The Fearsomely Fantastic Four

Visit Florida: Adventure at Disney's Epcot

2012-02-19T21:58:00.013-09:00

Today was day four of our four day pass. It was time to visit Epcot. I was there 20 years ago and I remembered that they had pavilions around a lake that showcased different countries. I knew there was another part to Epcot, but I could not recall anything more about the second part.

I didn't research Epcot before we left home because I ran out of time, but I did buy a great guide book, so I relied on it today to help us decide what to do. Good decision making is important because you cannot do it all.

In Future World there are nine buildings. Each area features one to three exhibits, rides, or shows. In the World Showcase area there are eleven different countries with exhibits, restaurants, and/or shops. If you are at the park when it opens and you stay until it closes, that only gives you twelve hours to explore and experience the 20 locations. You have to pick and choose.

We arrived at the park just a half hour after it opened. We were in the first parking area, so we walked into the park. We headed straight to Soarin' and punched our FastPasses. Then we stayed in the Land Pavilion and took a ride "Living with the Land." It was a boat ride through displays that illustrated the history of farming past, present and future. It was not a thrill ride.

Bentley loved the ride and wanted to go again right away. Viva said she didn't like it, but I don't know if she was just being contrary. When I pushed her to explain what she didn't like she said "Plants are boring." Jake said the ride was great.

Next we went over to The Seas Pavilion and attended Turtle Talk with Crush. It's an interactive theater show starring the surfer turtle from Finding Nemo. Young children were invited to sit up front on the floor and the turtle interviewed a few of them. Bentley was the first child chosen. He was asked his name, where he was from, and who he came to Disney World with. He answered the first two questions, but froze on the last one, so the turtle sought us out and interviewed Mark instead. The show was fun and humorous. The kids enjoyed it.

After the show we checked out the aquariums.

Before the show we had tried to go on the ride The Seas with Nemo & Friends, but it was temporarily closed. We trekked back to the Land Pavilion and saw a film on man's relationship with his environment. It featured characters from the Lion King. The children watched it attentively. I had a hard time staying awake. It's been a busy week.

We used our FastPasses and went on Soarin'. Soarin' is a ride that recreates the feeling of hang gliding over California. It was super cool. Definitely my favorite ride that I went on in all four Disney Parks. All three children liked it a lot. Bentley asked if there were other places Soarin' went. Jake and Viva said "Do it again!" Our FastPasses were available again, so we went to the machine and got new FastPasses to do Soarin' a second time later in the day.

The time stamped on our FastPasses for the Test Track had passed, so we headed over there. On the way we stopped in the Innovation Pavilion and tried out the free international soda flavors. Bentley, of course, refused to try any of them. Jake and Viva took a few sips. Viva really liked the watermelon flavored drink.

At the Test Track we tried out the automobile test track simulator ride. The boys loved it. It was fast. It was bumpy. It was swervy. Viva said she did not like it.

It was already 2PM and we hadn't visited half the pavilions in Future World, but we decided to go over the bridge to the World Showcase. We visited Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, the USA, and Japan.

Mexico was the children's favorite. They had a boat ride that traveled through Mexican landscapes. They wanted to go again as soon as we got off the boat, but since there were still 10 other countries to check out, we didn't.

Norway was a big disappointment because our guidebook said there was a Viking ship playground at Norway. It's gone. We all shared a few items from the bakery.

China had a 360 degree film to watch. The children were not impressed. I fell asleep standing up and almost fell over. There was also an exhibit hall with terracotta warriors in it, but we forgot to look at them after the film. Arg! I really wanted to check them out--were they just replicas or the real thing?

Germany had gummy bears, chocolate, and a beautiful blown glass Mickey shaped ornament that I purchased as a souvenir. Near the Germany pavilion was a Snow White photo op. We waited in line for ten to fifteen minutes, so Viva could get her photo taken with Snow White and her Prince. Bentley opted out and therefore Jake did, too. I tried to coax Jake into doing it, but he said "I don't like pretty girls." He then added "I don't want to take a picture with beautiful princesses."

Italy had gelato. Mark and I love gelato. The Italian gelato at Epcot was $6 for two scoops--rather spendy, but you do what you have to do. I bought one for the twins and us to share.

The twins didn't share with us. I bought another one for Mark and I; we ate most of it, but shared some with the twins. There was a juggler in Italy that the children liked.

At the half-way point was the USA pavilion. We had a meal there. The children ate huge Mickey shaped pretzels. Mark and I had sandwiches.

Time was flying by, so we picked up our pace. In Japan I purchased a small lucky cat. (It was made in China!) We fast tracked it past Morocco and stopped in France to eat dessert, play in the fountain, and take character photos with an Aristocat.

We walked right by Great Britain and Canada.

Once back in Future World we stopped to check out the really fun fountains outside the Imagination Pavilion. Viva wanted to play in them and get wet, but Bentley cut the fun short with an urgent request that we find a bathroom.

It was past time for our second Soarin' FastPass, so we went there. It was as good the second time as it was the first. We decided to see if The Seas with Nemo and Friends ride was working. It was with no wait time. The children liked the ride.

Our final ride was Spaceship Earth. On the way to it we passed the Epcot character Spot. Mickey and Minnie were in attendance with a number of their friends. Bentley wanted to go in and get his photo taken, but the line was too long. Bummer, it would have been a great photo.

On we went to Spaceship Earth where riders spiral around the inside of the big Epcot sphere. Riders go by scenes depicting the history of communication from cave paintings to the alphabet to the printing press to home computers. Mark did not find this ride as instructive as I did because Viva beat him to the computer screen when you were supposed to pick your preferred language. She chose Chinese, so they heard the entire presentation in Chinese. That's our Viva--doing it her way.

It was 8:15PM when we finished with Spaceship Earth. (The children all liked the ride. B later said that the liked all the rides we did at Epcot.) It was time for us to head back to World Showcase to stake out a place to watch the finale show, IllumiNations.

We found a few feet of prime territory near Norway. Mark stayed with the strollers and twins while I took Bentley to find popcorn. We had to walk all the way to the US Pavilion before we found any. B told me that it was a good thing I took him along because of his eagle eye. He added then that I could just call him Eagle Eye Bentley. (He does have an eagle eye which I've mentioned to him. He's quite proud of that descriptor.)

IllumiNations is an 18 minute show over the water featuring music, fireworks, fountains, lasers, and special lighting. It's a good show. I liked it much better than Fantasmic, but the fireworks were not as awesome as those at the Magic Kingdom.

The children enjoyed the spectacle. Afterwards we had to walk out with the thousands of guests leaving Epcot. It was nearly 10PM when we got to our car.

We came back to the hotel and let the trio use the pool until 11PM when it closed.

This was our last night in Florida. It's been a wonderful time with them. I highly recommend taking your grandchildren to Disney World and Legoland. They will love it and you will love spending time with them.

Visit Florida: Tour Disney's Hollywood Studios

2012-02-18T21:53:00.027-09:00

Today was day three of our four day blitz on Disney World. We decided to let the children sleep in and head over to Hollywood Studios whenever they woke up and were ready to go. We arrived at the studios just before noon.

We started with Star Tours: The Adventure Continues which is a Star Wars themed ride in a flight simulator. There was no line, so we got on very quickly. Bentley was concerned that we would actually fly away somewhere. I assured him we did not leave the ground. Jake told me even before I had his seat buckle off "I liked this ride." Viva said "Let's do it again!" Bentley said "No, it was too scary."

We had to exit through the gift store (how clever of Disney) and the boys spotted light sabers they wanted. Viva like them, too. I told them we'd come back at day's end, if they were still interested.

Mark left us to get FastPasses to Toy Story Mania. We were too late. They had already given out all of the FastPasses for the day! Bummer. Mark checked the time on the wait line and it was over an hour, so we decided to check back later.

We spent the afternoon wandering from one end of the studio to the other and back again. We were rather unorganized, without a firm plan. It was hot. Our brains were scrambled! We saw The Voyage of the Little Mermaid which was a 15 minute 3-D movie mixed with a live show. I found the mix of film and live theater rather odd, but the trio liked it.

We watched the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. It was rather spectacular. The children were mesmerized. A problem with the shows we've seen at Disney World is that our trio is too short to see the stage in a live show unless we have them sitting on our laps and we find just the right place to sit without tall people in front of us. Mark takes B & V and I get J. Too bad for the people behind us because we are tall people now with multiple heads!

We visited Toy Story Mania to verify the wait time since we'd been checking it online. The times matched--way too long. As we were leaving Bentley spotted a green army man and asked to have his photo taken with him, so we stopped and waited a couple of minutes to get a photo with him. The boys told me that green army man was from Toy Story 3. Viva decided to have her photo taken, too, while Jake kept a safe distance away.

After that we joined the queue for The Great Movie Ride, but changed our minds while still in the wait line. We left and went out to see the parade Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun. It was our third parade in three days, all of them in the hot afternoon sun. The children are fascinated with Disney parades.

Then we hunted for penny machines (more on that in another post) until it was time for the live show of Beauty and the Beast. It was very well staged as were all the Disney World shows we saw. The children watched raptly.

We ended up back near Star Tours, so we let the children look again at the light sabers. They all wanted one. A light saber is basically a sword, so that makes two swords for souvenirs this trip. Not my idea of great choices, but it's not my choice.

While there we were able to watch the newest group of Jedi Knights straight out of the academy take on Darth Vader. It was very amusing. Before we came to Hollywood Studios I'd asked the grandchildren if any of them wanted to try to go to the academy. All three said no. As soon as they saw the show, they changed their minds. It was too late in the day for them to sign up. On our next trip we'll arrive when the gates open, get FastPasses for Toy Story Mania, and sign the trio up for the Jedi Knight Academy.

We ate dinner and then checked the Toy Story Mania line again. No luck; it was still over an hour wait. We headed off to the evening finale show, Fantasmic! It is a 25 minute outdoor show using water, lights, fireworks, and stunts. The children liked it. It was interesting, but I wouldn't stay late on another visit to see it again. The fireworks at the Magic Kingdom were more magical.

After Fantasmic! we had a demonstration of Disney's incredible crowd management. We walked out of the theater with thousands of other people and yet when we got to the outside area where the trams were, the lines were short. How did they do that? Disney knows how to stage a show and keep the crowd happy to the end.

Here are our photo picks for day--includes Hollywood Studios and late that evening back at the hotel.

Our little Hollywood star ready for a day at the studios.

Waiting for the tram to get from the parking lot to the studios.

The requisite photo on Hollywood Blvd. Can you see Mickey's wizard hat?

Our captain on Star Tours

The youngest team members ready for lift off.

My favorite photo of the day

My second favorite photo of the day

Jake, the drama prince

Bentley with Green Army Man

Viva with Green Army Man

Jake with a Barrel of Monkeys

Watching the Parade on Opa.

Watching Beauty & the Beast on Opa.

Beauty & the Beast live on stage.

Jedi Knight Training Academy

Darth Vader AKA The Evil Bad Guy

The trio focused on Darth Vader.

The trio studying some Jedi Knight moves.

Fantasmic! It's very popular. I don't like crowds.

They wanted to go swimming even if it was after 10PM.

The trio practicing their Jedi Knight moves.

B & J chatting with little bro L.

Big Guy Little Guy

2012-02-17T17:44:00.000-09:00

Viva and Jake LIKE Lincoln, and play with him, but Bentley is definitely the one who engages the baby the most. Maybe it's personality and maybe it's his age, I'm not sure. I am sure, however, that Lincoln thinks Bentley is pretty awesome! And so do I. He reads to Lincoln, walks him around, engages him in conversation, plays ball with him, picks him up and lugs him around.... he is everything a little brother could ask for! What a lucky Lincoln to have Bentley (and the entertaining Jake and Viva!)!

I used to think Bentley, as a baby, had it made. All the attention was his. I felt a bit sorry for him when the twins arrived... rightly so, I'm sure, as twins are a lot of work. But now, seeing Lincoln with Bentley and his siblings, I'm thinking maybe Lincoln is the one who has it made. All the action, interaction, and love - he has a good life!

The 7 Monther!

2012-02-16T12:13:00.000-09:00

I can't believe it's been 7 months already! It wasn't a very eventful day, Lincoln spent it much has he's spent the past week or so - wondering where his favorite little people are, wondering where Grandma/Opa went, and wondering WHY there are suddenly so many errands to run (he doesn't normally have to run errands, lucky baby!).

Lincoln is an excellent crawler. He is very fast! Even more than crawling, however, he likes pulling himself up and standing. Matt and I think he might become our earliest walker, but that remains to be seen.

Still just the two teeth.

Great hair! It has just a bit of wave too it, which is giving it some body. An adorable look!

He likes to talk and tell stories, he waves his hands around with great expression!

He laughs and smiles easily.

He's a fan of food! Icecream (his Father's introduction, of course) is a hit. :) He also likes my lemon chicken with rice, and alfredo with tiny little orzo noodles. Sweet potatoes, yes. Carrots? Not so sure. Good taste, I think.

He's a fun little guy, a great addition to our family. I can't wait to see his personality further develop as he gets older/talks/walks... of course - time does move rather quickly, so if he just wants to stay cuddly and little for a bit longer that works for me too.

Visit Florida: Frolic at The Magic Kingdom

2012-02-15T23:09:00.005-09:00

The Magic Kingdom is the most popular theme park in the world. I had prepared for our trip to Disney World, but totally didn't get a good read on the Magic Kingdom. When the guides say show up a half hour before the gates open that's because it'll take you a half hour to get to the gates. After parking in their 125 acre parking lot, we had to take a tram followed by a monorail and then we stood in our first line of the day to get our back packs searched before finally gaining entrance to The Magic Kingdom.

We hit Main Street around 10:30AM--an hour and half after the park opened. It was teaming with people. A mid-week day in early February is not a peak attendance day, but it sure felt like it to me.

Our plan was to start in Fantasyland, so we headed over there first. The wait lines for the top rides were already over a half hour. We pulled out our Magic Your Way passes and requested our first FastPass for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Then we joined the line for Snow White's Scary Adventure. Sure the word scary is in the title, but it's no Haunted Mansion. Nonetheless it was too much for our three. When I asked if she wanted to do it again, Viva said "I'll wait until I get bigger." Jake said it was "too scary." Bentley's input was "I closed my eyes."

We were off to a great start...not. We had time before our FastPass was good, so we went over to the Mad Tea Party--spinning tea cups. This was Kara's favorite ride when we visited the Magic Kingdom 20 years ago.

I parked the stroller while Mark got us in line. When I caught up to him he was grumbling about a group of teenage girls that kept cutting in front of him and the children to join their friends.

As we stood in line, the problem kept growing worse. The group of girls had at least 40 members and over half of those jumped the line in front of us. I asked them twice not to cut and was ignored. I tried talking to their chaperone and got "No hablo ingles." Sure, you don't. I even talked to the Disney worker in charge of the ride, but he did nothing. Finally I just jumped the line in the middle of them. It was a most unpleasant experience.

The tea cup ride was hard to do with Mark in the cup. His knees were in the way. The children tried to spin the cup, but they were too small. I got it going, but that just reminded me why I didn't like the ride. It makes you so dizzy you feel sick. No one requested a repeat of this ride.

My first hour and half in the Magic Kingdom was anything but magical--check points, crowds, lines, rude teens, and more lines. We checked out a couple of other rides, but they all had wait times. Eventually we did The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. All three seemed to enjoy it, although they said little. Jake said he liked seeing all the animals.

We wasted yet more time wandering around trying to figure out the best approach to the FastPass system. By 3PM we had managed to do only four rides. In Legoland we had twice that number in half the time. Not that I'm comparing the two parks. (Of course I am!)

Peter Pan was our fourth ride, another FastPass. The children all liked it. Viva and Bentley liked the feeling of flying. Jake didn't like Captain Hook.

Next we fit in a show--Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. Jake was worried that it would be like the movie, kind of scary. It wasn't. It was just pure fun and funny. It was a delightful break from the morning's sour note. After that things improved a lot.

We watched the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade. The children tell me they like parades. Well the parades in Disney are a lot nicer than the parades in Anchorage. After the parade we went to Tomorrowland and used our third fast pass to shorten our wait time on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

This is a ride and shoot game. You can spin your vehicle, too. Mark rode with Bentley to help him understand the game. I rode with Jake and Viva. They each had a laser and I had the spinner control. I helped them shoot a few targets, so they scored 1200 and 900 respectively. Bentley had a lot more points, 7,000 or so? He liked the game. Mark's score was 500,000+ points. Really?!

We finally got in our groove and started making better use of our time. We did the Tomorrowland Speedway. It was quite an experience. Drivers of all ages (as young as two or three, but lots of adults, too!) steer race cars around a quite lengthy race track. The car's wheels straddle a guide rail they cannot cross, so they can't get too far off track. What they can do is bang into the rail quite sharply, if the driver doesn't have his/her act together.

I did this ride twice in a row so that both Jake and Viva could take turns steering. Jake was much better at driving than Viva was. Viva just about gave me whiplash. The person assigning cars told me I was driving too slowly. Ha! Has he ever tried letting a four and half year old drive?

