Easter with the McKenzies

Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday, Dan!!!

Maryland Mayhem

The fam had a wonderful time in the land of Mary, visiting the Boo-boo Grandparents (Dex will have to come up with something new -- Grandma seemed all better to me!) and the Spanish side of the family too. The cousins had a great time together, as usual. I hope we get to see the Singapore cuties soon too! Hamptons 2012???

The West Wing

Mommy's friend Will Mack (from CLS, now the "Deputy Associate Counsel Presidential Personnel," or so says his business card) gave us a private tour of the West Wing of the White House when we arrived in DC. As promised, it was really something special. We got to see the Oval Office (featuring the "Resolute Desk," including the door at the bottom used to hide FDR's wheelchair, which JFK Jr. crawled through as a kid; Will also explained that Reagan had the desk raised to accomodate his height), the Roosevelt Room (complete with Teddy's Medal of Honor and Nobel Peace Prize), the Cabinet Room (including an interesting bust of Washington in a toga ... I've got to find out more about that one), the door of the Situation Room, the Rose Garden (which had many beautiful tulips, but not a rose to be seen), the cafeteria (staffed by US Navy "culinary specialists"), the famous Ming vases brought in by Nixon (which you can just barely see through the doors in the photos below), Norman Rockwell's So You Want to See the President series and a ton of other cool stuff. And of course, no White House tour would be complete without the official Presidential M&Ms *signed* by the Commander in Chief!

Couch Time Down Time

Musical Monday Morning (Shake Your Groove Thang! Yeah Yeah!)

Easter Cookies (we bake!)

Spoiler Alert: Recital Practice! (Beauty and the Beast)

Race Track

Disneyland: Day 2

On Day 2, the kids awoke at 5am and would not go back to sleep. So, we packed up the car and headed over to Disney land at 7:30. Unfortunately, mommy was misinformed and only people with a "morning pass" from the Disney Hotels can enter at 7:30 (boo!) -- so, we waited about 15 minutes and got in a few minutes before 8am. We headed to Plaza Inn at the end of Main Steet for the "Character Breakfast." Dex loved the balloons; Sloane loved all the Disney friends. She kept exclaiming: "Max! that's Max!" I had no idea that Goofy's son's name was Max, but now I know! [Dan: insert joke about Steve here.]
After breakfast, we took a stroll through Fantasyland and while Dex napped, Sloane and mommy rode the Carousel and Dumbo. Then we headed to the Haunted Mansion (both kids loved it!) and Pirates of the Caribbean again. Unfortunately, Sloane is only 39.5 inches tall, so she just barely missed being allowed to go on Big Thunder Mountain with us. Dan and I took turns going solo. Fast passes are definitely the way to go. I didn't realize it doesn't cost anything. During our designated hour, we walked right past hundreds of chumps waiting in the long line -- it took Dan and I each (separately) less than 10 minutes to get on the ride. After that, it was about 1pm and everyone was exhausted. We left early, mommy driving 3 sleeping beauties back home. Dizzy was so happy to see us!