Random Fun Stuff

I want to make sure we capture even the most random or simple times so here are a few pictures to capture what is happening in our lives now.

 Logan drew this all on his own in about two seconds. I was so incredibly impressed. I'm certain he has some of his grandparents artistic abilities. 

 This was an assignment Logan did the first weeks of school. 

 This was Logan's first math test in first grade and he did fantastic. He has already passed his +3's. 

 Logan's first spelling test of first grade. 

 We haven't seen Trolls yet but we're anxiously awaiting it's arrival. Troll dolls are one of the few toys I remember playing with as a kid. I had a Troll collection!

 Baby Ellie who is now approaching four months old. 

 Logan has become more involved with Legos over the last six months. He has quite the creative imagination. He built a tree in a pond with ducks and below is a shuttle on a launch pad. Pretty impressive for him to have done that all by himself. 

I had to take this picture because I was blown away that a teddy bear this big was actually for sale. Seriously, who buys that?

Labor Day Weekend - Part 2

Sunday we enjoyed some family time. We met Aunt Natalee for breakfast and enjoyed a nice visit with her. We went to the movies to see Kubo and did a little shopping at the local mall. We’ve been hearing about the delicious goodness of Phil’s BBQ for quite some time but unfortunately in our previous San Diego trips, we haven’t been able to fit it into our schedule. This time we made a point to stop there for lunch. It was good. Not amazingly wonderful like the hype suggests, but not bad. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in Winchester with Nancee & Troy’s family. Spencer, J and Sam were already there so we had the opportunity to visit with all of them. Lincoln and Logan were so excited to play with their cousins, Erica, Sadie and Blake. They got along remarkably well and had a wonderful time. 

On the way back to San Diego, Nancee suggested we stop at Peterson’s doughnut shack. We are always up for a fun adventure so we ventured a few minutes off the freeway in Escondido to find the tiny street corner shack filled with donuts and pastries.  We each selected a doughnut to try as our dinner/bed snack and headed on our way. The donuts were two to three times the size of a normal donut and they were quite good. It was another fun touristy stop.

Monday morning the boys and I took it easy at the hotel while Ricky went for another round of photos at the beach. We met up with him for after lunch and headed back home. 

I love three day weekends. I love spending this kind of time with my family. Logan and Lincoln both expressed that they love taking vacations and going on adventures. I am always surprised when they recall little details or activities from previous trips because it tells me we are in fact making the family memories and experiences that make all the stress and money spent, worth it.  

Labor Day Weekend - Part 1

Ricky had a photo shoot to do over Labor Day weekend in San Diego, CA so I decided last week that the boys and I would tag along. Unfortunately, we had to leave after school and work on Friday so we didn’t get into San Diego until quite late on Friday. The boys are getting easier and easier to take on road trips. This trip they watched Harry Potter and the Lego Movie. Once those two movies were done, they slept for a bit and then we were in San Diego. 

Saturday morning Ricky went with his brother, Spencer, and his nephews, J and Sam to Oceanside for the photoshoot. J has created and developed a hand board that is used while body surfing. He is going to be selling them and Ricky is doing the still shots (action and product shots) for the boards. 

While Ricky was doing the photo shoot, I took the boys to the San Diego Zoo for the day. The boys had never been and it’s probably been 10 years since had been. We got there about 10:00 am and didn’t leave until 8:00 pm. It ended up being a long day but we had a wonderful time. We saw everything we wanted to see. We logged about 17,000 steps for the day. 

We started with the bus tour of the animals. We rode the sky tram, and walked the entire zoo. I was so proud of the boys because they were well behaved and there was minimal complaining about the amount of walking we had to do.  One thing I was not impressed with were the prices of food at the zoo. I expected to over pay for poor to mediocre food, but their prices were several dollars more per item than even Disneyland. I paid $8.00 for a kids meal that was something I could put together for $1.00. I specifically mention price because one day when the boys read this, they will be able to compare the prices of now to what it will be when they have kids. I can’t imagine what the cost will be then. 

Lincoln told me that his favorite animals to see were the orangutans, the reptile house and the penguins. Logan liked the giraffes. I liked the bears and big cats. I feel like we got to see most all of the animals when they were somewhat active which helped to the boys engaged. I am really happy that we put the effort in to take them there for the day. It was a great opportunity to create some new memories and given them a positive zoo experience. We missed Daddy but it was wonderful mommy/son time. 

 We made it to every exhibit in the zoo!

Fresh legs and smiles at the start of our day. 

 Enjoying the bus tour.

 I love the polar bear. Thankfully he was up and active when we cruised by on the bus tour. 

 The sleeping lions are never as impressive as when they are up and roaring.

 Lincoln asked for a picture with the totem poles.

 The grizzly bear was quite active. There were actually two but the other is hiding in the dark shadows in the back. 

 This grizzly is from Idaho so the boys thought that was cool. 

 It's amazing how fun they are when they are happy, silly and loving to each other. 

 Lincoln's favorite orangetang. 

 Logan went face to face for a little connection with this guy. 

 Because why not stick your face in the same place a billion other little kids have. Thank goodness for sanitizer. 

 These little monkeys made us laugh. They was about a dozen or more and they were wild. 

 The boys were quite impressed with the venus fly traps. They watched for a while really hoping they would see one catch a bug. No such luck. 

 These snake pictures were for daddy. 

 Petty zoo fun.

 This penguin really liked Logan. He kept coming up to wherever he was on the window and following him around. 

In the sky tram.