Our last few days of sun!

Carl and I were blessed enough to escape for 24 hours and stay the night at the Marriott (what luxury!) while our kids had loads of fun with Bev and Bruce (thank you, thank you, thank you). As much as we love being parents, it is amazing what 24 hours of R&R will do for a couple. We came back refreshed and ready to enjoy our last couple of days of vacation. Here are a few moments in pictures...


Rolling down the hill (note the hands in his pockets). We spent hours outside soaking up all the rays we could!





One of Carl's magnificent hummingbird photos



Who is the sassy lady? Bev dressed up for an evening event at their Tennis Club. They have such a wonderful group of friends and neighbors and a schedule that is hard to keep up with! I hope we are as lucky to enjoy retirement this way!

Happy Half-Birthday Girl!

Ava turned 18 months while we were in Palm Desert. She celebrated by enjoying a fruity popsicle! Her personality emerges more every day. She reminds me very much of my grandmother Marie after whom she takes her middle name. She is content and happy, loves to be funny, and is very capable and independent. I bought her a t-shirt today that says 'Sunny' because it very much reminds me of her personality.

For the love of Disney

Tuesday we took Henry for a whirlwind tour of Disneyland. It was about a 2 hour drive from Palm Desert so it was a full day. Getting started early wasn't a problem as Henry woke up at 4:45 so we were there when the gates opened and left watching the parade near closing. The weather was perfect--a little cloudy with a chance of rain (though it never developed) but we hardly had any lines all day. At lunch at the Pizza Port we got gifted a lunch on china with a waitress (in a buffet tray line pizza joint) with our own waitress as a wish granted for the Year of a Million Dreams! While it was a fun time we would much more highly recommend the sourdough bread bowls with gumbo or chowder in the New Orleans area. One of my college roomies met us there with her two daughters, Lexy and Tori, later in the day. It was such a gift to see her and meet the girls. Thank you for coming! Here is our photo journal of some of the days highlights.


Waiting for the gates to open...



Hugs from Pooh



Meeting Tigger



The 3 of us with Mickey (longest line of the day--15 minutes)



Snuggles with Minnie--we got Henry an autograph book and he got probably 12-15 characters to sign it. It is a great momento.



The rockets of Tomorrowland


Pure joy on the teacups!



Silly mama on the Manhattan Bobsleds


Henry's favorite ride (shocker) the Autopia cars. Little cars on a pretty long track that he could drive himself (Carl next to him pushing the gas. It's blurry because I'm trying to snap a photo while driving the car in front of them--no easy task.



Good times in Mickey's red car


With my dear friend Jenn



Henry and Lexy in a last minute Autopia line!

The Living Desert

We took the kids to The Living Desert which is a very cool array of deserts (their plant and animal life) from around the world. We saw many interesting animals and Carl got to use all his desert knowledge from Arizona to educate little miss northwest me! There were a lot of places for the kids to explore and play and they had a lot of opportunity to run around! It was a great day.

Our own B & B

We ventured off to sunny Southern California to stay at our own B&B (that is Bev and Bruce Wulf's--Carl's aunt and uncle and Henry's godparents). We were thoroughly doted upon--a vacation complete with gourmet cooks and professional babysitters! It was a luxury we did NOT take for granted. Here a few photos from our first few days. We enjoyed the sun and spent hours outside with the kids (building up a reserve to last us until the sun visits Oregon again!). Many, many thanks to Bev and Bruce for making our trip so wonderful.


Henry breaking in his new racquet



Tennis lessons from Uncle Bruce



Snuggles with Auntie Bev

Cheesecake

Oh, the spontaneity...today I was sitting at the kitchen table giving the kids some cheese and crackers for a snack. I realized Ava had a dirty diaper and went into her room to change it. About two minutes later Henry came in with the remaining chunk of cheese and about 20 peas piled on top singing happy birthday to me. Priceless. He then proceeded to eat the cake. I couldn't stop laughing!

Webster

In the past several weeks, Henry has been coming up with new, inventive words--complete with definitions. Here they are:


Toogles: toys for caterpillars (aka blossoms on the strawberry bushes in our yard)



Credding: a way to buy things on the computer (quite literally)



Verd: the part of the phone that gets it charged (I've always wondered what those were called!)

