Spider.... or Monster??? You decide...

I came home from work the other day to find this little gem in the garage.

After yelling at Ellie to get up on the stairs by the door and not to move, I decided that this creature MUST die.  So I went over to the cabinet where we keep all of the poisonous chemicals with Mackenzie in tow, and  looked for some sort of radioactive nuclear bug killing spray.  None to be found.  I grabbed the next best thing, wasp and hornet spray of course.  I walked back over to where our new pet was sitting, and from about 20 feet away shot it with the spray.  This did nothing, and I swear he stood up on his hind legs, pointed, and laughed at me, if not to say, "You crazy woman!  That will not work on me!".  He then turned and scurried out ouf site.

Out of site, out of mind (not really) I ran in the house as fast as I could with Mackenzie and Ellie.  Tom arrived home a couple of minutes later, and asked me why I was freaking out.  I explained that there was a spider in the garage, and he had to go find it.  He looked at me like I was insane, and responded with, "It's only a spider!  Was it a black widow?"  My response was No, but this thing was huge!  It had girth!  GO GET IT NOW!!!!

So, Tom put on his gardening gloves, and proceeded to the garage.  Where he successfully removed every item from the corner of the garage, and found NOTHING!  He was beginning to think I was crazy, until he heard it move.  Yes, you read that right, he heard it moving.  As he looked over, he saw it, and thought it was a plastic play spider toy, until it moved. 

After much a do, a trash can, a baby food jar, and a pair of kitchen tongs, the monster had been captured!!!  Yea!  Now to determine exactly WHAT this thing was.  This picture really doesn't do the size of this spider justice.  When he was alive and standing up, he stood about 2-3 inches off the ground, and the circumference around his legs was equal to a pop can.  Not exactly a small spider, and not one that we have seen around these parts before.

So Tom, being the engineer that he is, examined our specimen quite closely, using a flashlight and shaking the jar around.  With the help of google, wikipedia, and a couple of web sites about Spiders in our area, this is a Wolf Spider.  Wolf Spiders have very unique eye configurations that matched this guy.  Mystery solved!  Actually, this would be considered a large Wolf Spider due to its size. 

This thing gave us the heebeegeebee's for most of the night.  But we couldn't stop looking at it.  Not surprisingly, the wasp spray did not kill him.  It did start to eat little holes in his exo-skeleton though (that we can see).  After being enclosed in the baby food jar for about 90 minutes, he finally stopped moving.  Gross.

Apparently, Wolf Spiders are quite common in our area, and mostly harmless.  They will bite if provoked, but these things are NASTY looking.

Disneyland!

This year, Tom and I decided to take the girls to Disneyland for our "big" vacation of the year.  I had won a trip for 2 to Paris last fall at a seminar that I went to, and the downfall to the winning (I know how can there be a down fall right?) was that it had to be used by the end of last year.  Well, going to Paris would be awesome, I don't think I could manage leaving my little newbie at home with the Grandparents while I traveled to Europe.  Panic attack aside, I don't think I was physically ready for that trip.  So in lieu of the Paris trip, they offered a cash type settlement.  So Tom and I decided to use the money for a family trip to Disneyland. 

We spent 5 days in Anaheim this fall, and had an awesome time.  We had a Park hopper pass, and spent 4 continuous days in the Parks.  The girls (and us!) had a great time.  Disneyland is quite possibly the nicest theme park I have ever been to.  It was soooo clean, so convienent, and EVERYONE was so willing to help, answer questions, and were overly polite.  It was just an overall great experience.  I highly recommend it.

Before we left, Tom and I got a book on Disneyland to get an idea of what to expect and the like.  It is the best travel book that I have purchased.  They gave us TONS of advice on traveling with kids, what to expect, and even if you are a die hard visitor, how to ride all the rides in either a 2 day or 1 day trip to the Park.  We didn't follow these plans, but they did give us a great idea of when to hit what rides, and which ones would seem to be available whenever we wanted to ride them.

Ellie's favorite ride (as of today) was the Peter Pan ride.  She LOVED that ride.  I would say that Mackenzie's favorite was either the Disney Playhouse theater at California Adventure, or Its a Small World.  She was completely infatuated with both experiences, and interacted with both.  There were a lot of rides that we could take her on with us, so that was really nice. 

