Never to late to put in the blog....

I think, anyway. So there are some things we have done that I wanted to put in here. A few weeks ago we went to the Nationals Stadium for "Opera in the Outfield." It was the opening night of the National Opera and they broadcast it for free at the Nationals Stadium. It was The Barber of Seville. ( now I have vague memories of putting this on here....)

So we took the kiddos and it was pretty fun. They absolutely loved running around the field. Darin and I enjoyed seeing what the field was actually like. The grass was pretty lush-Jordan insisted on taking her shoes off. They had plenty of space to run, so that was good. They also showed a bugs bunny cartoon before the show, so the kids really loved that. They gave out free candy and water bottles as well. Here are a few fun shots.

Landon having fun.
Lots of room to run and play.

Everyone watching the Bugs Bunny cartoon-the famous one where he is the barber cutting Elmer Fudd's hair...or lack there of....Kiddies loved it.
We ended up leaving shortly before intermission because Spencer had to go potty. We felt like if I was going to walk all the way back up, we would all go. The kids were getting antsy, and Landon was wandering all over the place, so we decided it was the time to go. We really want to go back next year, but we have decided that if we do it again, we will sit in the very front so the kids can run around, or go to it on a date. We also saw lots of people bringing dinner, which we ate fast in the car, so we'll do that next year as well.


We ran into some friends from the ward, so Spencer got to walk with a friend for a while.



We went to a birthday party of a little boy in Spencer's preschool. This little trampoline was a favorite of all the Maney kids, but especially Jordan.
Landon wants to drive the car.
I know I put these pictures of the first day of school on Facebook, which is another post in itself...to Blog or Facebook....but I wanted them on the blog as well.

Jordan's first day of First grade.

Spencer's first day of 4 year old preschool.


Thanks for the cute clothes Auntie Marion and Auntie Karin!!

she was supposed to be in bed

Jordan was put to bed a couple nights ago like normal. I was on the couch happily watching TV and marking my things for the consignment sale. Darin had gone to pick up a light for his fish tank. All of a sudden Jordan comes down with this nice note for me. How lovely, only you are supposed to be going to bed.

So I read the note and had a laugh. Here is the translation:

"Mom and Dad, can we get a dog? I would name it .....(keep reading for explanation.)

I was actually happy to see her trying to write words by herself-usually she insists on us spelling everything for her. I told her it was nice and sent her back up to bed. She came down a few minutes later with more cute notes and Darin happened to come home at the same time. He read the note and asked Jordan what the last word meant. She proceeded to say Perrito (little dog) in beautiful Spanish!!! It was really cute....good thing for her she is so cute-especially with that front tooth missing. I couldn't get too mad, dang it, but it was bed time. She got lots of hugs and kisses and finally went on her way to bed for the night.

I love this little girl!

I love this little girl!

Jordan has now decided that she likes to wear skirts and dresses. She also has made a request for knee sock. She was thrilled when I did a little shopping for her at the Children's Place. (Daddy wasn't too happy with the bill....oops) She loved this little skirt and had to wear knee socks with it. She has now requested more. I have been pretty lucky thus far in being able to pick her clothes. We still do well, but she is beginning to voice her opinion. Luckily she has liked everything I get for her.

Sunday morning she came into our bed at 6:15 telling us she lost her tooth. She said she lost it in the night and put it under her pillow and now it was missing. It took a couple days, but I found it while I cleaned in her room yesterday, so the toothfairy came last night. I didn't realize she had come...I checked and there was some money under the pillow already-the fairy had already come and left about double what I was thinking (wink wink) she would leave. Lucky Jordan.

Flash a little much, Jordan?

One last vacation "catch-up" post

We were so amazed at the Lizards we saw everywhere in Florida. The above pictures is of the Orlando Temple. They were crawling all over the temple!! The kids loved it.

I spotted this little fella on our walk into the hotel the day we arrived. I put everything down and dug out my camera. I could actually see his tongue eating sweetness from this bird of paradise. I was hoping to get more shots, but Spence scarred him off. Such a pretty green.



Here are some lizards we saw at various places in the amusement parks.
They were everywhere!! Especially around the pool-we would play a game and see who could spot the most. Some of them were soo tiny-so cute.

T Rex Cafe
When we hear there was a restaurant with a dinosaur theme, we knew we had to go. Spencer is totally into dinos right now-has been for a long time. We heard there was always a long line, so we made a reservation. Maybe because it was pouring down rain, or just the timing, we got in even faster than expected. It was a really cool place-done by the same people who do the Rainforest Cafe. It was divided into the different dino eras, really cool.

Here is Jordan at the Restaurant. She wasn't too thrilled. She basically ate with one hand while trying to plug at least one ear. Poor thing...she did not enjoy herslf at all!! She hates loud noises, so this was not up her alley. This is during one of the "meteor showers" when it gets really loud.
One of the friends we made during dinner. Every 30 minutes there would be a "meteor shower" where it would sound kind of like a thunder storm and would get dark. The kids did not like this part at all.
I guess I should have put this picture up first. This is the outside of T Rex Cafe. It is a really cool place, even in the pouring down rain.


