SeaWorld

Our next day was spent at SeaWorld. It was packed. My camera was tucked away most of the time, while I enjoyed all the shows with the family, so pictures are limited... We watched the Orcas, the seals/walruses, and the dolphin show, which is always a favorite. 

I convinced Emma to go on her first roller-coaster, the Manta Ray, with me. There was screaming. I looked over at her right when it ended, and all of her hair was blown in front of her face. She turned to me saying she'd never do that again. A couple hours later, she said maybe she'd do more with me... I can hope. 

They had a little kid zone with big climbing structures, little kid rides, and a splash pad. Jake, who does not handle moving rides well at all, went on a couple. Luckily, they didn't like them too much, because all the little kid rides spin, and our adult stomach's couldn't handle much more of that. Brad climbed around with the big kids, and I kept Luke at the splash pad. First, he just kind of stood on the outskirts, but within a couple minutes, the shoes were off and he was having a marvelous time splashing the other kids when he would step on the spray. Look at that smile. No regrets at spraying that poor girl.

We sat in the soak zone for the dolphin show, but didn't get a drop on us. Emma was pretty disappointed, so we had them stand at the bottom of this roller-coaster.

The kids had a great time looking at all the sea creatures, letting cleaner fish suck on their hands, lots of shows, and they each got to pick a souvenir from the gift shop on the way out. Lucas crashed. Again. And off for more swimming and seafood! Jake thought it was pretty cool that he could balance his whale, and insisted his picture be taken as so. Impressive my child. 

 July 24, 2017

Beach Day

Oh, how I love the beach! This was the kids' first time seeing the ocean, and I love this picture of them running in for the first time with their arms outstretched. 

 Brad likes being AT the beach, but doesn't like being in the "gross, filthy" water. That's as deep as he goes :). 

 The two older kids and I loved jumping through the waves, letting them crash into us, and chasing us onto the beach.

Lucas had just woken up from a nap, in a new place, and was a bit out of sorts. So I took him in the ocean a few times, until he'd had enough, and he spent the rest of the time walking the beach picking up "special rocks" and shells. 

Each day, we found at least one place to enjoy the coastal seafood. Shrimp is one of Emma's (along with Brad and I's) favorite food, and we were not disappointed. Being starving from our beach excursion, we found a close seafood place -- I changed the kids in the car, but being adult, I could not, and just threw some clothes over my swim suit -- which of course made it look like I peed my pants. And I'm sure we brought a whole gallon of sand into the place with us. We tipped them well. 

Our hotel just had a small room, but it had three separate swimming pools, and we spent HOURS in them each day. The kids loved swimming around, and Jake finally became comfortable enough in the water to attempt swimming on his own. It was definitely one of the kids' favorite things on our trip. 

July 23, 2017

On Our way

On our way to California, we stopped in Twin Falls to drop of Lizzy and play with family, and apparently needed a bit of rest with Grandpa Egbert...

 We headed down to Dierkes Lake with Amber and Curt's families. Emma tried out the little kayaks with Jack and loved paddling around the lake with the cousins. Jake sat in one, but didn't like them so much, so he played in the water with the younger cousins. Amber and I snuck away in some bigger kayaks and it was so fun and relaxing. Definitely will have to do this again.

 Shoshone Falls with more water flowing than we've seen in years due to all the snow this winter. It was beautiful.

That night we drove to Utah, and took the kids on their first airplane.There were too many "flags" with metal on our luggage, stroller, and such that they patted down and swabbed Brad. I would have felt bad, but I got patted down the last time we flew, so now we're even. The kids had a few concerned faces on take-off, but luckily, we were in a nice big plane, and all the seats had movie screens and free movies for the kids to watch, and they were pretty good most of the way with their snacks. The landing was the bumpiest I've experienced -- a bit startling, but the kids did much better than I expected.

July 21-22, 2017

Brayge Basketball

The kids did their first season of Brayge Basketball this summer. We have some skills we need to work on, but they tried their best, enjoyed it, and are ready to do it again! Emma was getting a little aggressive towards the end of the season, and even got a foul. I'm proud she's getting in their and holding her own... especially when you look at the size of the kids she's playing with! She's the one in black facing us by the coach. The two in white are the team we're playing!! 

 Emma was able to get a few steals. She's got some intense speed that will serve her well.

 And one more size comparison, because it just blows my mind. I was trying to get a picture of Emma shooting this basket. The only thing you can see of her is her black jersey to the left of #6. Her head is covered by the girls ELBOW. We've got some growing to do.

Jake was a bit hesitant to get in the middle of the chaos that is 6 year old basketball. He enjoyed running back and forth though, and that's important, too. It was his first experience with basketball, and he started to get his hands up and follow the ball a bit more towards the end of season, and took a couple missed shots. (#6)

 And cupcakes and medals to end the season. Even Lucas managed to swindle one.

July 2017

Lucas is Three!

Happy third birthday Lucas! We love his sweet little voice, his super hero impressions, contagious laugh, his hilarious way of purposefully pestering, spot-stealing, and just an all around fun little kid to be around.

He was treated to a snow cone and McDonald's -- two of his favorite things.

Lucas has a love for all things super-hero, and kept saying he wanted a red cake and would mention various super hero's, so this is what I came up with this year!

 He loved it! He probably would have loved it even if  it was just a plain old red cake. I may have aimed too high in my efforts to impress the three year old... Worth it for that smile!

 While Brad walked off to get the plates, Lucas grabbed his fork and decided to just dig into the entire cake. His cake right?

July 12, 2017

Puppy Love

The kids have loved having Lizzy. She is the perfect puppy for us, and loves to play and run with the kids -- providing hours of daily entertainment. We kind of love her... a lot.

July 6, 2017

Independence Day

Brad's parents came up to spend the day with us. We had a nice lunch at Freddy's, and a delicious steak and shrimp dinner before fireworks. What can I say, we love food. Lucas was so cute, and always tried to find Grandma to hold her hand walking in and out of the restaurant. 

Grandpa took on Emma at chess, and was a little surprised that she knew how to play and he actually had to start really playing.

 The fireworks were spectacular! Much bigger than I had anticipated, and we will definitely do them again here next year!

And watching them with Lucas just made it so much more entertaining :)

July 4, 2017