BWCA Wilderness Trip

So for the last two weeks I have been driving all over the state of Minnesota, and I do mean all over as I have driven over 1500 miles, looking at resorts and similar businesses. I have really enjoyed my time up here and I love taking pictures of pretty things like this sunset. Well I have also taken time to look at schools, hospitals, proximity to churches, and local attractions. So one day I went and visited 3 state parks. This lighthouse is at one of the state parks and I thought it was a cool lighthouse up on the cliff overlooking Lake Superior.

Last Wednesday I picked up my Dad and we went on a 4 day Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness trip. That means that we spent 4 days paddling through lakes, carrying gear and a canoe from one lake to the next. Well we survived the bugs, the awesome thunderstorm and our canoe disappearing one night. That's right, the morning after we took on a crazy thunderstorm I got up and the canoe was gone. I looked around for a bit and finally spotted it way down the shoreline and across the bay. Took me a while tramping through the woods to make it around to it but we got it back and continued on. So here are some pictures from our trip. Lookout, this is gonna be long, so if you wanna stop here, feel free.


So our first day started out like this, the water was glassy and smooth. We paddled for 12 or 13 miles this day. Not only did we paddle for a dozen miles but we had to portage 5 times. And along the way we saw some cool sights like this Island with its reflection.

This is one of our campsites. I liked the wildflowers that were all over at this spot. One of the funniest things about this trip was my Dad. Every time we would make it to a new spot, he would get out of the canoe, find a bare spot of ground or large rock, lay down and fall asleep. Seriously, he would fall right asleep for a couple of hours, never moving. The first day I thought I might have killed him but when I got close I could hear him snoring.


Of course we did some fishing! We went out fishing one evening and we caught about 50 fish. We caught mostly smallmouth bass, which are my favorite to catch. We also caught some walleye, a dozen northern pike, and a couple of other species. It was so much fun.

My whole life I've heard from my Dad how he hates fishing. Of course he hasn't been fishing for like 35 years and never with me. Well he decided to give it a try. He caught like 15 fish that one evening and even allowed me to take his picture with this walleye. If you know him at all you know how hard it is to get him to take a picture. And I only had to ask once, he didn't even complain about having his picture taken. It was kinda funny when we started though, cause it started raining so hard and he looked back at me and asked "what do we do now?" I told him we keep fishing. He gave me this look like I was an idiotic weirdo, but he kept fishing. By the end, it was me having to tell him it was time to go since the sun had set and we hadn't even had dinner yet!

This is a waterfall that we paddled over to look at. This is why we had to Portage between lakes, most of them are connected, but you can't canoe from one to another sometimes.

This was how the trip ended. Our last night we got to watch the sky turn orange and then pink and then purple. What a great last 4 days. I can't wait to do it again sometime.

sand and water

We went to sharks cove last week and as you can see ady loves to play in the water...
and she loves to drink the water.

Ady loves to play in the sand...

and she loves to eat the sand.
I am starting to wonder if she is sodium deprived...I can't imagine how, but if she is, at least she getting it at the beach.  We tried taking a sunset picture after swimming and playing in the tide-pools, but really we just got in the way of the sun...too bad Dad is not here to take our beautiful sunset pictures for us.  We miss him! Today Ady was pointing to a picture of her Dad on top of the dresser, and she kept saying Dad, Dad, nice, nice, nice Dad.  Then she would lean over and kiss the picture.  I thought it was cute.

Adyson-self portraits

Ady is into taking pictures lately.  She always wants "my turn" on the camera.  Here are some of her latest shots.  If you can't tell by the next picture, she likes to hold the camera by the lens so she tends to get her fingers in the pics alot.  She is so funny cause she hold the camera up to her face and squints her eyes and says "Cheese." I think she is taking after her dad with this fascination in cameras-except she likes to take pictures of people and especially of herself.

The next pics are Mom's portraits of Ady.  I'm feeling good that I got a couple where she actually looked at the camera and smiled.  I wanted to get her hair in the one picture cause it really is getting so long and she is only 2.  According to my mom, I never even had hair until I was 2.  Wonder where she gets it from?  

Minnesota

Kasey wants me to post pics of Minnesota on here for those who aren't on Facebook. I arrived in Minnesota yesterday and spent most of the day traveling. But I did make it to Cabelas and had a great time there. Kasey always tells me that I make shopping miserable because I complain when I have to go. I have found a solution, if we go shopping at Cabelas, I won't complain at all. This morning I went hiking and had a nice relaxing time walking around. I saw some deer but didn't manage to get a picture. Here are some pics from my hike.This first one is just a pond with the sky reflected on it.

