Birthday Recap #4 - Gibson

You didn't think I'd forget the little guy did you? Happy Birthday Gibson! It's been a great first year. It's hard to imagine that Gibby has gone from this:



To looking like this in his first year.


Now if we could just get Gibby to get a haircut and a job we'd be in business.

Gibson's birthday wasn't quite on the extravaganza level that we've seen for some other birthdays this year. Actually, his was pretty simple and involved fewer cold swimming pools. Gibby got to eat his birthday cake at the same time as Sarah, his cousin who is just a few days older than him. Sarah went all in on the cake.



Gibby wasn't quite as carefree. He liked the cake, but didn't like the mess. He ended up eating most of his piece, but Teri had to feed him little bites the whole time he was in his high chair. Nonetheless, Gibson did manage to get a little chocolaty.




Gibson made out pretty well with the gifts. I think everyone felt bad for him because his birthday was so close to Christmas. He got all kinds of things like books, a Glowworm, Baby Signing Time - including the ever popular diaper dance (Thanks Nathan), and even a fox (which he promptly tried to eat).



All in all, it was easily his best birthday so far, but I'm guessing he probably won't remember any of it by this time next year.

Christmas Traditions

The first Christmas after Teri and I were married was a whirlwind. We married on December 16 in Mesa, drove to Thatcher that night for a reception, flew up to Utah the next day to go to my brother's wedding on December 18, had an open house for my brother and me the night of the 18th, and then we were back in Arizona for Christmas in Thatcher. I figured the next Christmas would be a little more routine, but as it approached Teri got the feeling it was yet another whirlwind.

Teri jokes about it now, but she insists that she has never come across a family with so many Christmas traditions. Her secret favorite tradition is kicking the pole - something my family has done for years now. No, it's not some feat of strength.



Kicking the pole actually dates back to when my family was a lot younger. On Christmas Eve my Mom wanted some time to get everything set up for the evening and asked my Dad to get all of us kids out of the house so she could work without all of our pent up excitement bubbling over her preparations.

My Dad started out taking the conventional approach. We drove across the town and looked at lights for a little while, but when we still hadn't killed enough time we drove to Ken Price ballpark, where we sang Christmas carols to the ball field. I know it sounds kind of odd, and it felt odd the first time we did it, but it quickly became the treasured family tradition we repeated every year. Flash forward a couple years after that first caroling experience. My brother Scott was playing in a baseball game at Ken Price field and my other brother Russ was running just outside the confines of Ken when he ran smack-dab into a steel parking lot gate knocking himself flat.

When we made it back to Ken Price 6 months later during the winter someone started kicking the pole in an effort to pay it back for the vicious body blow it dealt to our brother. The next year that had turned into a tradition as well. Teri has even gotten in on the action. The year after we were married we were in Utah for Christmas and we had Teri kick the pole. While trying to feign intensity Teri sternly scolded the pole saying, "You hurt Russ." Teri then dealt the pole a swift kick to its midsection. The funny part was that Teri had never met Russ at that point, he had left of mission just as we were getting engaged, so we were surprised at Teri's enthusiastic response to our family tradition. But Teri's never been one to shy away from jumping in to things with both feet; it's one of the reasons I adore her.

I thought it might be fun to share some of those traditions here. If you're like Teri you may feel they're a bit much at first, but feel free to adopt any that you think would be fun. Although if you decide to kick the pole please let me know so I can give you some tips. You wouldn't want to end up trying to kick the pole only to have your feet slip out from beneath you just as you prepare to deliver your gigantic wallop.

Police Blotter: 2 Dead Escorts Found at Davis Residence

Yes, that would have to be the headline of this week, narrowly beating out "Grumpy: 71 years later. How a 3' Man Doubled in Size and Got a Job at the Junkyard."

It is with great regret that we announce the passing of our second Escort. I like thinking back to the good old times when the Escort had a working motor and not everything under the hood was broken. Times like this:



I don't actually remember anything like that happening, but apparently even the ever plentiful internet doesn't care about the Ford Escort enough to post an interesting video or two. Oh well.

Our first Escort passed on in January. While we had hoped to hold bake sales all year to pay to get it fixed, we unfortunately had to divert money to cover paying for Gibson to be born. You would think we'd get a little more utility out of something that cost so much.

With our cash strapped and our two little boys unable to win any high profile best looking baby competitions, Teri and I decided to put off fixing our white Escort and made the best of using only one car. Our silver Escort became our workhorse hauling us to and fro, here and there, nither and thither. Until that fateful day several weeks ago when it decided it no longer had a will to live and ended its life outside of Kohl's.

