Raising Our 3 Sons

This is a blog about raising three boys in Northern Idaho, from the perspective of a Mom and a Dad, with occasional posts from the boys themselves.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Disneyland Adventure - Day 6 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAZLOW!

Today Mazlow turned 1 and we celebrated with SUGAR! The kids don't eat a whole lot of sugar at home, so today we made up for every ounce of sugar they've missed out on. To celebrate our little angels first birthday we started off with a big birthday breakfast at The Plaza Inn (Home of the happiest Birthday Party on Earth). Mazzy got to eat Mickey Mouse shaped waffles and got loves from all kinds of Disney characters.

It rained during the day at bit (and we all got pretty wet), so we didn't ride too many rides. Mazzy's favorites ride so far is the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters - so we rode that about 6 times. We had a running contest going to see who could get the highest score.

For Lunch, we decided we hadn't had enough sugar yet, and booked a Birthday Party for Mazzy and all of us at the Golden Horseshoe Review, complete with a "make your own cake" activity for each person and a show with Mickey and Minnie. With the all the rain, Mazzy was chilly, so we bought him a Coonskin Cap (ala Davey Crocket) to keep his head cozzy. So for the party our little birthday boy was wearing his Coonskin Cap along with a Mickey Mouse birthday hat - but that's not all he was wearing! The tradition in our family is to let the one-year old feed himself his own first birthday cake. So on top of his cute outfit - - Mazlow was WEARING the frosting from his cake (from head to toe). What fun!

Once we got him cleaned-up we rode a few rides, including taking the train for a tour of the park. In the evening, we headed to Goofy's Kitchen for Dinner with Goofy and his pals. It was SO cool. The Mad Hatter joined us and made Ryder and Landin feel just as special as Mazzy with a special round of "Very Merry Unbirthday" for each of them. The food was amazing at Goofy's, especially the dessert bar. So once again, we found ourselves sugared-up and rearing to go.

After dinner the kids got their second wind, and decided to make up for all the rides that we hadn't gone on during the day. Mazzy partied it up on his big day - holding out from sleep until 11pm.

Happy Happy Happy Birthday Mazzy Baby!!

Disneyland Adventure - Day 5





Day 5 of our adventure we split between the two parks. We spent the morning at Disneyland, with the kids super excited to show Oma and Papa T all the cool things they had discovered. The afternoon we spent at California Adventures, where we rode the best rides (California Screaming and Soaring over California) a few more times.

We had a spectacular lunch at Ariel's Grotto with Princess Ariel and 4 of her Princess friends (Mulan, Bell, Arora, and Princess Jasmine). Mazzy was totally into the Princesses at lunch, smiling and drooling - - he got a ton of attention from them. For lunch the kids ordered fish sticks (scandalous given Ariel's best friend is a fish), but they were really tasty and came served up in a sand pail (clean of course) stuffed with French fries, accompanied by a matching shovel which was used to hold a scoop of Ketchup. Rather ingenious.

While we were at California Adventures, we ran into some of my personal favorite Disney characters - The Incredibles!! Mr. and Mrs. Incredible wanted to take Mazzy home with them (mistook him for Baby Jack Jack I suppose). Good thing we had a super grip on him.

We also saw Mickey Mouse on vacation (you could tell by his hip clothes) at California Adventures. Landin got his autograph, but with all those Princesses he had sign his book at lunch on top of the characters he met at breakfast yesterday morning, there were no pages left for Mickey to sign - - so Landin let him sign the title page (after all he was the Mouse that started it all).

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Disneyland Adventure - A Night at Medieval Times








Tonight we left Disneyland early to go see some jousting at Medieval Times. We met my Dad (who the kids call Duke) and his wife Kathy at the Medieval Times Castle near Disneyland.

