Big Boy Bed

AJ 's last time in the crib.The escape attempt

Anderson with his new bed

Good night Cutie

Midnight bed check

None of the other kids have ever climbed out of their cribs, so I was shocked this morning when I heard AJ's doorknob turning. My first thought was: Oh no someone broke in through his window. This is totally irrational, I know!! I just had never had that experience before so I guess it seemed more reasonable than my "baby" climbing out of bed. haha. In the evening, I prepared his room for him: big boy bed, outlet covers, all the childproofing necessary. After dinner we went through the bed time routine, and stuck him in bed. There was some crying and trying to escape, but after a few minutes he was out. Just before midnight I went in to check on him and he was laying on the floor. He can't climb into bed, with his short little legs:( How did he ever manage to climb out of his crib?

What's That Smell?

Anderson, Armand, Ayden, and Ashten My big boy

Armand

Sea Lions

Checking out the skeletons

The Hecta Lighthouse

The kids watching the sea lions

Our famliy at the cave. It was really windy... can you tell?

AJ finally got a little sleep at lunch time.

We wanted to go to The Sea Lion Caves, so we got up bright and early (partially because we had three kids wide awake). We had breakfast, packed up, and drove the 1.5 hours to the cave. The weather was crazy, we were definitely not in California anymore. It was sunny, then raining, and hailing, then sunny again. It was SO windy walking down to the elevator at the cave. I have been there before when I was young, but Armand and the kids hadn't. After talking about it all weekend, the kids were so happy to be there. The sea lions were so loud and stinky! Almost as soon as we got there the kids were asking, "What's that smell?" After we checked out everything, we hit the road. We decided that it would be fun to drive up 101. We stayed on 101 until it was time for me to "go to class." We stopped in the tiny town of Willamina, and stole free Internet from some unsuspecting family, so that I could attend my last seminar of the term. From there we decided to get to I-5 and get home. It was a long trip but, it was so nice to get away!

Best Rest Stop Ever and Dumbest Move Ever

My boys at Lumberjack's Me and the boys
AJ's lips. He made this face pretty much the whole trip. He started speaking sentences this week. No joke!! He can say: I want down, I want juice, I want doggy, Thank You. It's so amazing how fast he went from saying only Mommy and Daddy, to sentences.

Ashten, Anderson, and Ayden at the Rest Stop

This morning we got up and went swimming again. We were hoping to have the kids burn some energy, so they'd sleep for the drive to the next stop. Afterwards, we went to breakfast. Our hotel includes a free breakfast at Lumberjack's Restaurant. This is when we started realizing that Anderson had stopped eating. He hardly ate a bite and from this point on he continued to not eat for the rest of the trip. He didn't show any other symptoms of not feeling well though, so hopefully he will make up for it in the coming week. We stopped at a rest stop at Klamath River. It was so pretty from the road that Armand had to see what it was. Once we took the exit we realized it was a rest stop. I'm not sure what made it so cool, but we all loved it. They had lots of picnic tables and benches to watch the river, the grass was alive and healthy, and it had a visitor's center. We are easily amused I suppose. After that we headed to Eugene, because that's where I THOUGHT our reservation was. Unfortunately, I didn't realize my mistake until we arrived at our supposed destination. We were actually supposed to stay in Medford, which we had passed 300 miles before. This was a non-refundable reservation, so I was SO stressed, but we got it all worked out for $37.00 extra:( We went to dinner and then went to bed. I had a horrible headache, and all of us were lacking in sleep. There is a reason why people have their own bedrooms, and this trip confirmed that.

Heading to Redding

AJ and Ashten in the car on the ride down Ayden
Armand multi-tasking

Our first rest stop

The boys and "Daddy's trailer"

Mount Shasta

At the pool

Me and the kids

Ayden

AJ was scared for about 2.5 seconds then he was like a fish. He LOVED the pool!!

