Spring Break--Zoo Day!

Tuesday was Zoo Day thanks to Megan having a birthday and deciding to go to the zoo! We walked along the African and Arizona Trails and encountered a host of wild animals--besides the ones we brought with us. Some of the favorites were:


Elephants,


Rhinos,


Zebras and Reptiles (sorry, no snake pics!).


My personal favorites were the Meerkats & Warthogs (it was almost like being in Disneyland). . .


. . . and the Mandrill monkeys, where we also encountered a group of Elders.


About the half-way point Cassi broke out the Krispy Kremes and we all got a much needed sugar high.




Very happy stroller buddies!


(I feel a chorus of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" coming on. . .")


This was at the Rhino and Gazelle exhibit and Brock was finally able to see some animals. Up to this point there was always a wall or bush in his way because he was in the stroller. He looked and pointed and said "Animals!" I said, "Welcome to the Zoo, honey!"


This is Blake using all of his Grandpa Partridge's genes while trying to climb into the Zebra enclosure.


On the second attempt into the Zebra enclosure Blake decides to just look over the edge.


Here's Blake on his way into visit the Elephants. He told me he wanted to see how far down (or deep) the dirt went. Right. He also tried to get into the Cheetah exhibit and the Mandrill exhibit. He thought the Mandrills were lonely.


Fortunately, we talked Blake down from the fence and he posed with Katelyn and the Elephants.


Here's everyone (minus Adam and Brock) with the Elephants. We were tired and hot. It was a good time to take some pictures in the shade.


Standing tall we conquered the Zoo--well at least one third of it. Can't wait to go back. Just need to find a leash strong enough for Blake or an exhibit that wants to add one more to their group!

Spring Break--Space Day!

I know it's hard to believe that while others are still shoveling snow off the driveways, we are in full Fun-Spring Break mode here in AZ. And I'm sorry, but we couldn't be having better weather. It's a perfect 75 degrees outside and everyone has Spring Fever. However, with all the goodness of Spring Break comes the reality that the kids are home, all day every day. So in order for all of us to enjoy our time off this year I planned out some fun activities each day--with the help of Megan's birthday and St. Patrick's Day too! So please indulge me for the next 5 blog posts on our Adventures during Spring Break!


Monday was Space Day! We used our gift cards to Toys R Us from Christmas (thanks Grandma-ma and Grandpa!) and the boys bought Moon Shoes, a bubble blower and a Slip N Slide--but that's for another day. After we made our purchases, we headed to In-N-Out Burger for lunch with Cassi, girls, Adam & Grandma. YUM! Then a quick necessary trip to Old Navy to buy Bradley some shorts. The ones he had were literally 2 sizes too small! Finally we made it to the library where we checked out half the books in the children's section on Space, the final frontier (theme music, please. . .). When we got home we put together the Moon Shoes and they older boys jumped for an hour and half!


After hosing everyone off in a tub or shower I started working on dinner--flying saucers, which looked strangely a lot like pancakes. In the meantime, the boys made astronauts out of a paper model and a TP roll. We devoured our flying saucers and headed downstairs and read about NASA and the International Space Station and watched a movie about planets and finally a Magic School Bus Video about Space.


By the end of the day we were all exhausted--but excited about what we had learned. I heard "Thank You, Mom" several times and even "Can we have Space Day again?" once. That's one small step for Mom, one giant leap for Mom-kind!

H2O2 Anyone?

This post is more of a Mom tip: Hydrogen Peroxide tastes good to 2 year olds. Fortunately, the good folks at Poison Control said the worst it will do is make you throw up. Unfortunately, we were supposed to be getting in the car to take Bradley to a make up Speech session after I found Brock with the empty bottle of hydrogen peroxide, licking his lips saying "mmmmm." Not good. Fortunately, we had previously moved Blake out of his car seat that was next to Brock and put him in the back with Bradley which meant Bryson could sit next to Brock with a bowl in case he threw up. Unfortunately, I knew that if Brock did throw up, Bryson would too. Fortunately, neither one of them did. Unfortunately, there were no fizzing diapers later that day. I was really looking forward to that! Fortunately, we're now out of hydrogen peroxide.

The moral of the story is: Don't buy toys (like grocery carts and ride on cars) that boys can use as step ladders to get into the medicine cabinet. And don't put hydrogen peroxide in the medicine cabinet. Well, really don't put anything in the medicine cabinet because the next day I found Brock getting into the band-aids--just because they were there. And the moral of that story is: It's really hard to outsmart a 2 year old!

