BUTCH AND FRIENDS

This is Ziggy and Marley the two buddies that he hangs out with
whenever we take a vacation.

CHINA 33 AT DISNEYLAND

Our breakfast conversation at the Black Diamond Bakery this morning went as follows:

Mom: Guess what Samantha is doing tomorrow???

Mimi: What???

Mom: Disneyland.

Mimi: Huh? What?

Mom: Disneyland (little louder voice).

Mimi: What?

Mom: Samantha's going to Disneyland.

Mimi: But mom, Samantha LIVES at Disneyland!!!

Here's wishing everyone in China 33 who's going to D-land tomorrow a super duper good time. Wish we were going too. To Princess Teri and Samantha, please have an extra Mickey Mouse ice cream popsicle for us. Smooches to you all.

BEDTIME STORIES

As much as Mimi loves her movies, she loves to read too. Here she is reading a bedtime story to Baby Jaguar.

"I'M ON A QUEST!"

Besides swimming, there are so many other things for the kids to do. There's the Kid Club Room for art and crafts, the arcade, then there is the Magic Store where almost every parent has purchased a wand for their bundle of joy. The wand itself comes separately from the head. Each child can choose whatever head he/she prefers. You are then give a booklet and you are given clues throughout the hotel in order to find different items that need to be found. There appears to be a whole bunch of these items.

Food at this hotel can be costly. So to keep costs down, we are able to bring our own food/snacks, which is what a lot of people to. There is a fridge/microwave in every room. While I was preparing our meals, Mimi and dad went on their quest and having loads of fun.

GREAT WOLF LODGE

Last year we took a trip down to the Portland area to meet with friends and on the way back up to Washington I had wanted to see what all the hoopla was about that had all the moms up here talking. Mimi was highly upset when we told her that we were not staying. She was even more upset when she found out that Blake had went there on his birthday this year. Keri says that Bailey said that she was going to move there.

This year we refinanced our home and received a small amount of $$$ to play with. Besides remodeling our bathrooms, we wanted to purchase a altar for our Gohonzon (object of worship). The only Butsudan (altar) shop around here is in Portland so therefore we thought that we would make a mini-vacation out of it.

We purposely did not tell Mimi that we were also taking her to The Great Wolf Lodge as we wanted it to be a total surprise for her. It was hard for me not to say anything but I did it. I'm so proud of myself.

It is a great place for the whole family. What you see in the video is only 1/4 of the indoor waterpark. Our video only shows the pool for the little tykes. Mimi's favorite was the tidal waves. In that particular pool, the water is calm for a while, then the waves are machine generated. When you hear the wolf howl, that's when the waves start. Small at first but then they get stronger. That's how Mimi learned to body surf.

Then came the slides. Not the one in this video. The big ones that you may find at your local park. Those big ones. At first they look intimidating. Mimi was a little scared at first. Some people may think that Mimi is a daredevil because of the way she plays, but really she is not. She is very cautious even when doing her gymnastics. Then she/we saw kids younger and smaller doing it. Therefore Mimi and dad did it. I was chicken to. Mimi loved it . Finally she talked me into it and found that there really was nothing to it. Because of the water, you just glide down not going fast at all.

One of the nice things about that place is that you can leave you wallet and keys in the room. They give everyone a bracelet to wear and this bracelet will open your room door also should you want to purchase anything, they just scan it and the purchased items are add to your bill. Also, you don't need to check out at the desk. Just leave when the time comes.

BOOK CLUB

Out of the three zero hour programs that Mimi's school has and that I signed her up for......she was chosen to get into all three. The first one was art in which she and Halliwell went together. Now Art is over and it is Book Club on Wednesdays after school and Math on Thursdays before school. Tonight Blake wanted to come over and so I said that would be alright but that Mimi has homework to do. He was opening the door before I could hang up the phone I kid you not. So here he is helping Mimi with her book that she needs to have read before this coming Wednesday. Next thing we knew Keri was on the phone for him to come home and out of the blue we hear a high pitched voice saying "can I sleep over???" You can guess what that answer was.

SLEEPOVER

MORE GIRLS WANNA HAVE FUN........

Lots of estrogen running around last night at Sara's. Although her birthday was a while back, she celebrated with her friends last night. They all had loads of fun playing scanvenger hunt, watching videos, playing video games, eating cake so on and so forth. Tonight Sara will be spending the night at our house. Mimi is absolutely stoked about that.

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN.....

Especially Mimi. When the weather is cold, the heat goes on, then the membranes in Mimi's nose dries up hence she gets the bloody nose. To prevent that from happening I have her take a Q-tip with a smidgen of Vaseline to apply to the inside of her nose. She then discovered that she could snort like a pig. We then just bust out laughing.

MAIN JAPANESE BUFFET

It's now Spring Break and Mimi and I have been spending a whole lot of time together. More than usual. Not many playdates, even with Blake believe it or not. We have just been having a whole lot of fun by ourselves.

Last Thursday Blake did call for a playdate but we just had a whole bunch of stuff on our plate that day. Had a dentist appointment all the way out in Auburn. On the way we dropped by our friends Angie's house to drop off some stuff for her. When the teeth cleanning was over, I thought that it would be a good idea to head over to the Pac Island Grill in Federal Way for lunch. It's a Hawaiian style place to eat with of course Hawaiian style food. However I made a wrong turn and saw this sign Main Japanese Buffet and we thought that we would try this place out as we were super, super hungry by this time. It was grrrrreat! It was Chinese/Japanese cuisine. All for $8.00 a person. $2.00 for drinks. Mimi chowed down on 2 bowls of miso soup, shrimp, general tsao chicken, chow mein noodles, and 4 helpings of manila clams. Then she still had room for her ultimate favorite desert of vanilla ice cream.

MY MIMI THE SWINGER

LOOK MOM! NO HANDS!

SHARING EASTER WITH GRANDMA AND GRANDPA

MAKING MEMORIES

TREASURED MOMENTS

No folks Mimi is not the bad guy, she is a "Ninja" Also I guess if we
are to have another animal in the house, a Zhu Zhu pet is the way to
go. I (you notice I said I and not Mimi nor Greg) don't. Have to feed
nor clean up after Zhu Zhu. It never fails that whenever I go into the
kitchen there they all are. Butch is at my feet, Stanley is perched on
his little stool and even the Guppies are getting into the act.
Usually they swim happily all around thei tank, but when they see me
coming, they all huddle together and look at me with their tails
wildly fanning to and fro as if to say "feed me! Feed me!" Sometimes I
wonder if it will ever end, then I realize it will. That's when I wish
I had these days again because my baby is growing up way too fast for
me and so are her friends. I love them one and all.

LUNCH TIME

Today was my volunteer day and usually I get to go have lunch with Mimi. Actually we the parents can have lunch with our kid/kids any day of the week. I just do it on Fridays cause I am always there. Man! Was it freeze you ass off cold this morning! The wind was blowing so hard (25-50mph) that it knocked the fence down on one of the houses in our neighborhood. Then there was the hail/rain. This is how it was on our way to school. The weather was so bad that the kids were not allowed to play outdoors which made them super happy. Things have quieted down a bit now but I have quite of debris to clean up from the green belt behind our house. I thought that I would take this picture of Mimi and Blake because they are now both toothless and today was an exciting day for Halliwell as well. She lost her (first) bottom front tooth and was soooooo excited about it. She told it to anyone who would listen.