London Bridges

I am a little tired right this second, for reasons which I will have to explain later.  I wouldn't want to tell you and spoil the surprise.  So, for now, and to tide you over on this Halloween day, you will have to be satisfied as I sing you a little ditty.

London Bridges on my couch, on my couch, on my couch....

 ...London Bridges on my couch.  My.  Fair.  Children.

Instrument down.  Take a bow.  The end :)

Fall Festival

Our stake fall festival was held at our local ward (church) building.  We have quite a bit of space there, and there was a ton of fun stuff to do, as well as good food.  But, you know what?  I didn't bring my camera... 

However, the kids enjoyed the football throw, the sand art, the pumpkin carving, and all the candy they got with it.  The hot dogs were yummy, and the "special guest flyover" from a local ward member made Dylan super happy :)  I had to take a picture of them when they got home.  Note Kaitlyn's face paint, Kari's sand art necklace and pumpkin (which she carved the eyes herself), and Dylan's dirty face.  Bishop was nice enough to share his brownie with him...

 Also, please note the fabulous goose egg on his forehead.  We had gone to the church earlier that day for a baptism, and as we were leaving, he tripped and fell.  And landed, apparently, flat on his forehead.  He didn't even have any scratches on his hands, so I guess he didn't even try to save himself.

Well, at least he has some handsome blue eyes to balance out the yellow and green bruise. :)

Potty Training

Are we potty training this little boy?  Not really.  With all the changes coming up (toddler bed, no pacifier, little sister) and the fact that he is a boy (and I have heard much harder to train), I am not even going to attempt anything serious until probably at least another 6 months.  That being said, however, when he expresses interest to sit on the potty, I let him.

 And, lets be honest.  At this point in the game, it is just that: a game.  Nothing usually comes of it.

Unless you count this super fabulous video that I got.

I love that he totally starts hamming it up and being such a silly boy. 

That is when I know he is pretty much done :)

Also, can I just say this seat is the best invention since sliced bread?

I am pretty sure we got ours at Wally World, and paid quite a bit less, but it is very nice to have it built in, and if an adult guest goes in there, we don't have to worry about them picking up the old one to something gross...  All I'm sayin' :)

Ground Zero

That Saturday evening, we had tickets to go to the 9/11 Memorial.  Despite the 16 bazillion checkpoints to get inside, it was very worth it.  Unfortunately, by that time, we had already walked around much of New York, and my preggo feet were having no more of it.  So, I didn't walk around as much as I could have.  But, I did enjoy sitting on the bench and enjoying the almost reverence that was there.

This is the tower that is the more complete of the two, during the day, from close to where we were staying.

This is one of the Remembrance Pools.  The fountain is in the same location and is approximately the same size as the building that was once there.  It is surrounded on all sides by the names of people who passed away there.

The same building as earlier, but from a different angle and at night.  I especially like the flag at the bottom.

The other Remembrance Pool.  My sister was especially thoughtful in that she went around and found each of her families names from the other names of the people there.  I wish I had thought to do something like that, but I was a little worn out at the time.

I did like going at night though, with all the names back lit from underneath.

The Survivor Tree.  Story is here (thanks to La).

The key that tells where certain names are, so if you know someone, it should be easier to find them.

After we left, we went to the museum (which I believe is temporary until the memorial is completed) and got to see some neat stuff in there.  I really enjoyed the timeline they had posted.

That night we went home, intending to go to bed, since some one's flight left at 5 in the morning.  Yeah.  We only ended up talking until about 2am... Not so bad, right?! :)  My flight left at noon, so I was able to have a leisurely breakfast and pack before I left. 

It was a fabulous weekend, with some fabulous friends.  May thanks to the hubbies who made it possible, and the good times we shared!  I think we should do it again.  Anybody up for this weekend?  Anybody? :)

Tourist Saturday

Now, if we were smart, we would have done our tourist thing on Friday.  Less traffic and easier going.  Alas, it also would not be a trip to NYC if you didn't do the true tourist thing.  So, Saturday morning we set out for a roundtrip on the Staten Island Ferry.  From onboard, you could see back into Manhattan.  This is the Manhattan skyline, with the orange arrow pointing to approximately where we were staying.

 The ferry provides a nice view of Lady Liberty on the way by.

 Look!  Proof that I was there :)

 Then we rode the subway up to Times Square to do the tourist thing there.  Several people bought "I heart NY" things for their families, but since I don't love mine, I didn't.  Kidding!!!  We had been there a few years ago, so I didn't feel the need.

