First Stop...Disneyland Day #1

Our first stop on our time in the US was a stop in California to meet up with Jeff's family and do Disney!  This was Gentry David's first trip to Disney so we were all super excited.  The week before we left was one of the busier weeks we have had in a while between Jeff's project's, G's test, and me trying to get everything done so we could be gone for a full 3 weeks we were already spent by the time our sweet friends drove us to San Jose Thursday night so we could fly out Friday morning.  I wish I could blame the lack of sleep the week before for booking our hotel room in San Jose for the wrong day so when we checked in at 9pm there was a bit of an ordeal and we ended up getting charged twice since I booked through expedia, but that arrangement was made weeks so I just have to own that one.  

Regardless of the being charged twice and late check in, we finally made it to sleep around 11.  The 4am shuttle pick up came all to quickly but nonetheless we were off to the airport and on our way to the States. 

The 6am flight was a little rough on us all :)

Earplugs went in, and the head fell over, so cute and so tired :)

After a lay over in Mexico City we finally landed in LA at 4:15pm! Yay!

First stop at Disneyland...a 7am character breakfast of course!!

Good ole, Eeyore :)

We were hoping that G wasn't too old to enjoy the magic of Disneyland, and thankfully he wasn't :)  He seemed a little hesitant at first, but I think the fairy God Mother might have bibity bobity boo'ed him and his little blue eyes just sparkled as he enjoyed every minute of our trip.  He loved all the character's at the character breakfast, but then when he heard Capitan Hook was coming, he literally ran and hid from him!!  It was so hilarious!  He watched "Capin Hook" (as he used to say) from behind a table and then literally hid under a table!  I think he was so excited he didn't know what to do with himself.  Thankfully Captain Hook found him and we got a picture even though G had is "very embarrassed, I'm not sure what to do with myself grin" on :)

Hiding from Captain Hook :)

Captain Hook finding G under the table

Trying to shake hooks with G :)

Arrrggg, with an embarrassed although very impressed GMan :)

His face says everything he though about the Indiana Jones ride 

Again his face says it all :)

The big kid cousins

Who's ready for Splash Mountain?

"We are!!!"

Many weapons were tried out in Disneyland

The longest line all day was Dumbo...seriously?

Goofy, Dale, and a Pirate Mickey

Glitter Minnie and Hot Mickey :)

We wore our ears all day :)

The Swanson's and the Swanson's

And the other Swanson's

Shoot those Aliens!  I just have to add that I out scored everyone by thousands on this game...I'm just saying.

We were all ears all day :)

It's a Small world after all

Dancing

Dancing

And more Dancing

One of G's favorite things was the IronMan exhibit.  

I think it might have been Jeff's too :)

G's favorite Iron Man suit

Even the trees are fun to climb at Disneyland...although I don't think your supposed to be doing that!

Still smiling although maybe not quite as big as this morning :)

Energy is waining in late afternoon, and yet we had to push through!

Lincoln driving G through Toon Town

Probably my favorite picture of our whole trip  :)

I love this happy guy!

"When there is a scary ride, I can just pull my hat over my eyes like this!"

Dragging us to the gift shop that he has been patiently waiting all day to buy his light saber from.

Thankfully the lady who G accidentally whacked, understood how important  Jedi Knight training was, and graciously smiled at his very serious efforts in sword handling!

Driving Race cars is serious business

Why of course you can have a Mickey ice cream at 9:30pm, it's Disneyland!!

Spontaneous playing occurs in check out lines at Disneyland :)

Enjoying the parade from the lamp post.

Watching the amazing fireworks

What a trooper!  From 7am to 11pm you were a Disney rockstar little man!  

The last 4 standing when the park closed down at 11pm!  Whew what a day!

Oh Sweet G Man

The things I love most about my sweet Gentry David are the things I find most hard to parent.  

Just about the time I think I have a piece of this whole parenting puzzle figured out, I realize the puzzle piece itself is a completely different shape than I originally thought.  On the other hand about the time I feel like flipping the card table upside down and throwing my hands up in the air; the caring, compassionate, funny boy melts my heart with giggle filled conversation about body sounds/parts or a very serious conversation regarding why bad guys make bad choices and just don't want to be good guys, reminding me of every single reason I absolutely adore and love this little curly headed hilarious fun loving boy sitting on the couch next to me.  