B, J, & V all really liked this ride. I asked Viva if she liked the driving course here or at Legoland better. She said Legoland because it was easier. Jake said the same thing. Bentley said he like this course better because it was harder and sometimes he likes doing hard things.

After the race cars, we saw Buzz Lightyear doing photos and autographs, so we joined the line. Viva opted for ice cream instead. The ice cream line was short so we made it back to the Buzz line in time for Viva to get her photo, too. She said she wasn't going to, but then she did. Jake said he was going to, but almost didn't. There's nothing like a pair of four year olds to keep life interesting.

We finally left that area of the park and headed for Adventureland. We were starting to lose light and the Jungle Cruise is much better when you can see the animatronic animals. Bentley really gave us a hard time about doing this ride. He was quite concerned about going on a boat. Would it sink? How did I know it wouldn't sink? Would he get wet? We'd already skipped the too scary rides and the rides that really did get you wet, so I wasn't going to skip the boat rides, too.

The Jungle Cruise was quite amusing. The tour guide's dialogue is full of puns and jokes that made Mark smile. Jake was sitting on my lap and the other two on Mark's lap. Jake kept getting spooked by the fake animals. He knew they were fake, but they made him very wary.

After the Jungle Cruise we had a very messy turkey leg for dinner. Jake and Viva really liked it. We headed to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride--over Bentley's protests. The line was almost nonexistent. We lucked into the first seat in a boat. I call it good luck. Bentley would tell you it was bad luck because we got a little spray on us. Not much at all, but Bentley didn't like it. Viva said she wanted to do this ride again, but the boys weren't as brave. What they did like was the gift shop which had spyglasses for sale. They each bought one.

We had a second set of fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, so it was back to Tomorrowland to give it another try. Bentley improved his score. Jake and Viva had lower scores (200 and 500), but I didn't help them at all. I was tempted, but I didn't. Mark's score went down.

It was getting close to fireworks time, but we managed to squeeze in the ten minute 4-D movie, Mickey's PhilharMagic. Donald, not Mickey, was the host, so why Mickey is in the title, I could not figure out. It was okay. The children liked it. (The 4-D in Legoland was much better.)

The fireworks show (Wishes Nighttime Spectacular) was just starting as we came out of the theater. We were right below the action. It was an interesting perspective. We all thought the fireworks display was awesome. It put us all in an even better mood.

Our moods had been improving throughout the afternoon and evening. The cooler the temperatures got, the happier we were and the wilder the children became. We Alaskans do not like hot weather!

The fireworks show is an hour before the park closes, so when it was done, we still had some time to fit in another ride or two. We were standing right next to Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, so I asked the children if they wanted to ride it. Jake told me he'd been wanting to go on it all day. Huh? He never said anything and we walked by the carrousel many times during the day.

Disney's carrousel is pretty splendid. It has four large horses across. They really go up and down as they go around and adults are allowed on them. This carrousel was much better than the one at Legoland which I thought was kind of lame. When we got on, Viva scouted out a pink horse. (She complained at Legoland when I put her on a nonpink horse because there was a shortage of horses and I had to just get her on one.) Mark and I rode the carrousel horses, too. It was good fun. When it was time to leave I had to pry Viva's fingers off the horse and then she managed to mount another one as we passed by.

We chose to do our third round of Buzz, using up our extra FastPasess that a Disney cast member had given Viva. Viva said she didn't want to shoot again; she wanted to control the spinner. Having someone spin you away from the targets rather than towards them tends to affect your score, so I was amazed at how well I did. I must have hit the jackpot a couple of times! Jake and Bentley improved their scores whereas Mark got his lowest score of the day.

When we finished with game, B asked to do the race cars again. We raced over there and found a very short line. Bentley went with Mark and I got the twins again. They had to share the driving this time because there wasn't time to do two rounds. They did a great job. Jake tried to give Viva some driving tips, but--big surprise--she didn't listen.

The park officially closed and we headed out to find our car. Bentley started agonizing that we were taking too long. He did this at Legoland and the Animal Kingdom, too. He seems to think they'll lock you in, if you don't get out quickly enough. No matter how many times I tell him they won't, he doesn't really believe me.

Our day at the Magic Kingdom was fun, despite the poor start, long lines, and hoards of people. If you believe, the Magic Kingdom is magical!

Visit Florida: Explore Disney's Animal Kingdom

2012-02-14T22:18:00.007-09:00

Today was our first day at Disney World. We chose to start with Disney's Animal Kingdom because Orlando was cold today and we weren't sure the children had the proper clothing to do to an outdoor after dark show. The other three Disney Parks have special night time shows, but the Animal Kingdom does not.

We arrived at the Animal Kingdom shortly after it opened to the general public at 9AM. (It opened at 8AM to Disney hotel guests.) We headed straight to the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. Mark says he read that it is Disney World's most popular ride. They advise that you go early in the day when the animals are more likely to be awake.

The safari ride is a half hour tour in an open-air vehicle through an African-style savanna where the animals roam freely. We saw rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, lions, cheetahs, warthogs, gazelles, okapis, flamingos, and more. The children loved it so much that when we got off they wanted us to go find another similar ride immediately. They were pretty ticked when we told them there weren't more rides like it.

Instead we took a walk down the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. The trail wasn't a big hit because it seemed rather lame after the safari. We saw gorillas and hippos and a few smaller animals in cages, but nothing to compare to the dozens of animals on the safari.

So we did the only thing we could. We went back to safari ride and did it again. It was as good the second time as it was the first. After that we had to find a follow up event, so we went over to Dinoland and did Dinosaur--"a dark, loud, and bumpy thrill ride." It was all of those things. On the ride we took an unauthorized trip back in time to the Cretaceous Era and we ran into a number of dinosaurs including T-rex. (Jake says it wasn't a T-rex, but some other carnivore.)

The children's take on this ride? Bentley closed his eyes half way through the ride and kept them closed. When the ride ended Bentley was anxious to get off. He urged me to "Quick get off! I don't want to go again."

When I asked Jake what he thought about the ride he simply said "No!", but a few minutes later he had a lot to say about it. It left quite an impression. Later in the day he was asking to go again. Viva told me "It was so scary it was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

After Dinosaur we opted to see Finding Nemo: The Musical. It was a really good live show with amazing puppetry. The children were attentive the entire 45 minutes.

Then we joined the TriCeraTop Spin line. It was the longest line we were in all day--fifteen to twenty minutes. Part of the wait was that when we got seated, we were asked to exit again and wait while they did some repair work. Eventually we got to take our ride. It was fun enough. No great comments from the children though.

We stopped to eat a few snacks despite the children's protests. They don't like wasting time when we have lots more to see and do. After they ate they went to The Boneyard, a playground area. They weren't there very long when we realized it was time for the once daily Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade. We were late to the parade route so good viewing was hard to come by.

The boys were invited to stand in front of some taller people and Viva went on Mark's shoulders. They seemed to like the parade. I even saw Bentley doing a little dancing.

It was 4PM by the time the parade was over and we only had two hours until the park closed. The children really wanted to go see Festival of the Lion King, but it played on the half hour, so we had time to kill. We went to Asia and did the Maharajah Jungle Trek. We saw a Komodo Dragon, two Siberian tigers (no biggie since we have a pair at our local zoo), and some super large bats. They were fascinating in a "yikes!" fashion. Keep them away from me!

On the way back from the trek we discovered that the Kali River Rapids had no line. Awesome! Mark and I wanted to do that ride, but we were too late for Fast Passes and last time we looked there was a 45 minute wait. We quickly joined the fast moving queue and in no time were at the front of the line.

This is when Bentley discovered we were going on water ride and could get wet. He started howling "I don't want to get wet!" The lady working the ride handed us a pair of plastic sheets, but that did not work for our finicky Bentley. "My head will get wet." He was very distressed about the ride, so I had to opt out and leave with him. Jake decided to opt out, too. Viva however, was all for going on. When I offered her the plastic, she said no. She wanted to get wet.

And she did. Boy did she. Fortunately we had a change of clothing. As I mentioned in my Legoland post, Viva isn't one to gush, so she didn't say much about the ride, but Mark said she enjoyed it. After the ride, Jake demanded to go, but it was too late.

It was time for the last showing of Festival of the Lion King. I referred to the show all day as the Lion King and it turns out that Bentley (and probably the twins, too) thought they were going to watch the Lion King movie.

After the show we asked B if he liked it better than the movie. He said no, it had too much singing and dancing. What about the gymnastics, we asked? There were four tumblers/gymnasts who did a trapeze act. This show, too, was really good. The only problem for me was the sound level. It was too loud. Much, much too loud. Again the children sat with rapt attention during the entire performance, but when I ask their opinions on the show, they don't have any. Maybe they were in Disney overload?

We stayed until the park closed at 6PM. We missed out on two areas in the Animal Kingdom. We didn't do the petting zoo or Wildlife Express Train and we never made it to Discovery Island. Time flies when you're at a Disney Park enjoying the magic!

Our intrepid trio about to go on safari.

A sampling of what we saw on our two safari rides.

From here you can see the hippo underwater.
If the fish don't distract you!

Bentley requested this photo.

The new strollers were a big hit with all three.

TriCeraTops Spin
(No, the children did not ride alone.)

Here's Opa!

"I want to eee it NOW!"

Viewing Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade.

Opa & Viva having too much fun.

I requested this photo.
(Notice Disney's Tree of Life in the background!)

Visit Florida: Invest in Sunscreen

2012-02-13T02:58:00.003-09:00

SVisit Florida: Invest in Sunscreen

Sunscreen is a major hassle. Unfortunately it's a must when you have fair skinned children who travel from a northern state to a southern one. Their skin is going to burn if you don't protect it.

So every day before we go outside we pull out the sunscreen and the children run away.

"No!!"
"I hate it."
"It hurts."
"I'll wipe it off."
"I''m not going to let you do it."
"Mommy doesn't make us wear it."
"Owie! Owie! Owie!" (sometimes with tears)

Every day this is the thanks we get for trying to keep their beautiful skin beautiful, for trying to protect them from skin cancer.

We chase them down. We make vile threats. "No sunscreen, no pool." "No sunscreen, no Legoland." I'm waiting for the time when they say "I don't care about Disney World. I'm staying here and not putting on sunscreen!"

As much as they hate the sunscreen, I hate it more. It takes Mark and I quite a while to cover three children and ourselves. I cannot get the sunscreen off my fingertips. The iPad screen is covered in it. Finger food tastes funny.

Kara sent along some spray on sunscreen. Spray on sounds easier than rub on when you're dealing with six kiddie legs and feet and six kiddie arms and three kiddie necks and backs. You can't spray their faces, of course. The problem with spray on is that it's really oily and doesn't dry fast. We have to go outside or in the bathtub to spray it on and then we must make sure the children don't sit on any nice furniture before we leave the house.

Two of the three children have sensitive face skin, so that means a special facial sunscreen. Viva's arms are also sensitive. Jake's ankles have sores from his sandals. If we spray sunscreen on these areas the children howl like wounded animals.

I purchased some high quality Neutrogena for face sunscreen. It has zinc oxide in it. That makes it thick and hard to spread. If the children looked white before the sunscreen, they look like Halloween ghosts after it. I complained about the job Mark did the first day because he left blotches all over their faces. I haven't done any better. They look terrible, but better terrible now, then burnt and peeling next week. (Their mother would never let us take them on vacation again if that happened. She is a fanatic about sunscreen--as well she should be.)

Despite our best efforts, Jake had a red ear after the first day. We had to put aloe on it. According to Jake the cure was worse than the disease. Ever since I've double coated all six ears which makes the daily process take that much longer. Which makes the children protest that much more.

We're not going to miss sunscreen when we return home to Alaska.

Visit Florida: Play at Legoland

2012-02-12T11:19:00.004-09:00

Legoland was a big hit with our trio. First there were lots of fantastic Lego sculptures. Then there were age appropriate rides. And, of course, there were Legos you could purchase and take home.

Legoland is in Winter Haven which is about two hours from Mark's parents' home in Venice. We had to get B, J, & V up quite early to be there when the park opened at 10AM. The children were excited to go, so they were good about getting up. We took our iPads in the car so they were entertained and relatively quiet.

We arrived just before Legoland opened. We had purchased online tickets, so we got to skip the ticket queue and head right in. We went straight to Lego Kingdoms to ride The Dragon. It's the most popular ride in the park. It was one of our trio's top picks at day's end. The Dragon is a roller coaster, but not a super fast or scary one which made it perfect for us. I don't think any of the children had been on a roller coaster before, so I was little anxious about how they would react. They loved it. The first half of the ride goes through a tunnel lined with super cool Lego wizards, dragons, and even a cat. Then the ride goes outside and does a hill and a few loops. It's not a very long ride which is good for young children.

Next the children did the Royal Joust. You can see from the pictures that they thought it was pretty cool.

Our third ride was Lost Kingdom Adventure. It's a dark ride (meaning it's indoors and poorly lit). Everyone gets a laser gun to shoot at targets. We didn't know enough about how that worked to tell Bentley what he was shooting at. I never even figured out where the score board was until after the ride finished and the board was already rezeroed. Since we didn't sit with B, we couldn't coach him during the ride. He told me he was disappointed with this ride. He thought it would be more fun. With some coaching, I think he'd like this ride more.

We did a quick stop at Beetle Bounce which was Viva's top pick of what to do. Jake opted out at the last minute and I wished I had when they started taking us up. I should have had more faith. We were in Legoland, not Universal Studios or Busch Gardens. We weren't taken up that high. V & B enjoyed the ride.

We tried out another roller coaster, Coastersaurus. It's an old wooden coaster and made the most frightful racket. Viva did not at all like it. She tried to bury her head in my side. I tried to cover her ears. She told me emphatically that she did not like it. Yet later in the day when she said she wanted to do the roller coaster again and we took her to The Dragon, she told me it was the wrong one. Was she just being contrary? Did she really want to go again on Coastersaurus?

The next event was Junior Driving School. It's for 3-5 year olds, but we let B sneak in since he's only been 6 for less than two weeks. All the kids thought this event was great fun. Viva said she wanted to do it again, so when we took B over to try out Driving School (for 6-12 year olds) and had to wait for ten minutes in line, I left and took V & J back for another drive while B learned the rules of the road before trying out the bigger vehicles. He did well at keeping on the road and obeying traffic lights, but stop signs were not on his radar.

Rescue Academy was the eighth stop. It had four fire engines that competed against each other to put the fire out first. Mark and Viva were a team on one engine and the boys and I were on another engine. We had a few problems getting started because I didn't listen to Bentley. Eventually we got to the fire and tried to put it out. One of our fire hoses was inoperable which meant Jake never got to throw water at the fire. Bummer. He wanted to go back to Rescue Academy a second time, but we never made it there.

After this things are a little blurry in my mind. I'm not sure of the exact order. We went to boating school. We were pretty bad drivers, but at least we didn't get ourselves turned around like another boat did. Jake, Viva, and I passed Mark and Bentley. Mark tried blaming that on Bentley, but that's just sour grapes. I had two junior drivers ramming my boat into the rails and we still managed to keep going forward at a goodly pace. To his credit Bentley kept them out of the spraying water and Viva placed us in it.

Somewhere during the many rides, we stopped at the Imagination Zone, but it wasn't open because school children were using it. Mark did the Kid Power Tower three times, once with each kid. Our chicklets are too small to power it on their own. Likewise later in the day when we tried out the Technicycles, the children were too short to reach the pedals even though they met the minimum height requirement. I think they enjoyed the Tower, but the Technicycles were kind of a dud. We could have repeated the Rescue Academy instead.

We visited Pharaoh's Revenge which was a two story structure with foam cannons in it. B was very excited to try it out, but Mark sent them in on their own and larger kids were cannon hogs. Even when the children finally got a cannon, some older kid took it over. Viva mastered the maze portion of the structure very quickly while Bentley asked me later, how did she get down there?!

The children rode on the two story Grand Carousel. Since we were at the start of the line, we were able to go on the top story. They seemed to enjoy it, but a carousel is pretty tame in a park with roller coasters. Likewise for Merlin's Challenge which was a train that went around in a very small circle on a hilly track.

There were activities other than rides, but we only took in one of them. We attended a 4-D movie with the trio. At first we had complaints from Viva and Bentley about wearing the 3-D glasses. They were good sports though and gave them a try. Viva wore hers the entire movie and stayed attentively watching. Jake and Bentley took theirs off when it got too scary. I talked Jake into putting his back on, but Bentley opted out. During the movie we had rain fall on us and snow, too. The children were rather baffled by that and asked if it was real. I think they really liked the movie. I will definitely look for 4-D movies at Disney World.

A big hit with the boys was Miniland, a outdoors area of the park filled with Lego buildings and boats. The buildings are modeled after famous places around the USA--the New York City skyline, Las Vegas hotels, Cape Canaveral, Daytona Speedway, etc. The boys favorite scene was San Francisco with boats in the water.

The children asked to play at Forestmen's Hideout which was a playground with a large two story fort structure. They raced around like they had too much energy which was a a little hard to believe since we'd been keeping them busy for four or five hours at that point in time.

