Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time on our visit to the pumpkin patch.  Owen really wanted to ride a horse and Lexie really wanted to ride the "choo choo" so that's what we did. :-)

 

Disneyland

Thanks to Auntie Hannah, we were able to have a DISNEY day!!  We all had a blast.  I'm sorry, but no matter how old I am, I still get excited going to Disneyland. It was pretty crowded, so we did some things that are a little less popular, but were still fun for the kids.

Riding the Carousel.  She cried when it was time to get off.  We had to pry her fingers off the golden pole.  Seriously.

 

Eating cotton candy (Owen's absolute FAVORITE treat at Disneyland) and waiting for the "Mickey and the Magical Map" show to start.  The show was SO GOOD.  They haven't had a show there that good for awhile.

 

Innoventions - one of Owen's favorites, of course, because we told him it is a science building.  Iron man is Owen's favorite super hero, so Rick told Owen to stand in front of the Iron Man suit for a picture.  Lexie walked over right away and posed.  Owen didn't want to go near it.  After talking, he told me that he was afraid that when his back was turned it would, "come alive". 

After some reassurance, he joined the picture, too.

And here's another shot of all the Iron Man suits from the movies.  It was pretty cool.

 

THANK YOU, Hannah for helping us out!  We had a blast and made lots of fun memories!

Home Tour - Carlsbad Condo

For those of you who never got to see our house in Carlsbad, here is a quick photo tour. We lived at this cute condo community that had a little gym, playground and pool. We were super close to the ocean and could see a tiny sliver of it from the balcony.  We were also super close to Costco and could see the entire parking lot from the balcony.  :-)  Anyway, come on in!!

Living Room

 

Dining Area

 

 Entry way - the door on the right is a small 1/2 bath.

 

1/2 Bath

 

Kitchen

 Going downstairs - and my favorite part: the washer and dryer INSIDE my house!!!! I cannot tell you what a blessing this was!  It was literally a dream come true.

 Around the corner to the hallway - and at the far end, the kids' room!

 

The kids even had their own bathroom attached to their room.  It was heaven!

 At the other end of the hall (next to the washer and dryer) was our room.

And I just have to take a moment to brag about Rick because he refinished these end tables and they are completely unrecognizable (in a good way) from how they started out!  He has mad skills.

This is a horrible picture, but this is the long dresser that matched the end tables to give you an idea of how much of a transformation took place.

The view from our sliding glass door. Beautiful.  We called that big tree the "bug tree" because Owen would always find about a million different insects on that thing.  It provided many hours of entertainment.

 

Our bathroom.

We looooooved living in Carlsbad!!  It was such a fun adventure for our family.  We are so thankful that we got the opportunity to go there and have the experiences that we did. We were sad to leave it but we know that where one door closes, another one opens! Thanks for all the good times, Carlsbad.

60th Wedding Anniversary

A few weeks ago we celebrated the 60th wedding anniversary of Rick's grandparents, Rita and Merlin.  It was very fun to get together with family and to hear more about Rita and Merlin's courtship.  As it turns out, Rita was already engaged to Merlin's cousin when Merlin proposed to her!!  Scandalous.....!!  But Rita made the right choice because here they are, 60 years later, and it is obvious that their love for each other is true and strong.  It was such an honor to be there and celebrate with them.

 

 

Legoland

Rick had Spring Break this week (a very odd time, I might add - three weeks before Easter? Strange.)  Anyway, we made it to Legoland for the first time!  It was GREAT.  This park is definitely geared toward young kids, especially boys, so Owen was in absolute heaven. ( Rick seemed to be in heaven as well!) When we first got there, we walked around to look at the mini-replicas of famous cities made out of Legos. (AMAZING!)  Owen fell down and scraped his knee and it put him in a bad mood. I think because this was a new place and he was sad that he had fallen down, it took him awhile to warm up and get the courage to go on a ride.  We started out easy with a very calm, slow boat ride to look at more Lego creations.  After that, we found the Diggin' for Dinos exhibit, and by that time he was ready to rock 'n roll.  We will definitely be going here again.

On the way in from the parking lot, Rick found a new wife. She came with a kid of her own.

The sunglasses pic.

Digging for life-size dinos.  Buckets, shovels and brushes provided.

Jungle Safari. They had life-size Lego animals along the road. Lexie was too little to ride this one. I went on it with Owen first, and then he absolutely LOVED it and there was no line, so Rick got a turn, too. [Sidenote: One thing I didn't like is that there aren't many rides that babies can go on. You have to be 34" for a lot of the rides, and that will make it tricky when I take the kids by myself.]

Darth Maul (one of Owen's favorite Star Wars characters. I don't know why he likes the bad guys)

Duplo Town - They had a whole little town made of Duplo Legos with slides, tunnels and cars for the kids to climb on.  Owen and Lexie could have stayed here all day.  They loved it.

I think this was Owen's favorite ride of the day.  He got to drive his own car, all by himself, without being on a track. It's a special ride just for 3-5 year olds. He even got a driver's license after he drove. He talked about this one a lot after we left.

Me being a dork.

Rick's turn.

There is an entire building dedicated to XBox, where you can go play any Legos XBox game you want.  Lego Batman, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Star Wars, Lego Lord of the Rings, Lego Indiana Jones, etc. No wonder boys (big and small!) love this place.

On our way out of the park.  Two seconds before this picture was taken, Owen was hiding his face and throwing a fit because he didn't want to leave.  I can't remember what we threatened him with if he didn't smile for the picture, but whatever it was, it was something good because he has a better smile than I anticipated. :)

One of the many, many Lego structures.  Pretty amazing.  I think Rick wants to work there and build things. This is how he put it:

(Smiling big) "Here is an unlimited supply of Legos in any color you want. I need you to build _______."   

He's pretty much convinced that it would be the best job ever.

 

One thing that I liked is that there are Legos for kids to play with EVERYWHERE. When waiting in line, there is a gated section in the middle of the line (and completely visible to parents) with Lego tables so that the kids can play while the parents wait in line.  What a genius idea!  But I'll for sure have to bring a big stash of hand sanitizer because of all the little hands that have touched those Legos. 

We can't wait to go back and check out the Legoland waterpark and the SeaLife Aquarium!

 

Valentine's Day and The Smolder

This year for Valentine's Day, Owen and I worked hard to make a special dinner party while Rick was gone at school all day.  We made sugar cookies and decorated the table.  We went to the grocery store to find Valentine's colored M&Ms for our cookies and they were giving out a free cookie to all the kids, so Owen and Lexie got an extra treat. They felt very special.  Rick left behind a few little surprises for us to find at home during the day, which was very fun and sweet.  We had heart shaped homemade pizza for dinner. We had a very simple and very fun Valentine's Day.

We love the movie Tangled around here.  We especially love Flynn Ryder and his smolder.  You can often find us practicing our own smolders.  Here is Rick entertaining the kids with his best Flynn Ryder impression.

 It never gets old. :)

 

Owen's smolder.

Even Lexie does an impersonation, but hers is a bit harder to catch on film because her face doesn't change expression that much.  You can tell that she's trying to do it, but she hasn't quite figured out how to move all the parts of her face the way that she thinks she is. It's pretty darn cute.