Disney World, Day 3

On Day 3, we divided and conquered. Connor and Pop went off to enjoy Magic Kingdom and Nani and I took Timmy to Epcot. While the boys went off to Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Small World, Barnstormer, etc, we had a blast wandering around the International area at Epcot.

The Garden Festival was going on, and there were amazing topiaries everywhere. Here's Nani and Timmy near the Fantasia ostriches.

Here's mommy in front of the Simba scene from Lion King.


We enjoyed a long leisurely lunch at Cafe Marrakesh with mimosas and a baklava sampler. Timmy was hungry too, so here's mommy and Timmy enjoying a Timmy apertif.


We really loved Asia the most...China and Japan were really very interesting, and we fell in love with the gardens.



We decided to rest in Mexico for a little while and let Timmy have a taste of Nani's all fruit popsicle. We LIKE pops. Mommy had to buy a new shirt though because strawberry and beet juice just do not look great smeared across my chest.


We came back to the hotel for some swimming and dinner, and then Pop and Connor headed out to fireworks while Nani and mommy stayed with comatose Timmy and enjoyed some petit fours from the concierge service upstairs. Connor had a blast at the fireworks but the first loud volley had him running across the park to get away...Pop had to convince him he was not a target on an artillery range.

Disney World , Day 2

orry it's taken me so long to catch up! It's been a very busy week!

We woke up all refreshed on Monday and hied ourselves off to Animal Kingdom for the morning. We made lunch reservations for Rainforest Cafe, and so we enjoyed Dinoland in the meantime.


The place was relatively empty when we first showed so Nani and mommy took Connor on the dinosaur ride. I jumped out of my skin a couple times when the carnosaurs popped out of no where but Connor demonstrated great sangfroid...after all, they would eat the bigger people first right? His only comment was that "dinosores are LOUD."

He really enjoyed the flying dino ride and went three times before we had to go off to the cafe for lunch.



We stopped to see a few animals on the way out...


We ate lunch at the cafe, which Connor loved...he talked to all the animals on the walls...and then headed off to Epcot for the afternoon.


Connor loves trains of all sorts and we got to ride buses AND trains there. We got back at around 7 and put both kids to bed...they fell asleep near instantly. Too bad I can't always run them into the ground like that!

Disney World Adventures, Day 1

The Crean/Freel clan went off on a magical Disney World vacation this Sunday...in fact, I'm writing this now from the DW Animal Kingdom Lodge as the kids slumber peacefully in their beds. It has been a real blast so far...I'll write day by day, but one or two days delayed so I can catch everyone up and not miss anything.

We got up early Sunday morning and flew out of Dulles...Connor was extremely excited about the airplane ride and told everyone within hearing distance about tails and flaps and cambered wings. We arrived before 9 am, and we were whisked off to our lodge to check in and get our tickets and info. Our rooms weren't ready yet -- we were upgraded gratis to concierge services and two adjoining deluxe rooms -- so while dad got things straightened out with all that, the kids and I roamed the hotel. The hotel is beautiful, decorated with an African theme, and has a "savannah" in the courtyard. From our balcony we can see this:


The animals roam all day in a big protected paddock and Connor is learning all kinds of new animals like amkole and ibex.

While we waited for our rooms, we decided to head over to the Magic Kingdom. It was very busy by the time we got there, but Connor did manage to get on the Flying Dumbo ride he's anticipated for weeks, and discovered the wonder of the spinning teacup ride (one of mommy's faves!). Here he is modeling his new hat (his old one didn't fit) and waiting patiently in line.


Here he is on the teacups...


If you're wondering why there hasn't been any pics of Timmy featured yet, that is because the world's mellowest baby chose to sleep through most of all this action. He finally woke when pop and Connor braved Connor's first roller coaster, the Barnstormer. Here's Pop and Connor heading up the track -- zoom!



And here's the cheering section on the ground!



The rooms were soon ready so we headed back to the hotel on the bus (Connor asks about 40 million times day to ride the bus...we probably could have bought him a $20 bus pass and he'd have been almost as happy!) and rested. We were all pretty tired from the day's travels so as soon as the kids ate, we all hit the sheets to get an early jump on the Animal Kingdom the next day. The park had early opening hours we wanted to take advantage of. Stay tuned for Animal Kingdom and Epcot adventures!

My baby is a preschooler!

Connor went to his first day of preschool today. Such a bittersweet moment...he's so ready to spend time with kids his own age and do some learnin', but mommy had a hard time tearing herself away.

