The Second Story Window...

I had one of those moments today. Those Mom moments, when your whole world comes screeching to a halt – and everything going on in your busy day, that you thought was so important it couldn’t possibly wait, is instantly not important at all. It’s not important because the ONLY THING that IS important during one of those Mom moments is that your babies are okay. When one of your children is seriously hurt or is in dire trouble every sensor in your body goes off. Every sweat gland is working overtime. Adrenalin pumps through your system giving you that super power to do whatever it takes to make it all okay. No Mom wishes for these kind of moments.

Mine, today, had a happy ending. But it just as easily could have gone the other way.

This afternoon, while playing quietly in his room upstairs, Ryder fell out of his second story window and hit the ground below.

WHAT!?! WHAT KIND OF MOM ALLOWS SOMETHING LIKE THIS TO HAPPEN TO ONE OF HER BABIES!??!!

I feel awful, and have already run out to Home Depot to get all the available window and screen locks to prevent something like this from being “easy” to do again. We’ve talked to both Landin and Ryder a thousand times about the dangers of playing next to the window. We have casement windows in their bedroom, and we even removed the handles and put them on a shelf so the kids couldn’t get to them. But kids are smart. Smart enough to watch where we put the handles, go and get them when we are not looking, and re-install them.

Here is how it happened:
We are working hard on potty training Ryder, so today he spent the morning at home in the nude. The theory is, no clothing makes it easier to run to the bathroom when needed, and not having a diaper there makes the child more aware of an impending accident. So, Ryder is playing quietly (naked) in his bedroom, and Brice runs downstairs to help out a furniture repair person who is working on our couch in our garage. He left Ryder alone in his room for maybe 10 minutes. No big deal right? WRONG.

I was sitting at my desk, typing an email, when I heard the faint sound of crying outside. “Humm?” I thought to myself, “who is crying outside?” My first thought was that the furniture repair lady had been bitten by our dog, who seems to be becoming increasingly protective lately. Then I hear the front door open, and the crying gets louder. I KNEW that cry - - It was Ryder’s. Not distinctive in any way that I can describe in words – yet I knew without a doubt it was him. I turn away from my computer, and head downstairs, only to be met by a naked Ryder, dirty from head to toe, tears streaming down his face, arms outstretched to me. I rush down the stairs with my arms out to him asking “what happened, what happened Ryder?”

Sobbing, Ryder cried, “I fell… I fell… the window…Maaaa Mmmaaaa!”

I literally screamed. A guttural scream that you don’t plan and can’t explain. That scream brought Brice running in from the garage. Now I’m holding Ryder. He’s shaking in my arms (or is that me shaking?) and I take a deep breath and tell Brice “Ryder fell out of the window.” There are two pictures burned into my mind from this afternoon’s events. The first is the image of Ryder naked with arms outstretched to me the minute I realized he’d fallen from the window. The second is the look on Brice’s face when he processed my words “Ryder fell out of the window.”

Brice rushed to us and we both quickly checked Ryder out, looking for injuries. He seemed okay on the outside. But we were in a panic (who wouldn’t be). We sat Ryder down on the couch and asked him where it hurt. It seemed like he could move everything, but his thigh was bleeding from a long scrape, and he had a few other spots already bruising.

We quickly but gently got him dressed, hopped in the car and rushed off to have him examined at the Urgent Care in town.

Turned out Ryder was perfectly intact – no broken bones or fractures, only a few cuts and bruises. The Doctor told us several times how lucky we were that he walked away from the fall. He said, “Someone up there was watching out for this little guy” - - don’t we know it! I swear every doctor and nurse in the building came by to see Ryder while we were there… “Is this the young man who tried to fly?” – “Are you the mini-Superman we heard about?” – “I heard you were playing superhero and tried to fly today?” Ryder was unmoved, turning his head away from all the attention. “Can we go home now?” he asked.

Here is a video interview with Ryder after we got home from the hospital (Sorry it's sideways, I can't figure out how to rotate it!) :



In the few quiet moments that Brice and I have had since the event we have looked at each other – and in making eye contact communicated an unspoken thanks that Ryder is okay. Tonight at dinner, I saw Brice looking at Ryder as he slurped his noodles, sucking them in while they slapped his chin, and I saw Brice tear-up. I felt the exact same way. We are so incredibly blessed that Ryder is safe, and was sitting there misbehaving at the dinner table, as if nothing had happened. Thank you God.

