And it's off to the races!!!

So Schafer turned 2 months old this past Friday, so what better way to celebrate than take the kid to the horse races!!!  Duh!! :)

We went to visit the Santa Anita Horse Track and it was AWESOME!

The boys thought it was the best thing ever and it was very entertaining!!

Both of the boys were absolutely captured!

Trevor and Kati and her family came too... it was great!

There was a two minute race and then a 30 minute break...

We had our own horse races in the 30 minute breaks... :)

Connor makes a good little jockey! :)

It wasn't very crowded and we could see the races really well!  

(the mountains were pretty cool too!)

They are such good friends!

This is pretty much where Schafer chilled the whole time :)

He's such a little thinker :)

I am telling you, they LOVED it... 

He was pretending he was a horse and he was in the gate... 

Ready. Set. Go!

He was calling himself Big Brown the 2008 Kentucky Derby winner :)

Connor REALLY wanted to get up on the statue of Seabiscuit... :)

We had fun and will hopefully be able to go back before the racing season is over!

It's SPRING!

 So Cowboy Connor strikes again... wooing the ladies and saving the day.  

This kid just cracks me up!  I love his imagination!

 Schafer on the other hand... not so impressed...

 He does look super cute all dressed up though!!

 So does Vale, even though he's trying to get his clothes off as fast as he can... recruiting some help from his brother with his shoes...

...Connor then asked me why I didn't get a picture of him in his dress clothes... welp... they were removed with lightening-like speed so... sorry!

I know this is blurry but that's pretty much 95% of the pictures I have of Vale... Connor like a dart or humming bird but Vale is a steady moving locomotive or and ocean wave... ALL. THE. TIME. He never stops.  He loves to laugh and have fun but he never stops long enough to let me capture it! :)  So I'll be content as a mommy to have a whole bunch of happy blurry Vale pictures from this time period of his life. :)

My boys will play action 'figgures' with each other for hours and it is so cute! 

They make up stories with real plot lines... I think they might get that from their daddy... no really, he plays with them... 

These pictures of the boys are too cute... I just wish I could have gotten one with all of them looking and smiling but that would be a small miracle.

Connor and Schafer are two peas in a pod.  Connor loves Schafer so much and Schafer just ADORES Connor already.  He looks for him in the room when he can hear his voice and he watches his every move.  In the pictures below it was hilarious how they were making the same faces at the same time with no prompting from me!  I was rapid fire shooting and it just happened this way... I LOVE it because it just shows their similarities so much!

 They sure do love each other!

Vale loves his little brother too but he's more trying to figure himself out right now :)  Trying to stay afloat in the sea of boys! :)

This is just a foreshadowing of the future!  My boys laughing together! :)

Tubing at Big Bear!

 We had a great time tubing as a family (-1) up at Big Bear!

It was perfect with toddlers!  We got to spend some really good time with them!

Schafer stayed behind and hung out with Emery...

The boys had to ride on our laps, they weren't allowed to go down on their own tube.

We had fun... on and off the tubes...

We had snowball fights...

... made snow angels...

... rolled down hills...

... of course, raced down the hill on tubes...

... found new fun ways to ride up the moving walkway...

... took selfies at the top of the hill...

... experienced pure joy from playing in snow for the first time...

... built a snowman (of course his name was Olaf...)...

... built another snowman... personal size this time...

... had daddy take them on their own mini, hill rides...

... slipped everywhere...

... and finally, thoroughly enjoyed every second of our time together!!!!

Spring Break with Daddy = Disney!!!

 We had a great time at California Adventure during Jimmy's spring break!!
 It was so good to spend time together as a family!

Getting everything and everyone broken down and loaded up on the tram to get to the park might just be the most stressful part of Disney... but we made it! :) 

Baby Schafer is ready to rock!

Vale's planning out our route for the day... :)

The boys loved all the rides and shows!  It was so much fun to see their little faces!

The Toy Story soldiers did a little show in the street and the boys loved it...

They asked for volunteers and Vale was right up there with his buddy Lincoln!

 

They were following instructions so well!  FREEZE!!! :)

Clap, clap, clap!!

Connor decided to join them... but only for a moment...

He started crying and saying no no no and ran to daddy's arms... poor kid... he's not a performer!

The boys loved the splash pad!  It wasn't super hot but they didn't care!

Water is the best toy for toddler boys!

They were so happy!

... and cold... :)

Vale was so upset he couldn't go on this ride (he was too short) so he watched Daddy and Connor like a hawk the whole time... it was too cute!!!

My two little bugs in the Bug's Life show... it was actually pretty scary and kinda intense for little kids... oh well... they are tough guys...

We got a great spot for the parade!

They were very excited to see all the characters!!

It was all Pixar characters so Monster's Inc, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Bug's Life, Cars... Perfect for little boys!!!

Connor waved at them all!

They loved these beads at Filmore's station in the Radiator Springs portion of the park...

Fill 'em up Connor!!! :)

The boys had fun navigating the giant tire they were sitting in... well Jimmy and Connor had fun, Vale was basically asleep at this point... haha

They had fun and we had a pretty good day as far as obedience goes!  Which made it that much better for us as parents!

So instead of taking the tram, since they were both sleeping, we walked the 15 minutes to the parking structure... yeah we were all wore out...