Jumping from the box to the couch

Hats

The girls needed hats this morning.




And yeah, Elizabeth really hates to have her picture taken.

New Shoes

Rachel couldn't resist getting Elizabeth some new shoes at the Garage Sale.

Marine World

Rachel has her Twins Club Garage Sale this weekend, so I skipped work and got to spend the day with Parker, a rare treat. In order to make the most of it, we drove half an hour up the road to Marine World in Vallejo, which is now Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. I'd called it Marine World in the car, and I didn't see the point of trying to explain a new name to Parker. We had a great time.

There were two main kids zones, both branded to the hilt. The first is the Loony Tunes zone, and the second is the Thomas The Train zone. He doesn't know any of the Loony Tunes characters, and he was only mildly impressed with Thomas. The various park employees walking around in giant Bugs and Daffy outfits didn't even register.

We started with a balloon ride that was basically a teacups ride with vertical element. He was a little unsure at first, but was giggling uncontrollably in no time as we spun round and round.



Then we headed over to ride Thomas the Train. I tried to get Parker to notice the Big Thomas at the entrance to that zone, and it didn't register until we were basically right up next to it, and then he was sort of weirded out by it, and didn't want to get any closer.



He warmed up, though, and gave me what could have been a perfect picture, if not for his habit of putting his fingers in his mouth, any finger at all.



We of course had to go ride Thomas himself, which was a 5 minute trainride past various characters from the show. (Parker has never seen the show, but must have a dozen of the different train characters.)



Parker was hot to ride a roller coaster, and the Loony Tunes zone was happy to oblige. I tried to get some video but had some camera issues.



We had a lunch of PB&J & fries on the water.



We saw some sea lions, and fed them three fish. A big fat sea lion caught one of Parker's throws on the fly, which was pretty fun for him.



The big hit of the day was an enclosed room filled with thousands of foam balls, and endless machinery for playing with them, such as cannons that would shoot the balls across the room, tubes that would suck them up and spit them out, tubes that would emit air with just enough force to balance a ball three inches mid air, etc. All with a fish theme and a Wagner soundtrack, and about 20 kids under 54 inches tall going absolutely apeshit. We spend about an hour there, across two visits.




Late in the day we mellowed out in the Bugs Bunny playgound.



And finally we rode the elephant on the Merry Go Round before heading home.



He was a prince all day, and zonked out happy and exhausted at bedtime tonight. Dad, too.

Obligatory Little Farm Pics

Went to Little Farm with Ebba and her gals today. Of course, Elizabeth was fearless and basically let the giant animals lick her as she fed them. Miranda was not as happy about the whole thing and Parker was somewhere in the middle, wanting to feed them, but then asking "Mommy to do it." Allison seemed to enjoy the animals as much as Elizabeth.

Fiona was downright terrified of the beasties and spent the bulk of the time clinging to mommy or hiding between her legs.

Everyone Loves Marble Game

Trying on clothes

The girls love to try on clothes. Any clothes. Any way. Underwear on their heads. Socks on their hands. Hats on their dolls.

I suppose I need to stop leaving my bra around the house.

Yoga in the Kitchen

Now, we're in trouble.

Elizabeth took over off her zipped up pajamas completely on her own and then took off her poopy diaper, pointed at it and said, "poop!".

After I cleaned her up, she put on Parker's underwear.

Great. Just great.

Reading with Dad

Sometimes the girls walk up to us holding a book and demand that it be read to them. It doesn't matter if we are sitting on the toilet, taking a nap on the couch, cooking in the kitchen or getting another child dressed. The book must be read. Dad is much nicer than I am about actually obliging.

Making Cookies with Dad

I got some chocolate chips yesterday since I've been meaning to make cookies for a long time now. Michael beat me to the punch and made some today while I was napping. I got there in time to see the kids licking the "spoon" (aka KitchenAid mixer attachment). Miranda was a bit hesitant at first, but then she understood the situation completely.

Blood vs Numbers

This morning I went to get some blood taken* and I took Parker with me as I saw it as an educational opportunity. I explained what was going to happen, told him it wouldn't hurt, but it wouldn't be fun and that he could watch it all. He didn't seem to care too much about any of it until he saw the Take a Number machine at Kaiser. Each time it changed from one number to the next, he exclaimed with complete joy, "NOW IT SAYS 9!" "NOW IT SAYS 10!" He was quite upset when it didn't change to 11 fast enough. When we got called in, he was more interested in pushing my chair back and forth than watching the blood pour out of me. And when we were done, he was more interested in running down the tunnel under the street than talking about what had happened. Oh well.