Gardening On A Sunny Sunday Afternoon

We spent the afternoon on Sunday readying our vegetable garden for Spring.

I've been working on sprouting the seeds in mini- greenhouses in our mudroom for the past few weeks. We have no idea what will grow up here, so we are trying out a little bit of everything; from tomatoes and squash to corn and cantaloupe.

Today, we went out in the yard to start to till the soil and put up the fence to keep the deer from helping themselves to our veggies. Brice did all the hard work (digging the holes for the main fence posts by hand)... and I pulled the kids around in the wagon, helped them dig holes, and went on several hunts through the forest for timber to use for the fence.

The kids were having a blast climbing on the tractor and helping us dig. Landin found a flat rock and used another sharp rock to carve messages for me and Brice in it. I got a rock from Landin that said, "You are the best Mom and I love you." It is now the cornerstone in my garden.

It was hard work, but it was so rewarding spending the afternoon in the sunshine with the family. I can't wait for the garden to be in and for the veggies to start sprouting.

Happy Sunday!

Soccer Opening Weekend

This Saturday was Landin's first soccer game of the season.

His new team, the THUNDERCATS, is made up of him and his best pals from school, and is co-coached by Brice and his pal Mitchell's Dad, Eric.

The Thundercats are a force to be reakoned with. They won the game on Saturday 9 - 0. Landin scored 4-goals (upon which he was relagated to defense for the rest of the game).

Landin had a great time playing, and it was a super start to the soccer season. I'll be sure to post here with updates on the season as it progresses.

Go Thundercats!

Thank You Pat.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Pat Tillman’s death.

For us and so many others, it is a reminder of our lost friend, an incredible American. For us, it means taking out a few minutes to remind our boys about Pat’s life and the ways that he set an example for all American’s to follow. We will hug our boys and send warm and loving thoughts to Pat’s Mom across the miles. We will remind Mazlow why his own middle name is Patrick Tillman. And we will give thanks, for that ultimate sacrifice that Pat made for us all.

Brice and I were hoping to get out to San Jose to participate in next weekends' “Pat’s Run” - - but unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we will make it. To all of you who have the opportunity to participate, Please Do! You can find the details here: http://www.patsrun.com/ Pat’s foundation expects 10,000 people to participate – AMEN!!

If you can’t participate in the run, but are still interested in volunteering or contributing to the Pat Tillman foundation, there are many ways you can help – from purchasing a jersey to making a donation. Here is a link to the foundations' Home Page: http://www.pattillmanfoundation.net/

Thank you Pat, from all of us.

The Adults Enjoyed Easter too...

We did more than just hunt eggs and eat candy on Easter Sunday. Brice and I got the kids dressed in their Sunday bests and made it to church on time (barely). Here is a picture of the boys at church (minus Mazlow who was asleep) along with their friends Bella and Curtis.

For Easter dinner we all headed over to our friends Landy & Karen's new home (Landy is our pal Jason's older brother). Their home is gorgeous, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal together. Brice and I brought over some drink mixes to make Easter Egg colored cocktails (seriously green, pink, and bright orange). We ate, we drank, and all was merry!

Random Side Note: Did you know that you can't buy liquor at the grocery stores here? Nope... you have to go to a "liquor store" for that. Wierd enough, the liquor store is located in the MALL of all places! I feel so funky everytime I hear myself say, "I'm headed to the mall to pick-up some rum," or "We're out of Vodka, I'm going to the mall to buy some more." And they think Californians are strange!

Happy Easter Landin!

The Easter Bunny brought Landin a basket full of candy and tattoos and an UGLY DOLL. His UGLY DOLL came with the name "Bop & Beep". It has two sides, hence the 2-names. The blue side is "Bop" and the green side is "Beep".

UGLY DOLLs are a weird line of stuffed animals that are..... well.... ugly... which is appealing in a play thing for a boy of Landin's age and maturity level. "Soft and huggable, Uglydolls make great naptime companions and, unbelievable though it is in this age of mass-production, every single pillowy creature is carefully handmade by skilled Chinese artisans." He loves this thing. (And I KNEW when I saw it in the Firecracker gift shop in Seattle that he would love it).

