Wild and Hairy Beasts

I know what you are thinking...with a title like this I can only be talking about my brother, or perhaps Sydney or her brother Corwin.  Well, I'm actually referencing a recent trip Sydney and I took to the Woodland Park Zoo.  This was Sydney's first ever 'spring break,' so while she had the entire week off I decided to take a couple of days to spend with her.  She greatly enjoyed her spring break camp, but I think she also greatly enjoyed a couple of daddy-daughter days, too.

She was so excited she could
hardly bear it...haha!

Speaking of small beasts, we obviously had the same great idea to visit the zoo.  There were a million other people that were also on spring break, and there were little creatures everywhere.  Camps, families, children, strollers...it was the busiest I had ever seen the zoo.  In terms of animal viewing, though, we really lucked out.  Most times you will get at least a few favorite animals that are sleeping or hiding in their enclosures.  Surprisingly, we basically saw everything.  Most animals were out and even active.  We even caught the snow leopard eating his lunch.

It was fun seeing all of the animals, but Sydney wanted to stop and get a picture with each statue we saw.  It was little more time consuming than just visiting the exhibits, but each time there was a line by the statues Sydney would just say, "we just need to have a little patience, daddy."  Wise words, but ones that left me thinking "who are you?" and "what have you done with my kid?"  I had been planning on the zoo trip for a couple of months, but ironically, we also found out later that her spring break camp would be going to the zoo on Friday (fortunately we went on Thursday).

In other news, Sydney continues to play soccer.  She usually scores two or three goals each week, but amazingly, she's quick to point out that "it's not about winning or losing, but only about having fun."  Once again, not sure what this little blond girl has actually done with my daughter...the one that has to beat me up the stairs each night, or needs to win each of the games we play at home.

In terms of other little creatures, Corwin continues his 'adventures in potty training.'  Although some days are better than others, he is getting it down and making great progress.  He's even managed to get a NUMBER 2 on the throne.  With that, I guess you could say he's making some good movement in that respect...ha ha!  We have mostly abandoned the portable little-john that you can take and stick anywhere, in favor of a little seat that gets added to the regular toilet.  Most adults would decide to remove the seat prior to use, but I find it as more of an extra challenge, sort of like a game and if you succeed, you get extra points.

In other news, we recently finished fencing off the back yard.  Karen's dad came and helped get a bulk of it done last month, and we recently finished up all of the remaining items yesterday.  We now have containment, which means the kids can play in the back yard without much worrying on our part.  Unfortunately, they both have discovered how much fun it is to 'ride bikes' in the front of the house.  Oh, well!  It's been a great April so far, and we've enjoyed being out in the sun as much as possible.  I hope you enjoy the shots of Sydney on the gorilla statue over the years, as well as the other comparisons.  We hope everyone else is doing well, too!

Potty Time!

I don’t get an opportunity to ‘post’ as much as I used to.  While the downturn in the frequency of posts has left me feeling negligent and guilty (especially as Corwin will have less to look back upon), I have gradually accepted that this is how life changes when you have two kids and four people in a household who all have busy schedules.  And with Karen’s multitude of ‘photo’ and ‘comment’ posts on Facebook, I assumed I wasn’t completely devastating the three people who may actually read this blog.  So…now that I’ve got that confession out of the way….

Life has been busier than ever.  2015 has already found Corwin start and finish his first swim class.  He is also looking at moving up to the next ‘age’ room at school (aka daycare).  His words are accumulating at an exponential rate now so we are having to make sure we don’t let any unintended words slip out.  We are also now in full swing with potty training.  He’s had a pretty successful week, all in all.  He’s had a few accidents that have required some cleanup by people in orange space suits.  Although he now has a little seat that sits on the real toilet, he had started out using the little portable potty.  It sat in the living room for a week, and it got me to thinking how awesome it must be to do your business and not have to even wait for a commercial break.  Although it may not be the most aromatic thing in the open living space…man, think of the convenience!  Despite all natural human instinct to try it out, I resisted the urges.

Sydney continues to play soccer.  She’s had two games already, and last week she scored three goals.  She’s done great, and she realizes it’s all about having fun.  I’m just super excited that she actually plays the game instead of picking flowers like she had done a couple of years ago.  Other than that, she continues to excel at reading and school, and she’s enjoying every bit of it.

With spring here, it’s naturally meant a review of the old ‘to do list’ for the home.  We recently finished fencing in our back yard (aka child containment), and we are looking at building a new back deck in May.  This has led us to take multiple trips to Home Depot.  One one occasion we were able to get a couple of pictures with all of the kids in a cart together…the hairy one is Corwin…the super-hairy one is Olive (Don’s daughter).

Oh, and I thought I'd share a few more pictures from our recent trip to Disneyland!!!  I hope you enjoy them.  Have a great weekend!