Washington, D.C.

Chris and I have been going non-stop since school started, so I haven't had time to update! One thing we were able to do is travel to Washington, D.C. for a quick weekend trip. We pretty much saw everything in a day and a half! It was practically free so we couldn't turn it down. Here's a few pics from the trip:

Behind the White House

The Capitol

Vietnam Memorial

World War II Memorial

And, just because they're cute . . . here's a picture of my two boys!

First Day of Kindergarten

Caleb is all grown up! On Thursday he began his first day of Kindergarten. He is such a big boy. He insisted on riding the bus instead of having me drive him on the first day, and when I asked if he wanted me to follow him in the car he said, "Mo-o-o-om, I'll be okay!" Lucky for me the school was offering a Boohoo (or yahoo!) breakfast for parents of Kindergarteners, so I got to drive over to the school anyway and make sure he made it off the bus and into his class. Two days down, 179 to go. This is a picture of Caleb coming off the bus his first day of school.

Pioneer Day

Our Pioneer Day was not spent in Utah this year, but we still made sure we celebrated with a fun vacation. We headed down to sunny California and stayed with Chris's mom for the whole weekend. We had a great time. On Thursday we went to a place called Heritage Park. It was a cute, historical kid-size village with slides and things to climb on, along with a pond filled with ducks. The kids had a great time feeding the ducks.

After we went to the park we went over to Chris's sister Amber's house and went swimming for a couple of hours.

Friday was, I think, my favorite day. We started out by going to a kids discovery museum. This is different than the one in Salt Lake. The one in Salt Lake is based on more imaginative play. This one is all scientific. It was fun!

Here's a picture of Caleb and I laying on a bed of nails. Truthfully, I thought it was pokey and slightly painful. I prefer my mattress at home!

This was Caleb and his uncle John and Grandma in a hurricane-wind-tunnel. The wind gusts were supposedly 78 mph.

There were a lot of other cool things in this museum, like a earthquake shack where we sat down in a booth and they simulated shockwaves from an earthquake, and a place where we could pull our own body weight up by using a different number of pulleys. We also watched a 4-D dinosaur movie. Caleb jumped a couple of times when he thought a dinosaur tail was going to whack his head and when he saw a pterydactyl beak come really close to his eye. There were some fun things here that Matthew could do as well, but it was mostly geared toward older kids.

Later that night we went to the Irvine Spectrum and rode the carousel, where both my kids had a blast--just look at their smiles! We also rode the ferris wheel. And then on the way home we stopped at a cold air balloon ride (filled with helium)--it was free!--and went up 330 feet into the air. It was my first time on a balloon. I thought it was a lot of fun. It was dark when we went, so we decided to go again the next morning and see everything from daylight perspective.
These next two pictures are cool--they are a shadow of the balloon we're in, and the second gives you an idea of how high up we were.

After our balloon ride Saturday morning we went over to a city park where there was a train to ride and a small zoo to visit. By this point Matthew was already tuckered!

Caleb found a fun vine to swing on!

After we packed up some food we headed on out to the beach where we played for a little while and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Caleb had fun jumping the waves with his dad (this was Chris's favorite part), and Matthew had fun playing in the sand. Unfortunately it was too cold for my taste so I stayed out of the water.

Our trip was a busy one, but we had a blast. Sunday morning we all ate blueberry waffles and we went to church before heading back home. I thought the boys cleaned up nice . . .

Matthew's 1st haircut

Yesterday, my baby turned into a little boy with the simple use of scissors. Although I miss his long locks, I think he looks really handsome now!

Indoor Poo-l

For those of you who didn't know, we now have our very own indoor poo-l. Matthew tried it out first and let us know it was great fun. Anyone who wants to stop by and jump in, Matt will be the first to join.

For the last 3 months Matthew has been repeatedly running into the bathroom and sticking his hands in the toilet if we (and by we I mean Caleb) forget to put the lid down. Today Caleb left the lid up, left the bathroom door open, and I found Matthew sitting down in the toilet within two minutes, with a HUGE smile on his face. What a pill!