Landin had a blast this Easter hiding the eggs for Ryder and Mazlow to find. He took so much pride in his hiding abilities, it brought back neat memories from my childhood of hiding eggs for my little sister to find. We would take turns hiding them for one another over and over and over.

Landin was really cute, rushing around hiding egg after egg until he was out of breath. And then breathless, he would barge into the kitchen where Ryder and Mazlow were waiting for the word to start the hunt - - and Landin would announce "READY!" Then the hunt was on. Landin would follow Ryder closely and couldn't help himself from giving clues as Ryder got closer and closer to a hidden egg - - "Warmer, warmer... you're burning Hot!" He would work Ryder up into a frenzy (as if Ryder needed any help in that department), and then they would celebrate together when Ryder finally found the elusive egg Landin was leading him to.

This is the kind of JOY we revel in everyday as Landin grows into his role of big brother.

Happy Easter Ryder!

The Easter Bunny brought Ryder lots of C-A-N-D-Y , some Dora The Explorer tattoos and an adorable husky dog. The Husky came with the name "Slush" - but somehow its morphed to "Slushy".

Ryder was a champ at finding the Easter Eggs that the bunny hid. We woke up in the morning to a beautiful sunny day, perfect for hunting eggs! Ryder was the first one out the door, and was running mock speed from one egg to another, tossing his finds half-hazardly into his basket as he ran. (Again - another reason we ended-up with so many cracked eggs!)

Ryder is a huge fan of hard boiled eggs. They are one of his favorite foods. So, throughout the entire hunt, we had to keep checking to make sure he wasn't biting into the eggs, and had to endure the same question repeated ad-noisome - - "Can we EAT the eggs yet?!?"

Brice whipped Ryder up an egg salad sandwich after we finished the first hunt and he ate it without taking a breath. Apparently that took the edge off - Ryder had his egg fix - and we were able to continue the hunts with far few "egg fiend" interruptions.

Jelly Beans and Hard Boiled Eggs - the breakfast of champions!

Happy Easter Mazlow!

The Easter Bunny brought Mazzy a fuzzy yellow chick covered in puffy little balls - he loved it! We named him "polka" - last name "dot".

Mazzy wore a tie to church, and looked like a little politician.

And for his first Easter Egg hunt ever, Mazlow was pretty darn good at hunting down eggs. Although, everytime he picked one up he would squeeze it and end up poking a hole in it with one of his fingers. Needless to say, we ended up with quite a few cracked eggs!

UPDATE: Mazlow is very angry with Ryder. Ryder gave Polka a haircut. He said he wanted Polka to have a mohawk. Poor Polka. Poor Mazlow.

Landin had his girlfriend Bella and her brother Curtis over to dye eggs this weekend.  

Our Easter Eggs the kids dyed this year 

The Lily pads were in full bloom around Round Lake. The boys are super excited about catching frogs around the lily pads this Spring. Last year we caught a cute little frog and brought him home for a pet, but one night he escaped and we awoke to find his "frog habitat" empty!! We never did find him again.  

On Friday night after I got off work, we took the kids for a hike around Round Lake... it was so beautiful! Here is a picture of Ryder walking ahead of us with the pups. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

So I hear from my pals in California that it has been raining non-stop for days and days... They are on the verge of organizing themselves to start building an Arc!

All their complaining about rain reminded me that I forgot to post about the one rainy day we had at Disneyland. It was the day of Mazlow's birthday (St. Patrick's Day), and it only rained during the afternoon, but no one wanted to leave the park (us or the other billion people there), so all the shops in Disneyland were selling these silly plastic ponchos.

The ponchos looked like giant clear garbage bags with hoods, only they were screen-printed with a huge full-color Mickey Mouse on the back. Once people figured out that the rain wasn't going to stop (and neither were the rides) everyone started purchasing the ponchos (~$6/each) so everywhere you looked there were walking plastic poncho covered adults, children, and strollers.

We had to buy 6 of them for just our family. I wonder how much extra money Disneyland made that day on poncho sales. Probably thousands!

By nightfall, the rain had stopped, and the ponchos were shoved hastily into a plastic bag, never to emerge again.

Hopefully the rain we are all experiencing will be a distant memory soon - just like those silly Mickey Mouse Ponchos from Disneyland.

Who makes a better Jack Sparrow??

Cast your vote here (use the comments section)...

Let us know who you think makes a better Captain Jack Sparrow - Landin OR Johnny Depp??