Disney also offers a couple of options for those parents that have a little one that can't ride all of the rides.  They have the "switch off" which involves (for us) all 4 of us getting in line for a ride.  Then when it gets to be our turn, we tell them we want to do the Switchoff, and Tom and Ellie will get on the ride, while Mackenzie and I hang out at the loading station.  When Tom and Ellie get back, Tom gets off and takes Mackenzie, and I jump on with Ellie.  So both adults get to ride it, we don't have to wait in line twice, and Ellie got to ride the ride twice!  We did this several times with the rides that E really enjoyed so she would get ample opportunity to ride them. 

The other nice feature was the "single's line".  This came in super handy on the rides that neither kid wanted or could ride.  For example, Splash Mountain.  Ellie is elligable to ride the ride, but didn't want to.  So I went and rode it by myself.  I went into the exit, waited in the singles line, and got right on the ride.  No waiting.  When I was done, I took over for Tom, and he did the same thing.  We both rode Splash Mountain in less than 20 minutes, where the standard wait time when we did this was 30 minutes!  Well worth it.

The trip also gave us a chance to visit some friends that live in So Cal.  They came up to Anaheim for 3 days, stayed with us, and went to the parks with us.  We had a great time! 

Without further ado, here are a few pictures of our trip!



Ellie and her favorite - Sleeping Beauty at the Princess Lunch




M at the Disney Playhouse theater



E and Ariel at the Princess Lunch

E trying to remove the sword in the stone

Ellie and Cinderella

Ellie and Snow White

They were decorating for Halloween when we were there.  This went up through the week.

Ellie and Chip

The Girls, Tom and Donald

Mackenzie on one of the rides

Ellie in Mickey's Chair in toon town

Rem, Ellie and Sully at California Adventure

Ellie and Handy Manny

Ellie and Pluto

Both girls with their "ears".  This is the only picture we have with both girls together with their ears on.

E, Rem and Mickey

The Girls and Woody

Ellie and Minnie

E and Mickey

The fam and Mickey (Mackenzie was sleeping in the stroller :( )

The fam at the Disney entrance

Ellie and Tinkerbell

Mackenzie 11 month Update

Mackenzie has been growing by leaps and bounds lately.  Both physically and developmentally.  I can not believe how fast she is growing up.  I certainly have those days where I want her to stay a baby forever, and then other days where I can't wait until she is big enough to talk back, walk, and eat normal food.  It is a hard balance for sure!

In the past month, Mackenzie got 2 new teeth!  We are up to 8 now!  She has also started cruising around the furniture, and becoming ever daring by standing straight up in the middle of the room.  She then proceeds to balance like a drunken sailor for about 20 seconds before she topples.  I remember this age all too well with Ellie, as it was when she got her very first black eye!  Hopefully we will avoid the black eye with Mackenzie.  However, she is still getting her fair share of bruises from her dare devil personality.

She has really started to show a liking for "people" food.  It is tough to try and get baby food in her anymore, but there are a few items that she really enjoys still.  Some of her favorite people foods are beef, ham, cheese, noodles, fruit (especially peeled grapes), peas, cheerios, and bread. 

Her hair is getting lighter and lighter as the days go by.  I really see the difference every month when I go to put her month birthday photo in the frame.  It is a great comparision.  It is also getting quite long.  We will probably be in for her first hair cut soon! 

She is starting to lose the baby chub.  Her thighs and cheeks have slimmed down a bit, but she is still a big girl.  I would venture to guess that she will still be in the 95% for height and weight when we go in for her annual visit next month.

Mackenzie - 11 months

10 Months!!! Already?

Serously, where does the time go.  Mackenzie turned 10 months at the end of August.  I think that the worst part is, I thought I already wrote this post, and sent out the 10 month pictures.  She is a serious mover and shaker.  She is crawling all over the place, and even has managed her first flight of stairs.  (No worries Mom - we were right there, and it was just a set of 3 stairs).  She gets around well, and is even starting to cruise around the furniture.  I think that she realizes that if she wants to keep up with Ellie, she is going to have to get up and start walking soon!  Her personality is still so relaxed and easy going. 

Mackenzie adores her older sister.  She watches her, follows her, and loves to "play" with her.  Unfortunately, her idea of playing typically involves grabbing your skin, or slapping you.  We will have to work on her with that. 

Her hair color is a far cry from what it was when she was born.  I was sorting through the old pictures of her last night for her birthday party invitation (I know, I need to get a life) and realized at about 4 months she really lost a bunch of her hair, and when it started to come in, it is a lot lighter.  When she is out in the sun, it actually looks pretty light.  Not as super blond as Ellie, but I think it will end up on the dark blond / light brown side before it is all said and done.

She is still growing like a weed.  We are starting to wear 12m clothing already.  We will find out her weight and height in a couple of months at the 1 year check up.