Beach Friday 2012

This year we continued our tradition of going to 17 Mile Drive in Monterey the day after Thanksgiving. It was our fourth year. The first two years were extremely chilly and windy, but not this time. On this day the weather was absolutely perfect: breezy and warm.

It was an amazing day. The kids were happy and mellow. We parents sat and talked. The boys splashed in the water. They played in the sand. One kid built a city in the sand complete with multiple walls, building, cars, and and a moat. The other built bombs out of sand. If you know the boys, I'm sure you can guess who did what. 

We explored tide pools. We warned the boys not to touch the anemones because they might sting (I have no idea if they actually do, but I figured it was better to be safe). The kids went into panic mode. For the rest of our time at the tide pools, avoiding anemones was a matter of life and death, and they would start shrieking if they got near one. Our kids are normally not fearful about things like this, so it was a little bit funny to see them act this way.

We also saw thousands of hermit crabs, some as tiny as a lentil and some as large as a silver dollar. We encouraged the boys to put one on their hand, but after the Anemone Incident, it was difficult to convince them that they wouldn't hurt them. After much coaxing, Tommy was brave enough to let a tiny hermit crab crawl around on his hand.

The thing I love so much about 17 Mile Drive is the diversity of beaches in such a small area. It has everything from beaches with tall rocks to climb on to sprawling smooth sandy shores to run around on. Below you can see Mark flying a kite with the boys. The wind was so nice that he was able to bury the line into the sand and walk away while the kite stayed in the air for the next thirty minutes. It was fun watching the drivers smile as they saw the kite soaring high above them on the road.

After 17 Mile Drive we headed to nearby Carmel. Our aim was only to find a place to pick up some hot chocolate. But when we parked and walked around a bit, the tiny town was so enchanting in the dusk light that we ended up staying for a few hours, just strolling and poking around. We stopped in shops and admired the unique items that local crafters and artists were selling. There were several times the kids would spot something and breath a reverent "Wow!" We stopped in one art gallery and noted with a little amusement the gallery keeper following our children closely with his eyes. (No, they didn't touch anything). Eventually it got dark and then we were surrounded by trees and arbors covered in white twinkle lights. It truly was a magical little town.

The rest of our holiday weekend was full of a mix of chores and relaxation. We spent a lot of good times together as a family. It was exactly what we all needed.

See more photos of our beach trip here.

Thanksgiving 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting Back to Basics

We’re in our second week of taking a rest from foster care. This is the longest we’ve gone without having an extra child in our house since we became foster parents. It’s been a much-needed mental break. And it’s given me a lot of time to remind myself why we’re doing foster care to begin with. 

Last week our family was presented at an adoption matching for a 3 month old baby boy. I normally don't pay much attention to matchings because the odds of us being chosen are generally low. But this time, I really really hoped we would be chosen as a match for this little guy. I told myself that our chances were good this time, for various reasons. Well, we weren't chosen. If we had been chosen, we would have gotten a phone call from our caseworker by the end of the business day. But when 5 o'clock rolled around with no phone call or email, we assumed we weren't chosen. My reaction was less than mature. I was in a gloomy funk the rest of the evening and the next morning. Why? Because I didn't get what I had started to want most: a child who would join our family for good.

As much as I try to forget about it, buried deep down is a part of me that is still sad about not being able to have any more children, despite nearly four years of efforts. It was almost four years ago that we lost our third son through miscarriage, followed by three years of infertility, and it's been almost one year since we started foster care. That's a long time to be struggling with the unfulfilled desire for more children. I credit God and his undeserved grace for helping me let go of most of the discontent I held on to for so long. But there is still a nagging piece that won't let go.

Up until recently, I've found joy in being a foster parent. I’ve been content to welcome little ones, even when we know from the outset that their stay will be temporary. I’ve been able to keep in the forefront of my mind the reasons why we got into foster care to begin with: to serve God by loving and caring for little ones who need a loving family, however temporary it may be. The selfish pull was always there in the background, but I was always able to push it away. But then my mind got lazy. Without really meaning to, I stopped relying on God for my strength to do foster care and I stopped praying about how we can be used to bless others. I allowed myself to start longing for another child, a child we wouldn't have to say goodbye to. 