This is the Vermillion River. I spent most of my morning hiking along the edge of it. This river flows north, which is opposite to most of the rivers in the U.S. These two just show a couple of scenes from the rivers edge.


Here are the falls, there was quite a bit of water coming over them. They aren't that high but very dangerous due to the amount of water that goes over them. They used to have a professional kayak race through here, but after a couple of years of having several people die going through this section they now make you carry your kayak over the land and around the falls.

Here is the final picture, it is a bunch of lily pads on a bog near the river.

Puke

Ady has had a bit of a rough week the last few days. She has some flu bug and has been puking all over. She doesn't act sick, but a happy smiling kid pukes about the same as a miserable looking kid. Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Ady was playing and I thought she looked kinda funny so I asked her if she was alright. She nodded and I thought she must be pooping. I asked her "are you pooping?" and she didn't respond. Then her face turned a bit green and she unloaded all over the carpet and on one of our chairs. As soon as it was safe to get close enough not to be sprayed I grabbed her and hauled her into the bathroom where I put her in the tub. She was all smiling and chatting as soon as the junk stopped coming out. I began to undress her so she could take a bath and I could get the clothes cleaned up and was dreading having to go back out to the living room to clean up the putrid vile smelling mess. This was definitely one of those days where I was wishing Kasey was home and I was off to work. As soon as I got her diaper off I stepped out of the room to throw the dirty clothing into the laundry. When I came back Ady greeted me and pointed to a large turd that was right in the middle of the tub. I couldn't believe it, she waited till the diaper was off to poop. Her comment, "I tink, I tink." She doesn't put the "s" on most words. Groaning I shook my head in bewilderment and grabbed a bunch of toilet paper. Once I had the bulk of it off the tub and off her I tossed it in the toilet and flushed. I started to turn back to Ady when I realized I hadn't heard the toilet drain. I looked back to see that the toilet was plugged and the water was getting close to the top. I yelled stay to Ady and grabbed the plunger. Needless to say, that by the end of the episode I was feeling way worse for me than I was for Ady. We thought that was the end of the ordeal, until yesterday. We were at the Aloha Swap Meet and taking a break on some grass. Ady was running around a tree, stopped, came up to Kasey, and without warning puked on Kasey. Simultaneously two things could be heard, Kasey saying "are you kidding me!?", and me laughing hysterically. So I went and bought a 3 dollar souvenir t-shirt for Kasey to change into and then we got both of them cleaned up. Wondering if the 5 days between pukes was connected or just a random incident, we then had to deal with Ady puking all over her bedroom last night and then in her bed at 3 am and then came Kasey's favorite. She made a puking sound this morning and I quickly grabbed her and ran her into the bathroom. I made really good time and we got most of it in the toilet. However, Ady usually pukes twice, and sure enough after the puke came out she wanted to hug me and have me tell her it would be okay. Of course, I knew better and tried to turn her back to the toilet for round two, but I was too late, she puked on me. This time it was Kasey saying, "better you than me, hahaha."
Well enough about puke. I leave tomorrow for Minnesota and Utah for the next three weeks. I'll be looking at some resorts that are for sale and going on a BWCAW canoe trip with my Dad, and then flying to Utah for a few days. A couple of cousins were nice enough to agree to come and stay with Kasey and help with Ady while I am gone and we have had fun showing them around the Island before I leave. Here are some photos of a sunset from Laie Point.

Here's Ady and Kasey just enjoying the evening watching the sun go down and the waves roll in.

computer and word things

So we got a new computer recently--an upgrade from our old Apple Laptop...We are now realizing how old the old one was. We got it when we left USU--that is like almost 5 years ago now. It's amazing how slow the old Laptop is now that we have a new faster better one! We can hardly stand how slow the old one is. Funny how it never really bugged us before!

Laptop--That reminds me too of the sign I saw posted out front of our apartment. It read something like "2GH Dell labtop for sale" Yes, labtop--this computer doesn't go on your lap, it goes on your lab--just make sure that you have that specific type of dog breed or it won't work! I just had to laugh. We live in such a culturally diverse area where English is not the native language for many here.

