Legoland - Day 1

So, we went to Legoland on May 2nd.  Getting ready to head in, backpacks full of lunch and water and sunblock.

We let these three kiddos run loose.  They are liking life as big kids.

Little people had to stick close to mom and dad.  We saw the Miniland USA which was fun, the Star Wars displays were pretty cool.  Everyone had to stay outside the gate at Miniland, but sadly, that is how Sophia spent most of her day ~

Watching life pass her by, so sad.  She did okay most of the time, except when we got to the planes, cause then her "we're not allowed to ride" partner Lily actually got to go (with adult supervision) and that one left poor Sophi in tears.  Watching while we waited in line from their usual positions, then...

Lily's excited there's a ride she actually gets to go on!!

We're all having fun flying the friendly skies - Sophi, you handling this okay??  She was sad and just couldn't seem to be able to squeeze through the poles...

So while there are fun things to see, the big major cons about Legoland is that these little people don't really get to do anything when it comes to rides, so that might be hard for a family depending on how your little ones handle rejection and being left out.  Here's Lily looking at the map of all the rides she can't do.  

What was the real kicker though, we were sure she'd be able to ride the little horses, I mean that ride is basic basic and nothing threatening about it at all.  I mean look at how bored Hyrum is...

Wish Hyrum could have switched places with Lily, cause she was so excited for this one. Ethan went with Lily to take her, she made the height requirement, and after waiting in line she ran up to a pony to start to get on when we learn that we didn't notice the sign says you had to be 36 inches AND 4 years old.  Lily's not 4 for another month.  The attendant stopped and asked Ethan "How old is she?" and Lily proudly proclaims "I'm Three!!"  "Sorry, she can't go, gotta be 4."  Now that's just lame.

Another thing that's kinda lame about Legoland (but I found it really funny this time) was with the "Knights' Tournament" - on this one, you have to ride with an adult if you're shorter than 55 inches.  That means lucky Corey got to ride this one 4 times, cause Ethan and Joseph are taller than 55 inches, but Mel, Hyrum, Wesley and Abi, they all needed an adult.  I'm pregnant, so I'm out, Grandma and Grandpa aren't doing this one either, so... have fun sweetie!

Ethan and Joseph loved it, they got to do a level 5, the other kids all had to do level 1 or 2 since they're so shrot, but that's okay, those were still enough to make Corey ill.

Wes and Abi had fun.  Mel and Hyrum thought it was lame.  Of course Mel is our big thrill seeker.  As a little kid, she was the one that was loving rollercoasters while her brothers looked scared silly.  I like fast rides, but this Knights' Tournament just shakes and jerks you around, didn't look fun to me, I would have felt sick too.

So, highlight for the little kids was playing with legos of course.  They made cars and made pictures on a lego wall, good stuff.  No stools for Lily to stand on, but she made do.  Made me laugh.

Corey working on a mural with Sophia.

Corey was trying to see how many legos he could stack horizontally on the wall before the legos lost their grip...

The park closed at 5, so we hit one last ride as we made our way to the exit -

 Ethan pretending he's impressed.  Melodie has such good posture.

 Sophia, thankfully, was happy to sit and play on the unworking cars on the outside of the driving school.

Then we headed home for dinner, swimming, and "free pool!" 

I have quite a few shots like this one above from our years of carrying toddlers to parks over the years, they always make me feel so grateful for the wonderful Father my kids have.  And don't get me started on what an amazing husband he is, I'd be here all day.  ~ So that was day 1, stay tune for day 2.

All To Ourselves

The kids got a little spoiled at the Lawrence Welk Resort.  Our kids had never heard of Lawrence Welk before.  Most of the people we saw at this resort have heard of him, meaning they were of a different and more wise generation.  The kids said "Is this place just for old people?!?"  No, but during most of the time we were there, yes.  On Wednesday after we got back from the temple, we spent the rest of the day at the resort.  The kids played at the play room and game room and had them all to themselves, then we went to the pool and they were the only kids there too.  Which they enjoyed.

They were able to throw the frisbee and not hit any of the nice elderly sunbathers this time.

Last time we were at the pool on Monday, Joseph and Corey both accidentally hit the nice sunbathers as they played.  We apologized and the sunbathers were very kind and patient when we continued to play frisbee around them and didn't get mad at us, they even seemed to enjoy seeing a young family having fun, so that was nice.