His day had mixed reviews...he seemed to have had fun; when I showed up to collect him, he was wearing a construction hat and assembling an airplane puzzle with his new little friend Sharya, but apparently he balked mightily at going to the toilet with his teacher Miss Betty. They encourage the children to potty themselves and her thought is that perhaps he would feel more comfortable if he could do it all himself and have some privacy. We know that potty time is a big privacy thing for him...he does NOT like to be watched...so we agreed and want to get him some stretchy waist pants to wear that will be easier for him to take up and down himself. Something to encourage at home as well. They are working on the five senses for the next two weeks so we did a lot of talking about eyes yesterday. No art projects that day...just a low key day of station play and snacks with other kids. The little stinker ate all his peas at lunch...usually he acts like I'm poisoning him if I serve him anything green! Never underestimate the value and the pitfalls of peer pressure, eh? He's not gung ho about school; he asked yesterday to go "tomorrow" but mommy said no, we go on Wednesday which he accepted very easily which means it couldn't have been that big of a deal.

We are missing daddy an awful lot. He gets to talk to daddy on the computer web cam every couple days depending on whether or not Charlie or Connor need more sleep and miss the chance. He loves to talk to daddy on the computer and gets so frustrated when he can't remember all he wants to tell daddy. His language development doesn't let him tell a story the way he wants, so he usually ends up just spewing phrases and words that make very little sense to someone who didn't go through his day. "Hey man, wet's pway...airpwane...flaps...up in the air! Comcricker (computer...game...I pway k...kangawoo! Book...penen (penguin)..." and so it goes on. From that you might have trouble guessing that he played this morning and read the airplane book. Pop taught him about flaps making the wing bigger and heling the plane fly through the air. He also played his computer game and played k, making the kangaroo sing his ABCs as a reward. He also got a new penguin book from Nani that is shaping up to be a favorite. Mommy has to translate some of the Connor patois for daddy. I'll be interested to see what being around all those children does for his speech. I think daddy is sad to be missing some of these firsts, but Skype is making it a great deal easier.

So here's a first day of preschool picture...he is remarkably uncooperative when a camera comes out. But he was too proud of his new tractor shirt to not get a pic. Note the tortured ambivalence.



Here's Connor's school. I blanked out the address for safety reasons. The school is attached to a day care and the structured school day is from 8-12. Connor arrives somewhere between 8-830, has a snack and playtime then they transition into school time and predetermined activities. he eats lunch around 11-1130 then mom comes and fetches him before the other kids' nap time. There's a nice big playground too but this VA kids are wusses and only venture outside if it's above 50. Since Alaska rules -20 for kids, we laugh at 50.



And here's a gratuitous Timmy pic. He is really loving unadulterated mommy time. He has to compete a lot with big brother for mommy's attention. We took a nap together and then played on the floor with another funky little doll he loves. It too has nubbly knobs for excellent baby teethers. Here he's trying yet again to eat his own hand.



Well, I guess we liked school more than I thought considering he's asked twice more to go today...this every other day thing is right out in his book! We'll have more Connor school adventures soon!

Connor's memory quilt....ah, the memories

My grandma is a pretty cool lady, a thing I had not fully appreciated til I was much older. When we were little, she was always sewing neat dresses and rompers for me and my cousins, and when I was twelve, she presented me with a Dresden Plate quilt (my favorite pattern) that had many of the scraps from those sewing projects incorporated in them; including some from a set of bathroom vanity curtains I very proudly helped with when I visited one summer. That quilt has seen much love and wear and tear...it was one of the first things I got at the Academy once restrictions on personal items let up and the whole family still likes to cuddle under it when it's cold way up here in the north of nowhere. I've patched it a couple times (constant use and carelessness as a teen were not kind to grandma's quilt) but it's very special to me, and has become more so as the years went on. In case I never said it the way I should have, grandma, you're a special lady and I'm lucky to have you and grandpa!

Aunt Diane has carried on the quilt traditions of the family to some extent and both my boys have lovely little lap quilts that, despite the fact that they were made before my boys were more than in the wiggly gassy smile stage, are oddly fitting to their personalities. Connor's quilt is soft sage green with airplanes all over it and his all consuming love of airplanes can be sated even at bedtime. Timmy is obsessed with warmth...he loves anything soft, snuggly and cuddly so the ultra soft flannel moose blanket is perfect for the first Alaskan Crean baby! Mom's incredibly soft blue afghan is one of his favorite wraps too...I come from a talented lot of women and I've always wanted something of my won to contribute to special memories with my children.

With that in mind, I always had in the back of my head that I would preserve some of Connor's special little outfits in a "memory quilt" the way grandma did for me. Not only does that cut down on clutter -- a must with the peripatetic life we lead as a military family --but it makes a strong statement about which outfits were special enough to preserve and that I treasured that time enough to memorialize in a concrete way that will not embarrass Connor when he's older. At least that's the goal; he may hate those naked bath pics, but the quilt he can show to girlfriends without fear of mortification. We had a few outfits that just tugged the heart strings every time we put them on. One of my favorites was a little teething dragon and he was so cute! See???



This also happens to be my number one favorite picture of him, and won us $100 of free stuff in a photo contest. See, the nation agrees, Connor's the cutest!

I loved this one...by the time Connor was six months old, Las Vegas was crock pot hot all the time and we were hard pressed to get him into clothes at all (we still have that problem even though it's ten below -- maybe it's the kid not the temperature?). This little soft jersey romper had a nametag printed on it that said "Hello! My name is Snuggable!" and it was one of the few we could always get him to wear without a fight. It helped if he got a plum to steal afterwards...and he was extremely Snuggable.



I wish I had a picture of his most special outfit; it was Charlie's absolute favorite and had stars scattered all over it with a patch that featured a knight and the legend "Sir Hugs-A-Lot." I think he would still be wearing it if it were possible to stuff him in it but he outgrew it by three weeks old.

I also incorporated pieces from sewing projects I did for him...slings, mei tais, his tee pee, a truck patch he just had to have because it went "vroom vroom" (his first car sound at 15 months), a packet of frog buttons he was obsessed with and plays with to this day, and honored a few other things that really meant something during his babyhood -- my wonderful friendship with my girlfriend Kellie is enshrined with a scrap from the sling I made for her, for example. I threw in a few of his special receiving blankets, some soft fleece and green cotton I used to make a changing pad for him, and even some of his favorite pajamas that he just recently outgrew. It seems impossible that my sweet baby boy is well on his way to being a preschooler and even though he's only 2.5, I've realized that those fleeting little moments of mommy bliss are going to pass so quickly -- I need to record them in a personal and hopefully very special way.

So here it is. Not a very professional job -- man, those little jersey and cotton outfits are a PAIN to sew together, they ruck up and make seams impossible to keep straight! -- but hopefully, someday Connor can see past the shoddy workmanship and realize the love and mommy angst that is in every single stitch. I already miss the baby he was, but can't wait to see what an amazing little man he will be.



I plan on doing the same thing for Timmy once we have had time to build sweet little memories like these with him. Maybe his will be a little neater, but the love poured into it will be the same. Being a mommy is such an amazing, exhilarating and ultimately heartbreaking thing isn't it?

Connor and Grandma Playtime!

Connor and Grandma have been having a blast playing with Connor's new Playdoh. Mommy made a home version of playdoh but it was too oily and hence sticky feeling for Connor to care about much -- and it dried out very quickly. So we caved and bought the commercial version, and he LOVES it. Grandma's specialty is "nakes" -- aka snakes. In the picture above he's cracking up at Grandma's snake hissing. Connor also cadged a Grover figure out of Grandma. Grandma is learning all the names of the Sesame Street characters; she's getting savvy with Big Bird, Murray, Abby Cadabby and the whole SS gang. They are having tons of fun!

Connorisms

Well, my posts have been rather doom and gloom lately...literally, with the flooding in the basement and the non stop rain! (And yes, it is STILL raining.)

So I thought I would do a "isn't my son Connor so cute" post just to remind me to be in a good mood...after all, we're only a few weeks away from adding yet another cutie to the family!

Some Connor sayings with translations:
- Melmo! (Elmo, from Sesame Street)

- Dat's bunny! (That's funny!)

- Men, men, manwee men ah-ahhhh! (The theme song from Two and Half Men...and his pitch ain't half bad!)

- See-see Steet! (Sesame Street)

- RAWERRRRR!!! (in response to what bears and lions say)

- B...A...B...Y...Babee! (Yes, he can spell)

- D...A...D...Y...Daddeee! (Okay so not well, but he CAN spell)

- Fredey, da titty! (Friday the kitty -- Friday is emphatically Connor's cat. They sleep curled around each other every night and Friday puts up with all kinds of Connor loving)

- Baff, I...want...a...baff...peez! (pauses and all, we were prompting him to use his sentences to ask for things and now the pauses are essential in his mind)

- I...nee...a...huck...peez. (I need a hug please. This one melts mommy every time)

- I am sad, daddy! (Notice this says daddy...that worked to melt mommy til she realized it worked too well, so now Connor reserves that one for daddy because mommy just says, "I'm sorry you're sad, but that doesn't mean you get out of time out for painting peanut butter on the sheets")

- No, no want! (in response to anything we do not deem essential...like naps, face cleaning or vegetables)

He's been doing a ton of cute things too...he gets the room set up for nap and nights and we have to go in a specific order. First the overhead light goes off, then the bedside light goes on, then the fan, then we close the drapes and say nigh-night to our toys with kisses before picking our books for reading time. As we go up the stairs, mommy or daddy HAVE to pat his bum and sing the bum bum song...it's requested rather imperiously if we neglect this sacred duty. He puts his clothes in the hamper and LOVES to put things in the trash, which is great because mommy can't bend over easily to pick things up anymore. He can get up in his snazzy new car seat all by himself and will sometimes even put the straps over his own shoulders, which makes him grin each time. He's getting very verbal and loves to talk about the things he sees with his "smart eyes" as we drive in the car...mommy is never allowed to pass a bus, truck or e-e'er (excavator) without some minute description of big vs small, colors and how fast it's going. If there's a moose within a mile he can spot it too...though it's amusing to see what an Alaska kid he is, since he's been calling cows "moose" in his books. Since it's been six months since he's seen a cow and seven hours since he saw a moose, I guess it's only natural! We also know who will be civil air patrol in case of another World War, because this kid can spot a plane 15 miles away through thick fog.

Connor loves the Small But Mighty bear t shirt Nana sent to him and would wear it every day if mommy and the health department would let him. His other favorite clothes include his helicopter shirt, his airplane shirt and his striped tee shirts in blue and green (orange stripes are just barely tolerated). He's outgrowing his Gerber pajama sets Grandma got him but we're having a difficult time letting them go...so his pants are up to his calves and the sleeves are 3/4 length when we can't convince him to wear his new pair from Old Navy. We're dreading the winter...he hasn't had to wear a hat for three months and mittens for four and we don't take to change well in Connor's world. He passionately hates new clothes or shoes until forced into them and then he becomes devoted to them too.

Connor is so sweet tempered we're hoping it lasts through his threes at the least. He believes in sharing to the point of forcible sharing, plying his little friends with toys whether they want them or not. When someone gets hurt, he cries for them or offers "hucks" and "tisses" for them to feel better. The kid unerringly went to the one troop in Charlie's office who adamantly does not want children and asked her pick him up and he offered her a "tiss" gravely. She took it and admitted that he didn't constitute reason #437 for not having them. LOL He's super sweet and compliant about almost everything until you hit one of his streaks of stubborn and they're a mile wide and granite hard. Potty training is one streak and certain foods are another. But that's a whole other Connor post for other days! :-)

He has a few annoying things too, but they're almost cute in their annoyances. He refuses to leave a door open if he can help it so we're constantly sending him back upstairs to free a trapped kitty cat. He's been imitating Cookie Monster while eating lately so we've been fussing at him about his bad Cookie Monster habits...the cheerios end up scattered everywhere and it sounds rude. Every night it takes him an hour to wind down because we have to count to 20 multiple times, say our ABCs several times and talk about different animals, colors and things that happened during the day. Mommy and daddy are desperate for alone time, but we hate to squelch him too so he's been up a little too late at night lately.

Okay, I have lots more but no more typing time. Need to go love on the cutie before hustling him out to the veggie pick up. Hope you enjoyed too!

Well...we flooded

It's not bad. At least, not yet. Charlie went downstairs this evening for the nightly inspection and found a water welling up through the whole downstairs. It's ground water seeping up through the cracks in the foundation, so we can't even do any clean up til the pressure equalizes -- the more we bail out, the more will seep. We're 40th on the list for bail out and clean up services, but they're estimating they won't even try for 4-5 days since the rain is continuing til Thursday at the least. Please send "anti-rain" vibes up here to Alaska...the borough is now officially a state declared disaster area. And Bush is flying in tomorrow, so security on the base is going to suck. Could life get any better??? Actually we're counting ourselves lucky...there's a 1000 people that can't even reach their homes right now and some 300 homes are not livable. We're holding on just fine and are blessed with the luck of the Irish so far!

All I can say is thank goodness for nesting, because one week ago the basement was a wreck of boxes and our mattress was still down there from the June heat wave. My preggo little heart couldn't take it anymore and Charlie cleaned it up last weekend. Whew. Then we were prepared and moved everything but the plastic binned stuff, so we palletized that tonight to get it out of the water. All we can do now is wait and hope that it doesn't get worse...our friends have 5 inches of water and he's deployed while she visits family down in the States so they aren't even able to salvage stuff themselves.

Here's Connor playing along the shore of Polaris Lake. His normal rock throwing spot is under about five feet of water, so he had to content himself with the picnic area.






And just because he's so darn cute...how can you be too pissed about flooding when this little cutie is smiling??