A Series Of Unfortunate Events

I just have to share a little story about how a series of small disasters followed my boys last Sunday morning. . . . . They decided to pull each other around the house on my beloved fleece blanket like they used to do when they were little kids. It's just not the same game when you're 5 feet tall and weigh 100 pounds or so... This little "game" led to my blanket unravelling around the edges. Oh joy. . . . . . . . . They were amazed by how long the string was that was unravelling before their eyes. So... They decided to stretch it around the house, up and down the stairs, and basically made our home look as if it had been attacked by a gargantuan spider weaving a nasty black web EVERYWHERE. Nice. . . . . . I told them to clean it up and that is when we realized that the string had cut little gouges into the corners of the walls and chipped away the paint leaving ugly spots. Oh lovely. . . . . . .This is when I gave each kid a small paper plate, small paintbrush, and a dollop of paint to correct what they had just ruined. There might have been an eye rolling or two at this point, but they were up to the challenge. . . . . . . Nolan finished up in a jiffy, washed out his paintbrush, and was on his merry way.... . Nick on the other hand, started yelling from the hallway at his cat, Sophie. She had somehow managed to get her paw into his paintbrush and was tracking paint down the hallway. Are you kidding me? . . . . . At this point I grabbed the cat, tossed her outside, and started laughing at the crazy turn of events. How on earth can one little mishap lead to such a crazy string of mishaps? Pretty soon we were all laughing. . . . . . . Life is never boring with these boys! :)

Better Late Than Never

Several months ago... Last October to be exact, Nick and Nolan reached a goal they had worked very hard to reach for over 6 years. Because they were committed to reach their 2nd degree black belt goal, we told them we would reward their hard work by taking them to a local water park for a weekend of fun. We meant to deliver on our reward soon after the big belt test, but the holidays and a busy life got in the way. Fast forward to February... My boys were still water slide-less, so we got busy and made arrangements to remedy the situation.

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For the last few weeks in February, Nick and Nolan were so looking forward to the fun they were about to embark on at The Great Wolf Lodge. Finally their parents were making good on their deal. They were told we had reservations from March 4th to March 6th. Finally!

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Well, on Friday the 4th we were all packed up and hopped in the car. We started on our journey when out of nowhere Connor started blaring Disney tunes, I handed the boys some Mickey Mouse Pez candy for the ride, and then both of us slapped a couple of Mickey Mouse ears on top of our heads. Wait, What? :) Oh yeah... we just pulled one over on them! We were actually on our way to the airport to head for....

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DISNEYLAND!!!!!

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Yes. We rock, if I do say so myself. I love a good surprise, and you could say that Nick and Nolan were blown away! Within about 4 hours of pulling off that surprise we found ourselves walking around in the Southern Californian sunshine amongst the likes of Goofy, Pluto, and Minnie Mouse... it was awesome.

Nick sporting his Goofy pirate cap and Nolan staying warm under his "Chip n' Dale" hat.

Tarzan's tree house

Doesn't get much better than this. :)

Jungle River Rapids is one of our very favorite, albeit wettest rides.

Nick and Nolan got to sit next to the driver on the double decker bus down Main Street USA.

I like this rear view mirror shot!

We had three full fun filled days at Disneyland. Enough time to take a few breaks to enjoy some relaxation at the Hotel's pool. Which was a good thing because our dogs were barkin'.

By the end of our trip, Connor's feet were so sore he could barely walk.

I'm thankful for great kids who work hard at reaching their goals and for the opportunity to be able to make spur of the moment trips like this possible. It was a non-stop weekend filled with lots of fun new memories that I hope my kids don't soon forget.