Landen Loves~

~Trucks

~Dora Dora Boots

~play cooking

~choo choos

~Mah and Dah(mommy and daddy)

~Brobro and sis

~gogurt

~clif bars

~the moon

~airplanes(armen)

~dancing after dinners with the big kids

~bips(chips)

~playing with the "babies" at church

~playing outside in the dirt

~going on the slide at the park(and saying ready, go, wee!, fun)

~saying beeeg truck! a million times when we drive down the freeway

~seeing the bus everyday when we pick up the kids at school

~shouting Dahyee!!! and running to the front door everyday when daddy comes home and then giving him a big hug

~snuggling on "mahney's" (mommy's) lap all day and sucking his thumb

~organizing his trucks and cars into rows

~having mommy's attention all the time;)

~trying to scare brobro by saying "bah!"

~playing in the sand at the beach

~his things to be neat and orderly

~his bedtime routine with daddy

~when mommy sings "who's my little burrito?"

Staycation Part 5~

~Beautiful Zuma Beach in Malibu~

Landen with the cliffs of the "Bu" in the background. I gotta start talking like a local. We've collected just a few beach toys. Landen thinks they are all his. Seriously, just see what happens if you try to take one down to the water.

Finally made it to the beach which the kids had been begging for all week.

Ended up being very windy and about 63 degrees, but still wonderful. I was sitting there watching them all build a sand castle. Watching four people that are so very precious to me and thinking how extremely blessed I am. I felt so happy and content.

Then I thought I saw something in the water. Jeff said it was probably a seagull, but I was sure it wasn't.

Do you see it?

Then I saw it again and I was sure it was a dolphin! You can see it much better if you click on the pictures.

We just couldn't believe it. It was so cool! There were several swimming by us.

Then we saw something much bigger swimming next to it and it was spouting water.

Sure enough it was a whale!!!

Here's the same shot zoomed in a little. Kinda looks like a shark, but again it was spouting water before it surfaced.

We were in awe. Dolphins and whales have been my favorite forever!

More dolphins swam and played in the water for the next hour. It was unbelieveable. The perfect end to our day.

You can see the whale much better in this pic.

I think I took about a hundred pictures.

Landen telling daddy to put the water in his bucket. You can see who's in charge here.

Of course right after my camera battery died one of the dolphins rode a wave and we could see it inside the wave!!! So cool!

Seriously one of the neatest things that has ever happened to us. A great family memory for sure. And this beach is only about 20 minutes from our house!

Love Zach in this one.

This is the exact moment Jeff told Landen it was time to go home.

Poor baby just loves the beach so much, I think he would play until he fell asleep.

I was there too.

Staycation Part 4~

The staycation continues! Feels like it is taking forever, but it's almost done. Next we went to Santa Barbara Zoo for the day(it's only an hour away!). Another cool, overcast day, but it was still nice to be near the beach.

Such pretty birds. I was worried the big kids wouldn't enjoy the zoo. They have been to the Indy zoo many times, but they really liked it. It's a much smaller zoo, but it was kinda nice to just take our time and walk slowly and enjoy the day.

Combination of the sea air and sunscreen made for a wild hairdo.

Not sure why we ended up wearing more blue this day than the previous day to the Dodgers game, but I don't have much say in clothing choices anymore.

Coolest, strangest bird I have ever seen.

Everybody pose by 2 elephant rumps!

Love Landen's cheese smile!

He was trying to make the same face. I think he did a pretty good job. Even though I don't believe we evolved from apes!

Amazingly, beautiful creatures, but I kind of feel bad for them living in such a small space. They seemed a little irritated by all the people.

Landen's curls really came out. His hair isn't as curly as Mikayla's was at this age, but definitely more than Zachary's. And he's still a blondie.

"Landen, what does a pig say?" Hmm, I guess we will have to work on that one. So far he knows the sounds for dog, cat, cow, and crow. Yes, crow. There are so many in our area that he just started mimicking them on his own.

This is so typical. Zach and Mikayla do a great job of getting down on Landens' level and experiencing things with him and showing him things. They enjoy it as much as we do when he learns something new or sees something he likes.

This was also right after we went through an area of the zoo that has these birds that poop so much that the entire area is covered with white. Jeff and I walked through as fast as we could, but Zach and Mikayla went through the rattlesnake house first and when they walked out Zach said, "Cool! I got sprayed with water!" Mikayla said, "No, it's white!" Then they both realized they had both been pooped on. Good times.

The whole day Landen only slept about 10 minutes on the train ride around the zoo. He didn't even sleep on the way home. We stopped at souplantaion for dinner which is our new normal when we drive through ventura. It was another great day!

Staycation Part 3~

The weather was cool and cloudy most of the week so at the last minute we decided it would be ok to get tickets that weren't in the shade for a midday midweek Dodgers game. The weather turned out to be great and Landen made it through over 10 innings before we left. Zach had his glove all ready!

Everyone got new hats except Jeff because he is a Reds fan.

Landen is the cutest little Dodger!!

He watched "Dora Dora Boots" (as he says) on the ipad to stay entertained and loved eating nachos and Dodgers dogs.

Andre something?? I guess he's popular???

This is what Landen does when he's tired. Sucks his left thumb and rubs his right ear. Me in a hat!

We all had a great time and the Dodgers won in the 11th inning. It was a really fun day!

Staycation Part 2~

In all my years of living in Cali I don't think I have ever even driven down Hollywood Blvd. We decided to take the kids to the see the stars on the walk of fame. I knew it wasn't the best neighborhood, but I guess I imagined it being more glamorous or exciting or something?? A lot of fuss about something not that great, but now we can say we have been there, done that.

You can't really see it, but it says Big Bird.

The only ones the kids knew, the harry potter kids, even though I have never let them read the books or watch the movies.=(

My feet are about the same size as Jimmy Stewart's. Kinda surprising.

Mikayla's feet are the same size as Meryl Streep's.

Mann's Chinese Theater

I thought the coolest ones were Amy Grant and Billy Graham, but everyone else was gathered around 2 that have been in the news a lot lately, I'll just say Charlie and Nicholas.

Landen got really shy once we got close to "Elmo."

Mikayla and I on the stairs of the theater where they have the Oscars. She might get one someday and can look back at this picture. Seriously though she would rather be on Broadway, that is her new goal. So maybe she'll get a Tony.

Zach didn't want to stand by Elvis even though he still loves him!

Mikayla by Tinkerbell.

Lady Gaga has nothing on Cher.

I have always thought my mom looks like Sophia Loren, so this was the perfect ending.

The kids thought it was pretty cool and now we can say we did it. We didn't do the wax museum or guiness world record musem, so maybe we'll have to go back and do that someday.