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!

Swimming fun

We had so much fun swimming in the hotel pool in Florida. We went every day. A couple days we stayed for a really long time. There was a kiddie pool with sand to play in-with lots of toys provided and the big pool had a graduated entry-like the beach. They had life jackets, which my kids loved since they could swim all over the pool with them. We even did evening swimming a couple times on the weekend, which was really fun because they had a djay playing good music and the cool torch lighting ceremony with Polynesian dancers.

One of the times we went in the evening.
The kids loved jumping off the side of the pool. They were almost fearless with the lifejackets. Landon would jump over and over. I have some cute videos, but have to figure out how to get them from picassa.
More fun pool shots.
Spencer was a crack up-he found every one of these shovels and spent a fair amount of time arranging them. This is what he does with everything these days-organized and arrange.


One amazing thing that happened over the weeks is that Landon was swimming underwater!! He did it completely on his own. I just looked down and there he was completely under. At first I was scarred, and thought he fell, but he did it over and over. He would glide under the water!!! Spencer got really good at it as well. Landon would also swim-kick his legs and move his arms around when he had the life jacket. He was truly amazing for not even 2 and a half!! One time I counted and he stayed under water for over 5 seconds!! He is definitely the most advance of all of them at this age. Guess he has the advantage of seeing the older ones!!

The Hotel-

We stayed at a really cool hotel on our trip. It is called the Royal Pacific Hotel, one of the 3 hotels on the whole Universal Studios Resort. It was a pretty cool place. I was a little nervous about staying at such a nice place with the kids, but they did really well; and there were lots of other families. When we were in our room, we often heard kids running down the hall, so I didn't feel so bad.

This is the entry way to the hotel. You walked over a waterway and it always sounded like a waterfall. The big lobby was really cool. A couple nights they played movies, there was a sushi place and a huge concierge-which had directions to every restaurant in the area nicely typed up on little pieces of paper. There were lots of amenities at the hotel, but I was bummed the gym wasn't included-it was $10.00 per visit, or 3 for $26.00. Wasn't motivated that much, plus I walked tons all day at the park and swam a lot.

The pool was really fun, and we ate at a poolside restaurant which was fun. Each night they have a torch lighting ceremony with polynesian dancers. We saw it a couple times and Jordan loved it. One night Lanny tried dancing with the boys.

It was really nice each day to take the water taxi over to the theme parks. The kids really loved it. One day we did walk the path, but it was a bit long, and with walking all day at the parks, it wore us out. We were so tired every night, but there will be more on that to come.


A map of the whole place. It was really big, but Darin was happy the lady put our room in the middle and not the wing really far from the conference center.
A couple more shots of the hotel. It was really amazing. The lobby was called the Orchid Court. It had the most beautiful orchids. The pics don't do them justice. I just loved all the Polynesian touches-if you never left, you could have felt like you were in the Islands somewhere:)

Another fun exhausting vacation!

We are home from Florida but am so tired!!! What a great trip we had. We went to Universal Studios Resort in Orlando and stayed in one of the on site hotels. It was called the Royal Pacific and was AWESOME!! We took a water taxi to and from the hotel to the theme parks and the kids loved it. We went 6 days in a row...woah!! Well, I did it by myself with the 3 kids for 3 of the days Darin was in the conference. On the trip we learned a few things:
1. Jordan has a high need for safety. She would not ride many rides and told me not to go on the roller coasters because "mommy, they aren't safe."
2. Spencer loves rides.
3. If I could have taken him, Landon would have gone on the roller coasters.."mommy, I go with you on roller coaster."
4. Motion animation rides are HORRIBLE on your head and stomache...avoid the Simpsons ride at Universal...just ask Darin.
5. Jordan doesn't like rides, but loves posing with the characters.
6. Landon can go poopy on the potty when he wants!!!
7. Schlepping 3 kids around an amusement park is the same workout as going to the gym...which was $10 a session at the hotel!!!
8. Put a lifejacket on Landon and he thinks he is Micheal Phelps!!
9. my kids aren't the only loud ones in a hotel.
10. the poolside restaurant is wayyyyy expensive, but really fun!

Lots of fun pics and stories to come:):)