Hey, maybe in one of the next movies Jack Sparrow will father a child - and then Landin could play the young pirate??

"Arg Matey!"

Before we left for Disneyland, we checked out all kinds of photos and videos on the Web, and got the kids super pumped about all the rides. And, when our travel package arrived with our tickets, it included a commemorative map of the park to celebrate the 50th anniversary (showing what the park looked like then on one side, and what it looks like now on the other). So we went over the map in great detail, planning which rides we wanted to RUN STRAIGHT TO as soon as we got there, and which ones we would ride OVER AND OVER ('cause they were our favorites!)... Through all this - the one ride that was consistently tops with the kids (and us) was PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN.

So imagine our dismay, when we got to the park and were met with a sign noting which rides were not working that day which listed only one ride out of commission: Pirates Of The Caribbean.

Boo Hoo.

We came to learn that the ride was down for an extended period of time so that it could be upgraded with new features from the Pirates movie (including a rumored addition of a Johnny Deep / Jack Sparrow animatronics character). It will reopen June 26th. I wish we could go - and who knows, maybe we will!

Even though the ride was closed, the Pirates shop was still open, and we had a lot of fun picking out piratey stuff for the boys, including: a onsie for Mazzy with a scull and cross bones on the front and the words "Poop Deck" on the butt; A set of keys (like the dog has in his mouth on the ride) for our pups to carry around; a giant pirate hat, hook, and ride themed T-shirt for Ryder; and the pièce de résistance - an authentic Captain Jack Sparrow costume for Landin.

Last Note: To make up for the fact that we missed the ride, we will dress the kids up in their costumes and teach them to sing "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirates Life for Me!" Here is a link to the lyrics for the song (in case you were wondering).

"Arg!"

Raptor Reef

I finally downloaded pictures from our trip to Raptor Reef, a local indoor water park. It was the first time we went to the Water Park and the only thing I want to know is why the heck we didn't go sooner!! It was at least 85 degrees in there (bliss for me) and the water slides were awesome! The wave pool was a blast - - even for Mazlow and Ryder, and the kiddy "park" was so neat. Next Winter, I'm making water park trips a regular ritual for our family.

And I don't want to forget to mention it the next time someone comes to visit and wants to know where to stay... The water park is connected by a heated sky bridge to a cool hotel (Holiday Inn Express) where you can stay & play!

Here is what the water park says about its slides and the wave pool:
Raptor Reef’s main slides all depart from the 66 foot tower.

"Lost Falls" our longest tube slide at almost 400 feet, is full of twists, turns, and thrills sure to excite both single and double tube riders.

"Velociraptor Vortex" is our "Superbowl" ride. It quickly drops you from the tower into a gigantic bowl where you swirl and spin until it finally flushes you into another slide.

"Prehistoric Plunge", is 300 feet of high speed body sliding. Try it if you dare!

Wave Pool: Ride the waves in the wave pool, the only indoor one in the area. With 6 different wave patterns and up to 3 foot waves, it is hard not to imagine you are frolicking in a tropical paradise.

Hot Tubs: With wave pool and slides at 82 degrees and a children activity pool at 86 degrees, we’re sure you’ll be more than comfortable! But if you like it hotter, our indoor/outdoor hot tub will hold up to 40 people and is terrific at 100 degrees. You can even sit outside and still be warm and cozy.

Children’s Aquaplay: Two 30 foot slides designed for younger children and a 300 gallon water dumping bucket are just the beginning! Interactive water cannons and geysers, climbing structures and other water toys all located in a shallow pool are sure to excite children and parents for hours.

Fun for all!

Awesome National Geographic Feature on The Gospel of Judas

It’s a revelation conjuring heated debate: According to a recently translated ancient text called the Gospel of Judas, the disciple infamous for betraying Jesus may well have been Christ’s most faithful servant and—because the Savior asked him to—accepted perpetual disgrace to bring about Jesus' death. Explore the mysticism of early Gnostic thought expressed in words written on a 1,700-year-old leather-bound papyrus. Hear the interpretations of four biblical scholars. Follow this fragile document from its discovery in Egypt to its translation and ultimate presentation to the world.