The kids have fun playing, Melodie and Ethan stole Lily's floatie and used it for a game of "jump in the target" and then they'd have to try and flip over and dive out of it.  Jumping in was easy, diving out wasn't

But it was funny to watch them kicking their feet ungracefully in the air while their heads down in the water like a duck, made me laugh.

San Diego Temple

The highlite from our trip last week for Corey and I was being able to go to the temple with Joseph and Melodie.  (Joseph and Melodie had lots of highlites, but the temple was up there with them.)  We all did baptisms for the dead together. Corey performed the ordinances while the kids and I were proxy.  We were the only ones there doing baptism at that time, which was a new experience for both Joe and Mel who've usually gone to the temple with the youth from our wards here in Utah, and the temples are usually busy, so this was special cause it was just us, nice and slow and extra peaceful.  The man who serves as temple recorder came and spoke to us for a little devotional and mentioned that that day, May 1st, was a speical day for the San Diego temple, because it was 20 years ago that the first ordinances were performed there.  He said there was some 20th anniversary cake in the Cafeteria and invited us to go have some after we were done.  So that was fun too cause the kids got to see more of the temple and we all went and enjoyed a nice lunch together.  Good times.  We'll make the temple a part of our next vacation.

Special thanks to Corey's parents who made it possible for both Corey and I to go.

Mermaiding

Before we left for our trip, Corey told the kids we could probably go to one amusement park and gave them their choice of Sea World or Legoland.  Decisions decisions.  Corey helped them do some research.  The came upon a video of a SeaWorld trainer whose gone native with the sea life and is a full time mermaid now.  They then came upon this video and learned more about the sport/hobby of Mermaiding.  They all got a good laugh and were slightly disturbed.  Corey said "Hey!  I just got an idea of something that will make Park City really memorable this year!!" as he teased about renting himself a tail for swimming.  The kids were terrified "NO Dad!!  Don't you dare.  You wouldn't do that, would you?"  "Hey, I'd do a lot of things I wouldn't normally do if it means embarrassing my kids..."

So, being near the ocean and with mermaids on the brain, Corey wanted to make Mel into a mermaid, but she was focused on her castle and Joe wanted to be buried, so they began their sculpture.  He just rested in the sand while they scupted his body and made him a tail out of sea weed.  They used Melodie's swim skirt to make his top.  When they were done with his body and tail, they got him more sea weed stuff for his hair.

Ethan said excitedly "Joseph!  Open your eyes!  Funny huh!  Hahaha!  You're a mermaid!"  Melodie and Hyrum asked Joseph if he thought it was funny, too.

The sun wasn't shining but the sky was still bright, so Joe could hardly open his eyes to know what they were all smirking about.  And when he did, he couldn't see past "the humps" anyway.

But the hair stuff was stinky and everyone was ready for lunch, so we started to pick up the buckets and head to the car.  I wanted to get a few more pics of Joseph though, so I asked him to strike his best "Eric the merman"'s pose. - and I was laughing.  Highlight of the beach trip for everyone was making Joseph into a mermaid.

Good stuff, funny memories. He prefered the manly merman pose, but I thought the above pic is a definite keeper for his posterity or future funny humiliation.

Coronado Beach

We had a nice day at Coronado Beach last week.  The day began with Abi, Wes, Hyrum, and Ethan all crying or complaining over the idea that they would have to spend an hour in the car to do to Coronado Beach (which a friend of Corey's recommended as the best beach), instead of a closer beach that would just be 25 minutes away.  Corey said he'd take full responsibility for their horrible day, but if it turned out to be a fun they all had to kiss his feet and apologize 100 times saying "I will never doubt my father's judgement again" or something like that.

So off we went with some unhappy campters.  We listened to Coldplay Mylo Xyloto on the drive down which is now our family's official "remember that San Diego trip?" album.  When we arrived at Coronado, it was cold, cloudy, and windy.  Ethan was the first to pipe up with a "see, told you so" by saying "We shouldn't have come.  It's cold.  None of us have jackets!  I'm not going out there." Corey gave in a little bit by saying "Well, I did forget to check the weather... Let me go see.  Anyone want to come?"  And Melodie the wonderful grabbed a towel to keep her warm and joined him scouting out the beach.  They came back to the car.  "Well, it's cold and windy."  We drove to another spot, called Corey's parent's to see where they were and their thoughts.  Corey and Mel went out to look at the beach again, Ethan joined them.  They came back, we said a prayer that the sun would come out.  Corey asked the kids to just humor him and go toss the frisbee for a little bit, let's just give it an hour.  The sun peeked out a little bit from behind the clouds and the kids agreed, and ventured out.

