Kids Weekend part 2

On Sunday, the last day of our kids weekend, we took the kids to Hogle Zoo. It was in the 90's that day and it sure felt like it, but the kids were pretty good about not complaing and we had a fun time see all the different animals. Our favorites were the Elephants, Giraffes, and Monkeys. Parker love the snake area and Paxten seemed to be fascinated by everything. There were a lot of areas in the park that were under construction/renovation which was disappointing, but will give us an excuse to come back next year when it is all done. We packed a picnic again this day into the zoo and the kids rode the merry go round inside the zoo.  After we had seen all there was to see, each of the kids picked a souvenier from the gift shop and we got in the van to head home. All of the kids were asleep in no time, we wore them out! We had such a fun time together. It is great to have a sister to do these fun things with and I think we may have to make this a tradition! The kids loved being together and doing something out of the ordinary, we only wish that Matt would have been able to go with us as well.

Kids Weekend of Fun

Charyn and I thought it would be fun to take the kids on a fun weekend to Utah after school got out. The kids were most excited about sleeping in a Hotel and swimming in the hotel pool! We left on the Friday school got out, after Parker got home. We drove to Layton and stopped for dinner at McDonalds (this is after all a kids weekend, right!) Then we went to Hobby Lobby, our choice, to look around and find a few home furnishings and scrapbook supplies. The kids started to become restless in the store and we knew we had pushed our luck, so we made our way to our hotel. The kids immediately wanted to get into the pool. So we did! They swam for over an hour and had a blast! after swimming we had popcorn and watched TV until they finally fell asleep close to 11! The next day we had plans to visit Scheel's, go to the park for a picnic, and then to Boondocks for miniature golf. The kids rode the ferris wheel in Scheels and looked at the huge aquarium. They ran around at a nearby park and we had a fun picnic. Then in the afternoon we went to Boondocks to play mini golf. I am not sure what Charyn and I were thinking taking 4 kids and 2 strollers to go play miniature golf. The kids were everywhere, except by us! I think Charyn and I managed to actually play a total of 4 holes, which was a waste of money, because we were trying to keep caught up with the kids. It was extremely hot outside so the kids were fussy and whining! We did manage to make it through all 18 holes and then went inside to play some video games. Zander and Paxten had fun playing whack a mole and Parker and Paige liked the ski ball machine. We ended up getting only about 100 tickets, which didn't get very much in return, but the kids had fun. After a long morning and afternoon, we decided to go back to the hotel and let the kids swim some more and order in Pizza. It sure is fun to eat pizza in a hotel room! The kids were exhausted and fell asleep before 10 that night!

More from Lava

My kids were so excited to go swimming and when Parker saw all the slides at Lava, that is pretty much the only thing he wanted to do. He definitely got his money's worth.I think he went down the slide at least 10 times. He loved it. He also thought he was pretty good at swimming and tried to get me to let hi swim in the deeper water. Swim lessons was a good thing for him to feel more independent and I know that he could at least make it to the side after going off the slide or diving board.

Paige was a little fish and just kept swimming and swimming. She did get cold once in a while and would get her towel on to dry off and warm up for a little while before getting back in the pool. There were 2 kiddie slides in the pool and she loved to go down them, she would go down the slide into the water and she could touch the bottom, then she would get out and go down the slide again. Over and over and over again. I think she really had a fun time as well.

I wasn't sure how Paxten would like the water, but he couldn't get enough if it. I put him on the little kiddie slide to see how he would like it and then I was stuck there for about a 1/2 hour putting him on the kiddi slide. He loved falling off of the edge into the water. I could catch him just before he went under and he would have the biggest grin on his face. He loved evey minute of swimming.

Charyn is more of a dare devil than I am and She decided to go on the really fast slide that drops like 50 feet. She said it was fun and somehow talked me in to going on it. The stairs to get up to it were tiring, and made me relize how out of shape I am. As I was going on the slide, I had second thoughts, but by then it was too late and I could see the ligh and the opening where it dropped, I screamed the entire way down!! It was scary! But it was fun and I might do it again. I love spending time with my family!!

