truck, but she did let the firemen get close enough to take a picture with her!!

Also, if you notice in the background the Corona Firetrucks are white...we always wondered why and I found out today. Apparently years ago they thought they would be more visible but they have discovered that the color really doesn't make a difference, so they are going back to the traditional red for all their new engines.

Who says you can't learn something new every day??

This morning the boys (men) are pouring the RV access/side driveway. Here is the picture of them putting all the stuff down for the bottom layer. In case you're wondering there are 5 guys out there right now sweating in the sun and laughing a little too hard...Greg and my brother, Uncle Misi and the Elders...those poor Elders had no idea what they were in for!!


And this is just a cute picture of Daddy and Freddie from Thursday night...I shaved his head yesterday, so when I get a picture of it with the camera I'll put it up...he looks really good with only a little bit of hair =)

Updates on the boys (and men)...

This morning I took Freddie to see the Neurosurgeon to check on his head and he said he looks great!! He and his PA even started peeling some of the Steri-Strips off and cleaning off the incision (Freddie wasn't too happy about it but he managed!!). The doctor said that it looks like he won't need to wear a helmet to help shape anything and that we caught it just in time because his brain is already taking advantage of the extra growing room!! Originally the piece of his skull they took out was about as wide as a finger...now the space has grown to almost 3 times that size (that's a good thing!!). His brain is growing and expanding and there won't be any long term consequences from the original problem!! He has had no more swelling since the day we brought him home and as far as his personality is concerned he has no idea what happened!! he even broke 2 teeth on Monday that look so darn cute!!

When we left the Dr.'s office they had said that usually kids who have surgery get to pick a toy, but since he was so small Karyl could pick one. They had a room full of toys..not just plastic Dentist's office toys, but real toys!! I suggested Karyl get the CandyLand game since Freddie could play it when he got older too...and luckily I kept her from seeing the 3-1/2 foot Cinderella doll that was perched against the wall, otherwise she would have taken that, I'm positive!!

So, we go back in 3 months to have everything checked, but otherwise he's great!! In 1% of kids the bone grows over in a month so we have to keep an eye out to make sure the spot doesn't close up, but it's been a week and with all the expansion his brain is doing I can't imagine it closing that fast!!

Thanks again to everyone for the prayers and well wishes...you made a difference, we wouldn't have had such a great outcome without you!!

Here are a few pictures of Freddie and of what the boys are working on today since it's Greg's day off...

If you look really closely at the picture above you can see his bottom tooth...

And below...look at how sweet he looks when he's sleeping...

The big question was how do you move a 30 year old air-conditioning unit to cement underneath it without it falling apart...of course Misi had an answer....

And this is what the boys were up to 2 Saturdays ago...apparently sidewalk chalk isn't just for the kids anymore....only my brother would dare to write all over our wall in the backyard

Sometimes I wonder if the boys have a little too much fun working out there.....

Our little champ...

We are home!! The surgery was a complete success, thanks to all of your prayers and calls to the Temples and your happy thoughts. Fredrick is doing amazing and is getting better every day!

The doctors and nurses at CHOC were absolutely amazing...I can't say enough about how wonderful they all were. Those nurses are what I would imagine angels to be like, with neverending patience and unconditional love for all those children.

Here they are at 6am Thursday morning heading to the hospital to start our adventure

Let's start out with the before and after shots...

in the first picture you can see how the back of his head sloped down and he had almost a point on the back of his head...

And after...the back of his head is flat!!!!!

Some last minute snuggles before they took him back for surgery...he had fallen asleep in Greg's arms...he never sleeps in our arms

This is him a few hours after the surgery...he did lots of sleeping that first day which made for a few great chances to cuddle with him on our laps. It was much easier though once that nasty drain was out!!!

Here he is on Friday...day 2 with the drain out and just sleeping so peacefully!!

Here he is on Friday, acting just like good ol' Freddie playing with his foot

Can you believe this, not even 48 hours after having his head split open from ear to ear and his skull cut apart he's making faces at us and just being sweet!!

I know, this one looks a little somber, but you can see his beautiful blue eyes!!

And just so you don't think he made it through completely unscathed, here is a pic of him Saturday morning when the swelling started...he woke up with his right eye almost swollen shut and his head looking kinda lopsided, but that was the worst of it. Both of his eyes were supposed to swell shut, so he did really well!!

He's been home for 2 nights now, and while he isn't back to sleeping completely through the night yet, he's only waking up once and that's probably because we have him sleeping in the swing and bouncy chair to keep him from swelling. He looks amazing and with his hat on you'd never even know he had surgery!!

Thank you again to all of you for your prayers, he would have never made it out of this surgery so well without all your love and support. All of the doctors and nurses that came by thought he had been in there for a week because he looked so great. He really was a champ and we know it was because of all the love and prayers.

We will keep you updated as the time goes on and he heals.

Google it....

Craniosynostosis

Freddie has it, the surgery is on Thursday to fix it.

It's late and I don't have the energy to sit here and explain what it is and all of that, I'm sorry. I had a long and exhausting day at the CHOC Medical Center in Orange and it has been a roller coaster ride for my emotions all day.

Go ahead, Google it....I'll write more tomorrow, or whenever I feel up to it...Good Night.

It's been a while...

I know, it's been a while....but I have some time now to sit and relax (and not work) so I am going to try and get caught up on all the blogging I missed in the past 2 weeks. As most of you are aware, I had to have my gallbladder out last Friday morning so I have been lying low since then but today is looking to be a good day and I think the turning point as far as my recovery goes. This morning I have only taken 3 ibuprofens as opposed to the stronger stuff, and I was able to lift Freddie out of his bed about 10 minutes ago, change his diaper and put him in his bouncer...all without straining anything!!

While I was changing Freddie Karyl was having fun playing with him and making him laugh, so here are some pictures of him.

Look at those eyes...I like to call them "heart-break blue"

Oh, and Freddie talks now =) He babbles, but also says "Da-Da"!! Yay!!! Now Greg and I are one for one in the first words department!!

We also took Freddie for his 6 month check-up and here are his chart-topping stats:
Weight: 21.5 pounds
Height: 27.5 inches

Apparently he is the largest baby they've seen as far as weight and height ever in that office...and thankfully he's considered perfectly healthy!! The doctor again congratulated me on how well I was feeding him and taking care of him and encouraged me to keeo doing what I was doing. I really appreciated the boost of confidence from the doctor, it made me feel like I was doing everything just right for him!!

Oh, and so Karyl doesn't get left without representation, she had to go to the doctor's too (this has been a week for medical problems...) and after weighing her we discovered she comes in at a very sturdy 31.5 pounds!! I can't believe how big she is getting!!