Posts Tagged ‘Aubri’
Dylan’s Birthday
February 2nd, 2010 Posted by Mike in Kids | Comments
Tomi and I can’t believe that Dylan is already 4 years old. He is growing so fast and everyday he makes me laugh about something totally new. The way he sees the world right now is so cool, and I feel I’m learning from him as he sees things for the first time. Hes always had a great love and interest in ocean life and I hope to make this fourth year of his life the one where we can really begin totake advantage of where we live and help him explore the California coast.
His Birthday was on 01/20 and he decided this year that instead of doing a big party like he has in the past, he wanted to either do Disneyland or Monterey with the Family (looks like we are going to Disneyland later this month), with the one condition that he got to spend his birthday with his friends Nate and Braden. So that night Shelby, Dustin and the boys came over after everyone got home from work. Tomi and I made bean and cheese burritos at Dylans request.
But Dylan, Nate and Braden were so excited to get back to their wii nobody really ate anything. After many sword fights, table tennis battles, and a few frames of bowling we were able to lure them back to the table with an Ice Cream Birthday Cake from Doc Burnstein’s, always delicious. Wii wasn’t enough to pull them away from the table now. With Dylan turning four there was the perfect amount of candles to be licked by the three boys and Aubri. After making sure that every last bit of ice cream was off the candles they finished of the pieces of cake. Dylan has made great friends here and was very happy to share his birthday with them.You can see more pics from the “party” here.
Seashell Collecting
December 22nd, 2009 Posted by momitomi in Kids | CommentsThis morning my mom and I took the kids down to the ocean to look for seashells. I made sure the kids were bundled up warm, but it actually ended up being really beautiful down there. It was cool but nice and sunny and we all really enjoyed ourselves. I haven’t had a chance to go through the bags yet to see what all was collected but I am sure there will be a few interesting things in there. Dylan said he put half a crab in one of the bags to give to Grandma so she could “play with it and stuff”. Please click here to see more photos.
Stewie and the Christmas Tree
December 20th, 2009 Posted by Mike in Kids | CommentsWe got our tree a little later then we normally like to this year. With me getting a new job, all the things the kids have going on and then getting a new cat we have been a little busy. But we finally did get it and are really happy with the one we picked out. It’s almost like Stewie knew he was the kids Christmas gift this year and parked himself right under the tree where all the other presents will be going. It gave Tomi a good opportunity to get our first real shots of him in his new home. So here is the newest member of the family…
Blackmail Pics
December 20th, 2009 Posted by Mike in Kids | CommentsJust to make sure Aubri hates us just a little bit when she brings home her first boyfriend Tomi got some pics of her that I am sure she would want no one else seeing. So here they are…. Tomi and the kids were getting ready to take a trip to Madera. Their bags were packed so Aubri figured it was time to go. She put on her beanie and flip flops and headed for the door. Luckily Tomi was able to get a few shots.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
November 28th, 2009 Posted by Mike in Kids | CommentsWes Anderson probably ranks a very close second to the Coen brothers when it comes to my favorite film makers. So a few months ago when I found out that he had made a children’s film, I was so stoked that I would be able to take the kids to see a movie that I knew they would enjoy but would also have some of the craziness that is Wes Anderson that I would love also. We saw it today and I think he pulled it off very well. He took a Roald Dahl book, the guy who wrote Charlie and Chocolate Factory, and made it his own. I have never read the book but from what I have read about this film he stayed pretty close to the original while adding his trademarks to it; great sound track, almost uncomfortable dialogue, perfectly framed shots, etc… The stop motion animation was nowhere near as polished as what you see with Tim Burton movies but it gave the movie an almost vintage feel that I think added to the whole vibe of the movie. When we left everyone said they enjoyed it, which to me is the perfect kids movie. Dylan enjoyed it for the cute furry animals that talked, and Tomi and I really enjoyed all aspects of the movie. I know not everyone loves Wes Anderson, hes kind of an acquired taste, but I think this is the one film of his that everyone will really enjoy. So go check it out.
Pumpkin Carving
November 1st, 2009 Posted by momitomi in Kids | Comments
On Halloween morning we decided to carve our pumpkins so they would be ready to be put out for decoration on Halloween night. It took a little while before Dylan warmed up to the idea of sticking his hands inside the pumpkin to pull out the guts, but after he realized it wasn’t going to hurt him he seemed to have fun cleaning out his pumpkin. Aubri on the other hand never seemed to get the hang of cleaning her pumpkin out and she preferred for someone else to do it for her.
Dylan really wanted to carve a “face” on his so that it would look like a Jack-o-Lantern. He gave it his best shot of trying to carve it on his own, but really the knife just ended up going up and down in one spot. He didn’t seem to realize that he wasn’t doing any carving though and really had a good time. Mike ended up finishing carving his face for him and he just pulled out the pieces as Mike cut them free. Aubri chose the cat for her pumpkin to be carved into, and I think they both ended up turning out great. Dylan couldn’t wait to get to put the candle in his so that it would light up. He was quite proud of his pumpkin and pointed out all of the pumpkins that had a face like his while we were out trick-or-treating. The next day Grams roasted up all of the pumpkin seeds with a little bit of garlic and everyone thinks they are delicious. Click here to see more pick of the kids carving pumpkins.
