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One of my goals with this blog is to record the cute sayings I hear and the amazing milestones my kids reach. But some of the best stuff seems to happen when I’m not looking…or when they think I’m not.

Like Walter “reading” 101 Dalmatians to Abigail.

Or the time I was at a choir practice, and Mr. Guru caught Walter trying to fix himself a “humongous” snack.

Then there was the time Abigail decided to show off her neat-freak side by washing the windows.

Once at Grandma Schoolcraft’s house, Abigail disappeared, only to be discovered in the bathroom sink.

I’m so glad my video camera fits in my pocket for these little moments!

6/21: While preparing for a road trip in a tape deck-equipped vehicle, I came across Keith’s cassette of DC Talk’s self-titled album from 1989. I showed the cover to Walter. “Look,” I said, “there’s TobyMac as a teenager!” Walter thought about that and said, “Wow, that must have been before, like, 2002!”

6/25: We went to watch the Fridley fireworks at Commons Park. It was Abigail’s first time, and the noise really scared her at first. But Walter had a good time. It was a nice clear night, and as we were walking home, he said “I see some special shooting stars, but they’re staying still.”

6/30: Walter picked up my sweater shaver, the little device that can take pills off fabric. “What is it?” he asked. “A sweater shaver,” I said. “Does it sweat shavers?”

In a startling turn of events, I resigned from my part-time job at Boston Scientific in order to stay home full time with my kids. I had always seen myself as a lifetime engineer and career woman. But sometimes God has other, and better, plans. It was a tough decision, but after a lot of prayer, thinking and talking, it was clearly the right thing to do. My coworkers gave me a nice send off my last week of June - they are the part I’ll miss the most. So now I’ve been at home full time for about 3 weeks, and it’s great! I’m hoping this means more time for trips to the park, playdates, church activities, and of course blogging!

This post is a bit late, but life has thrown a lot at us lately. Not the least of which was a tornado on the day of Walter’s birthday party…

Just as our guests were arriving, the sirens went off. A couple of minutes of watching the TV weather report made it clear that an actual tornado was headed toward Fridley. So, thankful for the small guest list, we headed to the basement. The kids had a wonderful time playing on the exercise equipment and trampoline, while batting balloons around. Sure enough, the power went out, but the storm passed quickly and the sun even came out. There was plenty of light for cake and ice cream!  After treats and presents, all the boys went out back to set up our generator, while the other mom and I watched the neighbors clean up shingles that had relocated. (We didn’t have any damage.)  All in all, it was the best way to go through a tornado; the kids were having so much fun, they forgot to be scared!

So, what can I tell you about Walter the 5-year-old? He is one smart cookie. He seems to be destined for the engineering fields like Mom and Dad. One indication is that when he plays Monopoly (the electronic banking edition keeps the math simple) he counts the squares by saying “0, 1, 2…”  If you’ve ever written software code, you will probably recognized that in the computer world, lists start with 0. We didn’t teach him this…apparently he has the innate logic of an engineer. He is of course highly adept at using the iPad and our iPhones. He practices writing his letters and numbers in iPad apps, and likes to hear stories. Sometimes the iPad reads, sometimes we read, but I think he finds it a bit more glamorous that paper books. He is very much into Star Wars. His favorite birthday present, hands down, was a “real” light saber from Aunt Sarah. It lights up and makes real light saber sounds and is great fun. He also enjoys riding his bike and has even tried riding once without training wheels. I think we’ll get there by the end of the summer.  He can be very sweet and will pray at the drop of a hat. After he prays for someone, he asks “Did you feel that?”

Walter is also very creative.  He came up with an original song for Father’s Day. Then just yesterday he told me this story: “Once there were three little pigs named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. One built a house of straw, one built a house of sticks, and one built a strong house made of brick.”

“Why do they have those names?” I asked.

“They wanted to change it up,” he said. “I’m making my own story!”
Another big milestone shortly after his birthday was graduation from preschool. Walter completed his five years at the Bethel University Child Development Center and proudly announced that he will be attending Kindergarten at Bel Air Elementary in New Brighton. Walter is very excited to go to school “every day” and keeps asking if it’s fall yet.