In Legoland there is a tradition of swapping minifigures with the staff. If you have one and ask them, they will swap with you. I wasn't sure if the children would do it. Viva wouldn't. She said she wanted to keep the one I brought for her to swap. Jake and Bentley had fun. Bentley swapped twice and Jake three times. If they'd started swapping earlier, I think they would have done it more. I think they'll do well with pin swapping in Disney World.

Towards the end of the day we visited the Minifigure Market where you can make your own minifigures. Quite frankly, I was very disappointed with the selection. Lego makes 300 different minifigures a year, yet there were very few styles and colors of torsos and legs to chose from. They could do much, much better. The children each made one and picked out a key chain. Jake chose a fireman, Bentley a ninja guy, and Viva found a princess, although she says it's not a princess because the mini figure didn't have a crown. I think I recognize her. She was a Lego Kingdoms princess.

We stopped at the Lego Factory store. At the front is a small room showing how Legos are made. We didn't stop there very long because we decided to race over to see the 4-D movie and when we came back to spend more time at the pick-a-brick wall, we were short on time. The pick-a-brick wall was like the minifigure building station--given how many different awesome bricks Lgeo makes, the selection wasn't big enough. I wanted more. I wanted pink bricks. i wanted purple bricks. i wanted 2x8, 2x12--the longer ones. When I first check out the wall, I was so peeved, I wasn't going to buy anything there. However, the boys really wanted some orange flames which they claim their dad doesn't have. I don't think that's true, but we let them pick some out.

Then Viva chose some flowers. Mark picked out a few bricks he liked. I settled on some light green, light blue (only two styles available!!), and pretty orange bricks. I threw in some translucent pieces because I love translucent plastic. Everyone picked a few of this and a couple of that. They were little pieces because that's all there were on the wall. The wall was $9/quarter pound. We purchased $13. It's a nice souvenir, but hardly the best available price on Legos.

That was problem with their main Lego shop, too. First off, I didn't even clue in that The Big Shop was the place to find Lego sets. Somehow in my research on Legoland I missed that fact. I thought the Minifigure Mart and the Lego Factory were the two Lego stores in the park. I was totally underwhelmed by them. They weren't very large and there was only a few Lego sets for sale there. I was rather baffled by the minuscule selection, but that didn't clue me in that I missed the main store. In fact the only reason I went into the Big Shop was that I was looking for a drink on our way out of the park. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled on a huge inventory of Lego sets.

Unfortunately this was at 5:30PM and the children were done for day. We had to drag them into the store to take a short look. The boys found a couple of small sets they liked, but Viva didn't. She wanted a larger Lego Friends set. We weren't buying larger sets because Lego sets on amazon.com are cheaper, we don't have to pay sales tax, and we don't have to carry them home.

So what did the children choose as their Legoland souvenir? If you know our trio, it will come as no surprise that they chose.....swords and shields. I tried to talk them into the awesome pirate props.

They modeled them for us, but insisted on purchasing the swords and shields. Even Viva wanted one because there was a pretty pink jeweled shield and sword. When B, J, & V first saw the swords and shields in Lego Kingdoms, I told them to wait and look around at other stuff, but they still wanted them at the end of the day. Of course, we had already put the nix on large Lego sets and we didn't visit a lot of other gift shops. Bentley was enticed by the super large (and rather awesome) dragons at the carnival game booths, but we knew we weren't capable of winning them, so we told him no.

How did the trio like Legoland? Jake spent a lot of the day with a big grin on his face. He was our go-to guy for great photos. Bentley was eager to do everything and in a good mood, too. Viva said she liked a lot of the rides. She's not one to give extravagant compliments. She doesn't waste smiles, either, but I think she enjoyed our time at Legoland. Until about 4:45PM when she sat down on the pavement and said she couldn't walk any more because her feet hurt. She insisted I carry her.

That wasn't going to happen. This was day one of five days in amusement parks. We can't carry three children. Or two. Or even one. So I had to wait her out. It took ten minutes or longer for her to decide I really wasn't going to carry her. She refused to stand up--she's very good at doing noodle legs. Mark took the boys to do Beetle Bounce once last time. Jake wanted to give it a try. Viva had requested we return there, too. She missed Beetle Bounce. She finally got up and walked her way out of the park. We visited Walmart today and purchased two cheap umbrella strollers. Legoland was a small amusement park. It was very compactly laid out. Disney World is not small or compactly laid out. Viva is only four and half. It's not unreasonable for her to want a break from walking for seven hours.

It's pretty amazing that they lasted as long as they did. The park opened at 10AM and closed at 5PM (except for the stores which stay open until paying customers leave!). I didn't really know how the trio would do as the day wore on. They did fantastic. I give all three top marks for endurance.

Once we got back to the car and settled in, I gave the children some food for dinner. Within fifteen minutes Bentley fell asleep over the bag of crackers and stayed out the rest of the drive back to Venice. Jake and Viva eventually followed suit.

It was a long, event filled day. But not so long that the children didn't rally when we got back to urompa's house. The boys did their Lego sets and we all went out to the pool. It was awesome. Nearly as awesome as some of the Lego structures at Legoland. Check them out below. (The car, too, is made from Legos.)

Visit Florida: Escape the Cold?

2012-02-11T22:18:00.002-09:00

I love snow. It's beautiful. It's white. It's sparkly and glittery. It reflects light and makes the night bright. It covers ugly, brown grass. It protects shrubs from moose.

The only draw back? Okay there are two drawbacks. First it makes the roads dangerous and driveways undriveable. I don't like that. Second, it only sticks around when it's cold and it stays cold.

Cold weather is okay. It's much better than hot.You can't escape the heat outside on a hot day. You can escape the cold. You add another layer of clothing.You buy a better coat. You invest in Sorrels. Unfortunately when it's too hot stripping naked won't help. You have to hide out inside with air conditioning. (Even hot weather fans prefer cold to hot!) Think about this: there are no hot weather sports.

However, just because cold weather is better than hot weather that doesn't mean endless cold doesn't get to be too much at times. It's nice to escape to a warm (not hot!) climate. For me Hawaii is perfect, but Mexico and Florida are acceptable, too.

It's very dramatic to get on a plane with three feet of snow on the ground and 12 hours later walk off the plane in a tropical paradise. Modern travel is pretty amazing.

But then, so is good old fashioned weather. Guess what we discovered when we read the weather forecast for Orlando? They have a freeze warning out! Huh? Just two days ago they were predicting 70-80 degree weather through next weekend.

My thoughts on it? It's all to the good. It won't stop us hardy Alaskans and the lines will be shorter at Disney World.

Seriously though, the freeze warning is only for tonight, so it shouldn't be much of a problem for us since the temperatures are supposed to be back to 80 by Tuesday.

Grandma: Do you miss the snow?
J: Yes.
V: I don't like snow.
B: No. Yes. I like making forts. I like throwing snowballs or throwing snow at persons with my shovel.

Grandma: Do you prefer hot weather or cold weather?
J: I like cold weather.
V: I'm not going to tell you. ... I don't like weather.
B: Warm. Not too warm though.

Visit Florida: Visit Family

2012-02-11T20:53:00.004-09:00

Showing off our wonderful grandchildren is a real treat for Mark and I. And when we get to share them with other family members, that's even better. Mark's parents live in Venice, FL. Although the trio visited their great-grandparents four years ago they don't remember the visit. So young to have a failing memory!

We arrived in Venice around 11AM. The children were in overdrive from lack of sleep. They climbed out of the car and raced inside. Jake and Bentley competed for uroma's attention as they showed her their books and drawings. Viva explored the new environment. She checked out every room. (I stopped her from going into the master bedroom.) She opened up the closets. (I heard her mumble something about looking for where the toys were.) She told me that urompa's home was nicer than ours. I think the pool might have won her over.

Florida is a pretty cool spot to visit, but it's even better if you have family there.

Grandma: What is the best thing so far about visiting Florida?
J: Go to urompa's house.
V: That we went to urompa's house. I like going to their house.
B: Haven't decided because I haven't been to Disney World yet.

Visit Florida: Collect Shark Teeth

2012-02-09T19:13:00.004-09:00

First Visit to the Beach

For weeks we've been telling the children that when in Florida we'd visit the beach and collect shark teeth. Within an hour of arriving at urompa's house Bentley started hounding us to take him to the beach.

That afternoon we did. The beach trip did not meet his expectations. It was windy. It was cold. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and wanted his coat and jeans. It was sandy.

Bentley does not like sand. His father does not like sand. His grandpa Tim does not like sand. I had hoped he'd overcome his hang up. He's young. He can make better choices! It sure didn't happen on this trip to the beach.

He spent most of our short time at the beach demanding to leave NOW. For a few minutes he did forget his objections and looked for a shark tooth, but as soon as he found one (or what he thought was one), he was demanding to leave again.

Viva loved the beach. She walked in the surf and got her feet wet. She dug through the wet sand and collected shell fragments. She climbed on the rocks and between the rocks. She thoroughly enjoyed our time at the beach.

Jake was ambivalent. Bentley's poor attitude rubbed off on him somewhat, but Viva's obvious enjoyment was hard to overlook. Jake collected a few shells and looked for shark teeth, but he was eager to leave.

We'll be returning to the beach again, but I'm not too optimistic that B's attitude will change. Beaches tend to be windy and sandy and wet. Even if there is no wind, there will be sand and water. Such a shame. Beachcombing is a lot of fun. I collected a couple of shark teeth, a piece of beach glass (score!), two small sections of coral, and some nice shells. I loved our visit to the beach. Maybe I and Viva will return there on our own and leave the wimpy boys home.

Second Visit to the Beach

The day after our awful (in B's opinion) visit to the beach, we dragged the trio back. And I do mean dragged. Bentley's attitude had not only rubbed off on Jake, but Viva joined the party poopers. When I asked her if she wanted to visit the beach again, she said "No, I don't like sand." Grrr! I wanted to gnaw on that Bentley.

Instead we dragged them against their wishes back to the beach. The boys put on socks so they could keep their precious little feet safe from the sand. We took their jeans and coats, so they could be protected from the cold. On the trip over I gave Bentley a lecture on being a party pooper. Jake was so impressed with my lecture that he wanted me to continue on with my example story. I think I got through to all three of them, although B's follow up query didn't really reflect that.

Bentley asked me how long we had to stay at the beach. He thought ten minutes was long enough. I told him that as many minutes as I got at the beach would be as many minutes as he got in the urompa's pool when we returned back to their house. That shut him up.

We got to the beach and B decided he didn't need his jeans or coat. We walked down to the surf and the children played with the shovels and buckets the urompas had sent along. There were a number of shark teeth collectors on the beach with their little wire cages used to collect shells and teeth from out in the water. I stopped and talked to them. They advised that we try to find teeth in the receding surf or in the tidal pools in the rocks.

I called Bentley over and told him what I had learned. His response? "Can I take my socks off and walk in the water?" SERIOUSLY? He took his socks off and Jake followed suit and they played in the surf, collected shark teeth, and had a great time. Until that is a big wave knocked Jake and Viva over. The twins were both quite unhappy with the experience. Jake swallowed a mouthful of gulf water. He said it tasted awful. They got over the trauma and kept playing although they started getting cold from their wet clothing.

Visit Florida: Enjoy Swimming Pools

2012-02-09T18:39:00.001-09:00

Growing up in Alaska I had very limited access to outdoor swimming pools. To me they are almost mythical. I like them A LOT--as long as they are warm. Cold swimming pools are vile. They look promising, but don't live up to their potential. A warm (but not too warm) pool is the ultimate luxury on a hot day or better yet, a warm night with a clear, starry sky above.

Lucky for us, Mark's parents own a pool. It's even enclosed in screening, so it's protected from snakes and geckos and other unwelcome guests. I really like their pool. The children do, too.

Since it's February the pool's water temperature has to be heated up quite a few degrees and that takes energy, so we have to settle for a little less than perfect pool temperature. Nonetheless we all had great fun frolicking in the pool. B, J, & V all stayed in as long as we allowed them to--well past the time their little teeth were chattering.

It all comes back to attitude. If you think you're going to have fun, you have fun. It doesn't matter if you're cold or not. Or if there's sand, wind, and water.

Visit Florida: Travel by Plane

2012-02-09T18:30:00.001-09:00

Most adults think that an airplane trip is a reason NOT to go somewhere. The cost of air travel and sitting for hours are not fun. That's how adults think.

The trio thinks airplane flights are--to quote Jake--soooooo cool. All three were excited to go on a plane to Florida.

The first leg of our trip, Jake, Viva, and I shared a row. Right across from us were opa and Bentley. Bentley was thrilled to have a window seat. The seat in the middle was empty when we boarded, but we warned B that someone might claim it. If they do, we asked, do you want to offer to change seats with them so that you can sit right next to opa or do you want to stay in the window seat next to someone you don't know?

It was an difficult decision, but Bentley told opa he'd stay in his window seat even if a stranger claimed the middle seat. I was surprised at his choice. No one claimed the middle seat, so he wasn't put to the test.

During the flight Viva had a small disagreement with an inebriated passenger. I took her to use the bathroom and we got held up in the aisle when the guy walking in front of us stopped to chat with his buddy and chug a drink. When his buddy noticed Viva standing there he told her how pretty she was. He held out his hand to shake hands with her. She quickly hid her hands behind her back and gave him The Glare.

He was not properly chastised. He laughed and then he gently poked her tummy. She glared harder. Finally his buddy decided to continue on down the aisle and we got to move on. As we passed the overly friendly buddy Viva punched him twice in the arm. Another passenger a few rows down watched the little drama and he thought her reaction was pretty amusing. I did, too. Other than that the flight went really well.

We had a two hour layover in Seattle. We found a children's play area in the airport and the children ran around. We ate French fries and shared a Wendy's frosty. Well, four of us did. Bentley had milk.

Our second flight took off just before 11PM. Viva got the chance to glare at a few more people who addressed remarks to her. Fortunately they kept their hands to themselves, so she did, too. (One guy apologized for upsetting her. I just laughed it off.) Bentley conked out next to opa and slept the majority of the four and half hour flight. Jake and Viva had a harder time getting comfortable enough to sleep. They got less than three hours of sleep. Not good when you're used to nine or ten hours like Viva is.

Considering her lack of sleep, she did very well on Wednesday. She only had a few short meltdowns. We strong armed the trio into taking a two hour nap.

The Gallery Week 3: Jake and Little Guy, Lincoln and Mom!

2012-02-09T18:11:00.000-09:00

Bentley's Favorite Things - the Photo Journal

2012-02-08T15:19:00.001-09:00

Since it's still AROUND Bentley's birthday time, here is another picture post of some of his favorite things!

Legos, of course...

Not just legos but all forms of building...

White carbs!

Games! Lots and lots of games:

Last, but not least - his siblings!

And... They're Off!

2012-02-07T18:32:00.001-09:00

It is very quiet back at the ranch, because the three little people headed out with the Grandparents a few hours ago:

Don't they look thrilled to be standing outside without coats while I insisted on snapping a bon voyage photo?!

Back at home... doesn't look like Rameses is feeling the neglect yet. Soaking in some rays, enjoying the quiet....

Stay tuned!

Reading Time w/Grandpa Tim

2012-02-07T17:55:00.001-09:00

On Sunday, when the kids head up the hill to visit Grandpa Tim and Grandma Karen, they often ask to do some of their evening story time there before heading home. Matt captured a picture last week!

As usual, the iPhone does not quite impress with low light conditions. But better some form of memory snapped than none at all. That's my thinking on it.

P.S. - it's called artistic, my fun processed images. Artistic, not blurry. Got it?!

Packing, Packing, Packing

2012-02-06T22:25:00.001-09:00

Things were hectic here today. In just 18 hours our plane leaves Alaska headed for Florida. We've been doing laundry and buying jelly beans (my stress food) and calling credit card companies and collecting important paperwork and doing all those not-so-fun chores that precede a vacation.

We've already had proof that Disney World is a magical place. When we checked the ten day forecast for Orlando and the ten day forecast for Disney World we discovered that the temperatures run 2-4 degrees hotter in Disney World. I was puzzling through that odd fact and thinking maybe Disney World execs paid the folks at weather.com to add a few degrees to their forecast when Kara clued me in. She reminded me that it is the Magic Kingdom. Good point. We are going to the Magic Kingdom to create Magical Memories and part of that, no doubt, is better than average weather.

I plan to blog from Florida since I prefer to post while the memories are fresh, so check back in this week to see how the trio are doing on their visit with their great-grandparents and their day at Legoland. Next week we visit Disney World.

***** ***** *****

Did you know that grandparents who take young grandchildren to Disney World are considered brave?! At least half the people that we talked to about our trip to Disney World with our three grandchildren, stated "Wow. You are brave." That was the word most used. Is brave a code word for crazy?

Jake & Noah's Ark

2012-02-06T16:29:00.000-09:00

Jake did his Noah's Ark puzzle today. After completing the puzzle he had a couple questions for me.

Jake: "Why did He send the flood?"

Jake: "No! I know--because the bad guys weren't repenting."

me: "Who were the bad guys?" (I wanted to see if he knew God flooded the entire earth, so pretty much everyone was a bad guy.)

