Florida - Days 1 and 2

Okay, I have until Friday to see if I won the bet or not. NO PRESSURE! Assuming you have already published a comment in my favor on the post below, you can peruse the first installment of my Florida report:

After reviewing all our pictures from the trip, I realized that there are just too many to post in one blog entry. So, I will break up our trip so that you don't get too bored.





We didn't want to miss out on a full day in Florida, so we decided to brave a red-eye flight with the kids. Shockingly both kids slept really well on the first flight from LA to Fort Lauderdale. This is a picture of a dazed and confused Dylan during our lay-over.

Don't make fun of our bed-head in the next series of pictures. From Fort Lauderdale to Pensacola, we were on a tiny airplane. Dylan slept some more, but Tyler was too wound up to fall asleep.

Again, just keep in mind that I am functioning on no sleep here...

Most of the family took red-eye flights, so by the time all of us arrived at the beach house in Destin, there was a lot of energy to burn. Uncle Mike volunteered himself to be dog-piled by Jimmy, Todd, Tyler and Amanda. It is good to have a sacrificial lamb in every family!

Later that night, we took a walk to check out the beach. We were all amazed at the beauty of the white sand and crystal blue water the Gulf of Mexico had to offer.

Cute boys

All seemed perfect until we encountered a brief temper-tantrum from Tyler. We really couldn't blame him after all the excitement and lack of sleep, though.

Everything was back to normal once he discovered the sea shells all over the beach.

Stay tuned for more pictures to come. You won't want to miss the picture of Arthur beating up Superman....

Help me win a bet!

I am working on posting some pictures from our trip to Florida. In the meantime, I have a little request...

I have been trying to get Arthur to post a blog entry for weeks now. He keeps telling me that the stuff he would write about would bore our blog fans. But, he and I were co-editors of the world-renowned University Ward newsletter (aka "The Bridge") in our singles ward in Boston. Many of you who attended church with us back then, might remember his prowess to write a captivating article or two. So, I bet him that if I could get 10 comments from our readers, he would have to post something. Given that the largest number of comments any of my posts have generated is 4, 10 is a huge goal. Also, Arthur has mandated that I need 10 unique comments (so multiple commenters will not be counted). If you would like to hear from someone else in the Shek household, please leave a comment. So, for any of you that have comment phobia, here is your chance to face your fears. Just to make it easier, here is what you can write: "I want Artie!" If I lose this bet, I suppose I can take it as a compliment that you really enjoy my blog and feel that Arthur's post might taint an otherwise perfect site.

Not as I had Planned

Everyone had recommended this double stroller as the best on the market. There were so many features, you would think you were buying a car! I searched the internet for the best deal, and finally decided to purchase. It was one of the more expensive strollers on the market, but everyone insisted it was worth the extra money. When it arrived, we anxiously opened the box and read every direction to make sure we set it up correctly.

For some reason, walks with my children in the perfect stroller had not been as perfect as I had imagined.

It started out really well:





But about half-way down the block, things changed. I finally gave up after 10 minutes:

The Best Chocolate

In case you were wondering, this is one of the reasons I am not ready for swim suit season this year:



A special thank you to Arthur for bringing a couple dozen of these home from Germany.

Busy Growing Up

So sorry that we have not posted in a bit. It has been a busy couple of weeks for us. Tyler and Dylan are really growing up so fast. Arthur went to Stuttgart, Germany to present at an animation conference. While he was gone, my mom came to visit to help me survive the week. Her number one priority was to toilet train Tyler. We have had much success and also many accidents. I do think we are on our way to diaper freedom, though!




Dylan has also been working on something special. He finally has done it! We really thought he would never learn. Most child-development books do not even consider it a milestone anymore. Many kids skip it altogether and move directly on to walking. So, we were all excited to see him finally strengthen his muscles enough to support his hefty body.

Dylan has mastered The Worm dance!