Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2012 September

Sun Sep 02 2012 22:02 Dalton's Disneyland: I just wanted to record the cute names Dalton has for a lot of the Disneyland rides.

Kitty ride (Alice in Wonderland)
Train ride (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which he is too small to go on)
Us-side down ho-coaster (California Screamin')
Magic ho-coaster (Gadget's Go-coaster)
Mamarail (Monorail) Bumpy Tars (Tuck & Roll's bumper cars)
Tires Game (Luigi's Flying Tires, which had giant beach balls as part of it for the first couple weeks)
Racing (Autopia)
Yellow Car (Roger Rabbit)
Ha-pillar (Heimlich's Chew Chew Train)
And a new one: Halloween ride (Haunted Mansion Holiday)

From Maggie:
Doors ride (Monsters, Inc.)
Dumbo that flies (as opposed to the Dumbo train, Casey Jr.)
Time Tunnel (Disneyland Railroad)
Mickey's Fun Wheel (Mickey's Fun Wheel - she picked up on the actual name of the Ferris Wheel while waiting in line)

Somewhat relatedly, today we took the kids on a walk just down the path a bit and under the road to what they call the "Echo Bridge". We stood there yelling (and echoing) for 5 or 10 minutes. They love it.

Thu Sep 06 2012 15:41 Jokes by Maggie: Maggie made up a few jokes today, after we had "joke popsicles."

Why did the Oak Creek letters keep falling off and they put new ones on and they fall off every 6 days? Because they were old.

Why did the boat go on the road and the car went on the water and the airplane went under water? Because they were mixed up.

Also, I think the kids are missing the point of Knock Knock jokes because theirs all start out with "Knot Knot".

One more Maggie funny, while trying to put on her rashguard: It doesn't fit! The neck sleeve is too small!

(2) Mon Sep 10 2012 21:18 I Know That Disneyland is True.: Maggie got a CD of this year's Primary songs last Sunday. We were listening to it in the car on the way home from Disneyland when she asked me what a testimony was. I said something like, "It's when you know that something is true. Like I know that Heavenly Father loves us."

So Maggie had a turn. "I know a testimony. I know that when you go on a ride at Disneyland and you don't like it, you need to go on it again and you'll like it."

...

I explained that a testimony usually refers to something about the Gospel, and we continued the "game." She threw in one more about Disneyland, but she had some good ones, too. My favorite: "I know the prophet is true."

Mon Sep 10 2012 21:25 Incredible King Dalton:
Me: How do you ask nicely?
D: Like this: "I need to play dinosaur games." Like that.

Oh, Dalton. He loves to copy everything Maggie does, but I've noticed he's not really feeling it. Today she was scared to go to swimming lessons because she didn't want to go to the deep pool. So Dalton starting saying he was scared, too. Lessons came; Maggie talked her teacher into the shallow pool. Dalton's lesson is after hers and he dragged his teacher over to the deep pool, where kids his age don't usually go. He outsmarted himself, I think. (And swam great, by the way.)

I am almost done with his Incredibles Halloween costume. He is going to be so adorable. He's so adorable anyway. At the ward FHE at the park today, he went around handing out pinches of sand to everyone. Dozens of people got a bit of sand, thanks to Dalton. Nice of him to share.

Last night, he climbed into Maggie's bed to listen to Daddy read a story and the kids ended up sleeping in each others' beds. Which they found hilarious. In the morning, they collaborated on a bed with about 15 "guys" (stuffed animals (or cars, as the case may be)) and both of their pillows. Yep - they're sleeping together tonight. Maggie looks a little squished. We might have to move Dalton back to his bed.

Today he cried when we dropped Maggie off at Kindergarten. It might have been because I left him in the car, but when I asked if he was crying because he missed Maggie he said, "yes! I miss her!" We went to Target and he soon forgot all about it. When we left Target, he carefully stood up on the seat of the cart and waited for me to get him down, while yelling, "I'm King Dalton!" After Target we got a car wash. He giggled the whole time.

Sat Sep 15 2012 18:55 The Ouchie Show: We discovered Wipeout on Hulu Plus, and Maggie was super excited to watch "The Ouchie Show" again. Dalton, not so much.

Me: What's your favorite part? (of the painful elimination round obstacle course.)
Dalton: My favorite part is not going on it.

(1) Tue Sep 18 2012 21:40 31: Apparently, I was born screaming. 31 years ago. Today Dalton started "ark class". It's just a little messy toddlers class. They set up a variety of activities such as rice box, stamps, painting with toy cars, etc. He loved it and I had fun, too. Afterwards, we went to Baskin Robbins to get my free ice cream cone, just because it was ironic (31 flavors).

We also went to Disneyland for our 31st visit (with our current annual passes) but that was more fortuitous than ironic. Or maybe not. The kids melted down on the way back to the car.

John bought me some yummy fall flavors of soap and lotion. He also got some magnetic boards for our kitchen, AND hung them up while I was at art class with Dalton. All in all, a good day that would have been great if John were feeling better. Poor, poor thing.

Fri Sep 21 2012 20:16 Skip to My Mag: Today Maggie skipped almost the entire way (3/4 mile) to school. Later today she was telling me how her heart was "beeping" slow, but when she was skipping to school it was beeping fast.

Fri Sep 21 2012 20:59 Daltonisms: Dalton has started calling Maggie "Mags". He also calls me "Maggie" a lot, now that Maggie is gone during the day.

D N (the end)

A hort, a set, go! Maggie realizes this is wrong and occasionally corrects herself and says "on your bark."

On the bookmark phone: Hello? Once upon a time there was a cow. Hah! I said "a cow!"

I took the sheets off the kids' beds to wash them. Dalton went into his room and said, "which one is my bed??"

Fri Sep 21 2012 21:06 The Ouchie Show (Again):

Friend at the park: My daughter had music class yesterday and she told me she wants to be a music teacher now.
Me: How sweet! This morning Maggie asked if she could be on Wipeout when she gets big.

Luckily (for future Maggie, not for present-day Dalton) Maggie's moved on from being a contestant to a course designer. I posted some pictures of the DIY Ouchie Show the kids made today.