Author Archives: Crystal

Summer Holidays: 10 Days Down, 57 to Go

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Not that I’m counting.

Actually, it hasn’t been too bad. It helps that we spent a week in Saskatoon, where there were lots of relatives to keep the kids occupied, and where the food and drink was abundant and free (thanks Mom!) It also helps that the boys are old enough that I don’t need to watch them every second. But after 10 months of having the house to myself for a big chunk of the day, it’s a little disconcerting to have the kids around 24/7. Thankfully they’re doing a gymnastics camp this week that will give me a few hours to myself in the mornings.

And I need that time. I’m plodding through the second-last course in my technical communication program, and “plodding” is definitely the best word. It’s hard to get motivated when I’ve handed in three major assignments and haven’t had feedback on any of them yet. I STILL don’t know if I even passed the last class, and that one ended a month ago. And that @&$! instructor will also be teaching the final class. Great.

At least it’s sunny…

Watch Out, World

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You better hope I don’t plan any trips to wherever you live. A couple weeks ago we booked a cruise that starts and ends in Istanbul — and the very next day the riots in Turkey started. Then I looked at maybe going to central Europe — which promptly flooded. Then I was planning our road trip to Edmonton — which then had a tornado scare. Huh.

Our Edmonton plans got nixed anyway, as family circumstances dictate a trip to Saskatoon instead (note to Saskatonians: expect a plague of locusts). Chris was a little bummed about missing West Edmonton Mall, but overall I think this will be a more relaxing trip. The kids took the news surprisingly well — I guess maybe WEM might be a letdown after Disneyland anyway.

I’m waiting for the final marks from my latest tech writing class, but I’m not optimistic. I suppose the silver lining is that if I don’t pass, I don’t need to take the last two classes, as I won’t be graduating anyway. Argh. I’m already a bit stressed about the final course because Chris and I will be taking off for our 10-day Boston-New York-Washington trip in the middle of it..but such is life.

Happy Father’s Day!

The Return of the Yelling Monster

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Let me first say that I have honestly changed my behavior since my no-yelling challenge. (Really. I have witnesses.) But I must confess I had an epic meltdown this morning after Justin cried, argued or screamed about almost everything.

Justin’s list of grievances:

1.  Dad forgot to share a piece of his banana with me at breakfast.

2.  Mom only gave me three warnings that it was time to turn off the iPad, and then she TURNED IT OFF. Where did that come from?

3.  Mom refused to make my bed for me.

4.  Mom made me pack my school library books just because today is my class’s library day, even though the calendar says all books must be back by May 31st and today is only May 30th.

5.  Mom announced we were going to walk to school rather than drive like we usually do. It’s Bike to Work week, not Walk to School week. Doesn’t she get it?

6.  Mom insisted I go to the bathroom before leaving the house, even though I clearly didn’t need to go and she was wasting my time and she was making me late for school and she never lets me do what I want.

7.  Mom didn’t answer when I said I didn’t want to go to school. It’s like she hears that every day. Huh.

And all before 8 a.m. Is it too early for a drink?

Missing My Muse

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When I started my tech comm program, I remember thinking how great it was that I had a mature attitude toward schoolwork: I was in it for the knowledge and skills, not for the grades. I was eager to participate and learn whatever I could. I was keen.

Two years later, I’m mostly just tired.

The last couple courses involved learning new software and stretching my technical skills, which was good, but time-consuming and exhausting. This one was supposed to be a nice break because it’s about writing, which I like to think I know something about. But it turns out that the course focuses on the writing process, so I have to analyze the way I come up with ideas and organize my thoughts and develop an outline and all the other stuff I do more or less automatically. Sigh.

So I’m not super engaged with the material, and I can’t help thinking that the finish line is getting so close…there are only two more courses after this one, and if all goes well I’ll be done by October, and it kind of feels like my mind is celebrating a few months too early. There is still work to be done, but I’m having a hard time getting motivated. Call it the Disney effect: I can’t seem to get back into gear after our vacation.

Ho hum…

Lovin’ the Land of Lego

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When you combine Star Wars, Lego, picture-perfect weather and virtually no standing in line, you really can’t go wrong. Our boys were so pumped about going to Legoland that Justin was even excited about our parking pass because it had a picture of a Lego minifigure on it.

So expectations were high, and we weren’t disappointed. I thought we should start with some of the rides in case the place got crowded and the lines got long, but the boys headed straight for the Lego Star Wars Miniland so they could check out the Lego models of scenes from the movies. It’s amazing what people can do with a few million tiny bricks!