Which brings us to last week: Thanks to reading a blog post from a friend about her experience with sacrifice, coupled with a frank discussion with my husband regarding my bad attitude of late, I suddenly came to the realization of how selfish I’ve become in the past month where foster care was concerned. It was a much-needed slap upside the head. 

I realized that my motives had changed and were no longer rooted in self-denial and sacrificial love. While these terms sound may lofty and pious, in reality they are amazingly freeing, when compared to the burden of longing and jealousy. Instead, I was feeling discontent at not being able to add to my family. I felt it when we accepted our last placement but at the time I didn’t see if for what it was. I should have realized it when I was a bit too anxious for him to leave, since I knew there was no hope of keeping him (which I am ashamed to admit). I should have realized it when I was short with my children for no reason. When I was annoyed at having to wake up twice a night with a hungry newborn. When I ceased relying on God for my strength and tried to do everything on my own. I was quite humbled to have all of these realizations. It took a few days for it all to sink in. 

I've been asking God to change my heart. To give me a heart that would love these children without any thought of return. Or any thought of keeping one. To make me content with my two children and help me see them for the blessings that they are.

I've been meditating on this verse: 
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

It is humbling to realize that all the little feelings and struggles I'm having are transient. They will only last for a short time, when compared to the span of eternity. What is eternal is choosing to do the right thing. Which for me at this time is to care for children on a temporary basis. It's comforting to realize that whatever struggles (which are admittedly very minor compared to what others are going through and what Paul was referring to in this verse) I'm going through are momentary and light. That is a huge change in perspective compared to my short-sighted longing for adding more children to my family.

With all that said, I am now eager to get back into foster care. We promised ourselves we would take time off until after Thanksgiving, and we will stick to that plan. But I'm looking forward to making that call saying "Yes, we're ready for more children."

Foster Care Break

This adorable little guy just left our home last week. We got him when he was three weeks old and we had him for a month. When we first got him, we were told we would only have him for a few days. Ha! Part of the 'fun' of foster care is that you can never count on the timelines you're given. So when someone tells us a child will be staying for a week, or a month, or sixth months, we've learned to just nod our heads and go with the flow.

We were honestly relieved when this little guy left, a first time for us. He was super cute and it was fun having a newborn. But... We realized early into his stay with us that we should have taken a lot more time off after Baby B left us. We thought we were ready to jump back into the chaos of foster care after just a week. In retrospect, I think we just wanted to fill Baby B's void as quickly as possible. 

This time we are taking off a lot more time. We plan to add ourselves back to the foster care list after Thanksgiving. Now that we're back down to a family of four, we are enjoying spending time with our kids and being spontaneous, which is a lot easier with two big kids.

Tommy at 6 Years Old

You have grown up so much in this year. Sometimes I look at you and I can still see little Tommy, the way you used to crouch with your chubby toddler legs over a bug on the ground and study it. Other times I look at you and you look so positively grown up, it's a little unsettling. Where did my little guy go?

You've grown into a wonderful young boy in this past year. You have shown yourself to be a caring big brother: whenever Ben is sad or hurt, you do everything you can to show him love and comfort him. The other day Ben got his finger caught in something and ripped some skin off. He was badly hurt and was crying a lot, so while I doctored him up, you fixed him a snack of an apple, some bread, and some yogurt and found him his favorite sticker (of a train). It melted my heart to see you be so thoughtful to him! 

Another example is this: we have a rule that birthday gifts are off-limits to others for the first day that the birthday boy receives them. But you never hold to this rule, you always share with your brother anyway. And Ben does the same for you. (Kind of a pointless rule, right?)



You are loving school. Sometimes you lack the ability to sit and do the work for more than ten minutes at a time. But you are thriving in your learning. Your reading has improved a immensely this past year. This time last year you were just able to read the very simple Bob Books and could barely sound out words. Now you're at a second grade reading level and reading everything you can find. You're zooming through your math lessons too. Math and science seem to be your favorite things to learn about. 

You like doing paper crafts, anything that involves cutting, folding, glueing and taping. If I leave you alone with paper, tape, and scissors, you will create complex paper sculptures of airplanes or robots. For an-almost six year old, you've gotten very good at origami.

You have gotten more outgoing in this past year. You used to be shy about talking to people, particularly strangers. But now you are comfortable talking with people you know, and you're getting more comfortable talking with strangers. You seem to really open up and get animated when you talk about something that you like a lot.

