washington vacation - part 5

No visit to Washington would be complete without a ride on Grandpa's tractor (lawn mower).
Grandpa & Grandma even found some John Deere shirts & hats that they gave the kids for the special occasion (Grandma even added a flower to Natalie's hat to make it more feminine).
After Grandpa pulled them around the yard for awhile in the wagon, each kid got a turn to ride up front with him.

Grandpa was even brave (crazy) enough to let Brandon steer by himself for most of time.
Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to leave. As I was pulling sheets off beds, I found a tooth in Tyler's...he lost his other front tooth in the middle of the night and didn't even realize it! It didn't bleed, it didn't wake him up, he didn't swallow it, nothing! When I called him upstairs to ask him, he said, "Oh yeah, I guess I did! I thought it felt strange when I was eating breakfast!"
Grandma & Grandpa had to leave for a mission meeting before we left for the airport so we took a few quick pictures with them. In case you're thinking, "didn't they just get home from a mission?" You're right, they did. They served a full-time mission in Ukraine and got home in November. In January they were called to be part-time missionaries serving from home as addiction recovery specialists for their area. They serve one night a week and facilitate the discussion group.
As usual, flying standby is quite an adventure and getting home from this trip was no exception. The flights in the afternoon didn't look good so we decided to try the evening flight home. When we left for Portland (a four-hour drive away) the evening flight had 30 seats open (which is great in standby language) and the night flight after that had 60 seats open so we were feeling quite confident. When we arrived in Portland we checked again and there were NO seats open on either of those flights. The afternoon flight had been cancelled for mechanical reasons and all 100+ people were bumped. We had checked our luggage before we knew this and tried to get it back with the assumption we were probably not going home that night. But they didn't get our luggage off and it was already on it's way to Phoenix so we decided to wait 4 hours in the hopes that a miracle would happen and we could somehow get at least some of us home that night. Thankfully the kids play area and the food court is right next to the US Airways gate so the kids were entertained and well-fed.

With no luggage there was really no reason to get a hotel so we were planning to spend the night in the airport (doesn't that sound fun with 3 kids?). As the late night flight was boarding, they called us and said they had 4 seats open. Kevin said I should go and take the kids, which I wasn't thrilled about, but we realized we didn't have many options and if he went I would lose his employee priority. As we were boarding the plane, they miraculously found one more seat for Kevin. And thanks to the kindness of strangers who traded seats we even got to sit with our kids. The flight left Portland at 8:30 p.m. and arrived into Phoenix at 11:00 p.m. By the time we got our luggage and our van and drove home it was 12:30 a.m.
Even better than getting seats was that all 3 kids slept for about 1/2 of the flight (of course it was already way past their bedtime when it left)! This was how I spent the plane ride - with two kids sprawled across my lap! If I didn't believe in miracles, I would after this standby experience. Prayers were definitely heard that night...not necessarily answered in the way we would have chosen, but answered nonetheless. Again I have to commend our kids, I never heard one word of complaint. It was a VERY long day and they were amazingly little travelers.

As always, we are grateful to have these opportunities to travel and have vacations for a reasonable cost. We feel blessed to have fun, supportive family and are very glad we went.

washington vacation - part 4

Besides Kevin helping his dad power-wash their house on Thursday (while it was raining!) we just hung out and played in and around the house all day, so I will include some of the random fun photos from the week, which may or may have actually happened on Thursday.
Grandma has a tradition of making and decorating sugar cookies with the grandkids when they come to visit:
The kids loved the swingset outside even though it was very cold & windy. Thank goodness there was a window for me to watch them so I didn't have to be out there!
Kevin had several work meetings (via phone) during the week. Unfortunately the laptop he borrowed from the company crashed half-way through the week!
If there was a category for "world's funnest grandpa," I think Grandpa Park would definitely be a contender with his room (sooner to be even larger) entirely devoted to Legos and trains!
Grandma gave Natalie her first piano lesson and she loved helping Brandon practice and play duets with him.
I was surprised to see these Big Wheels still around after so many years, and they are always a hit!
Thursday evening we took advantage of free grandparent babysitters and Kevin & I went on a date. We enjoyed leisurely browsing the mall and having a relaxing dinner at Tony Roma's (which is no longer in Arizona).

