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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Summer Vacation!

Wowsers. This is Adam, by the way. Jess told me that some people have given her credit for my posts and she doesn't want it at all.

So, from Saturday to Wednesday we were in Indiana visiting my parents, Faith and her husband Allen, Kimball and Hyrum. After about 4 pm on Saturday it was loads of fun. Before 4...ell, we coulda' done without that.

We woke up the kiddies at 4 in the morning Saturday to begin our journey to the Atlanta airport for our flight at 8:30 a.m. Of course the boys did not sleep during the drive there, and of course we didn't either. We got there at 6:30 and got through security quickly. Unfortunately some jerk name Murphy ('s law) hijacked our Saturday. The plane was delayed, then canceled. We couldn't get a new flight out until 3:10 pm. So, yes, if you are good at math you now know that we spent a whopping 9 hours in the airport with 2 crazy tired kids. Let's just say that by 3:10 we were ready to hijack the plane. Luckily I was able to strap Bridger into the car seat we had with us and drag him behind me on the floor - I say that's lucky because it stopped him from running down any more loading ramps and put him to sleep for about an hour. We passed the time by watching Happy Feet on the dvd player, eating food that tasted like Wendy's but couldn't have been since it was 4 times as expensive as it should have been, walking up and down the corridor, chasing kids, talking bad about everything/one in the airport, and taking Brody to the potty every 20 minutes. Oh, and we also daydreamed of being on vacation.

Anyway, we finally got to Indy only to find out that our luggage didn't come with us. They said it would be on the next flight and they'd send it to my parents house that night (translation: sometime Sunday afternoon.) At least Jess got a new Sunday outfit out of the whole ordeal! And I got to wear clothes made for a midget (sorry Kimball!) On Saturday and Sunday we played lots of games and ate lots of delicious food. On Monday the boys played outside in my parents huge, green, shaded, awesome backyard as much as they possibly could. They looked for bugs, chased the dog, played swords with sticks, picked apples, played in bacteria infested stagnant water...

Brody also enjoyed picking flowers for Jess and bringing them in for her. He would then demand that they be put into water, or behind someone's ear for general beautification.





One of the days (I don't remember which) we all went swimming in the local stream where we had rock skipping contests and Brody got to ride the boogy board. We took pictures, but due to the flabby nature of said photos they will not be shown here, or anywhere. Ever.








Jess and I also went with Kimball and Hyrum to a Rock Climbing gym where I finally got Jess to do some rock climbing with me. She was great at it and was able to get to the top 3 or 4 times before her arms turned to Jello and all she could do was lie on the floor and pity herself. I was really proud of her! I was able to get up once or twice before joining her on the floor in self pity - wishing I were younger and stronger than I felt. It was an awesome physical accomplishment for which we congratulated ourselves with an abundance of ice cream, candy and lounging the rest of the trip.












One of our game nights we played "psychiatrist". It's a game in which one person asks questions of all the others in an effort to figure out the pattern they prearranged in the person's absence. We came up with some really funny patterns. One of them was this: everytime we had to answer a question we'd squeeze our buttocks together, make a funny face, and fit the word "squirrel" into our response. When my dad was the "it" person we came up with this one: in answering we'd simply say "yes", insult him and poke a random person. The game was hilarious and a lot of fun.














As a quick side note, our little adorable, huggable Bridger monster was waking up every morning at about 4 am. Again, coulda' done without that. Thankfully my awesome mom was nice enough to wake up around 6 to help us out and allow us to get some sleep.

On Wednesday afternoon we went to the local park to celebrate my mom's and Kimball's birthdays. The boys played with Nana and Papa in the water and on the slides while me and my brothers threw the frisbee around. We had some tasty steaks for lunch and then...
















Shaaabam! Cake fight! Kimball started it by not so gently feeding a piece of cake to Mom. Within minutes there was cake all over the place. Luckily I had the camera and the Bridge so I was spared the frosting, but pretty much everyone else was decorated. During the whole fight Brody was patiently eating his cake and ice cream, and then opening the candy bars, as if there weren't frosting flying everywhere. Brody did enjoy the silly string though - well, as long as he was the shooter anyway.

It was so much fun. It's too bad its over already. Hyrum should be going on his mission soon so I might not even see him again for over 2 years! My mom is 50 now! She doesn't look a day over 38 though.









Sunday, July 6, 2008

Warning: Viewer Discretion Advised


This post is a bit out-dated, but definitely worth the wait. My parents came down for a few days at the end of May to visit and play, and while I can say I had fun, I think Brody and Bridger probably had a total blast.
Papa became a human jungle gym, a wrestling partner, a monster, a dragon, a sand box friend, a book reader, a strawberry picker, and a general play-thing for the weekend. I'm pretty sure that he enjoyed it just as much as the kids did. The following pictures show various stages of play and I've put up some videos of the fun as well - you can see the two videos (they're long. sorry.) by scrolling to the video play at the bottom of the blog. It was a really great weekend and we had so much fun together - Jess and I even got to go to a movie while my parents took the boys to the strawberry patch. (They said the kids were sooo good in the car until they tried to "share" ice-cream. Bridger would have none of that and told them in no uncertain terms.)








Brody would wrestle with Papa until neither of the two could hardly breathe any more. I don't think Brody realized that someone could match his energy level for so long, or that he could be flipped around so many times and still know which way was up.








If needed Brody knew he could find protection in Nana's arms, but he always ended up back on the bed trying to defeat the crazy wrestle-mania papa.










Don't run! It's only Jess! We all dabble in the very fun and funny art of taping our faces. You'll have to decide for yourselves who looks scarier, but my vote goes to Bridger! (Though I have to admit that my face also gives me the creeps.)

















Whoville anyone?






















Probably scarier without the tape.


















Demon pork?













Hide your babies!














Wow. Just wow.















Its so cute I'm thinking of making it permanent.

















AAAAAAAAaah!






























This is the dragon. My dad's finger is a bit chewed up from various saw blades having their way with it, but even though it makes an ugly finger, it makes an excellent dragon. When Brody says that the moon is half gone because the dragon ate it this is the big bad dragon he's talking about.























Bridger wasn't sure what to think of it.
















GOTCHA! You never knew I could be so attractive, right?