I'm looking forward to watching you mature in this next year. You are such a sweet, sincere, loving boy and I love being your mom.

This past spring you learned how to read Green Eggs and Ham all by yourself. You were so proud.

Tommy's 6th Birthday

I wish I was a kid in my family when I was a kid. 

Wait. That doesn't quite make sense. But you know what I mean.

I don't remember having any birthday traditions growing up. So when we started to have children and celebrate birthdays, I really wanted to establish traditions that our kids could look forward to and find comfort in year after year.

I think it's safe to say that we've made up some pretty fun traditions. 

Tommy had a great birthday. 

His birthday fell on a Tuesday this year. On the Sunday evening before his birthday, he had a family dinner with the menu of his choice: pizza, greek salad, and apples. In lieu of cake, he requested strawberry ice cream. He was very clear on the fact that he wanted ice cream for his party, but cake on his actual birthday. Okay buddy. You got it. 

So he got to celebrate his birthday a few days early surrounded by some of his favorite people: his cousins. 

One tradition for the last four years has been for us to make his birthday cake together. I have pictures of almost-2 year old Tommy licking frosting and helping me to mix the batter. By next year he could probably make the whole thing himself.

This year he wrote out the exact specifications of what he wanted in a cake: Lemon cake with vanilla frosting. Strawberries on top. Sprinkles. Round. Two layers. Big.

I tweaked his specs a bit to fit my idea of what our family would need in a birthday cake. (ie: not too big). Since the cake was eaten on his actual birthday, and it was just the four of us, I just made a half cake. And if you only have half a cake, how else would you decorate it but as a lemon slice?

Another tradition: Birthday cereal! Our family doesn't normally eat cereal: not out of any strict code of good nutrition, but because it's messy and it doesn't fill the kids up for more than one hour. So it's a very special event to get to pick out birthday cereal. Tommy strayed from his usual choice of Lucky Charms and chose Trix. I have to admit that I've never actually had Trix before. They tasted like a cross between Kix and Jolly Ranchers.

He also got a lot of thoughtful birthday presents: 

The Iron Giant because it's a tradition to get the boys a classic hardcover book for birthdays and Christmas; and because we read an excerpt of the story once and he loved it so much we had to keep reading the same excerpt every night for a week.

A book about origami, because he loves paper crafting so much. It's the perfect level for a kid to follow the directions by themselves.

The movie Aristocats because it's his favorite. I think he likes it for its swingin' music. We rented it from the library a while ago and kept it for a long time because he liked it so much. Ever since then he's been asking to get it from the library again and again. Since I knew we were getting it for his birthday, I kept making excuses like, "Oops, it looks someone already checked it out! Oh well." Hee hee. 

A microscope, because he's one science-lovin' kid. He's always talking about germs and wanting to know what things look like "teeny-tiny". It's by far his favorite birthday gift. He learned how to use it himself and for the past two days has been sticking everything he can find under the lens. 

In the evening we had a family dinner of Tommy's choice (cheese pinwheels) followed by birthday cake. Then we tucked one seriously tired and happy six year old into bed. 

Tommy's Birthday Interview, Age 6

I originally conducted this interview with Tommy on video. Then my ornery computer lost it, so I had to do it again and write down the answers. The answers were a lot more interesting the first time around, but this will have to do for now until Mark can figure out where my video went! You can read earlier interviews from Tommy here: Age 5, age 4, and age 3. It's so much fun comparing his answers from previous years!

So how do you think it'll feel to be six?

I’ll still feel five, but later on I’ll get used to being six.

What kinds of things can you do now that you’re almost six that you couldn’t do when you were littler?

Lift a gallon of milk.

What is your favorite color?

Red

What is your favorite food?  

Ice cream.

What is your least favorite food?  

Cooked spinach.

What is your favorite book?

How Things are Made

What is your favorite toy?

That star thingie (He meant a star chart that shows constellations)

Do you have any friends? Who are they?

All the kids at community group. And my cousins.

What is your favorite thing to do?

Going on a date with Dad.

What is your favorite thing about yourself?

That I can ride my bike really well.

What is your favorite thing to do outside?

Play with my cousins.

Where is your favorite place to go?

Legoland. And Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

What do you want to do for a job when you grow up?  

That’s easy. Firefighter.

Where do you want to live when you grow up?  

San Jose maybe. (Why?) Because there’s a lot of cool places to go there.

