Tracey Aviary

We had the chance to go to the aviary a few weeks ago. When the girls asked what an aviary was, the best description I could come up with is that it is like a zoo for birds. We were there for a little while seeing and learning about fascinating birds, some of which I didn't know existed, when out of the blue Madison asks to go see the lions. Well we didn't find any lions but we did see a giant chicken to have our picture taken with. We also got to try indo-mex food which was interesting because they were going "green" so they poured it in our hands to eat from. Towards the end Kaitlyn made a good point when she said "since there are no lions, tigers or giraffes how come there are no ostriches? They are birds aren't they?"

Easter

I figured that the girls would come running downstairs in search of Easter eggs but somehow the living room littered with eggs didn't even spark the memory that it was Easter. We cuddled in bed for a while then ate a leisurely breakfast when I started dropping hints about Easter. Kaitlyn said she couldn't remember when Easter was and I told her that it was Easter morning. She looked into the living room and said "I see something fishy out there, what is that red thing on the piano". Once they figured it out the hunt was on. I'm also a slacker and I did things a little backwards this year. Later that day we finally got around to decorating some eggs. I didn't want to deal with the mess and stains of egg dye so I wanted to try something new. I let the kids (the parents ended up joining in too) color on the hot eggs with crayons which melts the crayons so it is like painting. The experience ended up lasting a lot longer and we got some great works of art.

Dr Seus Take One

This is what happens when your child gets a hold of your phone. I would much rather find this on the phone then the hundreds of dollars of charges for downloading games!

Park City

We decided to go to Park City for spring break. It has been a few years since we have been there and of course the girls had a ton of fun last time so we couldn't leave them home (though I entertained that thought for a long time). As I was asking Madison what she wanted to do in Park City, her only retort was go to the park because of course it was Park City. Some of the highlights to our trip: shopping, shopping and more shopping, swimming inside and outside, sitting in the hot tub as it was snowing, playing checkers, playing air hockey, watching movies on a king size bed and eating sushi! Madison wanted to take some pictures while we were eating sushi but doesn't quite understand the concept of not blocking the lense with her fingers. I will post a few of my favorites: Half of Kaitlyn, her shoes and a nice shot of the soy sauce!

Cabelas

What do you get when you cross a lost child and Cabelas? . . . free tokens to play games! I turned my back for one second to answer Curt's question, turned back around and Madison had disappeared. Come to find out, Kaitlyn so lovingly shut Madison in the changing room and then denied the knowledge of where she was (as we were standing right in front of the changing room). Talk about a cheap date, watching big fish eating little fish, feeding fish for 25 cents and then playing eight games at the shooting range for free.

Nice Words

After being in the preschool world for so long where the emphasis is on social emotional skills I think we finally made a breakthrough with Madison. We have worked a long time on how to use her "words" to navigate difficult situations instead of having a melt down, hitting, or tattling. One day we were sitting at the dinner table and Madison was concentrating on chipping away at some slush that she wanted to eat. Curtis started teasing her and used his classic line of "look whats over there" and then when she looked the other way he stole the slush. Madison managed to get the slush back once and then Curtis got it away again. I could tell Madison was getting a little agitated when she said, "Daddy please give back the slush" and then when that didn't work she repeated "I want my slush back please daddy". After that attempt didn't get results, she looked at me and with exasperation said "Mommy, I am saying my nice words and he still won't listen to me!"

I didn't mean it!

I talked to a few friends and told them how boring my life was . . . and now I take it all back! I didn't mean that my lack of exciting events in my life should spark new found adventures. As we were headed home from a relaxing holiday weekend, we were discussing when we could get the car in for some much needed work. I was on the phone to my Dad trying to set up a time to be able to use their car for a few days when to our horror the clutch went out on the car. We were now stranded in the canyon. Through the tears I was cursing the need to pay for a tow truck and trying to be grateful that at least Curtis was with me and we had his cell phone. That was my biggest fear was that I would be stranded on the side of the freeway with no way to call for help. A tow truck eventually came and started hooking us up. Even though it was way past the girl's bedtime Madison was shooting off a million questions a minute. I opted not to ride on top of the tow truck in our car so I buckled the girls in the back seat and after a twelve point turn in the middle of the canyon we headed back into town. It was a good thing we had Madison. She kept good track of making sure the car stayed on the truck. Every once in a while she would gasp and say the car was falling off. After unloading the car and packing up my mother-in-laws car, I squished my self into the backseat between two car seats for the dreaded ride home. Once again going through the canyon, Curtis was pointing out the road that led to the other side of the mountain where he had proposed to me. Trying to make the best out of a bad situation I continued on into a much dramatized version of how we got engaged. I must have been quite entertaining because I had a captive audience who was hanging on my every word. We made it through the canyon when I had an epiphany. I had needed one of the keys on our key ring so we only took off the car key to leave at the mechanics. I realized that finally luck was on our side because if I would have done what I originally thought and only took the one key off that I needed, then we would not have a key or a car opener to get into our house. We managed to make it home . . . FINALLY, just to turn around a couple days later to get our car. I was dreading being stuck in the car for an extended period of time with my girls who were already sick of being in the car. Being prepared with the Ipod we continued our journey singing our favorite songs at the top of our lungs. I guess in retrospect, the experience could have been much worse!