Fun Times

I suppose some of you haven't had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Penny do a hearty laugh, and show her skills. Well, here you go. Enjoy!

Getting all caught up

So of course there was a lot that happened over the last few months besides us going on a totally awesome cruise. I'm going to sum up each of the events with at least a thousand words and a short description of those thousands. Above we have our first event. Bridger was a clown for Circus Day at his school. He made a very good sad clown. Cudos to Jessica for putting together such a great costume for him! School is over now. Luckily, he graduated.

In April the newly renovated Atlanta, GA temple was reopened so we took the kids to the open house. I'd like very much to say that it was a spiritual experience, but mostly it was exhausting trying to keep Brody and Bridger from destroying the place and whining their faces right off.

While in Atlanta we took advantage of the aquarium there and took the kids for the first time. They actually really enjoyed it and so did we. They have some whale sharks there that are just amazing! There is a glass tunnel we walked in and watched the huge animals swim above us! We all loved it. Brody was also very proud of himself for touching the stingrays and even one of the little sharks.

Also, we celebrated Jason Woodward's birthday and home coming from Iraq. Jessica and I realized that we really love to dance and party like crazy people. We had so much fun that night. We were sad to say goodbye to the Woodwards, but hope to see them out in Utah some time. If anyone doesn't know, Jess and I can really boogie. In the picture above I'm doing my world famous "Carlton Banks dance".

Penny loves bikes! This picture of her catching a ride from Bridger is just adorable.

For Easter this year we got the boys some nifty little rain boots. I think they wore them twice before they turned them into dirt buckets. Don't they look cute though?

This picture can speak for itself: Cute.

We had a bunch of families over to do an egg hunt in our backyard the Saturday before Easter. It was a lot of fun to see the kids run and go crazy looking for the candy, but it was most fun to see Penny go to town. We pretty much let her have whatever she wanted. I think she ate several chocolates, caramel, cupcakes, and cookies. She would just go from person to person scrounging and stealing. She looks kinda gross and messy, but I assure you she is quite delicious.

In the picture above the string is caramel - not snot. Luckily.

The Galans came over and I loved this picture of all the kids on the swing in the backyard.

When Eliza was here Penny got her very first hair cut. It turned out to be a cute little bob. How could it not be cute, right?

Also, I finally finished the fire pit. Just in time for summer! Yay! We roasted mallows and had s'mores for the first time and I'm pretty sure Penny thought marshmallows were bits of heaven neatly packaged.

Brody turned 6! He chose to have just a family party at Chuck e Cheese so we brought his presents there and even ordered the pizza there (which wasn't too bad actually). Brody had a ton of fun and loved running from game to game trying to get more tickets so he could trade them in for lame toys and cheap candy.

There is a little roller coaster motion video that they all sat and watched together. Its even cuter in person.

Brody is normally afraid of sweaty mutes in animal cartoon character costumes, but for some reason he actually went right up and hugged Chuck. Bridger and Penny were terrified.

Penny LOVES putting all kinds of big shoes on and trying to walk around in them. She can hardly move in  my boots, but it makes for a great picture. Even not being able to move she starts complaining as soon as I take her out of them. What a weirdo.

We also had to say goodbye to our good friends, the Galans. We had them and a few other families over for some good times. In order to say goodbye the girls all jumped in the air and the guys built a human pyramid. I have no idea why. Well, in the case of the guys I know why - it was because the alternative was not going to happen. The girls wanted all of us guys to lie down on our backs in a circle with our heads together. We said that was not going to happen.

Penny learned to play the piano! And she is really excited about that! She also loves to dance. Her dancing consists of bobbing her head and swinging her right arm furiously as she turns in a circle. IT. IS. MAGNIFICENT. TO. BEHOLD.

I finished the first phase of the playground I'm building in the backyard. Its a covered sandbox and I think it turned out pretty well. Penny and the boys love it and spend plenty of time out there, but now we find ourselves having to bathe them more than once a week. Tragic! Also, as I was building it we discovered what we believe to be poison ivy again. Brody and Penny and I were all affected by it so we cut the tree down that had the huge vine growing on it. Good times. Also, poor Penny didn't know how to scratch an itch. When we started scratching her poison ivy spots she would freeze and just have this look of amazement and enjoyment, like "ah, yeah, that's the ticket. What is this magically scratching and why didn't you tell me about it earlier?"

Penny in pigtails!!

I think that pretty much brings us up to speed. Lately we've just been hanging out, working in the backyard, swimming at the pool, and shopping. Speaking of shopping, this last Sunday was Father's day. Jessica made the mistake of going shopping with me on the day before when I had a sense of entitlement. I ended up getting a quart of chocolate milk, a Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream pint, blueberries and strawberries, all the fixins for sandwiches, and Fruit Loops. Needless to say, I had a great Father's day full of yummy food. Jessica was also nice enough to let me have a nap and fix me one of my favorite meals for dinner. I love her and I love our family! Woot!

Don't feed the fish!

Looking at the picture above you probably are thinking "Wow. That lady with the huge glasses on her head next to that mildy attractive guy is really hot" and you'd be right. You might also be thinking: "Wow. They are in a beautiful place and are probably having a perfect day" and you'd be wrong.

We are in a place called Costa Maya, Mexico. It has gorgeous sandy beaches, pristine blue waters, nice people, and great weather. We decided to go scuba diving for the first time in our lives. We booked with some little place online that told us to walk past a bunch of buses right off the pier and go to where some cabs were sitting. We did, and quickly found that the guys not by the pier didn't speak English. Luckily Ben was comfy enough with Spanish that he could tell the driver what we were trying to do, but honestly for a while there I thought we'd end up lost in some back alley. We ended up in an alley, but not lost.

