Playing with Grandpa and Grandma

Grandpa and Grandma came to Salt Lake to go to a girl's endowment session from their ward. They decided to play at our house while in Utah.

Grandpa and the girls played with Allie's Mickey's house Friday night.
Then Saturday after Grandma and Grandpa came back from the temple we had fun putting puzzles together. We did a couple of big Disney ones.

Our first one was Beauty and the Beast, and then we put together a Mickey and friends ones.
Not long after we started the second big puzzle, the girls went down stairs to play. Why is it whenever the kids want to do puzzles, the adults are the ones who end up doing it alone? Oh well, we enjoyed ourselves.

Another Lost Tooth

Last Friday Kayla jumped up from the dinner table and ran into the bathroom. Eventually we learned her tooth was REALLY loose. After some persuassion, she finally showed it to Daddy. He laughed and said it was almost falling out. She might as well just pull it herself, and so she did.

Valentine's Day

With Valentine's on Sunday, and everybody not feeling real well, I decided to have some fun with our meals. After the girls went to bed Saturday night, Nate and I set the table for breakfast. The girls were pretty happy to discover Valentine's waiting on the table for them.
Everybody got a few little Valentine's and some treats.

Kayla likes it.

Can we eat some now?

Daddy and Allie picked out these beautiful flowers for me.

Daddy made pink heart pancakes for breakfast.

I found some candles to add to the table for dinner. Both girls loved having "fire" at the table.

For dinner I tried to make something everybody would like. We ate ham, green beans, Au gratin potatoes, garlic cheese biscuits, and Bavarian raspberry jello. Then I made two batches of brownies for dessert (so I could freeze a bunch for Kayla for school parties, birthdays, etc.).

It was the perfect Valentine's Day. No big presents or stress, just enjoying the company of those I call my Valentine's.

A Home of Their Own

After getting home from vacation, life just wasn't very fun at home. Nate and I were both miserably sick and the house was a mess from packing/unpacking. I was feeling kinda of bad for the girls since neither of us adults were feeling up to playing. Daddy was working late; so I told the kids I had a special treat planned as soon as their rooms were clean and pajamas were on. In record time they were done. We gathered supplies from around the house while the girls were begging to know what I had planned. Kayla figured it out, but Allie was still wondering. When I started moving furniture, Kayla got real excited. It was gonna be big!
Since it was Friday, I told them they could sleep inside the fort as long as they'd go to sleep when their movie ended.

I also let the girls have dinner in their fort. Kayla insisted on making it. Her speciality-crackers, cheese, ham, turkey, carrots, and grapes. (Thank you mom for the plates. The girls LOVE having little places for everything. We have to use them at almost every meal.)

Then they each got to pick a few pieces of candy for dessert.

Peek-a-boo. I see you!

As soon as Cinderella ended, the girls came and got Nate and I for prayer. We brushed teeth, put on some music, and they were out within minutes. I couldn't believe it.

They fell asleep so quick, I was a sucker and let them keep it up all day the next day and sleep in it again that night. They invited the neighbor kids over and had a blast playing in their fort. Now all the kids are asking when they can do it again.

Meeting Characters

We got to meet lots and lots of characters while in the parks. We could have seen even more, or repeated the same ones many more times, but here are some of the characters we met.

Tinkerbell and Terrance in Pixie Hollow
Fawn

Cruella DeVille

Pooh Bear

Queen of Hearts, Alice, Mad Hatter, and White Rabbit
Jessie and Woody

Minnie Mouse

Mickey and the family

Goofy with Dad and Mom

Goofy and the girls-Goofy insisted Nate was the "goofy" one. It was pretty funny.

Pluto

Mickey gave Allie lots of kisses and bowed many times

Kayla and Minnie curtsying

Allie and Minnie comparing shoes

Sea World

Last trip we didn't make time for Sea World; so we knew it was a must this trip. Our hotel was supposed to have a shuttle, but it there wasn't any room on it until after noon. So we had to pay the $12 parking fee-ouch. It was pretty much a straight shot from our hotel to the park, but we still ended up making a wrong turn. San Diego roads!!!

When we finally arrived the first thing we saw was this cool car.
The gates were opened at 9:30, but you could only get in far enough to shop. So we hung out for 30 minutes enjoying the perfect weather.

First off we went to see the penguins. As you can see the girls loved watching them swim.

The penguins dove in and out of the water, swimming right in front of us. It was quite neat.

Inside the building, you step onto a moving walkway that takes you past lots of different penguins. These Emperor penguins just stared at all the strange people going by taking pictures of them in all their glory. I've only seen the little penguins at the Hogle Zoo before. I didn't really realize just how large the Emperor penguins can get.

Since I'd been in junior high school, Sea World has made lots of changes. It no longer just has animals. They now have rides too. There is a fun Sesame Street Play Area for the little kids. They've copied a few of Disney's classic rides. Abby's Star Spin (tea cups) was lots of fun, but unfortunately we had a cup in our backpack that spilled and soaked Allie. She was a good sport about it though. I can only do this or the tea cups if I focus my eyes and don't look away. It gave me a good chance to stare into my sweetheart's eyes, but I couldn't look at Allie without getting sick. She was having too much fun getting thrown all over the place.

Kayla had fun spinning Grandma and Grandpa around.

Next Mom and I took the girls on Dumbo-I mean Elmo's Flying Fish. Allie just had to ride in the pink one.

Kayla opted for something a little more angelic.

Next we went on the eel. It rocked us and spun us around. Kayla loved it, but Allie spent the whole time worrying about the hole beneath us where all the moving parts were.

Next we hurried over to catch Shamu's show. It was AMAZING! It is so cool what they can teach those animals to do on command. The girls were disappointed we sat so high, but none of us wanted to be in the soak zone.

WOW!

Afterwards we stopped and grabbed a picture with everybody's favorite cookie loving monster.

We watched an Elmo 4-D show. There was nothing scary at all in it; it's Sesame Street for goodness sakes. But Allie was still nervous the whole time. She was certain something was going to get her.

The opening act for the Sea Lion's show was put on by the "janitor." Using his remote he would switch between songs from many popular shows-Friends, Brady Bunch, Cheers, High School Musical, Batman, etc. The girls favorite was when he sang along to "The Best of Both Worlds" wearing a 1/2 blond, 1/2 brunette wig as Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. He was very fun to watch.

The Sea Lion's show was also very entertaining. They did their version of CSI, Superman, Dancing with the Stars, The View, and more. It was lots of fun for everyone.

We bought an all you can eat pass for the day after a suggestion from my friend. It was well worth the money, and the food was really quite yummy. The sliced turkey and fresh strawberries were my personal favorite. Here's Allie enjoying her Shamu cookie.

The shark exhibit has a tunnel where you can walk under the shark tank. As someone who is irrationally scared of sharks, this was not exactly my favorite area, but even I have to admit it was pretty cool to see them like this. The girls were awed by the whole thing.

We went back to the Sesame Play area before closing. Nate took the girls up onto the climbing area. They had a blast running around.

They also got to jump on the giant trampoline. After a full day of exploring the park, the girls still had plenty of energy to burn as they played.

We grabbed dinner before leaving the park, and then spent the rest of the evening swimming at the hotel. What a fun day!