This weekend Armand had a trailer order to deliver to Redding, California. He wanted to drive straight there and back. It is a 9 hour drive, so this would have been horrible. I talked him into making a weekend out of it. We left at 4am and arrived at 2pm. We got quite a surprise coming from Washington, where it has snowed within the last two weeks. SUN!! It was about 80 degrees! So much for all the winter coats and sweaters that we packed. We stayed at the Travel Lodge in Redding, because it had wi-fi AND a pool, which Ayden informed us was a must because of the heat. We had a great day. When swimming Ashten asked, "Could we live here forever?"

Kindergarten Registration

Ashten when he heard the news that he would not be going to Kindergarten with Ayden. He said he would miss Ayden...Sad:(Ayden at his new school
Today we took Ayden in to register him for Kindergarten. YAY!! We are so excited. I was bummed to find out that we missed the tour and everything. But he was just excited to see what school he would be going to. This was the first time I had actually ever seen it also, so it was nice to go inside and take a tiny peak. Ayden has asked me everyday since his registration, "Mommy, do I have my new school tomorrow?" Only 5 more months! Not that I'm counting;)

Big Boys

Ayden age 5Ashten age 4 Before the wedding the sky was so clear I had to snap some pictures to replace Ayden and Ashten's photos that are on the family wall. They are both from when Ayden turned 4, so they were really outdated. I usually do them at their birthdays at the very least, but it seems that we have had a lot of bad weather or bad pictures. I love these pics, the kids look adorable.

Another Wedding

Ayden's favorite part was the ice cream bar AJ had a good time, but was so tired Wes and Kristin

Mom and Dad

Nick and Lydia

He finally crashed for a few minutes

Today we had a reception to go to for my cousin Nick and his wife Lydia. They were sealed at the Manti Temple in Utah in the end of February. Anyway, the Tahoe had broken down yesterday so I had no car. Dad came and picked up the big boys, and Wes and Kristin came to get me and AJ. I appreciated the family for helping us out. We had lots of fun visiting. The boys had fun playing in the nursery for a little while, but they stayed for only a few minutes then were back at my side. It was nice to get out of the house and listen to music with the family. Afterwards we cleaned up chairs until Wes and Kristin were ready to go. The boys got home about 30 minutes after us, I guess they were having too much fun helping

To Ggmom's House We Go

Ashten, GGmom, and AydenAnderson tried to play too

Ayden GG playing piano with the boys
Baby Anderson and Grandma Anderson
AJ just couldn't hold out for home. After visiting the museum, we called Great-Grandma Anderson to see if she was up for a visit. The boys had so much fun visiting her. They ate lots of candy and some healthy snacks. They played Don't Break the Ice and set up the fishing game (they never got around to actually playing). They got to read fun pop up books and play piano. We even took a walk around the "block" a few times to burn off some of that candy energy. We headed home around 530pm after a long and very fun day. They were sad to go but we had to get home, AJ hadn't had a nap all day and was getting really cranky.

Thanks for letting us come over and see you, we had lots of fun!:)

Hands On!

Anderson making deliveriesAshten is ringing me up for the sandwich I orderedAyden is loading up the delivery truck with fruits and veggiesMy sandwichAJ picking potatoes for his basket and cucumbers and carrots

Gavin and Ben doing deliveries
Doctor Nicolas examining X-rays.

AJ loved the vet area especially when he saw the doggies
Ayden also liked playing with the train set

Ashten and Ben spent so much time at the water table they were pretty wet by the time they were done
Valerie had a couple of free passes for the Children's Museum in Olympia. Since there was no playgroup or preschool today, we decided to go out this morning. We tried to fit us all in one van but apparently when they advertise that it holds 7 they do not consider car seats and boosters. I think the only time we have ever had 7 in our van was when I made Ayden ride without a booster, but this was too far to be driving illegally. Anyway,we met Valerie's sister-in-law (and her two kids) in Lakewood and drove to Olympia. This museum is awesome. We've only been to the Tacoma museum, and it is tiny compared to this one. The kids had a ton of fun. Ayden's favorite part was the giant boat. Ashten's favorite part was everything and pretending to be a doctor looking at X-rays. Anderson's favorite part was the farmer's market.