147th Passage

On Tuesday of our week in California we drove to Vallejo to go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. This was one of the most fun days for everyone, I think. We tried to get there just as the park opened, but they put their parking lot at least a mile away from the entrance to the park. Seriously. So we walked with hoards of people and then stood in line for awhile and by the time we got into the park it was already time for a bathroom break. :) 

But we finally got on our way. Discovery Kingdom is huge. We didn't realize how big it was until the afternoon. There were many sections with different rides that we didn't even make it to. We also saw lots of cool shows. 

First we saw a little show with tigers. Pretty cool.

 There was a circus type show, which was very entertaining. The picture is of someone using their feet to sort of juggle a hoola hoop and a ball and other crazy antics.

Allison spent much of the time enthralled.

We also saw an elephant demonstration. The kid even all got to feed and pet it!

We went to the Splash show too. We all got pretty wet. Poor Alli hated it.

We watched another show, which David and I thought was pretty annoying, but the kids got a kick out of it. It involved mostly people, but also sea otters, a walrus, and a little river otter, I believe.

There were lots of animals there to see, like in a zoo. The penguins were a favorite.

And the rides. Oh how we loved the rides...except David. He didn't hate them, but mostly we did kid rides and he almost always opted out to stay with Allison while I rode with the children, if it was a family ride. I love rides, so I was happy with that.

I even got to go on a real roller coaster. Morgan came with me! He got a little nervous and screamed for half of it, and on the way down his head was permanently forced down, but he said he loved it! Yay!

We are in the front of the third car from the bottom.

There were so many we didn't get to because we ran out of time. We thought we had a couple more hours, but the park closed earlier than we thought since school started that week and it was a week day. Bummer.
Lydia wanted to go on all rides, but she was too short for many. Poor thing had to sit out much more than she wanted. Nothing scared her. William and Owen sometimes sat out due to fear, but went on most of the rides that they could.
Alli was a champ. She just mostly sat in her stroller and sometimes got whiny, but most of the time she was great.

Then we had the huge trek back to the car. Boy were our feet sore. Here is a picture of the long line of people that goes so far into the distance that you can't see the end...

Here is a video of a couple of rides and when we fed the elephant. I don't remember what happened, but I either ran out of space, or I foolishly thought I was recording when I wasn't, so I missed everyone but William feeding the elephant.

146th Passage

All right, now that it's December I will finally add more blog posts about our family vacation to California!
Our second full day there, Monday, we went to Fairytale Townand the Sacramento zoo.

Fairytale Town was a blast. Lots of slides, and things to climb on for the kids.

 There was a playground with a wobbly balancing beam. The boys thought it was fun and did well...

 Lydia wasn't a big fan though.

I couldn't let them show me up.

 It's almost like a pre-curser for our Halloween costumes!

 One thing the boys thought was really cool were the palm trees. We don't see them anywhere we normally go, so the existence of them was neat for them to see. They all wanted to touch them.

 Years ago when they made the yellow brick road, Great Nana bought a brick and put the names of her children on them. We found their brick!

We thought this was fun to find too, since David's parents are Lisa and Jon, even Jon without an H! 

After Fairytale Town we grabbed lunch from the car and headed to the zoo. We did a little picnic there, then walked around. It was getting pretty hot and our feet were all sore by the time we left. 

We also went to David's cousin's house that afternoon and swam in their pool. Here is a video from that. Morgan was trying to dive, and William, though he can swim with no problems, and even swims in the deep end, was pretty scared to jump off the edge of the pool into the deep end. He finally did it though.

Post-it #222

We also read The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo for school. It was William's choice. It was a cute story, and pretty fun to read out loud. I don't think anyone really loved it though. The movie and the book are pretty different, but I didn't find either of them especially noteworthy. I was surprised that this book got a Newbery award. Either way, not a waste of time.

 

Post-it #221

I wrote this the other day.

Forever Tiny

2014 Melanie Poston

                “Don’t you wish they’d stay little forever?” The admirer smiles at my toddler.

                No.

                I have some that are little forever. I don’t want them to stay little forever. I want them to grow, to learn, to live.

                He was surprisingly little. I didn't know what 16 ½ weeks would look like, and his tiny, perfect, body wasn't expected. How could someone so tiny be so completely formed? All the fingers and toes, nostrils, ears. His jaw was already functional. I helped him close his mouth. So perfectly little, forever.

                He was supposed to be squirming and screaming when I first saw him. I would hold him and bounce him, shushing comforts. I would look into his eyes, and he would see me back.  If I cried then the tears would have been different.

                He was supposed to grow. One day I would look at him and I would marvel that he was already 5 years old. I might miss his toothless smiles, baby giggles, and absolute dependence, but I wouldn’t be sad.  His life would be a joy, even when it was simultaneously frustrating or draining. He would always be counted as a gift.

                He was supposed to learn. Would he be smart, soaking up information , like his older brother? Would he get Daddy’s talent in music? What would his interests be? I would have eagerly watched as he made new discoveries and learned how the world worked.

                He was supposed to live. Why didn’t he? What did I do wrong? I made it past the dangers of the first trimester, we were in the clear. I dared to hope, to dream, to anticipate. I had already had my share of loss, so this was sure to be a success. But he didn’t live. He won’t learn or grow, and his eyes, which were supposed to search mine out above all others, will never open.

                “Don’t you wish they’d stay little forever?” It’s a common question. I know the speakers have only good intent, probably don’t even know of my losses. But little forever means dead. This wasn’t what I wanted.

Post-it #220

We just finished reading This Little Pig, by Janette Oke. It was one of my very least favorites to read with the kids. In fact, last year Owen chose it for me to read to them all for school. I disliked it immediately, as did the older two boys. So when the book was lost I wasn't sad at all. In fact, I had a pretty good idea of where it might have ended up, but I didn't say anything. :) Owen was a little bummed, but he got to choose another book.
Months later the book was found and it was Owens turn to choose the book again. Guess what he picked? The return of This Little Pig. So we finished it. By the time it was done, the older boys liked it but Owen hated it. Lol. It had zero substance, was boring, and I will never read it again.

Post-it #219

Over the summer we read Because of Winn Dixie. Actually, we started it at the end of the school year and didn't read as regularly during the summer, so were making slow progress. But when we went on the trip to California we had the audio book of it, so we listened to the whole thing while driving. I think the kids liked it. I didn't love it.

We watched the movie, too. It didn't hold their attention as some movies do.

Post-it #218

In August we took a big family vacation to California. We stayed with David's grandmother in Citrus Heights for a week and did a ton of fun things. 

The children did great on the drive. It was about 8-9 hours, if I remember correctly, but they had bags of toys, books, and crayons to entertain them. We also listened to audio books for them. 

 Here they are relaxing at Great Nana's house, watching a movie.

 On Sunday we went to church then had a big family gathering at the house. I met David's Uncles, Aunt's, cousins, cousin's kids, and family friends. A nice bunch of people.

 Allison was still at the stage of not really wanting to be held by people she didn't know very well, but she was starting to get over it. She let Nana hold her a few times.

I'll do several more posts detailing the different fun things we did that day. But not until I  get pictures from David's phone. He got some great photos from the trip.