Ice, Ice Baby

We toured the Ice Castle in Midway today at the Zermatt Resort.

The boys had a great time. An ice castle to explore, cousins, gelatto and McDonalds. What more could you ask for?

Long live our vegetarian

Somewhere Bentley heard a little about hunting (I kinda have an idea where). The other day he told me that "me and my dad are going to go hunting with guns, and we are going to shoot stuff."

Deidra explained that you only shoot stuff that you plan on eating. And shooting means you kill it. "Do you want to eat a dead animal?"

Last night he was telling Chod his plan of taking guns and going hunting.

Chod asked what they were going to shoot.

"Trees."

Game Plan: Sunday Afternoon

"Hey, I know! Me and Lincoln can be cowboys, Dad can be a horse and you will be the cow!"

"And then what do we do?"

"Two cowboys will ride the horse. And then the horse kicks the cow and the cow dies."


Whaaat?
Who comes up with this stuff?

Green Thumb

What do you get when a horticulture degree marries an agronomist/soil scientist?

A 4 year old who spent the ride home planning out "his" garden. He is so excited for a new garden this year, because his old one died.

Bentley's Garden 2010:

• Peas
• Beans
• Squash
• Tomatoes
• Corn
• Bananas
• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Pumpkins
• Pears

No stopping him now

Lincoln's has mastered Ring Around the Rosies.
Folds his arms for prayers.
And has dipping Goldfish in water all figured out.

Only two more Sundays until he is legal to go to nursery.

2nd Rate Mom

"Bentley, run get your markers and I'll get down the big roll of paper for you to color on."

"Okay." As he walks off.

"This is when you say 'Okay Mom! You are the best mom in the whole world!"

A look of disbelief.

"But. I. can't say. that."

The Cheeseburger Song

Bentley has never eaten meat. The occasional chicken nugget but that's as close as it gets. It started out being a texture thing, but has turned into a dead animal thing. And as strange as it may seem cheeseburgers are his favorite food--"Me just don't like the hamburger."

Order a cheeseburger and ask them to hold the burger--you get weird looks.
Chances are you'll still get the burger.
So you remove the pattie.
He'll see "meat crumbs" and won't eat it.


And so goes our experience of eating on the road. It didn't take us long to stop for a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and jelly.

Newport Beach

One day Bentley will get to experience a beach when it is warm. Until then he enjoyed every minute of the sand and water and had to once again be carried off the beach.

When Chod sat him down to put his shoes on he took off running to the surf. He hadn't built a sand castle yet and couldn't leave before one had been constructed.

I wanna be a poncho man!

If we thought Thursday was dead then Friday in the rain was a ghost town. Bentley got to wear this awesome poncho.

 

We could only find one of our umbrella's that morning, and Lincoln got it. We had another poncho, but it was used to cover the stroller when it was parked. So Chod and I ended up looking like drowned rats.
 

  We took a break for lunch and dry clothes and I found umbrella #2. It made my afternoon much drier.

We spent the afternoon at California Adventure. But the camera didn't get much use in the rain. We headed to Downtown Disney for dinner because Chod really wanted to take the boys to Rainforest Cafe. It took forever and they decided to close the parks early because of the rain. (I'm still bitter they ripped us off 3 hours of park time and the fireworks.) So by the time we made it back to Disneyland we had 7 minutes until closing. All Bentley wanted to do was ride Dumbo again. And I have to admit, flying over Disneyland at night in an elephant really is magical. Chod put him on his shoulders and ran to Dumbo. They made it on for one last ride. That may be my favorite memory of the trip-Chod running to Dumbo with Bentley on his shoulders!

But I also really liked watching Bentley dance in the street on our way out.

It really is the happiest place on earth.

VIP at Disneyland

I had read that this is the slowest time of year for Disneyland (from the 2nd week in January to Pres. Day Weekend). And it was great! It was almost like we had the park to ourselves. Ride waits were basically the time it took to walk through the winding carousels.

Even with his boots on and his hair spiked Bentley didn't hit the 40" height limit for most rides. But he didn't seem too bothered by it. Dumbo and the Astro Orbiter (or rocket) were his favorite rides. Surprisingly enough they are basically the same thing.

We visited Mickey's house right before the parade, and it was us and a few other people. I mentioned to Chod that I didn't think Mickey would be there and we'd have to come back, but he was! And we were his only visitors!

I know my number, my telephone number

The real reason we hung out while Chod worked was because we knew that as soon as he was finished we were off to Disneyland.

Bentley has been so excited to go since December. And two months is a really, really long time for a 4 year old to have to wait.

I was worried about him wandering in the park, so I explained the need for him to stay close to Mom and Dad and not run off or we would lose him.

Then I pulled out a Sharpie and wrote our phone numbers on his leg. His instruction were that if he got lost he should show people his leg.

He was worried he wouldn't remember which leg to show so he had me write on both legs.

It must have done the trick, because he was especially clingy from the second we entered the park until the second we left.

And most importantly--he didn't get lost.

Almonds and Oil

Last Saturday we loaded into the work van and headed to California. Chod had work to do and we weren't letting him enjoy the sun by himself.

We made it about 10 miles out of town before the van made a weird noise and lost power. We turned around and crawled back at about 15 mph before it quit and we called a tow truck.

Four hours after starting our journey we were once again on the road--in a rental van this time.

We spent the night in St. George and continued the rest of the way to almond orchards and orange groves the next day.

Chod was taking measurements in an almond orchard. The boys enjoyed hanging out in the mini tractor helping Dad.

I enjoyed seeing green.

On his last day of work, Chod used the 4-wheeler to take some different measurements of the soil. Lincoln loved the 4-wheeler, but Chod said he was less than helpful pushing buttons so Bentley got to do most of the riding.

Almond blossoms ready to break bud. It will be months before we start seeing buds. Months!

We enjoyed seeing California's Central Valley farmland and oil land. We passed through an oil field and I explained to Bentley what the oil pumps were doing. Hours later he said he just wanted to go home. I asked what he would do at home. "Build an oil pump."

"How?"

"My Papa can just help me."

What every 4 year dreams of...their own oil well.

My happy Lincoln. We've come to the conclusion that he gets car sick. Not so much fun to take on a roadtrip, but at least he isn't the mad puker we thought before.

Sick-o

Have you ever known one of those kids who throws up because they are upset. They get ticked off, start crying, and before you know it they have emptied their stomach.

They bug me.

But turns out our Lincoln is one of them.

Twice.

In the car.

All over his car seat.

Today.

And we aren't even home yet.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Bentley is potty trained. And he knows Mickey and Donald.

It has taken us 2 years, but....

Guess where we are going?


I'm not sure who is more excited.