Once we arrived in San Diego it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain...and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night...but we didn't let it dampen our spirits...much. It was, however, colder than something that is really, really cold. Luckily we had outfitted ourselves with Eddie Bauer water-repellant shells while we were in Spokane, though we still got soaked. And cold. And maybe a bit bitchy, here and there. But we survived.

We saw the classic Shamu show which was more impressive than I expected it to be. The whales were incredible, but I couldn't help feeling like they were be exploited for our benefit. It kind of coloured my whole experience with the various forms of wildlife we encountered. Sam, on the other hand, was determined to experience the Shamu show in the "Splash Zone" and no amount of trying to talk him out of it was going to change his mind. So, April and Chloe joined him in about row 10 or 11 and waited for the splashing to commence. From my safe (and relatively dry) vantage point in row 358 the "splash" looked more like an ungodly wall of sea water that came crashing down on the unsuspecting heads of my dear family, courtesy of Shamu's tail. It sounded something like, "Shamu! Shamu! Sham--Holy shit! What the hell is th--S-S-S-S-P-P-P-P-A-A-A-A-L-L-L-L-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H!!!!!!!!" And then I laughed.

The coolest thing in the whole park was the shark exhibit which has a fifty or sixty-foot long glass tunnel that takes you underwater and right through the shark tank. It was amazing! We seriously had sharks floating 24 inches above our heads. Plus it was really warm in there...which was nice.

Chloe's favourite attraction was the Pets Rule! animal show. They had to modify the show somewhat as the various dogs and cats were understandably skittish about performing in a monsoon, but after some coaxing and a few heated phone calls to their agents, the animals came out and put on a little bit of a show in the form of a "meet and greet." It was pretty cute, but it wasn't exactly the thrill-a-minute pet extravaganza Chloe had been hoping for. Luckily she was able to stem the disappointment a little by purchasing a plush dolphin with whom she would later be snuggling with in bed.

Unlike Chloe, who is charmed by soft, warm, furry creatures, Sam couldn't get enough of petting the bat rays. Yes, that's correct...bat rays. He stood there a good half-dozen times, sleeves rolled up to his shouders, petting the vile, slimy, gelatinous creatures like they were Care Bears^®. Seriously, if he could have picked one up and hugged it, he would have. In fact, he did the next best thing and he bought himself a stuffed bat ray at the adjacent souvenir shop and slept with it nestled against him that night.

The bus departed around 6:30 p.m. and it was a nice quiet, relaxing ride home. Salvador put Dr. Doolittle on the DVD player and I napped as we rode through the Southern Cailfornia darkness. When we got back to the hotel, I sent the family up stairs and I dashed across three adjacent parking lots, and one surface street, to grab some McDonald's to feed them. We then went down to the pool deck to watch the Disneyland fireworks and it was lights out by 10 p.m.

So, even though it was cold and wet for most of the day, we ended-up having a really fun, memorable day out at Sea World. Bigger things, however, are on the horizon...

Tomorrow: The Mouse!

The day started pretty well, albeit somewhat earlier than the time I had set on my watch. Everyone fell asleep last night remarkably easily, but we all ran out of sleep around 5:30 or 6. So, up we got, showers we had, breakfast we ate, last minute preparation and organization we did, and the airport shuttle we took. We ended-up at the airport about two hours before the flight was scheduled to take off, but that's okay, we might have missed the grumpy ass manning the main entry at airport security if we had arrived any later. Officer Barky McJerkface of the TSA was snapping at everyone who came along about how if a single contraband water bottle or non-regulation pair of toenail clippers made it through his checkpoint, the terrorists would win. I just nodded and said "yes, sir" and put my shoes in my plastic tub, praying to God the entire time he wouldn't find the 3.2 ounce bottle of liquid Imodium I had taped to the small of my back.

Boarding the plane was a breeze in comparison and we made it to Seattle with no hiccups, just a lot of excitement on the part of the kids. I'm talking palpaple, leg shaking, talking a mile a minute excitement. "Gasps!" and "Wows!" from the first rush of acceleration to the last declarative bump of the touchdown. It was pretty cool.

We had about an hour in Seattle, where we spent $437.26 for four sandwiches at an airport snack bar. I have a feeling this only foreshadowed what eating in Disneyland would be like. Packed lunches it is.

Anyway, as mentioned above, this is just one leg of today's journey and I'll update later on tonight.

UPDATE -- 7:57 p.m.: We touched down around 5:30 this evening after being batted around by some turbulence on the way in. It was pouring rain, but that didn't do much to dampen-see what I did there?-our spirits. The shuttlebus process was painless and we are now nestled at the HoJo's right across the street from Disneyland. We can actually see the Matterhorn from our balcony! The monorail went by once or twice as well...pretty cool. We opted for a quick McDonald's meal so we could get back to the hotel and settle-in a bit. Tired now, Sea World tomorrow!

UPDATED UPDATE -- 9:45 p.m.: The kids are both asleep and April and I just finished watching the Disneyland fireworks from our balcony. Wow! This has already been better than we had hoped!

Dinner was a first: Chuck E. Cheese's! The kids had pizza and a couple of fists full of tokens so they were pretty happy. I am a little concerned about the predominance of games of chance in the mix, though. I guess it's never too early to introduce kids to the joy and excitement that is the life of a degenerate gambler...

I wonder if anyone will sleep tonight? (Between April and me, I mean!)

On Thursday, the last day of school, we had an early supper of Panago pizza and then we headed out for our traditional Anderson Family Tour of the Christmas Lights^®. The kids had showers and climbed into their PJ's and we drove around the valley ooo-ing and ahhh-ing over the various lighting displays, Christmas music playing on the iPod in the background. This is one of my favourite traditions that we've established over the years.

Friday saw the rapid melting of the very little snow we had, much to the chagrin of at least two frustrated toboganners, both of whom just happen to live in my house. If nothing else, the wet snow was perfect for sculpting a multi-layered, tunnel-filled fortress for various army men, giant insects, and Pokemon to wage battle over. Unfortunately, by the afternoon we lost the battle with the temperature and the ice palace crumbled into so much slush.

Saturday was the gingerbread building marathon which consisted of 5 cousins, 2 aunts, 2 sleighs, 1 castle, 2 cottages, 1 A-frame and 14,000,000 assorted candies. The end results are pretty spectacular, even if I don't want to see another Reese's peanut butter bell for a long, long time...

Pictures of the gingerbread houses are forthcoming, but in the meantime, here's a gratuitous picture of a very cute elf.

Today was a a pretty big day on the calendar of Anderson family traditions: The BDTA Kids Christmas Party. Every year my union brothers and sisters hold a movie party down at the theatre at which Santa shows up and hands out presents and what not. To get the day off to a special start, I was down at the Overwaitea by 8:15 a.m. picking up the ingredients for breakfast. There's nothing like wandering around an empty grocery store early in the morning, Christmas music piping in, to really get those holiday spirits flowing. A quick trip home, some Huey Lewis and the News on the stereo (not exactly holiday music, but inspirational in its own way), an entire package of Maple Leaf 33% Less Sodium bacon in the pan and soon we were feasting on my cinnammon-nutmeg French toast.

Sam and I ended-up being the only one's who went to the movie as Chloe wasn't feeling all that great, but we enjoyed ourselves as best we could anyway. The flick was "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and I'm not ashamed to admit that I was not looking forward to it in the least. I'd like to take this opportunity to issue a formal apology to the makers of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" because it was, in fact, a hilarious movie. The story itself was pretty weird, but the one-off gags were laid on with a trowel and they were FUNNY! The capper was that Santa showed-up just as the credits were starting and Sam received a personal hand-shake from the big guy. Sam's pre-movie wish that Santa would bring him a Bionicle came true as well, so the whole morning was one we could put in the "win" column.

At this point in the day, we are waiting for April to finish wrapping the tree with gingerbread man ribbon (note to self: if the wife asks how the tree looks wrapped in gingerbread man ribbon, do not, I repeat, DO NOT tell her that it looks like somebody toilet papered it...trust me) and, when she is done, we will commence Operation: Decorate That Honky MoFo.

I'll post some pictures later, once we've got the tree all decorated.

Also, Sam wanted me to tell the tale of how we drove up past Phoenix Ski Hill last weekend looking for a choice spot to do some sledding and he ended up doing a massive face plant. So there.

Sam: NO!

Me: Why not? Will I look horrible?

Sam: Well, you'll still be cute, but when you have a beard it makes you look like you're a little old man.

Me: Really?

Sam: Yes! It makes you look like you're 50 or something!

(Photo Break #1: Here are a couple of pictures of the kids with their various missing teeth)

There have been some changes around here in the past little while, the most notable of which is the fact that we've stopped doing piano lessons for the time being. In discussing the kids' progress with their teacher, we realised that they were both at the point where they would need to get very serious about their practice regimes to make any forward progress. As it was, we were experiencing a little resistence to the practice schedule and it was either start being piano Nazis or stop lessons for now. I've always believed that learning music needs to be fun and as soon as it becomes a chore, there is no point in pursuing it further. It was sad saying goodbye to Bruce. He did a great job with the kids and they loved him.

To fill the gap left by the end of piano, we are looking at a couple of possibilities. Chloe is interested in taking horse riding lessons and Sam is up for some karate, so we will see how it all pans out.

(Photo Break #2: Here are a couple of pictures of the kids just being kids)

The only down side was that the dog got into Sammy's pile of chocolates on his desk when no one was looking. Don't be alarmed though, we researched the effects of chocolate on a dog and the amounts required to do any damage and she was never in harm's way. To make up for the tragic loss I gave Sam my super-secret stash of foil covered mini-eggs and that seemed to smooth things over.