Then that sign made me think of another time I got an email at work from a student from Asia...It kept saying NT Bae... It took me a while to figure out he was referring to the director of his program who everyone calls "Auntie Bae" (in Hawaii if someone is older than you, they are your auntie or uncle no matter blood relation)

Then I remembered when I was barely on my mission, I had written a letter to my mission president in Korean. I thought I had done pretty good and I gave it to my Korean Companion, Ahn Kang Mi, to proofread. We were on the bus and before she could even get half way thru the letter she was hysterically laughing on the floor of the bus because of my broken Korean. I had no idea what was so funny to her. But now, I am understanding a bit and it is funny to me now too--not in a demeaning way...but in a sense that when you learn another language there are inevitable things that are not picked up naturally and they have to be learned. It's just sometimes you have to make the mistake first and then learn from it. I really have to respect all those brave students who have gotten or are getting thier education in a second language. What a challenge to take on!

Fun in the Sun

We had a great pre-Memorial Day Saturday. First we went to the beach. We just went to a beach here in Laie. As you can see in the picture, it was beautiful day and the beach was virtually empty of people. I went snorkeling with some friends while Ady and Kasey played on shore. Then when I got back Ady and I played in the sand and took her out in her tube.

Ady loves floating around in her tube. She says "kick kick kick" the whole time and kicks her feet furiously but still gets pushed around by the waves. She absolutely loves it.

This is a small pool for Ady to play in. Seems she didn't want play in the big ocean, she just wanted her own pool.

Ady sometimes gets bored and likes to go exploring in the bushes. She loves climbing and playing. She was quite dirty and totally exhausted when we were done. After the beach we drove to Kaneohe and went miniature golfing. The golf course even had a small plastic putter for Ady. She had so much fun trying to hit the ball. She decided that it was easier to just pick up the the ball and throw it towards the hole. I don't think she quite understood the whole concept because she would go and get her ball and bring it back to the tee box and start over. The best was the one where the ball goes in a hole and comes out a tube on another green. She was so upset when she went to get her ball out of the whole and it wasn't there. Ady got down on her hands and knees, looked into the whole and started crying so hard. She was crying and yelling "My ball gone" over and over. We were with some friends and we were all laughing pretty hard. We took her down and showed her where the ball went. She was so excited to see it. She quickly grabbed the ball, ran back up the steps and threw the ball down the hole, and ran back to see it come out the tube. It was funny until we had to go to the next hole and she didn't want to advance. After the golf we went to the movies and watched Star Trek. We were completely exhausted by the end of the very fun day.

My Toy

Adyson's latest favorite words are "My Toy!" It is usually said every time that another kid is around and she has something(whether it really is hers or not) and she thinks she needs to let them know its hers and they are not going to share(whether they want to share or not). 

This morning Ady was riding her bike and the neighbors 9 mos old baby was crawling after her for fun.  Ady kept looking back at her and kept yelling at her "My toy, My Toy!" -- like the baby who can't even walk yet was going to come over and take her bike from her.  The baby just kept a crawling after her, and finally Adyson turned her bike around and rode to the side of the girl, mind you the whole time yelling "my toy" gradually getting louder each time.   Finally she leaned over close to the baby's face and yelled at the top of her lungs so hard her face turned red, "MY TOY!" and then rode away.   So I guess she is a little possessive?  Sharing lessons coming up for FHE.  

The pics are from her ToysRus outing.  She loves to play with the set they have in the store.  It's so nice cause it has a table they can walk around as they play.  As you can tell Ady is holding 3 trains in her arms and driving only one.  At least there are lots of other trains so other kids can play too!   She is also doing an amazing disappearing one leg trick for the camera...taking after the grandpa's.  

Overall buying a bike and train set has been a great investment for us.  Ady loves to play with them.  She also really likes her duplo lego's, and her books, but most of those were presents! There is one book that Ady loves to read-It's called Dr. Suess' book of Ridiculous Rhymes.  The first page asks "Did you ever have the feeling there's a zamp in the lamp?" and without fail she will always say "NO." Just on that page though, she won't answer any of the books other questions.  

 Ady also loves her movies.  She will watch anything with a penguin(Happy Feed, Surf's Up) or Kung Fu Panda.  She will walk around and stick out her leg and say "kick" after she watches "Nana"  (thats short for Panda).  She also gets very excited any time she sees a picture of a panda anywhere like in a book, or at Panda Express where she runs over to the picture on the wall and screams "Nana, Nana, Nana" over and over cause she is so excited about her find.  