When we first got to the show, they assign you a knight to cheer for - - we were given the "black & white" knight to call our own. So we donned our black & white crowns and entered the castle. Upon entering, we were met by the Princess (who Landin took a very Prom-like picture with). After that we were escorted to the bar, where we all partook in some frosty drinks (kids got virgin strawberry daiquiris in cups with flashing lights on the bottom). With our drinks in hand, we proceeded to the gift shop, where we dressed the kids for the occasion in knight costumes (complete with swords) after which they proceeded to sword fight for the duration of the evening.

The idea at Medieval Times is to cheer, yell, and scream, as loud as you can to encourage your knight to win (and your waitress to bring the food and drinks). There were 5 other knights besides ours, but in the end only one would be victorious.

We had AWESOME seats in the very front row, and the kids totally got into the show. When our knight came out onto the field for the first time and was introduced to the crowd (in an introduction worthy of the NFL or NBA), our kids were screaming and yelling for him. (By the way - - he looked just like Kid Rock!)

Our party was Brice and myself, the three boys, and my Dad and Kathy, and we were pretty darn loud. And all that energy paid off – YES – Our Black & White Knight WON THE TOURNAMENT!!!

When he won, the kids lost their minds… it was a great show and an awesome experience. The kids haven’t stopped talking about it. After the show, we got our picture taken with the royal family, and the boys posed for pictures with our victorious Black & White knight.

Disneyland Adventure - Day 4




We started Day 4 of the adventure off right, with some Mickey Mouse shaped Pancakes!

Brice went to LAX to pick his parents up from the airport, so the boys and I headed to Disneyland on our own. It was a beautiful sunny day, so we took advantage of the warm sun and rode SPLASH MOUNTAIN. It's a darn good thing it was so sunny... cause we got soaked!

Ryder was super brave and went on Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, and the Matterhorn! (He's so trusting - -He'll try anything once) However, of all the rides, he said the Haunted House was the scariest ("cause it has really real ghosts").

In the afternoon, we met Dad and the grandparents (Oma and Papa T) at the Disney Grand California Hotel for lunch. While we were waiting I told the kids they could dip their feet in the pool if they wanted. They carefully removed their shoes and socks and sat on the steps of the pool swinging thier feet in the water. Then Ryder decided that just wasn't good enough - - so he jumped in. Ah, to be young again.

Disneyland Adventure - Day 3



Day 3 was all about California Adventures!

We rode most of the rides in the second park and watched most of the shows.

The kids are loving the new park, especially Landin. His favorite ride so far is "California Screaming" - the super fast roller coaster where you "go upside down around the Mickey Mouse face."

Mazlow loved the Brother Bear show, and had a blast crawling around the Brother Bear ropes course.

Ryder's favorite today was the Muppets 3D show (which had him laughing hysterically), and the "Soaring over California" ride (a virtual reality IMAX-like experience where it feels like you are hang gliding, soaring over all the major landmarks in California... really incredible!).

The kids were all totally into the California Adventures Block Party Parade, which included Disney Pixar characters from Toy Story, Bugs Life, Incredibles, and Monsters Inc. The parade had lots of dancing and singing and gymnastics tricks, that had the kids rocking out on the street!

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Disneyland Adventure - Day 2




What a day! Our Day-2 adventure started with "early admittance" to Toon Town with some special passes we got from our travel package. Getting in early gave the kids the chance to watch a special show at Toon Town Hall with Mickey and friends, and we were all deemed Honorary Toon Town Citizens for the day!

The second highlight of day-2 was our breakfast at the Plaza Inn on Mainstreet with characters like Captain Hook, Tiger, Eeyore, Chip & Dale, Minnie Mouse, The Fairy Godmother, Pluto and Goofy.

We spent the second half of the day at Disney's California Adventure, where the highlight had to be the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The kids rode it twice - and even though it was "really scary" they loved it!!

Off to day 3!