The bun and daddy

When I was still pregnant with Ava, my sister told Henry there was a bun in my oven. Boy, did he think that was funny! Ever since then, Ava has affectionately been known as 'The Bun' or 'Ava Bun'. It gets used a little less often now that she is more of a toddler and less baby (though the other day Henry called her 'Toddler Bun'), but as a nickname it is really the only one we use (she may not appreciate it as an adolescent!). Here are some moments of fun with Miss Ava. I am always grateful at the fun the kids have with Carl. He is a wonderful combination of nurturing father and fun daddy!

Ze artist!

Note to self, never turn your back on a 17 month old with Crayola Twistables. Here is what happened--a blue mustache and tongue!

Flubber kisses

One of Henry's favorite new inventions--flubber kisses. He gives a big blow on your cheek--and is very proud of how surprised you are--when you are expecting a sweet kiss. Needless to say, Ava LOVES them!



During




After

Sunday smoothies

Before church this morning, I made the kids smoothies. Here they are in their morning glory, lounging on Ava's new beanbag (thank you Bev and Bruce!)

Sunday Brunch

We were blessed to have Sunday Brunch with Grandpa B, Lulu, and Nana this morning at Orchard Heights Winery. It was delicious, the company was fantastic, and the balloons were elusive (Henry had 3 blue balloons because his first two escaped to the ceiling--thank you to the gracious staff at the winery for getting him another...and another!).  Here are a few photos from the morning.


Love for Grandpa B--he's such a funny guy!


Love for Lulu


Big hugs for B


Ava making friends with her balloon

Prayers of a sweet boy

Carl asked Henry if he wanted to pray before dinner tonight. Henry accepted and he said this prayer, "Thank you God for all the people who are living and for all the people who are not living. Because some of us are living and some people are not living. Amen." I am always amazed at the prayers of children (last night in bed Henry thanked God for noses)--because they are beautifully simplistic and ring true. I am grateful for how Henry and Ava remind me of what is really important and how very much we have to be thankful for.

The Best Man

Carl was gone to Billings, MT for work on Wednesday and it is his tradition to get Henry a new car when he travels (Hot Wheels, Matchbox, etc.). This morning Henry was the excited recipient of an Alfa Romeo. He carried it with him all day and it went for a walk with us in our neighborhood late in the afternoon. All was well until we stopped by to visit our storm grate. Henry was trying to put a long piece of grass in when...plink, plank, plunk...the Alfa Romeo met the bottom of the grate. It was visible, yet unreachable and Henry knew it the moment it went in. You would have thought he had lost a near relative for the amount of tears and sadness that came from this boy. He was distraught. All I could do was to remind him that the best thing to do was stay calm and for us to think about some ways we could get it (really I was just stalling until Carl got home). About 20 minutes later Carl got home, changed his clothes, walked with Henry to the storm grate, removed it (which I didn't even know was possible), and climbed down to retrieve it. He was our hero--especially Henry's. He was my hero because I had had a grumpy day and he showed up with two dozen roses just because. Wow. In our eyes, he really is The Best Man.

Got Milk?

Carl was travelling today and dinner is always less formal when Daddy is gone. Tonight Henry was experimenting with his cup at dinner. The pictures tell all. Ava thought he was hilarious! It was so funny I couldn't tell him to stop!


Stage 1: Blowing


Stage 2: Blowing REALLY hard


Stage 3: Look at me!


Stage 4: I love this! Who knew milk could be so fun?


Stage 5: Whoops I got some up my nose!

Un-decorating

We spent almost the entire New Years Day un-decorating from Christmas. As I vacuumed up virtually thousands of fir needles, I deduced that un-decorating is like giving birth in that you forget how hard it is so you are willing to do it again! There is so much excitement in putting things out, but not so much in putting them away (though I am grateful to have a corner of our great room back!). Henry was a big helper this year. Here are he and Carl loading the Tree into our recycling bin. I was a wonderful and very memorable holiday to cap off an amazing year...what incredible changes our children have gone through in the past twelve months! Ava is feeling much better and is learning new words everyday. Some of her newest favorites are uh-ohhh, snow (shnow), flower (fwow-wer), ti (for tiger), and fish (which sounds more like sish). Happy New Year!