A Yellow Hat and Plastic Pets

Jace is the youngest by a lot of years. Seven to be exact. The cool thing is that he gets to hang with mom and dad all day. The uncool thing is that it can get kind of boring hanging out with mom and dad all day. 

So when we were at Michael's today, we picked up a few items to give Jace something new to play with.

The first thing he saw and loved was the yellow hat. It's actually styrofoam, so it was only $1. I couldn't pass that up. Jace also loved the pets. He played with them for a while. He was so entertained by them. At one point he gave each of them a name, using his siblings' names. I think those are the only names he really knows.  

After a good 30 minutes of play time, it was time to put the pets away.

MLK Day at the World Wildlife Zoo

 We headed to the zoo today. We realized later that we went to the Honolulu Zoo on MLK day last year. Lucky for us we have a zoo about 10 minutes from our home. The drive is awesome. Did you know that the World Wildlife Zoo is ranked 30 for the most diverse species in a zoo? Neither did we.

The kids were glad to be going. It's been on our list of places to go to since we've been back.

Sunscreen on . . . check.

Hats on . . . check.

Jace loves to be carried. Guess what I'm telling him in this picture. 

It's funny how most zoos start with flamingos. Why is that?

 We haven't been to this zoo in at least 5 years. Since we've been gone, they've installed this fun ride. It's one of those log plume rides where you get wet. It's kind of cool because it goes through the new aquarium they built.

They have a big sting ray tank where the kids were allowed to touch their backs.

Jace was the most excited about this ride. Can you tell? Nah, really. He was. He loved it. It through the "savannah" portion of the zoo. You get right up close and personal with the ostrich.

The kids remember the Giraffe Feeding Station. They couldn't wait to show Jace.

Yes. He is picking his nose. LOL!

 Photographer #1

 Photographer #2

Llama, llama, red pajama. That's what Jace knows them as.

SO FLUFFY!

So, we tried to take pictures with the timer. Here's how one of the sets went. Finally, someone stopped and offered to take our pictures. From her directions, she sounded like she knew what she was doing.

 Happy Martin Luther King Day!!

Guess Who Went to the Dentist?

This guy! That's who. 

His visit was called a "Happy Visit". 

I wished that when I visited the dentist, it would be a 

"happy visit". 

The visit was just to get him used to the guy with mask and pointy tools.

Even though he wouldn't open his mouth for the dentist, he still got to leave with a cool party favor. He was super excited about that. We'll see how long it lasts.

My Monkey and Me

A random picture of Jace and I. 

He's such a ham.

Honor Roll

We attended the 8th Grade Honor Roll assembly for Tyler. He did 

well this past semester.  

This assembly was short and too the point. There weren't any lei's, although Tyler did ask if I would bring one. I asked him, "Do you want me to bring you one?" He thought about it for a while and quickly replied, "Uh no. I change my mind". 

He would have been the only one. That's ok. We're waiting for the 8th grade graduation to bust out the lei's!

 I can't believe how much he's grown.

We are proud of him.

FYI: It was really COLD that day!! But that didn't stop us from coming to support Tyler. 

Congratulations Tyler!!! You did an awesome job! Keep it up.

Growth Spurts

It's happening.

We put them back to back to see if this was a reality.

Indeed it was. 

The growth spurt has begun. Tyler is officially the tallest child in our family. 

Jace couldn't believe it, so he wanted Tyler to prove it. 

Sorry Jace. It's true.

It was BACKWARDS night at Red Robin

I don't think the employees knew it was till we arrived. We were trying to find something to do with the kids. We had planned to go bowling. Unfortunately, everyone else in Surprise decided to go bowling as well and it was going to be a 2 hour wait. 

Next.

We walked over to the theater next door to see if there was a movie playing. Nothing that was family friendly.

Next.

We were striking out. Finally we decided to head over to Red Robins for dessert. We had already eaten a light dinner.

We arrived at Red Robin and our waiter came asking what we wanted. We gave our order for three desserts.

 We had fun chatting with the kids and taking pictures on my phone. 

Gotta love the flash.

Red Robins is a fun place with their American decor.

Finally dessert came. It was deeeee-li-cious!! We put those desserts away so fast. It was funny though because when we were done with our treats, we all looked at each other and I knew what everyone was thinking. We all wanted a burger. We laughed and decided why not. When the waitress came, we all ordered burgers. 
The kids thought it was so fun that we ordered dessert first, then dinner, a 2nd dinner I might add. 
Glad we could add to their vault of memories.