More Disneyland Pics....

These were some passes that a random worker gave the kids (they were speed passes to every major ride in Disneyland and California Adventure). I guess they only give out a handful of these each day. We were definitely in the right place at the right time.

Carter was pretty excited about seeing the "actual" Lightning McQueen!

Notice the sign in the background...one of my many nicknames.

Sword in the Stone

The Happiest Place on Earth!

We took the kids to Disneyland the second weekend in October. It had been almost 3 years since we were last there. My brother and sister-in-law twisted our arms into joining them for the extended weekend (which happened to be during our kids "fall break" from school) - and we're glad they did. The kids had an awesome time with their cousins.

We were there for 3 days - and at the parks from 8am to 10pm everyday. So overall, we spent 42 hours at the happiest place on earth, and below you will get to see how we spent about 19 of those hours (I'm being somewhat facetious, but not really). Every time we would see one of these characters the girls would scream, "Dad, can we get his/her autograph?!?!"

So what am I supposed to say?

"No, you can't get their autograph...quit being so self-centered! Do you think this week is all about you kids, and what you want to do?!"

There were a couple of times that I saw one of these characters walking down the street, and I wanted to go up and punch them square in the face...but instead, I would stand in line for hours on end, waiting go get an autograph and picture. :-)

Courtney's learning to ride a 2-wheeler

The heat is subsiding, so I decided to finally teach Courtney how to ride her two-wheeler...so we can go on family bike rides. She was pretty nervous at first...but I spoke gentle words of comfort.

"Dad, what happens if you let go and I crash?"

"Courtney, don't worry, the worst thing that could happen is that you fall and break your arm, or maybe hit your head on the cement and spit it open...you ready to try it?"

Another buddy's B-Day...

Another one of my good buddies had his B-Day recently. He's a big beach volleyball fan, so I took him to the season ending "Best of the Beach" tournament in Glendale. It was pretty amazing to see how hard these guys / girls hit the ball. What was really cool was to get to see 3 of the 4 USA Olympic gold medalists from Beijing.

Phil Dalhausser - this guy could hit the ball HARD!

Todd Rogers (Dalhausser's partner in Beijing)

Kerri Walsh (all 6'3" of her). Her normal partner (Misty May-Treanor) was busy competing on "Dancing with the Stars".

The women's championship match in action.

Several of the guys asked me to come down and join them for the closing ceremonies.

Carter is potty trained...

Well, it took 3 years and 4 months before Carter would even consider "trying" the whole potty training gig. However, it was worth the wait, because once he did it, he decided to g0 all the way. One night, he told mom he wanted to wear his "big boy" underwear. She told him he could start wearing it in the morning. The next day, he showed us all that when he puts his mind to something, he accomplishes it. Not only did he not have any accidents that day, but he insisted on wearing his "big boy" underwear to bed as well. Mom and Dad were a little nervous about that...but didn't want to squash his spirit. So we let him wear them, and he woke up in the morning totally dry. It's been almost over a week, and so far, no accidents (day or night) - except for at a friends house (we attribute that to being too excited playing with friends to remember). We were preparing ourselves for months and months of pull-ups, etc (everyone tells us boys are way harder to potty train than girls)...but "knock on wood", we're all done with diapers and wipes in the Bates household!

Carter next to his "sticker chart".

This picture is for Uncle Ryan who said I would be 15 1/2 before I was potty trained. :-)

OK, last one...I promise.

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