A few days and a diagnostic check later, the Escort was pronounced dead on the scene. We took her to the junkyard and despite the best efforts of a gnomish junkyard employee to not use their business, we were able to strike a good deal. We swapped 1 dead Escort for a total prize package (worth $52) to include 20 Totino's pizzas, 3 "as-is" air fresheners from any car in the junkyard, and season tickets to the WNBA. Cucumber melon never smelled so good.

Like most things in life, there is a good and a bad side to this story. The bad side is that we had to replace the car somehow, and while we considered going the "green route," ultimately we decided the kids were too small to peddle. So we bought a Honda. What's bad about that? Well, they didn't give it to us for free. I was hoping for some last minute "Hey you're our first customer in weeks because the economy is melting" giveaway, but curiously enough they did ask us to pay.

The good side of all of this is that Honda driving videos are a lot easier to find online than Escort videos. For example, this little number is amazing and it begs two important questions. Do people in the rest of the world really drive like this? And, do people in the rest of the world really just wander out into the road and stand there as they watch a car that is clearly nanoseconds away from totally losing control and just wait for it to come slamming into them? Oh how the other half lives.

In summary, the bad side of having to pay for the car is pretty much a wash with the upside of watching crazy people nearly kill themselves in a car manufactured by the same people that made mine. Now if I could just figure out some way to teach K and Gibby to wash windows.

Birthday Recap #3 - McKay

I think Teri and I have been excited for McKay's birthday for about 9 months, no joke. I'm not really sure why. I suppose it is because McKay loves Cars and there are some many cool toys to get excited about. So a few months ago, we decided that it would be fun to play "Pin the Tow Cable on Mater" instead of on the usual donkey. Teri took the challenge head on and came up with her own Mater poster.



I think it looked awesome. Teri had to take 2 pictures of Mater, combine them into one side profile shot, draw it all out, and then paint it. It got a little hectic there at the end when Teri's mom and Teri were frantically slapping background paint on him, but they got it done just in time for him to dry and be ready for the game.

I probably should have won the actual competition, but because I had purchased all the game prizes and knew that they were probably too complicated for me, we let Miriam win. She's 4; I think she'll have a good old time with that 24 piece puzzle.



McKay had his own troubles, although none of them were behavior related. (Thankfully, our fast wasn't in vain.) Actually, McKay struggled with blowing out his candles. Apparently, I should have spent less time teaching him what sounds camels (spitting) and peacocks make and spent more time teaching him how to blow out candles. Oh well, McKay's cousins seemed happy to lend a helping mouth.



McKay loved opening his presents. Interestingly enough, he wasn't more excited about the boxes the presents were in than the presents themselves. At least not until the very end when he realized he could make the boxes into race cars. But McKay had good reason to be excited. He got a lot of cool stuff.



Gibson was very pleased with the day as well. Not only did he get a cool new hat, but he was pretty sure at least some of those toys would be making their way to him.



McKay was pretty worn out by the end of the celebration. He wasn't able to take a nap that day because he was too excited. He just sat in his crib singing, "Happy Birffday to me. Happy Birffday to K. Happy Birffday to me-eeee. Happy Birffday K." So by the time 5:30 PM rolled around he was zonked.




Happy Birthday buddy. We hope you had as much fun as we did.

Birthday Recap #2 - Tad

For my birthday I got what I had always wanted - another 3-D cake. Years ago, when I was something like 2 years old, my mom made me a 3-D Care Bear cake. It looked something like this, although my mom's cake looked more like a specific Care Bear and didn't have all the cupcakes.



I don't remember which one my mom made for me, but if I were to get one now I would ask for Champ Bear...or maybe Good Luck Bear. I'm kind of on the fence on this one.

Anyway, for my birthday I got another 3-D cake. And this time it wasn't even a Care Bear. It was an entire castle.



I bet you're jealous. I would have been if I were in your shoes.

I suppose I should mention that I basically share a birthday with 2 of my neices who were turning 4. One of them was born on my birthday and the other came 16 hours later but on the next day. This year was apparently not my year to pick the cake design (although they did console me by putting my flag on top of the very highest turret). Here we all are by our respective flags.



The true highlight of the night came just after we blew out the candles. Teri got the kids a pinata. McKay thought this was a great idea. He handled the bat quite well. Of course, he's had a lot of practice doing this to Gibby.



Concerned that I might be upset about not getting enough pinata swings on the parrot, Teri bought a pinata just for me.



The showdown between me and Cookie Monster took longer than expected. Cookie Monster had obviously put in a number of hours to get in peak condition for our bout and if I hadn't had a bat I think he may have defeated me. Cookie Monster was being manuvered by Teri's brother Kevin who managed to get Cookie Monster to whack me in a reasonably strategic fashion. The end result was that I had to assume a defensive posture which limited my offensive capabilities.



Despite the embarrasment of taking 25 minutes to break open a pinata when the kids took a whopping 12 swings (including McKay) it was a great birthday. Kudos to Teri for organizing my fun day. I think she totally deserves the entire turret that she ate.

Birthday Recap #1 - TeriDel

A good chunk of the year has passed without us blogging about birthdays. We intend to change that in 3...2...1.

Teri's Birthday

In February we got a call from the Young Women's leader in our ward asking if there was a small service project that the youth could come over and do at our house as part of a service scavenger hunt. We heard that most people were having the kids wash windows, weed, or somethign along those lines. Teri decided to use them a different way - cutting coupons. So one Wednesday night we had four kids show up to do their service. They were a little perplexed by their coupon cutting role, but I think they were excited not to have to wash windows for a minute or two. Teri thought the whole thing was fun and mentioned that she used to love scavenger hunts when she was that age. And that's when an idea popped into my head. Why not do a treasure hunt/scavenger hunt for Teri's birthday?

The Saturday just before Teri's birthday she got to spend the whole day deciphering clues and making her way across the greater East Valley area. Included in her journey was a hike up "A" Mountain in Tempe,



a math equation using paddleboat prices from Tempe Town lake, secret codes hidden in a book at the Tempe City library, a jaunt through Bass Pro Shops to find her favorite candy, an intense racquetball battle against Sven - the semi-pro racquetball champion of the world,



recycling old computer parts, performing a 1 woman play depicting a scene from the Lord of the Rings with McKay starring as Frodo (so technically a 1.5 person play),



and my personal favorite, having to jump into Chris and Lolly's backyard pool to fish a clue out of there. Keep in mind this was in early spring and as you can tell by Teri's facial expression, the water was a little bit cold - even for Arizona.



To assist Teri in figuring some of these rather obscure clues I proided her with a clue hotline. Teri's brothers knew a guy from work who could do a lot of different voices and so we plugged his number into Teri's phone and whenever she completed a task or got stuck she had to call him for further instructions. And judging by the fact that Teri thought there were at least 3 or 4 people answering that phone at different times, he did a great job.

All in all I think it was a pretty fun birthday for Teri. Plus, her sister Julie made her this awesome cake.



So happy birthday TeriDel. We love you and are so happy that you are a part of our family.

Love,

Tad, McKay, and Gibby

"Another mystery is history" as said by Tigger in My Friends Tigger and Pooh

Last we parted, TeriDel was this close to dying of a heart attack. But she didn't. And there was much rejoicing.

It turns out that Teri had a particularly violent reaction to a viral infection that has been going around in the Phoenix/Mesa area. We found this out because Teri's sister-in-law's sister (say that 5 times fast) is pregnant and she came down with the same thing. They did a bunch of tests and presto! viral infection it was.

While most people just get gastrointestinal symptoms, (occasionally resulting in an Oregon Trail incident), other people come down with violent illnesses consisting of chest pain, difficulty breathing, and other heart attack symptoms. I ended up in the first group, but Teri made her way into the second. Regardless, we're just glad that everyone is relatively healthy now and all we have to battle are allergies. Well, I don't have to battle them, but Teri, Gibby, and K all do so I just cheer them on. Go team.

On a tangentially related note - if you are yearning for the good old days when you could play the original version of Oregon Trail, pine no more. I found the online version of Oregon Trail complete with hunting and the original graphics. So take your best shot and see if you can navigate the trail without losing at least one member of your party to some random illness. I am in the Top Ten scores; I bet you can't beat me. And right after I say that Teri plays the game for the very first time and beats me. Now we're both in the Top Ten.

Boy, Do We Know How to Spend a Date Night

Teri and I don’t get out on a date night as often as we probably should. Part of the problem is that we love being home with the kids and even though our time alone together is fantastic, it’s hard leaving K and Gibby. But when we do go out we try to make it something that we would enjoy. Until this week.