Family Fun Day

With Matt's current schedule at the State Hospital he has every Saturday off. I have to say that I am enjoying him being home with us and not at work. Although he does have to work on Sundays and that I don't really like. But we have taken advantage of having him home on Saturdays and try to get some things done around the house as well as spending time together as a family doing something fun. A few Saturdays ago we took the kids to Pocatello to Outer Limits and played a round of miniature golf and then let the kids play in the play zone. It was a pretty fun time. We started out the afternoon with a trip to Costo. The kids love it when we go to Costco, they love getting the samples and seeing all the fun new toys that they have displayed. We also love getting a "big hot dog" (as Paige calls them) and a drink. We decided to do lunch there and we can feed our whole family for about $8!! Can you beat that any where else?? So we walked around the store for a while and picked up a few things. Then we went to the shoe store to find Parker some church shoes, he was in desperate need of them and I would always forget that he needed new shoes, until Sunday morning. So we finally got him some wearable shoes. Then we went to Outer limits for our afternoon of fun. The kids had a blast and are plannign our next trip there. We love it when we get to spend the day together as a family and love it even more when we get to do something fun.

Enjoying Ice Cream

We spent the majority of last Saturday outside, getting some things accomplished at our house. It was a wonderful day and we all were enjoying the sunshine. Paxten love to be outside and sometimes he even tries to go outside when I am not looking. I am going to have to keep my eyes on him this summer for sure. After dinner this night we enjoyed ice cream cones, and Paxten thinks he is a big kid too, he will not share an ice cream come with me anymore, he wants his own to carry around as he is playing like the other kids. Usually he eats the ice cream to the top of the cone and then is finished, but today he ate the entire thing!! He loved it and his cute little face proves how much he enjoyed it!! I love his cute little face!! He even gave me a chocolate kiss! I will never turn down a kiss from this little guy, even if he is dirty and sticky!!


Paxten is now 15 months old and is a busy little guy. He can make messes faster than I can clean them up. He is full of energy and is definitely all boy! He loves to play with balls, cars, trucks, blocks, sticks, and get in the dirt. He loves to swing on the swing set and to go down the slide. He loves the grass on his feet and often tries to take his shoes off when he gets outside. He recently weaned himself from a bottle. I had been planning on doing it soon, but he decided on his own that it was time. One day he just kept shaking his head "no" when the bottle was offered to him and he went a whole day without one. After that I didn't even offer his one anymore and he hasn't even missed it. I think he wants to be just like his older siblings. He has been eating better since then, which is great, maybe he will gain some weight!! Paxten can say "momma" and "dadda" really well and sometimes he says words and I look at him like "did you really just say that?" and then of course he doesn't say it again. For instance, one day a few weeks ago I swear he looked at me and said, "momma I'm hungry." I looked at him with astonishment and asked him if that is what he said and he wouldn't say it again, but he did end up eating quite a bit. I think he is building up his vocabulary and one day he will just start speaking in sentences. He is such a fun little guy and we are looking forward to taking him camping this month and letting him really experience the great outdoors!

Baby Animal Day

Matt and I took the kids to Baby Animal Day this last weekend. It was one of the first nice days we have had in May. It wasn't cloudy, or windy and was nice and sunny. A perfect day to spend together as a family. Matt went golfing in the morning and the kids and I got the house cleaned. I told the kids if they didn't have their rooms picked up and vacuumed by the time Matt got home they weren't going. That was good motivation for Parker, he got his room picked up in no time and he even helped me out by vacuuming some other rooms in the house. It took Paige a little longer to get moving and I did end up helping her a little bit. Luckily as we were finishing her room, Matt arrived home. So she was lucky that she ended up going with us. It cost us $16.00 for our family, which I thought was a little pricey considering what baby animal day really consists of, but I guess it was was cheap considering some of the other things we could have spent the day doing as a family. The kids were being little stinkers and not wanting to be near any of the animals and Matt and I threatened to leave if they didn't stop having tantrums. Finally they were a little bit better and we ended up having a good time. We saw baby chicks, calves, ducks, pigs, bunnies, miniature horse, goats, alpacas, dogs, and sheep. Parker was the only one brave enough to pet most of the animals, as long as I went with him. Paige pet the chick and bunnies and Paxten grabbed the chick and squeezed him and pulled on a bunnies ears, I think he was a little too young to pet the animals, but he was sooooo excited to see them. We even were able to go on a wagon ride pulled by horses. The kids thought that was fun. It was a good time to spend together as a family and a good start to enjoying the warm weather!