A Ride on Thomas the Train

Thomas the Tank Engine came to town and since Kaitlyn is in love with trains of any sort, but particularly Thomas, then of course we had to get tickets. It's one of those things you get sucked into doing for your kids (at least once) even though you know it's overpriced and will probably be a letdown in the end. I also have to say that we have THE WORST luck with weather this year. It rained while we were in Disneyland. It rained while Sam and I were in Vegas. And once again, it was a rainy overcast day today. Anyway...

Kaitlyn could not contain her excitement this morning when we told her we were going. When she is excited she asks every 2 minutes how soon we can leave, so we wisely waited until today to tell her the plan. And of course she was very anxious to get going. It's so much fun to watch her enthusiasm for things.

We did the mini petting zoo (they only had miniature horses and donkeys), saw the Lego train set up, got temporary tatoos, and got balloon animals for the kids. Then it was our turn on the train. The kids had fun with that for a few minutes but I think Kaitlyn got bored. And Tyler, who had refused to take his morning nap as scheduled, fell asleep.

After we got off the train, Sam quickly got tired of carrying the sleeping (and heavy) Ty. So we cut our time there short, before we had a chance to get a picture with Thomas or Sir Topham Hat. But we did make it out of there before it really started raining on us.

Kaitlyn's favorite part? The gift shop! :) She wanted to go in that tent from the minute we got there and had a wonderful time wandering around and picking out a toy for herself and her brother.

9 years...we deserve the weekend in Vegas

It was our anniversary this week (the 22nd). We have now been married 9 years (wow, that long?). To celebrate we did absolutely nothing on the 22nd since Sam decided to be a work-a-holic this week. But on the weekend we headed to Las Vegas. Just us for 3 days. (thanks Mom and Dad for taking the kids. I know they had a blast.) It was so great. We tried to take advantage of the whole Vegas experience.
-We went to the huge buffet at the Rio. Their dessert bar is ...completely decadent.
-We rode the roller coaster on the top of New York, New York. As far as coasters go, I'd say that one ranks right up there for thrills.






-We saw the Tournament of Kings, (at the Excalibur) which was a lot of fun. Where else do you get to eat with your fingers and cheer for your favorite knight? And they put on a really great show.
This is us in one of those cheesy, hold the camera out and snap the shot of ourselves photos that I decided we needed to commemorate the experience.



-We did some shopping. Quite a bit of shopping actually. I think our favorite place was M&M World. We had to go back the second day to pick up gifts for the kids. And Sharon - Sam says this photo is for you :)





-We walked up and down the strip countless times and spent an hour in front of the Bellagio waiting for the fountain shows. I think we saw 4 different ones in that amount of time. The combination of talent and artistry that must have gone into developing them is amazing.



-And we did a bit of gambling, of course. I didn't have any luck but Sam got on a roll with the video Blackjack and we figure we came out $20 ahead in the end.

We didn't really want to come back to reality today and are already planning our next trip. But we have tickets to ride Thomas the Train with the kids tomorrow...and we really did miss those kiddos.

Beautiful Dancer

Kaitlyn's dance recital was last week (May 7). She did great and looked so cute up there on the stage. She wasn't scared a bit and she knew all the dances really well.

Getting ready for the recital was a lot of hard work, since my mom teaches Katy's dance class and I ended up in charge of the recital. Mom and I sewed the skirts, and I put the rhinestones on the leotards and made the hair bows. Then there was the photos, and scheduling the hall, and setting up the chairs and decorations and...phew! I have to say, I'm glad it's over. But it was worth it.

Kaitlyn, Sydney, Katie, Lindi

(2 of the girls in her class couldn't make it to the photo shoot)

Kaitlyn's New Pet

Kaitlyn had been asking for a pet so one Sunday we took her to the pet store to get a Beta fish. She was so excited and couldn't wait to get it home and set the tank up. She named her fish Raina (one of the characters from the Barbie Pegasus movie). Kaitlyn couldn't wait to take care of her fish. We designated bedtime as feeding time and the first 2 nights Kaitlyn went to bed a whole hour early just so she could feed her fish. The first morning after we got Raina, Kaitlyn asked me "do you think she wants to watch Nemo or Shark Tale?" She decided Raina would like Nemo, so she set up the portable DVD player on her dresser and watched the movie with her.

Easter 2008

Kaitlyn has been very concerned how the Easter Bunny would hide eggs in the snow, but he did it! The kids loved decorating eggs on Saturday. And Sunday morning they had fun exploring their Easter baskets, then going outside to search for eggs. Kaitlyn ran all over the yard picking up eggs. By the end of it she was having more fun running that finding the eggs! Tyler of course didn't get the concept, though he did put a few eggs in his basket most of the time he just enjoyed wandering around outside. Inside, Kaitlyn emptied all the eggs to discover what was in them. And Tyler stuffed his mouth with chocolate!

It was such a nice afternoon that we pulled out our rollerblades (for the first time in at least 7 years - scary!) so we could keep up with Kaitlyn as she tried out her new scooter.

Tyler Eats With A Spoon!

One more milestone for Tyler - he has learned how to use a spoon to feed himself. I just can't believe how big he is getting. He's a toddler now, not our little baby.

A Day at the Children's Museum

We took the kids to the Discovery Gateway for the first time. All I can say is wow, that place is designed for kids to play, play, play. Kaitlyn's favorites were the grocery store cash register and the water table. I think Tyler liked the cars/motorcycle the best. The only drawback is that the kids want to play much longer than the adults are interested in it. So next time we'll go on a day that isn't very busy and I'll just sit down somewhere with my book and let the kids have at it!