After we ate, we found a fun place for the kids to play. Since it was a torrential downpour outside, we were happy to kill some time. They had a dinosaur dig, where you got some brushes and could dig for bones. At first Lanny did not like it. They had these tiny little stones covering up the bones-took him a while to get used to it. I loved rubbing my feet in it-was therapeutic. Anyhow, kids ended up loving it and we stayed there for a while til the rain dyed down.

Would you like to have dinner with this guy? I asked the waitress what it is like to work in the "ice age" part of the restaurant and she said it is hard because the lighting is horrible; but people love sitting there.


The boys loved the restaurant-Jordan, not so much!!We were happy to see that the Lego store was right by the restaurant so we went over there for a little while. The kiddos loved playing with the legos.

Spencer concentrates so much...think I know what Santa may bring for Christmas!!
Spencer and Landon loved the huge Lego statues
We could have stood here all night!


Gatorland

The last time we went to Florida with Darin for work, I took Jordan and Spencer to this local attraction when he was at work. It was so cool that I really wanted to take Darin there, and I also thought that the kids would like it more this time since they are older.

It started when this guy wanted to rescue alligators and other animals and wanted to show them to people. He first took it on the road in the back of a truck, then finally got land and it went through a couple names and ended with Gatorland. It is really fun. If you ever go to the orlando area, you should really go.

Landon and I make a great friend.


Various shots of the gators. The albino gators were really cool. We also saw a gator wrestling show that was cool. I think it was even the same guy that was there a few years ago. The announcer was definitely the same guy. Anyhow there were lots of animals to see, gators everywhere, a bird refuge with a gator breeding ground, a fun train ride. Oh, they also added a water feature since we were there, but since we were heading straight to the airport, we had to skip it. Too bad because it was sooo hot that day. We were all dripping sweat.


I loved this shot...had to put it in.
You could hold a baby alligator and snake and pay to have your picture taken with it. Jordan didn't want to be in the picture, which is below, but she did touch this little guy.
They also had a show called Gator Jumpin, where they fed the gators. Very entertaining. The guys were pretty funny and it was cool to see them come up out of the water for the chicken. I have a cool video, as well, but have to figure that out.

They had a tank with babies inside the giftshop. They were so cute. I love that my camera takes great pictures through the glass tank!!
So bummed Jordan wouldn't come in the picture with us....would make a great Christmas card, don't ya think? She would not come near us....wonder why? I wanted to drag her over but Darin didn't want to make a scene since there were lots of other people waiting.

By the way, some of you may not know that when Darin and I got married he had two snakes exactly like the one around his neck; although they were probalby a little smaller. They were Kaa and Kate. Some people couldn't believe I didn't make him get rid of them when we got married. They just sat in the tanks all day; and it was actually fascinating to watch them eat a live mouse every other Saturday. It was pretty funny when one time a mouse escaped in Darin's car for a few days:) Kaa died when Spencer was a baby and we gave Kate away to a very excited lady.
Here ends another fabulous vacation!! Can't wait to see what next summer brings!

Pics to go with previous post

Here are the pics that go with the previous post.

The Things Boys Do

We had an interesting day yesterday. After Darin got home from work and Wendi and the kids got home from school and errands, Wendi asked where Spencer was. Darin hadn't seen him, so Wendi searched the house frantically for Spencer (and in the process forgot that she had rice on the stove, which burnt to a crisp). After checking inside the house, Wendi went outside to find Spencer asleep on the little wooden bridge in our flower garden. Apparently, he decided to nap outside on a hard wooden bridge rather than walk a couple of extra steps into the house to lay on a nice sofa instead. I guess if you lose a kid, you should look for him in unexpected places.

Later on, the kids were very tired and while Wendi was cleaning the kitchen Landon proceeded to disrobe and announce he was going to use the bathroom. This is not unusual since he would love to be a nudist at this point if allowed. So he went to the bathroom and wandered in and out. Spencer also used the bathroom. Landon went back in and Darin heard splashing. So Darin rushed in and Landon had his face down in the toilet (which unfortunately had not been flushed after Spencer had used it) and Landon was sucking up the yellow water and spitting it out on the floor! Whatever possessed him to stick his head in the toilet and suck up the water we have no idea, but we will definitely have to retrain the kids in appropriate bathroom etiquette!

More Universal Fun

I have to do one last post on Universal Studios. It was really fun. Here are some of our favorite moments.


Landon has a talk with Scooby Doo.Lots of fun characters to see. I sat through the Barney show twice....actually wasn't too bad.
There were lots of movie sets. I wasn't too sure about all of them, but was fun to see.

