2011

This year has ended and I think it was the year to replace everything.  We started out needing a new car, then it went on to the Washer & Dryer, the pool had to be drained and big repairs on the hot tub, We replaced the dishwasher, and the Kitchen Faucet, the not water heater, both Big Screen TV's needed major repairs,  We had to replace the major parts of the Garage door opener, The AC needed some work, of course, it was 110+.  The repairman had to come out 3 times to repair it ( I think he didn't know what he was doing).  After each repair/replacement, we thought nothing else could possibly break...a few months later it would happen again.  I think we're good for 2012.

Christmas 2011

We started out Christmas Break with the Annual Reindeer Run at Hancock. This is Derek lining up with his class before the run. They changed the run a bit from past years. Now you collect dollars for each lap and if a parent/family member runs too Derek also gets their dollars. Then the class with the most dollars wins a prize. Here is Derek with all his dollars. Later that day we brought in doughnuts to his class to celebrate his Birthday which is over break

Birthday #8- Derek is opening his most favorite gift- Lego Pirates of the Caribbean Black Pearl Ship

Derek loves that his Birthday is near Christmas (he claims it is on Christmas) he always wants a Christmas-looking birthday cake.

The completed Black Pearl. Dax & Derek Did a great job on this.

Christmas morning.

The ever-fun tradition (compliments of Curtis' family) of ripping into the living room which was sealed off by Santa to ensure no peeking. The boys all got matching PJs, which they all LOVED. Who knew kids would love getting PJs for Christmas??

Lego Hogwarts

Dax's big gift. Lego Mindstorms. It is like a lego robot that he builds and programs.

Then Papa Showed up with a snow delivery from Flagstaff. It is the perfect kind of snow. Only a patch shows up. Just enough to play in and make a few snowballs, the neighbor kids usually join in too. Then it soon melts. No driving in it. Shoveling it, walking to school in it, or in freezing temperatures. Something is wrong with this picture. Shorts and Snow, bright green grass peeking through???

Nations Capital 2011

For Fall break this year we took the kids back to Washington D.C. We had the opportunity and thought the kids were a good age and we just thought it was something worth seeing. My Aunt, Uncle and cousins live back there so we had a built in Hotel and tour guides. It was a wonderful trip.This is us in front of the Black Hawk, which is an early version of the Stealth Bomber at the Air and Space Museum. The space shuttle Discovery, Enola Gay, and all types of aircraft were also there. It made us realize there are a lot of 1/2 crazy people out there willing to try new things for the advancement of technology. I don't know how they had the guts to be the first ones to fly, go to space, etc. But we are grateful for them. Mt. Vernon (George's House) This was my favorite part of the trip which surprised me. I had actually been there before, but I don't know that I appreciated it as I do now. Amazing what the founding fathers went through during the Revolutionary war. These were very nice living conditions for the time. They still had to have the kitchen outside in the hot and cold temperatures because they cooked with fire and they didn't want to burn the house down. The bathroom was also outside. Can't imagine going out there on a cold night. Our tour guide told us a story about how after one battle the British marched by and saluted this house because they respected George Washington so much. So much amazing history here. 

 Before we left on our trip, my cousin Amy, told us we should have the kids watch the National Treasure movies, so they could relate to the history better, etc. Great suggestion because they #1-loved the movies, then #2 they loved seeing everything come to life once we were there. While we were at Mt Vernon we took the extended "National Treasure" tour. They told us about the movie being filmed there etc. While watching the movie I just assumed a lot of it was made up just to make a good story. Not so much. Hollywood did make a good story, but there were actually a lot of truths in it. During the tour, we got to go to George Washington's Basement ( It really exists). This was a big storyline in National Treasure 2. Because it is so old and they want to preserve it we could not touch or take pictures of anything. We go down and it looks exactly like the movie. There were these little side rooms in the basement that she said George & Martha Washington used as food storage during the winter (no fridge or freezer to preserve food). They even ate rotten meat to survive towards the end of the winter-BLAAK! This is a picture of the map used in the movie of national Treasure. (The original map prop was lost, so in the middle of the night during filming, they had to call local cartographers to recreate the map and this is what they used for filming) In the bottom right corner, there is a picture of a Freemason symbol with LW. The main storyline revolves about finding these Freemason symbols as clues to the treasure. While we were in the basement the tour guide told us to look down.... and oh my gosh ...

