Soccer Mom

Today was Bennett's first day of real soccer, as opposed to the insane indoor soccer frenzy we exposed him to when he was 3 and 4 years old, where he would cry and cry the whole time as dozens of kids chased the ball around the gym and never really got to kick it. I'm amazed that he wanted to play again, but I don't remember when I have seen him as happy as he was today running around the field with his good friend, Kyler. We told him if he really liked it we would go buy him some cleats... looks like we'll be heading back to Al's this week to buy some! His brothers were very proud/frozen on the sidelines; it was sooo cold!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! We were pretty low-key this year, since we got home from our trip on Saturday night. But the kids didn't notice or care. Color a few Star Wars eggs and you're all set, I've discovered. May the force be with you!

California Dreamin'

Hey, everyone! We're back from the land of fun in the sun. We had the most dreamy vacation in Southern California with Jason's brother, Jules, and his family. We were gone for 13 days! It's pretty difficult to sum up a 2-week vacation in just one blog entry, but I'm going to try. To start out, here are some photos of the loooong drive down in our sweet rental van (white, 15-passenger van full of ProBars and kid toys strewn about). Lets just say, after being strapped in for so long, tears were shed. But, we were able to stay with our fabulous friends Jenn, Jeff, and Sammy Keyes in St. George, which was a wonderful break. Thanks, guys! And say hello (and goodbye) to Jason's law-enforcement-inspired moustache. Listen up, kids! Dad means business when he's rocking the stash.

The kids were soooo excited to spend time with their cousins doing the city pass thing: Disneyland, Sea World, California Adventure, San Diego Zoo, and Legoland!

We spent three days at Disneyland & California Adventure... So fun! Jake surprised me by LOVING the characters there. And Bennett surprised me by being scared of most of the rides at the parks, but not being afraid to battle Darth Maul at the Jedi Training Academy!

Here are the boys' favorite things:
First, Bennett. His dreams all came true after being chosen to participate in the aforementioned Jedi Training Academy in Disneyland. He also celebrated his sixth birthday at Legoland and Chuck-E-Cheese with his cousins. It just doesn't get any better than that, does it?

Owen was an instant beach bum. This was his first time at the ocean!! It was so exciting for him, and so much fun to watch him dive into the water with no thought of cold or salt in the eyes. He loved to tell us, "Surf's up, dude!"

Jake was so much fun. He loved it all, and was constantly on the lookout for Mickey. He loved Sea World, and the penguins in particular. He wanted to watch them endlessly.

Oh, and he slept in all kinds of weird places, including on the floor at the hotel, where he would migrate around during the night and end up under chairs or tables. I was pretty disturbed, knowing how very unclean hotels can be. But, he refused to sleep in a crib or with us, so what can you do?

I'm with Owen. My favorite part of the trip was watching the boys at the beach. We spent 3 days there enjoying the sun, chasing seagulls, playing in the water and the sand. I'm still finding sand in our house.

Kiddie Kandids

Yesterday we had the good fortune of using all 3 birthday club cards to get our boys' free birthday pix from Kiddie Kandids.  Aside from Bennett's MASSIVE tantrum about having to wear church clothes on a Wednesday, things went exceptionally well.  You can check out the pix here!!  I wish we were millionaires and could get prints of these for everyone.  Oh well.  Kiddie Kandids is a total rip-off, but we always get cute photos there, and the photographer this time was excellent.  We were only there for about 3 minutes. Nice.

Blast from the Past

This one is mostly for my siblings, and all others in my age category who may appreciate some classic television. 

Jason and I had so much fun the other night watching... YouTube.  We were checking out shows from our childhoods and were laughing so hard.  Ahhh, they just don't make television like they used to.  However... some of the stuff we watched was rather risque!!  I don't even think people would allow Solid Gold to be shown on network TV these days, but maybe I'm wrong.  Even Dancing With the Stars (which I have seen exactly once) seems tame in comparison.   I know Solid Gold was frowned upon by my parents, and now I know why.  At the time I loved watching those Solid Gold dancers, but knew that some of their "choreography" was a little wild, i.e. writhing around on the floor.  But watching them on YouTube the other night made me cringe (and laugh)!  I know that some of these shows I only watched at my friends' houses, i.e. Miami Vice:  only to be watched at Natalie's.  Anyway, let me know if I have forgotten any other sweet shows.  I realized that perhaps my favorite part of this whole trip down memory lane is just hearing the shows' theme music.  I can still remember lots of the words, even on the ones I hardly ever watched.

These are in no particular order, and I'm not even sure which ones I watched at different times in my life... I will say that I remember my Mom loving Magnum P.I, Simon and Simon and Hill Street Blues.  I remember watching those with her.

Important Note: If you decide to visit these YouTube links, just watch the clips and DO NOT read the comments that accompany them.  I tried to find mostly clean ones, but it's hard.  People can be so crude.  So there's your warning.

Gilligan's Island, I Dream of Genie, Brady Bunch, Bewitched, Three's Company, Charles in Charge, The Facts of Life, The Cosby Show, Diff'rent Strokes, Family Ties, Eight is Enough, Mork and Mindy, Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, The Jeffersons, Laverne and Shirley, Gimme a Break, Silver Spoons, Small Wonder, Smurfs, Miami Vice, Moonlighting, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Muppets Show, Little House on the Prairie, Punky Brewster, The Bloodhound Gang, Reading Rainbow, 3,2,1 Contact, Chips, Simon and Simon, Magnum P.I, Knight Rider, Greatest American Hero, Solid Gold, Jem and the Holograms (This one's for you, Cami!), Fame, Hill Street Blues.