So, for those of you keeping track at home, the revised score is: Kids: 1, Little Green Guys: 1, Dad: 0. C'est la vie, as the Irish say.

The design, as you can see, is the classic Elmer Fudd/Wabbit Hunting box-and-stick affair. The idea is that the leprechaun follows the path of counterfeit gold, grabs the fake coin attached to the toilet paper tube with string, pulls it and the box slams down, trapping him or her. The beds are in the traps just to provide a nice place for the little guys to rest while incarcerated. If things all go according to plan, there should be two little pissed-off green guys spilling their guts around 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. I can't wait to spend some of that fat leprechaun cash!

It remains to be seen which approach will work better: the calm, rational sign stating simply "Stay until 8:00 a.m." or the life-like leprechaun decoy acting as bait. Either way, I love the fact that both of my kids are so willing to give themselves over to these flights of fancy, and I hope that both of them will hold on to a little of this faith as they grow. There's always room for a little silliness in one's life, no matter how old you are.

(Click on the pictures to make them bigger!)

Besides, now we can make some serious headway on those leprechaun traps we'll need for St. Patrick's day...

I am so done with the winter and the snow. I need it to start being warm and green. Seriously, warm and green...that's all I'm asking for. Is it too much, really? No, I didn't think so.

Anyway, only two more days until what we will euphemistically call "Spring Break." More accurately I think we should call it "Two Weeks Off From Work That Will Essentially Be a Waste Because You Can't Go Outside Without Freezing Your Nutsack Off Break." Don't get me wrong, if I had the money to be taking the family to Disneyland, I would be shooting rays of sunshine out of butt about the break, but, as is, the farthest away from home I can afford to go is to the Overwaitea and even then I'll have to be careful that my basket of bread and mayonaise doesn't exceed what's in my wallet. M-m-m-m-m...can't wait for those mayonaise sandwiches.

Did I mention I'm tired?

One of the bigger highlights of the winter season was the kids both losing teeth like they're going out of style. Sammy lost his first one and Chloe lost her bazillionth, but the Tooth Fairy thankfully showed-up to purchase the reuse rights to the kids enamel. I say "thankfully" because in the past the Tooth Fairy has had trouble getting here on the first night that a tooth has been placed under a pillow. Word is it's because she hits the sauce pretty hard in between collection runs. I'm just saying.

The kids both got Nintendo DS's for Christmas so they were pretty excited. This move had the added benefit of keeping Sam occupied in the mornings when he wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and wants to get on with his life. We are usually good until about 7:30 a.m. now. Sam seems to be drawn to the action games like Pokemon Diamond Version and New Super Mario Bros., while Chloe seems to like the more imagination driven titles like Nintendogs and, rather fittingly, the Imagination series of games. Sadly, my Xbox 360 was nowhere to be seen under the tree on Christmas morn. Maybe next year.

More recently (as of today in fact), Chloe has become a certified babysitter, scoring a whopping 87% on her test at the end of her course. We're, of course, very proud of her, but this is just one more milestone in a seemingly endless procession of big events that keep pulling my little girl further from my protective parent arms and closer to the young woman she will one (not very distant) day become. Pride and sadness mix making me feel like I need a drink. I wonder if the Tooth Fairy is doing anything tonight...

I wrote a post a few years ago that summed up my gratitude to the men and women in the armed forces. I'll post it here again as reminder to myself to never take the gift they provide us for granted:

We attended our first Remembrance Day ceremony here in Maple Ridge this morning. It was Chloe's first official function in her capacity as a member of the 4^th Alouette Sparks troop that didn't involve selling cookies. We gathered at the Legion on 124^th street at 10:15 am and proceeded to march to the cenotaph at Memorial Peace Park. Chloe did great and even managed to stay silent for the full two minutes when required, which was a feat in itself. There were several fly overs: the first by five vintage aircraft and another by the Slow Birds, a group of local single-engine aircraft pilots who performed the missing man formation.

The service was very nice and quite moving. It makes you stop and think when you see the rows of aging veterans standing at attention, many with the help of canes and walkers. It makes you think about how very lucky we are to live where we do, in the time we do. I have to admit that I shed a tear or two during the two minutes of silence, forehead to forehead with Sam, thinking about how lucky I am to be able stand in the sun on a beautiful November day in a place where I am free from persecution and fear; how lucky I am to know that my children are safe, free to grow and to pursue their dreams; how lucky we are to have people who were willing to fight, and to die, for our freedom, securing a peaceful future for us and our families. I know not many will read this, but I would just like to say thank you to all those who have helped in the past, and who will help in the future, to give us the gift we so often take for granted: the gift of freedom.

Well, chicken and burgers, but I won't eat any other meat.

Except pork...I love pork."