A Few Thoughts About Valentine's Day

1.  I'm glad my friend has a playroom with a chalkboard wall.

2.  Yes, I got a rather strange look from the Home Depot guy when he asked, "What do you need the PVC pipe for?"

3.  I am glad my boys are young enough to still put up with my crazy whims.  I know they will see these one day and say, "Mom?!  Seriously?!  You made me give these to my class?!"

4. Sticker placement is not important to Luke.
5.  Kevin helped me and the boys assemble these on Saturday.  I know how he really feels about Valentines Day (he thinks it is a marketing ploy for Hallmark and flower growers to make more money).  The fact that he helped tells me how much he loves me. 

6.  Without Valentines like these, I wouldn't get to have conversations like this:
(Before we assembled everything)
Luke:  Mom, what are those?
Me:  These are the Valentines for your class.
Luke:  So I'm going to give those to all my pretty girls?

Groundhog Day

A Boy and His Dog

When we did the photo shoot before Christmas, I brought Rocky along hidden in my bag. Ordinarily, Rocky is not allowed to leave the house unless we are going on vacation. Early on, we decided to make that a rule so that we wouldn't accidentally lose her (yes, Luke says Rocky is a girl) at school or at the grocery store or at church. We do have a duplicate Rocky that we rotate with the original Rocky (That's so the wear patterns are the same. Yes, it works. No, Luke still doesn't realize there are two identical Rockys. I highly recommend buying at least two if your child happens to gets attached to a particular lovey).

Back to the story.

Because Rocky is such a huge part of Luke's childhood, I wanted to make sure I had some pictures of them together so I could remember.   I've seen Toy Story 1, 2, and 3.  I know kids grow up and their loveys get shoved under a bed or in a closet (cue the soundtrack for "When She Loved Me"). 

These pictures are so very precious to me. In the one where his mouth is by her ear, I told him to tell Rocky what the photographer was doing. He was very seriously whispering to her. Not sure what he said, but Rocky looks a little nervous.

New Favorite

Luke was sitting on the potty last night singing this song at the top of his lungs.  The acoustics in the boys' bathroom are excellent.  He couldn't remember all the words so he just kept singing "All I know is I'm not home yet.  This is not where I belong"  over and over again. 

If you haven't heard this song yet, it is great.  It has quickly become one of our new favorites.  Every time it comes on the radio, Fletcher and Luke ask me to turn it up loud!

Carpe Kairos

If you are a mom or married to a woman who is a mom or had a mom or know a mom or saw a mom in the grocery store, this blogpost is absolutely, positively worth the 5 minutes it will take to read this. 

http://momastery.com/blog/2012/01/04/2011-lesson-2-dont-carpe-diem/

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Happy Monday!

Cultural Enrichment

Well, at least my children can say they've had a variety of cultural experiences.

Big Foot in action.

3 Million Legos

That's how many Legos are in this place.  Thankfully, the rollercoasters and other rides are not made out of Legos. LegoLand is about 40 minutes outside of Orlando.  It is where the old Cypress Gardens used to be.  If you ever remember seeing pictures of the water skiers in pyramid formation from way back in the day, that was probably at Cypress Gardens.  It was known for its water ski shows and beautiful gardens.

A very happy birthday boy.

Luke would not ride any of the rollercoasters.

He liked driving the boats and cars.  Side note:  see the tattoo on his arm?  I picked up Disney tattoos from Walgreens before our trip thinking the boys would enjoy them.  We all put one (or two) on our arms on the first day of our visit to the parks.  These things lasted for WEEKS! Seriously,  I think Luke still had his on New Year's Day. 

The watch on Luke's arm doubled as his ID bracelet.  I had written his name, our names and our cell phone numbers inside the watch band. He knew if he got lost he was to show it to a cast member with a nametag or a mommy with a stroller (because I know another mommy would help a lost child find his parents). 

Take a good look at Kevin's face.  These boats were on a course, but not on a track so you really could drive them anywhere and get them turned around in the wrong direction which Fletcher apparently did several or eight times before Kevin stepped in and got them back on course.

The jousting ride.  Fletcher and Luke got off this one and were both disappointed because they "really didn't get to knock anyone off a horse."  Boys....

Jungle safari cruise.

Lego character.  He has a name, but I forgot what it is.

This was called MiniLand.  Tons of well known landmarks had been recreated using Legos - famous hotels in Vegas, Florida landmarks like the Capital and the fort in St. Augustine, the White House, New York City, places in Hollywood and fantasy places too like pirate ships and islands.  It was fun to walk through and find all the neat details. 

This was part of the "gardens" part of the old Cypress Gardens.  That is one seriously old (and HUGE) tree.  Kevin and Fletcher missed this part because they were off riding rollercoasters.

Lego Christmas tree.

Darth Vader built out of Legos.

In keeping with the Cypress Garden tradition of a ski show, there's now a Lego Pirate ski show with "BrickBeard" and friends.  I was thoroughly impressed with the guys in the Lego costumes like the one pictured here.  It is hard enough to waterski in a swimsuit and these guys did it in these costumes.  And some of them even did stunts! 

I love to people watch and this ride was a great one to do that.  There were single short poles with a red button on each pole lining the perimeter of this ride (outside of the water).  If you pushed the red button, the water cannon would shoot water up in the air.  If you pressed it at just the right time, you could get a friend or family member wet who was riding the ride.  There were lots of field trip groups there the day we went.  It was funny watching kids trying to get their teachers wet or wives trying to get their husbands wet (which of course I did not do).  Here Kevin is trying to dodge the spray of water and keep Luke dry.

Waiting for the cool 3D show to start. 

Fletcher on the water ride.  I think he wanted to get wet.