*I had some blood test for anemia and thyroid issues because over the last 8 weeks or so, despite eating better and exercising three times a week, I've gained about 10 pounds. Also, for about the last 4 weeks, I've felt incredibly nauseous and run down. Since those symptoms are all too familiar we ruled out the possibility of a medical miracle by taking a pregnancy test. Michael said before I took the test, "God, I hope you have some life threatening illness or something." I see the doctor on Friday so hopefully he'll provide some explanation that doesn't involve more babies coming out of me.

Parker and Mommy Day

As I do on Fridays, I spent the day with just Parker today. Michael and I are having a date night so my goal was to keep him awake all day and tire him out plenty (since he has been going to bed later and later, but getting up at the same time.) So we first went to the bank, where he basically took money out of the ATM on his own. Put the card in, pressed my PIN code, typed in the amount of money for the sitter, took the card out and took the money out. All on his own.

Then we went to swim class where he swam with a floaty pole thing under his armpits without assistance today. He had to get this toy just by kicking and he got it. It was the first bit of improvement I've seen in 6 weeks. (I just signed up all three kids for June. God help me.)

Then we went to Pixieland, a rinky dink little amusement park in Concord. And when I say little. I mean little. Like the size of a small parking lot with only 7 rides. And the funny thing was, it was still damn expensive! Unfortunately, he wasn't tall enough to go on two of the rides alone (roller coaster and tea cups), so I went with him on coaster. Boy, does he sure love the roller coasters. He screams going down on the hills and turns like a true Long. But I would have rather died then go on the tea cups, so I go up to this man standing in line with what looked like 3 year old son and said, Excuse me. Are you going on this ride? (yes). Can my son go with you? (sure). Great, his name is Parker. Have fun! Parker didn't mind.

He did the airplanes and finally understood the lever that makes the plane go up and down. He is usually the loser kid going around and around at the bottom so it was nice to see him up high. He also enjoyed the cars (like at disney land that go around on their own.) I couldn't hear him, but it seemed like he was narrating the ride. "And now I see a tree. And another car. And some grass. And a 54." He also liked the Frog Hopper, which was a drop ride that they just sit in. Thank god adults weren't allowed on that. I couldn't help but think of the kid that got her foot cut off by one of these rides last summer at Great America.

Then the obligatory train around the park ride where we saw lots of ducks. More airplanes, and cars, and drop ride and then we were done.

With another hour or so before we could go home (girls freak out when I come home and I can't leave again without massive hysteria), I called Michael for the location of the nearest Playplace and he did not disappoint. We stayed there for a while and then did some shopping at Trader Joes where Parker asked the cashier nicely for a White Balloon Please.

And finally home.

Parker sure does love these days. They are ending come July. I figured he didn't need more non baby time when he was in preschool and with a vacation and preschool camp planned in July, I might as well, stop them then. I'll sure miss them since hanging with one child who can pretty much entertain himself and doesn't whine every second of the day is a real joy and luxury.

No pics today. Forgot the camera.

Brain Cloud and Pinwheels

I took the kids to fairyland today. Mostly because it was close (or closer than Lawrence Hall of Science) and the weather was pretty nice. The kids behaved pretty well, but it was hot and windy and there were lots of schools on field trips, something I loathe. In any case...after a couple hours there we went back to the car. Since it was hot, I started the car and turned up the AC. Then I started loading up kids. Each was holding the pinwheel that I had bought them. I put the bags in the car and was about to put the stroller in the car when I looked down and discovered my keys were missing. I wear my keys around my neck since this has been the only strategy in not losing them that has worked over the years (My lanyard is from the Berkeley YMCA where I taught aerobics back in 1999). But no keys. I'm pissed. We had parked far from the entrance, so the thought of unloading everyone and heading back there was really really unpleasant. And since I had already cut it close on naps, this was not good.

Then I realized that the car was open and the keys were in the ignition where I had put them just moments before. Man, I'm losing it.

The kids played with the pinwheels sticking them in and out of the windows until we got on the freeway when I closed the windows. When we arrived home, I saw a sad night. Miranda pinwheel has come off the stick and it must have flown out the window. All she had left was stick. I even asked her, "Did your pinwheel fly out the window?" "Yesh," she said. She didn't actually seem to mind and played with the stick before lunch.

Then right before Parker went down for his nap, Parker said sadly, "Miranda's pinwheel flew away." Yup, yup, it did.

SLR

Amity, Mac and Emily came over today. They are moving to Virgina in June (Hubby got transferred there) so I won't get to see them that much longer which is really, really sad.

She brought her fancy new SLR (no idea what that means) Nikon camera with her and it takes the most amazing pics. I didn't think there would be such a difference, but there really is. It's like the difference between regular and HD TV...something else I didn't believe until I saw it.

I mean, jeez, look at Miranda's eyes in the last shot. Come on!