Disneyland

We just couldn't pass up Disneyland since we were just 1 1/2 hours away so we headed down there the week of New Years and spent two days. Mack had to fly home so Monday morning Taylor's dad dropped him at LAX and picked up Arty's girlfriend that flew in that morning. Poor thing came straight from Dubai on a 16 hour flight and had never been to the US before and where do we take her to introduce her to true American culture? Disneyland!
L to R: Esther, Arty, me and Miles, Pluto, Ethan, Taylor, Isaac, Sonia, and Jeff. Barb and her boyfriend Clint missed the picture but they were there too.
Without realizing it we picked 2 of the busiest days of the year. The park "sold out" both days and it was crazy trying to push a stroller through the crowd and the lines were really long. Isaac actually woke us all up Sunday night at 2am throwing up so he and Taylor missed most of the first day. Taylor caved, and carried him to 1 ride late Monday night after he kept pointing at Mickey in the hotel and saying "Meekee".
The sickness and the busyness of the park were blessings in a way though because they made us slow down and not worry about getting to every ride. We also spent more time in line talking with each other and playing with our kids. And really, in the end, everyone rode the rides they wanted most and we had a great time.
Miles was a little freaked out by the Jungle Cruise.
This was what Isaac chose as his favorite ride. I can tell you that definitively because every time we passed it in the park he'd scream "dat" and point. He was trying so hard to get our attention one time that he stood up in his stroller and launched himself out and right onto his forehead. So we made sure to ride the rockets and he giggled the whole time.

Because it was Christmastime they had all sorts of fun lights and decorations up. The Haunted Mansion was decorated with ghosts and pumpkins and Christmas festivities. A completely different ride almost. On it's a small world they threw up an amazing amount of Christmas decor and even changed the song so it went back and forth from "it's a small world" to "Deck the Halls" and "Jingle Bells". It actually blends seemlessly and is really neat. Even Cinderella's castle was decked out with snow.

Ethan and Isaac are finally not afraid of mascots anymore so they loved meeting all the Disney characters. Right now Isaac is sitting on my chair with me and pointing at the screen saying "Goopy". They loved them. So here's Ethan doing the twist at breakfast with Goofy.

The Gingerbread House Tradition

Last Christmas Mack and his girlfriend Sam gave Ethan and Isaac a gingerbread house kit for Christmas. Isaac was just one and didn't appreciate the building, although he didn't mind the eating. Ethan loved it and it was a fun activity they all did together. So this year even though Sam couldn't come, they gave the boys another kit and Mack managed to build a house with icing and wrangle two boys at the same time.
Ethan was a big helper as always and has actually decided that he does like some candy- at least some kinds. (You see that tank in the background? Barb brought her pet lizard Monty all the way from West Virginia. The boys loved him, especially when we found live crickets in the house and fed them to him. Quite entertaining!)

Again Isaac was more interested in eating than decorating but he did help with a few gingerbread men and his side of the roof. How cute is that? Multi-tasking: candy in the mouth and simultaneously putting candy on the roof.

And Mack was kind enough to let him use the knife which he loved because he never gets to at home.

Thanks Mack and Sam. The boys loved it and we can't wait for next year!

Christmas in Palm Springs

We made it back late from San Diego so we didn't have much of a Christmas Eve. We did open a few birthday presents with Isaac (puzzles and cars- nice to finally have kid toys in a house not very child-proofed). And we made sure to leave out cookies for Santa and some carrots and water for the reindeer. Sadly I forgot to take a picture and you'll see as the trip went along that I got pretty lazy about catching the good moments. Oh well, they're good memories now. I did manage to get the 3 boys in front of the tree before all the chaos started. Incidentally this is the first time in 6 years that we've opened presents around a real Christmas tree. In Portugal it was a vine we hung ornaments and a star on, in DC it was around my hospital bed with 1 day old Isaac, and the others I don't remember except one hotel room Taylor's mom taped a star onto a lamp shade and we stuck the presents underneath. Creative, but nice to have a real (fake) tree this year- especially since I didn't bother to set one up in Salt Lake. And the miracle of it all was Isaac only broke one of the ornament "balls". Shiny and shaped like a ball? That's quite a miracle for him.
And the present opening begins. Barb, Mom, Mack, and Ethan with a ball.

I didn't actually capture any of the present opening. This is the aftermath. Taylor setting up the race track Ethan got from Grams and Isaac showing you the cars that go to it.

I like the way the Woodburys do Christmas. Everyone brings presents for everyone else but nothing big. Socks and pajama pants are perfect examples. The boys get lots of books and toys. Taylor's dad says his Christmas present to everyone is always the family trip because memories and experiences are more important than things. I love that. And no Christmas afternoon would be complete without a puzzle and the family gathered around it. They did finish it except for one piece that magically disappeared or got eaten by some child.

We finished the day with a nice late lunch together and then a family game of putt-putt and then lots of football watching.