One last thing I'll share about Ady is that she loves nursery.  The leaders say she is so active and fun to have there.  She is always dancing to the singing time music and always the first one up to do the actions for the songs.  The only problem is she doesn't want to leave with us and will continually wave and say "bye" to us when we come to pick her up! Ady is certainly one of a kind, and we love her.

 

Coloring Devil

So this morning I was working on some homework and thinking to myself how grateful I was that Ady was being quiet and actually letting me get something done. Often she just wants me to play with her and I don't get any homework done till after she goes to bed, or when Kasey comes home and I go to the library(also usually after both go to bed). Well I hadn't heard anything out of her for 15 or 20 minutes and thought I should check on her. This is what I found. If you can't see it look closely at her right arm.

Think she is such a cute little angel do you? Take a look at that face, the little devil. And yes, she used permanent markers so all those lines on the dresser won't come off. Trust me I've been scrubbing it.

She wants to make sure you know that she didn't just color the dresser or her arm, she colored her hands too. What are the neighbors gonna think, my kid is black and blue and I swear I didn't hit her.

Honolulu Zoo, Adyson's two.

Sorry for the picture overload, but this post is for the grandma's and grandpa's.  Last Saturday we took Ady to the Zoo.  We thought it would be a good way to celebrate her turning 2.  Turns out we were right.  It was so fun and Adyson was even funnier.  She kept saying "Hi" and "Bye" to all the animals in the only voice tone she has-LOUD.  Everyone around us thought it was pretty cute too.  We practically peeled her away from all the fences and glass cages to go to the next animal-which she loved just as much as the last!  

Ya know, as a kid going to the zoo was sort of fun for me.  Time went on, and as I got older it really wasn't at the top of my list.  But now I'm older and a mom and this zoo outing was great and even more fun than when i was little.   Kinda like how christmas starts losing its excitement the older you get, but then when you have kids it turns exciting again.  It's a different exciting, but I think i like it even better.  Watching Adyson be so excited about the little things in life is so fulfilling.  Its a good reminder that I should enjoy the small excitements of life too.

Here are the pics...hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed being there with Ady.

This is how Ady was nonstop...like she was glued to a TV Screen.  If she could have gone in she would have.  When we finally pulled her off, she'd make a monkey noise and put her hands on her shoulders.  She is pretty cute.Hanging with Dad and the Hippos
Leaning over the fence to get a closer look again!
So interesting.
Always pointing to the next animal
Look Mom!  It's the same guy off of Madagascar 2.
She didn't want to look at the camera to pose for a picture(taking after dad again!)...just wanting to see the "phant" as she calls them.  
Hug the glass more Ady...maybe you'll get closer. 
This is her favorite one...zebras giraffes and rhinoceros!
She didn't look back twice...
And there she goes!

Ady's Play Buddies

Here are some fun shots of Ady and some of her play buddies. The upper Pics are Ady and So-eul in their easter dresses. They were really cute walking home from church holding hands.

The other ones are Ady and her friend Vaia. (Sorry if I didn't spell that right) We got a DDR(Dance Dance Revolution) with Adams winnings from his business plan competition(it's a good workout too!) and it's a good thing we got 2 mats,-1 for us to share and 1 for Adyson. She loves to dance anytime, and she and Vaia were having pretty good time jumping up and down "dancing" to the music.