We had agreed to watch Teri’s sister’s kids on Friday night and then they would watch K and Gibby on Saturday night. Everything was going according to plan, except for the fact that Teri started to feel a little sick to her stomach Friday night. Saturday morning we were all going to trek out to the West Valley to visit Cabela’s – which Teri and K had never seen – so that Teri’s brothers could price check various camping gear in preparation for the big family campout this upcoming weekend. There was only one snafu – Teri was so nauseous she was having trouble standing up.

Teri’s first thought was pregnancy. Fear ensued. But I just wasn’t convinced because Teri wasn’t quite acting the same as she usually does when she is pregnant and miserable. Despite Teri’s misfortune (or reversal of fortunes as the Hot Dog eating competitors call it), we were all having fun at Cabela’s. McKay loved the animals – although he continued to be nervous the first time he saw them up close. Of particular note was the polar bear they have growling just 3 feet away from the enclosure fence.



The bear looks pretty cool and it’s fun to have him so close to you. As we walked up to him McKay gave his little scream, and clutched on to my collar about to bury his terrified little eyes into my shoulder at the polar bear’s first movement. But the polar bear didn’t move and McKay took courage and was willing to say “Hi bear.” Once the greeting was accomplished K figured that he was a “nice bear” and kept telling me “bear funny.” K rounded off the morning by checking out the cougars, the rhino, the elephant, the zebra, the lion, and then taking a little pop gun around the wildlife museum component of the store and shooting every one of them – complete with his trademark saying, “I did it.”

Then came the ride home. As we’re journeying in Teri’s brother’s truck, Teri starts saying things like, “I’m feeling really nauseous” and “I’m having a hard time breathing” and “My chest is hurting.” Because we still had nearly an hour’s drive to go, I began researching with our primary care physician (Dr. Internet – reasonable prices and always on call), what you should be worried about when you have chest pain and difficulty breathing. The Internet tells me that the chest pain/difficulty breathing combo is not always a heart attack and that you should look for other signs such as pain in the patient’s left arm. It was at this point that Teri says, “My body is hurting.” When I ask where, Teri says “In my left arm.” It was at this point I decided against telling Teri that she was gearing up for a heart attack and just tried to keep her calm and telling me what was going on so that I could relay that to the doctor.

I also began calling everyone I knew in my phone who had some medical knowledge. PAs, EMTs, first aid providers at Wal-mart. The common denominator was simple. If you are having difficulty breathing you need to see a doctor and urgent care might not be the best option because they’ll just send you to the hospital. So once we got home we trekked off to the hospital for our date night.

6 hours, 2 EKGs, a chest x-ray, and a full bag of IV solution later, Teri was pronounced to not be having a heart attack. I think everyone was pleased. Teri kept saying that she just wanted to be told that she was being a silly hypochondriac and be sent home. They didn’t quite go that far indicating that Teri was pretty severely dehydrated by this point which could have been why her whole body was cramping and her resting heart rate was up at about 120 beats per minute for hours. The exact cause of the whole thing was unclear and we’ll now get to embark on a fun medical fishing expedition but that is ok considering that Teri doesn’t have to undergo open heart surgery.

All in all, it wasn’t our best date night. Maybe next time we’ll settle on Golfland or something.

Back to the Workforce

"When did you leave the workforce?" you may be asking. Well, actually I was laid off back in May and I just started back to work two weeks ago. I'm now working for Maricopa County. I'm excited for the opportunity. It looks like it will be a great chance to learn and grow.

The new job may end up meaning that this blog will be a private blog. I haven't put too much thought into the idea yet, but switching to a private blog may be a wise safety precaution at some point. It's really too bad, but some lines of work make you fewer friends than others.

There is no rush, but if you would like to continue to be a reader of our blog, please email me at davis2028@hotmail.com with the words "Blog" or something like that in the subject so that I will recognize it amongst all the advertisements for pharmaceuticals I receive. Once I figure out what the plan will be I'll email everyone and post another summary up on here.

And by the way, thanks to everyone for your help, thoughts, and prayers on our behalf during the time period I was looking for a job. Teri and I are extremely grateful for your love and kindness.

J. Crew thinks you're a sucker, but I know better.

For the low, low cost of just under $300.00 you too can have this season's fashion must have. Jeans with paint on them.



But I found a guy who is willing to give you a deal. He's offering hand splattered painted jeans for $150, but the price goes up to $180 if you'd like new jeans. He'll even hand deliver them (if you live in northern Utah county). I'll match his price for anyone in Arizona wanting to take advantage of this steal of a fashion deal.

