Monday-Legoland

A jeep ride through the Lego animals.


A boat ride through fairy tale land built out of Legos.


Funtown


I am not sure why they made the truck so accessible if they didn't want you to climb on it. We did a fire truck race where you had to pump a handle up and down to move the truck and then put out a fire with water squirters and then pump the truck back to the finish line. We got first place!


Ellie spent a lot of time resting on shoulders as she missed her nap everyday.


Nate participated in driving school. The cars didn't have a track and Nate did a good job he didn't run into the sides.


Ellie waiting in line on Mommy's shoulders.


Riding a helicopter.


Help! The kids are being eaten by a Lego shark.


Nate hanging out on the boat ride.


Ellie proclaimed she was a fishy caught in a net. This was part of a huge castle play place.


Riding a Lego camel.


For Oma and Opa. Nate was excited that we saw two Parises. There was another Lego Eiffel tower in Miniland as part of the Las Vegas buildings.


Nate and Lego Thomas.

Sunday-Sea World

Shark Encounter


Tide pool-touching a star fish.


Nate rode Shipwreck Rapids with Daddy.


Ellie in the "tide pool" and Daddy and Nate way above on the bridge.


Ellie playing music and Nate is avoiding the punching bags.


Riding "Abby's Sea Star Spin." Ellie ended up clinging to Daddy's side.


Riding "Elmo's Flying Fish."


Riding "Grouch's Spinning Eel." Nate loved it. Ellie is clinging to the restraint bar with a look of sheer terror on her face.


Penguins


Nate wanted to ride the roller coaster. We asked him several times to make sure he really wanted to do it, he did. Away we go! I warned Nate we were going to get wet and wet we got! Nate was not happy but I tried to console him by telling him this was the last time we would get wet on the ride. Ooops! I was wrong, moments after I told him that, we headed down the 2nd drop-off where we got completely drenched. As you can see in the picture, Nate was not happy.


Ellie enjoyed all the stuffed dolphins in the gift shop.


Shamu

Saturday-Oceanside Beach

We walked down the long pier in Oceanside. The kids are looking out from the end of the pier out to the ocean. Ellie didn't like the spaces between the boards on the pier and Nate refused to step on any cracks. It made for a long walk.


Their first ocean experience.


They loved playing in the sand.


Nate loved playing in the ocean and wanted to go out farther and farther. He got really good at not getting knocked over by the waves.


A big church group came down to the beach and Nate and Ellie helped them build a mountain. Nate's head is in the deep hole they dug and Ellie enjoyed wrecking the mountain.


The kids were so tired! Nate could hardly walk back to the car and we carried Ellie. We needed to get stuff into the car and wipe off the sand so Ellie was laid on the trunk. She loved it!!

Random pics from CA trip

The kids really enjoyed all the windmills by Palm Springs.


Hanging out in Aunt Dawn and Gabe's backyard.


The kids new friend, Lucy-the bassett hound. Ellie even gave her kisses.


Ellie borrowed Gabe's visor.

New beds

Target clearance is great! We got each of these air beds for $7. They worked out perfect for our California trip. Here the kids are enjoying a movie in their new beds.

Zoo with Kate and Kaley

We are a bit behind on our blogging. Mommy, Nate, and Ellie went to the zoo with Kate and Kaley on the Saturday that Daddy went to Pickin' in the Pines.


Attempting to all hold hands and walk.


Checking out the new water play area.


Eating lunch.


Playing in the other splash playground. Since the other water play area had just opened the old splash playground wasn't busy.

Canyon de Chelly and Chinle

Spider Rock


The beginning of Canyon de Chelly. There is a farm on the right side of the second picture.


We were sitting in the school district's office and we saw a line of about 8 cows wandering down the main road. One even stopped to rub his horns on the hill on the side of the road.

Pickin in the Pines

This weekend daddy got to go to a bluegrass festival in Flagstaff, it was a blast!


The stage at the Pine Mountain Amphitheater

Bluegrass chicks are cool!!

Carolina Chocolate Drops
This band was one of my favorites! I bought their one of their CDs and I wasn't disappointed. The band member on the left actually graduated from NAU. We ended up sitting right next to his proud parents.

Wildlife Adventures

While we were at Pine Grove, we had some special visitors. They were black and white and have bushy tails, can you guess what they were? If you guessed skunks, you win a prize! We were cooking our hot dogs over the fire when we saw two skunks come out of the culvert by our camp site. They did a little dance and one back in the culvert and the other wandered off. It was dark and so it was hard to see where the other skunk had gone. A little while later, the skunk appeared behind Nate and then came up and smelled his leg and wanted to see what he was eating. Nate thought it was his friend but we told him not to move. He sat so still and stiff that when Mike picked him up we had to tell him to bend. We told Ellie to stay still but she wasn't near as calm as Nate. She started to whimper. We eventually got both of them away from the skunk. The skunk then visited Opa's and Mike's shoes. Eventually the skunk wandered off. However, it made a return visit about a half hour later but we were able to shoo it away.

On Saturday, we were swimming in Grandma and Grandpa's pool and Mandy was bit by a large black beetle that could swim. It also climbed on Nate. At first, we thought it was a leaf but it seemed to swim towards the nice warm bodies in the pool. Nate jumped out of the pool as fast as he could and then Grandma came to the rescue!