(This picture is taken from the movie, because we couldn't take actual pictures )

There was the Freemason symbol just like in the movie. It really exists, however, it didn't open up to a secret passageway like in the movie. I just thought that was way cool. LW is Lawrence Washington, George's half-brother who lived in and built part of the house before him. If you want to see the basement go watch the movie. Capitol Building. I always think this building is AMAZING. It is huge, and I am always amazed how slaves built this beautiful building with hand tools, and not big heavy equipment like we use now. Amy hooked us up with a VIP tour with her friend who works for Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. The Capital tour was Dax and Curtis' favorite part. These capital tours have so much information and tidbits of history. I was surprised the kids liked it. We even went to a congressional hearing. It lasted about 30 seconds. They called everyone to order to let them know there was no business to discuss at that time. It seemed a bit of a joke, but they were serious. This is a painting on the ceiling of the capital. It is George Washington after he has died and gone to heaven. He is in the center-right of the picture sitting at a pinkish table. I liked this picture Fords Theater. I like this place too. I think it is surreal to be at this place where Lincoln was shot. We took a quick trip to Philidelphia, This is Independence Hall where the Constitution was signed. Then...Onto New York. We arrived in New York, then took the Staten Island Ferry into Manhattan. I liked going in this way because the Statue of Liberty welcomes you as you head into Manhattan. Trinity Church at Broadway & Wall St. Another Landmark from National Treasure. Unfortunately "Occupy Wallstreet" protestors were about a month into their protest and going strong. They were right in the way we had to take different routes to get around them. Because of them, we couldn't get to ground zero. Such a waste. Why can't they be part of the solution instead of creating another problem? When I heard how much money was spent to pay for extra Law Enforcement etc. It was sickening about $17 million.Central Park. New York was a whirlwind. We were only there for about 24 hours and we ran the kids ragged. They did have a fun time running around Central Park.

These rocks are the same rocks in the movie "ELF" where he has the snowball fight.  I didn't know it at the time.  I recognized the rocks when we watched the movie again.

 

Bethesda Fountain. For some reason, this fountain is famous in Central Park. I like it.

Statue of Liberty behind us. There is so much to see and do in these areas. Our other stops were the Library of Congress (National Treasure Hot Spot) National Archives, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Smithsonian, The Metro (Derek's Favorite), Annapolis, Time Square, and Rockefeller Center. Our Hotel in New York was a little too authentic. It was an apartment on the upper East side that had been converted into a vacation home. It was tiny. Closets were used as rooms, and you could barely move in the kitchen. There was no place to sit and eat in the kitchen just a bar stool against a ledge. Makes us appreciate the wide open spaces out west. We had a great time. I just wish we had more time, there is so much to see there.

Primary Program

Last week we had the Primary Program and all the kids did a great job. I was especially proud of Dax and Derek. They both had their parts memorized and spoke loud and clear.

Trey was being a bit of a stinker during the program. I showed up late with him so he wouldn't have to sit through the entire meeting, only the Primary Program. Curtis still had to take him out a few times. We were trying to entertain him and we told him to look for Dax and Derek on the stand. He found Derek, and instead of waving to him, he yelled: "HI DEREK" loud enough for everyone to hear. Derek heard him and got a big grin. Curtis and I were embarrassed.


A few weeks before the program the Primary Presidency e-mailed me and wanted Dax to pretty much write his own part about the topic "Reverence is Love and Respect for God". I helped him write it and they made a few revisions, but this is pretty much what it came out to

"Hello everyone. I have a testimony of how Reverence is Love and Respect for God. I'm just going to use some examples of what IS Reverent and what IS NOT. We'll start with the NOTS. What is NOT Reverent is dressing for a teenager party for church, slumping and grunting during prayers, and bringing cell phones with rock ringtones to church. Now for what IS Reverent. Being Reverent is dressing your very best on Sunday during church, sitting up straight and being as quiet as can be during prayers, and bringing your copy of the Scriptures to church. This shows that we love God, and helps us to feel the spirit. I once felt the spirit when I conducted a song for the last primary program. I know Jesus is proud of me because I was very reverent and respectful that day. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

At first, Dax only wanted to talk about people not being reverent in church. Mainly because that same day Derek was not being reverent and he got up to the Microphone in primary, instead of saying what his favorite scripture story was he said: "I WANT FOOD". I was so embarrassed when I found out. I told him he needed to talk about Reverence too, so that is why he gives both examples.
When he got up during the program to say his part he did so well. He is so confident when he speaks he also has a great vocabulary. So many people came up to me and told me what a great job he did. They said he was the star of the program, or that he was their favorite part of the program. We were all proud of him.

Then when Dax came home from church I noticed that he was wearing two different shoes. One was his old shoe that was worn, a size too small, and had laces. The other shoe was new and a slip-on. He said he noticed after he got to church. I don't know how he didn't notice that as he put them on (laces vs slip on??) He is the nutty professor.

Comic-Con Crazyness

Curtis happened to be in San Diego when the annual Comic-Con was going on. He and the group he was with decided to venture out to Downtown San Diego and check out the craziness and he did come across a few Characters. 

 He only took pictures with ones he thought the kids would like. Other than that he said there were a lot of..um.. I don't know how to say this nicely -losers who never grew up and still live in their Mom's basement. This is the highlight of their year to get dressed up and come to this event. A few days after this some guy that was at the Real Estate convention that Curtis was in San Diego for took a group on a Pirate ship and hired some guy to look like Jack Sparrow. Curtis said it was interesting but never understood what the point was. meanwhile. ...some cousins came over for a swim.