Here is the train from Back to the Future.
The famous car from Back to The Future.
Had to put this one in from the hotel. We had to get the kids to sleep in separate beds, then transfer them all to one bed each night. My three sleeping beauties!!
My favorite ride was the Mummy, which was one of the indoor roller coaster type rides. Very cool!! Only bad thing was that the kids were scarred in the line for the baby swap. Darin went on the Simpsons ride but hated it. We both stood in Coke bottle "cooling stations," which were really cool. They were funny, though because people they were automated, and people didn't really know what to do-you just had to stand there. Very refreshing on an extremely hot day!!

Fun with Madagascar characters. Spencer was not too happy. The first picture we took he had his face buried in Darin's chest. He wasn't so keen on the characters....also was really tired and cranky at this point as it was the very end of the day.
Jaws!!

One of the days we got there we were approached to be a TV critic. They took us to a room where we watched a raw version of a new show and had to sit and do a questionnaire after. We watched the show "Trauma" I really liked it, but Darin hated it. We each go $15.00 cash each when we were done! I was a little nervous at first because we had to have headphones and were faced away from the kids for over an hour, but they watched a movie and it was okay.

We had such a fun time at Universal. It is a fun place, but my advice is to save it for when your kids are older. My kids did love Barney, the curious George area, the animal actors show, and a Fivel goes West play area, but the rest of it was way to old.

Overall really fun place!1

A New Perspective

Landon was really funny this week. You see, he has been sitting behind the driver's seat since birth. Just easy to put him in and hop into my seat. I made and executive decision and decided to switch him to the passenger side seat since he runs and gets into the car by himself anyway, and also so that Jordan can get in the car easier when I pick her up from school. Her school's kiss and ride loads the kids on the driver's side.

So I did the switch. The first time Lanny was in his new spot was so funny. He hadn't really seen us drive before. This is what we heard over and over nearly every day this week"

"Daddy...what you doing? " Daddy, what dat wheel?" "Mommy driving the wheel." "Mommy, you driving the car?" "Mommy has steering wheel." and on and one.

He was utterly fascinated!!!

Us: "Mommy is driving the car, Landon." "this is the steering wheel, Lanny. It is how the car turns."

I never would have realized it was such a big deal. I guess he thought we all got inside the the car just drove itself. Makes you realize that it is the simple things in life that make is so great!!

Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

We had such a blast at Universal Studios. Islands of Adventure is the first of the two theme parks that we went to. We got to go the first day when Darin was with us, then I took the kids back a few times. They preferred this park to the other one, I think. Well, they did like Barney and Curious George in the other one, but anyhow.

We quickly learned that Jordan is not a theme park child. She enjoyed the shows and characters, but not the rides. We drug her on a few-no, we did not "drug" her, rather made her go on some. Even though I wished I could give her a kid form of valium or somthing to lighten her up... She plugs her ears on all the rides-has hated loud noises since infancy.

The boys were more daring. Spencer would go on any ride that he was tall enough for. Although one ride did prove a little nerve racking for Darin. It was Jurassic park and there was a huge drop during which Darin had to hold on tight to Spencer. He did get scarred of the massive T-Rex that comes right at you.

Here we are in the Jurrasic Park section.
Spencer doing some casual reading in the Jurassic Park section.
Look closely-Darin is about to get doused on the Popeye barge ride!! Very fun ride!
Jordan waiting while the boys and I went on a ride.
A really fun log ride-I was drenched!! Darin opted out of this one:)
I love the Family Circus. This particular one makes me think of the boys.
Toon Lagoon was really cute-based on Blondie and Dagwood, Popeye and Olive Oyl, Marmaduke-basically the good ole Sunday Comics. Jordan fell in love with Betty Boop.


Inside Islands of Adventure
a view from inside the park. The big roller coaster in the back is actually at Universal Studios.
A lot of the rides had the seats out front to sit in and make sure you could ride the rides. this was the ride where they shoot you up and you drop back down. I loved it! Pretty good thrill!
They had HUGE pictures of the heros and villains in the Marvel Comics section. Jordan called it "hero world."
various shots of "hero world" There is a picture of the boys and I in the "storm" ride. The cups spun around and around and the boys LOVED it. We would do it twice in a row and they would say "again" and "again." Twice was about all my stomach could handle. Darin and Jordan wouldn't go on it.

I went oh the big roller coaster in the pic-a few times. It was the "hulk" coaster. Shot you our of a cannon type thing really fast...soo awesome.
Jordan was so excited to see the heros! We had to get autograph books and she was thrilled to get them to sign her book. She and Landon had pics with all of them, meanwhile Spencer was a little more picky with who he posed with-only Spiderman and Cyclops.


There was Dr. Suess world at Islands of Adventure. The had the most child friendly rides. There were some fun ones we loved; but Jordan hated-she love the "Seussical" carousel the best-and she only sat on stationary seats.

When I had the kids alone, we went to the Dr. Suess show. It was so entertaining and we loved seeing the characters.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!!
I do not like them Sam I Am!!
Seussical
lots of fun times at Seussville!
We love you Cat in the Hat!
fun new friends! They aren't coming to our house!!!
our own little grinch...fun stuff in a gift shop.
the end of a really tiring day...
Next up: Universal Studios
Stay tuned for more fun!