Here is further detail on what the document reveals (from National Geographic):

“Lost for nearly 1,700 years, the Gospel of Judas came to light within an ancient, crumbling, leather-bound papyrus manuscript that was discovered in Middle Egypt during the 1970s and bought in 2000 by a Zürich antiquities dealer. Five years of conservation, transcription, and translation have revealed the gospel's radically different view of Judas Iscariot—usually understood to be a villain—and of Christ's teachings. Written by Christians called Gnostics decades after the canonical testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, this gospel says that Jesus asked Judas to betray him; Jesus wanted to be killed so his soul could escape from the prison of his body. Other parts of the Judas gospel claim the world was not created by the true God, whose divine spark flickers within all human beings, but by a lesser deity—the vengeful God of the Old Testament. That is why, the gospel explains, creation is flawed and evil exists.”

“The second page of the Gospel of Judas presents a dramatically different retelling of a final meal Jesus shared with his disciples. "When he [approached] his disciples, [who had] gathered together and [were] seated and offering a prayer of thanksgiving over the bread, [he] laughed," reads the manuscript. "The disciples said to him, 'Master, why are you laughing at [our] prayer of thanksgiving? We have done what is right.' He answered and said to them, 'I am not laughing at you. [You] are not doing this because of your own will but because [it is through this that] your god [will be] praised.' " Jesus laughs, scholars say, because the disciples do not understand that the God of the Old Testament, to whom they direct their prayers, is not the true God. In this gospel, only Judas, the disciple reviled by orthodox Christians, understands God's true nature.”

RELATED LINKS

The Lost Gospel
www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/
Visit National Geographic's official Gospel of Judas site for detailed accounts of the discovery of the codex, information on the conservation of the document, and an illustrated, interactive history of early Christianity.

The Gospel of Judas on NGC
www.nationalgeographic.com/channel/gospelofjudas/
Watch a preview and explore photos from this global television event. See the show on NGC on Sunday, April 9, 8 p.m. ET/9 p.m. PT.

Coverage of the topic in The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?060417crbo_books
This is the best article I've read on the subject!

ROAD TRIP!

After work on Friday, we packed the family into the car, and headed out on a road trip to Washington to meet our new baby niece (the kids cousin) Eden. We arrived in Olympia just after 9PM on Friday night and went straight to my sister Shannon's house to see the baby.

The boys were really excited to get out of the car, and even more excited to find a house full of fun toys to play with. Eden's big brother, Braxton, was already asleep, but the kids still had a ball playing with his toys and checking out his baby sister.

On Saturday morning we joined up with the whole gang for more fun. Nana made homemade lasagna, and the Dad's (Brice and Kirk) took the kids on a fun hike. I got to hold Eden a lot (and so did Brice and the boys). Ryder was the cutest - - our little whirlwind tornado was the perfect gentleman with Eden in his arms. We ended the day with a family trip to the movies to see IceAge2 (rating = two thumbs way up!).

On Sunday we brought over doughnuts for breakfast, so the kids were nice and sugared-up for an awesome walk with Nana around the Capitol building (including running up and down the steps repeatably). In the afternoon, we had an appointment at Olen Mills to get the kids pictures taken with Nana (thanks for the matching shirts Nana!). And no road trip would be complete without checking in on the local Chuck E. Cheese establishment (we are C.E.C. connoisseurs, in case you weren't aware). My Aunt Patricia and my uncle Steve and his family joined the group for a fun night. The kids had a ball running around like wild banshees at Chuck's: riding rides, playing games, winning tickets, climbing in the tubes, eating pizza, and showing off for the relatives!

And after all the fun, we packed the kids in the car, and hit the road again for the long ride home.

It was a great trip, and we LOVED meeting Baby Eden in person. The drive wasn't that bad (easy for me to say since I rode shotgun), so I'm guessing we'll do it again before too long.

The iPod Generation...

People here in Idaho gave Brice and I a really hard time for buying Landin an iPod for Christmas this year...
So just imagine what they might say about this!

Let's go climb a tree...

Our backyard is full of very tall trees. Last Friday we decided to roast some marsh-mallows in the firepit we dug out on one of the little slopes in the backyard.

Brice and I were standing around the fire pit trying to get the fire started while Landin and Ryder were supposed to be gathering-up twigs and small branches we could use to sustain it.

So imagine our surprise when we hear Landin shout, "Mom, Dad, look at us!" - - his voice coming not from the forest where he was supposed to be, but from way up high in the tippy top of one of the gynormous trees! (and note he did say "US" not "ME") Yep, Ryder was up there with him.

