Ok, no pictures yet but here is an update anyways.
California was awesome. The kids were hilarious on the airplane. Brady got to sit on row #1 with Isabel and I got the last row #13 with Ben. That's right, a tiny plane like the one we rode on in Brasil! Poor Chris had to duck and hunch his shoulders to fit through the aisle :) Ben put his seatbelt on and then promptly had to make sure that everyone else was safe too. Airplane rides are old news to Isabel seeing as she has her own passport already (Panama and Hawaii before she was 2). Ben had to pull his Car backpack with wheels until we got on the plane and actually had to pull it everywhere we went in CA (except Six Flags, I refused to carry it) It probably took us 2 hours to get to the airport, park, check in and walk to the terminal. Good thing grandpa Grant was there to hold Ben's hand the whole way through the airport. Ben LOVED seeing all the airplanes and watching them take off and land. It was fun. As we took off Ben just held on and kept saying WOAH.......Flying, fun. Ari raised her hands above her head like on a roller coaster and said WEEE and Adam said 'we're in the air!". Traveling with kids is great!
We rented cars (which took forever.....) and ended up riding with mom and dad in a silver mini van. Every time Isabel got in the van she would ask where our van was and why we were riding in a van like ours. She is definitely a talker! My dad says that she reminds him of me when I was little :) As soon as we got off the airplane, Isabel looked around and asked me where Grandma Zelma was. I had told her that we were going to CA to see her, and Isabel expected to see her right away! It was funny. Dad asked all the kids if they liked Cheerios, and then told them that we could see where Cheerios came from. Isabel looked at him and said, they come in a box grandpa. :) Funny girl!
Six Flags was fun. Definitely different with kids. Brady tried 2 or 3 of the kid rides, then realized that he didn't fit in them at all and just watched and took pictures. Isabel loved the rollercoaster! At first she was a little scared but by the second time around she was loving it! She was tall enough to ride all the rides by herself, and she did for the most part. She and Ben both loved the swings and driving their own jeeps to see the african animals (turtles, giraffes & elephants) I only had to carry Ben kicking and screaming off of 3 rides (just because he wanted to stay on cause he loved them so much) the merry go round, Thomas the Train, and the Jeep. The only ride he told me 'all done' on was the roller coaster. I think that is was because his head hit a weird spot on the seat and it was kind of a jerky roller coaster. The kids both loved the sharks. The first ride we went on (the helicopter from Thomas the Tank Engine) Ben watched the lady open the door and lock it, and after that he figured out how to open all of the doors so he could get on. When I let him ride on some rides by himself, he would lean over and watch how the ride worked..... he might end up being some kind of engineer of some sort, we will see.
Before we went to the reunion, Brady went golfing with Grant and my uncles on the most awful course ever with rented clubs that cost $10 and he still only shot 1 over par.... my relatives told him that he couldn't golf with them next year cause he was too good. I was impressed cause he only golfs maybe 2 times per year! While Brady was golfing, we went swimming at the hotel. The water wasn't heated but that didn't stop us! The kids had a blast. Swimming lessons will be fun this year! Isabel is getting brave. She held on to the sides and went all around the pool. She likes to hold onto my back and swim around too.
It was fun to see everyone at the reunion. I put Ben and Isabel's name into a drawing for a jean quilt that my aunt made and Ben won! (Luckily Jenny was there so she could bring it home for me.) Brady and Dad played horseshoes almost the whole time. Ben pushed around a stroller and Isabel played most of the games they had. She did awesome at the one where you have a tennis ball in a nylon and you put it on your head and you swing your head back and forth to hit down rows of empty pop cans. She got all the cans but 1! Every time she got to pick a prize she chose candy! Surprise! There was karaoke which was funny but I found out that my uncle John likes to go to nursing homes and dress up like ....... (can't remember his name) and sing to them. He says it is one thing that makes him happy! I say go for it! We ate Chinese food that night and the kids loved it!
The next morning we went to the Spanish branch for church. My uncle Garth is in the branch presidency so that is where they go. The primary sang the hello song to the kids "hola-hola" it was cute and we doubled the nursery. With Sarah and Ben it made 4 kids in the nursery. What would it be like with just 4 kids :) We had lunch with Janel and family then headed back to the airport where we found out that there were mechanical problems with the plane so there was a delay. I knew everything would be ok when we got to the terminal and Elder Russel M Nelson of the Quorum of the 12 was waiting to get on the same plane :) Dad went right over and talked with him. Noah went and introduced himself and I went over and shook his hand, Isabel didn't want to and Ben was running around watching planes take off. I told him, 'Flying with kids is and adventure", he replied with "I know, isn't it great!" I said yes as I ran after Ben :) We were able to sit as a family on the way home, all at the front of the airplane:) Ben played with his train and all was good. Elder Nelson sat right behind Brady. It was just neat having him there. All in all it was a fun trip. Quick but fun. More swimming would have been good seeing as it was so humid, but that's ok.
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Ben is a fan of water. No matter where the water is, he loves it. We were leaving our house in Layton with a load of stuff on Tuesday and the sprinklers came on before we left. Ben saw them and ran out of the house and was drenched in less than 2 minutes! He loved every minute of it! He loved swimming lessons, and even though he cried (bellowed) the whole lesson through the first week, he would come out and tell me he swam good and loved swimming. The second week was much better. He left his earplugs in (he has tubes in his ears) and found out that no one would just leave him there by himself, so he had fun. In fact yesterday, the last day of swimming, he cried becuase he didn't want to get out! He is a really good kicker and loved finding pennies on the stair and bringing them to me. Thank you grandma Tracie for swim lessons! The kids loved them!
(Ignore the dates on the pictures, it was really June of this year)