Celebrating Ady

Next Saturday is Ady's birthday. (She will turn 2). ToysRus is having a special Thomas the Train day tomorrow. It is free and Ady was sent an invitation via email. (Everyone on Oahu was invited, but we told Ady it was special just for her, don't tell her). They will have coloring activities, games and prizes. Ady loves her train set. It is not Thomas, it is Imaginarium-the cheaper brand of the same thing. So we thought we'd take her and let her play with other kids at the activity. She loves coloring, playing trains, and hanging out with other kids-so it should be fun for her. I will probably only last a little while with all that noise and chaos of other children and will probably have to run out of the store screaming at some point. No worries, there is a miniature golf course next door and maybe I will sneak off and let Kasey deal with all the noise. Anyway, since this is going on this week and Kasey and Ady have birthdays back to back we decided to just celebrate Ady's Tomorrow and Kasey's next weekend. So after we get done there, we're taking Ady to the zoo. Hopefully she has a great day and is so tired that she sleeps the whole way home when we are done. I can't believe Ady is already turning 2! She is getting pretty big. She was measured this week at 34 inches long! She is getting much better about talking and is already frustrating me at times. Her favorite way of being a nuisance is tilting her head and leaning forward just a bit while saying "what?" every time you say something. Caught me off guard the first time, but now I expect it. Then after I repeat what I said, she then asks "why?". Finally, usually she disagrees with the explanation and then says "no" and wanders off. Even so the increased communication has been nice.
Sometimes I am fairly surprised at what she knows. She seems to be a quick learner and since I just finished a semester I thought that we should give Ady a report card for her last semester also. Being that she is so young I figured A's, B's, and so forth weren't needed, just pass or fail. Ady passed math, health, science, history, yet failed art. For mathematics we've been focusing on numbers and their relationships to other things. She does okay. She knows that you count to three before you say go, get an underdog push on the swing or jump in the water. However, like any brilliant mind she has come up with her own theory. She no longer counts "1,2,3", instead she just says "one, three-go!" and takes off running. Pretty smart if you ask me, the one is for starting, the three is right before go and the two doesn't really serve a purpose so she skips it. As for health, Ady has learned that you should drink plenty of water, I taught her to get a drink every time you pass a drinking fountain. She understands this well and now gets really upset whenever we pass a drinking fountain. I was in grade school before I knew that darker colors absorb heat and lighter colors reflect heat. Ady has already learned this because she almost never wears shoes and she knows that the black asphalt is much hotter than the sidewalk. The only problem is that when she does wear shoes she loves to run in the road. As for history, Ady knows that roads and sidewalks aren't natural and that a sure fire way to become famous and attract attention is to explore unchartered territory. She definitely catches people's attention when I have to go chasing her through a set of bushes, into someone's yard, running into a classroom or office during a lecture or dashing into a women's bathroom and then laughing at me as I stand there in the doorway calling for her. She always loves going somewhere that she hasn't been. As for the art, well Ady has really started to enjoy coloring and all. We don't expect her stay within the lines or to have perfect color schemes. She'd have received a passing grade for art if it hadn't been for a little experience last week. Kasey had a coupon for a little restaurant and we went during a Jazz game. It is one of those places where they give kids a couple of crayons and a paper to color and play games on. I was watching the game intently with my back to Ady who was sitting next to me. I thought she was just rubbing my back and shoulder. Little did I know that she liked coloring my white t-shirt more than the paper. And of all the colors why purple?!

my little pony

So last week at church, Adyson was acting up during the sacrament. She was bored with her current toys she had, so with it being the sacrament and all, I asked Adam if he brought any of her books about Jesus, the Book of Mormon, or any of her Children Church books since he packed her bag that morning. He looked in the bag and said "no." I then asked if he brought anything Churchy. At that point Adam looked in the bag and said "yes." Then he proceeded to pull out Ady's pink happy meal My Little Pony...and says "Look Ady, Jesus rode a pony --I mean --a donkey to Jerusalem."

Its a good thing that our ward is so loud during the meeting or a lot more people would have heard me laughing in the middle of sacrament.

BYU Hawaii Graduation

Adam had to recently apply to graduate for this coming Decembers graduation.  BYUH only has graduation twice a year-June and Dec.  Usually a general authority apostle comes and speaks for the main speaker.  Adam just told me that if he doesn't walk we can save 23$ so he doesn't have to get a cap and gown.  He doesn't think he needs to walk.  

Now I never knew that graduation was such a big deal until we moved to Hawaii.  Graduation for me was just something you did that I thought was expected.  I was totally surprised at the party Morgan High School threw for the grads.  It was an all night party and was very fun with tons of prizes.  But the next day I just moved on to the next step-working and going to college.   I wasn't even going to walk for my bachelors degree cause I just didn't want to have to go to a long boring meeting to just walk across a stage and get a fake diploma cause the real one comes in the mail later anyway.  But it just so happened that I graduated the same semester as my brother and all my family was going to come and so I ended up going.   

But now I have seen graduation-Hawaiian Style.  Adam tried to warn me about it.   The first time I saw stands and stands of people selling lei's and other congratulatory things, Adam said, "Do you see what I mean now?"  I thought I did and then I saw the thousands of people and the 50 or so lei's that graduates had been given to wear around their necks and I then thought I understood.  I knew about the party after graduation cause I went to my own.  But once I heard about the personal party after that party for each individual that is thrown for the graduates here, I think I finally figured it out.  Parents here don't just save for their kids to go to college, they save for years so they can afford to have a party for their kid if they graduate high school.   And then they have an even better party if they graduate college.  Realizing that Hawaii hasn't been a state that long and the drop out rate is high, a lot of people over here are first to graduate in their family.  It is a big deal.  

