New word

It turns out that Nolan has learned a new word. While I was at a Relief Society activity last night, Justin made the boys some grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. We call them "Grandpa John sandwiches" because we made them often for Grandpa when he was here working on the basement. Anyway, Justin is pretty out of practice when it comes to cooking anything, but it turns out the boys were raving about their dinner. (Justin put mayo and mustard on and I usually don't.) Well, Nolan said, "This is so good that we'll have to open up a sandwich restaurant in our basement. We can; we have all the capabilities!"

Nolan is 6!

I can't believe I now have a 6-yr.-old! Time goes way too fast. I'm always telling Nolan to stop growing and stay little and he just says, "I can't! I'm just way too excited to go to college!" I'm afraid that day is going to come all too soon for Justin and me.

Nolan got to choose a cake at Costco. It was too much cake but they taste the best and are the cheapest. He chose the cake with musical notes since he just started piano lessons. 

 

We all laughed that Nolan didn't know what was in the green wrapping paper below. He said, "I don't think that's a present, that's just the roll of wrapping paper." He's never received a nice bat so it was a surprise for him! We gave him all the stuff he needs to get started with his first season of Tee Ball in a few weeks. He's already been practicing! He got a Boogie Board drawing pad from Grandma and Grandpa, and some swimming goggles and hiking whistle from Grandma K and Jon. 

I can't remember exactly what Nolan was explaining in this picture, but we see this expression from him quite often!

 Uncle Bryan is a pro at baseball. He gave Nolan a quick run through of basic skills and helped Justin and I to know how to get him started. Very helpful! Aunt Keeley is in the background taking pictures to send to Elder Lawrence. We have to keep him posted even though he's far away in Mexico.

I wish I knew what he'd wished for in the video below. Typically his wishes lately consist of "a thousand pounds of money" or "all the Legos in the world."

 All week after Nolan's birthday, he has been loving his new mine set of Legos that he picked out. He's even had a few friends over to share the joy. It was a great birthday!

SeaWorld and Science Center

 Our last day in San Diego was spent at SeaWorld. The morning got off to a rough start because after we split up (so that the big boys could go on the "tall" rides), Ezra threw a fit and kicked off a shoe. He didn't tell me his shoe was missing until two minutes later while we were using the restroom. Well, I knew right where the tantrum occurred, but no shoe. I was so frustrated to lose his brand new shoe! Well, I went into a gift shop nearby to ask about it. On the counter I see Justin's leather jacket! I hadn't even noticed that an item of greater worth had fallen off the top of the stroller! But still no shoe. So we took every wrong turn while finding the lost 'n found at the entrance and filed a report. Ezra went around with only one shoe for the next two hours until someone called and said that the shoe had turned up. Thank goodness! Needless to say, Ezra and Mommy were a little cranky for a while.
These pictures show a little miniature horse that was so cute, a fun ride (thank goodness Ez was asleep because he wasn't tall enough), Ezra's new shades, just about to enter the tall sky tower, and one of the killer whales during the show.

Justin and Nolan had a really great time with their morning, though. They went on a very wet rollercoaster and had soggy pants for most of the day, but they said it was a fun ride. We enjoyed all of the shows, especially the Blue Dolphin show. Ever since a trainer was dragged to her death by a killer whale two years ago, trainers are no longer allowed to do tricks in the water with them. I can understand why, but the show is a little less exciting then I remember from when I was a kid.
We had a fun time petting the sting rays. There were so many of them and they came right up to let you see them. Very slimy! Sadly, Ez missed out on that while sleeping, too. He was worn out after our frustrating morning, I guess. We liked the shark encounter where you rode a moving sidewalk through a glass tube. Pretty cool!

After SeaWorld we headed to Old Town and had dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant. Then it was off to an old-fashioned candy store to pick up some treats for tomorrow's long drive.
That night we had hot cocoa at the hotel and then snuggled in the big king bed together. The boys weren't tired so we let them watch the second half of Forrest Gump with us. That movie is good no matter how many times I see it. We were a little sad that our time in San Diego was almost over, but we knew we had several days in St. George to look forward to.

In the morning we found that the van had a dead battery. Luckily a nice young guy stuck around for two minutes and gave us a jump. We couldn't help but smile because last time we were in California at a Hampton Inn we got a dead battery, too. We'll have to keep a closer eye out for lights left on!
In the morning, we decided to make a stop in L.A. to see the space shuttle, Endeavor. There was a fun science museum and all the exhibits were free. The boys successfully built an arch, an impressive bridge (the worker said that she hardly sees anyone build a complete bridge... I guess that's what happens when engineers put their mind to something!), and Ezra loved building his house. The space shuttle was really impressive and much larger than we thought it would be. Although it made for a long day of driving since we didn't get back to St. George until 10:30 p.m., I'm glad we stopped to see it.

