Chicks dig a man in a hat

As you can see Jack pretty much hasn't taken off his Indy Jones hat since we came home from Disneyland except to sleep. Above, here he is with his "girlfriend" Tatiana from day care. Every day when Jack arrives she and Jack have a big happy hug and jump up and down and then run off and play. This morning there was another girl there and she was giving Jack hugs too! As I went to sign him in they were both chatting him up. What can I say? The ladies love a man in a hat.

Indiana Jack

As many of you know, Jack is a big, big fan of Indiana Jones. He's seen all the movies (except Temple of Doom; with the others you can skip the scary parts with a quick fast forward or potty break, but ToD is just too intense all the way). Daddy took him to see the new Indy movie at the theatre and had a delightful time; the reveal/introduction of Indy is very gradual and the dawning look of astonishment and delight on Jack's face was worth double the price of admission.

All summer long Disneyland is having Indy events in Adventureland. Out in the "streets" of Adventureland Indy is searching for the Temple of Mara and a big, mean bad guy is in pursuit, so you can imagine the bust-ups that happen up on the balconies and rooftops of Adventureland. When we first came across such a thing Jack's eyes were as big as saucers. Jack and Daddy went to get a treasure map and when we came back who was talking to Mommy but -- Indiana Jones! Jack couldn't believe it. Indy was asking for her help in finding something but Mommy didn't know what to say! Indy was very frustrated.

Naturally we picked up a kid-sized fedora for Jack. (Needless to say, he had to wear it to day care today. He only took it off for his nap.)

Indy went off in pursuit of a secret treasure, the story of which was presented in a special show. The little guys got to sit on Persian rugs down in front.

Indy emerges from this Tiger temple type deal with an idol and surprise, surprise the lady archaeologist who's been leading the show (and getting help from the kids to solve Indy-style puzzles with moving temple bricks and such) turns out to be a bad guy! (Or as Jack says, a "lady bad guy.") She's no match for Indy though -- he even uses his whip to disarm her much to the thrill of the kids down in front. (They really get into it!) 

A tour of the Jungle Cruise was dotted with relics from the Indy films. Jack looked right at home.

On the way home, before drifting off to sleep, Jack told us about the whole day, and how Indy Jones was probably in the temple sleeping, or maybe "he is having aventoors."

Jack had an adventure of his own . . .

. . . but it takes more than a big rock to stop Indiana Jack!

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!

I drink it up!

Go Cubs

Jack in his new Cubs hat - blurry but too cute to not post.

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Fire on the Mountain

You may have heard there are brushfires in our area - I snapped this in the Trader Joe's parking lot near our house. Not to worry - the affected area is like two towns over, and there's been no damage or significant injury yet, though we have had a fair amount of ash blow our way. Unsettling to see the orange glow of fire on the mountain after dark. It will be several days before it is contained, they say.
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Birthday Boy

Jack's big third birthday weekend kicked off with a bang! We had great seats for the Angels/Mariners game on Friday night and were joined by my friend Ryan and his son Ulysses, who's a little younger than Jack. They are great pals and they are always very cute together, as you can see.

Jack was half focused on the game -- he loves watching baseball and cheers for any event, no matter which side benefits, a point of much bemusement for the Angels fans surrounding us -- and half focused on the row of pretty girls behind us. At one point he started flashing them his belly -- I couldn't get a clear pic -- but he had them cracking up with his shameless flirting.

For Jack's birthday we went, you guessed it, to Disneyland. We were joined once again by Ryan and Ulysees and had an excellent day overall. First up was a character breakfast at Storytellers Cafe, our favorite breakfast spot. In truth Storyteller's kind of has some b-list characters, but they are fun and always nice to Jack, ever since he was really really tiny.

First to visit was Terk, who's quite appealing if you can forget she was voiced by Rosie O'Donnell in the Tarzan movie.

Then there was  . . . Chip? Dale? I can never keep them straight.

Then it was off to the park. First stop was at City Hall for the requisite birthday phone call from Goofy and his Birthday Pin!

Then it was off to Fantasyland, for Birthday Boy demanded a ride on Dumbo! The park was extremely and unusually busy and the lines for Dumbo were long so I gave Jack's little legs a break . . . at the cost of several compressed vertebrae.

Look at all that grey, huh? I look like I have been out in a snowstorm.

Along the queue for Dumbo was a little fountain, and like every body of water in Disneyland, it is home to some ducks who the kids loved checking out.

Then it was time for Mickey's Birthday Party which was a bit of a bust and our last one for a few years, I am afraid. Jack's first year he had a great time at the little party and we got a great picture of him with Mickey and Minnie (and Mommy) but last year he flipped out at picture time and this year it was so close to naptime he didn't do much except eat all his cake toppings with a real intensity and completely refuse to have any part of the picture-taking ceremony.

Unfortunately this picture kind of sums up his attitude during the little party:

But a nap soon restored him and we went over to California Adventure for lunch. Both the boys had bananas. We always refer to them as "The Crazy Monkeys" since they love to run around so thought this was an awesome photo:

Jack has always been a bit of a ham. Sometimes he will just get on a roll doing a nutty little dance and then freeze making some kind of peculiar funny face. During lunch these were some of the offerings:

And at breakfast:

Later that night I picked up some popcorn, foolishly intending to eat it myself. But while we were in line for the Carousel, Jack and Ulysses (he had never had popcorn before!) went on a binge and literally crammed their mouths full of it non-stop. I think I ate like 1/4 of it.

A carousel ride and a spin on the teacups and that was it for our monkeys, and we headed home.

The next day was present-opening and this task Jack took to with deadly seriousness. With the focus of a ninja, he would pick a present and say "Hmm, what's in it?" and sit in his little chair. The he would shred the wrapping paper off a little piece at a time and fling it over his shoulder without taking his eyes off the present. Then it would be (matter-of-factly) "Oh! Wallace and Gromit!" (or whatever). Then he would put the toy down and go "What's Next?" and stomp over to the pile and do it all over again.

Naturally one of the most popular presents was the box some of his "real presents" came in:

Talk about a special delivery.

This Saturday we are having Jack's birthday party at home -- which is really kind of an excuse to invite friends over and make good BBQ Ribs. More to follow . . .

Car wash day

Spent Saturday saving a little coin by washing our cars. Jack was a big help, of course.
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Truth in advertising

The shirt reads "Mr. Mischief," in case you can't read it.
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Hi all -- sorry as usual for the dearth of posts but this one was too cute not to get up here right away. Genevieve took Jack to the Farmer's Market/Family Fair they have each Friday in Monrovia, right down the street form our house (one of the many things we love about living here). Jack took his first pony ride! And if there's a happier cowpoke in the West, I'd like to see his picture!

Jack Robert Sheehan

This last photo was taken after Jack adjusted his hat to a jaunty angle he says is "Like Indyjones." Lately Jack has been all about Indiana Jones 100%, to the extent that if I take a turn too fast in the car he bellows out the signature notes of the theme to "score" it.

Our St Patrick's Day will be a pretty sober affair, alas. I remember well the days of taking off the entire day, going down to the pub as it opened, having an enormous Irish breakfast and spending the rest of the day consuming Guinness and Jameson's until wobbling back home some time around 10 or 11 in an awfully jolly mood. Not only do I not have a proper local irish pub to go to, there's no paid time off in my current job. So it's a quiet evening at home with a few pints and The Quiet Man after supper for us.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Don't send a lame St. Patrick's Day eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Sorry it's been so long. It's not for want of having tons of pictures to post. Quite the opposite, truth be told. I will get it together shortly.

Holiday Greetings from Jack!

Christmas at Disneyland 2007

Christmas is fast approaching so that means it's time for the traditional Sheehan Family trip to Disneyland to visit Santa and enjoy the decorations and general joie de vivre, and also avoid being trampled by a zillion other people who spend their holiday at the park. We actually only go to the park at holiday time for the Santa visit, the cookie decorating, the parade and a trip to the Holiday Haunted Mansion. It's too crazy to do much else.

What a difference a few years makes! Here's our picture from our first family trip to see Santa!


Comparing the two . . . I can only reflect that Santa better bring me a copy of 101 Ways to Eat Salad.

Jack really wanted to ride the choo-choo and see the fire engine, so we stopped by the Main Street Fire Dept. first . . .

Then it was a quick Disneyland Railroad ride to Toontown station and off to Santa's Reindeer Roundup, which has become a fun holiday treat for us since we moved out here.

Santa's actual reindeer come to stay at Disneyland at Christmas time! Isn't that amazing? And you can see them up close.

Jack was a little leery of them . . .

Especially when these two boys seemed ready to mix it up over a handful of hay or kibble or something . . .

So we headed over to the cookie section, complete with entertainment from a fiddler helped out by Pluto in his reindeer costume.

Jack and Mommy got busy decorating cookies . . .

While Daddy got into some serious cookie decorating of his own!

I was justifiably proud of my madd cookie-decorating skillz, as the kids today might say.

Then it was time for the big moment: visiting the man himself in his rustic cabin right there on the grounds of Disneyland! We'd been prepping Jack for this moment for weeks, and he was very excited to see Santa.

Finally it was our turn and Jack got right up there and told Santa what he wanted: a bicycle and a truck! Santa was so nice to Jack we're sure he will come through for him on Christmas morning.

The reason Jack's on the floor is that halfway through his session with Santa he said "Uh-oh!" and grabbed his butt! Santa deftly slid Jack off his lap -- Santa's done this before, of course -- and the session proceeded from there without incident.

As it turned out, Santa had no cause to fear -- as Jack informed us immediately on our departure, "I cut the cheese."

Night was falling on Disneyland and I managed to get this very nice picture of the Mark Twain sailing the Rivers of America in deep twilight:

Then it was parade time!

Alas the holiday fireworks were cancelled due to wind conditions at high altitudes. Too bad, 'cuz Jack had the best seat in the house.

But they still make it snow at Disneyland at Christmas time. Jack tried his best to catch some of the "flakes."

A quick photo op at the beautiful Main Street Christmas tree, and it was time to head home.