Do you think you’ll get married when you grow up? Who do you think you’ll marry?

Yes. I’ll try to marry Hannah. But if not, [whispers] maybe Meghan.

How old will you be when you get married?

Twenty.

Where do babies come from?

Tummies.

Is there anything you’re afraid of?

Nothing much.

If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why? 

Giraffe, because then I could reach leaves on tall trees.

What do you love most about your brother? 

When I ask him to help me, he helps me. Like when we’re making fun things together. 

What do you like learning about?

Snakes. And how snails fit into their shells and how they move.

First Rainy Day

This week we celebrated the first rainy day of the season. 

I had been looking forward to this day for a long time.

We stayed in our PJs all morning. 

We spread a big fuzzy blanket out in the living room and built our first fire of the season. 

We had our school time on the fuzzy blanket in front of the fire. 

We made popcorn and hot chocolate and watched The Iron Giant on our fuzzy blanket.

We rang in the rainy season in style.

Why Ben Needs a Wife

Today I took my second born on a date to the coffee shop. We were overdue for some one-on-one time and coffee is something we both enjoy together. Well, I enjoy coffee and he enjoys pretending to drink coffee while really drinking a kids' cocoa. And he enjoys sips of my mocha.

We had some good conversations. One conversation was so priceless I had to scramble for a pen and write it on the back of the tiny brown bag that our cookie came in. I didn't want to forget it. And, I have a feeling it will be incredibly funny to share with his future wife someday. 

Mom: So, Ben, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Ben: I just want to be a dad.
M: That's a great thing to be! So, who will you marry?
B: I'm not going to be married. I'm just going to be a widow.
M: Well, a widower is someone who had a wife, but she died. Is that what you mean?
B: Oh. No, I mean I'm just not going to be married.
M: Then how will you get children, to be a dad?
B: I'll just go to San Jose! [choking on my coffee]
M: You mean, like how Dad and I go to San Jose to pick up our foster children?
B: Yep. But just the babies...[thinking]...But then I'll need a wife to change the babies' diapers.
M: Why can't you change them?
B: Because I'm afraid poo will get on my hands!
M: .....

And there you have it, folks. Even as wee children, men are afraid of changing diapers.

Baby Four

On the day before Kid C went back to be with her family, we got a call for Baby C. It was a sad story that we simply couldn't say 'no' to. So despite already having a foster child, we said 'yes!" and just like that became parents to four. Truth be told, we only had four children for less than 24 hours. It actually wasn't as crazy as I'd expected, at least the hands-on task of caring for four kids. It was a crazy time, but the craziness came from having to communicate with two different social workers at the same time, about events occurring on the same day, returning Kid C to her dad, and then turning a two year old girl room into a three week old boy room, which involved playing musical furniture and lots of laundry.

So now we are back to two big kids and a newborn, which seems to be the usual pattern for us. I love newborns because they are portable and they can sleep through anything. Our new little guy is "Baby C". He's a skinny little thing, and despite being almost a month old, is still swimming in his newborn-size clothes. He is such a cute little guy. He will be leaving us within the next day or two to go live with his grandma, so we're soaking up all the newborn cuteness we can until then.

Five Days with Kid C

We got " Kid C" late on a Wednesday evening, just over a week after Baby B left us. She was just shy of three years old. This was our first placement of an older child (well, older than an infant). It was quite a learning experience. We learned that there is a life cycle of a new placement of an older child: 

Day 1: Easy, with few problems. C probably figured she was just visiting us and was on her best behavior. She mostly played with the boys and didn't make much of a fuss about anything. Two exceptions were sleeping and eating issues. I knew enough to expect eating issues, so I stocked up on foods I thought any kid would like, things like apple juice, cheese sticks, crackers, grapes, and cereal bars. Despite all my preparations, she still refused to eat anything except a few bites of banana now and then.

The other exception was naptime and bedtime: getting her to sleep was quite a battle. Thinking I would have her for at least a few weeks, I immediately went into "training mode" and was strict about enforcing sleep times and our 'no getting out of bed' rule. In retrospect, I should have focused on comforting her, instead of the goal of getting her to sleep. 

Day 2-3: She seemed to realize she wasn't just visiting. She let her guard down and started to assert her will. Lots of tantrums ensued. One epic tantrum lasted for forty-five minutes, over a request of ice cream for breakfast which I (kindly) denied. These two days were probably the hardest we've ever had in foster care.

Once I found out that she was only going to be with us for a few days, I loosened up on my sleep rules and rocked her to sleep for bed and naps. It didn't take much effort; she was exhausted and dropped to sleep without much effort once she felt nice and snuggly.

Day 4-5: We finally started to figure each other out. I learned what foods she liked and incorporated those with our own meals, so she started eating better. She learned that tantrums don't work so well, so those started lessening. And she didn't need to be rocked to sleep anymore. She still protested naptimes with "No! I not going to sleep now!" but she crawled into bed anyway, listened to a story, and fell asleep right away. So much for that. 

On day 5 she was returned to her family. It was bittersweet: sweet, because it was clear that she was loved and wanted by her family, but bitter because it seems like she has many challenges facing her. We have one more little person to hold in our prayers.

The night C came home with us. Ben quickly attached to her. He talked her ear off about everything from how traffic lights work to how chickens eat, and showed her the ropes of living the Knapp home. It made us realize that while Tommy prefers the cute cuddliness of babies, Ben prefers the fun interaction that comes with bigger kids. 

One of our sweeter moments together: C helped me make beef stew while Mark and the boys went to church. She is wearing what I am told is a Cinderalla dress, given to us by a friend who knows a thing or two about girls. She wore that dress for three of the five days she was with us; she refused to take it off and I decided it wasn't a battle worth fighting.

On To New Adventures

This precious little one left our home mid-day Tuesday. Of course we knew she was going to be leaving sometime soon, but we thought we'd have at least a few days' notice to physically and emotionally prepare. Through a series of miscommunication and missed messages, we ended up having a half days' notice. 

We met Baby B's new parents Tuesday morning and had a good three hour visit with each other, and then they all left together. They were truly very good people and it is easy to imagine Baby B having a long and well-loved life. 

It was a rare human experience. One day you have a child whom you love and have raised since birth. Twenty four hours later, she is gone, never to return. Normally when this happens to your child, it is a tragedy, usually due to death or kidnapping. But this is foster care, so it is a good thing. So we find ourselves very emotionally confused and drained. We are in the difficult position of both mourning and celebrating her departure. After she left, Mark took the rest of the day off and we spent time together as a family.

We've put ourselves back on the list to get more children and we are looking forward to having another little one. But we want to squeeze in some fun with our family of four before we get The Call. So today we had 'crazy school day'. I took the boys out for bagels for breakfast and they did their school work at the street cafe. Then we went on a field trip at a local fire station. They saw how the fire truck works and how the fire fighters live while they're on duty. They got to climb all over the fire truck and inside the cab, and were able to play with the fire hose (which, if you asked them, was probably the coolest part of the whole trip). 

After the fire station, we hit Target and the library. It's amazing how much you can get done in a day with only two school-aged kids!

Baby B at 7 Months

Happy seven months, Baby B!

You started solids on your sixth month birthday. You had pureed avocado. You seemed to like it because you ate the whole avocado! You have solids three times a day, at each of our meals. After avocado you had pureed banana, and then peach. You made really funny faces when you ate peach and didn’t seem to like it. I think the taste was a bit too tart for your tastebuds.

Foods you’ve tried in your seventh month: avocado, banana, peach, broccoli (your favorite so far), cauliflower, mango, carrots, peas, corn, zucchini, butternut squash, pumpkin, strawberries, pears, prunes, apples, egg yolk, tomatoes, cantaloupe, potato, leeks, apricot, yogurt, and rice cereal. Many of these foods were blended together, for example leeks blended with potato or corn blended with butternut squash. You've been quite le gourmand this month.

Now that you are eating solid foods, your schedule has changed a lot. You dropped two of your naps and extended your awake time to two to two-and-a-half hours instead of just one hour. You have just two long naps a day, two hours in the morning from 9:00-11:00 and then three hours in the afternoon, from 1:30-4:00. You go to bed at 6:30pm and sleep until 7:30am. This schedule is so much nicer for us: your long awake time allow us to get out of the house for a few hours during the middle of the day and your long naptimes line up perfectly both with morning homeschooling and afternoon quiet time. 

For the past few weeks your babbling has gotten a lot more sophisticated. Instead of your normal cooing sounds, you're trying out different ranges of sounds, from super high pitched to deep sounds.

