LEGOLAND!!

We were debating between Disney and Legoland, but we decided to head to Legoland in hopes of hitting Florida next year.  It did not disappoint. The boys seemed to really have a good time.  There were a fair amount of rides Andrew could do ( and some he could not since he is 41" and a lot of the rides were 42"). So many cool things made out of legos. And, we found out (I am sure we were told at some point), that Chris' second cousin was one of the architects that created the CA Legoland Park.

 Andrew wanted to ride EVERy coaster we came to! He is sitting with Chris here, you just can't see him!

              Boat ride around Fairy Tale land. Ryan was not too crazy about this.

                                                      Sleeping Beauty

                                                   Hansel and Gretel

                                            Getting his license

                                           The park was gearing up for the holidays

The park has an entire area called MiniLand. It has San Fransico, NYC, Washington DC, Paris, Mt. Rushmore, New Orleans, etc..built to scale. This was probably my favorite part. Ryan kept walking around yelling BOAT, BOAT!

Fun with Friends

For the first part of our time in CA, we stayed with our friends the Jennings. I trained with CJ in Maryland for a year before they left for California. That was 7 years ago! Chris and I got to visit when their oldest son Christian was 6 weeks old, and this is their family now.

They boys had so much fun wrestling. Ryan wanted to be a part of it too of course, which was hilarious. He would just run in and lay down.

We had such a great time while visiting. Ryan loved Christian, and Andrew played with Samantha and Christian every chance he got.  Here are a few of my favorites.

                                            Jumping for  Unripe Oranges!

                                                                           Sweet Baby Beau

           
 Sadly, the only picture CJ and I got together! Guess that happens with 5 kids!

Let the fun begin!!

Today I embarked on my first cross-country flight with two children.  When I say "I", that is actually what I mean. Chris was already in Denver (imagine that, a 4 hour plane ride ALONE!!:) It actually wasn't as bad as I had anticipated after our last flight to Michigan. I had to wake the boys at 4am to catch our 6am flight. The FDR (main way to the airport) was closed at every spot the driver tried to get on it, but we did finally make it. Ryan didn't want to walk in the airport that early, so I got to carry a car seat, diaper bag, Ryan, his little suitcase and pull our large suitcase. Even after we checked a few things, I was still sweating bullets. I was soo glad to sit down on the plane.

Ryan napped a bit on the first flight. We then made it to Chicago(early! woohoo!!) for a 3 hour layover. We ate, made bathroom stops, rode the moving walkways A LOT, colored, ate some more, more pit stops, and finally boarded the plane. Here is a moment of peace.

After we boarded the plane, I realized the flight was a little over 4 hours instead of 3, but we survived. After we landed, got luggage, got to the rental car in the rain, we made it to our friends house after what had been a 13 hour ordeal. And it wasn't even late afternoon in California!

Accidents and Painting

As Ryan has gotten older, I think I have said it before, he is a little bit of a bully. I have been working on it, but, well, let's face it, he isn't even two. If Andrew gets too close to me and he was sitting too close to me first, things get ugly. Today, Andrew got a sharp fingernail to the eye.

After a bit of crying he is fine, just a little bloodshot.
OAN, I read about a great project I thought the boys would enjoy doing for fall and being thankful. Let's just say, by the end, I was thankful it was over. I'll have to post an after picture once the month starts moving some more. Here are some of us working on the initial painting.