Golden Compass

Before you read on there is something I should warn you about. This post contains information about...the Golden Compass books. If you believe that these books are the root of all evil then I don't know that I can say anything to change your mind. Even if I did come up with something, I don't know that you would even believe me - after all I am a lawyer. Nonetheless, if you stick out this blog post you may have a little more info next time your BBQ conversation turns to "evil literature."

My Summary
1. I read all 3 books.
2. I still have my testimony.
3. I don't think anyone else will lose their testimony by reading them.
4. The Golden Compass books are distinctly anti-Catholic, but not really anti-Christian (if you assume like I do that you have to discuss Christ, a Christ-like figure, or even some vague idea of atonement to be labeled as a Christian or anti-Christian book).
5. If you like fantasy books, or are a fan of polar bears - especially armor wearing, blacksmithing, flame thrower operating, fighting polar bears - you will probably like these books.

It would be difficult to discuss all of the reasons why people say these books are evil without revealing the storyline of the book. So just in case someone wants to read them, I won't talk too much about the particulars. Suffice it to say this - because of all chatter I heard about the books before I read them I was surprised by the minor role that atheism or attacking God played in the book. To be honest, anything in the books that could be construed as an argument in favor of atheism was presented in an almost silly way. One of the characters decides there is no God because, according to her, following a certain man-instituted church regulation doesn't do her or anyone else any good. If that is the best evidence of God's non-existence you might want to rethink. It would be like someone buying a $1.00 bible coloring book at Wal-Mart, seeing that the pictures were repeated twice in the book and because of that feeling ripped off and deciding there is no God.

The one distracting bit in the series was that I was constantly trying to discern who the author, Philip Pullman, thought God actually was. By the time I was nearing the end, especially with all the rumors I had heard about the books before I read them, it became more and more clear that Pullman had chickened out in terms of trying to define God. All in all, Pullman's atheistic tendencies are mitigated by the fact that he's not even sure atheism is correct. In fact, he's so unsure about who God is, that he won't even commit to actually putting the God most people know in his books.

Anyway, the moral of this post is this - if you like fantasy books you'll probably like the Golden Compass books. They have some interesting characters and are generally easy to read. They aren't for everyone, but that has more to do with what type of literature you enjoy than religious overtones. So enjoy. And if you do end up reading them let me know. I would love to ask a few questions about your impressions of the books.

Confidence

Both our boys had interactions with confidence this weekend. Gibson's began because he is now mobile. While most of the time he just army crawls, he has also figured out that when he especially wants to get somewhere he can put his legs underneath him and launch himself forwards. This new found confidence resulted in this.



Gibson and I were playing on the bed when I laid him down next to me and went to roll off the side of the bed so I could come around and pick Gibby up. But Gibson, probably thinking that he could just get down by himself, kicked until he launched himself a full 2 feet and landed forehead first on a chest at the foot of our bed. Luckily it was a slow launch. But as you can see, Gibby got two lines of bruises from the smash itself and two rug burns from where his forehead scraped along the moulding of the chest. Nevertheless, Gibson's desire for mobility has not been curbed by this experience. He just keeps on going.



McKay, on the other hand, has battled his fears rather than overconfidence. Among other things, McKay is as terrified of the garbage man as this guy. But after some research I've realized that McKay just may have been an early learner about the struggles between garbage men and civilians who fit in their trash cans.



McKay is also afraid of any toy that talks and moves (especially toys that look like animals or dinosaurs). And for the last 4 months or so K's been terrified of nursery. The nursery bit is the odd one because they do lots of McKay's favorite things. They sing songs, they color pictures, they get to play with a pretend kitchen, and they even blow bubbles. But McKay refuses to do anything unless he is within his arm's reach of a leader. This week, however, McKay had his confidence breakthrough. He happily went to nursery and he was just his normal, happy, energetic self.



Unfortunately, this may have bred some over confidence in him. Later that night when his cousins came over they all had their baths together and Halle and Mila headed downstairs in their towels to go get dressed. McKay decided he would follow in his towel. The trouble was that McKay has never really run around in a towel, especially not on the stairs.



You can see where this is going, and yes, McKay took his very first tumble on the stairs in the near year we've lived here. He was a little shaken up, but he'll be ok. I think more than anything it was his psyche that was damaged. For the next day he would start walking up the stairs and get scared halfway up. But it looks like he's back to normal now, after all, he's back to his normal routine. Although he's never been as crazy as that girl.