Now you may think "wow" a little overboard there, but the more I see it the more I am agreeing with the way they treat graduation as such a big deal.  Think about it.  You just spent how many years of life studying, test taking and jumping thru hoops to get to this point. Why not party about it... take some time and relish in your accomplishment.  Celebrate what you have done!  I have to admit Hawaiians do know how to party-and the food is always enough to last for a week.  It is a big deal, and I agree-it should be.  

Looking back, I am glad that I was forced to walk at my graduation.  Even if the ceremony wasn't that fun. I am glad I have the pictures of me in my cap and gown.  It was a very big stepping stone of my life.  I wish I would've taken a graduation trip or something.   Oh well.

Anyway, I am wondering if anyone else thinks it would be foolish of Adam not to walk for his graduation?  I was totally looking forward to giving him a lei...who knows, it could have even been a money lei.  

Happy Easter and Ady is a Copycat

Hi and Happy Easter from the Van Tassells. Ady loves to wave to everyone and say hi to anyone and anything she sees. Not only will she wave and say hi to strangers at the grocery store, but she says even says bye to the swings, the slide, the birds at the park, the mailbox, the car, you name it she will say hi and bye to it. She has her mouth closed and is not saying hi in the picture because she just bit through the top of the hard boiled egg she is supposed to be coloring and is trying to figure out if she should swallow the shell or spit it out. Don't worry she immediately dropped it in the coloring dye as soon as we were done with the picture. At our house we don't just dye the shell we end up with colored insides too!

These days Ady will try to do anything that I do. Sometimes she tries to copy her mom but usually just me. For instance, a few days ago while we were eating dinner I was talking to Kasey with my arms folded and I looked across the table at Ady and she had her arms crossed and was watching me. I realized I probably looked like I was about to pray and unfolded my arms. As soon as I did so, Ady did too. Noticing that Ady hadn't resumed eating I picked up my fork. Ady picked up hers. I put mine down, Ady put hers down. Then I put my hand on my head. Ady did the same. I opened my mouth, Ady copied. This went on for a minute or so. Mind you I hadn't cracked a smile during this whole thing and nor had Ady. Then I chuckled and Ady decided to outdo me and busted up laughing. We all laughed pretty hard. Seems harmless and playful right. Well not always. The other day I was carrying Ady cause we were in a hurry and her short legs may move really fast but the zigzaging back and forth weaving across the sidewalk takes forever to get anywhere. So I have her in my right arm and am being bothered by some phlegm in my throat. I look around, don't see anyone, hawk it up and spit in out on the grass. Ady not to be outdone makes some weird noise and spits. Problem was, she didn't spit on the grass, she spit all over me. A couple of nights ago all three of us were in the bathroom brushing our teeth and I noticed that the drain catch was getting plugged. So I reached down, pulled it our and cleaned it off. Looking down the drain a moment I noticed how dirty the first couple of inches of drain that could be seen were. After putting the catch back we left the bathroom. About 15 minutes later Kasey and I heard, "DAD, DAD, DAD" being screamed from the bathroom. There was no crying or any sign of danger, but we quickly moved into the bathroom. There we found Ady who had used the stepping stool to climb up into the sink and she was pointing at the drain. We moved closer and could see that she was holding the drain catch in one hand. She showed it to us with a smug confident look that said, "look I can take it out too". Then concern came back into her face and she pointed once again at the drain. Looking down the drain I could see her toothbrush and the remains of a bar of soap stuck several inches down the pipe. Not to worry, while we were looking, wondering what to do, she grabbed Kasey's toothbrush and made a move to stick it down the drain also. We stopped her and eventually I was able remove the lodged items. A final story for those of you who are still reading, we have come to the conclusion that Ady's copying of her Dad is seriously inhibiting our progress in the potty training. We have determined that she knows what her potty is for. And she knows what she is supposed to do. The problem lies in that when you get her in there and get her pants off, she stands next to it and pees. Her aim is absolutely atrocious and she gets pee all over the floor.
Happy Easter!

Lego Maniacs

Last week Adam finally decided it was time to get Ady her own Legos, so she will stop bugging him and trying to play with his-which are too small for her.  Now I live with 2 Lego maniacs.  Currently Adam is playing "make a new Lego castle" and Ady is napping while holding on to two stacks of her Legos so she can go right back to playing with them when she wakes up.  How could I be more lucky?