December 24th- Legoland

There are some positives and negatives to always being on vacation on your birthday. On the positive side, Isaac will always be surrounded by family, the negative, he won't ever have his friends with him and the day won't be ALL about him but really whose birthday is? At least I can promise I'll always try to make the day fun and something he'd like to do. So this year, we were still in San Diego after the bowl game so I requested we all go to Legoland for Isaac's birthday. Taylor's dad was kind enough to take us and everyone went along for the adventure. Here's the group shot at the entrance. I LOVE that even Miles is in the shot- even if you can only see one eye. It was pretty chilly. I'd heard of Legoland before but never really researched it. I didn't realize what a perfect choice it was for Isaac's birthday. It isn't like Disneyland and others where the rides are all for older and taller children, it's really a toddler theme park. He could seriously ride on all but 4 or 5 of the rides. Here's his first real roller coaster. You can't really see him but he's right next to Taylor in the red shirt.

Legoland was great too because all throughout the park there were toddler distraction areas: playgrounds, lego building centers, and even an interactive water jumping area here. We let Grandpa hold Ethan so he wouldn't soak himself and then freeze all day.

I can't tell you how nice it was to have Taylor's siblings along for the ride. The rides were pretty boring if you're more than 48 inches tall but they played with Ethan and Isaac and carried them around the whole day. And those 2 boys love them for it. Can you see Mack inside the Lion?

Isaac was enthralled with this water/music/lego thing and as always wanted to launch himself into the "bath".

So the best part of Legoland (at least from a biased parent's point of view) was the kid waiting areas complete with legos to play with. At the beginning of every ride, just as you were starting to wait in line, there was a little area all fenced off where the kids could go and play instead of waiting in 30-45 minute lines. Fabulous! My kids were so enthralled with builiding that they often didn't want to join the rest of our group when they reached the front of the line.

Sadly Isaac was not old enough to test drive his first car, but Ethan loved it.

And they both loved the lego boats.

All over the park there were these amazing lego "sculptures". Of course the boys didn't appreciate them but the adults were pretty impressed. And when I found one of a little lego man with a birthday cake and presents, well let's just say I wasn't letting Isaac out of taking a picture on his birthday even if he wasn't thrilled by the sculpture. Yep, that's a pretty enthusiastic "cheese" he's giving the camera.

In the middle of the park there were sculptures of buildings from almost every major city in the US. Truly amazing.

And we couldn't pass up one last family picture in front of the Smithsonian Castle and the Washington Monument. Can you tell Isaac has had enough? Yep- take me back to the lego building area please.

Overall and great day and I think a great pick for his birthday. We spent the evening driving back to our house and then opened a few birthday presents. No cake though so I'll make sure to do one at his birthday party that's coming up.

San Diego

While I was on my mission, my family had a reunion in California. So besides missing sleeping on Pizmo Beach and watching 3 different members of my immediate family puke over the side of their kayaks while sea kayaking, I also missed a trip to Sea World. It worked out perfectly then that the University of Utah bowl game just happened to be in San Diego a few days into our trip. So we had to stop at Sea World.
We assumed it opened at 9am (wrong!) which happened to be a small miracle. So we were already halfway into the park when they finally opened the roped-off areas and we were among the first at the dolphin tank (again by accident). It was amazing. The dolphins were all literally lined up at the windows waiting for everyone to come play with them.
This is the only shot I could get of Ethan because he refused to turn around and stop watching the dolphins. Even the dolphin looks annoyed that I'm interrupting their play session.

Taylor found a spot where you could lean on the rockwall and the dolphins loved being petted.

Tragically, when Isaac tried to pet him I think the dolphin thought he was getting food and he snapped at him a little. Even a little scares an almost-two-year-old.

Ethan was successful though.

And then we moved on to the sting ray tank. Isaac loved sticking his hands in the water although I'm not sure he ever really petted one. It was so nice to have Grams, Mack, and Barb all there to help run after the kids. 3 is certainly a handful.

You'll notice all 3 boys are in Utah red, this was more for the game that night and because Grams bought them all matching jerseys, but it turned out to be an amazing blessing. You could spot them in any crowd and I knew exactly what they were wearing in case they got lost. I've decided to always dress them alike and in a bright color the next time we go somewhere like a busy theme park- only next time maybe a nice BYU blue!

Ethan enjoying a little water in line waiting for the 3D movie experience.

Shamu never fails to amaze. The park was fairly empty which was wonderful. We were able to hit every animal show we wanted and get to the next one when there were still seats. We were happy to be this far up and out of the "splash zone".

The highlight for Isaac was the "penguinos" so I've dedicated 2 pictures to that. He is STILL talking about them.

Tragically the exhibit includes a moving walkway so you can't stop and watch them. Isaac would have stayed all day. Sea World was amazing and I'd definitely go back and as it turns out, we might. If you bought a ticket in 2009, you automatically got a year's pass free for all of 2010. Weird. So maybe we'll go back, they're opening up a new dolphin show and Isaac would love to see the penguinos again.