We are very proud of Walter and can’t wait to see what the next year holds!

4/23: While playing Super Paper Mario on the Wii, I heard Walter exclaim, “Why would he flippin’ do such a thing?”

4/25:  I let Walter try Fig Newtons. “Do they give you big muscles?” he asked. “No, they just taste good,” I said. He thought for a minute, then asked, “Do they give you dancing skills?”

5/8: Abigail: “Where are we going?” Me: “Nowhere.” Abigail: ” I want to go yes-where!”

5/8: Walter’s first visit to Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. We went to a Target Free Family concert of American music. He thought it was a little loud, but liked the show and the “blocks” in the ceiling. Afterward, we explored the many levels of the lobby, had a sundae at Brit’s Pub and did some more exploration in the Skyways.5/17: A college student named Jenna sometimes comes to help with housework. One afternoon, she was playing with Walter, pitching a baseball to him.

Walter: “I’m going to hit it into space!”

Jenna: “It may not come back; there’s no gravity in space.”

Walter: “Maybe it will get stuck on a planet.”

Jenna: “Yeah, like Pluto.”

Walter: (silent pause) “No, Pluto’s not a planet anymore.”

6/5: Walter: “I love you all the way to the last number.”

We took a big family vacation to Orlando this year. This is the last spring before we have to deal with school schedules, so we took a full two weeks.

April 2: We cashed in the credit card points that we weren’t able to use at Christmas (see Christmas post below) so that we could fly down. We had to leave pretty early in the morning, so Abigail slept most of the first flight. We connected in Dallas. On the second plane, the pilots let Walter come visit the cockpit. The rest of us got to our seats and were settled in before he came back to join us, grinning. He told us all about the switches and computers, how he got to say “radio test” into the radio and flip the light switch. When we landed, the pilot said “We’d like to welcome everyone and especially Walter to Flordia!” When we arrived at the resort, we got to wait outside while Daddy checked in.  Walter kept saying “Florida is so lovely” and “I really like Florida!” By the end of the day, he had already asked if we can live here.  We tried out the pool and lazy river in the early evening. It was just warm enough to swim, even though the sun was going down. Grandma & Grandpa Schoolcraft soon arrived (they drove from Vermont) and we had dinner together.

April 3: The grownups tried to keep things low-key and recover from the day of travel, but the kids were all about the pool. We took a walk in the morning and found all the different pools and activities. Then Daddy and Grandpa took the kids swimming while Grandma & I picked up some groceries. At night time, we figured out that we can see the Epcot fireworks by going to the top floor of our building and looking out the window by the elevators. Fun!

April 4: More pool fun. As we were leaving the pool at the end of the day, a mom offered Abigail a floating ring that they would not need since they were leaving. We are looking forward to trying it out. They have several big gas grills outside our building, so we did burgers and hot dogs for dinner. After dinner, we tried out the mini golf course. Abigail tuckered out about half way through, but Walter putted quite well.

April 5: It was a rainy day so we kept things low key. This worked well since tomorrow will be a Big Day.  Our room doesn’t come with Wifi, but does have an ethernet jack. Mr. Guru figured out how to turn his mom’s laptop into a wireless hub, so we were all able to use our various devices indoors. In the afternoon it cleared up and I took the kids to the playground. Abigail had lots of fun climbing and Walter played with the giant chess set.

