A Long delayed Update

Last night I was uploading some photos to Shutterfly for my little sister and knight #1 asked if I was blogging - Uh, no! He then mentioned that he thought I was going to make a book with the blog posts and I had to confess that six posts a book does not make! So... While the kids are building legos and listening to their french lessons repeatedly, I thought I would take the opportunity to start this process again! I am going to post a picture or two for each of the last 12 months and catch us all up to now!!

October, 2011 -

The Top Dog coached Knight #2's soccer team for the first time, which was interesting... while Knight #1 participated in football for the first time and probably the last, and the princess "helped" with the building of the new deck. Knight #1 learned how to operate the sewing machine and even began a quilt - which is now almost finished! Pictures of that later!








and we finished off October with Halloween.



Turkey day Fun with Grandpa  


November brought a month of basketball, but no soccer, the beginning of the ski patrol season, K's quilt retreat and ended with Thanksgiving at K's folks which included -



and a family picture for a card we never sent






Repurposing the garage in preparation for a party

A 12th birthday at the fire station

 December was a month of celebrations including Knight #2, The Princess's and the mother's Birthdays. During the month, in anticipation for a big party, the Garage was repurposed into a playroom, with the addition of a regular door, carpet and a barrel stove for heat. A wall tent was erected and a big BBQ was borrowed and K's 40th was celebrated with  Hawaiian at Home!


   

Christmas morning

A fourth birthday for the princess



and the big 40 for mom!
  






The wall tent transformed into a dining experience

 Finally, January, cold weather and snow arrived, and we headed to the hill for multiple days of skiing, unfortunately, never consecutive, which meant a lot of driving!



Skiing - all by herself!

A view up Chair 2 at Mt. Spokane.

In March we headed south! For christmas there were airline tickets in their stockings for a quick trip to Southern California. We were able to cram more things than most four year olds should put up with into 4.5 days - A day at Disneyland, the beach, and LegoLand, a dinner at The ESPN zone, site-seeing up highway 101 and the highlight - an airline flight.

DISNEYLAND!

Toon Town Disney

Meeting Belle!



 The weather cooperated nicely while we were there as there were puddles on the ground on our arrival at the airport, but we were greeted with gloriously warm sun as well, which stayed until we entered the airport on our return home! We spent a day at Disney, an afternoon driving the coast and playing in the water, a day at Legoland and an evening at the ESPN Zone. A most memorable story of the day at the beach began when The kids started to mutiny regarding the amount of time they had been in the car (it took us 2 hours to get to the beach due to traffic) and so it was decided that the Top Dog would make a Subway run while the kids played in the water. We had a great time, Sunburns had by all. The Princess was unimpressed with the waves, but loved the sand and both boys spent an hour body surfing after dad returned with lunch. Then it was time to pack up the garbage and head out so we could catch dinner at the ESPN Zone. We mosied out of the parking lot, admiring the wind/kite surfers and pelicans while recalling what a lovely day it had been, and then sat in the car for 3-1/2 hours due to traffic! Needless to say, we were fried when we pulled into the parking lot at the ZONE, only to realize that the Top Dog had thrown his wallet into the garbage back at the beach! We were lucky - the legoland tickets were in the safe in our room but all of our cash and our credit card were in his wallet! Dinner was eaten at the hotel restaurant that evening because they had our card on file! Happy ending - Galen made the trek back to the beach - in the dark - and found the wallet in the subway bag on top of the pile - he didn't even have to dig!



Playing in the waves

The Beach at LA!



Dancing in the sand!

Legoland was a much anticipated treat! I think the kids enjoyed it as much as or more than Disneyland! Much ooing and aahing over the mini towns and Star Wars was greeted with huge grins! The majority of that display was closed, but we made the most of what was available to see. The best part of Legoland was the fact that the Princess could ride the majority of the rides. We were afraid the 12 year old might be too big for all the adventures, but legos still top the list of favorite activities, so I think the experience lived up to its billing!

AaH! It's Darth!

Help! - Not a chance!

Such a careful Driver!

 

The boys are in the stocks at the Castle lock-up, which was the host of one of their favorite rides, the dragon coaster and a firefighter applying lipstick was The Top Dog's favorite lego statue. The boys were amused as well, which is why it was chosen to adorn the blog! The Princess got a kick out of driving her Lego car and raced around the track - at a very slow and manageable speed - while undergoing "testing" to acquire her Legoland driver's liscense. Legoland closes relatively early, so after braving the Lego store, we made our way back to Disneyland - this time with wallet in tow, and enjoyed an evening of sports related video games at ESPN Zone!


A little adrenaline junky - and there were no size restrictions on this one!

And so we arrive at Mid March! Please bear with me, the next six month installment is coming soon!!