I sounded the "get your sunblock on now" warning, remembering from my sad experience that even overcast days will fry you red.  The boys lined up for their protection.  I made sure the little kids got coated.  Melodie was busy sand-castleing, "Did you get sunblock on?" "Yeah" but she learned the next day that she didn't.  You just don't learn to put on sunblock except by painful experience.  She learned.  It's also something we usually have to learn again at the beginning of every spring or summer.

Sophia was just so stinkin' cute shoveling sand into her bucket.

She's so pretty, I just watched her the whole time with a heart swelling as I thought of the joy in the simple things in life.

After a while Lily was cold and done having fun.  

Sophia probably would have kept shoveling, but I took her with me and we went to the car to get warmed up and grab a snack.   

Corey and the kids kept shoveling.  I figured they'd come when they were hungry.  After an hour more I decided to go get them.  And I shall post tomorrow what they created, cause that is a picture worthy of its very own post.  Check back tomorrow for a look at Joseph's very first attempt at mermaiding.  You won't want to miss it!

Play Day

Monday last week we just had a laze around the hotel day. Abi found a pet pill bug that she was excited to keep forever and ever.

After getting them all swim-suited up, I couldn't find the sunblock we had bought back in Utah and didn't remember packing it in the car.  Doh, add that to the shopping list.  Luckily Corey's mom had some, so we left that with Corey and headed out to run errands while they went to the pool.  I gave Mel my camera to document.  She didn't get any pictures of the pool time, but got a few of their evening at the game room after.  

Corey, the Foos Master, teaching the kiddos the ways of the Foos.

Later that night after the sun went down, I ventured out to the pool with the little girls.  Corey and the kids were all gone still and he'd left his phone, so I was hoping they'd eventually get hungry for dinner and return.  After about a half hour at the pool Corey came out from the rec center.  Apparently they'd hit the jackpot, cause this resort doesn't charge you a dollar to play with their foosball or pool table!  Joseph was in pool heaven ~ this Welk Resort is now officially his favorite place to vacation ever - FREE POOL!!  It just seemed too good to be true.

He was so sad when the week was over and we had to leave, knowing that the next time he played pool, he'd have to fork over his quarters.  So sad.  After playing pool they sang some karaoke ~

The kids and Corey all had a fun no obligations day and loved playing and spending time with each other.

The Drive

So, we have 8 kids.  Well, for another 2 months anyway.  That makes us a group of 10.  There are not many 10 person capacity hotel rooms or cars out there.  We had to reserve two 6 person rooms at the place we stayed, so with room for two more, we thought we'd invite some company to join us.  Corey's parents thankfully took us up on it and it was a win-win.  Well, win for us, hope it was a win for them.  We got two adults to help out with logistics and managing the kids.  The kids also really liked sleeping over at Grandma and Grandpa's room.

And it also was great for driving down.  Cause we're a two car family.  After the 8 capacity vehicles they seem to make the jump up to 15 passenger vans, and Corey refuses to go that route (the thought of it makes him unable to breathe) so we have two.  With Corey's parents making the drive down with us, we were able to let two of the kids take turns being with them, so Corey and I were able to drive together, always a special treat to be in the same car with him for hours of driving.

Joe and Ethan got the first leg to Las Vegas, then Melodie and Hyrum got the Vegas to Hotel turn.  After the trip down they had room for 3 since the cooler wasn't taking a spot.  Joseph, Abi and Wes got to ride to the beach with them.  They all loved it.  Lily did bring up the point that she hadn't had a turn, so on the way home from Vegas yesterday we were going to let her ride with them, but she chickened out at the last minute.  I guess she's a daddy's girl.  

The kids did great.  They've all earned the priviledge of coming with us on the next road trip.  The only picture we took of the drive was when Sophia was scarfing down some seaweed.  I buy it at Costco and it's my substitute for chips - with the big added bonus that none of the kids ever ask if they can have some - it's always great to find something I like that the kids don't like.  Which is also why I always put spinach in my shakes, it's a guaranteed repellent to kids that aren't really hungry.  Well, except Sophi.  She loves it.  She eats it like Cookie Monster, it's pretty funny.  Just shove it in.

About to wake up the kids Sunday morning in Vegas on the trip down.  I just love to see them sleeping, it's always so cute.

Sophia was a puppy during a good portion of the trip.  It's a game they play.  When she wants to be left alone and screams at the other kids, all they have to do is start wimpering like a dog and then she's nice to them and she starts playing that she's a dog too.  Funny puppies.