These pictures don't do the height of the tree justice - it was super high, and not even one of those "easy climbing trees" condusive to scaling up and down easily. This was a crazy nappy pine tree.

It's official - My boys are MONKEYS!

Eden Has Arrived!!

Baby Eden has finally arrived!

My beautiful baby niece was born yesterday morning (April 5th, 2006) weighing in at 8lbs 5oz.

Congratulations Shannon, Kirk and Big Brother Braxton!

We can't wait to meet Eden!

Proud Papa Kirk

My brother in law Kirk couldn't be more pleased with his new baby daughter...

Congratulations Big Daddy!

USC Football Publicity Stunt?

I came across this story during some research today - a USC student sports writer tried out for the USC football team to get a first-hand experience for an article he planned to write about what it was like to try-out for the team - - and ended-up actually making the football team. This guy hadn't played football since a bad experience as a child playing Pop Warner and now he is a member of one of the greatest college football teams. The story has received a good amount of coverage (like this article here ). Here is a link to the story from Ben's own perspective.

It's a great story, and I hate to be the cynical voice (really not me at all), but for some reason I can't help myself here. Maybe its my profession - as a Director of Public Relations perhaps I'm trained to sense manipulation (or opportunities to manipulate a situation) - and after writing that it truly sounds awful. But I have to say - its true.

So my point here is this... couldn't this just be a publicity stunt for the USC football team? It's already won them a good amount of media attention (Sports Illustrated, Major Daily Newspapers, Broadcast outlets, etc.). By letting this writer join the team, and make him feel like he's one of the gang, the football team has an "in" for some very cool first person journalism... This guy is an excellent writer, he's got the underdog appeal nailed, and he now is getting the kind of experience that people truly want to hear about = A recipe for some darn good reporting.

Regardless of whether this is a stunt or not, its really neat, and I look forward to reading Ben's coverage of the experience.

(And to the PR people who may have "thunk-up" this stunt - Brilliant, keep up the great work)

Go Trojans!

Happily Ever After...

We had such a wonderful time on our Disneyland Adventure! And after 10 days living out of a hotel, we pulled into our driveway and Ryder exclaimed "THANK YOU MOM & DAD FOR LETTING ME LIVE IN THIS HOUSE, I LOVE THIS HOUSE GUYS!!" (That is a direct quote)

Brice and I think Ryder may have believed that the hotel at Disneyland was our new home! He sure was glad to get back to our own private Idaho... And I have to say - So were we.

Disneyland Adventure - Day 8

Today was our last day at Disneyland... and you can bet we made it count!

Nana joined us for breakfast at Paradise Pier with Lilo and Stich. The kids took a hula lesson from Lilo and Minnie Mouse, and joined in a mid-meal Conga line with Stich and Pluto.

Today we were on a hunt around the park to find all the "penny squashing" machines (the ones that take your Penny and smash it into a souvenir coin). Landin got a really cool little book that has slots for the coins you can make throughout the park. This morning, we hiked around to each of the "lands" looking for the machines. When we found one, we would dig out our quarters and pennies, and create our masterpieces. We even made some really special coins in the machine on Main Street where you can customize a coin with whatever words you want. Landin and Ryder made coins with their names and "Filippini Family Disneyland Adventure 2006" on them. PRICELESS!

The kids wanted to make sure they didn't miss anything in the Magic Kingdom, so after we had collected enough coins to fill the collectors book, we headed over to Adventure Land for the show at The Enchanted Tiki Room. We picked-up some "treasure" at the Indiana Jones shop (a velvet bag the kids could fill with jewels from a giant treasure chest) and the boys made a treasure pouch for their friends Bella and Curtis to bring home as gifts. We took a ride on the Disneyland Fire Truck, and visited Toon Town to say goodbye to Mickey and his pals.

We ate Cotton Candy and Popcorn (to use up the last of our snack vouchers) and ended the day at the Disneyland toy store, where the kids agonized over what they would spend their Disney Dollars on. In the end Mazlow picked an adorable stuffed DUMBO, and Ryder and Landin agreed to pool their money to purchase a Collectors Edition Pirates Of The Caribbean Game of Life. I picked out a super neat pop-up Coffee Table book with pop-up cut-outs of the attractions.
And with that, we said "Good-bye" and "See You Again Soon" to Disneyland and California Adventures!