Kid Tag

CALEB WINFREE

Caleb was tagged this week, so now you all get to learn 10 reasons why I love him so much.


1. Caleb is so fun. He is always wanting to go outside and play, or tackle and tease his brother. His questions of play do not revolve around "Can I play the computer?", but rather "Can we go to the park?" or "Do you want to play a game?" He's always looking for anyone who will play with him and is about the happiest boy in the world when he is playing. His playfulness has helped him make a lot of friends. One of the things I enjoy about him is his quick wit. He laughs at all of my witty jokes because he actually understands them!


2. Caleb is so smart. He will be starting Kindergarten next month and I am so proud of how much he already knows. He is reading books all by himself, and especially loves chapter books. His recent favorites are The Spiderwick Chronicles and The Magic Treehouse series. Besides reading he also excels at playing the piano (he started this year and is doing awesome!), counting (he can count by ones, twos, fives, and tens), and remembering things (I don't think he forgets anything!)


3. Caleb is very forgiving. For not forgetting anything that happens, he is certainly forgiving. I'm lucky he's my first, because with all the parenting mistakes I make he still loves me anyway. He is so sweet in nature, what a joy he is to have around!


4. Caleb has learned a lot of new things this last year. He has learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, he's passed his first swimming class, he can dunk his head under water, and he now plays baseball with a real bat. He's very naturally talented, and has been learning this year that practice makes things get easier.


5. Caleb is good at communicating how he is feeling. I can always tell when he is afraid or excited or sad or frustrated because he lets me know.


6. Caleb is so funny. He loves to tease and joke around. Last night he wanted to know if he could go play dodgeball with me (for one of my YW activities). He said, "Mom, while you're eating dinner will you think about whether I can go with you tonight? Don't think about bunnies, or friends, or anything else. Just think about if I can go, OK?" I just had to laugh and promise him I wouldn't think about bunnies while I was eating dinner. His silliness is contagious. It's hard to resist playing with him when he's being so funny and cute. And when he is being extra silly, Matthew laughs with him and tries to join in the fun.


7. Caleb is very snuggly and has the SOFTEST skin in the whole wide world. These days I'm lucky if I can catch him when he's tired enough for snuggling.


8. Caleb is friendly. One thing he's always loved doing is playing with friends. Even when we go to the park and there are kids there he doesn't know, he generally will go up to them and start acting silly so they notice him, or he yells out something funny that has to do with what they're playing, or he starts playing right next to them so that they just assume he's been there from the start. These tactics usually work and within a couple minutes he's made new friends.

9. Caleb is a good big brother. One of the best sounds in the world is my children laughing. I love it when they play together. Caleb is also good at taking things out of Matthew's mouth, whenever he puts something in it (which is quite often).



10. Caleb is his mom's number 1 helper. I don't know what I'd do without him. Since Matthew was born Caleb has jumped up and helped me without question probably 99% of the time. If I ask him to bring me a diaper, or throw something away, or put his dishes in the sink, or whatever, he just does it. (Although asking him to clean his room is another story!)

11. I know I was only going to post 10, but I just thought of another one. Caleb has an adventurous spirit. He loves going hiking with his family. He is a really good climber, and is tough for a 5-year-old. He gets frustrated when he can't do something right the first time (perfectionist) but he usually keeps trying until he gets it right. With his adventurous spirit comes courage. I've seen him be brave over a lot of things.






I love my buddy, Caleb!


Caleb now tags Madilyn Black, Alyson Black, Brooklyn Baker, Mitch Slama, Grayson Tregaskes, and Claire Walton.

It's All Fun and Games...

Until you hit your head on the dresser! Caleb thought it would be fun to tickle his dad's heel, and it was fun and funny, until Chris got to laughing so hard he threw his head back and whacked it on the dresser. Ouch! Check out the mark it left...

On a more positive note, if he has to get stitches, at least they wouldn't have to shave very much hair off!

Okay, we did end up taking Chris to the doctor. Poor guy had to get his head stapled! It was all sort of funny until I had to watch the doctor give Chris a local in his head. It looked so painful! We get to go in next week to remove the staples. (Apparently a staple remover just won't do the job! :) )