Vacation Recap

We're back from a week vacation and now that we're home, I feel ready to hit the ground running tomorrow.  Always nice to go and relax from the daily routine, always nice to come back home and get life back on schedule.  Brief summary of the week -

Saturday 27 April - Left at 12:30, Corey's cousin's wedding at the Manti Temple, then on the road for Las Vegas at 5, arrive in Vegas at 9:30.

Sunday 28 April - Happy birthday to me!  Continental breakfast in Vegas, then Church at the 9:00 Valley Verde Ward, it was their ward conference.  Good messages.  Drove to Yucaipa to visit a mission companion but there was no answer on her phone or at the door (found out later she'd lost her phone on a cruise they'd just returned from, so sad we didn't see each other again), so on to the Escondido Lawrence Welk Resort, kids think we are super lucky to be in such a nice place, and we are.  Brownie Jigglers for desserts and had a Sunday lesson as we watched Les Miserables with comments by Corey about life and choices.  Good stuff.

Monday 29 April - Kids enjoy the resort pool with Corey while I run errands to Walmart and Costco with Corey's parents.  He has them put sunblock on each other, and they all get sunburned.  Well, almost all of them, Corey sunblocked Mel and she got through day 1 of sun unsinged, and Lily escaped un burned as well.

Tuesday 30 April - Coronado Beach with the kids.  They were all crying no to go, they wanted to go swimming and didn't want to spend an hour in the car.  We forced them to go.  We got to the beach and it was overcast, windy, and cold.  And we didn't bring any jackets.  We said a prayer for sunshine and it came.  We spent the afternoon at the beach, the kids learned their lesson by getting burned the day before and they all make sure I lay it on thick, except for Mel who didn't learn by painful experience the day before.  I hadn't done her and ask: "Mel, did you get sunblock on?"  "Yeah"  Later that night ..."I guess I didn't, I thought Dad did it, but I guess I was thinking of yesterday..." followed by "ow, ow, ow..."  the rest of the night any time anything brushed her back.

Wednesday 1 May - We leave 6 kids with Corey's parents and take Joseph and Melodie to the San Diego Temple and do baptisms together - highlight of my week.  Melodie was in the smallest baptism suit they had (she does look like a 4th grader) and I looked totally fab in the jumpsuit with my pregnant belly.  We go to the cafeteria afterwards for some birthday cake, since we learned during the baptism devotional that the first ordinances there were performed 20 years ago.  Fun day to be there.

Thursday 2 May - Legoland, kids are in heaven, except poor Lily, who isn't allowed to ride on the ponies cause you have to be 36 inches AND 4 years old.  She was in tears and we remembered one of the reasons why Legoland doens't have Disneylands reputation.  She was okay after some licorice and they had fun.

Friday 3 May - Legoland Day 2 - I spent the day at Duplo Village with Lily and Sophia, don't know what everyone else did and didn't get pictures of it, but they had fun and got soaked.  Went to the Sea Life Aquarium.  Legoland was the highlight of the kids' week.

Saturday 4 May - Lazy morning packing up and then to the pool for one more time.  We headed out around 4 and arrived for another night in Vegas around 8:00

Sunday 5 May - Church at the Valley Verde Ward again, great testimony meeting that was perfect for our kids to hear, the first testimony and a recurring theme throughout the meeting was about attending church, the kids were all kindof amazed that it was just like what our morning was like, very cool, a meeting they won't soon forget.

Pictures and more details later, after I find where I put my camera...

Screen Free Week

We're heading out on a little trip today ~ Las Vegas first for the night and then tomorrow finishing our trip to San Diego where we will be spending a week just chillin'.  We're bringing puzzles, games and have told the kids this is a TV free vacation.  Corey's going to work remotely, and I might or might not make myself go without computer time too.  But excited to just have a week off.  We didn't have a spring break as a family, cause the kids are in different school districts and didn't have their spring recesses at the same time, so Corey decided we should schedule our own.  :)  I'm excited for summer, this little break might help me survive till then.  10 more weeks till my due date, excited to meet this little girl.

Silly Boys

Here are some pictures of the boys getting a good laugh out of themselves as they ran around the house in Lily's pajamas.

 Ethan, I will admit, was the funniest to watch.  Acting like Tarzan and running around like a monkey...

 Wes feeling the beat above, ready to Rock with You...

 Hyrum was a little more tame, but still wanted to play along in the silly game

Yeah, those are 3T pjs that my 9 year old is sporting there.  Funny boys