family pictures

We got new family pictures taken!

 Brandon - age 11

Tyler - age 8 1/2

Natalie - age 6 1/2

ostrich farm

One of our family outings this year was to the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Farm, about an hour away. 

They aren't joking when they call it a "monster" truck tour - we were barely as big as the tires!

The kids weren't sure whether to be freaked out or not that their lanyards said, "wish me luck cause I'm going to take on the monster!"

The monster truck ride was super fun and we learned more than we ever wanted to know about ostriches, snakes, the Sonoran Desert, and Picacho Peak.  Who says the desert isn't beautiful?

We got to hold a real ostrich egg and Natalie was surprised how heavy it was!

And we got to touch a real (dead) rattlesnake:

We got to do "ostrich fishing" with oranges:

Then came the off-roading fun (by the way, it's pretty hard to take pictures when there's no seatbelts and you're holding on for dear life)!  But I love the look of pure joy on their faces!

After the monster truck ride you get a cup full of feed for all the animals.  There were deer and donkey that were nice but they had gross slimy tongues:

The goats could stick their head through the wall.  A sign challenged people to feed and "kiss" them.  At first all the kids said "gross, no way!" but then when Kevin promised them a soda if they did it, each of the 5 kids decided to take the challenge (and they got their sodas...money well spent for all the laughs we got!)

The ostriches were mean, but this picture is not zoomed in at all - we really were THIS close to them (it almost bit my camera)!

Last up were the lorikeets.  They give you a nectar cup to feed them.  The birds even take off the lid themselves. Natalie freaked out, but I was very proud of the boys. 

Just call Kevin the bird whisperer (he has Natalie's cup of nectar in his other hand):

It was a bit distracting to take pictures with a bird on my head most of the time, but I managed.  Thankfully my sister caught a picture of me so I have proof I was there! 

It's always nice when an outing surpasses your expectations and is worth the time and money spent!  It was a great adventure and fun to get away and do something totally unusual.

christmas fun with family

We spent a lot of time with my family over the 10 days they were in town.  Here are some of the fun things we did (at least the ones I got photos of).

The girls danced in the backyard:

The boys made a volcano:

Sugar cookie decorating (and of course eating!):

 Just Dance Wii:

 Even Uncle Tom got in on the dancing action!  Natalie's comment, "he wasn't very good!"

Mesa Temple Lights:

Chandler Tumbleweed Christmas Tree.  Apparently this has been done for 57 years and I just heard about it!  It's 35 feet tall and made entirely of tumbleweeds (spray painted white).

And of course lots of play time with Bandit!

christmas 2013

This Christmas was a bit different than usual, thanks to this little guy:

 

We didn't trust leaving gifts out so we wrote a note from Santa saying he left them in our bedroom.  We had mentioned to our kids ahead of time that Santa might not know what to do with the presents and the kitten, plus (sadly) I think all our kids are past believing in Santa, so it didn't phase them.

I promise our boys were around for Christmas, but somehow I ended up with mostly photos of Natalie and Bandit!

Natalie was thrilled with her new bike that had no training wheels!

She had no trouble learning to ride it.  This was five minutes after they started:

And this was about 10 minutes later - riding completely on her own, starting, stopping, and turning totally unassisted. 

After years of struggling with getting the boys to learn to ride, it was nice for Kevin to finally have a quick, easy learner!

The usual picture of the seven Park & Turner kids in front of the tree later in the afternoon.  I never got around to decorating my nicer tree because of Bandit, so we celebrated in the family room with the small kids tree. Hard to believe that by next Christmas Ryan could be on a mission!

Bandit had fun playing in the presents, but didn't destroy as much as we thought he might:

 Natalie loved everything she received.

 

Finally a picture of Tyler (and Brandon in the background)! 

It was a low-key Christmas...just the way we like it!

class holiday parties

Being on the PTO Board has not allowed me much time to be in my kids' classrooms this year, so it was fun to attend their holiday parties. 

Natalie's (1st grade) was in the morning.  The younger grade levels are always so cute, well-behaved, and the parties are always super organized with stations and dozens of parent helpers.  Natalie was so excited that I could come and help!

Below is her class with their awesome teacher.  I promised them that if they sat and smiled nicely I would let them do crazy ones at the end.  That always works!

I went home for a few hours and came back for Tyler's (3rd grade) party.  It was much louder and more chaotic!  Tyler was happy I came and was constantly wanting to show me everything he made or received.

6th grade did their party outside all together (you can do that in Arizona in December!), but I was under strict orders from Brandon not to attend (or at least not to acknowledge him if I did).  I guess he's officially reached the "mom is too embarrassing" age!