Zoo

We took the kids to the zoo a few weeks ago.  The boys were very disappointed because their favorite three things were closed: the train, the playground, and the giraffes.  Luckily, the new section with the polar bear and sea lions was open so it was still a lot of fun.

Splash Pad

We spent many days this summer at the Highland Splash Pad, but I finally got some pictures of it when we went with my mom over Labor Day.  I love the splash pad, it is fun and free, and the water is so shallow I don't have to worry about kids drowning.

That face is the cutest

Gotta have the Barbies to play with in the water

There was a farmers market going on in the same park so my mom got the boys these cool wooden boats, which they had fun racing down the river.

2 kids in school!!!

Yea for back to school!  Ethan is in 3rd grade this year.  Ethan doesn't exactly love school, so he dreaded going back.  It took him a little while to adjust back to the routine of sitting in class all day instead of riding bikes, swimming, playing video games, and staying up late like he had been all summer, but he is doing great.

 

Austin started Kindergarten a week later.  Austin has been literally counting down til kindergarten since preschool ended.  He could hardly sleep the whole week before kindergarten started because he was so excited.  He is loving it so far and I think he'll continue to love it.  He got in a class with about 6 other kids from the neighborhood, so it has been fun for him.

Ethan's Baptism

Ethan was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on August 4, 1012.  We shared the day with two other little boys from our neighborhood who also were baptized that day.  There was a talk about baptism by Ethan's grandma, Karon, and a talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost by one of the other boy's moms.  There was a beautiful musical number as well, and then the boys were baptized.  Adam baptized Ethan and also performed the confirmation after.  It was a beautiful and special day.  We had a celebration afterwards at my parent's house with lunch and a CTR (Choose The Right) cake.

Legoland/Beach Trip

At the beginning of July, I took the kids to California with my mom.  Adam wasn't able to take the time off work to come with us. :( 
My mom works for Jet Blue, so we were able to fly free on her buddy passes.  We stayed some of our nights in California at my Aunt Carol and Uncle John's house and a couple of the nights at hotels. 
Right after our flight landed and we got our car rental all worked out, we headed straight to the beach to meet my aunt and uncle and their two nephews who were in town visiting as well.  The kids were in heaven at the beach!!  I seriously can't remember the last time Ethan was as happy as he was there.  Huge waves would knock him over, and he'd come out of the water just laughing, wanting to do it again.  Kylee loved having the waves hit her legs, as long as there was an adult holding her hand.  And Austin was very brave in the water, considering how much he hates getting his face wet.  We built sand castles and just relaxed for several hours.  Kylee discovered how much the sea gulls loved her Doritoes.  She would grab handfulls and throw them to the sea gulls, and giggle in delight when they all fought over them.



The airport

So happy!



Austin was entertained forever with this seaweed!



Kylee and the seagulls

The next day we headed to Legoland. The weather was overcast and a little drizzley, but luckily it never poured. Legoland was really cool, and I'm glad we experienced it once, but I think I'd rather spend my money and Disneyland from now on. Disney doesn't cost much more and is so much better! There was so much to see at Lego Land that we didn't get to see it all. It was quite an exhausting day!

Lego Dinosaur

Lego NYC

The highlight of the day for Kylee

Someone is tired



Lego corn stalks!

On day three we went to the Legoland Aquarium.  The kids had lots of fun there.  Austin LOVED the sharks. Afterwards we stopped by the beach to walk on the pier and watch the sun set. 

Kylee loved the Lego mom and Lego baby

 

 

 

Day 4 started off pretty bad.  We loaded up the car with the intention of spending the day at my favorite beach in the world, Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach.  Mistake #1: it was Saturday.  All the locals were also headed to the beach so the traffic was terrible.  Mistake #2: My mom said she knew how to get there so I didn't bother looking at the map.  When she realized she wasn't 100% sure how to get there, I looked at the map and we were WAY past our exit.  Mistake #3: There was some arts festival in Laguna Beach that day and lots of people were going there, meaning that the ONE road into town was at a standstill.  Mistake #4:  After being in the car for a long time the kids were ready to be at the beach.  Realizing there was no way we could sit in traffic another hour or to, we took another road, which ended up being a toll road.  We called my aunt and asked for a reccomendation of another beach nearby.  We went to this beach and it ended up being awful.  Pretty much no sand and all rocks.  And very crowded.  We did finally find a spot that was sand and not rocks.  And to make the bad day all worthwhile, we spotted a large group of dolphins really close to shore.  They stayed there at least an hour.  They were riding the waves into shore over and over.  They were close enough you could easily swim out next to them if you wanted.  The kids ended up having a lot of fun.

 

Day 5 we went to Balboa Island. We took the car ferry and then road the ferris wheel, played in the arcade, and ate greasy food.  Love that place.

We were planning to fly home that night.  Unfortunately, because we were on standby, it wasn't a guarantee.  Everything was looking good til a few hours before and the flight filled up.  We had to pack up all our stuff and go to the airport anyway, so we could get top of the list for the flight the next morning.  We had to find a last minute hotel right by the airport so we could get to the airport the next morning.  Well, we showed up at the airport the next morning and that flight was full too.  The kids had had it by this point.  And frankly, so had my mom and I.  We looked at the flights for the rest of the day and there was pretty much no chance of getting on any flights the rest of the day.  We decided the best thing we could do is extend our car rental and drive home.  The drive home is about 12 hours, and normally not that bad.  But when you're not prepared for it, it's no fun.  The kids ended up being really well behaved on the drive home, thank goodness.