From there we wandered through the pirate section of the park, where Chris and the boys started doing some rides. Early on I decided to forego the rides and just focus on taking pictures, which wasn’t as boring as it sounds because there was plenty of cool stuff to look at (plus the rides are aimed at the 12-and-under set, so I wasn’t really missing out.) We also checked out the Castle Hill area, which had an actual castle, a dragon roller coaster and a pretty tame jousting ride that the kids enjoyed.

The hit of the day, though, was the AquaZone Wave Racers. This involved Chris and one of the kids in a seadoo-type thing attached to a platform that goes around in a circle. The real fun was that whoever wasn’t riding (i.e. me and the other kid) could push buttons and cause massive water explosions that drenched whichever seadoo happened to be going by. The boys each took a turn on the ride, but I think the one who was doing the button pushing actually had more fun. Chris ended up soaking wet, of course. Good times all around.

Brayden stumbled on to a room full of XBox machines where the kids could sit and play Lego games (Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman, Lego Harry Potter, etc.) so naturally they stayed there for a while. It was a bit tough getting them out of there, but we lured them away with promises of ice cream. Afterward we did some shopping and watched the Chima 4D show before calling it a day. Awesome.

Tomorrrow is our final day at Disneyland, and then we fly home late tomorrow night. It was a jam-packed week, but it never felt like a death march, and we’re all still friends, so all is well. I’m not sure we’re ever going to top this one, though.

Now to pack (sigh)…

The Universal Experience

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It’s a good thing that wasn’t my first trip to Universal Studios. If it was, it might have bothered me to miss out on three-quarters of the attractions.

It’s not like we didn’t have fun. When the park opened we hurried off to the much-anticipated Transformers 3D ride, which impressed the kids but which left me a bit queasy. (We’re wondering if Brayden shares Mommy’s motion sickness issues, as he actually threw up in the car en route to Universal after trying to read his book on the bumpy freeway. Fortunately, I’d brought an empty ice bucket from the hotel as a backup in case one of them needed to pee…sometimes it pays to be uber-organized. But I digress.)

So the Transformers ride was a hit, but that was nothing compared to what came next: the Simpsons ride. The kids have never seen the show but they have played the iPad app with Chris plenty of times, so they knew enough about it to really get into it. They loved it so much that they insisted on getting right back in line to do it again. Good times.

We stopped for a quick bite, then went off to do the studio tour. This was probably not the best idea. It was a 35-minute wait to get on the tram, and much of the actual tour either bored or frightened the kids. By the time it was done, so were the boys. I tried to convince them to check out the Shrek 4D show or the Jurassic Park water ride, but no go. We ended up at the Curious George play area, where Brayden ran around like a wild child and Justin mostly sat and looked at the Simpsons book he bought. Still, a good day overall.

Tomorrow: Legoland…

Our California Adventure

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My boys have long insisted that they’re “done” with Cars. And while it’s true that they’ve moved on to other obsessions, they did watch that movie approximately 364,000 times (I’d have to ask Justin for the exact number) and I knew they’d enjoy Cars Land at Disney California Adventure.

I’ve never seen Brayden so excited.

The line for Radiator Springs Racers was not to be believed, but thankfully we had a pass that gave us an appointed time to show up, so it was only a 12-minute wait. Some people stand in line for three hours for that ride, so we felt pretty fortunate. And what a ride it was! It featured several sets and pretty well every character from the movie, along with a high-speed race through Ornament Valley. Brayden immediately declared he liked it even better than Star Tours, which is saying something. So.very.awesome.

We also got a family photo with Lightning McQueen, who moves and blinks and talks. Brayden was so thrilled after that one that he literally jumped into my arms. Then it was on to Luigi’s Flying Tires, a ride described by our guidebook as “bumper cars meets human air hockey” that all three of my boys loved.

We stopped for a drink at Flo’s V8 Cafe, but since Flo didn’t offer the chicken nuggets Justin had been promised, we had to find somewhere else for lunch. We ended up at the Test Pilots Grill, which was outfitted like an airplane hangar and which offered food everyone liked. It was right next to Soarin’ Over California, the flight-simulator-Imax experience that Chris and I remembered enjoying on our first trip to Disney 12 years ago. I thought the feet-dangling-in-the-air thing might cause Justin some issues, but he was fine. Brayden especially loved the part where you fly over an aircraft carrier. Another favorite.

We saved the Grizzly River Run for last. We’d never get Justin on a water ride if it meant his clothes got wet, so I’d picked up cheap ponchos at the dollar store in Kelowna and brought them along. The kids and I wore them and stayed bone-dry (we looked like dorks, but who cared?); Chris opted to go without, so naturally he got drenched. Everyone had fun, though.