Jake: "I don't know their names."

He got me there. I didn't know their names either.

Jake: "Who built the boat? Jonah?"

me: "No."

Jake: "Joseph?"

me: "No."

Jake: "Jonah?"

me: "No, Noah."

Jonah does sound a lot like Noah, so he kept coming back to it.

Good Looking Lincoln

2012-02-05T01:07:00.006-09:00

Babies are precious, adorable, and beautiful.

Even more so when they are asleep!

Or when they are admiring themselves.

100+ Inches of Snow

2012-02-04T21:20:00.004-09:00

"If you're praying for snow, please stop!" This message has appeared on more than one church sign around town. The skiers, snowboarders, and dog sledders are not listening. It just keeps snowing and snowing. It's beautiful outside, but the roads are often treacherous.

I checked the official snow statistics and Anchorage has had over 103" of snow season-to-date (i.e. since July 1, 2011). This measurement is taken at the airport which is not the snowiest place in town. The Hillside often gets 50% more snow than the airport. We live in Lower Hillside. Yesterday the airport recorded 7" of snow. We had at least 12".

Anchorage's normal annual snowfall is 75". Usually by early February 50" of that 75" has fallen. Since we have 103"--with 1/3 of the snow season yet to go!--we could break the current record of 132.8" set in the winter of 1954-55. Surely we will at least make the top five score board--that only takes 110".

Let it snow!

Reading Report

2012-02-04T03:21:00.000-09:00

We are diligently plugging away with the Headsprout reading program. For the most part Jake makes it look easy. Viva continues to guess, guess, guess which slows her down. Despite her obstinacy, she is learning and making good progress.

Every ten lessons or so the program introduces a new group of consonants and words. At the start of that group of ten lessons, everyone struggles. Jake and Viva have a hard time with the newly introduced words. The adults must strive to stay patient and encouraging. As the twins do the next set of lessons, they learn the words and it becomes easy again. We forget they struggled a few lessons ago and are amazed at how well they are doing.

Each new set of words gets a little easier for Jake. He knows what to do--sound them out. He has to learn the new consonant sounds and the new letter combinations (and, ing, ake, ike), but he does that fairly quickly and everything goes well.

Viva puts us through a torturous process wherein she guesses and laughs and stalls and tells us she doesn’t like this or that part of the reading program. Then she finally decides to learn the sounds and everything goes much better. Until the next new set...when the cycle repeats.

Being obstinate is a good quality in some areas of life. That's what I tell myself.

Skating Report

2012-02-03T02:34:00.000-09:00

The first time Kara and I took the trio skating they hugged the rink wall the entire time. Well, I did drag them away to skate with me a little, but they were very reluctant to do so and clung to me so tightly it was awkward to move. Viva did leave the side of the rink at the end of our skating time. She fell and wasn't too happy about it, but wasn't hurt.

The second time I took the trio skating--the following week--Bentley greatly improved his skating style by only hugging the rink wall with one hand and guiding himself with the other. This enable him to move facing forward! I encouraged Jake and Viva to emulate his style. Jake did. Viva didn't. Another young skater (a three year old hockey girl!) told Bentley how to skate backwards and he took her advice and skated away from the rink for a couple of feet.

The third time I took the trio skating--earlier this week--the children amazed me. I figured they'd be glued to the side of the rink until they had formal skating lessons, but I still took them back to the rink because Bentley requested it as a birthday treat.

Viva didn't want to go. She said "I'm not going to go skating until I know how to skate." That was a golden opportunity for me to talk to her about the value of practice. She sure wasn't going to learn to skate unless she got on the ice. I insisted she come with us.

When we arrived at the rink Bentley and Jake waited impatiently while I put their skates on their feet and then they hit the ice. Viva waited patiently. She lollygagged. Finally she got on the ice and slowly circled around the rink.

Bentley meanwhile was getting better and better on his skates. He stayed right next to the rink, but he let go of the wall for a few feet at a time. He refused any help from me. Jake practiced on his own and with me.

After a while Viva left the ice and spent some time marching around the outside of the rink in her skates. I was thinking it was about time to leave when I turned around and...Jake was in the middle of the rink! I was baffled. How did he get there? As I watched he moved slowly--almost skating. WOW!

Next thing I know, Bentley is also in the middle of the rink. I wasn't surprised to find him there because he was more stable on his feet than Jake, so if Jake could make it to the middle of the rink, Bentley now knew he could, too.

What did surprise me was that Viva followed suit. Shortly after the boys headed to the middle of the rink, she was skating (less or more!) in the middle of the rink, too.

Sure, they need a few lessons on style and how to stop and make turns, but they sure surprised me today. It turns out that for our trio third time really is the charm!

P.S. Now Viva is telling people that she can skate. She even mentioned the word hockey today. (Not going to happen!)

The Space Shuttle

2012-02-02T01:34:00.001-09:00

Bentley received in the mail a very cool cardboard space shuttle for his birthday! I'm no engineer and was having trouble constructing it until I enlisted Grandma's help, but once it was up and together the kids got busy decorating it with their crayons. Then they dragged up chairs to put IN the shuttle. They're in there a few times a day off flying through space.

I even saw Lincoln crawl in yesterday to join them! A fun gift, that they are enjoying immensely. Thanks, Greta!

P.S. - Awesome picture, right?! Opa put a flash INSIDE the ship with them to get that cool lighting. So clever! Thanks, photographer!

Viva & Jimmy

2012-02-01T17:59:00.005-09:00

Uncle Jimmy asked Viva seriously if she thought something had fairy dust on it. Viva responded:

"Don't you know fairies aren't real? The only real fairy is the tooth fairy!"

When listening to Uncle Jimmy tease Bentley about his birthday cake not having sugar/chocolate/etc in it, she informed him:

"Cake is ALL about the sugar, you know!"

Jimmy

2012-02-01T00:43:00.011-09:00

My brother Jimmy came to visit from Utah to surprise our mom for her birthday. He stayed for five days. The children were delighted to have someone new to entertain them. They have met Jimmy before, but it was three years ago and that's a very long time in the life of a four and six year olds. Nevertheless they got very chummy, very quickly. Except for Lincoln who kept a suspicious eye on Jimmy his entire visit, but that's pretty typical for six month olds.

The older three had a great time with Jimmy. Even though he told me he doesn't like board games, he was a good sport and played a few with the children. Viva amused her great uncle by her random actions when playing Sequence. Her lack of strategy infected her twin who had been playing intelligently before Viva joined the game. After wasting her wild card on her first turn, she then quit the game. A few minutes later when asked by her brothers she told them what was in Jimmy's hand. Huh?! We don't normally play games that way. Do the children want us to look bad?!

This was how Viva gained access to what was in her great uncle's hand:

Viva was having such a good time with her great uncle that she invited him to stay a couple of years. We told her he had to go home to his children and grandchildren. They would not like it if he stayed with us for too long.

My Favorite Six Year Old

2012-01-31T23:01:00.002-09:00

Here are six qualities that I admire in Bentley:

* He's always ready for an adventure, a game, or a chance to be active.

* He's interested in reading, Legos, drawing, math, art, chess, and history which makes it easy to homeschool him.

* He's fun to hang out with and interesting to talk to.

* He's excited to wake up every morning and get the day started.

* He's a great brother.

* He's a good planner.

Happy Birthday, Bentley!

Happy Happy Birthday Bentley & Great Grandma!

2012-01-31T22:53:00.003-09:00

Today was a big birthday day at our place. Bentley turned 6 (I can't believe it)! and Great Grandma turned 82 (she can't believe it!). In honor of the big day, Bentley sat down a few days ahead of time and came up with a list of proposed activities and foods to celebrate:

He has lovely handwriting, doesn't he?! I like how the title of the list is "Bentley's & Johanna's desires". Very cute. And quite the list, given that there are only so many hours in a day. Even one as special as this one was!

So we headed out after breakfast to get some racquetball in (Jake & Bentley & I). We had fun! Afterwards we stopped at a local bakery to pick up some cake pops and cupcakes to go with the chocolate cake I'd made at home. The boys got some extra free chocolate cake pops from the owner while we were there, they thought that was pretty cool.

We zoomed home to pick up Great-Grandma, Uncle Jimmy, and Viva. We then headed out across town to our state's first (and just opened) Olive Garden. Bentley had heard about the endless breadsticks and thought it sounded like a great place to check out. Daddy was able to join us there for lunch which was a fun surprise for the kids.

The wait was a bit long, but the kids were pretty well behaved. The food was good and Bentley got to cross breadsticks off of his list of desired foods for the day. :) The wait and the food took a little while, so at that point Matt decided he'd head home with us instead of going back into the office. Score for the birthday boy!

Back home it was time for the games part of the day's "requirements". That was followed by dinner (yes, more food!). Bentley wanted pizza bread and egg noodles, but I figured Great-Grandma might appreciate more than white carbs for her meal - so I made a beef stew. It was delicious, if I do say so myself.

Grandpa Tim was able to join us (Grandma Karen is traveling), and that was very fun, too.

After dinner we had cake:

And next up was the exciting part for a 6 year old - presents:

To be fair, he didn't really bring up the presents at all during the day. He looked at the pile once or twice, but he was very patient which may have been easier because he had so many activities booked. There were books, clothes, games, and, of course, legos.

Last, but not least, we set up a fort in our family room and had some movie time before reading. Then the kids all slept in their fort together.

The verdict? A delightful day with a delightful six year old who was quite charming all day. We couldn't fit in the ice skating or music on the day's calendar. But Grandma did take the kids ice skating the next day, and we're going to get the music in this week too! As for the food list, we hit everything except the pretzels. Which I made him for lunch the next day.

And we all lived happily ever after. (Or, at least, we plan to!)

Happy Birthday, Bentley! We love you so much. I can't believe you're six, but that's what the calendar says. I can't wait to see what fun things we get to discover and do together this next year.

The Gallery Week 2: Shirley Temple Style

2012-01-30T00:54:00.002-09:00

It's taken us a few weeks to get back to our photo shoots, but we're back! Viva asked me to curl her hair for her last night, and I was willing to oblige. Here's what we got:

People at the mall kept poking eachother and pointing to her, then telling me how cute she is. I heard the word Shirley Temple a few times.

I love having a little girl! Dare I say, one who I can even call a girly girl. She loves dresses and jewelry and hair bows and head bands and nail polish and dancing and twirling. And that is fun! Today we went clothing shopping together, and she helped me pick out clothes and then offered her opinion on them. And that is fun too! I'm glad you're around, Viva doll. :)

P.S. - the backgrounds and lights sure do make a difference! My iPhone photo just wasn't quite the same...

Pretzel Mania

2012-01-29T17:15:00.025-09:00

Bentley is currently in love with fresh pretzels. It makes sense, it goes along with his love of bread, bagels, pasta, pizza bread, bread sticks... all lovely white carbs. I console myself that at least he likes vegetables, milk, and lots of types of protein too! He probably has me to blame for his carb addiction, I love all those above mentioned foods too.

Recently Bentley and I picked up some pretzel sticks at the mall, and he devoured them. He did share a FEW with me! We played our racquetball, then on the way back out of the club Bentley said he wanted ANOTHER order of pretzel sticks. I told him it's a fun treat to buy food when we're out and about, but that for $4 I was just going to stick with one order. It's the principle of the thing, right?! I told him we could try making our own at home.

So I googled some copycat recipes the next day and we got busy. Bentley's verdict? Perfect, he told me. Even BETTER than the ones at the mall. High compliment, I think!

My only complaint? Sure, mixing the dough isn't hard. And dipping them into some baking soda water, cooking, brushing with butter... I can handle all of that. But the rolling out of all that dough into long long long thin pretzel ropes? Got old after just a few minutes! Enter brainstorming. On our second batch I tried the spritz machine to squeeze the dough into lovely ropes for me. Good results, but hard on the hands! Next up? Our third batch and the sausage stuffer on my Kitchen Aid. Once I perfected my technique we were golden! Long ropes and more ropes of pretzel dough, easy peasy! I love it. We're in business.

Here he is with his name in pretzel form. All from one pretzel dough rope that came out of the Kitchen Aid. Impressive, right?!

Now I need a good cheese sauce, maybe a mustard sauce... there are all sorts of possibilities. For the rest of the household, that is. Bentley likes them plain. Drenched in butter. Good choice too!

Racquetball Championships, Here We Come!

2012-01-28T17:34:00.002-09:00

Do they have championship raqcuetball tournaments? Who knows... I haven't yet googled it. A project for another day! Along with our adventures at the ice rink, we've been enjoying racquetball at my new gym. We're by no means experts - but I am confident we will get better. Actually, the boys are already better than I am. Natural ability to hit a ball, comes from being a boy I guess...

Most importantly, I think, is that they ran around for an hour straight. I'd like to say they have less energy now but it's not true. I had to drag them out of there and they want to know when we get to go back - such enthusiasm!

P.S. - Viva is missing from the pictures. Yes, I know. Sadly she refused to come play with us. She said the safety glasses I bought her were ugly and she wasn't going to play a game where she had to wear them. I'm going to have to work on her.

P.S.S. - I think the safety glasses are quite a lovely look. Okay, maybe not lovely. But cute in a certain way, right?! And they serve a purpose! Notice Jake's bruised cheek? A misunderstanding with the ball. A bruised cheek is better than a damaged eye! (The bruised forehead is where he hit his head on the bed yesterday. *sigh*)

Genevieve's Artistic Doings

2012-01-27T17:18:00.000-09:00

Genevieve has been busy creating lately. She is excited about her upcoming vacation, so excited she was inspired to write words (not typical for her!):

She also made Opa a quite lovely birthday card, using some leftover paper from hearts as a stencil for her design:

Lastly, she designed this lovely bead art earlier this week:

She has also been very into stencils lately. We bought her a set for Christmas, and she's quite taken with them! It's fun to see how different each of the kids are with their own particular artistic inclinations/interests.

Time with Dad

2012-01-27T01:53:00.003-09:00

Matt is once again working away from home. On Sunday he flew to Barrow. On Monday he flew home arriving in the late evening. He spent the night and was up before the sun to catch a flight to D.C. Fortunately we live in wondrous times and he can still see and talk to his children even though he's 3300 miles away. Here are the boys talking to their father yesterday evening using Facetime on the iPhone. (The iPad wasn't cooperating.)

He's Outta Here

2012-01-26T15:26:00.000-09:00

Now that Lincoln is a master crawler, we have learned why it is he wanted to crawl - so he could crawl towards things he could use to become upright!

Great Grandma, here I come - in a tug of war I think I could take the walker from you - beware!

This train table is PERFECT for cruising along... as long as I concentrate and don't let go!

Hmmm... my baby *walker* isn't working so well. I tipped over backwards and it landed on top of me. But it's all good, I'm still having fun!

Maybe I'll try the couch out instead. Nothing great to grab onto, but it will work!

Ahha! My jumper! I bet I can climb this pole. As long as I don't slip and bump my face...

I'm not sure how long it will take him to master walking, he is only 6 months old, but he is definitely happiest when he is standing upright. That's what happens when you have older siblings you want to keep up with I guess. The pressure, the pressure... !

(I just hope his lovely face survives his experiments. Yesterday he was trying to stand up using the door frame and bumped his forehead into it, then he proceeded to find a chair leg and tried to stand up UNDER it.... banged his head on the top... silly baby!

A Bit about Bentley

2012-01-25T12:36:00.001-09:00

The Primary at church does a little birthday celebration, and they send home a questionnaire for parents to fill out about their kids to go with it. I would get a D on my responses, good thing I had the kid here to question so I could get accurate information!

Here's what I learned, from the expert himself:

Favorite color: Green

Favorite food: Steak

Favorite primary song: Gethsemane

Pets: Siamese Cat - Rameses

Favorite book: Can Snakes Crawl Backwards?

Crib Time

2012-01-23T07:04:00.006-09:00

Now that Lincoln is six months old I figured I better set up his crib... ! He has been sleeping in our bed and his bassinet in our room, but he's quite adept at pulling up/crawling/standing... and that little bassinet is no longer working for him. So it's time to pull out the big guns. The REAL baby bed. We're going to start with nap time in his crib in his room, and go from there and see how it works.

We dragged out the crib and the baby bumper and the sheets, and set to work. The kids and I gave it a shot, then Grandma with the engineering mind helped out when we were stumped. End product? A success. My old crib, used by Bentley, and now by Lincoln.

P.S. Yes, yes. I know. Babies shouldn't have pillows. It's a very flat one. And he doesn't get it very often. But his nose was plugged up, and it was a short nap! :)

The Lego League Competition

2012-01-22T09:00:00.002-09:00

Bentley, as mentioned, has been participating in a Lego group with his charter school. Today was their competition! Based on Bentley's input, the group decided to make a moving pizza oven for the competition. They've been working on it for a few weeks, and then today they had to show it to the judges, and talk to the judges about their presentation board. Bentley, Matt, Jake, Opa, and Grandma all headed over to take part in the festivities. By all accounts it was a good time. Bentley particularly enjoyed the high fivin' at the end!