This month you started physical therapy for a slight developmental delay. You have something called "truncal hypotonia", which means that your trunk muscles have low tone. At this point, you should be able to sit up tripod style, but you're not able to just yet. You usually just bend right forward when we try to sit you up. So your physical therapist showed me different activities I can do with you to try to promote stronger muscles. We've been doing the exercises for just a few days and you're already showing a big improvement. I think you'll be sitting up independently in no time.

Foster Update:
This will be our last update on Baby B. She is going to live with her new parents 'as soon as possible', in the words of the court. We are still waiting to hear exactly when that will be. We will miss our little Baby B so much, but we know she will be in good hands.

Thomas Matisse

This month we are studying a few paintings by Henri Matisse. I keep four prints displayed on our bulletin board so the boys can see them throughout the day. When it's time to do our picture study, I ask the boys to choose their favorite painting, and then I ask them to describe it to me. Tommy's description of this painting, The Green Stripe, went something like this: "This man has yellow skin. It's all splotchy and rough. He has a green stripe down his face. I'm not sure why. He has blue hair and red lips. He looks sad."  

After he described it, he drew it himself:

Baby B at 6 Months

You are half a year old! This month was uneventful as far as physical milestones go. You're still rolling around, still babbling happily, and still sleeping well. You had a cold this month, probably given to you by your foster brothers. The only new thing is that you spent most of the month drooling and chewing on everything in sight in efforts to get your two bottom teeth out. And you are starting to bear weight on your legs, something you never wanted to do before.

You are so happy and mellow. You smile at anyone who talks to you. Your favorite 'big brother' is Tommy - you watch him closely whenever he's around and you always have a big drooly grin for him. 

We just went on a five day long family trip to the San Diego area and you did amazingly well. During the long car rides, you played with your toys in your carseat until you dozed off, then took nice long naps. In the park you rode in the sling with me when you were awake and napped in the stroller. You were so easy!

I'm looking forward to introducing you to solid food this next month. You seem very interested in what we eat, and always try to grab my food when you sit on my lap during meal times. We'll have to see if you're interested. I'll probably start you off with avocado or banana.

Big brother Ben helping Baby B 'walk'

Foster Care Update:

We never wrote about some of the details of Baby B's case here. As new foster parents, we were super cautious about sharing any information beyond age and gender about her. Now that we have some perspective, we think it's okay to share a few bits, especially since they are so key to her case. So here goes: 

Baby B is Native American. Even though she was born in California, in the United States, our county has chosen to allow her tribe to have legal jurisdiction over her due to her Native American heritage. Thus the tribe has the right to put her into a Native American adoptive home. Mark does have some Native American heritage, but we don't have the documentation to prove it.

We have known from the beginning that there was the possibility, even likelihood, that Baby B would leave us someday. But we still hoped that she would stay. Now that we know that it's a certainty she'll leave, we're sad about it. We don't know when she's leaving, only that she is. It could be in a week, or it could be in two more months.

Please keep our family in your prayers: that Baby B's new adoptive parents would be willing to have an open transition process, and that we would be flexible and patient as we wait for the details of this case to be worked out.

Legoland 2012

We had our big Legoland adventure this past week. We first went there two years ago when the boys were two and three. They had so much fun that of course Tommy asked, "When can we come back here again?" We told him we'd come back when he was five. Two years seemed like a really long time, so it didn't seem like a stretch to say we'd come back then. Well, when you're a grown up, two years flies by. Not so much when you're three and four. Over the past two years Tommy (and Ben) has asked no less then once a month "So, when are we going back to Legoland?". When he turned five (the magic Legoland age we put forth) the frequency went up to once a week. After a while I finally told him, "I promised you we'd go to Legoland when you are five and we will go to Legoland when you're five... don't ask again!" This seemed to help and they stopped asking about it. That gave us a nice cushion of time to surprise them with "Guess what! We're going to Legoland next month!"

The trip went exceptionally well, even with a baby in tow. The drive down took a whopping 12 hours but everyone did well in the car. We didn't even have to break out the DVDs (which we brought in case of emergency). We stayed at the park for four days to make sure that we tried out everything we possibly could. There was no crying, whining, or complaining - the fact that we saw so many children doing just that made our kids look like angels. The kids were basically pleasant the entire time - it was a blissful family trip.