Game, Set, Match

Teri and I have seen a bunch of double takes the past couple of Thursdays. For several seasons now, I have played in the men's doubles tennis league every Thursday. Teri is usually there at the tennis courts too, only she patrols the grounds with the stroller, K, and Gibby. But I decided to take the summer off so that Teri could play in the women's singles league, also on Thursday nights. This has meant a role reversal of sorts, where I get to watch Teri play while Gibby clings on to my shirt and McKay runs up and down the walkway with his little kid tennis racket whacking all the used tennis balls that everyone likes to give him.

The first time the guys I used to play against saw me with the stroller and kids they were a little confused. They remembered McKay - he's hard to forget because he's just about the only kid out there and he stands at the fence and calls "Daaaaaaaaadddddddddy" while we play. But once I told those guys that my wife was playing this season they understood, but the double takes were funny nonetheless.

Tennis has been a lot of fun this summer. Although Teri hasn't had as much time to practice as she'd like, she's done really well. She's holding her own against women who have played for several years. As soon as we can get in out there for a little more practice and get her hitting more consistently she'll start playing like all those Russian girls I used to teach on my mission. Note: My teaching was more centered on the Gospel and less on tennis.

Big Kids

We were a little late in getting the kids in for Gibson's 4 month and McKay's 18 month checkups, but it was fun to get them in there are see how big they had gotten.

McKay, almost 20 months, now stands at a towering 35 inches but only weighs about 24 pounds. In 4 months he has grown 4 inches. At this rate, he'll be Shawn Bradley (7 ' 6") shortly after his 6th birthday.
He's always seemed to be a tall skinny kid. The only time it was different was our last visit when McKay was somewhere around the 70th percentile for height and right around the 50th percentile for weight (which the doctor noted was a big increase from his previous weight percentiles in the 20s and 30s). But this last visit demonstrated that McKay has returned to regularity. He's back to the 96th percentile in height and the 16th percentile in weight.

Gibson seems to be watching and learning from his brother. Diddy or Dibby (McKay's nicknames for his brother) is 24 inches tall and weighs almost 13 pounds. He's now in the 75th percentile for height and the 30th for weight.

It looks like we'll have to feed Little Dibby some Little Debbie.

I've always said that I don't mind if my kids are taller than me. It would certainly appear that I'm going to be held to my word. But I'm ok with that. At least some one in my family will be able to stand up to Randy Newman.

Easter Weekend

Yes, Easter was a while ago and it probably feels like we're taking a trip in the Wayback Machine for this post, but there have been lots of goings on in our household over the last little while.

Back a few weeks ago, my parents came down to Mesa for Spring Break/Easter Weekend/Gibby's blessing. McKay, sensing he would have to share time with his brother, decided to add some sparkle to his personality by cutting all four eye teeth that weekend. But like many plans laid by 18 month-olds, it didn't quite work out the way he intended. I'm sure McKay thought that his eye teeth suffering would garner him some sympathy, but actually he just earned the reputation of being a bit of a complainer.

Grandma and Grandpa got to go to the zoo with us and Grandpa even offered to take McKay on the merry-go-round. McKay was unsure about the whole thing and even though he got to ride on a rhino, one of his favorite animals, his reaction each time he would pass us and see us was about the same. He wasn't too happy.


But we moved on to other things. Grandma and Grandpa got to play with the stingrays.
The Phoenix zoo has a deal with another colder weather zoo so that Phoenix has the stingrays between November and April and they have the rays between May and October. The twist this year was that the stingrays also had a few sharks in their pool. I never got a picture but Grandma has to just about jump in the pool to feel the cool nurse shark. They liked to hang out under the waterfall because there is more oxygen there so it was kind of hard to get to them. This is just after Grandma felt the shark.
The sharks feel rougher than the underbellies of the stingrays. The rays are really soft and slick. Interestingly, they ask you to pet the underside of the rays rather than the tops because the rays are more susceptible to injury on top. I guess they paid extra for the undercarriage coating.

McKay did ease up on the pain and suffering once we got to Oregano's and he was given permission to finish off our Pizookie (Pizza - Cookie). It's a semi-baked chocolate chip cookie - read still doughey - with a lot of vanilla ice cream on top.
Gibson didn't get any of the pizookie, but he was pleased with his new blanket. He already likes dinosaurs, largely because McKay likes to read him stories about them.
The Easter egg hunt itself went pretty well. McKay loved searching out for eggs. He didn't have any trouble at all picking up on the idea that you needed to pick up as many eggs as you can at blazing speed.
Before Grandma and Grandpa left, we showed them the Wii. They got really into boxing.
It was a lot of fun having Grandma and Grandpa here. Happy Easter.