The highlight? The medal, of course. Jake tells us he is going to enter the competition next year. He wants a medal too. :)

Ice Skating

2012-01-21T01:38:00.002-09:00

Kara and I joined a gym together. I've been a member of the Alaska Club for years, but they won't let you share a membership with others in your household. Our new gym will. That's a big bonus. Kara and I share a membership (and so we both save money) and the children are all free.

The club has the usual work out machines (off limits to children) and two pools. One is small lap pool and the other is heated therapy pool. Even the baby can use the pools. In addition there is a racquet ball court at the club which the children can use. Bentley has tried it out and liked it quite a bit. We'll post more on that when Jake gives it a try.

The work out club is in a mall. The mall has a skating rink and bowling alley it in. The skating rink gives free ice time to gym members and the bowling alley gives half off bowling. So we took the trio over to the mall to skate this week.

The trio have never been on ice skates before. Kara is not a skater because of her bad hip. I can ice skate because when I grew up in Anchorage skating was what we did during recess in the winters. We all took lessons. We spent hours on the ice. I played a little intramural hockey in college. Although I hadn't been on the ice in over ten years (and only a handful of times the two decades before that), I could still skate. Amazing. It was like riding a bicycle. Skating is not a frightfully useful skill, but it is a skill nonetheless.

We met Kara's friend Amrita at the rink. Her son Patrick (Jake's age) is on a hockey team, so he can skate quite well for his age. Her daughter Cassidy (Viva's age) has taken two sets of skating lessons, but she hasn't had much time on the ice, so her skills are not as advanced as her twin's. I was impressed how unconcerned she was about falling down repeatedly. She fell and got up over and over.

How did our trio do their first time on ice? Bentley loved it. He went round and round the rink holding on to the sides of the rink. He got to be fairly fast at it. I took him out on the ice a few times and he showed promise. Jake had a good time, too. He enjoyed being on the ice and wants to go back. Viva was a little more adventurous (duh!) and so she left the safety of the rink side and went out on the ice and fell a few times. Consequently she isn't as eager to return to the rink. Kara showed her a video of a figure skater so she could catch the vision.

One of Mark's cousins has a daughter who was a very good figure skater. She competed into her high school years. His side of the family has a ballerina and a figure skater. I can't think of any impressive female athletes in my family. Hmmm....I'm going to go ponder this new train of thought.

Meanwhile, I think we will be scheduling ice skating lessons for the trio. Just in case they need to beef up their resume.

Reading Update

2012-01-20T02:24:00.001-09:00

Reading is a BIG THING in our household. Reading to the children has always been important, but since Bentley learned to read and the twins started reading lessons, reading has become the number one priority. Every day we must make time for reading with three different small children--time for them to read to us and time for us to read to them. Of course, time must also be made to read to the baby. Often we have Bentley help us out with that.

So how are our young readers doing? Bentley is doing awesome. He has gone from not reading a single word eight months ago to reading short chapter books. Last week B was reading a chapter a day to his mom from a Nate the Great book. One afternoon he asked to finish the book instead of waiting for the next day to read the next chapter. When he finished the book, he wanted to immediately read another one in the series. He read that book on his own in a single sitting. Occasionally he spelled out a word for us to help him with. The book had 47 pages. A few pages had no words, but some pages had more than a hundred words on the page. Truly Bentley's reading skills are awesome!

How is Jake doing? Jake is a natural at reading. He's picking it up easily. Sometimes he struggles a little with the Headsprout lesson--he needs extra encouragement--but he can easily read the small books and short stories that come with the program. He's a whiz at the flash cards. There are a few words that stump him, but most words he can sound out easily.

How is Viva doing? Well...Viva is a challenge for her reading support staff. It requires a lot of patience when working with her. She does nearly as well as Jake with the online Headsprout lesson, but put a book in front of her or do the flash cards with her and you need to have a lot of time and patience. Viva is a guesser. Her independent nature requires that she do things her way and she prefers to give a guess or two (or three!) before attempting to sound out the word using her newly acquired reading skills.

If the word is Lee, she might guess Scout. If you say "No, look at the word", she will look, but then give another guess, "Pip!". You must then practice more patience (as she bounces half on/half off her chair) and coax her to decode the word rather than make guesses. If the first card she reads is flip and the next card is flips, she will not see the connection.

Is she learning to read? Yes. Is it an exercise in long suffering for her helpers? For sure. Some of us are better at helping her than others. Oddly enough, I find her amusing. Her antics don't usually bother me--even the squirming. That's one reason we homeschool, so our little squirmers can squirm away. There are no rules about sitting still in our classroom.

Beauty & The Beast

2012-01-19T01:44:00.002-09:00

Grandma Karen took Viva to see Beauty and the Beast last Friday evening at the performing arts center. Viva got to go out to dinner with Grandma Karen, Allie, and Ashley before the show. Grandma Karen told us they had steak bites. When Grandma Karen mentioned steak bites, Viva started fake gagging. (Viva can be a real ham.) It turns out the steak bites had a lot of pepper on them and if you got the wrong bite, it was pretty spicy. The steak bites were not a hit with Viva, but she liked the potatoes and ice cream.

We were told that the show was quite long, but really wonderful. There was an awesome trumpet number when ribbons were shot out over the audience. Viva came home with quite a long section of both gold and pink foil ribbon. She cut them up and made necklaces for everyone. I'm wearing mine now. Ashley purchased Viva a souvenir Beauty doll at the show and she even purchased the boys Beast souvenirs.

After the show Viva spent the night at Grandma Karen's. She did not come home until Saturday afternoon. She had the royal treatment.

Cute Words They Say: Jake

2012-01-18T01:52:00.000-09:00

Jake was really irked at me a week or two ago. I don't remember why, I often incur his wrath though... :)

He told me: I don't like you at ALL, and I am never going to hug you or come to your room at night and bring my blankets and pillows with me.

Me: Can I have that in writing?

Him: What does that mean?

Me: Well, it means we'll write out that you're never going to come to my room at night, and then you'll sign your name. It will be a promise.

Him: You write it, and I'll sign it. Write that I am never going to come to your room again. But not the part about how I don't like you at all.

Cute Words They Say: Bentley

2012-01-18T01:49:00.000-09:00

At church Sunday the topic was choices and consequences. The teacher asked the kids what cheating is and Bentley's hand went straight up. Very high! There was no other takers (this is the Jr. primary, for kids 3 through 7).

Bentley's definition?

Cheating is like when you're playing chess and your pawn jumps over another piece. This is cheating because pawns can't jump.

Great definition!

Mirror Baby

2012-01-17T12:22:00.000-09:00

It was time for Lincoln and the mirror to meet!

Handsome dude, right?!

And, for the fun of it, here are Bentley, Jake, & Viva at the same age. (and in that order)

Jean & Sarah

2012-01-16T21:45:00.001-09:00

My twin Jean and her daughter Sarah came to visit for the holiday weekend. Whenever Jean comes from out-of-town the rest of the extended family in the area rush over to see her. I think Jean sees more of them than we do! So because Jean and Sarah were staying with us the past four days, we had a lot of visitors. Karla came Friday evening with Koltan and Cheyenne. Koltan was a good sport and played chess with Bentley. That same evening cousin Anna and Ben came over. Ben played chess with Bentley, too. After the family left, Bentley coerced Sarah into helping him make birthday decorations. (It's opa's birthday on Monday.) I don't think Sarah had any idea of how hard Bentley would work her.

The next evening cousin Adam and Mel stopped by. Adam played two games simultaneously one against Jake and one against Bentley. I think I heard him say he made the same move on both boards to keep it simple. (Seems like you could get into trouble doing that?) Anyway, Bentley has totally enjoyed all the visitors. Lincoln, not so much. He's starting to be fearful of new faces.

This post was titled Jean and Sarah but I've written mostly about their visitors! My main point is that Jean and Sarah were here and we visited with them between their social engagements. *grin*

Opa's Birthday

2012-01-16T21:44:00.003-09:00

It's January 16th again and that means opa adds one year to his age. This year he is 51. Bentley decorated the house for his birthday. Viva made him a really nice birthday card. On it she wished him happy birthday and asked if blue was his favorite color. She also supervised her mom when she made opa's blue velvet cake. Jake was rather busy today building with Legos, so I don't recall any special birthday activities that he engaged in. Lincoln gave opa a tie with his photo on it. Kara and I made opa his favorite birthday meal--red cabbage, potato dumplings, and rouladen. Opa had a good birthday.

Laughing Lincoln (Happy Six Months Old!)

2012-01-15T16:13:00.003-09:00

Our Lincoln is six month olds today! He is a delight to have around, and we can't imagine not having him here with us. He has the best laugh. He's a bit of an easy sell, but that's okay with me as I'm not a world class comedian by any means... :)

Thanks for being here, Lincoln! We love you!

(Words by Kara, video by Opa)

Purple Lego Car

2012-01-14T19:18:00.003-09:00

Recently Matt told me that Lego had just launched a new line, Lego Friends, aimed at girls. In an effort to win Viva over to the Lego Party, I purchased a small set of Legos from this new line.

I chose the convertible car and car wash. Viva was eager to put the set together. She did most of the piecing herself. She's not quite as good at following the instructions as the boys, but that's because she prefers to do her own thing. She looks at the instruction booklet and finds the pictured pieces. Then she places them wherever she thinks they fit on the model without referring back to the booklet. Sometimes her intuition is good. Sometimes not. Legos are great for creating your own design, but the first time around it's nice to build the set as pictured on the box--in case you lose pieces and are never after able to build the item you paid money for.

Viva enjoyed building the car and car wash. She played with it. She particularly liked that the minifigure included with the set had changeable hairbows. There was even a small dog on whom you could put a matching hairbow. (Is that a European custom?)

Viva showed off her new car to her brothers. They were impressed, but Jake did comment: "That's not a car wash." Viva replied "I told you it's not a normal car wash." The Lego car wash is a faucet and bucket, not a building you drive through. I'm sometimes surprised how many odd details about modern life young children know. They are always watching and filing away information.

Scootin' Lego Lovin' Toothy Boy

2012-01-13T12:06:00.000-09:00

Just a quick update from the almost 6 month older! Lincoln now has 2 bottom teeth! They are tiny little stubs of teeth, but they are teeth. I know because he has been quite tormented about them for the last few nights. :) He doesn't really like to flash them yet (and there's not much to see!), so no good picture. Tooth stubs + gums + drool = not much of a picture anyway.

In other Lincoln news, he can move forward! And he's quick! He hasn't mastered a proper crawl, but he has a lunge forward, lift again, lunge forward approach that is working for him. He is also proficient at sitting himself up from the crawl position. He seems quite pleased with all his new skills, I imagine if he could talk he'd tell me he plans to be walking and running and keeping up with his brothers and sister any day now.

In the mornings Jake and Bentley often play with Legos - and Lincoln is happy to sit on his side of the room with his duplos and play along. Not even quite 6 months and he already understands which toys are considered the *cool* ones by his brothers... :)

Countdown to Florida

2012-01-12T01:36:00.001-09:00

When I first decided to take the trio on vacation with Mark and I, I planned to visit Hawaii in the dead of winter. Escaping the dark, cold winter for a week in a tropical paradise is a common Alaskan fantasy. I wanted to take the children to play in the surf. I hoped to convince them that walking barefoot in warm sand is one of life's finer pleasures. The trio have been to Florida once and Mexico twice, but they haven't much liked the sand in either place. That is crazy. Kara tells me that Matt doesn’t like sand. That's just wrong. I hoped I could overcome their resistance and show them just how awesome warm beaches can be. Hawaii is the place to do that.

Unfortunately, while I was planning to go to Hawaii, I didn't make any air or hotel reservations. When I finally got around to doing so, the airfares and hotel rates were too high for me to willingly pay. I had to rethink my plan. My new plan was to go to Florida to visit Mark's parents and to visit Disney World. The air fares to Florida were cheaper than to Hawaii. The hotels in Orlando were a lot cheaper than the hotels in Maui. Of course, passes to Disney World are not cheap for five people, but overall a Florida trip would be less expensive than a Hawaii trip. And, there is a new Legoland near Orlando and the world's largest McDonald's PlayPlace is in Orlando, too. Try and top that!

So we are off to Florida in early February. It should be an exciting trip. We will be hunting for shark's teeth, visiting the great-grandparents, playing at a water park, checking out Legoland, and visiting four Disney theme parks to collect smashed pennies and take a ride or two.

Bentley's Book

2012-01-11T00:54:00.004-09:00

Bentley made this book back in November. It was stashed away in his paper bin, but it deserves a post on the blog, so I dug it out and had opa photograph it.

Bentley came up with the idea and the wording all on his own. He asked me for help with stapling the book together and with spelling. (I spelled armour the British way.)

Did you read his instructions? It's a fantastic book. Bentley has made a few different pieces of paper armour, so he's writing about what he knows. The only question I have is...isn't paper armour an oxymoron?

Here's a sample of some recent drawings B made:

And here's a recent watercolor he did:

When he gave the watercolor to opa, B explained that he had written each word in a different color so it was easier to read. We have been trying to educate him about blank spaces between words, but he's not taking our advice. His idea of changing colors is a good one, but rather time consuming.

Mystery Lego Minifigures

2012-01-10T00:20:00.003-09:00

For Christmas Santa gave Jake and Bentley mystery Lego minifigures. They come in a sealed foil packet. You don't know what minifigure you have until you rip the packet open. Each series has 16 different minifigures to collect.

Bentley open up his mystery packet and discovered a pink Fitness Instructor. Seeing as there are only four female minifigures in this series, the odds were against getting one. The Fitness Instructor is probably the least interesting figure in the series.

Jake had better luck and he found a Snowboarder Guy in his mystery packet. Santa didn't leave Viva a mystery packet since she doesn't like Legos.

I had three Lego minifigures of my very own. I offered to trade Bentley for his Fitness Instructor. I swapped him a Detective. I didn't offer my Ice Fisherman. Not that hoarding it did me any good because Jake came along and stole it. He said he NEEDED the fish. So now I have a Snowboarder Guy, a Fitness Instructor, and a Cave Woman. When I get my hands on an Evil Dwarf or a Lizard Man, I am not swapping. Unless, of course, I can get the Ice Fisherman back.

What I fear will really happen is that I will end up with no Lego minifigures and the boys will have them all.

Update: I wrote this post two weeks ago, but didn't get it posted online. It was lost in my drafts folder. Since then I have managed to collect all 16 minifigures in Series 5. I learned how to identify by touch what figure was in the closed foil packet. Bentley swapped me his Detective for an Evil Dwarf. Jake swapped the Ice Fisherman for a Gladiator. (I manipulated the swap with Jake since I opened the wrong packet and ended up with an extra Gladiator.)

When I asked the boys what minifigure from the series that they wanted next, Bentley chose the Royal Guard (he carries a rifle) and then the Gangster (he has a gun). Jake wanted the Zookeeper (for the monkey) and then the Lumberjack (for the axe).

Series 6 comes out this week. I showed the boys online what minifigures are in the lineup. I expected Bentley to continue his warrior/soldier theme. He did--somewhat--but his choices surprised me. I thought he'd want the Roman Soldier and the Highland Battler. He didn't like the rectangular shape of the Roman Soldier's shield. Picky boy! Instead he has his eye on the Classic Alien (he comes with a light saber type gun), the Bandit (B explained that he needs villains to attack his Lego castle), and the Minotaur (he has a battle axe).

Jake's choices are much more eclectic. His number one choice is Lady Liberty. Jake for some reason loves the Statue of Liberty. His second choice was the Clockwork Robot who is pretty cool looking. His third choice was the Roman Soldier. Good choice! It made Bentley rethink his choices, but he didn't change his mind in the end.

Now all I have to do it get good at identifying the new group of 16 minifigures by touch. Seeing by touch is a new skill for me.

I asked Viva if she's interested in collecting minifigures and she said "No." I think they are pretty cool. They fit perfectly in the small printer drawer I purchased 10 years ago in London. I had just about decided to give the drawer away, but now I've found a use for it. It's a good thing to share an interest with your grandchildren. Jake and I are splitting a ten pack of light sabers I ordered. I think the Fitness Instructor will be much improved by the addition of a glow-in-the dark light saber. Maybe Bentley will try to swap her back. He doesn't have a glow-in-the-dark light saber.

Snow Scene

2012-01-09T23:02:00.001-09:00

We have had snow, snow, snow...and yet more snow. Our winter 2011-2012 total snowfall has been 81" which is 40" more than usual this time of year. This might sound like a lot of snow, but it's nothing compared to what's happening in Valdez. They have had 67" of snow since the beginning of the year--in the past 9 days! Their winter 2011-2012 season to date snowfall is 290". Awesome!

Back to us...the children have not been out very much to enjoy all the wonderful white stuff. I was hoping to get them out today, but we got distracted with other activities. The boys spent a few hours with their Legos. In the afternoon the children got a small package from Grandma Vicki that contained some winter fun sticker sheets. All three grabbed their sheets and went to work.

Viva used every sticker on the sheet. She arranged the snowflakes in a V. (She told me so. I'm not just interpreting her work.) After laboring hard to finish her sheet, she gave it to me!

The boys did a great job with their sticker art, too, but today I'm highlighting Viva's work.

The Gallery Week 1: Twins in Blue

2012-01-07T01:08:00.001-09:00

My posts are a bit back logged, so we're jumping right up with the gallery week 1 now! The subject? A twin grouping. They were jumping around like wiggle worms, but we did manage to get one photo of them!

Okay... I should clarify. We did take more than 1 picture. But here's an idea for you of what the other pictures look like:

Hmm... I might be able to duct tape their feet in place, but if I can't control those crazy faces it's not going to help me, is it?! :)

The Gallery Week 0: Babe in Stripes

2012-01-06T01:14:00.001-09:00

In honor of all the awesome new photo studio equipment, I have decided on Wednesday night as photo night around here. As Lincoln is the most obliging of our subjects, we decided to start with him. He was a pro, naturally! He looks great close up:

He was excited about the sitting pose:

He happily worked with my new photo prop:

And he even managed a contemplative pose with big sister:

We're off to a good start for our photo wall!

Precocious Lincoln: the Update

2012-01-05T00:01:00.001-09:00

It's not exactly a crawl, but I did manage to convince my charming baby to move FORWARD instead of backwards! The perfect bait? An iPhone with a picture of a really cute baby on it. I think he recognized the kid as someone who looked just right to him!

Breadsticks & Legos

2012-01-04T01:00:00.000-09:00

Today two of Bentley's great loves were sharing space in his day, what a happy way to start off a morning, right?! Bentley loves Legos and so we are part of a Lego team at his charter school. The group meets once a week, and they're learning about gears and Lego contraptions. They'll be participating in a Lego League competition later this month if everything comes together right!

For the competition they are supposed to design something (out of Legos and using gears) that relates to the topic of the year. The topic for this year is food safety, so today the kids headed over to a local pizza place to get a behind the scenes tour and maybe come up with a few ideas for their competition piece.

I'm not sure if any of the 5 year olds came up with a great game plan for the competition, but I do know they had a great time! Bentley's favorite breadsticks are from the Great Alaska Pizza Company (where we did our tour), and at the end of the tour the owner let each of the kids make their own pizza. Bentley does not eat pizza (red sauce is scary), but he does inhale breadsticks. Whenever we buy them from this place he requests his own bag. Of eight. And he eats them all.

So he asked if he could do breadsticks instead of a pizza. Our quite obliging host not only helped him make breadsticks, he also made him an Italian pizza (just butter and cheese on it) so Bentley could compare the two. Then he threw in another bag of breadsticks and a pepperoni pizza for the rest of us in the house. Sweet!

We had a great time!

Precocious Lincoln

2012-01-03T01:19:00.003-09:00

From birth Lincoln has been unusually strong. At the hospital more than one doctor commented on his ability to hold his head up. He can already sit up and he's very close to crawling which is highly unusual for a five month old.

Lincoln can scoot backwards quite far and quite fast. We put him in the middle of the family room and in no time he's stuck between the couches or trapped by his jumper or swing. He not only moves backwards, but he rolls over and over and he can spin himself around in a circle. Put him on the floor facing east and soon he’ll be facing west. The problem is that I think he's as surprised as we are where he ends up.

Impressive as the first three grandchildren were in accomplishing the first year milestones, Lincoln is way ahead of them.

Four Gen Shot

2012-01-02T01:04:00.003-09:00

Here's a photo of Viva (4), her mom (28), her grandma (52), and her great-grandma (81) taken on Christmas Day when we were all dressed up.

Snow, Snow & More Snow

2012-01-01T01:22:00.001-09:00

After our wind and chinook windows and melting snow... we finally got back to the regular Alaska winter programming! Snow, snow and more snow! Unfortunately it's not the most perfect snow for snowmen. And it's a bit cold out for my taste.

Luckily... Matt had the last week off, and he is hardier than I am. Must be all the time in Barrow this past year. And, nicely enough, although the snow isn't so great for snowmen the layers of slush and ice at the bottom of all the new stuff seem to have made perfect conditions for snow tunnels!

Matt and the boys worked hard:

Notice there is no photo of Viva. Apparently her tastes run towards the indoors, like mine? Although she does head out with the boys every once in a while!

And to end the post, here is Opa's new "most liked" picture from Instagram! Isn't it lovely?

It's almost as lovely as the grandkid pictures he takes! :) (I suppose I might be biased towards the kids....)

The Year in Review

2011-12-31T00:58:00.000-09:00

I've compiled a list of the highlights of 2011. It's not chronological. The first on the list is the most important, but after that it's jumbled order.

* Lincoln Henry Altman joined the family!
* Bentley started kindergarten--at home.
* Legos took over the upstairs family room.
* Jake & Viva mastered 100 piece puzzles.
* Matt traveled to Barrow 12+ times and D.C. 4 times.
* Jake played a lot of checkers.
* Bentley was introduced to chess.
* Kara started cutting the boys' hair.
* We built a spectacular play house from appliance boxes.
* Paper airplanes were a big hit.
* Bentley learned to read.
* Soccer, badminton, and basketball were the boys' summer fun.
* Viva biked, swung, and explored the yard.
* Lincoln, although a lousy eater, stayed near the top of the growth charts.
* Bentley traveled to Las Vegas with Matt.
* Viva visited the family in Idaho with Matt.
* Kara, Jake, and Lincoln happily stayed home all year.
* It was the year of dragons, knights, swords, and princesses.
* Bentley, Jake, and Viva watched Dr. Who with opa.
* The children cut, taped and drew a lot.
* Grandma Vicki came to visit twice!
* Daddy took the children on fun camping trips.
* We had a memorable Halloween party.
* Lincoln mastered sitting at a precocious age.
* The trio were introduced to books on tape.
* The boys joined opa on mushroom hunting expeditions.
* Kara spent days researching homeschool options.
* The children acquired lots of mittens and hats that great-grandma knit.
* The children had their first overnights at Grandma Karen and Grandpa Tim's.
* Viva started ballet.
* Bentley and Jake started gymnastics.
* The boys got a bunk bed; Viva got the trundle.
* The children had many adventures with Matt.
* Bentley joined a Lego club.
* Thousands of books were read aloud to the children.
* Bentley read hundreds of books to us or his siblings.
* Viva was the ringleader of hours of imaginative play.
* Mommy & grandma spent many, many enjoyable hours with the foursome.
* 2011 was awesome.

Grandma Vicki was here!

2011-12-30T01:41:00.000-09:00

We had a great time with Grandma Vicki, and our resident photographer captured an awesome studio picture of her with the grandkids! There was lots of reading, time for games, and time for art activities. We even had mostly well behaved grandchildren involved in the endeavor! :) We all thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas break together (Matt had the week off) and can't wait for more fun next summer!

Christmas Eve Photos

2011-12-28T23:25:00.003-09:00

When I and Mark were children, our families both opened gifts on Christmas Eve. We kept that tradition when we married and that's how Kara was brought up. Matt was a good sport when he married Kara and let us continue on in our tradition. It works well because Matt & Kara can spend Christmas Eve with us and Christmas Day with Matt's family.

On Christmas Eve we eat potato soup and hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls for dinner. We light the candles on our nativity carousel. We read the Christmas story.

We sing a few Christmas carols. We unwrap our gifts!

If you saw the photo I posted of the Christmas tree a few days ago, you will know there were lots of presents under the tree. There are nine people who live in our house, so the gifts were not all for the children.

We try not to overdo with gifts at Christmas. Kara and Matt gave the children a toy, a piece of clothing, and a book each. Mark and I gave them a toy and a book. Great-grandma gave them a toy. They each purchased one item for one sibling. Grandma Vicki sent them a toy. That's eight gifts each before Santa. And, they each got four or five more items at Grandpa Tim and Grandma Karen's. They did quite well despite our efforts to keep it reasonable.

Jake, Viva, and Bentley helped distribute the gifts. Lincoln only managed to open two gifts before he needed a break. Jake was a little disappointed that Bentley received a cool Lego watch and he didn't. It's not easy being the slightly younger brother. The older children all got awesome puzzles from great-grandma. They scored fun new tee-shirts from their parents.

Viva received a few dolls (a princess, a fairy, and a ballerina!), which is what she wanted, so that was great. She also got a stencil set, a mosaic set, and a Princess tote bag. The boys got Erector sets, zoomorphs, and cool science toys. Lincoln received a play table and some cool baby toys.

Santa brought the children (to share jointly) three games, a Lego set, cool colored Lego bricks, a marble run, a musical instrument, art supplies, and stockings overflowing with fun, small items. Santa also left for Bentley a shiny dragon, for Jake a sock monkey, and for Viva a doll. Lincoln scored a Skwish ball from Santa. Oddly enough, none of his siblings ever owned one.

It was a good holiday at our home. We hope yours was a good one, too!

Grandma Vicki Is Visiting

2011-12-27T23:52:00.000-09:00

Grandma Vicki arrived yesterday evening for a short visit. The children showered her with lots of attention today. She helped Bentley build his dragon ball puzzle. Viva demonstrated how her new stencils work. She joined Jake and Bentley for a session with Legos. She watched Jake doing his reading lesson and Bentley read to her. She held Lincoln. She helped with the bedtime routine. Grandma Vicki integrated perfectly in our daily lives!

We hope to get a photo or two before she leaves--our proof she was here!

Christmas Wrap Up

2011-12-26T23:52:00.003-09:00

Christmas is always a busy time of year. There's lots of extra activities to squish into a busy schedule. Here's a few activities that the children did during the past month.

In early December our church ward had its Christmas party themed "A Night in Bethlehem". We were encouraged to wear biblical attire. The children and Matt did, but Kara and I did not. There was lots of good food--that our picky trio liked! We were given "money" and we had to barter for food. The kids liked that, although they didn't haggle at all. It was an enjoyable time for all.

Viva went to see Pinkalicious with Grandma Karen in mid-December. She wore a pink dress and had a great time, although she told Grandma Karen that she prefered the movie they watched at home together later that afternoon. She always has a great time with Grandma Karen. I'm a little jealous because I can't always think up fun activities to do with Viva.

The week before Christmas Bentley and Jake had their second overnight with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Tim. They were very excited about it. Uncle Tyler had given them some Star Wars Legos sets and they wanted to go over and play with them. When Kara dropped them off she stopped to talk to Karen for a minute. Bentley came over and said "Mommy you are wasting our time with Grandma Karen--leave."

Later that week Viva had an overnight. I wondered if she was ever going to come home! She didn't go over until evening time on Thursday, but she didn't return until dinner time on Friday. She had a fun time as always. They made brownies and cake. She visited McDonald's. That's all she shared with me.

Bentley and I pieced together a Ravensburger puzzle ball that is meant to be a Christmas ornament, but he won't hang it on the tree. He says he doesn't want it put away with the ornaments, so he refused to put it on the tree. He carries it around the house in its storage box. That's not the vision I had when I purchased it, but for now that's what is.

Jake and I put together my Christmas Lego reindeer, sleigh, and santa set. Bentley did a small Santa. I wanted to find more Lego Christmas sets, but I went looking way too late in the season.

The children have enjoyed playing with the Playmobil nativity. We left it out on their play table. They rearranged it a number of times.

One afternoon I gave the trio sticker nativity sheets and they created their own nativity scenes on construction paper. It was easy to tell which one was Bentley's. He's very organized and everything was lined up nicely and in the places you'd expect. Jake and Viva were a little more free thinking. Viva had a flying camel.

I did not get to make very many ornaments with the children this year. The days flew by too fast and I was sick for some of them. I'm bummed. I had plans to make popsicle stick swords. The Christmas season is not long enough. Next year I'm starting to celebrate in early November, right after Halloween.

An Extra Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T17:14:00.005-09:00

This year with the addition of Lincoln to the family, we've had an Extra Merry Christmas.

Taking the annual Christmas photo is always a memorable event. The children, the adults, the cat...it's work, not play. That's okay. Not everything in life has to be fun. We had two photo shoots. The photo above came from the first shoot. I asked for a second shoot because I wanted to get a smiling Lincoln and a Santa cat in the Christmas Photo. That never happened, but we did get some more really great photos.

Here's what most photos of the trio, the baby, and the cat turned out like:

We almost had a good photo. This photo inspired me to do a second shoot--we were so close:

When we were buying the Santa hats, the boys talked me into reindeer horns, too:

Sometimes we let the kids make funny faces for a few shots:

And then they would smile nicely for one or two photos:

Lincoln was hard to work with:

The cat was easier to work with:

We're done with Christmas photos until next December!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T23:27:00.001-09:00

Christmas Eve is a very busy day at our home. We finish shopping, we wrap presents, we prepare our traditional Christmas Eve meal, we eat the meal...and we open gifts! We shall post some photos of the children unwrapping gifts in a day or two. But in the mean time, here's our photo of the day.

This photo was not photoshopped. Our skinny boy shimmied under the tree amongst the gifts. He was a good sport, but it got a little uncomfortable especially when I shined a flashlight on his face to make sure it wasn't lost in the gift packages.

Lincoln Loves the Sweet Potatoes!

2011-12-24T13:30:00.000-09:00

Grandma fed Lincoln some rice cereal a few weeks ago, but other than that we haven't fed him any solids. I figured that in the spirit of the season, we should introduce him to some *real* food flavors. We settled on sweet potatoes, around 11 pm last night. It was a big hit! His one time practicing with the spoon has obviously turned him into a pro. He learned forward, into the bites, big mouth... and he swallowed it all up! He kept his eyes on the bowl, he was excited! Yay! I hope this good attitude continues. I told him if he keeps it up I'll take up cooking gourmet baby food, and leave those three older non-good-eating children to fend for themselves at dinner time. He smiled. I think he likes the idea... ? :)

Christmas Puzzle

2011-12-23T02:34:00.001-09:00

This was the puzzle that Bentley chose when we returned the first "girly" puzzle that I chose. His choice was better than mine because it was a 300 piecer and with three of them working on it, a 100 piecer would have been done in just minutes. What fun is there in that?

The children worked together really nicely. Everyone helped out until the puzzle was done. (Well, the twins weren't that helpful when Bentley and I were sorting the border pieces out at the start of the project!) I only got to put in a few pieces. Mostly I helped the children decide what to work on next and I'd sort pieces by color to help them out. Jake sorted all the reindeer pieces on his own and they were not easy to find. Working on puzzles together is fun and relaxing. It's a great family tradition.

More Portraits

2011-12-22T01:11:00.004-09:00

I like to have photos to accompany my blog posts, but the pickings aren't always what I hope for. Sometimes I ask Kara to a take a photo for me, but she usually uses her iPhone and those photos aren't very good because the iPhone lacks a decent flash. If she takes a photo on her good camera, sometimes it never gets transferred from her camera to my computer. Mark can only take photos for me if he is home which he often is not since he goes to work most days.

I myself don't have a good, easy-to-use, digital camera. I'm not sure one exists. The digital cameras we've owned over the years are either too complicated (SLRs) for my taste or they are too slow. I was pretty good with a film camera and digital cameras (reasonably priced ones!) are not their equal even yet when it comes to speed. I like to click a photo and capture the moment I clicked, not a few moments later. GRRR!

So sometimes I lack good action photos to illustrate my posts. However, I do not lack lots of really good portrait photos of the children thanks to Mark's new portrait studio. So here's another portrait post to make up for the lack of action photos lately.

As you can see Bentley has been particularly cooperative lately. Mark says Jake has been hard to work with, but his photos don't reflect that. Viva has been a willing model, but since she isn't as comfortable with Lincoln and Jake won't work with her, there is just the one photo. I told Mark we need some twin shots next! After the Christmas photos, of course. Time is running out to get those done. I'm not looking forward to trying to get a shot of all four children. Babies are not fun to work with in groups. You can't bribe them with chocolate. You can't reason with them. Wish us luck. (I wonder if we have a doll that is Lincoln size?)

Chess: Jake & Viva

2011-12-22T00:20:00.000-09:00

I was sitting at the computer on Monday getting ready to place yet one more last minute online Christmas gift order when I overheard this conversation between Jake and Viva. Jake, as I mentioned a few posts ago, is learning chess from the iPad, Bentley, and opa. He has now taken on a (reluctant!) student of his own. I did not record the entire conversation between the two. I don't type fast enough. Here is what I did get:

J: I know exactly how to win
J: Viva move your horse to there.

J: No Viva! You are doing it wrong. I did not say to do that.
J: You are going to lose.
V: Just get away I want to win how I want to win.
J: You can't win.

J: Next time, I'll show you how to win.
J: Bishops can only go diagonally.
J: Next time I play chess you have to watch me.
V: I don't like to watch.

J: Viva, you need to move your rook right there.
V: Where?
J: Take his rook!
J: Take the queen.
J: Ha! I told you a good move.
J: Now get him right there. In check.

J: If you get a pawn all the way over without getting eaten, you get a queen.
V: We got less. They got more.
V: I want to take a king with a rook.
J: You can move that rook up to there.
V: I told you it doesn't work well.
J: Viva is not going to win. (Jake is talking to me now.)

V: That one is in line with his brother.
J: That is not his brother.
V: Mine turned black. (Huh?)