April 6: Day 1 of our visit to Disney world. Of course, we had to start with the Magic Kingdom. Just as we arrived, Walter said, “We need to see some magic today,” a wish that was fulfilled.  We decided to start off with Dumbo. Unfortunately, we had a fairly long wait. But the ride was fun, and when we got off Daddy and Grandpa had gotten us Fast Passes for Mickey Mouse’s 3D movie and the Winne the Pooh ride. So we were able to go straight to the movie next. Everyone enjoyed it, except Abigail, who found it a bit unsettling. We were then able to go on the Winne the Pooh ride. (Is it just my imagination or did they re-purpose Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at half speed?)  This one got mixed reviews from Abigail. Some of it was cute, but she wasn’t sure what to do with the slightly psychedelic Tigger.  Walter had been begging to ride the ‘horses’ (carousel), so while the rest of the group ordered some lunch, he and I went for a ride. The horses were big and rode nice and high - he loved it. He also turned his horse into a jet fighter about 5 seconds into the ride.  We rejoined everyone for a quick lunch, and made our way to Tomorrowland. I think this was Walter’s favorite part of the park. He and Daddy kicked things off with a ride in the race cars. Walter was very proud that he got to steer. (Daddy had to push the peddles since Walter couldn’t reach them.) We picked up our Fast Pass for the Buzz Lightyear ride and then went to the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. It was a really fun show! The animated monsters were up on the screen, but they interacted with the audience in real time and improvised jokes. We filled up their “laugh cannister” with no trouble.  When we came out of the theater, we encountered one of Walter’s favorite things of the day. A robotic garbage can was wandering the streets, talking to people and telling jokes. Walter walked right up to it, and it greeted him and commented that it liked the Mickey Mouse on his shirt!  So cool! He kept his eyes open for it during the rest of the trip, but we didn’t see it again.  Next we went on the popular Buzz Lightyear ride, which both kids really enjoyed. At the end, Walter picked out an “Ion Cannon” toy that looked just like the ones on the ride. Just outside the ride, there was a line to meet the “real” Buzz Lightyear, so Walter and Daddy waited to meet the hero.

Abigail also picked out some Toy Story figurines to play with as well. At that point, Abby was pretty tired, so Grandma & Grandpa took her back to the hotel and Walter, Daddy and I stayed around.  We checked out some rides in Adventureland and Frontierland, but the waits were too long, even with a FastPass. So we caught the steam train back to the front. The nice breezy, shady ride did us all some good. Since we were near the front, we decided to visit Mickey Mouse. He was receiving his fans “backstage” in the Main Street Theater. I’m not sure Walter’s eyes could have gotten any bigger! After that fun experience, we wandered toward the castle and found a restaurant with a reasonable wait. While we sat out front with our little pager, Walter gave his report on the day. The kid’s meal at the restaurant featured a fun Mickey Mouse sundae. We did some shopping along Main Street, and then stayed for the Electrical Parade. It was really beautiful and quite an amazing production. Walter managed to get a perfect seat on the curb to see the whole thing.  When we fell into bed that night we couldn’t imagine how we’d do it another day, but we did…

April 7: We started the day a little more slowly with, with a nice brunch at The Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom.  During our meal, we were visited by Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, and Winnie the Pooh himself.  I think Abigail had the most fun, giving hugs to these giant furry animals.  She even gave Eeyore a kiss on the nose!  She also joined in very enthusiastically when they had a little parade around the dining room.

Our restaurant was near Cinderella’s Castle, and after we ate, we watched the parade that was finishing up there.  The kids had fun picking up the streamers that were shot out from the floats.  Next we were off to Adventure Land.  Abby, Grandma and Grandpa watched a pirate show on the street, while Walter, Daddy and I went on the Pirates of the Caribbean.  Walter thought it was a little bit scary in places, but still fun.  Next, we all went on the Jungle Cruise.  I think Abigail wasn’t sure what to think of the animatronic animals, but we got a lot of laughs from the “guide.”  By that time it was steamy and hot out, so Grandma and Grandpa took Abigail off in her stroller to nap and the rest of us kept going. Of course the first stop was the pirates’ gift shop. We talked Walter out of choosing a sabre and instead he chose a gun that projects a picture of a skull and crossbones from the barrel. After some frozen pineapple treats, we headed up to Frontierland. We picked up our Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain and then headed into the air-conditioned Country Bears Jamboree. Walter wondered aloud if they were “real” bears.  After the show, it was time to get on Big Thunder Mountain - Walter’s first real roller coaster. He was just a few inches over the requirement. We were all able to sit together, so Walter got a little squished, but we all had fun. You can see his take on it here. How could we possibly top that? With more Buzz Lightyear, of course. We went back to Tomorrowland and got our Fast Passes. Then we went to Stitch’s Great Escape to pass the time. It turned out to be a little bit of a scary show (it makes you feel like he’s jumping on you in the dark!) but we survived. Then we went on the Tomorrowland Peoplemover. It was actually more fun than we expected, zooming us around all the Tomorrowland attractions.  Then it was finally time to do the Buzz Lightyear ride, Walter’s favorite. We grabbed a quick dinner and decided to ride the Astro Orbiter and then do Buzz one more time before leaving.  Then we caught the ferry boat back to catch our bus. Another exciting day!

