Monday, March 21, 2011

The Polar Rollers











We celebrated JJ's birthday a bit early this year...he simply could not wait! It was held at his current favorite place....Funky's Skate Center...and he designed the theme of The Polar Rollers....his rollerskating team with the Polar Bear as his mascot. (As a side note: he loves Polar Bears because he loved Knut the famous German Polar Bear....we were so sad to hear of his death on the same day as JJ's party.) In addition to creating a t-shirt with the custom made Polar Rollers logo, JJ also created his annual birthday CD to give out to friends. Disney songs were popular this year, as well as Justin Bieber. But JJ does NOT have the Bieber Fever...he only put those songs on because he knew his friends liked them! And instead of cake, JJ requested Polar Bear cupcakes....luckily an easy recipe was found online by Minnie...who is pretty proud of her creation:)

A birthday report by JJ:
"I love to skate so I had my party at Funky's and it was great. I hope all my friends liked it because some of them do not like to skate as much as I do." My favorite part was opening presents and I liked everything my friends gave me. The money was cool! The cupcakes were great and yummy and the skating was so fun, I almost could never stop!"

Friday, March 18, 2011

Good Times at SSES



Billy and JJ are so fortunate to go to a great school! They have wonderful teachers and good friends and have a lot of great opportunities for enrichment. Here are two good pictures...the first one showing the prize drawings they each one at Math and Technology Night in February (they were the only siblings to both win a prize). The second picture is from International Night with their friends (and Billy's classmates) S&S and families dressed in their traditional Indian garb.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patty's Day



How do we celebrate?

With green bagels...of course!


And the attempt to catch Leprechauns with carefully planned out and implemented traps. Don't laugh, we actually caught some last year!

This year, the boys only got a note from Riley Kirtpatrick and his band of Merry Misfits saying our traps are too predictable and ending the note with the greeting, 'See you later, suckers'! (I don't think he meant the kind that is candy)They were nice enough to leave behind a few Leprechaun toys for Flynn and the gang that currently reside in our house.

Plans are already underway for next year's 'trap'. I think they involve lots of tape!

Disney Report # 4 - Billy's Favorites
















What did Billy love from our Disney trip? Simple....all the thrill rides with Tower of Terror and Everest topping his list! Ask him about his experience on Tower of Terror with Mickey (his dad, not the mouse) ....he will give you the play by play of the whole ride when they 'literally' went all the way to the top and and 'literally' dropped all the way to the bottom! It continues from there, but I will not spoil his telling of the story.

Another attraction that really caught his...and all the kids' imaginations was the Kim Possible spy adventures....but they are the Rocktown Spies, so what did we expect?

And a memory I will always carry with me of Billy on this trip was how absolutely soaked he got on the barge ride at Universal...all due to the unfortunate seat he had to the biggest, most muscular (and heaviest) man in the entire park!

The ride at the bottom of the list? Harry's Potter's Forbidden Journey! When give a chance to ride it back to back - he gladly declined! I do not think he declined because of the scary factor...but more for the motion sickness factor!

We were all really proud of how well he did in the 1 mile race...he had a super fast time and ran the entire mile....with a lingering case of Strep Throat.

Billy also showed mature decisions in how to spend his money - he saved alot prior to the trip and he knewhis money limit for souvenirs and budgeted accordingly - making sure he got his most planned upon trinkets....the REALLY big pirate gun and Severus Snape's wand from Harry Potter.

Despite really wanting the top bunk at the cabin, he agreed to let his brother have it, and kept a close eye on JJ when they wanted to keep riding the water slide - and mom just wanted to sit in the hot tub. Further, Billy was very willing to try a variety of new foods on this trip...a trend that started a bit before we left and has continued upon our return. And lets not forget how he (and JJ too) 'took such good care of Mom-Mom the entire trip' (her words, not mine!)

In a different surrounding, I found myself a few times stepping back and watching Billy and really noticing how much Billy is maturing and growing and becoming so dependable...really a little man of whom we are so proud.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Disney Report #3 - Mickey's Favorites




Mickey's #1 favorite memory was our dinner at the California Grill. Great food, fantastic service and a birds eye view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks...how can you beat that?

A close second was the Pirates and Pals cruise because it was a fun family time and again involved the Wishes Fireworks.

But mention of our trip and Mickey cannot be complete unless we include his participation in the PRINCESS 1/2 Marathon. 17,000 people were involved in this event....and only 500 were men. He never really 'complained' - he just 'noticed' his unique position. I for one greatly appreciate not only his doing the actual race with me, but also supporting my notion to do this event from the beginning. It is pretty neat to say you and your husband completed a 1/2 marathon together. And you know what, out of 118 coed pairs at the event...the team of Mickey and Minnie (yes our real team name) placed 15th! And, I think he will always be there to remind me we could have placed 14th....and been under 2 hours and 15 minutes total time....if only we had not stopped for that last picture of Phineaus and Ferb. But, there was no line, and it is a pretty cute picture - and it is a fun memory!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Disney Report #2 - JJ's Favorite














JJ was very brave on the trip...trying all the big rides he was tall enough for - but he drew the line on Expedition Everest. He could not even be bribed with a stuffed animal Yeti as a reward for doing the ride. He was a real big trouper the whole trip, walking the whole way and keeping up with everyone without a stroller (which we thought we might need to get for him!) He was up bright and early without complaint to be apart of the cheer squad during the half marathon and was super fast in his own race - the 200 meter dash!

JJ was a real charmer to all the 'Ladies' during the character meals. He received one proposal of marriage...and sort of made one himself, although to EG and not one of the princesses. We will see how that works out:)

Since we have returned, JJ looks at the world through the prism of how everything could be made into a ride at Disney or Universal. We read a book, and he explains how that could be a roller coaster. We watch a movie...same thing. I personally think being an Disney Imagineer would be a fantastic career (although he insists upon working at Universal - either one would be cool)

One special memory is he was picked to 'open the slide' one day at the pool and even got a train hat and whistle to keep. Pretty cool! Speaking of pools, he was crazy nuts about going down the water slides at both our resorts and got lots of exercise walking up the stairs, sliding down, swimming to the side...over and over again!

According to JJ, his favorite memories were getting a stuffed animal in each park (dinosaur @ Universal, kermit @ Hollywood Studios, Duffy @ Epcot, Sorcerer Mickey @ Animal Kingdom and his most beloved Eyeore aka Jupiter at Magic Kingdom). He also loved playing tag with his friends throughout the waterfall area in the Canadian Pavilion at Epcot....sure, we go all that way, spend all that $$ and his favorite thing was something he could do (and does) in our backyard! But, it was a cool place!

Favorite ride: Hippograff and Cat in the Hat
Snack: Butterbeer!
Park/Land: Suessland @ Universal (although Harry Potter was pretty close second!) All in all,he liked Universal better...he saved his money for a Harry Potter wand, loved the Jurrisac Park ride, loved getting soaked on the barge ride...and Suessland was fabulous because he loves the books so much!
Favorite thing about the resort: animals made out of the towels

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Disney Report #1...The Races!









All 4 of us did a running race at Disney...and so did a bunch of our friends. JJ was our sprinter...he did a 200 yard dash, Billy ran a whole mile and Mickey and Minnie ran the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon. All of our races were hard but we all had a lot of fun. We all even got cool medals.

During the half marathon, Mom Mom, Billy and JJ were part of the cheer squad. They had reserved seats in front of the castle and at the finish line to cheer Mickey, Minnie and friends on. We all got up at 3:30 in the morning to do this, and it was still dark outside.