Father's Day 2008

This picture was taken after church (later in the afternoon). Savannah made Dallin this tie in nursery and the boys did their footprints in primary. Jacob turned his footprint into Ben10 and Zach into a dinosaur. We love Daddy!

Horton Hears a Connor...

Today the boys started swim lessons through the city parks & rec. They had a great time and are so excited to go back tomorrow. I don't get to take pictures until the last day though (at least pictures that will turn out good)...they make the parents wait outside the fence so we're not a distraction.

We also went to the movie theater this afternoon. We have a decent discount theater here and today it was only 5o cents! (Thanks for the idea Kristi). I took the kids to "Horton Hears a Who." We sat in the very back so I could escape quickly if needed...and I did. Connor did great during the first 30 minutes because I was feeding him treats. But as soon as they were gone he wanted out of his stroller and to be as noisy as possible. So to make a long story short, I sat out in the hall with a very not happy Connor (and sometimes Savannah, who went back and forth) while the boys watched the movie. I just peeked in on them every once in a while. They enjoyed it and I only wasted 50 cents, so I'd say it was still worth it. I just won't be taking Connor again for a very long while.

Summer Days

So now that school's out and we're back from vacation we've been enjoying our lazy days. On Monday we had a Texan summer picnic (indoors on the floor). I guess that's how you'd do it in Arizona too. Notice Zach's attire...we've had all combinations of superheroes running around all week.This is WHY we had a picnic. I promised the boys they could leave their "battle" out until dinner. (Notice that the Mystery Machine and the Scooby-Doo gang are somehow part of this battle.)

We have this great bird that loves our backyard. It has red all over it's head and back and the kids love to look for it out there.

On Wednesday we went swimming with Zach's friend R from preschool and the B's were there too. It was a fun time but I didn't get any pictures (I was trying to keep Connor contained). R's brother gave Jacob his old goggles and somehow Jacob can now swim much better than before. I guess he's trying so hard to look down in the water that he keeps himself in the right position. Who knew?

On Thursday we went to Brushy Creek Park. Connor loved examining the flowers...

We played in the sand. Not quite the beach, but a fun time anyway.

This was Jacob's first time here and he LOVED the splash area. He said "That was WAY better than I thought it would be!" It's nice that the boys always have a built-in friend to play with...

Connor was in heaven of course.

Savannah the dancing water ballerina...

Zach "sitting" on the spray...

This was the only picture I got with all 4 of them...they were all over the place!

Connor is a really picky eater. And what he will eat he has to first smash to crumbs...then he eats the crumbs. He does this with everything! This WAS a cornbread muffin...

This morning I watched my friend Tammy N's kids. S is 8 1/2 and she played so nice with Savannah the whole morning...Savannah was in heaven. It was a nice little break for me!

P is in Jacob's primary class and they had fun hanging out together.

Octopuses are allergic to shoes...

Normally I would do this as a "Kid Moment" on our sidebar, but it was kinda long so I'm just making it a regular post. I was writing most of it down as it was going on, but the boys didn't know it.

We were talking about our beach trip and how amazing it was that we found Jacob's lost shoe...
Zach: Did you know that octopuses are allergic to shoes?
Me: Really. How do you know that?
Zach: They're just too squishy.
Me: Their legs are too squishy for shoes?
Zach: Only the big octopuses are too squishy for shoes.
Me: Well Henry the Octopus wears shoes (from The Wiggles).
Zach: Well he's not squishy.
Me: So where did you learn all this?
Zach: Miss Pam taught me everything about the ocean.
Jacob: You don't know EVERYTHING about the ocean.
Zach: Well ALMOST everything. Miss Pam has been there. She teaches me everything I learn.
Jacob: No, you should learn EVERYTHING just about the last day of college. You still have way too much to learn Zach. You won't be in college for a long time.

So I guess it's official...I've had my last day of college so I know EVERYTHING!

Paint the fence...

That line from "The Karate Kid" has been in my head the last couple of days as Dallin has been weatherproofing our backyard fence. He started yesterday and spent hours out there today. I helped for an hour or so but wimped out in the heat and humidity. I don't know how he stayed out there as long as he did.The finished product! (It's almost done) It looks great!

The end of the trip...

On Wednesday we went for a ride on the ferry. This is the closest thing to a boat my kids have ever been on. They thought it was great.In the afternoon we went swimming in the pool for a while...

...and then headed back out to the beach. Zach and Savannah made a neat sandcastle.

In the evening Dallin took Jacob out to feed the seagulls. This is Jacob trying to protect himself from the swarm...

Thursday morning just before we left Zach and Savannah wanted a turn feeding the seagulls too. I was surprised that Zach didn't freak out, but he loved it. He was almost feeding them out of his hand and said that one landed on his head.

We got home Thursday afternoon. It was a great trip and gave us lots of fun memories!

The Water Shoe

I still have a few more pictures to post from our trip, but I wanted to get this down before I forgot. The first time Jacob went out swimming in the ocean with Dallin (on Monday morning) he lost one of his water shoes...it has a velcro and he hadn't put it on tight enough. I told him it was long gone, but saved his other one until the end of the trip for some reason I don't know. Last night Jacob went out with me to look for seashells right before bed. We went all around just in front of the building we were staying in (Gulf Shores). We were all done and heading in when straight ahead of me in the middle of some seaweed was a shoe. Yah, it was Jacob's. How ironic is that?

USS Lexington

Yesterday afternoon we went to the USS Lexington Aircraft Carrier Museum. This is what Jacob has been the most excited for. This picture was taken from the aquarium...We got to see a movie in the Mega Theatre (decked out with stadium seating and everything). It was about a fighter pilot and how they train for real battle.

They had lots of old airplanes on display in the main hangar...

...and lots of ship models

We toured different decks and went up and down many flights of very steep stairs (Dallin carrying Connor and me carrying the umbrella stroller). One part had a Pearl Harbor Memorial in it.

We got to see the living and eating areas, along with the Captain's stateroom and where he receives dignitaries, etc.

Jacob on an anti-aircraft gun...

Connor only lasted through about 30 minutes of the movie. For the last 15 or 20 minutes he got to run all around and explore by himself. He loved this pilot seat because it had so many buttons to touch.

This red and yellow thing was Connor's favorite part of the whole ship. He would run all around and always come back to this...

Connor driving the boat tow truck (look at that little smile...he's so pleased with himself)

I know, you're probably wondering why this picture has any significance. I took this over the side because if you click on it to enlarge it you can see hundreds of jellyfish. They look like little white circles, probably about the size of my whole hand.

The flight deck was huge and super windy. It was hard to push the stroller against the wind even.

Dallin took the boys all the way to the top of the control center (or whatever it's called). This is Jacob "driving" the ship.

I think this is an F-18 Hornet that Dallin and the boys are in front of...

We were so exhausted by this point that we didn't even attempt the engine room (which I'm sure was really cool). But we had a great time anyway! What a fun day.

Today so far we've been taking it easy (still exhausted from yesterday). We drove around Port Aransas a little and watched some pelicans from a jetty. We also went on the ferry and let the kids get out of the car. Right now most everyone is sleeping (Connor is FINALLY taking a nap longer than 1/2 hour). This afternoon we're going to swim in the pool a little and then head back out to the beach. It's a fun time!