We booked a tour that included a 1 hour training session with Jorge and Claire, who both spoke pretty good English. We like them a lot. They were very knowledgeable, personable and concerned with our progress. The girls went with Claire for their lessons and the guys were with Jorge. I could see Jess in the shallow waters scooting about like a pro and figured I would do the same. Turns out that trying to clear my mask under water turns my brain off. If you've never been scuba diving you have to learn to clear your mask by lifting it slightly from the bottom and blowing air out of your nose. Well, apparently that is near impossible for me to do and if I had panicked the 15 times I tried I probably would have drown in 4 feet of water. Jorge probably thought I was a moron - I know I did. Its like I just forgot how to blow out of my nose! In the end we both figured that I should just be really careful not to move my mask once we got 40 feet under. Jessica was awesome at it and picked everything up like a wiz. Shari was good at it too, but very scared to go out to the 40 ft water. She was brave, though and faced her fears.

They took us in this little boat pictured above to a place a few minutes from shore where we could anchor and dive to 40 feet and swim around the corral. It was all fine and dandy until that boat stopped and I started a rockin'. Some find the rocking motion soothing, but I find it to be gross. In fact, I was just telling Jessica that very thing when I puked over the side. I had taken a dramamine that morning, but it wasn't helping. I figured once I got to the bottom where the waving wasn't so pronounced I'd be fine, so I dropped in with Jessica and we held on to the rope to slowly descend to the bottom. I was doing okay and in control and kept giving Jorge the "OK" sign. Once we got to the bottom Jessica and I started to swim around a bit. Suddenly I didn't feel so good. I took my regulator out of my mouth, barfed, put it back in and went back to breathing. Apparently, you can barf through those, but I didn't know that. I also didn't know that at that moment Jessica thought I was going to die. I didn't though. In fact, I didn't die the other 3 or 4 times I spewed under water either. (sidenote: great thing about puking under water is you don't have to clean it up!) I was becoming quite the pro, but I decided I didn't want to attract any sharks and finally told Jorge I was ready to end my scuba experience. He took me back up to the boat where I promptly asked to be taken to non-wavy land. Jessica and the others swam peacefully with the fish and even saw a giant lobster. They all thought it was a great experience. When they came back to shore they told me they were very impressed with my survival skills and my cool under pressure. I agreed. (now that I think about it though, it freaks my freak.)

Before going back to the ship Jessica was able to finally buy one of the dresses for Penny that she had been wanting during our whole vacation. Its a cute little yellow dress....er, shirt. Apparently Penny is much larger than either Jessica or I had remembered. Either that or she grew A LOT while we were gone because the "dress" we picked out only fit over her huge head after cutting it and only went down to her waist. They grow up so fast, right?! Even still, there is no denying that she is adorable.

  

Finally! I'm finished blogging about the cruise...now I can go back and blog about everything else that happened in the last few months! And while I do, I'll be planning our next cruise!

Zip and Dip in Honduras

So for our third port we ended up in Honduras where Jessica's brother Michael is currently serving as a missionary. Jessica was giddy just for that little fact alone, but as it turns out there were plenty of other fantastic things to be giddy about in Honduras. Like, for instance, zip lining in the jungle.
 
When Jessica realized that some of the ziplines were going to be over 300 feet above the ground and over 1000 feet long she had a tiny panic attack. I'm happy to report that after I threw her off the first platform and she survived she found the experience quite liberating. (I'm kidding. I didn't have to throw her off. She did it all on her own.) There were 8 lines for us to go on with two cables each for safety. Jessica and I, and everyone else with us, had a blast leaping off the platforms, turning upside down and screaming like sissies all the way down the line. It was awesome. There really is no other feeling quite like that of running and jumping into air with the ground a hundred feet below and feeling your harness yank your insides and outsides up to your chest. Aside from the torturous harness straps threatening to end all hopes of future Lindquist children the excursion was very enjoyable. Props to Shari for facing her fears and taking the leap!

This is my infamous launch pose. You really have to have your game face on.

At the end of the ziplining there were a couple of monkeys that we could play with if we so chose. Surprisingly Jessica bravely so chose. The monkey crawled all over her, pulled her hair, sniffed her, tried to steal her money, and made her look slightly retarded. It was funny to watch. Personally, I was terrified and refused the monkey's advances.

After the zip line adventure we were bussed over to a private beach area belonging to a condo community there. They played loud music and tried to get everyone involved in games, but most people just sat around as if the only thing they wanted to do at the beach was lay in the sun. (lame) We were the first (and only) ones to volunteer for the canoe races. First the guys went and although my intense masculinity intimidated Perry and Jess they were able to some how pull ahead. Jessica and Cari won their race against Shari and Sarah, so at least one of the Lindquists was able to represent. For her valiant efforts we were awarded a free sprite. Might I add that Jessica is one hot oarer...oarswoman...oarator...oar-spinner-person...kayaker. We'll go with kayaker. The point is, she's hot and I like her a lot.

As you can probably tell from this picture, the backgrounds were amazing.

After our races we played two games of volleyball. Well, I suppose I should clarify: we spent some time watching each other serve and wishing we had enough skill to actually get a good volley going. In the end though the best server won. Twice. (I wont lie - it was me. Perry was a close, but distant, second). With the music playing and the sand flying it was a lot of fun to be there. At one point we all stopped playing to go over and do some dancing as well - which we rocked at. All in all the day at the beach and zip lining was super fun. Unfortunately for Shari and I, it was so fun that we neglected good sunscreen practices and burned our faces and arms and legs and shoulders right off. Poor Shari was fairly miserable the rest of the trip. I was sensitive and red-faced, but it came in handy during embarrassing moments.