Sometimes.....

Over the past three and a half years, I've worked at becoming better at yoga. Although I've never been a typical yoga student, I have found success through small breakthroughs. I am thankful for my Yoga Journey. I know I am stronger now than I ever have been.

Memorial Day fun

We didn't have any planned events for Memorial Day. I spent 4 hours out working in the yard first thing in the morning. It was a beautiful day all around and then temperature was in the 70's. I (Mom) was dealing with a bad cold, but I really wanted to do at least one thing different to enjoy the day since Brandon had it off.

We decided at lunch time to go and get pizza from Little Ceasar's and then we went to a nearby park. It was so great. I wasn't even embarrassed to go in my pajama bottoms dragging my box of soft tissues since nobody else was there.

Then, when we got home, we had a water balloon fight. It was hilarious. Part of the fun was just getting all 100 balloons filled up. We had so much fun. Then, the rest of the day we were lazy and sat around watching tv. All around, a nice break from our typical routine.

Florida Part #6

This fateful day had finally arrived. We promised the boys that we would all go down to the swimming pool and play around. Brandon and the boys had gone down and enjoyed it one evening on our 2nd day here, but I'd never been down. The water was so cold (I always think pools should be really warm), but we all had fun and I really enjoyed myself.

I had to get a picture of the backside of our hotel. we were on the top floor. The set of windows to the right of the angled section was our room. I really loved being on the top floor, although, I'm sure the people below us hated all the noise the boys made.

Two years ago we bought a nice digital camera. I spent the extra money to get it waterproof & sand proof. It's so much fun to take with us swimming. I'm planning on finally signing up the kids for swimming lessons this year. I'm hoping that they will be able to advance quickly since we waited so long to start. They both love the water and it would be awesome to see them swim independently.

The hotel also had these fun table tennis games. The boys always wanted to play, but we were always so hot and tired. But, we had time to play on them for a little while after we got dressed and packed.

Since our flight didn't leave until after lunch we stored our suitcases with the hotel and went and ate lunch at the hotel restaurant. It did what we needed it to do - take up time. But, it was super expensive which meant the boys hardly ate any of it. Super annoying.

The flight home was more of an adventure then I thought it would be. There was a lot of turbulence which I was not used too. Then, Luke always had to go to the bathroom at the worst times. I swore he was going to pee all over his seat.

About 90 minutes away from SLC he had to go pee again. They were just starting a snack so we couldn't get to the bathrooms in the back of the plane because they were rolling out their little snack carts. So Brandon darted up to the front bathrooms with the dude. But, then they were stuck for about 40 minutes while the snacks slowly made their way back to our seats. While up their the flight attendants thought Luke was so cute and funny. They stuffed him full of bags of cookies, chips, and chocolate. Luke is a bottomless pit when it comes to those things and he just kept eating and eating.

That made for a terrible, terrible, combination when it came to landing. Once again we hit some pretty intense turbulance. I thought all was fine until our row started to exit and Luke said his tummy hurt. I barely had time to find a barf bag when he started. It was the most awful thing ever. Those small bags are not good for catching kid barf. The majority of it hit the bag, so that was a blessing. On the way out the flight attendant apologized over and over again for giving him so much food. I think it would have been fine without all the turbulance.

Thanks goodness, SLC was our final destination. A lot of people on our flight were heading to Seattle. We got home around 9pm. We were so tired. Our 1st priority was to bathe Luke and get both boys to bed. Then, I started a load of laundry (I'm always obsessed with getting laundry done asap), and we headed to bed. 

Florida Part #5

This was 3rd ticket day at Universal. We decided that Peter would come with me and Luke would go with Brandon. The night before we mapped out all the rides for both the boys so we would know exactly where we needed to go. Peter and I started off in Marvel Super Hero Island. We went to Spider-Man first. Then we skipped the rest of the rides there and went to Seuss landing. I loved this place so much. A nice area for small kiddies is just my "cup of tea".

I was hungry and wanted breakfast, so Peter and I bought a giant $5 donut. I broke my rule of eating chocolate and completely enjoyed my half of it. It was while we were sitting on this little wall that I saw the gardener fertilizing the flowers.

Afterwards, Peter begged me to go to the Jurassic Park area and ride the Pteranadon flyers. I was scared out of my mind, but I knew it would make this kid of mine so thrilled. While passing Hogsmead we stopped to get a picture of the castle. It seriously, is so amazing.

Peter also thought all these Jurassic Park cars were cool. While they have never seen the original movie, they have the Lego Jurassic Park video game, so they know all about this stuff. I, on the other hand, am totally clueless.

Then, we went back to Hogsmead and hopped on the Express Train that took us to London. I wish it was for real (yes, I would go back in a heart beat), but sadly it wasn't. Peter was always too nervous to go up and stand by the park worker at the bus, so I told him to just stand up on this park bench instead.

I just had to get a picture of this fountain. It makes me miss London so badly. Sob,sob, sniffle, sniffle.

After we got off the train at Kings Cross Station,you are just a short walk to Diagon Alley. Peter was so insistent that he get butter beer. Just the sound of it makes me want to gag, but I took one tiny sip from the frozen one. Just as I thought, not a fan. He loved it though.

We finally finished our list of attractions around 3pm and headed back to the hotel. On the way out we saw this and knew Luke would appreciate this picture. He loves watching the cartoon on tv.

We also saw this on our way out and captured a great shot of someone else's family.

Peter and I needed a rest period, so we just chilled for a few hours. Brandon even ended up falling asleep even though I was the one that desperately wanted a nap. We decided after waking up, that we felt good enough that we wanted to go back to the park. I'm so glad we did. The sun had almost set, so it was much cooler. Peter went with Papa and I went with Luke. It was great.

We went to the E.T ride where I almost lost my purse. I wasn't told to put it on the bike handle so I just set it on the floor of the ride. It was almost too late before I realized the floor was just a platform. I expertly hooked one of the straps with my foot just as it was about to tumble onto the attraction floor. Yikes!

Finally, at 8pm we decided we were hungry. The only place that was open was Mel's cafe in the Hollywood area. I was hoping that we would somehow run into Brandon and Peter here, but they ended up coming 30 minutes after we left.

Lastly, here is our traditional hotel room picture. It was an okay room and it provided us with what we needed. We did have fits with the toilet not flushing at times, but it wasn't worth the hassle of moving rooms.

Florida Part #4

Legoland Day! Once again, we set out in our little rented car. We drove in the opposite direction about an hour. We got there at 9am and thought they would let people in early. Nope, they didn't. So, we were extremely bored for an hour until they opened.

All the waiting was made much better when this friendly guy saw Peter and Luke hanging over the entrance gate. They were so excited to get in. He called them up to stand by him, and they officially opened the park for the day. The video is a bit crazy, but the end part is super cute as both boys push a lever to open the park.

This Legoland is similar to the one in San Diego, but there are a few minor differences. This day was extremely hot 98 degrees, and with the humidity Mom was CRABBY! We were waiting in a line directly in the sun. After 20 minutes Luke and I couldn't wait any more. So, Luke and I went one way, and Peter and Dad went the other. That's how most of this trip was. I took Luke and Peter stayed with Papa.

I love these buildings that are made of Legos. While they did had some cool ones, I like San Diego's better. They had a boat ride that takes you around a pond to look at some massive Lego buildings/animals/creations.

These are some of the fun things that Peter and Dad did while they were by themselves.

Peter spent the afternoon trying to convince Brandon to let him have his face painted. Brandon finally paid for him to have it done. This is the 2nd face painting job he had done. The first one got ruined when he went on a Chima ride that was a water ride. Luckily, they just redo it for free. It was so surprised when I saw Peter. We are always too cheap to have face paint done.

Here are a few of the things Luke and I did together. Not nearly as fun, but it was so hot and both of us just wanted to take things slowly. Finally, at 2pm we went to get lunch. Then, when they swiped my credit card, it declined. SO, I tried to call Brandon. That didn't work. I tried to call the credit card company. They couldn't hear me. So, we went outside and found a bench to wait on. I felt so down on my luck. Thankfully, it wasn't too much longer before Brandon noticed my text and called. I have never been so thankful for food in my life. Seriously, I would really struggle if I ever had to live on the streets. 

The park closed at 5pm. Right before that, we met up to let the boys buy a few small (or one large) lego set. It was their favorite part of the day. We drove back to the area near our hotel and found a Chick-Fil-A. We love eating here because every single one of us will actually eat their food. It was the perfect ending to a very, very, very hot and humid day.