Boy, oh boys!

The older boys at our house have been very busy in the athletic world lately. Bryson just finished playing his first season of basketball and Bradley finished his third season of soccer. Since ball games have been our main activity on Saturdays (second only to getting the house cleaned--and sometimes the cleaning came in second!) it wouldn't be right to skip over these climbing levels of testosterone in the blog!

Bryson was #1--on his jersey and had a blast. He got to play with a lot of kids in our ward and from school. I thought the games were great. Scott said it was painful to watch and Chris lost his voice at one game from shouting directions. The whole thing was fantastic and hilarious! Almost as good as watching 1st year t-ball, which we'll get to blog about Blake's first year of said t-ball in a few months! Anyway, the high point was scoring so high in one game that they actually ran out of numbers and just started over on the score cards. The not so high point was losing the last game. Bryson is going to go to basketball camp at Mountain View this summer (my blood still runs Orange though!) with a few of his friends he played with. He is really excited about that!


I told Bryson the story about Dad playing ball in school and how he found his best defense tactic was to NOT wash his uniform. Bryson thought that was a great idea. Unfortunately, his uniform always found its way into the washing machine so he had to resort to the old fashioned song and dance with the hands in the air.


Here, Bryson catches the ball, keeps it for a split second and then runs down with the rest of his team. I just missed videoing a really great play right before this one--of course.


Bradley has developed SoccerBrain. He loves playing soccer and is amazing at moving the ball down the field. I mean waaaaay down! He is excited to go to BYU's Soccer Camp this summer after the 4th of July because it combines Bradley's two favorite things--playing soccer and playing with cousins!

Bradley also gets to play with lots of boys from our ward and from school. The boys all have different strengths out of the field which makes for a really amazing team. This was the last game and probably the best of the season. It's not just the Mom in me talking here, but Bradley was totally on fire. He was all over the ball in the first quarter and would have made their first goal of the game if his kick had projected the ball just a few inches lower. It was the most amazing kick, perfectly lined up--just a tad too high. Next season they play on a bigger field so watch out opposing goal tender! The third and fourth quarter brought out some fancy footwork and great stops to keep the ball where WE wanted it!

It's been fun to see how Bradley's soccer skills have improved over this last season. You can tell how much fun he has when you watch him play.


LEGS. That's all I can say.

So, we're looking forward to time off from Saturday b-ball and soccer for a while. We'll let you know when the PRO's start calling!

Chocolate Milk!

Brock has never had chocolate milk before. Well, not before today. Blake asked for some with his lunch and Brock immediately joined him. It was so funny how he very clearly said "chocolate" I grabbed the camera to archive the evidence. So along with the PB&J that is smudged all over his face he and Blake shared a special moment. Here it is. . . Chocolate Lovers Unite!

The Very Busy Valentine's Day

Some call it a day of love. Arizonan's know it's the day our state got to add a star to the American Flag by becoming an official state. To us, it's a very busy day filled with joy, love, celebration and Blake's 5th Birthday.


After waiting for months and counting down the days for weeks, Blake's big day arrived. Bradley even made him a birthday crown!


Our new "pet" in the house is Rocky. Rocky is an interactive dump truck and is my new favorite kid. He has a demo switch which only allows him to say certain things, an off switch for complete shut-down, and best of all he dances! Everyone should have a Rocky!


So, for such a sweet day we had all things sweet! If it contained a trace of sugar we probably had it out for consumption at some point during the day.


It takes a big man to blow out THAT many candles!


Blake at his sweetest with one of the sweetest girls we know. In case you can't read his t-shirt it says: "i enjoy ice cream, insightful cartoons & long walks in the playground." That is Blake--to a T--HA!

Brock's Birthday Bash!

After our marathon day of Fun in the Snow we celebrated Brock's 2nd Birthday. As I documented earlier it took us forever to drive home from Flagstaff so I had to enlist the help of a birthday fairy or two to pull everything off. So thanks to Aunt Kaley and Uncle Chase, Brock was thrilled with the Krispy Kreme Birthday Doughnut Mountain and Mickey & Friends balloon. Actually with those two things alone Brock would have been a very happy kid. Why we even buy presents I have no idea!


Oh yeah. It's that face. That's why we buy presents.


A Mickey Mouse birthday party wouldn't be right without Mickey himself. This one tells jokes and sings the "Hot Dog" song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse--Brock's favorite show.


It's hard to tell who is more anxious for Brock to blow out the candles!


Can we say a delicious end to a long day? Those are sleepy eyes I think. . . .