washington vacation - part 3

Wednesday was declared "work day" by Grandma & Grandpa and they paid the kids to help them move the wood pile.
I opted to stay inside where it was warm and occasionally step outside, take a few pictures, and tell them to keep up the great work!
Grandma & Grandpa were also out there helping, but apparently didn't make it in any of the photos. The kids also offered to clean up the prickle balls that had fallen from the sycamore trees, collecting hundreds of them and then asking for more money...I think we have a couple little entrepreneurs on our hands!
On Wednesdays, Grandma cooks for Great Grandma, who lives next door, so we all had dinner together. Great Grandma HATES to have her picture taken, but being the pushy granddaughter-in-law that I am, I guilted her into it, reminding her that we had traveled many hours to visit her and that we even named our daughter after her! Thankfully she agreed and we got some wonderful photos!Here are 4 generations of Parks:
And I think I might frame this one below for Natalie's room - I love how they are even matching without being planned! The last time we visited Washington Natalie was only two so she doesn't really remember Great Grandma. This picture alone makes the 24 hours of travel worth it! I am so glad we have this photo and memory and I am honored to have named my daughter after such an amazing woman. Great Grandma Delpha with Natalie Delpha:

washington vacation - part 2

On Tuesday, Grandma arranged for the kids to go horseback riding at their neighbor's house. Tyler was (as usual) our bravest kid who volunteered to go first.

Then he cuddled with Grandma to keep warm. It was very cold & windy out and these poor Arizona kids were only wearing sweatshirts!
Natalie was so excited to ride a horse for the first time - look at that great posture!
Brandon is our naturally fearful child and was quite hesitant but seemed to enjoy it once he got on.
Later that afternoon, we headed over to Kevin's cousin Sherm's house so the kids could play with their second cousins. Sherm had worked from home that day so the kids played and Kevin & I got to chat with Sherm & his wife Erica for several hours. I'm pretty sure if we lived there both us and our kids would be very close - we had a wonderful time together and wished we could have stayed longer! We were having so much fun I totally forgot to take any pictures! But I did manage to get one of the great view from their driveway...they live right across the street from the Richland, Washington temple!
We went to Kevin's sister Amy's house (who lives a few minutes from Sherm & Erica) for dinner that evening.

washington vacation - part 1

We decided to go up to Washington for spring break. Kevin's grandmother is 93 years old and we haven't been up there for almost three years so we really wanted to visit with her because even though she's in good health now, we know our time with her is limited. Besides the cold weather, rain, and wind, it was a great visit and was very relaxing. Even though it's fun to be there when other people are visiting, it was nice to be there by ourselves. We had plenty of space, time to visit with Great Grandma, and the kids had Grandma & Grandpa's undivided attention.

Our trip up there on Saturday was uneventful, besides having to get up really early in the morning, but we have pretty much come to expect that after six years of flying standby. The kids did great - they really are amazing travelers. I don't think I heard a word of complaint the entire 12 hours!

Sunday was church in the morning and Kevin's cousin Sherm brought his kids over to visit for awhile in the afternoon. The only stipulation Kevin has for our visits is that we are there for the Sunday evening traditional family roast dinner, which is always the highlight of the week for him.

Monday morning I braved the cold & wind and went on the daily morning walk with the ladies and reminded myself how thin my blood is and why I love living in Arizona!

Monday afternoon we went to see The Lorax, which I thought was just okay. It was a cute movie with a good (environmentally-friendly) story line, but not nearly as funny as I expected and hoped it would be.
Monday evening I finally got to meet Valene and Chuck. Valene is Kevin's mother's sister. She is the only aunt/uncle on both sides of the Park family that I had yet to meet (we've been married almost 15 years). They lived in Mississippi for many years but moved up to Washington a few years ago so I finally got to meet her (I also realized this is the only picture of me from the whole trip)!
We all had dinner together and then we had a little belated birthday celebration for Tyler.
In case you're wondering about the "cake," that was Grandpa Park's idea - a giant rice krispie treat with gummy worms inside. He let Tyler help make it, but Tyler refused to let him shape it into a giant pig head like he wanted to! The kids thought it was great!

preschool zoo field trip!

I had the opportunity to chaperone the preschool zoo field trip this year! They go to a smaller zoo which is about an hour away. I have heard many good things about this zoo, but since it is so far and quite expensive we've never taken our kids. The boys both went with preschool, but I wasn't able to chaperone.

10 of the 12 kids were able to be there (it was the day before spring break so some were already out of town) and we had 4 adults so it was an easy group.One of the reasons the preschool teacher likes this zoo is because the animals are usually easy to find and very close (as opposed to the Phoenix Zoo which is very large and the animals are often hidden or hard to spot, especially for little kids). For example, we saw the tiger literally 4 feet away!
This whole "Dragon World" (reptiles) area was apparently brand new. This is "Jaws" - the only saltwater crocodile in Arizona!
And the rhinoceros was also only about 10 feet away!
Here is Mrs. Packer with the class in front of the zebras:
And it wouldn't be a real desert zoo without some camels!Mrs. Packer provided each of the kids 50 cents so they could feed the giraffes. I want this giraffe's life...being hand-fed all day long! And they really should build a platform for people to take pictures from - you should have seen the acrobatics I did trying to get photos!
The kangaroo walkabout was where we could walk on a trail and have kangaroos right on the other side of a rope. But the kangaroos were pretty lazy that day (probably because it was warm) and just laid there.
Proof that I was there - in front of the beautiful flamingos with my beautiful girl!
We also saw 3 buildings of aquarium exhibits, including an area to touch stingrays and baby sharks. We spent about 3 1/2 hours there and didn't even see everything. I would definitely rather spend my time & money here than at the Phoenix Zoo! It was a fun day with well-behaved kids, gorgeous weather, and a great zoo - I'm so glad I was able to go!

tyler's 7th birthday!