California Road Trip

Curtis' niece, Krystal, got married in Monterey, CA on July 3. We decided to take the family and see most of California and make it a fun trip This dinosaur was right next to a Burger King so we stopped at it. You could go inside and it was a hokey gift shop. It was a nice place to stop especially since we got stopped on the freeway for an hour plus. Some type of accident or something This picture makes me laugh of Derek pushing Trey up. We spent the first night in the LA area and hit six flags. Curtis, Dax, and Derek had passes from when they went a few weeks ago. We mostly stayed in the little kid area since we had Trey with us, I don't like roller coasters, and it was packed with people who wanted to ride roller coasters. The Green Lantern ride opened that day for a 3-hour wait. No thanks. While we were on this trip we swam in the Hotel pools a few times. Trey's swimming skills really started to take off. He started swimming on his own. He has no fear

Duane Greeley, Curtis, Andy Ibach

We met up with Curtis' friends from way back when in San Jose Funny thing that Andy actually lives in Gilbert now. We had to go to San Jose to see him. We met up with Curtis' family at a park near Santa Cruz. Here we are with his Mom (Grandma Shauna)

All dressed up for the wedding in Monterey, CA

We went and checked out some tide pools around Monterey. The kids loved it, we saw all kinds of crabs and crawly things. Way cool for our little scientists.

The reason for the trip, is Alexi & Krystal Sevastopoulos with her son Jacob. Next stop San Fransisco

Trey getting encapsulated inside a bubble

Next, we went up to San Fransisco. We took the kids to the "Exploratorium" It is a science museum where you can touch and play with everything. It is an amazing fun place with hundreds of science experiments going on. Both Curtis and I had been there in our youth and knew the boys would LOVE it. Curtis, Dax, and Derek went through the Tactile dome at the Exploratorium. It is this dome that is totally dark and you have to feel your way through and use other senses besides sight to get out. Curtis had done that as a kid and remembered it being way cool. We made reservations for it, then we mentioned to Curtis' family that we were doing this. His sisters said they didn't like it as kids and it scarred them for years. We had second thoughts. We decided they could go check it out and then decide. Dax and Derek loved it. At first, it was a little weird/scary. Curtis told them if they made it through he would buy them an ice cream Sundae. They made it through, then they went through 6 more times. They were pretty good at feeling their way around the last few times.

The toilet drinking fountain. This is a toilet that has never been used as a toilet and it has fresh filtered water running through and is set up as a drinking fountain. The sign says that most people won't drink out of it because it is a toilet and they can't get over the fact. I thought my boys would love it. After I took this picture Derek told me he wasn't actually drinking the water because it grossed him out. He told me that before he even read the sign. I couldn't bring myself to drink from it either. It seems to be confirmed people don't want to drink from a toilet no matter how clean.

Outside the Exploratorium. There is a replica of this dome at California Adventure. It is a pretty cool structure.

San Fransisco Cable Car.

Before we left on our trip we didn't have much of a solid plan once the wedding was over, we were kind of winging it the rest of the trip. We had plans to be in San Fransisco on July 4th, but we didn't know if we were going to spend the night there, etc. While we were at the Exploratorium we decided to stay in SF and we better get reservations. We had kind of been talking about it the entire day but weren't sure what part of town to stay in etc. Since Curtis grew up in the Bay area and was somewhat familiar with SF he went online and figured out where we wanted to stay. When he called to get a hotel they told him the city was sold out for the 4th of July, but... there were two rooms available in the entire town.

 UGHH! Luckily one of the rooms was at the hotel that Curtis scouted out for us. Oh my goodness we were so lucky. The hotel was the Handlery at Union Square. It was way cool. It was an older hotel but made modern, and a great location. We had to take a crank elevator (added mainly for handicapped access). The kids thought it was great. We could see all kinds of action on the streets below. We decided to walk those streets so the kids could experience San Fransisco and they did get an experience. We saw many homeless people, which didn't seem to phase them until we came across one crazy fellow who was yelling "shut up" to anyone and everyone in earshot. Between his "shut ups" were other colorful phrases. I knew he was freaking the kids out so we got out of his way ASAP. The kids didn't say much for a while then Derek started referring to "Mr. Shut up" often throughout the trip. They thought he was actually mad and yelling at them specifically. 

 We went to Fisherman's Warf and had plans to go to Alcatraz. We couldn't believe it when we went to buy tickets they were sold out for the next week. Big disappointment for the kids, but we had enough fun doing other things, and they got over it.

Heading back home we stopped off at Grandma Shauna's in San Jose Grandma Shauna gave Trey this toy train set. He couldn't wait to play with it once we got home. He loved it, played and played and played with it.