J: Viva you cannot get a queen with a rook.
J: Pawns only can get queens. (My interpretation: You cannot turn a rook into a queen like you can a pawn.)

Viva lost the game. Jake says she is never going to win a game--unless, of course, she takes advice from him. Viva isn't as teachable as her brothers. She prefers to do things herself in her own way. Once she does learn the game of chess I'm sure she will be a formidable opponent as she will be totally unpredictable.

Ornaments!

2011-12-21T00:28:00.003-09:00

Last week the children and I made some felt wreath ornaments. I purchased a kit from Oriental Trading Company (with Grandma Vicki's help) and then we fancied them up a little. Bentley likes to follow the instructions, if there are any. Jake follows Bentley. Viva does her own thing. The boys handed me their ornament and asked me to attach the bow. Viva did it herself without any guidance. She attached the bow on the bottom rather than the top like I did with the boys' wreaths. She likes to be contrary. She has her own sense of style. I like that. I copied her placement on Jake's second bow.

After Jake made one wreath he said he was done. I had to coax him back to the table to make a second one. I never know how long the twins will work with me. If I don't have everything ready or they have to wait too long for me to help them with the difficult parts, I lose my crafting buddies. The problem is that if they only make one ornament and we gift it away, we have nothing left for our tree!

Speaking of bows on wreaths, I hung up a wreath with a big bow on the wall. I hung the wreath so that the bow was in the four o'clock position because that's where I thought the bow's tales looked most natural. Bentley disagreed. When he saw the wreath on the wall he took it down and put it back up with the bow on top. Then he informed me that I had put the wreath up incorrectly and he had fixed it for me! I tried to explain my reasoning to him, but he was adamant that bows go on top.

Later that week we made cartwheel bead Christmas trees from a Michaels kit. It's always nice to get a kit because you have all the supplies without having to search and search for some odd sized bead that you're missing to finish your project. Kits are especially great if you can find them after Christmas at clearance prices. Of course, you might forget you bought them by the time Christmas comes again.

We made the bead trees. They all looked exactly alike until I located my bag of colored stars. This type of ornament doesn't give much room for creative expression, but they are still fun to make. The children enjoyed doing them and so did I.

Grandma Vicki sent scratch angels. The children have worked on them two different times and then Kara hung them up on the wall. The trio protested they weren't done yet. You never know what children are going like doing a lot and what they spend just a few minutes on. You have to try all kinds of new projects and keep an open mind. They also made foam gingerbread men from a kit that Grandma Vicki sent.

I Hate Legos!

2011-12-20T18:06:00.002-09:00

I'm not sure Kara will approve of this blog entry (she asks that I write positive posts and hate is not positive), but it really was amusing. Bentley and Jake were discussing when they would go upstairs and resume their Lego construction projects when Viva very loudly and with a lot of emotion announced: "I hate Legos!"

I totally understand where she is coming from. The boys spend lots and lots of hours doing Legos. Those are hours that they are not much fun to be with. Hours that they are not available for other activities. Legos are not that interesting. Even pink Legos. I wonder if they have Disney Princess Legos? I'm going to go check it out on amazon.com.

Nativity Bingo

2011-12-20T03:53:00.001-09:00

Grandma Vicki sent a Christmas package that included some Christmas books, crafts, and a game along with their Christmas gifts. I decided to play the game with the kidlets. It was Nativity Bingo. The game started out well. Jake, Viva and Bentley all enjoyed it. They each had a win, I think. Viva didn't pay as close attention to her card as the boys, so she was inclined to miss her bingos, but she didn't care, so no biggie. After a few games she wandered off, but the boys still wanted to play.

Jake started winning every game. Bentley even had two cards to Jake's one, but still Jake won. Bentley started getting upset at his lack of wins. Jake started bragging about his wins: "I'm really good at this game." I tried to downplay Jake's victories by telling the boys that Jake had a lucky card.

Big mistake on my part. Bentley wanted Jake's card. Jake did not want to share. I tried to talk Jake into giving Bentley a turn with it. (What was I thinking? Do I really believe in lucky cards?!) Hands on violence was seconds away when I intervened. I told the boys to go put on their pjs and they could play a couple more rounds.

When they came back down I told them I'd shuffled the cards. Bentley was devastated. He wanted that lucky card. Jake was devastated. He wanted HIS lucky card. My second mistake. The boys were so upset it was comical. Sometimes when the kids start losing it over something trivial (to us adults), it's hard not to laugh at the absurdity. I didn't, but I wanted to.

I waited a few more days and brought the game out again. We had a good time without any trauma. No more talk of lucky cards.

Good Times Gone Bad

2011-12-19T15:07:00.002-09:00

Here it is my favorite time of year, in fact, my favorite two weeks of the year: the two weeks before Christmas. And what happens?! The horrible, nasty, good-for-nothing, lousy, rotten stomach flu. It invaded the house and took out all the adults except great-grandma. (Her stomach is in great shape since she had that surgery last month!)

I went down on Thursday. I missed the boys gymnastics showcase. GRRR! Mark came home from work Friday and crashed with it. Matt and Kara held out until after Matt's work party Friday evening. Saturday was a sick day at the house. Matt picked his brother Tyler up at the airport and took the children up the hill and they had a great time at Grandpa Tim's & Grandma Karen's. Kara, who fortunately wasn't as ill, had to catch a ride up there to drive Matt and the boys home because Matt was too ill to drive. Viva stayed for hot tub time before reluctantly returning later in the evening. Sunday we all skipped church. Kara was feeling better, but not up to taking four children to church on her own. Kara drove the trio up the hill so they could keep their weekly Sunday evening date with Grandpa Tim & Grandma Karen.

Now it's Monday. Mark is recovered. Matt called in sick. I'm limping along (angrily!). Kara is working hard to keep everything going. She's feeling better, but not normal.

I am very glad to report that none of the children have taken ill. I'd think we had food poisoning, but we staggered our onsets too much. I want to be well again. I have activities I want to do with the children--more ornaments to make, more baking, and a 300 piece Christmas puzzle. Time is slipping away too fast.

The Twins' First Christmas

2011-12-19T03:55:00.000-09:00

This was easy to find as it was published 4 years ago on this blog. I'll have to work a little harder to find Bentley's first Christmas. The blog didn't exist then and opa has taken those photos offline.

The twins were born on June 26th so they turned six months old the day after Christmas.

Lincoln was born July 15th so he is just three weeks younger than the twins were during their first Christmas. How do they compare? (Check out yesterday's photos!)

Lincoln in Red: Take One

2011-12-18T03:36:00.010-09:00

Last week Kara dressed Lincoln in one of his Christmas outfits and we tried to get some photos. He wasn't in a happy frame of mind, but the photos were still very cute. Here's Kara's top seven picks with my captions.

"I heard you bribe your photo models with chocolate--where's mine?"

Lights! Camera! Action! "I found my thumbs. Cool!"

Flying through the night with the greatest of ease.

"This prop is lame!"

"I have serious issues with that plan. Do you want me to list them?"

Ho-Ho-Ho

Pretty, Pretty Princess

2011-12-17T03:04:00.000-09:00

Pretty, Pretty Princess is a board game. Kara had it when she was young and she passed it on to Viva. The game is pretty lame, like lots of children's games. You spin a spinner, go that number of spaces, and then collect or return pieces of jewelry. Once you acquire all four pieces of jewelry in your color and have the crown, but do not have the black ring--you win! (Viva has nicknamed the black ring Ursula's ring.)

When Kara was young her cousins loved to play this game when they came over. Not just her girl cousins, but her boy cousins, too. They found it insanely absurd and therefore quite amusing to play. Bentley and Jake are likewise inclined. They insist on playing the game when Viva hauls it out. They find it quite hilarious.

Most odd of all--this game is still for sale. In fact you can get the original or Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella versions. The game looks almost exactly the same. How did this game become a time proven classic?! (I like it better than Candy Land or Shoots and Ladders. Those games are way too long.)

Big Brother

2011-12-16T03:25:00.001-09:00

I've been wanting to use the photo below for weeks now. Finally I've figured out how to tie it in. Here's Jake and his big brother Bentley:

Bentley deserves kudos for being such a good big brother. Kara has posted on how he reads to Lincoln almost daily. Lincoln and Bentley enjoy the time together. More than that, though, he goes over to chat with Lincoln at random times during the day. He has a baby voice he uses when talking to him. It's pretty cute. B has intelligent conversations with his littlest brother, none of that goo-goo ga-ga stuff some people lapse into when talking to infants. Lincoln might be young, but he's quite capable of understanding complex ideas.

Bentley is also a good brother to Jake. He can be very nurturing. When Jake gets frustrated, Bentley gives him pep talks. The other day Bentley was helping Jake with a reading lesson. Jake asked Bentley to do it for him because he was having a hard time getting it right. Bentley told him he couldn't do it for him. Jake needed to do it himself. Wow. Bentley is pretty wise for a five year old.

Does Bentley still fight with Jake? Tease Jake? Yes. He does. Sometimes he frightens Lincoln by sneaking up on him and saying "Boo!" The boy isn't perfect yet, but he's a lot more good brother than bad.

P.S. You might be wondering why Viva isn't mentioned. Quite frankly, the girl is so independent she doesn't give anyone a chance to help her. She does allow Bentley to read books to her and Jake sometimes. That's going to end soon when she can read herself, so we won't be getting many more photos like this one.

5 months Old!

2011-12-15T23:59:00.000-09:00

Our Lincoln is 5 months old! He is...

a drooler! Everything goes into his mouth, and lots of drool comes out of his mouth. No teeth yet though

almost crawling! He can get up really high on his arms, and then push up on his tip toes in a yoga plank position. Then he teeters forward and backward before giving up on We predict crawling will come soon

very noisy! He grunts and grouses and growls. But he also laughs and talks on occasion. His Dad is one of his favorite people to have a conversation with

a jumper! The jumperoo is still one of his favorite places

becoming a better eater! After threatening him with some different brand formulas, he is now happy to return to the tried and true original. I think we're reaching an understanding

a 70% sitter! Once in a while he throws himself straight back, but who doesn't?!

very cute! and cuddly!

We can't wait to see what new tricks he learns as he heads towards 6 months, I think it's going to be a buy month for him!

Chess

2011-12-15T04:13:00.002-09:00

Bentley continues to play chess with Matt, Kara and Mark. And now Jake has insisted that he be taught chess. Even before his first tutoring session, Jake knew something about chess because he plays WarChess on the iPad. However, he wanted to play against a real opponent. So Bentley took on the challenge and started teaching Jake chess.

It was really neat that Bentley was willing and able to do that, but since Bentley had been receiving special tutoring on chess via the game Science Wiz Chess Once A Pawn A Time we felt it was only fair that Jake also get to learn using Once a Pawn a Time. So opa introduced Jake to chess using their system.

Last Saturday both boys wanted to play chess with opa, so he got out two chess boards and played them both at the same time. He said it was a good challenge.

Jake asked Kara if she knew what stalemate was. She dutifully said no. He told her it meant both of you win! Kara found this amusing since she had been ready to tell him that it means both of you lose. Whose definition do you like better?

Lincoln Chews on Jesus

2011-12-15T00:06:00.002-09:00

A good sensational title, right?! I don't have much of a post, but I did have a picture and a title... and I figure that is 90% of what I need.

I love nativities, and the kids have a great time with them. It's nice to have some Christmas items around that are a direct reminder of the reason for the season.

We pulled out the Little People Nativity for the littlest person in the house. He had a good time chewing on the pieces, he did at least show a little respect and refrain from spitting up on Jesus/Mary/Joseph... :) His brothers and sister enjoy playing with him and the nativity. They still find Lincoln quite charming in a good way, and I hope that doesn't change once he starts to crawl... !

Lincoln and the Lights

2011-12-14T05:13:00.003-09:00

Here are a few pictures of Lincoln (with his great sitting skills), helping Opa test out the new lights. Not only can he sit:

He can also sit AND smile:

Pretty clever, right?! I happen to think he has a gorgeous smile. And an even better laugh, although it's hard to capture that in a picture!

Besides sitting, Lincoln has been working on his rolling and scooting skills. He can push himself backwards, which he often finds frustrating as he's trying to move TOWARDS something, and not move farther from it. I'm sure that frustration will turn into a forward movement breakthrough at some point!

Backdrops

2011-12-14T03:02:00.007-09:00

Mark's last photo shoot he used backdrops aka sheets. He's ordered backdrops online that will be easier to work with than multiple sheets, so the photos should get even better! (The children stay the same, but Mark's ability to accurately capture their full cuteness improves!)

Frightful Weather

2011-12-13T23:48:00.001-09:00

Our snow fall this past Sunday night was truly frightful--a foot plus of heavy, wet snow. School was canceled on Monday. Matt and Mark worked for hours clearing the driveway. Kara and I kept off the roads because we didn't have anywhere we had to be. On Monday the children did not go out and play in the snow because they were still feeling sick. This afternoon Viva asked to go out which was odd. She's not a cold weather aficionado. She and her brothers got all geared up and headed out. I thought Kara had said it was 43 degrees out, but it seemed colder to me when I stepped outside to advise them on sledding. I asked Kara again what temperature it was and she said 23 degrees. No wonder the children didn't stay outside very long. I hope it warms up so they can enjoy the snow more.

Headsprout....Again...and Again!

2011-12-13T02:13:00.000-09:00

Once again our household is mired in Headsprout reading lessons. Earlier this year Bentley did the 80 online lessons over a three month period. We worked hard to make sure that he did lessons every day except Sunday so that he could keep his momentum building. When Jake saw Bentley doing the lessons, he asked to do them. We put him off until just recently. We let him do the first two lessons two weeks ago. He did well only struggling a little with using the mouse. On the iPad there is no external mouse, so it's a new skill for him and Viva.

Viva had expressed no interest in doing the Headsprout program until Jake started doing it. Then she demanded that we let her do the lessons, too. She did the first two lessons the week before last as well. She was a quick study with the mouse. She's done great on the lessons except for one we did in the evening when it was quite noisy. Since then we've done the lessons earlier in the day when no one is playing nearby.

Now it's week three of the reading program and we will continue on until the twins are reading books. Then we'll read books together. And study phonics, too.

Working with the twins is different than working with Bentley. Bentley was five when he did the program and the twins are only four. It makes a big difference, but they didn't want to wait. They want to learn to read now, so it's best to seize the moment.

Lincoln and the Enemy (AKA Formula)

2011-12-12T01:56:00.000-09:00

Lincoln is on track to rival his siblings in the troubled eating department. He's been getting worse and worse about eating - grrr! I took him in about 6 weeks ago and they diagnosed it as "worried well" - meaning the parent is crazy but the kid looks okay. It's because he put on a good baby act for the Dr.'s office! He doesn't eat very much, but he puts on the lbs okay so I SUPPOSE it's okay. Although only being able to feed an infant when he's asleep because he smacks the bottle out otherwise? A little crazy, right?! He screams and arches and acts crazed. Grandma thought maybe some solids would make him happy. He was a good sport about it:

I think feeding a baby this age isn't very productive. Put the bite in 4 times to get half of it swallowed? I think they are burning more calories than they're consuming - particularly if you're feeding them one of those puny caloric foods like vegetables. Which you should be, right?! :)

Hopefully Lincoln will work on a few teeth, and some swallowing skills, and then discover that he loves solids a lot more than he loves his formula. Although the expression below makes me think my odds are 50/50... :)

Too Sick for Fun

2011-12-11T13:34:00.002-09:00

Kara and I have had bad colds for a couple of weeks now. I felt like I was starting to win the battle, but then I slid back downhill. I hate winter colds. They sap my energy and snap my patience. Christmas cookies don't taste as good and that's just not right.

At first the children were strong and stayed healthy, but then they succumbed. I think it was Thursday night that the boys both had high fevers. Viva didn't get a fever, but she was off her game. We all took it easy Friday and everyone was doing better Saturday, but they still weren't well. If you disagreed with Viva, she started crying. Bentley fell asleep on the coach. And then he tried sleeping at the dining room table instead of eating his spaghetti noodles.

Saturday night was a fund raiser at Viva's new ballet school. The school had a Family Holiday Ball with food, games, crafts, and a dance performance. We had intended to take Viva and the boys, but no one was in the mood. We thought Viva would be really upset about missing it (she has been talking about for weeks), but she was fine with staying home and watching a Christmas movie and eating popcorn. On the bright side, we saved $45 dollars. Who can't use a few extra dollars at Christmas time?

Now it's Sunday and Matt is finally home from his trip to DC. He arrived on the red eye last night. I wondered if the plane was going to have problems because the high winds were back in town, but the airport is located in a less windy area of town so he made it home just fine. However, given the many germs the children have, Kara opted to keep them all home from church and Matt stayed home, too, to help out with them. Yesterday evening Lincoln had a runny nose, so he's joining the party.

P.S. The weather outside is frightful but I find it so delightful! Let it snow! Let is snow! Let it snow!

Cooper's Landing Field Trip!

2011-12-11T01:30:00.002-09:00

The weekend of Thanksgiving we packed up the kids and headed out for a ROAD trip! I & road trip don't really go together, but we have good friends who moved out to Cooper's Landing and we haven't seen them in a while - they made an offer for an afternoon with them, and we did it! We left the baby home, as he isn't a big fan of carseats. And we wanted to survive the 2 hr each way drive with our ears all working!

