Legoland Highlights

More pictures to add to the zillion and a half already posted about our trip. Here are some snap shots of pictures that we want to remember about our day in Legoland.

Lander & Jake with a Bionicle

They love, love, love playing with Bionicles. Lander just said "that would be cool if it was a robot and it cleaned our house." Yes, Lander, that really would be cool!

 One of the Lego neighborhoods

 Jake & Lander looking at another Lego landscape

 We thought the Lego dad & kid looked an awful lot like Josh & Jake--especially the white socks :)

 We coerced Lander into posing as the little girl. He's still holding it against us.

 Everything is made of Legos

Jake & a Lego Rhino

 Jake loves Harry Potter

Lander & Indiana Jones

 Another one of the cityscapes. They are huge & very impressive.

Mission Beach

These are some (okay, too many) of my favorite pictures from Mission Beach

The water in the last picture shows the red tide that occurred during part of our trip. We didn't realize that if we would've stayed out at night, the waves literally glow as they crash onto the beach during this phenomena.

Lander on steriods

Lander's been working hard on turning his wiry frame into a lean, mean, muscle-man machine. 

looks like it's working

USS Midway

We toured the USS Midway while in San Diego. It is a retired aircraft carrier. 

The boys LOVED it. 

Jake was making another one of his silly faces for the camera. That boy!

Lander is laying on one of the bunks for the enlisted guys. Roomy, huh? It consists of a 2 inch thin mattress on a metal storage locker, with three bunks stacked on top of each other. Two sets of bunks form alcoves so that 6 guys share the tiny space that has maybe 6 square feet of walk space. The officer's bunks were a bit better. More room, fluffier mattresses, but still crammed into a small space. The higher the rank, the roomer & more "posh" the lodging.

Note to self...if I ever find myself in the Navy, make sure I'm an officer, preferably one with a higher rank.

 This is a picture of an A-4. Josh's grandpa flew one of these beasts. 

So sad, but this is one of the few family pictures we got on the trip. What were we thinking? We are standing on the tower overlooking the flight deck.

Who's the BOSS? Lander knew exactly what chair he wanted. The Boss is the person responsible for the crew that coordinates the planes landings, etc.

 This is a pretty typical example of the hallways that line the ship.

View from the flight tower on the flight deck. It's huge! (San Diego in the background.)

Candlelit Dinner

Power was out because of the fire. The few restaurants with power were over-run with hungry mobs. Luckily, I had some food packed in a cooler that just needed to be baked. Thank you gas oven!! The owner was kind enough to bring us candles, so we had a candlelit dinner. What a way to start of our trip!

for memories sake, here's Jake & Lander enjoying their candlelit dinner

 And here's a picture using the flash.

California

California, here we come!!

We arrived to Mission Bay for the first leg of our Californian adventure to find the one and only street leading to our rental closed. A house had just burned down. We played at the beach & stalled until we finally decided to walk to the house we were renting. Little did we know that our house was just a 5 minute walk from the parking lot where we left our car. When we arrived to our rental, we learned that the burned house was 4 doors down. For anyone who's been there, they understand how densely packed in the houses are. Their are no roads in front of the houses, just sidewalks, and the back yards are bordered by narrow alleys. The parking spots are so tiny that we had to park our car sideways for it to fit under the car port. We are lucky that the fire didn't spread.

the boys in the front yard

 Josh & Lander in the living room

 Jake & Lander's room

 This was our room. I'm not sure what Josh was doing with the baby wipes. Hmm...

The little cottage just a block and a half from the beach. It was great.

Crazy Hair Day

Ty S. & Jake with their crazy hair for spirit week

Firepit

Lander's creativity was at his max today when he decided that he needed to create a bonfire in the driveway. This is his creation.

 Hayden W, Lander & Jake enjoying their bonfire

Scripture Cookies

The primary had a challenge this year. Each kid to read the entire Book of Mormon earned a huge chocolate chip cookie. Jake & Lander worked really hard to earn theirs. Good job boys!!

Weird Al Concert

I think that our favorite song was "If That Isn't Love", which is funny because it's the song that we usually skip on the radio, but during the concert Weird Al came down into the audience & serenaded the women, including Dixie!! He got right up into our faces, and stuck his eye on Mark's camera lens while he sang. He was practically in Mark's lap!!!! We have the entire thing video taped. We laughed so hard that it hurt.

We were on the 5th row of a tiny theater for the concert. No zoom for these pictures!!! Here are some shots of the concert in action. It was hilarious....

I'm not sure, but I think that this may have been for his song "Yoda". 

Whatever it was, Jake & Lander LOOOOOOVED it! Now they want to be storm troopers for Haloween, and they want costumes as nice as these. Dream on, boys!!

   "Eat It", parody of "Beat It" by Michael Jackson

"Perform This Way", parody of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga

 "White & Nerdy", parody of "Ridin" by Chamillionaire

I have to admit that this is one of my favorite Weird Al songs....It's either that or Amish Paradise...:)

He actually came out onto the stage riding a Segway!!!

 "Fat", parody of "Bad" by Michael Jackson

That's Weird Al in a fat costume. H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!!!!!

Waiting for Weird Al

We had a great weekend with Mark that culminated with a Weird Al concert. 

The concert was great. I laughed so hard that I had a headache later.  

Here we are waiting for the concert to begin:

 Mark & Josh

  "Is it time yet?"

R Mountain "Sexy Pose"

Got your attention with the word sexy, didn't I? Ha! Me doing a sexy pose? That's just gross. Seriously gross.

One of my best friends just moved back to Rexburg for the year. We are the best-worst of best friends, going months without talking, but then it's like we talked yesterday when we do finally connect. Not a lot of pressure. Obnoxiousness usually reigns. It's been great having her here.

This is a self portrait I took while on a hike to the Menan Buttes ("R" Mountain for those Rick's alumni) that we went on last month. This is our "sexy pose" in honor of her husband, Greg. Sorry Greg, we couldn't keep a straight face long enough to be seductive. But, we had a great time anyway. Thanks for loaning your family to us Idahoans!!

Dixie & Jaime W. standing on top of the Menan Buttes overlooking Snake River valley

Jake's Trumpet

 

Jake is super proud of his new trumpet. He's just learning how to play....loudly. Why is it that everything Jake does is loud? He wanted his Grandma Nala to see these pictures of him, so here you go Grandma!!

Chicken in a Bucket

We had a chicken wandering around our yard yesterday so the boys caught it and took it home after scouring my raspberry patch for eggs. No luck finding any eggs, but it was a really nice chicken! 

Dixie vs Grand Targhee

...and Dixie loses...but there is no picture proof, so why am I ratting myself out? This picture was taken at the top of the ski lift at Targhee Resort, overlooking the Tetons, just before my most painful bike crash of my life. Let's just say that I don't ever plan on riding the downhill trails at Targhee again. Once was enough for me!!

First Day of School

No matter what they say, these boys are best buddies. It's the best!

 Jake and Ty S. on first day of MIDDLE SCHOOL!!!

 Lander, so happy to be going to 3rd grade

Carving Zucchini

It's been attack of the mutant zucchini this year. We have't eaten a single one, so Lander has been putting them to use by carving them. Here he is with his friend Bryson S. carving away: