Ditching Dad

We had plans to go to Disneyland again for Nevada days. But Ben was sick and I was having some back problems so we decided to stay home. That didn't go over well, so I told the boys I'd take them to Legoland on the next break. We got up bright and early and caught this sunrise.

I can't do this ride but it was one of the kid's favorites.

Zack thought this sign was "rude to parents."

Volvo car made of Legos. 

Volvo cars for kids to drive very slowly around a track. I love the bearded Lego guy getting off the subway.

Zack was actually a little nervous about this course. He was nice and cautious and obeyed all the traffic signals.

Noah is too cool like this police officer. He would get his photo here, but

not here. 

Lego Harry and Hagrid. 

Lego Indy. 

On safari.

There was a new Star Wars exhibit in mini-land. They created a scene from each movie.

They were detailed and very cool.

We were all amazed. 

There were also some fun Christmas Legos.

A DC photo op to send to Dad.

And a ride in honor of Max.

It wasn't very crowded and by the end of the day some rides were empty. Zack and I rode this one all alone. He let us go extra long which meant we were extra dizzy.

After a fun day at Legoland we fulfilled a few dreams. I have been craving Chick-fil-A since having several failed attempts when we visited California and Utah in July.

Also in July we were under the impression that our hotel room in Oceanside had a kitchen. (An email with a picture of the room containing a kitchen usually would indicate a kitchen....) anyway, Zack was extremely distraught over the lack of kitchen. We heard about it daily, usually multiple times a day. The kid has always wanted to stay at a hotel with a kitchen and on November 10, 2011 at age 7, the dream finally came true. It was all he hoped it would be, fancy cups and everything.

It will take more than a broken heater and freezing pool to keep these kids dry. Ben has been begging to swim for a long time and we never seem to find the time. Even though it was cold, he was happy to be back in the water.

Although it wasn't on the pier, these two boys were happy to find a Ruby's for lunch.

It was a quick, but I am glad I was able to take this trip with my boys.

What was that Holiday?

Just when I thought I was all caught up I realized that I have completely neglected to mention anything about Halloween--the holiday that never ends. Here are our Halloween haps (short for happenings--live with Matt & you learn to never pronounce a word correctly).

This is Zack's haunted house. The "second graders" are assigned to design and decorate houses for spooky street, aka the hallway.  This type of project is a dream for Zack so I pretty much just let him run with it. I did have to scale him back a bit (this baby would have been twice as big) but all I did was some cutting, hot gluing, and spray paint. I volunteer in his class so I hand delivered it to his school. His classmates were impressed with his creation and all their oohs and aahhs had Zack beaming.

It is impossible to sufficiently celebrate Halloween in one day. Here is our first round: trunk or treat. I ordered Ben a Tron costume that didn't ever arrive so he went as a missionary OR a Men in Black agent OR an FBI agent OR a businessman OR whatever else you can think of that involves a suit and tie.

Post trunk or treat candy displaying. Not bad, but they needed more. Especially Zack who adhered to the trunk or treat code of only going to each trunk once. Ben took off with a friend and didn't honor the code. He had way more candy than Zack. 

John and Michelle had a chili and homemade donuts party. You should get to know Michelle and John so you can get an invite to the party next year (hopefully?!).  That was some seriously good chili and the donuts... Yum!! Not sure if I'd take Ken's approach and eat them both at the same time. He also eats pumpkin guts. Anyway, before the eating, the kids created monsters. Then proceeded to act like monsters terrorizing the house. Isn't that what makes a party fun?

On the actual day of Halloween Zack decided we needed better exterior decorations. Amen. I can't argue with him since all I managed to do was hang a wreath. It's pretty pathetic, maybe since I picked up a few clearance items this year, next year will be better. It won't be hard to top.

The cousins came over and we went out to get candy. Ben changed his costume to the Grim Reaper. That  mask drips blood, and it also hurts to wear so it lasted about as long as it took to take this picture. Zack didn't even bother with his mask this time. The kids made a candy haul. I am not sure how they got so much because I swear we didn't go very many places but they came home with nearly full bags. I guess it was a Halloween miracle.

Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover

While the other boys were at scouts, Zack and I were preparing for our favorite game: "cuddle mommy and watch a TV show."  I ran upstairs to do a few things and left Zack downstairs to clean up his school stuff. After I few minutes I hear him start to cry. And cry and cry. I found him downstairs on the couch, cuddled up with a teddy bear just sobbing. The source of his tears?

I haven't read it awhile but it makes me teary just to think about it. He checked this book out of the library because he thought it looked funny. He was wrong. But it gave me an even better excuse to give him lots of hugs and play an extra long game of "cuddle mommy and watch a TV show."

More From Idaho

We thought it might be fun to take the kids up to BYU Idaho. More than the name has changed since I was a Viking.  We had a hard time finding our way around, maybe because we followed the signs and not our instincts. The signs are for the long route apparently. I would love for the boys to go to school there when they get older. I have lots of great Ricks College memories.

After some pizza and pizza bombs we met up with most of the rest of the family for a straw maze adventure. Brigham's birthday was on Sunday and this is how he chose to celebrate.

This kid is so cute. He also didn't try to run off like the rest of the kids did. Being strapped in a stroller and literally unable to walk helped, but he is such a good kid I don't think he will ever do anything like his older cousins did.

I thought we (the adults) were right behind the kids but we went around one corner and they had all disappeared. This was a serious straw maze and not exactly the place you want to get separated from your kids. We found Zack & Haylee pretty quickly and then Ashtyn and Ben but there was no sigh of Noah, Brigham, Brock and Macy-the three littlest kids. We were really hoping that Noah was with Macy.  Instead of going through the maze to find the exit, we went through hoping to find the kiddos. And it took us nearly 45 minutes before we did. Naughty, naughty kids who didn't even think they were being naughty.

We did a lot of this in the maze. Pick a direction you are confident leads to the exit, then

turn around and try something else. 

The normal time to finish is about an hour and I think we were pretty close to that. Local gossip is that someone go so lost they called 911. We couldn't get phone reception so that wouldn't have helped us, nor did it help us find Noah. So much for technology.

Usually on the last day we are in Idaho, Matt likes to get up early and take Noah out to see Suzie's grave. This time I decided to tag along and bring the other two boys. I don't know if I will be invited to go again, because I also discovered that part of this little tradition (which typically takes place on a Sunday) is that they go to the gas station and get some treats. I wouldn't let him invoke "travel status" because we were flying home and didn't need to buy gas. I know, I am no fun and totally lame.

Logan Gets Married

We took a little trip up to Idaho for Logan and Whitney's wedding. It was actually cheaper for our family to fly than to drive. True. And we are not going to complain about that. This was the first flight for Ben & Zack and the first flight that Noah will remember. They thought it was awesome. Especially when we realized that we would have only driven to Mesquite in the same amount of time it took to fly all the way to Idaho Falls.

This is almost all of the McGarry grand kids on their best behavior. Elder Johnson got home a few weeks before. I am sure he was missing the warmer California weather.

This is how they normally are. 

We have a legendary home video in our family from Lacey & Scott's wedding. Logan was about Zack's age at the time and was talking about decorating Scott's car. Logan, with his little high pitched seven year old voice, was full of tough talk and very excited about the planned desecration to Scott's Cavalier. He said something like, "they're going down."  It's very funny and was retold about a million times over the weekend. With that background I am not sure how he thought his vehicle would escape the same fate. He did politely request that his pickup would be spared. No way.

I just love that they actually got soda cans attached to the back. I have a video of them as they drove off and they sounded great.

Whitney's car was left at my parent's house and it didn't escape either. Noah found the window markers they couldn't find the night of the wedding and left her a little surprise.

Logan is the youngest and it worked out that he was also the last of my siblings to get married. Imagine that. We all adore Whitney and now we are glad she is a permanent part of the family.