Disneyland!

Bryce checks out the "Candy Corn Crop" being harvested at Disney's California Adventure. We knew California was an agricultural wonder, but seriously...now kids everywhere are going to be begging to plant candy corn at home!

Jillian (red shirt on the left), Thomas (next to Bryce), and Bryce show us their best dance moves at California Adventure's Block Party.

Bryce models his new "Pumpkin Ears"!
Brittany and Bryce hug it out with Mickey!
Drew poses by fake rocks.
What a ham! He loves to have his picture taken!
Bryce meets one of his Disney idols...Lightning McQueen!

Well, we made it! Our first trip to Disneyland as a "party of 4" was a success! We had a great time, and Bryce turned 4 at the "Happiest Place on Earth." Not only that, the annual unveiling of the Halloween decorations occured on his birthday, so that was pretty cool. The Haunted House is redone with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme, and that was awesome! We tried some new rides, including the new and improved Pirates of the Caribbean (complete with Jack Sparrow) and the brand-new Nemo Submarine ride. Not my personal favorite, as I'm a bit claustrophobic, but still pretty neat.

Kudos to our nephew, Thomas, who is the King of California Screamin'! It's a great roller coaster at California Adventure, and Thomas rode it more than anyone else in our group! He, Jillian, and Bryce were real troopers! They rode tons of things and held up very well without a lot of down time. We loved having the Sommer family, Grandpa Jim & Grandma Karen, and Aunt Brittany along on our trip!

Drew had fun crawling through the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. He did not have fun sleeping in the hotel room, and thus, neither did we.

On Saturday, our group was lucky enough to win "Dream Fastpasses" as we left Mickey's house in Toon Town. These are given away to a number of guests every day as part of Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign. They allowed us to walk onto a bunch of popular rides without standing in line, and they were great! It made it much easier for us "big kids" to ride some things that our little ones couldn't. Plus, we felt super cool walking around all day wearing them around our necks.

All in all, a fantastic vacation! We can't wait for Drew to get bigger, so that we can head back and scare the pants off him on some rides. By the way, Bryce is a champ...Big Thunder Mountain Railtoad was one of his favorite rides! We can't wait to get him on some real coasters in a few years!

Bryce's 4th birthday party is this afternoon, so we'll post again in a day or two with pictures and details from that. We also have a bunch of video we took at Disney that we plan to edit and post. I have to leave that up to Stu, however, beacuse that far outreaches my technical abilites (or lack thereof.) Take care everybody, and let's be careful out there!

The saga begins...

As the seasons change and a new school year begins, it seems like a good time to get this blog started. We are excited to have a place to share some of the highlights of our life here in New Mexico with family and friends. Stu received a wonderful video camera for his birthday last month, so we plan to share some short videos of the boys and their many adventures.

Bryce started preschool this week...he's in his second year at a fantastic preschool co-op near our home. He has a phenomenal teacher named Mrs. Lindsey, and he thoroughly enjoys his time at school. He's also started a "Sports Skills" class at the Little Gym, and is currently learning the ins and outs of soccer. He's VERY eagerly anticipating his 4th birthday in a few weeks, and is equally excited about our upcoming trip to Disneyland.

For those of you who don't know, I won a trip for 4 to Disneyland on the radio earlier this summer, and we're taking the boys for Bryce's birthday! Grandpa Jim & Grandma Karen are coming along, and we're meeting Aunt Brittany, Aunt Paige, Uncle Rich, Thomas, and Jillian there. We can't wait! We will of course share details of our trip when we get back.

Drew is now 9 months old, and is changing daily. He can "Army crawl" (he prefers to drag his belly on the floor as he goes), pull himself to a standing position, and babble. He smiles and laughs, and generally tries to keep up with his big brother. He has two teeth, and there seem to be some more coming any time now. He started a Parent & Infant class at the Little Gym today, and had a blast. He's a social butterfly, and always has a smile for the ladies!

Some other exciting news...we have a new niece! Betsy & Kennet welcomed Elsa Barbara on Aug. 26th! She was 7 lb. 10 oz., and 21.5" long. (A full inch and a half longer than either of her cousins!) We are thrilled, and can't wait to meet her in person!

That seems like a pretty good synopsis of life for today, but we'll post again soon! Let's be careful out there, everybody! :)

Becky