That night I took Miles and Isaac back to the hotel to go to bed. Isaac was exhausted without a nap and very excited to eat pizza and play on the bunkbeds (random to find bunkbeds in a hotel but you should have seen how excited both the boys were to play and sleep on them). Ethan went with everyone else to the U of U Bowl Game including Taylor's dad who spent the day driving up to LA to pick up Arty from the airport.

Taylor was so proud of himself to bring home the camera and give me the photos I'd requested. They had a great time at the game and loved winning of course!

Woodbury Family Reunion 2009

And so it begins...

Every year we look forward to Christmas because it's always another adventure with the Woodbury family. I got more of the story this year on how it all started and why they always travel. Apparently, Taylor went off to his first year of college and came home to Salt Lake that Christmas. Not only did he agree to be bumped from his flight so he could get a free plane ticket (this made his mother cry because he cared more about the money than coming home to her when she was planning) but then he spent the next two weeks almost exclusively visiting old high school friends, sleeping in, and hanging out with other friends. So Taylor's dad got upset and swore they'd never spend another Christmas at home- and they haven't!

We love the reunions because everyone seems to be able to come and it's nice to be together in one place- usually a warm place too which I love.

So this year Palm Springs, California got chosen. When I googled Palm Springs to see what was there, the first website that popped up declared Palm Springs to be the "Golf Capitol of the World". And yes there were several days of golf outings for the boys, but it turned out there were lots of other fun things for everyone.

One of the best parts of the trip was just hanging out at the house together. Taylor commented after just the second day that Miles is a whole different baby. In fairness Taylor only sees him after 5:30pm and we were busy most weekends so that threw the poor baby off his schedule. It was nice for the two of them to be able to just sit on the couch and chill.

We drove down instead of flying which was wonderful (I still can't imagine trying to go through security with these 3 boys and all their gear) but didn't bring a crib. Miles was happy to sleep in our shower. Don't worry we put down lots of towels and blankets and it's not like he's even rolling over yet.

Really no worse for the wear.

The first day we were there Taylor and his dad went golfing and so his mom and I took the kids to the Living Desert Zoo. It was names appropriately and only had desert animals. The kids were fascinated by this outdoor electric train exhibit they had and it made me sad that we missed going to the Botanical Gardens trains in DC this year.

Because it's always warm there, the exhibit stays open year-round and so they just keep adding to it. It's gi-normous! Here's Ethan in a brown sweatshirt (if you can see him) way on the other side of the grand canyon.

The backdrop of the mountains was beautiful with all the animals. I always pictures giraffes on the plains of Africa but this works too.

The one animal I'd never seen before was a warthog. I'm sparing you a closer picture because let's just say Disney lied to us all when they drew cute Timone in The Lion King.

As always my kids were just as interested in climbing on things and playing as they were to see the animals. Overall the highlights were the trains and warthog and the lowlights were the carousel and butterfly house. I had high hopes for both of these, but alas, 3 seconds into the carousel ride when Isaac realized that his zebra was going up, he freaked and so I spent the rest of the ride trying to hold him onto it since we couldn't exactly get off the spinning ride. And the butterfly house should have been great except it wasn't sunny that day so literally every butterfly was hanging onto the ceiling net trying to stay warm.

But really? Does it look like my boys minded?

Who knew?

So I'm currently listening to the tortured cries of a 2 year old who has had his Christmas toy taken away from him (he would have you believe unjustly).
Since we were traveling for Christmas (blog updates to follow) we decided not to bring along the presents we got for the boys. In the past this hasn't been a problem, they've just been excited to open them when they got home. So this year we did the same. We got in late this afternoon and after unpacking the car, we let the kids open their presents- scooters and helmets.
I knew Ethan would love his and he took right to it. His only problem is that it's a little fast for him, not that he minds this at all!
Isaac surprised us though. I knew he'd like it, but he absolutely went ga-ga for the thing. He immediately started screaming "hat" and wore the helmet around while Taylor put his scooter together and as soon as it was done, he climbed on and giggled like a little girl, and kept giggling and giggling. You get the point. He was so enfatuated that we let them ride them over to Grams' house for dinner (by ride I mean Taylor pushed Isaac who doesn't yet have the kicking concept). We coaxed him enough to leave the scooter ("bike" as he calls it) out on the front porch but he wouldn't leave his helmet so he wore it all through dinner and couldn't wait to go back and ride home. At which point it was bedtime. And thus began the longest, loudest, most painful tantrum of his short little life. Poor thing. He begged to wear his "hat" to bed but I refused. Mean mommy. Apparently Taylor's brother wore his beloved goggles to bed every night for years when he was little. There's no way we're going down that path with a helmet. He is pretty cute though.