And Ms. Abigail Goes to Bombay Hook

'Tis the season...for field trips. On Wednesday, May 9 (I know, that was almost a month ago; sorry.), Abby and her 2nd grade class, along with Mom, headed to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.


First, the class went to the saltwater pond. There, from a floating dock, the kids saw fish, a blue crab, an eel, and used nets to catch Grass Shrimp.

After lunch, they headed over to the freshwater pond. Unfortunately, outside from a few ticks, the kids didn't see much wildlife here.

Ultimately, Mom declared the day a success as none of her group fell in the water.

Mr. Alex Goes to Washington

On Friday, May 4th, Alex's 4th grade class, along with an army of parents, hitched a ride on 3 charter buses and headed for the nation's capital: Washington D.C.

After an uneventful 2hr bus ride, we landed smack in the middle of the mall; outside of the Museum of Natural History. Our primary interest for our limited free time lay elsewhere, though: The Air and Space Museum. After a short walk across the mall, we spent the majority of our time admiring things such as the 1903 Wright Flyer and the more recent SpaceShipOne.

When free-time ended, we re-boarded the buses for a guided tour of Arlington Cemetery. After a good deal of walking we viewed areas such as John F. Kennedy's grave and the memorials to both the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters. We were also able to view the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. All of this was very interesting and very sobering at the same time.

From there, we boarded the buses again and headed back into D.C. for the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. Each of these impacted the children as it did the parents and raised much good discussion.

Obi-Wan has taught you well...

The best memorable quotes from the kids tend to originate from their younger years. It's not often that Alex, now 10, comes up with something this notable.


Sunday night, over dinner, we were discussing future pet names. Currently, we have 3 hamsters; 2 of which (and their wayward siblings) share Star Wars themed names. So Alex says;

"If we had a hamster that could hover, we could name it R2D2."

And Daddy's thinking, "If we had a hamster that could hover; EBAY!!!"

Taking the High Road

The entire Tokarski clan partnered with some very dear friends on Saturday, April 28th, for the first annual Walk the High Road for Autism at Bellevue State Park, sponsored by the Autism Society of Delaware. This walk was organized to help fund the expansion of ASD's services to meet the needs of the growing number of families in Delaware coping with autism.

Blessed with beautiful weather and feeling bold, we chose to partake in the long route which consisted of a 3.25 mile trek around the park. After successfully completing the walk (and not having to carry any children), we got to meet Rocky Bluewinkle, eat lunch, and hang out with our friends.

In the end, the walk raised more than $90,000 for this very worthy cause.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Two years ago, Mom donated 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love. LoL is an organization which takes donated hair and transforms it into wigs for children who have lost their hair as a result conditions such as alopecia areata or cancer treatments and the like.



Since that time, Amanda has been anxiously awaiting the time that her hair would be long enough to donate. That time came Thursday night. Very nervously, Mom cut off 10 inches of her baby girl's curly locks.

Milestones

This post marks a milestone: It is the first video I've posted to the internet or this blog.

Oh! And I guess I should mention: Aidan learned a new trick this weekend... :)

BTW: We're still working on getting off the couch properly.

Post edited on 5/9/2011 due to shutdown of GoogleVideo.

Operation: Florida

Let me ‘splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Thursday:

We awoke unnaturally early and braved snow flurries and security check points to pile all 6 Tokarski's and the ensuing mountain of cargo aboard a 737 to head south for some much needed fun in the Sunshine State.

This was the first time that the girls had flown and they were a little nervous as the plane began to taxi but they eased up once we were airborne. Alex, of course, was fascinated with trying to ID landmarks as we flew over. And Aidan; he was very awake for the majority of the flight. It wasn’t until we began our decent to land in FL that he opted to fall asleep. Figures…

Once we got checked in at the resort, despite the cooler mid-70° temps, we found the pool water to be very nice and we promptly jumped in for the remainder of the day.

Friday:

Despite the still cooler temps, the majority of the day was spent at River Island: One of three pools at the resort which also has a couple of nice water slides and a lazy river. After the pool and dinner, we headed over to Downtown Disney for some evening shopping. Time quickly got away from us and we ended up getting the kids in bed after 10. Oops.

Saturday:

The morning kicked off with the resort being kind enough to take Mom and I on a brief tour, show us a movie, feed us some yummy cookies, and try to convince us that we really don’t understand our own finances and that we really should purchase our own place there. Once our salesman was fully convinced that he was trying to squeeze blood from a stone, we were free to go. Later that afternoon, Mom, Grammy, and the kids tackled the first of the 3 Putt-putt courses at the resort (victory to Grammy). Afterwards, we were off to the pool again.

Sunday:

Easter morning was beautiful with loads of sunshine and warmer temps. We kicked the morning off with worship at River of Life; a great little church we found in 2004. After lunch at Waffle House, where I discovered a great new Chicken sandwich (yes, at Waffle House), Mom took the big kids to Splash Lagoon: A 2nd pool at the resort which was closer to our condo. Splash Lagoon offered a smaller, Amanda-sized water slide that she was able to slide down by herself.

After dinner, we celebrated Alex’s 10th birthday with cake (sans candles as we couldn’t find a match) and ice-cream which we promptly followed up with an Easter Egg hunt around Grammy’s condo. Mmmm…chocolate bunny head.

Monday:

Despite the threat of showers this morning, we passed Aidan to Grammy, parked out in lot “Dopey 6000”, and headed for the place “Where Dreams Come True”: The Magic Kingdom. This was Amanda’s first time in Disney and she wasn’t disappointed. A bit soggy, perhaps, but not disappointed.

Upon entering the park, we made a B-line for Cinderella’s Castle and the land that lay beyond: Fantasyland; home to, among other things, the Tea Cups, Dumbo, and the Carousel. We kept good and busy here until lunch which we ate overlooking the entrance to It’s a Small World.

From there, we were off to Liberty Square and Frontierland. We kicked things off here by running all the kids through the Haunted Mansion. Alex and Abby thought it fun, though a bit lame, while Daddy had to cover Amanda's eyes the entire ride. After a ride on the Riverboat, we moved onto Big Thunder Mountain...with all the kids. Everyone loved it.

As the day progressed, we paid our respects at the Hall of Presidents, jammed at the Country Bear Jamboree, and rode the steam train to the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Indy Race Cars in Tomorrowland. Alex and I finished our ride time out by taking a spin on Space Mountain.

By this point it was past 9 o'clock and we had missed the first parade. As we began making our way to the front of the park we stumbled on a great spot to stop and watch the 10 o'clock fireworks show. This was pretty spectacular.

After the fireworks, we opted to not fight the flood of people making for the exit. Instead, we did what any sane person would do: We went shopping. Abby and Mom picked up some very nice earrings while Amanda picked up a very cute necklace. By the time the crowds had cleared, the 11 o'clock Spectromagic parade was bearing down on us. We had to stay for it.

In the end, periodic rain showers aside, everyone had a great day.

Tuesday:

After sleeping-in a bit due to our busy day prior, we headed out to a leisurely morning game of Putt-putt (victory to Mom). It was a good thing we started this early as it rained the rest of the day. We ended up chalking this one up as a recovery day.

Wednesday:

Now fully recovered and being faced with a day full of sun and high 80° temps (it's a hard life, I know), it was time to try something new: Typhoon Lagoon; a Disney-owned water park which is themed as a tropical paradise that has suffered a recent hit from, you guessed it, a typhoon. There are wrecked boats and cars, busted surf boards, etc., strewn about the park in typical Disney fashion.

The centerpiece of the park is the lagoon. A wave pool which boasts wave heights up to 6 feet. Surrounding the lagoon is Castaway Creek; a lazy river that takes about 20 minutes to fully circumnavigate (which we spent significant time on). Beyond the creek are a series of tube slides and body slides. These were all great fun.

The highlights of the day were Alex's foray into the world of speed slides (the Humunga Kowabunga, which he loved immensely) and our rides on the Crush'n Gusher. The Gusher is a water coaster; a tube slide featuring several notable drops during the ride. In order to accomplish this, there are a series of high pressure jets that propel you and your tube up hill to set you up for the next drop. This was tremendous fun.

I'll post pictures for this later as we used an under-water camera that we still need to get developed...

Thursday:

Worn out again (but in a good way), we arose a little late and headed out for another game of Putt-putt (victory: Tie - Grammy and myself). Afterwards, it was off to the pool again. Today, Abby took her first run down the water slide in the resort. Here initial reaction? "That was lame!" Hey, it's hard to compete with the Gusher.

Dinner was worth a note today as Granddad, Mom and myself headed out to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for dinner. In the famous words of Ruth Fertel, "Life's too short to eat anywhere else..."

Friday:

This was our last full day in FL. Packing aside, we spent time in both pools at the resort, had dinner at Waffle House, and headed back over to Downtown Disney so that Alex could pick something up for his birthday.