Just a Little Bigger

Dallin had his yearly check up with his hematologist today.  We {heart} Dr. Felgenhauer!  She is so great- takes all the time to talk to us, answer our questions and make sure we're well informed.  

While waiting beforehand, Dallin struck a pose...

which struck a memory...

Almost exactly 4 1/2 years ago- what a change!

Still just as cute though *grin*

For reference, his crit was 27.6 with a retic of 18.7!  That may be a record high for him!

Mt. Rushmore

 On the looooooong drive home from Kentucky, we ventured out of the way a bit to see Mt. Rushmore.  It was pretty impressive and the kids really enjoyed it (probably mostly because of the Phineas and Ferb episode set there though)...

The monument really was neat to see, but you can only stare at it for so long (and even less if you're Jace or Hailee)- fortunately there was a museum we meandered through to justify not getting back in the car just yet...

Somewhere in the Dakotas or Montana we also stopped at an old West town with a wax museum- we ended up cheaping out rather than pay the ridiculous entry fee...

While we love our long summer road trips, it is always so nice for EVERYONE to be back home.  We have a lot we need to fit into the last 6 weeks of summer!

Summer Road Trip - Part IV - Kentucky

At last we reached our final destination, and surprisingly, we weren't welcomed by oppressive humidity- we were welcomed by chiggers instead! =/  Well, at least the kids were...  the night after we arrived, first Dallin, then Bryson, then all the others came to me complaining of itchy red bumps, going up their leg and around their waistbands.  We finally decided that they were chigger bites that they got the first night we  had arrived- all the kids played in the area around the campfire, but I stayed near the house- and I didn't have any bites.  They were awful bites and took several days to clear up, during which time the kids expressed thankfulness again and again that we don't have chiggers back home *grin*

My favorite place to go when we're in Louisville is the zoo.  This year our trip coincided perfectly with a pretty amazing Lego exhibit:

Crazy crazy crazy the time and sheer number of Lego's involved in these creations- my kids were super impressed for sure.

We went to a fun playground one day and got stuck in a little rainstorm, but the kids didn't care:

Grandma and Papa arranged a tour of a candy factory...

We took the new "walking bridge" across the Ohio River to the candy factory- it's an old converted railroad bridge- the kids had so much fun running with their cousins, there were just so many to try to keep track of!

On the Kentucky side of the bridge, there's a big playground and slash pad we had fun at:

For the 4th of July we rented the same massive water slide as two years ago.  To say that we got our moneys worth out of it doesn't do it justice...

Despite the cool temperature and overcast skies, the kids were on it ALL.DAY.LONG.  They took breaks here and there, but were always drawn back to the massive fun machine *grin*

Ben and Waveney were amazing and supplied fireworks- the older kids thought it was awesome to throw the poppers at each other...

Besides family (of course!) and the zoo, lightening bugs are my other favorite thing about Kentucky... They are just magical and I love to chase and catch them for my little ones to enjoy-

Dallin caught a few of his own too:

Long walks down country roads...

Sadly, this may be our last time at the Cotton Farm as Grandma and Papa are selling it- *sigh*  We had such a wonderful time in Kentucky- it's simply magical every time we visit and wish it could happen more often *grin*

Summer Road Trip - Part III (and a half) - Jace's Birthday Adventure(?)

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACE!!  Guess what little man, for the 2nd time out of your three total birthdays, you get to spend your special day strapped in your car seat!! 

And out of all my kids, he's the last one of my kids who would be okay with that.  Poor guy!  But it's all for a good cause... he really was a trooper.  He was growing weary of his car seat about the time we reached St. Louis, so I was {ahem} compelled to stop at Burger King for a birthday lunch- 

Me: Jace, what do you want for your birthday lunch?

Jace: I-KEEM!!! {ice-cream}

Me: Yes, you CAN have ice-cream, but what else do you want?  A cheeseburger?  Chicken nuggets?

Jace: I-KEEM!!

Me: Ok, Ice-cream... and what else?
Jace: I-KEEM!!

What else was I supposed to do?  It was his birthday!

He eventually did eat 1/2 a cheeseburger, but pretty much filled up on ice-cream.

The rest of his diet that day consisted of cookies and candy, which paired nicely with his rigorous video game and movie watching schedule.

Jace's favorites at age three- As with all the other times I've posted my kids annual favorites, I asked him each time what his favorite color/restaurant/food etc. was... I don't think he really gets the concept of a question yet...

Favorite Color: co-woh?  pway co-woh! {color? play color!... ie: he wants to color}
Favorite Restaurant: eat dinnow?  in owa house!  {eat dinner?  In our house!... apparently we don't get out much}
Favorite Food: food?  eat?  i wike it!  I wike mango and cay-yits {food? eat?  I like it!  I like mango and carrots}
Favorite Drink: drink wadow?  {drink water?... but he's currently drinking water, sooooo that response may be skewed....}
Favorite thing to do: pway ow-side
Best Friend: Bryson
Favorite Movie: Reck-sue Boss {Rescue Bots}
Favorite TV Show: Chuggington 
Favorite Toy: fayit twoya?  Why-queen! {favorite toy?  Lightning McQueen!}
Favorite Animal: fayit amimamal?  I wike amimamals.  {favorite animal?  I like animals}
Favorite Book: {I'm just going to go out on a limb and say any of the Richard Scarry Busytown books, he pours over them}
What he wants to be when he grows up: a pwees man {police man}

He's pretty much a parrot these days, and in all fairness, I asked him these questions when he was totally distracted playing a game on my phone.  He does talk a lot, but when asked a question most of the time he just repeats what was said...  He certainly has opinions (CONSTANTLY!) but getting a straight answer out of him is a little difficult sometimes.  Regardless, I'm very happy with where his vocabulary is right now, even if he can't enunciate all the sounds.

From time to time, whenever we are out, and at seemingly random times, Jace will yell out, "E-ents Mommy, wook! E-ents!!"  For a long time, I thought he was saying "elephants", but I was pretty certain there were no elephants roving about- I finally figured out one day when an ambulance went zooming past with it's lights flashing and sirens blaring that he was saying ambulance!  It still takes me a few seconds to figure out what he's saying when he exclaims in excitement that he sees an "e-ents" though... Similarly, he used to call a police car a "way car"(??)  but I thought he was saying "race car"... "way car" has morphed to "pwees car" recently though.  

Summer Road Trip - Part III - Kansas City

We got to Alan and Brandi's in Kansas City well enough, but after a 16 hour drive a few days before, you'd think the 9 hours to KC would be a breeze... not so much.  Driving through Kansas is just b.o.r.i.n.g., and, it seemed to take allllll day... I suppose that's because it did- I didn't leave early, and as a result, got in late.

The next day, we went to the Kansas City Science Center-

Bryson was the only one tall enough to ride the 'high wire bike':

Jace loved the police helicopter:

They all took turns generating electricity with whatever this was:

And then five kids ran in five different directions and I didn't have time to take anymore pictures!  Seriously, there was so much to see and touch and do, but everyone wanted to see and touch and do different things!  Good thing Alan and Brandi were there to help me herd the cats *grin*

Unfortunately, the Science Center closed way too early- we had just found a whole room full of model trains when a security guard happened by and told us the Science Center was closing!  We were all super disappointed.

This cool old train outside softened the blow a little bit- even if they couldn't go inside of it.

In the end, it was good to get home early in order to rest up for the drive to Kentucky the next day...  We were up just early enough that we could catch the first tour of the morning at the Liberty Jail on our way out of Kansas City...

We stopped here years ago on our way out to Spokane a few months before we moved, Bryson was not yet 3 and Dallin was almost 1.  They obviously got a lot more out of the experience this time- it was really neat to see them feel and recognize the spirit.

Summer Road Trip - Part II - Colorado

I took off from McCall early Saturday morning bound for Kristi's house in Colorado... I did NOT look forward to the drive because, since it was 16 hours away, it meant I'd have to stop and stay in a hotel along the way.  No sane person would drive 16 hrs straight with five kids under 12, right?  Mmm-hmmm.

As bonus to leaving at 5 am, ALL the kids zonked out in the back for a solid 2 hours, so it was just me and my e-book...

So we made really good time, the kids were content and just enjoyed movies and snacks and games and the drive... and the thing is, when you leave at 5 am and only have to stop twice, and twelve hours later when it's 5 pm and you're only 4 hours away from your destination and you feel fine and the kids just want to get there, you just GO FOR IT!  So we did- and we made it all the way to Kristi's house by 10 pm that night.  The kids were a.w.e.s.o.m.e.- I couldn't have done it without them *wink*

It was wonderful that the next day was Sunday and we could just relax.  That evening though, I already felt the pull to Kentucky:

Bryson actually was the one who pointed out this perfectly shaped Kentucky cloud *grin*

But Kentucky would have to wait, we had a jam packed week ahead of us!

Monday we headed to a great little water park:

 Tuesday it was mini golf:

After golf, we went to the most bizarre 'site'- Bishop Castle-  Some guy decided to just build a castle in the middle of the mountains (HE built it, NOT his dad *wink*... he has a few 'rants' posted about the premises).  Impressive, yes, but the motivation to spend my entire life building a castle for no apparent reason is not in my DNA.  It was cool, but there were some crazy unsafe walk ways all the way up to the top spire.  I kept my kids very close... and ventured no where near the top.

Yes, that is a dragon on the top of the castle...  

The for reals castle gate:

Wednesday we went to the Pueblo Zoo:

They wanted to take this picture for daddy... somewhere in the tree behind them is a sloth:

 And amidst all the action, we managed to just have a great time- Hailee was enthralled with all of Matt's weapons- plastic knives and blades, toy sabres and swords, fake sai's and guns- you name it, she had it tucked in her waistband:

After a whirlwind few days, we were off and headed to Alan and Brandi's on Thursday morning...