Disneyland, October 2009
November 1st, 2009 Posted by momitomi in Kids | Comments
My mom had a couple of days vacation that she needed to take, so we figured we would take the kids and head to Disneyland. Mike luckily was able to get the time off also, so he came along. We went up on Thursday morning and stopped by to have lunch with Grandma McDonald on our way through and ended up hitting Disneyland around 3 o’clock.
The first ride Dylan wanted to go to was Buzz Lightyear so we headed there first. When we got in to get on the ride Dylan got a little scared, I don’t think he really remembered everything from last time. It took him most of that first ride to really get the idea of the whole thing again, but as soon as it was over, he was ready to go on it again. Aubri wasn’t sure about the ride, and she really didn’t seem like she liked any of the rides the whole time we were there. The only ride she seemed like she really wanted to go on was Dumbo and that was only after Dylan and Grams got on the ride and she was left standing on the sidelines because we figured she wouldn’t go on it. We had a lot of fun, but it is amazing how few rides you actually get to do when you are there with young kids and you have to go on their time and deal with multiple potty and snack breaks. Dylan did go on the roller coaster in Toon Town again and he really enjoyed that. I tried to get him to go on Thunder Mountain Railroad with me, but he didn’t seem so sure about that. Maybe next time I can convince him to go on it with me. One of the highlights we found by accident was getting to ride in the very front car of the monorail in with the driver. You get a great view of the whole park looking out of the front window, and it was really neat at night to be able to get to see all the lights from the park as well as all the lights from the hotels. Both the kids really enjoyed this part of day.
We have realized that Dylan is much more of a daredevil than we used to think. He doesn’t really seem to let heights or speed bother him. When Mike took Dylan on the Jellyfish ride, he was much more nervous to go up high then Dylan was on the ride. Mike kept a tight grip on Dylan even though was hooked in, and he checked his seat belt several times before the ride started. Probably everyone’s favorite ride was Toy Story. It is a great ride and it is really interactive. We just had a hard time getting either of the kids to keep on their 3D glasses so they could get the full effect of the ride. They also had both of the parks all decorated for Halloween and it was really neat to see all of the pumpkins and Halloween related decorations all over. Since we all have season passes now, we are already planning a trip to head back around Christmas time so we can see the park all decorated for Christmas. Click here for more Disneyland Pics.
Trick-or-Treating 2009
November 1st, 2009 Posted by momitomi in Kids | Comments
Halloween came very quickly for the McDonald household this year. It seems like we were just enjoying summertime and then all of the sudden it was fall and Halloween was upon us. We were very excited about Halloween this year. This was Aubri’s first real year of Trick-or-Treating since she wasn’t walking last year. Uncle Jack was kind enough to get a hold of a discontinued Octopus suit for Aubri to wear and Dylan was more than excited to be a peacock again this year. We thought the kids were going to be so excited to go out Trick-or-Treating and then Aubri fell asleep not too long before we were planning on going out, and since she got woken up from her nap long before I think she wanted to, she wasn’t in a great mood when we began. Dylan seemed excited to put his costume on but when it came to actually going out he wasn’t really that excited. Once we got the kids dressed and outside we snapped a couple of pictures and then we were off to our first house.
Aubri wasn’t sure what was going on, so she just kind of stood back and watched her big brother. After she realized that people were handing stuff out, she at least wanted to go up and get some for herself. After the first or second house, Dylan got some M&M’s and he decided at that point he was done and he just wanted to go home and eat his M&M’s. We kept telling him he might get more candy if we went to more houses, but he said he had enough and was ready to go home. We convinced him to stay out a little longer because we wanted to go by one of the houses that was really decorated for Halloween.
Then we told him we would just head back to the house but we could hit houses along the way while we walked back. Aubri didn’t seem all that impressed with Trick-or-Treating either. The second house we hit gave her a sucker and that was all that she wanted. Once she had her sucker open she was happily sucking on that and didn’t really want to be bothered to go up to anymore houses. The houses that we did get her to go up to the door on always wanted to put her candy in her bag, but she didn’t want anything to do with her bag, she wanted to hold her candy and she didn’t want it in the bag. She usually had at least two or three pieces in her hands at a time and would only give those up when she got another one. We made it home after a half an hour or so of Trick-or-Treating and the kids were both content to eat one piece of candy before bed. I think they had a lot more fun passing out candy to the rest of the kids that came to our door that night than they did actually getting the candy themselves. Soon, it was off to bed for the two little ones and it was time to leave their candy loot out for the Candy Fairy to come take and leave them a small surprise in return.
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Pretzel making fun
October 27th, 2009 Posted by momitomi in Kids | Comments
When Dylan started preschool this past summer, one of his first days of class they made pretzels. Recently he asked if we could make pretzels at home, and today seemed like a great day to make them. Both kids were acting a bit under the weather so I decided it would be a good idea to hang out at home and lay low for the day. I looked up a recipe online and we went at it. Dylan helped me make the dough while Aubri took a nap. He is really into helping me cook right now so he helped me measure all of the ingredients and pour them into the mixer. Aubri ended up waking up just in time to help us shape and form the dough. They both had fun making their own pretzels and Dylan tried to get as creative as he could. With one of his pretzels he wanted to make a condor so we worked together to shape something until he was happy with its condor shape. The pretzels turned out great and we ended up eating almost the whole batch before the end of the night. Click here to see more pics.
