Spring Break

The girls are out of school all this week and of course it's rainy every day.

My mom watched Keanut on Saturday for us... so we drove up to the mountains

and snowmobiled 23 miles into some hot springs with our friends, the Cook's.

Bergdorf is nestled in the trees and like stepping back in time.

The buildings are probably circa 1940's.  The bathrooms?  Outhouses.

There was a wood stove in the changing room- thank heavens.

But it was fabulous.

 The water was like a toasty bath

And the kids had to cool off every little while.

We did this a few years ago and had hoped to make it a yearly tradition.

I think we are back on track for that.

It was a great day.



The Big Weigh In

Keanut had a check up yesterday and several evaluations

this week.  So here's the scoop:

He has finally gained another pound.

At age 2 years and 7 months, he weighs in at 22 pounds and 6 ounces and

he is 32 inches tall.

So we are getting there.

Slowly.

Also, according to a couple of his therapists who

are doing evaluations to get this, prepare him to transition

into school next fall (yikes)--

he is testing at the level of a 1 year and 3 month old.

I look at it this way, he's my sweet baby

and I'll just get to enjoy him in that baby stage a lot longer than my others!

Dripping Wet

You know how at the end of some of the spicier rides at Disneyland

they will have a bank of photos on display, ones they snapped of you at the worst possible moment?

Rob Macey took this picture of the picture the powers that be at the park took.

 Macey is in the back, Byron in the middle and Reese in the front.



Reese was soaked.  And I mean soaked.

I thought she would be whining for the rest of the night.

But nooooo, she strutted off that ride, as proud as a peacock

and told about everyone who would listen that

she was in front and got drenched!

(Click on the pic.  I think it will get bigger.  Her look is priceless).

Our Final Leg

After Disneyland, we headed up to LA to see some of my old buddies from my TV days.

At the top of my list, this guy-- Les Rose.

Pretty much everyone who meets him, adores him (including me). 

 We worked together at KCBS in LA.

He's now working for the Network. 

The girls wanted to see "Hollywood" and luckily Les saved them from severe disappointment.

He took us on a behind the scenes tour of TV City.

You'll find this interesting.  This is one of the halls that holds the "stuff" for the

soap operas:  The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless.

The long rollers on the left hold flooring and

the bins on the right hold items labeled "Ridges office", "Brooke's bedroom" etc. 

 You can't believe the stuff.

Those are drapes of every shade, color and fabric hanging up there.

 We lucked out and ran into one of Les's friends... this guy who is the head cameraman for both of the

soap operas.  He's been with them since they went on the air years and years ago.

 He showed the girls around, told them a few stories and uncovered his studio cameras and let us

look in them to see how they work.

 Behind the dorky tourists (us) is what is called a "hot set".  You can't see the messed up pillows on the couch

or the tipped over garbage can.  They put the police tape up at the end of the shooting the day before

so when they go back to shoot later that afternoon, nothing has been moved and they can

start up right where they left off.

Pretty cool stuff.

We also saw a few soap stars but since we've never watched the shows, we

had no idea who they were.

Les then took us onto another famous set.

Yep, you guessed it, the Price is Right.

 It is a closed set (meaning we weren't supposed to be there)

but we figured we could whip out our drivers licenses and tell

security we were Bob Barker's grandchildren and get away with it.

After all the cloak and dagger sneaking around, we stopped by the CBS News bureau so I could see some

old friends then went over to the Grove for lunch

where we hooked up with a few more friends.

But alas, the girls' Hollywood experience wasn't over yet.

Right outside our restaurant, the TV show Extra was shooting intros with Mario Lopez and a few guests. 

 That was almost as cool for the girls as a visit to the American Girl Doll store.

Greer is pointing to her doll, Nikki.

Thanks to Les for a grand day.

The girls got some great glimpses behind the scenes

but I'll tell you what's ironic: 

they've never seen a soap opera

and they've never seen the Price is Right.

Maybe someday.

Disney Mania

Hold onto your seats, here's a whirlwind tour of our trek to the "Happiest Place On Earth" 

(which really should be renamed the "Most Expensive Place On Earth"-- or the "Best Marketed Place On Earth"

but that's another post).

We spent two packed days at the park. 

And we were like a snowball picking up friends as we went.

When we were in Arizona, my friend Sherry decided to fly out for the day

and join us on Wednesday.  That's her cute little girl, Charlotte

with the girls.

As far as waiting in lines, we had it pretty easy.

It paid to go in the middle of the week  at the end of February.

Here we are at Space Mountain.

... on Thunder Mountain...

We also hooked up with one of my childhood best friends, April and her husband Chris.

(They were the ones who came to visit us in Idaho just half an hour before the fire that

burned up part of our property and a few of our neighbor's homes forced us to evacuate).

Here's Miss April with Miss Greer-- all smiles.

On a dare from Holland, Chris snarfed down a bag of powdered sugar

(left over from some beignets).

I don't think April approved but the girls thought it was awesome.

I told you our little herd grew as we went.  We were supposed to meet

my old friend Rob Macey (we worked together in Phoenix and L.A.)

on Thursday, but he had a photo shoot come through for Thursday, so came and met us

on Wednesday.

That's his cute son, Robby with the girls on the Nemo ride.

Our girls had so much fun playing musical chairs-- changing up who they would ride with for

each ride.  Chris and April must've felt like rock stars-- with the girls clamoring to get to be with them.

Rock star Chris with Reesey Magoo.

Here's Rob (my old cameraman) and his youngest, Carter.

We didn't wait in the long lines to meet some of the Disney stars...

but we did wait for Ariel.... who asked the girls "did you swim over to see me"?

She was darling.

The Barkettes loved the Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island.

And clearly, they loved the hotel pool and jacuzzi where we took an afternoon break on day two.

Then it was back to the park for some night exploring and the parade.

This was in Minnie's house.

 And look who we found outside Mickey's house... the big guy himself.

 The parade was amazing and so was this woman. 

Holland had her silhouette done in a little store on Main street.

She was from Korea and in a few minutes (using surgical scissors) cut out the coolest profile of Holland.

I think I can speak on behalf of all of us (except for my feet) --  it was a blast-- worth every minute.