Return of the Plague

One thing about living in the desert is there is no shortage of creepy crawlies, especially when the weather begins to warm. Last year we battled with grasshoppers and crickets taking over the backyard. My husband, watching them frollick in the grass, commented that it looked like one of the ten plagues had hit our backyard.

It does seems that our backyard, with shrubbery and a small plot of grass, is an oasis for many critters. Last year we were treated to grasshoppers. crickets, caterpillars, and preying manti in addition to a desert hairy scorpion, several sun spiders, a garter snake, and a gopher snake. I believe the latter was after the ground squirrels and rabbits.

In our area I have also seen a few coyotes, but I've never seen one in our yard (I'm hoping the fence will keep them out, but I'm sure they could get in if they were determined enough!).

This year the critters are back in full force! The kids have caught crickets and grasshoppers aplenty. We've seen a couple small sun spiders (if you have never seen them, they are especially terrifying all grown-up). And a couple weeks ago we were treated to this little beauty:



A nice size gopher snake (I'll be honest and tell you I'm terrified of the possibility of one day being greeted by a rattle snake instead). My husband called our friendly snake expert, Justin, for advice. He said, "Pick it up!" My husband tried, for my son's sake, but he is no snake wrangler. The gopher snake kept curling toward Mark's hand and he eventually gave up. So for now my son will have to be happy enough chasing the small lizards after those yummy grasshoppers.

Disaster At Disneyland

So I have been putting off this post... guess the experience was too traumatic. No, not really, but I can definitely say that I did NOT have a "magical" time at Disneyland over spring break.

Unfortunately we chose a horrible time to go. We went the Wednesday and Thursday before Easter. The lines to both parks were crazy! So much of both days was spent standing in line and trying to entertain the kiddos.

Then we had the juggling and feeding Sean, as he could go on a few rides, but not all and still had to nurse frequently. My mom came with us to help, but we quickly realized that she was not in any condition to offer a lot of help. My mother is in very poor shape and is not able to "keep up" with the rest of us. So between the wait for the rides and the snail pace from one ride to the next (battling the other pedestrians on our way), it made for a long two days.

We were happy that we had gotten a hotel for a couple nights. The second day at Disneyland we headed back to the hotel around 4pm so the kids could take a nap before going back to the park. Ira and Emma were exhausted and slept rather soundly. Mark eventually had to wake them so they could eat dinner (we ordered Chinese) and get back to the park before their Autotopia fast passes expired (good thing they had them because they still waited 20min after going through the fast pass line).

I decided to stay at the hotel with Sean because he was done with the noise of the two days and lack of good naps. I wished that my mom could have stayed (I'm sure she would have rather stayed as well), but Sean still doesn't take a bottle (not for my lack of trying these last couple months!) and is only just beginning solids.

The last ride the kids went on was Pirates of the Caribbean. Mark parked the stroller with the rest of the strollers and, uncharacteristically, left the diaper bag with it (he is usually a stickler about carrying it). My mom decided she would stake out a place for the fireworks and not ride on the ride, but didn't think to take the stroller with her. When my husband and kids finished the ride, the stroller and diaper bag were gone. That was just before the firework show at 9:30pm.

Poor Emma was wearing a pretty wet diaper, but there were no diapers. My husband spent the whole time of the firework show looking for the stroller. He spoke with security and the guy made him walk all around the area looking for it. Then he went to the Main Street office to file a claim with Lost and Found. In short, they didn't leave the park until about 11pm.

Ira had been very well behaved the whole time, but after exiting the gates and walking toward the tram to the parking lot, he threw a huge tantrum. He couldn't understand why our stroller was gone. It is so hard for children to understand why people choose to do bad things and I was so sad that he had to go through that on our vacation. Even with the huge lines, he was still having a blast (speaking of blasting, he went on the Buzz Lightyear ride 3 times).

And I was bummed that we lost our digital camera, which was in our diaper bag when it was taken. No pictures of this trip. :( It is ironic that I went out of my way to make sure that my husband took a picture with the kids and I since I often don't appear in any of our vacation pictures. Guess I tempted fate!

The next day we drove down to Mission Viejo to meet my cousin for lunch. It was great to see her and her husband! And my son was still happy he went to Disneyland. When my cousin asked what his favorite ride was, he began listing ALL the rides he had been on (which wasn't too difficult since we didn't get to ride on many :p). On the way to Mission Viejo I called Disneyland to see if our stroller turned up anywhere. I guess I called the main line. The gentleman was friendly enough and told me I would have to call the Lost and Found direct line. After getting the phone number he then added, "And have a magical day!" Uh--yeah. Then I called the Lost and Found and was put on hold for half an hour before I hung up. After lunch I called again and this time I was able to talk with a live person--but no stroller.

I think we will go to Knott's next time.

Team GeoTrax--All Aboard!

Ira recently celebrated his 5th birthday. Since we decided to take him to Disneyland in lieu of a birthday party I had planned on not having any kind of celebration other than a simple cake for his actual birthday. Well, a couple days before his birthday I decided that we should invite some of the extended family to join us for our celebration.

I think it turned out well. Ira wanted a fire engine cake and so I made an attempt. It turned into the "low rider" fire engine. Ira loved it all the same (so nice when they are 5, I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten away with it if he was, say, 13). Here it is:



The kids enjoyed playing with all the new toys. Emma is becoming quite proficient at the blowdart gun given by Aunt Myra and Uncle Scott. Ira even showed the cleaning ladies all his new water guns (and they were gracious enough to act interested).

For his birthday present I have been scanning Ebay for good deals on GeoTrax toys. I think I am now a GeoTrax expert of sorts. I eventually got a good buy on someone's collection of older GeoTrax toys (I learned never to give up on Ebay, eventually I find something at the right price). The very large box arrived a few weeks before Ira's birthday and he has been dying to open it since it arrived (I opened it and examined the contents to make sure everything was there and in working order).

GeoTrax was definitely a hit with the kids. I tried to encourage my husband to help build a system of track for them to play with but I guess this isn't really his kind of thing. Eventually I was able to get my hands free to help in the building. I wasn't fully satisfied with the results, but it was good enough for the kids. After the party, and once the kids were in bed, I went to work devising a new system of track.

My brother-in-law mentioned during the party that he could see who the GeoTrax were purchased for, and that night as I was setting it up I had to admit--I love playing with the GeoTrax, if only in the set up. The next morning I heard my oldest son and daughter busy playing with the new set up. My son was having a blast delivering "cargo" around the GeoTrax city I had constructed. It was fun seeing him enjoying the "city" I had built for him.

It's been a couple days and I'm itching to start changing up the track. I told Ira that one day he'll wake up and the track will be different. He was a little alarmed at this notion. I guess he and I enjoy GeoTrax for different reasons. I enjoy the "possibilities" that the track can construct while he enjoys giving "life" to the built GeoTrax world. So here is the current track set up, in all it's gloriousness: