Butterflies Day 11

Pretty amazing. In a matter of hours we watched 6-7 of the little buggers climb up to the top and make their cocoons, all at the same time. It was as if someone rang a bell in there and they all said, "OK, time to go!" As you can see, one little guy is a bit behind the rest, hes been hanging, but no cocoon yet. We are excited for him to 'wrap it up' so we can transfer them to the habitat. This is likely the last pic you will see of the little plastic cups...

Butterflies Day 9

The transformations have started! When I got up this am I went over to our little friends and noticed that one of them was neatly wrapped up in his chrysalis. The others are also hanging upside down and shaking in a weird way... I guess they shake-it up when it comes to makin'a cocoon...

Butterflies Day 7

Its gettin creepy in there...
Hmmmm, I seem to havin some problems uploading pics... please stand by.

Butterflies Day 5

As we continue to follow the thrilling saga of the Sandwisch butterfly experiment, I am happy to report that the little fellas are doing quite well. They have nearly quadroupled in size and are quite active. They are also making some webbing stuff and climbing the sides of the cups. Neat stuff.

Oh and Katie claims that hers are larger than Andrews because they eat more and are older... like she is.

1st Day of School

Andrew had his first day of preschool and Katie is in the classroom next to him. Andrew will be going Tues/Thur mornings and Katie will be there 4 days for a Pre-K enrichment program. They are both doing well and enjoying playing with their friends and meeting their new teachers. We are in good hands at La Jolla Presbyterian Preschool. Trying to get a good photo was quite a challenge especially on my crutches.

Happy 65th Birthday Mom!

Grandma Kari was kind enough to spend her 65th Birthday taking care of me. So, I set up a few things ahead of time to try to make her day a little special. The kids gave her a mouse pad with a picture of them on it. Grandma likes to call this photo, "the quadruplets." Grandma enjoyed her birthday cake exactly the way she wanted it, "lots of flowers which means lots of frosting". We also treated her to a nice arrangement of flowers, a few chocolates and a yummy dinner from CPK. Thanks for celebrating with us.

Thank God for Grandparents

Well, since Steve was working and I was no fun lying around recovering, the kids were lucky enough to have Grandma Kari and Grandpa Dick to take them around. It was their last week before school. They hit several parks in the area, spent time baking cookies, planted new flowers, rode bikes, went swimming, took Andrew for a physical, played dress up and hair salon(Grandma re-created Princess Leia hair for Katie), ate several donuts (Thanks dad), toured the Natural History Museum and walked the San Diego Zoo. Here are just a few photos to enjoy. They all had a lot of fun despite the kids having a little cold. Unfortunately, Grandma and Grandpa are still recovering at home from sinus infections. Grandpa says the goodbye kiss from Katie was still worth it despite the sickness.

No Fun Ankle Surgery

I have a quite a few photos to catch up on with everyone. As many of you know, I had ankle ligament reconstruction surgery earlier this month. It has been a long and slow healing process but I owe so many thanks to Steve, My Mom, My Dad, Katie and Andrew. I couldn't have gotten through this time without you. Oh, I guess I should thank Dr. Marshall for making sure I woke up from the surgery. Let's just say I don't like going under. I have been doing a lot of sleeping and lying around. Andrew decided to curl up next to me during one of my naps. You can see my cast in the left corner of the photo. The surgery was three weeks ago but staples and sutures have been removed. I still have the same cast but hope to continue to gain more mobility and am desperately trying to get off the crutches. PATIENCE!!!!!!

Butterflies Day 3

Spunky little buggers are puttin on some weight!

Sound Byte of the "The Things I Like"

Decided to record a couple bytes of the kids talking. They pretty much speak for themsleves in this post. Enjoy:

Andy - "My Favorite Things"

Katie - My Favorite Things"

Butterflies

We got a really neat-o surprise in the mail today as Nana sent us a butterfly pavilion! Thanks Nana! The kids were very interested, very curious, a bit perplexed, and genuinely excited about the new residents in our home. Katie quickly decided that the larve needed names, but rather than rush to decide on each one, she chose to think about it overnight. Andy named one "Greedo".

For those of you who don't know what the heck this thing is, it's a couple of plastic cups that hold some butterfly larve (catapillars) which are supposed to hatch in 10 days. We also have a collapsable habitat for them once they emerge from the cacoons. Ill try and keep a running update on the progress if the little fellas. Here they are at Day 1...

Game Face

So football is back and this season I decided to hook up the kids with some gear. For Andy, a slightly oversized Charger LT Jersey, and for Katie, #7 -- Mr. Rivers. Unfortunately my investment did not pay off this last Sunday vs. the Pats, but I'm hoping we can make some ground back against Green Bay this week. I am proud of my boy as I was tucking him in for bed the other night he began crying. I asked him what's wrong, and he told me he wanted to wear his Charger Jersey to bed. I told him that his Charger Jersey was special, and only to be worn on Game Day.

Now I get asked almost every day... "Daddy, is it Game Day today?"

Money

I had a very interesting conversation with Katie today. We were in the pool and floating peacefully in the sun, both of us using noodles to relax on our backs in the quiescent 94 degree water. It was a very relaxing moment (as Andy had gone in for a bath already.) After about 10 minutes of this magical floating silence, Katie decided it was time to talk, and the conversation went something like this:

Katie: Daddy, I'd like to give money to my friends.

Me: That's nice Katie, how much money do you want to give?

Katie: Ummm, I think about 3 moneys.

Me: That sounds like a good amount. Where are you going to get these moneys?

Katie: Well, ak-shoe-allie, I want to give twenty-nintey moneys.

Me: Hmm, that sounds like a lot, do you have that much?

Katie: Yes, I have lots of money in my piggie bank.

Me: Really? Where did you get so much?

Katie: From you.

Me: I see... Katie, do you know how much twenty-ninety moneys is?

Katie: *smile* No.

Me: Well, when it comes to money, it's a good idea to know what it is worth when you are spending it or giving it away.

(We proceeded to have a short conversation about how much a penny was worth, how much a quarter was worth, and how much a dollar was worth. After my short lession, I began to test my teachings:)

Me: So Katie, what would you buy if you had 3 dollars?

Katie: A Unicorn.

Me: Wow. I didn't even know you could buy them.

Katie: Yes, and it would have pretty bows and ribbons in its hair, and it would be pink and white.

Me: Katie, I think Unicorns are really expensive. They might cost all the money in the world.

Katie: Well, if I had all the money in the world, I would buy a castle, and some clothes.

Me: Now you're talkin'. So what would you do if you had no money.

Katie: Well, then I would get a shopping cart and dig for food.

Me: (Pause, and a double-take) A shopping cart? Why a shopping cart? (Wonder where this had come from...)

Katie: Well, there is this lady next to my school, who had a shopping cart, and she lives outside, and has dirty clothes, and she has no money. She digs for food.

Me: Why do you think she does that?

Katie: Because she is poor.

Me: Let's hope we don't have to do that Katie. That's why daddy worries a lot about his work, because I don't want to have to dig for food.

Katie: Well, if we had no money, we can grow food here at the house, and plant seeds. Right over there, in the grass. Mommy and Andrew could help too.

Me: I suppose we could.

Katie: Yeah, it would be REALLY fun. We don't need money daddy, we already have everything we need.


Indeed.

Del Mar Races, Silly Faces, and Cool Spaces

Today we went to the Del Mar races. Always a lot of fun, but still way too hot here, with temps in the 90s. We met up with some friends and had a fun time in the infield. The Del Mar infield is kinda like a mini-fair with face paintings, jumpie-jumps, magic shows, and pony rides.



Once we got home, we were all quite tired (and hot), especially Jennifer. As I was posting this, I went out to check on everyone. All the kids are sleeping in their beds, no covers, and fans blowing across their bodies. Jen gave me quite a surprise and I found her sleeping in the middle of the living room, on the floor, in front of the AC unit we have. I couldn't help but take a picture and giggle...

LegoLand

And the fun never stops here at Amusement Park Central. After Disneyland last week, the kids hit Sea World mid week, and we all hit LegoLand yesterday. Hot. Hot. Man, did I mention it was hot?

We had a lot of fun though. Rode some more rollercoasters. I think Andy is pretty much scarred for life after Space Mountain and wants nothing to do with roller coasters anymore. Katie however, is my little thrill seeker prodigy. She wants to ride them all. She also likes to sit in the front. We rode this one Bionacle coaster that had a really large drop in the beginning. When we went down, she let out a scream that was unlike anything I have ever heard from her before. i mean it was NOT a 'Weeee'-scream, it was a blood-curdling-'I'm going to die scream'. Sure enough, once the shock wore off and we made it past the next couple of rises, her face returned to normal and she was begging to ride it again. By the time we hit the last coaster of the day, Katie was even raising her arms up in the air as we flew down the track! Crazy girl.

Andy especially enjoyed his fantasy light-saber duel with Lego Darth Vader. Can you guess who won? And I quote for you Star Wars geeks:

"Judge me by my size do you?" ~ Yoda


We finally got to cool off in the afternoon at the water-park section in the back. It was really quite refereshing, once you get past the idea that you are being doused with recirculated water that is touching everyone else around you... I was so hot I was easily able to block that idea out and ran in with the kids into the aqua-jungle-gym that has water shooting everywhere. Its like a war zone. To top it all off, there is this gigantic bucket, literally the size of a VW bug, that slowly fills with water and then dumps down on the whole structure ever 5 minutes or so. The force of the water is unbelievable, and usually takes out about 4-5 kids each time it dumps.



Katie and Andy were devious in there. They would dodge the buckets and work the water-guns to nail anyone hapless enough to wander into thier sights.


We also rode this water-boat ride that was really interesting. You sit in a boat with 4 water cannons, and then you tour around the water park on a track while you shoot at others (and they are shooting at you of course). Well, Jen rode this with us and was the only person not wearing a suit. The kids in the park saw this and locked onto her like a laser, totally drilling her and leaving her soaking wet. :)