I love that he is a boy who know what he likes and isn't afraid to own it!  The kid makes his mind up and doesn't care what anyone thinks, which is awesome! I never want him to fall into the trap of living life through the lens of what everyone else tells you to be.  You go boy!!  As much as I love it, it is the very thing that absolutely drives me bizurk!  Have you seen my kids hair!!  Youzers I'm not gonna lie it's killing me!!  He is dead set on having "long surf hair" and refuses with a capital R to cut his crazy hair.  For the most part I don't mind his long cute curls, but we have passed the point of tolerating for me, especially cause he won't let me style it, which means he flattens out the front making it cover his eyes and then likes to fluff the back so it has "just a couple of curls", or it is just as wild (when I say wild I mean wild like "Where the Wild Things Are", yes that wild and maybe even 10% more wild than that)  as the spirit inside his little body...either way it's driving me crazy!!  Dear Lord please help me to always encourage him to have the confidence to be who you created him to be, and give me the strength to productively tame this wild child :)

We made G get a hair cut and you can see the  look of disaprovement on his face...you can't even tell the kid got a hair cut, he's got nothing to frown about, those blonde curls are still bouncing in his face!

Wearing a uniform really stifles his sense of style and so every once in a while he bust out with some accessories to help him feel a little more comfortable in his own skin.

He is all boy! I love the rambunctious energy, the sheer love for life, and the brave little soul that runs in out of our house everyday whistling or singing.  On the other hand the arm pit farts, hours of loudness that radiate our house, the constant stories of bodily fluids and functions, the wrestling matches on our tile floor, and the climbing, jumping, and scaling of everything in site can literally put me over the edge sometimes!!  I often hear people say "oh that's just boys"...sometimes I just want to tell those people "ya and I'm just a mom!"  I know it's true boys will be boys, but man are there times I could just use a day without hearing a 30 min string of arm pit farts!  Does anyone else feel my pain?  God please help me to never crush his spirit, while also being able to guide him to be a Godly APPROPRIATE man :)
*As I sit here and type he is now making arm pit farts with his legs...if my computer is found in tiny pieces on the floor you will know what made me throw it*

G and his buddies Thomas and Jacob digging a tunnel right next to this disgusting dirty river beside all this trash washed down from the rain...disgusting and yet they played for hours and had the best time!  What's a mom to do?

He's just the average middle of the pack kiddo.  G is one of those kids that seems to do well at most things, while isn't usually the best, he keeps up with the pack.  I love that he feels comfortable to try most things and things seem to come relatively easy to him.  We feel blessed that he hasn't struggled in most things he has tried...that is until this whole school in Costa Rica and learning Spanish thing.  It has been the first time he is runt of the pack!  We have watched our easy going kiddo completely shut down and STRUGGLE through school.  It's been hard to watch and even harder to parent.  We knew he was having a hard time, but we didn't realize how much this little turkey was acting out at school until we had a parent teacher conference!  All of our hopes and dreams of having the perfect kiddo were literally shattered in those few short minutes of hearing stories of what a stinker G was at school!!! (I'm pretty sure on this road of parenting that dream will be shattered many times)  Thankfully we talked and cooled down before we had our come to meet Jesus moment with G, cause the punishment reel was just scrolling over and over in my head...the kid was in big trouble!  The good thing that came out of it, was we didn't realize how hard it has been on him, and since then we have been able to help him talk through what he's feeling and deal with those feelings appropriately  instead of refusing to take his head off his desk during spanish, or telling his teacher he wasn't going to write his letters again because "that's just more work and stupid" and then literally refuse to talk when spoken to!  (What in the Sam Nation are you thinking boy, who in the spank are your parents, didn't they teach you better!)

God please give me wisdom and grace to help guide G through difficult times in life.

If you knew how incredibly hard this trimester has been, you would know how much this little award for "Great improvement in Behavior" this week meant to all 3 of us!!

Whew, life has definitely been an adjustment here in Costa Rica but we truly love living here.  A 3 week break to see family in the States could not come at a more perfect time.  We are ending the trimester on a good behavior award and at this point that's all we can ask for!