Sunday, March 12, 2006


Mazzy in his Golden Ears Posted by Picasa


Ryder in the TeaCup with his Golden Ears Posted by Picasa


Landin in front of the Castle with his Golden Ears Posted by Picasa


Mazlow thinks Buzz is OUT OF THIS WORLD! Posted by Picasa

The Family at Disneyland Main Gate

We started the day riding the Astro Orbitor, followed by breakfast at "Club Buzz". While we ate our french toast, Buzz Lightyear came by and the kids took pictures with him and got his autograph. Next we drove the Autopia cars. Ryder was SO excited to "drive my own self" (he got to stear on his own, while I pushed the on the gas) and Landin was really proud that he got to drive the car all by himself. We proceeded to ride the new Buzz Lightyear ride "ASTRO BLASTERS," which is really cool, and then rode StarTours (twice). We ate lunch at Pinocchio's Village Haus, and then rode the Snow White ride (which the kids thought was super scarey). Then we did the Dumbo ride (Landin got the GOLD DUMBO!), Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, It's A Small World, Teacups, the Jungle Cruise, and Indiana Jones. We had dinner at Redd Rockett's Pizza Port, and then made our way to the parade route to reserve a spot for the "Parade of Dreams."

The kids had a blast and can't wait for Day-2 of the adventure!

Disneyland Adventure - Day 1


Today was the first day of our Disney Adventure - - And the Magic Kingdom lived up to the hype we had dished to the kids. They were all three in awe of the whole place, the characters, the rides, the parade.

The highlight of the day had to be the Sword & The Stone show where Merlin selected Ryder from the audience to pull the sword from the stone - - upon which, he was deemed KING! He received a medal and a proclamation of his temporary role as King. (Landin was SO JEALOUS!)

Friday, March 10, 2006

The morning Mazlow was born...


We all lined up to Welcome him!

Mazlow will be ONE-YEAR OLD this St. Patrick’s Day!











My, how time flies!

It seems like just yesterday I was pregnant with Mazlow, living in California, with a workaholic hubby.

Look how far we’ve all come. Mazlow is turning ONE in a few days, growing-up in Idaho and is a total Daddy’s-Boy with Brice spending more time with him than anyone else.

It's hard to believe we've had Mazlow one year - and at the same time, it's even harder to remember our family without him.

Here are some pictures to remind us of the days before Mazlow was born, and the precious first days after his grand arrival.

www.LandinPlaysSoccer.com







Our oldest son, Landin, is a socceraholic. He LOVES to play the game.

He attended his first soccer game when he was 5-days old (just home from the hospital, I took him to see Brice, playing for SJSU at the time, in a game at Spartan Stadium). His favorite toy has always been a soccer ball. He can be found dribbling the ball around the house, and can be heard shooting the ball against the wall (even though he knows he’s not supposed to). At school, he plays soccer every single recess (even in the snow). This year will be his 4th playing team soccer through various city leagues, and he’s hoping for a chance to try out for the Junior Strikers (a local competitive team), where he would have to play-up with the Under-10 group to participate.

I have a letter, written by Landin, hanging in my office that says, “When I grow-up, and become a professional soccer player, and make my first million, I promise to buy my Mom and Dad a Yacht.” He signed his name at the bottom of the letter. I’m not sure if it’s a legal document or not (it is written in orange crayon), but I plan to hold him to that.

So anyway, I just purchased the URL: http://www.landinplayssoccer.com/ for our little budding soccer star. So when he’s famous, you can all say you knew him way back when… and can follow his ascent to stardom on his very own soccer-focused web site. That is, as soon as I get my act together and get anything posted there.

In the meantime, just start saving anything that has his autograph on it… just might be worth something someday!

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Ryder's "Quite time" with an ORANGE MARKER...



This morning, when Brice was dropping Landin off at school, Ryder spent some time downstairs entertaining himself. Let me translate what this means for all of you who don't have children... Ryder was ALONE, QUITE, for an extended period of time. We should have known something was up!

So when Brice comes in the door, I hear him yell, "What the heck happened to you!?"

To which Ryder responds innocently, "nothing."

Turns out those few quite minutes Ryder had to himself downstairs were spent being "artistic"...

Ryder commandeered the Orange Marker from our Disneyland Countdown poster and proceeded to color his face like a little Indian!

Aren't kids cute???