 

Safari Park

Our next day of amusement was spent at the Safari Park. I think it was formerly known as the Wild Animal Park. I've had several people ask if it is the same as the zoo. It has a partnership with the zoo, but it's a totally different place. It's like a really wide open zoo. It's so lush and beautiful in some places, and then there are great wide open areas for the animals to roam freely. It seems to us that this is how a zoo should be. There were no stinky little pens with animals that look sad and trapped. They do lots of work with species that are endangered. While there, we saw one of 8 white rhinos that are left in the world. Sadly, they won't be around much longer. The kids had fun exploring, playing on the playgrounds, seeing the amazing animals, and riding the safari tram tour. It was so beautiful to see so many African animals living together with acres and acres to explore. They really wished we could have gone on the zip line and the hot air balloon... never satisfied!
We fell in love with this gorgeous blue bird that followed us around. Maybe it liked that we were all wearing blue!

There were so many elephants, and a cute baby one! 

The absolute highlight of the day was feeding the lorikeets. For $3 you get a little cup of nectar which the birds go crazy for! The kids each took a turn holding it. For some reason the birds really flocked to me, even though I didn't have the nectar. The boys loved those birds. It was a really great experience for all of us. Justin was a little distracted at first while taking pictures because there were birds on him as well.

We also loved petting the goats. Most petting zoos have goats with kind of dirty, matted hair and you worry about stepping on their poop wherever you go. Well, these goats were so beautiful and soft. They had a clean pen and were fun to watch. One goat wasn't happy with Ezra... it had horns and kept trying to head butt him. We left him alone! The boys even got some brushes and groomed a couple of them.  

That afternoon, we got with Justin's family again and went to eat at California Pizza Kitchen. They brought Nolan a birthday present so we got to play the Angry Birds "board game" together at the hotel that evening. Another wonderful day of vacationing!

Legoland!

 Our kids had a blast at Legoland! It was a beautiful day outside and there were lots of rides that were perfect for the boys. There were only a handful of rides that Ezra wasn't tall enough for, so I took him on the little rides while Dad and Nolan did the big boy rides. Lines were pretty short (except for the two rollercoasters) and the kids loved seeing everything made of Legos. We enjoyed walking around Miniland USA, seeing the Lego workers' workshop, and watching the fireman show. The boys especially loved Vern, the comedic relief of the show. They had to get pictures with him afterward.
The pinnacle of the day was finally being able to choose which set of Legos we would take home. The boys had saved up some Valentine money from grandparents, and it was Nolan's main birthday gift to pick a set, and we would have bought something for Ez, too. With all that said, we convinced them to pool their resources and go for the big Mine set. Ez had already picked out a fire engine (because he loved the fire truck show only an hour before) but he finally went along with Nolan's big wish. They were tired at the end of the day, but so happy to have a new Lego set!

California Trip - Beach Day!

Last week we took a trip to San Diego. We knew it would be the last time to take a family trip before little sister arrives in July. This was the itinerary:
1) Spend one night in St. George at Grandma and Grandpa's house to split up the drive.
2) Arrive in San Diego; have dinner with Justin's high school buddy, Steve.
3) Spend the day with Justin's family at the beach and their home.
4) Legoland
5) Safari Park
6) SeaWorld
7) Head back to St. George to celebrate Nolan's birthday and spend 2 or 3 nights (we stopped in L.A. first to see the space shuttle Endeavor on the way home)

Everything turned out great! We loved our hotel (Hampton Inn at Del Mar... they have a nice suite for families that is priced well) and had a fun time seeing friends and family. We didn't get any pictures with Steve and his family on our first evening, but the kids had so much fun there. They loved Steve's "Mater" truck, a souped-up remote control truck that Steve built. It was so fast and responsive. After the trip, Nolan actually said that playing with Mater was one of his favorite parts of the trip! We felt bad popping in at Steve's because they thought we were coming the next weekend. We called to say we were almost there, so Steve scrambled to make a delicious dinner in only 15 minutes time (even though we said that take-out would be great)  because his wife wasn't even feeling well. We didn't know any of this until we arrived, otherwise I wouldn't have made them play host! But we didn't stay long and I hope we weren't too much bother. Next time, I'll make sure that the men schedule actual dates, not just days of the week!
Our day at the beach was so fabulous. We have been used to 20 degree weather all winter so 65 degrees in the sun felt so nice. The water was cold but our boys never mind that. They loved the waves and playing in the sand. Unfortunately, we didn't use enough sunblock. Dad and Nolan got the worst of it and were in pain for a couple days and then their backs started peeling. Lesson learned! And we learned something new about Nolan. He is typically pretty brave, but it turns out that he has a fear of seaweed. We kind of tortured him in this video below, but when Nolan saw it he laughed pretty hard at himself! He's a good sport.

We had a yummy lunch at Hamburger Factory in Poway, and the kids rode the little train there. Then it was off to Corey and Kathy's house. Justin's little brothers (Brandon and Evan are 8, Dylan is 5 now) showed Nolan and Ezra a good time in their backyard and played the Wii for a couple of hours. After all the sun, some of us got very sleepy. We ate at Friday's that night and then headed back to the hotel. What a great day!

Snuggle Time

I love it when I find the boys playing nicely and being sweet to each other. Well, this takes the cake! They are definitely loving little brothers (at least a good portion of the time). After 10 minutes, I walked by again and saw that Nolan had placed his arm on Ezra. Cute!