We listened to an audio book and drove drove away!

Once we arrived we had spaghetti lunch, fun in the snow, and games inside. It was a fun day, the kids are already asking when we can go back... :)

My Newest Bedtime Routine

2011-12-10T01:01:00.001-09:00

My children (the oldest three) are all still sharing a room. Not because they have to due to space, but because I think all that happy bonding is good for them. And for the most part they seem to enjoy it! I, however, have my moments. They normally come about half an hour AFTER the bedtime routine is complete. When I hear laughing and talking, or more often shrieking and complaints!

So I needed a new plan. For my sanity. I need peace, and children that don't come out into the hallway way too often. Scaring them into compliance wasn't working.

Introducing - audio books! We joined audible.com, and now good children (and I admit I'm a softy - they're good every night!) get to listen to some audio books in the dark. They are very quiet because they like it very much. Their ring leader (Viva) has been subdued. The books? Not all that cheap, but at this time it's a small price to pay for... blissful peace!

What have they been enjoying? The Magic Tree House series, some Roald Dahl, How to Train Your Dragon, and most recently some Alice in Wonderland! I thoroughly recommend audible books if you have some scary books of your own!

Good Weather Gone Bad

2011-12-09T16:15:00.004-09:00

We posted about the wonderful snow that we had in early November. It was great. The winterscapes were gorgeous. The winter athletes were thrilled. All was right and good in our northern corner of the U.S.

Then last weekend we had two days of hurricane force chinook winds. Nasty. Inappropriate! Warm winds (not hurricane force) are fine in the spring to get rid of the snow, but they are not not not welcome in December! We want snow in December. We like snow in December.

The winds melted most, but not all, of the snow. Our street was flooded like in the spring. The children's play set was blown over.

It doesn't look that bad, but unfortunately, the playhouse fell on the swing set demolishing it. We had some problems last year with the winds causing splits in the wood supports of the swing set. I think we are going to have to find a new spot for the surviving portion of the playground set.

There were a couple of leaks in window seals in the house and a portion of the retaining wall at the end of the driveway came down. It wasn't in perfect condition to start with, but it was upright. We didn't get around to working on it last summer because we were concentrating on our lawn. Now fixing the wall is near the top of the yard to do list. After the playground set?

We need a good snowstorm.

Christmas Projects

2011-12-09T01:54:00.001-09:00

I love how creative young children are. They will draw and build with confidence. Older children and adults won't even try most art projects because they are sure that the project won't turn out like it's supposed to. If you don't have expectations (e.g. what the final product should look like), you can just have fun and see what emerges. Picasso said "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."

Bentley created this Lego Santa from his own design. He told his mom she had to stay out of the family room while he was building it.

Last week the children and I started our first session of Christmas ornament making. Last year popsicle sticks were a big hit, so I purchased more types of sticks to see what they'd do with them.

Jake made the snowflake. Viva made the star. (That's what she says it is--it looks like a sword to me.) Bentley made the manger. I had to help him do the gluing, but he was the architect. I then suggested that he make Mary and Joseph from the wooden spoons. He drew the faces and glued on arms and legs. I added the robes. He wasn't interested in making a Baby Jesus. I told him that's okay, we'll just tell everyone that the baby Jesus isn't born yet. Mary is the taller one in yellow. Joseph is in red. Our stick figures need some fine tuning.

P.S. Wednesday evening Bentley and I had the following conversation after Bentley was marching around chanting nonsense about a new book I had purchased the children.

B: "The Princess and the Pig illustrated by Bentley Dieter Altman."

J: "Do you know illustrated means?"

B: "I'm the one who wrote it."

J: "No, the illustrator draws the pictures in the book."

B: "I'm the bestest artist. That's what great-grandma says."

J: "You are very, very good."

B: "No, I'm the BESTEST. That's what great-grandma says."

thoughtful pause...

B: "And it's true."

You have to love that confidence. If he keeps it, he will be the bestest artist some day.

Christmas Concert

2011-12-08T02:13:00.002-09:00

Anchorage is home to the Air Force Band of the Pacific. Every Christmas the band hosts two free concerts for the public to enjoy. When Kara was growing up we attended every year. The last ten years our attendance has been sporadic. The grandchildren are now old enough to take. In fact they went last year with their parents and Grandma Karen and Grandpa Tim.

Grandma Karen asked about going again this year, but plans were not formalized. Matt is out of town and Kara is sick, so I decided that Mark and I should take the trio. I asked the children if they wanted to go. They said "Yes!". Then Jake changed his mind. Then he changed it back to yes. (Jake likes to verbalize his waffling. It makes him appear really indecisive, but I think he's just wrapping his mind around new ideas. Being a homebody, it takes him a while to see the pros to adventures out of the house.)

We were rushed because the children were still eating dinner when we needed to be leaving. We managed to get there on time and find good seats. The children watched, listened, and clapped enthusiastically. The first half of the concert always ends with a story. Children are invited to come and sit on the stage. Oddly enough (to my mind), Bentley and Jake rushed up and Viva refused to go.

After the story, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive and go out into the lobby to hand out candy canes (really small ones--what's with that?). Bentley got two and the twins one each, so there was a lot of discussion on the unfairness of that until Bentley (who doesn’t even like candy canes) gave his second one to opa.

Before heading off to the concert, Kara gave us one piece of advice: leave at intermission time. I told her, "You attended last year with two three year olds and one four year old. We're taking two four year olds and one five year old."

Despite my boast, I told Mark to grab all the coats during intermission so we could leave. When the boys saw Mark had the coats, they started protesting. "Aren't we going to see the rest of the concert?" Really?!? I asked Viva if she wanted to stay, too, and she was on board with the boys. Okay...we went back in and sat down.

The children ate their candy canes. The lights went down. The second half commenced. It was longer than the first half. All three children paid rapt attention the entire time. Well, the boys did. Viva paid attention, but she was also having fun sitting on the top of her chair seat. Instead of pulling down the seat and sitting on it, she climbed on the top edge of the folded up seat. She was pretty good, but I did have to tell her no more climbing up and down. Sit up or sit down.

After the concert we walked six blocks to the truck. Mark offered to go and get the truck, but I assured him the children would want to walk. And they did. They practiced slip-sliding. On the drive home, Bentley asked if we had any of the songs from the sing-a-long portion of the concert. I didn't in my truck, but I do at home. When we got home at 10PM the children finished their dinner. They were quite hungry and ate lots of pepperoni. It was a good evening.

The children have gone to a few concerts/plays/ballets with their father or both parents or Grandma Karen, but I was still amazed how long their attention span was. Quite frankly, it was longer than mine. The concert was excellent, but I had a long to do list when I got home. I'm hosting my book club in 8 hours, so I should wrap this post up.

Sad Baby, Happy Baby

2011-12-07T01:13:00.004-09:00

We try to make Lincoln's life a happy one, but sometimes he feels neglected. He is forced to spend time on the floor. It sounds cruel, but how else will he learn to crawl and walk and run? How else will he catch up to his siblings? We are cruel to be kind.

When we leave him too long on the floor, he lets us know that he doesn't like it. AT ALL. He can grouse really loudly.

Mostly he likes being held. He's only four months old. He should be held. If only those siblings didn't suck up so much time from mommy and grandma. Why do they need breakfast? Why do they get games played with them? Why do they get reading time? Why do they get to make ornaments with grandma? Why do they need dinner? Why do they get a bedtime routine? Why does mommy do laundry so often? Why does mommy bake? Why does mommy take showers? Why does grandma leave to exercise? Why am I not the center of the universe like my brother Bentley was when he was my age?! I should be!

Lights: Take Two

2011-12-06T02:15:00.005-09:00

Here's our second photo session with the children and the new lights. We haven't purchased backdrops yet, so we have to make do with what's in our house. On Sunday I pulled the ottoman in front of the Christmas tree and Mark took some photos. Jake wouldn't work with us. The other three were great.

Bentley was a little stressed holding on to Lincoln as they both sat on the edge of the ottoman, so we didn't get a good smile out of him. Next time. Did you notice Santa in Lincoln's photo? I titled it the Santa Kicking Baby Butt photo.

Home Depot Fun

2011-12-05T01:24:00.002-09:00

Every first Saturday of the month Home Depot has a workshop for children. The children build something from wood. Quite often Matt takes the trio to the workshops. We have an ever growing collection of items like pencil boxes (used to store small cars), plant holders, race tracks, and periscopes. At the most recent workshop on last Saturday the boys with Matt's help made snowmen napkin holders. Viva sometimes goes, but this Saturday she chose to stay home.

Spotlights!

2011-12-04T00:43:00.002-09:00

Over the years we have taken some great photos of the children, but it hasn't always been easy or fun. Part of the problem is the children. They aren't always cooperative. Or if they agree to a photo shoot up front, they rescind their agreement after just a couple minutes. Sometimes I have to resort to bribery. Chocolate has worked wonders.

Another problem is the photographer. He doesn't always cooperate. Sometimes he doesn't understand my vision or he forgets to check the background of the shot, so a great photo of the grandchild is ruined by something distracting in the background. I have to humor him as well as the children.

Last Christmas we wanted a formal Christmas portrait of the threesome. It was a lot of work. Kara purchased matching outfits for the three children. They were VERY cute. We tried out a couple of different locations and groupings before we found something that worked. By then the children were bored and wanted to quit. So did I, but I wanted my photo more.

The biggest problem was that Mark's equipment malfunctioned. He had a problem with the flashes. They would either not flash at all or they were so slow recharging that they weren't ready when needed. It was very annoying.

Nonetheless we got an awesome shot once the shadows were photoshopped some.

For the record: I am not an advocate of photoshopping photos. I like my photos authentic, although I did allow it four Christmases ago when Mark photoshopped out the arms attached to the hands supporting the six month old twins who could not stand on their own.

Because I do not want a repeat of last year's Christmas photo session, I encouraged my spouse to buy some better lighting equipment. My vision of better equipment and his were $1600 apart. He has a lot of photos to take to justify his new set up. It's a bit extreme for a guy who only occasionally takes portrait photos.

In fact, the impetus to get new equipment came last month when we had a lady in the house who does professional photos as a side business. She had some lights and backdrops and I asked her how much they cost. She said $200. It turns out it was closer to $300, but that seemed doable. However, after researching her equipment, Mark determined that he needed something more.

The point of the purchase is to make taking formal portrait photos easier and better. The flashes recharge fast and are very bright. There will be no shadows to photoshop this year. Now all we need are backdrops. And some willing subjects. Here's the first set of grandchildren portraits opa took:

As you can see, my photographer still has issues with background distractions. That's where I come in. I have to help him remember all the possible problems. Like uncombed hair. And pjs. And distracted subjects. I can see I still have a lot work to do. *sigh*

He's My Sweetie!

2011-12-03T02:06:00.003-09:00

I don't let Mark take many photos of me. I'm camera shy, but I do want to go on record in a photo as the proud grandmother of the super, uber awesome Lincoln. It doesn't get any better than being a grandparent. And babies don't come any finer than Lincoln.

Perfectionism

2011-12-02T01:37:00.003-09:00

I took the boys to gymnastics today because the toy store is only a block from the gym. I decided to swap out the girlie puzzle for one that appeals to all three children...if that's possible. Viva has quite different tastes than her brothers.

My plan to visit the toy store while the boys were at gymnastics was side-lined right at the start. Jake didn't want to go into gymnastics which was a first. He'd never before said anything negative about gymnastics to Kara or me.

However, this afternoon those big, beautiful, brown eyes were filled with tears. He couldn't/wouldn't tell me what the problem was. I told him to go into the gym and give it a try and I'd stay right outside the room (there's a big window) and if he wanted to leave, he could come out.

He went in. Bentley had already shed his coat, shoes, and socks and hit the gym. Jake took a few minutes, but he warmed up and lost the sad face. The coach came over to talk to me when he saw that Jake was unhappy.

He told me that during the previous two classes Jake had been frustrated at times. Jakers is a perfectionist. If he doesn't get it perfect the first try, he is upset with himself. Crazy kid! He's at the gym to practice; it's okay to not get it right the first time, the third time, or even the tenth time. Now to convince Jake of that.

Part of the problem is that the class is for 4-6 year olds. Jake is very coordinated for his age and can keep up with the older boys for the most part, but he's the smallest in the class. The bars are set for a slightly taller child, so it's a little harder for him to reach up or across. When the boys do backward somersaults down an incline Jake has a harder time getting up on the incline, so he loses the momentum he needs to start the roll.

The coach said Jake does really well in the class. He listens well and follows instructions. His only problem is being too hard on himself.

Jake's mother had this exact same problem. When she was in kindergarten, I discovered she wasn't participating in gym class. She was sitting on the sidelines watching the other children. She was the only child not participating. When I asked her why, she told me she wanted to figure out how the game was played before she joined it. Every week they did a new game, so she never felt comfortable enough to join in. I encouraged her to take a risk and just participate.

Bentley can be a perfectionist, too, but it hasn't been a problem at gymnastics. He loves the class and does great.

Christmas Books!

2011-12-01T01:42:00.002-09:00

Today is December 1st and that means we pull out the Christmas book collection and start reading one a day until Christmas. We don't yet have enough books to make it through to Christmas, so there will be repeats, but children love hearing the same stories over and over so that's not a problem.

Kara started this tradition two years ago. She read about it online and thought it sounded like a great Christmas tradition. You collect 24 different Christmas books. You wrap them up and put them under the tree. The children take turns choosing one to read each day. The only real problem with this tradition is the cost. 24 books cost quite a bit. And if you decide (like Kara did), to collect them in hard back, that means even more money. You could of course collect one or two books a year and that would be fine. Do what you can.

It's been fun helping Kara search for good Christmas books. We've collected titles such as Llama, Llama Holiday Drama, Olivia Helps with Christmas, Bear Stays up for Christmas, and Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas. These books are cute, but fluffy on content. Some titles with a good message that we found are Christmas Oranges, A Christmas Dress for Ellen, Apple Tree Christmas, and The Light of Christmas. Then there are the classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Night before Christmas, and A Christmas Carol. We relied on amazon.com reviewers to recommend Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree, The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher, and The Gingerbread Pirates. I found a book that contains the Christmas story straight from The Bible with beautiful cut-paper and watercolor illustrations.

Books are awesome!

Playmobil Nativity

2011-11-30T00:08:00.002-09:00

I went to the toy store on Saturday because I signed up for the American Express's Small Business Saturday. If you signed up online and visited a local small business and charged at least $25 on your credit card, then American Express gives you a $25 credit on your next statement. Kara and I did this last year. We visited the toy store together and picked up a few games for the children. This Saturday I went alone. That was probably a mistake.

When I entered the toy store, there at the front there was a display of Christmas advent calendars and nativity sets. There were some Lego products with Santa themes and a Playmobil nativity set. I love Playmobil products. Two years ago for Christmas Kara purchased some Playmobil knight sets. The children play with them a little, but they are much bigger Lego fans. *sigh* Not that the two products are the same. They aren't. Lego is a building toy. Playmobil is small figures and elaborate sets that encourage imaginative play. (Both companies are based in Germany as is my favorite puzzle company. What is the signficance of that? I'm going to think more on this.)

Anyway, the point of this post is that I purchased the children a Playmobil nativity set. It's quite elaborate. There was the usual Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherd, angel, three sheep, an oxe, a donkey. (I love Playmobil animals!), a manger and a stable. Then there were some less common items like two birds, a mouse, a stable light, a cooking pot, a campfire, a wood pile, and--my favorite--an axe. Joseph was a carpenter, so maybe the axe was part of his gear?

Playmobil sets require a little bit of assembling when you first get them. Bentley and I put together the manger. We had to redo parts of it a few times, but we eventually got it right. Viva meanwhile was putting the clothes on the figures without looking at the directions. This annoyed Bentley (and me a little, too), but she has a good eye for that kind of thing and did a great job. Her only "mistake" was putting the angel's halo on the shepherd and then tossing the shepherd's headband because she didn't need it.

The only real problem was when Bentley and Jake started fighting over the cooking pot chain. Bentley wanted to use it to put the pot over the campfire (like in the photo on the front of the box), but Jake was already using it on the oxe's horns and he would not give it up. Bentley had to wait until Jake was bored and left to get his hands on the chain.

If I had only purchased the nativity, my $25 credit would have meant I got the nativity for a great price. Unfortunately for my wallet, I also purchased the three kings set and some Ravensburger Christmas puzzles. The toy store had the Christmas ornament ball puzzles that I have looked at online for years. I've never found them in stock with good shipping, so when I saw them at the toy store, I was excited. I also purchased a 100 piece Christmas puzzle to do with the children. Bentley took one look at it and asked why I bought a girl puzzle. Huh?! The puzzle has a flock of angels decorating a tree and baking cookies. Do angels make it a girl puzzle? It looked more fun to put together than the Santa puzzle, but maybe I chose wrong. There were not any Christmas-themed dinosaur puzzles. Besides, Viva's a girl. She likes girl puzzles.