April 8 & 9: Laid-back days at the resort swimming and playing.

April 10: We split up to see different things. The girls went to Epcot to see the Flower & Garden Festival. There were amazing flower beds and topiaries everywhere. They also had a butterfly tent set up, and we actually got to see butterflies hatching. We did a few low-key rides for Abigail’s benefit, and visited the Nemo-themed “Seas” display.  It turned out to be a really hot day, so we left in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the guys went to an air museum called Fantasy of Flight. They got to ride a hot air balloon simulator, sit in a cockpit and watch antique aircraft being restored.

April 11: We knew it would be another scorcher, so we kept it pretty low key again. Walter and I went down to see a fun magic show at the resort amphitheater. Walter was completely mesmerized.  In the afternoon, we hit the pool. Actually we hit the lazy river. I’m not sure how many times we went around but we all agreed it was the best way to keep cool.

April 12: In the morning, Vera and I did some shopping at an outlet mall. We both got a lot of good deals! In the afternoon, Keith and Walter visited Disney Quest. From what I can tell, it’s a video arcade on steroids. They both had a great time.

April 13: We all went to Epcot. We started our day with Figment and the Imagination exhibit. Both kids enjoyed the ride, activities, and the jumping fountain.  We had lunch at the cafeteria at the Land, then Grandma & Grandpa took Abigail to the World Showcase in hopes of strollering her to sleep. Daddy, Walter and I did the boat ride at the land and got a kick out of all the hydroponic crops.  We took a ride in the “big ball” on Spaceship Earth.  I think Walter enjoyed the interactive finale. Next, we stumbled on something really fun. They were having a sort of treasure hunt based on the “Kim Possible” spy cartoon. Walter was assigned his own cell phone for the day,which played movies with instructions from Kim’s “command center” and allowed him to perform special tasks. Each mission was centered around a country in the World Showcase. It was very cool because it had all the fun of a treasure hunt, but you actually made things happen. A butterfly gave us a secret code, a wooden soldier talked to us, and we shot a rocket out of a volcano! All of these things were built into the scenery of the various locations, so regular passers-by would not know they were part of the game. When something came to life, it was like magic! At first, Walter was actually a little freaked out because of all the “real” things that were happening. We tried to explain that this was a game, and his phone was like a remote control, and then he really had fun with it. After our “spying,” we went on the Test Track ride, which we all loved. The ride simulates a prototype car going through all kinds of stress tests, then ends with you racing around an outdoor track at nearly 70mph! Walter screamed with delight, as did we all. We liked it so much, we went twice.

Between rides, we visited the Epcot Character Spot. It was toward the end of the day, so the line was short, and we got to meet Mickey, Pluto, Minnie, Donald and Goofy all in a row.  Donald was Walter’s favorite - he played around, tried to eat Walter’s hat and made it disappear. Lots of fun! The hat in question was a special mouse-ears hat, the dome of which looks like the top of R2D2. As soon as he saw it, Walter was hooked. We picked up a pink hat for Abigail, so they could each have one.

April 14 & 15: We knew the trip was winding down, so we made the most of the pool and playground at the resort.  On Thursday, a guy from the Gatorland theme park came and did a show. He brought along a tarantula, a scorpion, a lizard, a boa constrictor and two alligators. Walter got to pet an alligator a the end of the show.  On Friday night, there was karaoke by the pool. Walter noticed they had two microphones, so he and I did a duet of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”

April 16: We got up “in the middle of the night” to catch our early plane home. The trip went smoothly, although we were not too pleased to see snow on the ground, as we made our descent over Minnesota. It made us grateful for such a nice warm vacation in Florida.