 We headed to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.  I know it was a "girly weekend", but it was nice that half of the girls there happened to be my siblings.  I'm still the shortest, by a bit.  And the fattest by a non-bit.

 We all had burgers.  I should have gotten the ribs.  I have been here once before, and they were the best ribs I have ever eaten. :)

 We also had the chance to meet up with my cousin, who I haven't seen (my nearest guess) in, maybe 8-ish years...  He happens to live in NY and was kind enough to come and find us wandering the streets.  I don't know what people did in the era before cell phone texting. 

 And, perhaps the most important part of the day for Piko, was the photo opp.  For a mere $2, they were able to mug for the camera with a favorite icon.

Stay tuned for more to come.

Bragging Post/Girly Weekend

So, this post is partially to brag on 2 fabulous husbands, and partially to brag on my fantastic trip to EN.  WHY.  CEE.  for my first ever girly weekend!

The first fabulous husband would be my own, who convinced me to go, saying that we may not have a chance like this again in the near future, and that he could handle things here at home.

The second husband belonging to my friend, whom I shall call Bucket, for arranging a girly weekend at his newly moved into apartment in New York for an early surprise birthday present for his wife.

He arranged everything via email and facebook, we all secretly booked our tickets, and arrived on Thursday evening.  We took a taxi to the apartment building, at which point husband #2 needed to go "get a package from the lobby".  He returned with 4 girls and a baby.  Needless to say, Bucket was very surprised, and perhaps slightly overwhelmed, but happy none the less.  We had another friend arrive LATE that night having driveng up and spend the day with us.

The first night we stayed up late visiting with each other, as we hadn't seem some of us for years, but thankfully because of the internet, had been in constant contact for the last 2 years (ish).  And, since only some of us had littles, we were able to sleep in some the next morning.  We had a leisurely breakfast, hung out, and went to pick up tickets for a Broadway show (who can go to NYC and not go to Broadway?!?!)

This is all of us that were physically there!!! :)

L to R: Pickle (sister), Our token "adult" as she was the oldest and by far the most responsible whom we shall call Indiana, Bucket, MareBear (& 5 wk daughter C), Me (yikes...  pictures make me look huge), La (sister #2 with son Benny Boo).

 We even skyped with another friend who couldn't make it, but totally wanted to be there :)

 That night, we squeezed into a cab and went to see Stomp in an intimate theater (technically Off Broadway, but who's counting?).  It was pretty amazing :)  Lots of fun rhythms and ingenious use of "trash".  My favorite, by far, was the lighter routine, but it was all pretty great :)

 And then, after it was all said and done, we ended up having to walk home some 2 miles.  Nobody wanted to pick us up, as we were apparently going in the wrong direction for the night... 

But that is what New York is about, right?  Walking.

Yet Another Outside Post

The other day we had some time to kill, some dinner to eat, and the relative inability to go home.  So, to Burger King we went.  It was nice enough outside to finish our dinner, and then let the kids play.

Does anybody else love watching their child walk?  Maybe it's just me. 

And this is what I mostly saw of Kaitlyn.  That child is a runner.  She never stops moving.

 I love how he just owns the place now. It is so sad, and yet so great to see him grow up and be able to do these things by himself.

 $.50 to the person who can tell me what would make my son pause in the middle of the playground, while his face turned pink.  I know you can't see it very well, but, gosh it made me giggle!

 Playing King of the Castle.

 Kari played quite a bit, but, it was getting late.  Since she no longer takes naps (because of school)...

 ...she would frequently come and take rests.  I am pretty sure that if she were at home, she would have fallen asleep.

 Look!  I got her to pause long enough to take a picture :)

So, you see?!?!  I am not such a bad mother after all.  We played outside twice in, like 2 months!  My record is improving :)

Good Weather

Hubby and I have both discussed our childhoods growing up, and how we spent so much time outside.  I will acknowledge the fact that it may be as simple as childhood memories being slightly tainted by, well, childhood minds, but it seemed to both of us that we were outside a great deal of the time.  Enter: Motherly Guilt.  My kids don't play outside all that often.  Several reasons (excuses) are involved in this.  1) We live on a semi decent street, and my children are young, so they can't go outside without my watching them.  And, well, I just don't always feel like going outside.  2)  During the summer here at home, we often have heat indexes and warnings that make it literally unsafe to spend significant amounts of time outside.  3) Because we have some drainage issues, we have small puddles of standing water in some areas, which are a breeding ground for mosquitoes.  And, my poor children have inherited my super sweet blood that attracts mosquitoes for miles around, and which makes them itchy/whiny monsters for the next 24 hours.

Now, that being said, when the day is pleasant enough to go outside, we do like to take advantage of it.  We mostly play in the front yard (less mosquitoes) and the children run, beat bushes with sticks, and get out the bikes to ride on the driveway.  Look, I even have proof!!!

 Kari is pretty good at giving her siblings rides on the tricycle.  She is technically too big for it, but Kaitlyn has no desire to learn to properly peddle or steer the thing, so Kari usually gets to.

 Then Daddy comes home.  And while you can't actually see her, Kari is practicing a skateboarding skill her father had just demonstrated to her.  In his work clothes.  *shakes head*  Men.

 And, because I have a fabulous digital camera, several of my shots tend to be about 1 second too late.  Observe:  If it had been 1 second earlier, Kari would have actually been in the shot.

For your viewing pleasure:

One last outside story.  For whatever reason, mosquitoes don't like hubby.  I tell myself it is because of his Indian blood (I doubt the Indians were much bothered by them), or his hairy arms.  Or maybe it is just because I have always been so much sweeter :)  They just don't like him.  He will go outside, be there for an hour cutting this or digging that, and get, maybe 2 bites that he doesn't even notice the following day.  Me?  I go out for 4 minutes, and come in with 7 bites that swell up to the size of a quarter and itch so much that I wake up with bloody legs the following morning, having scratched them in my sleep.  The point of the story is this:  Hubby says I am the best mosquito repellent ever.  Because when I go outside with him, he gets not one bite. 

Gee.  Um, thanks honey.

My first Polo Match

I usually do things in chronological order.  So, this technically should have gone earlier, but I wasn't really paying attention, and posting what I wanted, so....  A while back, before the computer died, we went to our first polo match.  One of the owner's of the company hubby works for has quite a bit of land near here, and is a fan of horse polo, so he puts on a charity polo match and sells tickets.  He also gives away tickets to his employees for free, which is a good thing, since they are $70 each.  This was our first year going (they have done it for the past 3 years that I know of) and I am pretty sure we will be going again.  It was pretty awesome!

I love this picture of my family, walking in from the parking lot.  You can tell it was a pretty well attended event.

 Check it out!  They had all these cool blow up toys for the kids.  This was the first, and only time Dylan went down.  But the girls would have done it forever.

 Kari (in her Sunday best, because yes, it was a pretty dressy event).

 Kaitlyn

 They also had a horse and pony for the kids to ride.  Check out how happy he looks!

 Well, alright, she looks pretty happy too.

 While they waited for Kari's turn to be over, they sat on buckets.  I was trying to get Dylan to look at me, so I said "Where's your face?"  To which he responded ""Here".

 Oh man am I in trouble.  Between hubby and 3 kids who want horses, I will never hear the end of it.  Thankfully, I have already laid down the law.  You can get horses if you want, but I refuse to muck out stalls.  The end.

 They had painting easels set up too.  Thankfully, the person in charge of this was very smart and got washable paints, as Kaitlyn proceeded to get much too close to the paints... :p

 Why is it that I love the backs of my children so much?  I think they just make cute pictures!

 Daddy helping out with an artistic eye.

 Face painting was also a big hit.

 I am telling you: This thing was billed as a polo match, but the kids were endlessly entertained.

 Now, I have never seen a polo match.  But this was kinda interesting.  There are only 4 players per team on the field, and it seemed to go pretty quickly.  It was also nice that the British accented announcer explained parts of the game to us as he announced.

 Now, where you find a British accented polo announcer in the middle of no-whereville, Alabamy, I don't know...  But, he was pretty good :)

 Between periods they had some pretty neat entertainment as well.  They had a model airplane demonstration.

 Which Dylan and Kaitlyn thought was pretty cool.  They kept sneaking closer and closer to the field, hoping if they did it slowly we wouldn't notice.  Silly kids.  (Again with the back pictures)

They also had a real airplane demo, ice cream and frozen yogurt galore, and plenty of horse gazing for the older horse enthused adult in my group.  It was beautiful weather, and despite the lack of naps, a great time was had by all!