We love this kid so much, but he's growing up way too fast! Tyler's a wonderful blend of spunky and cute. He's sweet and caring and will make a wonderful husband and father someday. He's extremely smart and never ceases to amaze us with his questions and thoughtfulness. We are proud to be his parents!

Here's my birthday interview with Tyler:

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Number: 101 (not sure why, but he said this last year also)

Favorite Drink: Root Beer

Favorite Food: Tacquitos

Favorite Game: Mouse Trap

Favorite Animal: Turtle (for the third year in a row)

Favorite TV Show: Spongebob

I feel sad when: I don't get to see my friends

I feel mad when: someone kicks me

I like it when my friends: help me

I like it when my teacher: gives me homework (this is true...he's the only kid I know that LOVES homework!)

I wish I could: fly

Who is your best friend? Sean

Why? because we're cousins

What makes you laugh? jokes

What is your favorite movie? Despicable Me

What are you afraid of? nightmares

What is your favorite song? Winter Wonderland

What is your favorite thing to do? play video games

If you were parent for a day, which rule would you get rid of? going to bed

What do you want to be when you grow up? a rock star

Do you think it would be hard to be a mom or a dad? no

Why? because all you do is play computer

If you could have a magical power, what would you choose? teleportation

What three things are you are good at? video games, math, and tetherball

What is the best thing about turning 7? eating cake & ice cream and getting presents

I am special because: I like homework!

Happy 7th Birthday Tyler!

tyler's 7th birthday party!

Tyler's birthday isn't for a few more days, but we had his party last Saturday because many people would be out of town next weekend for Spring Break. We chose Spongebob as the theme, which was fun & easy to plan!

I had every intention of doing a fancy cake like I always do but after all the drama that happened in February, I decided cupcakes sounded much easier. I have always wanted to learn how to do cool piped icing like store-bought cupcakes, so I enlisted the help of my cake master friend Sara who instructed me via email how to do them. She promised they were easy and they were! I will never frost cupcakes with store-bought frosting and a spatula ever again! Can you believe these cupcakes are totally homemade (except the sugar decorations)?!? Sometimes I impress even myself! I was worried that Tyler would be disappointed that they were cupcakes instead of a cake, but he was THRILLED!
We had his party at our neighborhood park which always makes me a bit nervous with the weather, but it was a beautiful, sunny 70 degrees! We started out with a game of "Spongebob Says!"
And the bubble maker is always a hit!

And a Spongebob party would not be complete without a Krabby Patty race!
Tyler with his good friend Parker:
We opened gifts:
And of course we sang Happy Birthday!
Do you notice the sprinklers on in the background? Oh yes, that was a fun surprise! Thankfully we were done with all of our games and they could play in the other grass area. Seriously, who schedules sprinklers to run at 4:00 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon which is prime park time?

Sean, Brandon, Parker, Max, JJ, Colin, Josh, Tanner, Tyler, Corbin, and Natalie

Tyler was happy and deemed it his "favorite party ever"so I will consider it a success!

pinewood derby

After last year's Pinewood Derby disappointment, Brandon was looking forward to this year to be a much better experience. But the bad luck started with Kevin cutting the tip of his finger off in the table saw while making it a few weeks ago and unfortunately it didn't end there.

The good news is that Brandon's car came out really cool looking! But it was so skinny that it needed a lot of extra weight. Kevin tried the "drilling it out and melting down lead" method last year but decided he wanted to use the easier adhesive weights this year. But Brandon didn't want anything on the top, so that required all the weight to be along the bottom, which unfortunately meant it dragged along the track (literally).

As you can see, we have a HUGE ward pack and there were 23 cars racing so the odds were certainly not in his favor!
It was a very sad race day. Brandon is competitive and emotional (like his mother). It is so disappointing when you've worked so hard on something and keep coming in last or close to last. During one heat his car literally stopped on the track and didn't even cross the finish line (thankfully they re-ran that heat). There were tears shed and many frustrations. Each year we are learning more and Kevin has finally agreed to accept some assistance next year (we have a Pinewood Derby master in our ward) because I want Brandon to have at least one happy Pinewood Derby experience!