We picked up our rental car this afternoon. Universal Studios awaits tomorrow…

Destination Disney

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Our day at Disneyland was amazing — relaxed, not rushed, not exhausting. We never had to wait more than 15 minutes for a ride, even the super popular ones: Star Tours, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, etc. Justin got a little scared on the Finding Nemo submarine ride and again on Indiana Jones, but generally he was OK. It turned out Brayden WAS tall enough for Indy (whew) and he totally loved it.

Both boys even got picked for Jedi training, so it was pretty much a perfect day. Justin battled Darth Maul and Brayden took on Darth Vader — very cool. The boys were so into the Star Wars thing that did the Star Tours ride three times, yet neither of them had any interest in meeting Mickey. (I’m never going to get the Star Wars theme music out of my head…but I guess that’s better than It’s a Small World.)

They spent another couple hours at the waterpark this afternoon before we went for dinner. Since neither of them cares about Mickey, we opted to skip the parade toninght and focus on getting a good rest. The wifi at the hotel is so slow and unreliable that posting pictures will have to wait until we get home (sigh).

Cars land tomorrow…

California Here We Come

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This is already the greatest family vacation we’ve ever done, and we haven’t even gotten to the best part.

We arrived in Anaheim yesterday but had no plans to hit the parks yet, so we had most of the day to (gasp) relax. We shopped a bit (Brayden insisted on buying a very cool R2D2-Mickey-ears hat) and spent a couple hours at the pirate-themed waterpark at the hotel (Brayden ran out of superlatives for this one: “extremely fun”, “super fun”, “super mega fun”…)

Chris wanted to go back to Downtown Disney for supper, so we wandered back there but found that our restaurant of choice was packed. We were all hot and tired, and things were starting to get ugly…but then Brayden pointed to a Louisiana-style building and asked if it was a restaurant, and if it was, could we go there? It turned out to be a great choice, one that we never would have considered otherwise. Good call, B.

By the time we made it back to the hotel, everybody was bagged. I gave the kids a quick bath and let them play some iPad for a while before tucking them in. Everyone — and I mean everyone — was asleep by 8:30 p.m. Nice.

Jedi Training: The Coolest Birthday Party Ever

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Not to toot my own horn or anything…but this one was awesome. Brayden had long insisted he wanted a Pokemon party just like his brother’s, but when I suggested a Star Wars theme with a lightsaber battle, I won him over.

The awesomeness started with the super cool invitations, which were really more for the parents:

Technically I was Yoda, IMG_2612 but it was so hot behind the mask and I had so many other things to focus on that the role playing kind of went by the wayside. Chris was Obi Wan Kenobi, however, and amazed me by being willing to:

  • wear a costume made from a plastic tablecloth
  • lead a group of kindergarteners in lightsaber training
  • let said kindergarteners beat on him repeatedly with those lightsabers

 

When the kids arrived, the first thing they did was decorate their goody bags. I’d printed each kid’s name in a Star Wars font (a free download that came in very handy) on a paper bag, then gave them markers and Star Wars stickers and let them go wild. I had envisioned this as something for them to do while they waited for everyone to show up, but it was actually a very popular activity.

Next was fitness training. We set up an obstacle course in the gym and told the kids that each Padawan would have to prove he was worthy to become a Jedi. They had to jump through a few hoops, walk on a balance beam, crawl through a tunnel, negotiate a maze and guide a soccer ball around some cones. That kept them busy for a good 20 minutes.

Then it was time to suit up for lightsaber training. I bought $5 worth of plastic tablecloths and made Jedi robes for each kid. I also cut pool noodles in half and decorated the hilts with duct and electrical tape to make the lightsabers. The pool noodles came in blue, green and purple, which also happen to be the colors of the Jedi lightsabers — nice. Obi Wan taught them a few moves, let them show him their stuff, then set them loose whapping each other. I think the highlight for the kids was chasing Chris around and beating on him. Talk about taking one for the team.

After that it was time for snacks and cake. I am hopeless at cake decorating, so I compromise by making cake toppers. Kids could choose the Light Side (vanilla cupcakes with Yoda toppers) or the Dark Side (chocolate with Darth Vader toppers). I don’t know if it was the good-vs-evil thing, but the vanilla cupcakes were by far the most popular. Justin likes to point out that he chose the Dark Side, however.

IMG_2568Then came the piece de resistance: my homemade Death Star pinata. I was pretty proud of how this turned out. I found a “bubble balloon” at the dollar store that inflates like a beach ball (big and round, not oval), so I used that. To make the indent, I cut a circle out of the side, inverted it and mached it back into place. Then I spray painted the whole thing grey, put masking tape on to mark the lines, then spray painted it again with a granite-type paint and removed the tape. Everyone got a turn whacking at it before it broke, so it all worked out pretty well.

A truly awesome party! (A huge thank you to Teri for taking the pictures!)

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