Florida - Final installment

Finally, here is the last recap of our Florida trip. Everyone is probably hoping that we don't go on any European tours soon. I hope you enjoy at least some of these pictures, though!

On Friday, we celebrated Jimmy's 7th and Arthur's 31st Birthdays

Can you guess the theme of the party?

Tyler was just happy to have so much candy

Kellen and Dylan

Todd and Dylan

Mike and Rhoda

Don't worry, Mike doesn't always have this goofy look on his face, although he does always look a bit goofy.

Amanda showing off her gift to Uncle Arthur

Saturday was our last full day in Florida, so we spent it at the beach

Sunday, we headed back to California.

Being the much wiser older brother, Tyler decided to tell Dylan all about airplane fun.

I am having a bit of trouble uploading the Arthur/Superman battle. Hopefully Arthur can help me iron out the kinks, and it will be on here soon. I know you are all shaking with anticipation!

Happy Birthday Grandma Shek!

I need to interrupt the Florida vacation report with a special message to Grandma Shek.

Happy Birthday! We hope you were able to celebrate in style while in Japan. Hopefully this will add joy to your day...

Vocals by Arthur and Kerri
Dancing by Tyler and Dylan
Choreography by Arthur

Florida - Days 3 and 4

Here is the second installment of our Florida trip. Yes, there is still more to come after this post. Yes, I can hear all the yawns of boredom already. I have gone nuts with all the pictures I want to share, so if you aren't in the mood to relive a vacation that you didn't get to take, you may want to check back here sometime next week! For those of you who still are interested, I hope it isn't too painful!

Here is our lovely beach house. We were located 2 blocks from the beach in lovely Destin, Florida.

Tyler insisted on wearing his sunglasses whenever we were on the beach. Of course, we didn't mind that the $4 glasses from Target were being put to good use!


Dylan is a true beach-bum! As soon as we got close to the ocean waves, he snuggled into me and fell right to sleep. Again, I was pleased to see him wearing the sunglasses as well!










Yes, those are Dylan's toes sticking out from under Grandma Shields' chair![Photo]












Dylan wasn't much of an ocean swimmer, but he did enjoy his swimming pool floating lounge chair (complete with sun visor).









After a day at the beach, the kids were in need of popsicles.

Here are Tyson, Jimmy, Tyler, Amanda, Aidan, Todd and Kellen demonstrating the best part about eating popsicles.












Oh look at how cute: they let Justin ride on the kiddie train with Kellen and Quinn!

Meanwhile, Tyler and Dylan didn't know what they were missing bec ause they were too busy snoozing.

I know you are all waiting for the Superman vs. Arthur picture, but you will just have to wait for another installment of the Florida vacation. Don't worry - unlike the show Lost, this beach vacation does have an ending!

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!

A Case of the Giggles

This video was just too cute to not share:

First Sleep-Over

As our friends, the Flakes, were welcoming the arrival of their second little girl, Tyler had the privilege of having his very first sleep-over party with Penny. The kids had such a blast and we were sad to say goodbye!

Congratulations to Adam and Sarah on the birth of Charlotte!

The Easter Peacock

The Easter Bunny was sick this year, so he sent his replacement, the Easter Peacock. I think he must enter homes through the chimney like Santa. Thankfully, Tyler and Dylan were sleeping or they may have not received gifts in their Easter Baskets.







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Easter Egg Hunting

On the Saturday before Easter, we went to Lacy Park for their annual Easter Egg Hunt. Tyler had a blast hunting for eggs. After the hunt, we took Tyler for a ride on a horse. He was so excited waiting in line, but once he realized he was on a horse all by himself he sort of freaked out. After the horse adventure, we took a ride on the train, scared some chickens in the petting zoo, and played on the playground.

On Sunday, Tyler and Dylan hunted for eggs again in the house. Tyler was thrilled that the Easter Peacock brought him a helicopter this year.

Happy Birthday Grandma and Happy Easter to all!

I will post pictures from our Easter egg hunt in a bit.

Today is Grandma Shields' birthday! Tyler has a special message to you. I would have tried different takes to get a more proper video, but we figured you would appreciate this special birthday greeting showing his true character. You may be wondering why it is set in the bathroom and why Dylan is strapped into the car seat (which also is in the bathroom), but there really is no good answer to these questions. Just enjoy it:

Trouble Makers

It has been a while since my last post, but in all honesty, there has not been much to blog about (and no pictures documenting fun events). Even though lemon trees and kitchen sinks have made their way into this blog, I have had a hard time coming up with something interesting to write about. Here is a quick break-down of the happenings in the Shek household the last 2 weeks:

Swimming with Uncle Aaron
Aaron lives in a beautiful upscale apartment complex adjacent to The Grove in Los Angeles. Given the fact that Lauren and Heidi from the MTV show "The Hills" live in an apartment building next door, you can imagine what sort of place this is. Upon entering the water, Tyler began to scream out of pure excitement. We looked around and noticed all the sun-bathing beauties lower their over sized sunglasses to see what the commotion was all about. This had no affect on Tyler as he continued to make sure everyone in the complex knew how much fun he was having the entire time he was in the water.

After swimming, we ate brunch with Aaron and his roommates. Tyler was pure diva sitting on his lawn chair wearing sunglasses demanding more eggs, potatoes and juice from everyone. At one point, Aaron came back with a plate of seconds for Tyler and himself. Tyler immediately took the plate and shoveled the entire amount of food onto his plate. Aaron was left with nothing.

Social Security Office
Dylan's Social Security card never arrived, so I had to go to the Social Security office to see if there was a problem. An overzealous security guard did not like the disruptions caused by the boys. My guess is that he does not have kids and does not understand that waiting patiently is not something most children are able to do. I noticed him glaring at me when Dylan woke up from his brief nap screaming. Then when Tyler barely touched the queue rope, the guard came over to tell me this was not permitted. Finally, Tyler began to amuse himself by singing the ABC's at the top of his lungs. I think that was our third strike in the eyes of the Security Guard as we were asked to leave the building. We must have been a huge security threat or something. I am sure everyone else waiting in line was probably happy to have something other than the grey walls to look at. Luckily, I had a number and there was a loudspeaker calling the numbers. Otherwise, the day would have been a bust.

Just so that there is something good to look at in this post, here are a couple pictures of my favorite boys: