Unforgotten Memories

Couple of my favorite memories from the trip that did not quite make it into a blog post but were too cute not to memorialized on the blog! 

When all else fails start handing out succors!

Both of my kids loved learning and playing with the extended family. My favorite was when Daphney was learning to jump rope enthusiastically!

We also were able to go bowling on BYU campus where they have nice ramps that help young kids enjoy bowling too. I love the delayed reaction of Daphney.

Airplane Ride for Three

"Moral of the Story" for short attention span readers: No amount of Pinterest ideas will ever prepare you for an airplane ride with a two-year-old and one-year-old.

 Just submit that your children will not keep their seat belts on, not stay in their chairs, not agree on whether the window should be up or down, and finally you will get lots of comments to the affect "You have your hands full." Just smile and enjoy the terrible day, because along with the trials you will be so blessed in good ways but who wants to read about those...  :D

Favorite Highlights:

1.) Daphney loves to announce at the top of her voice for everyone on the plane when we are landing, "We are going DOWN!" -She is finally old enough to really enjoy flying and loves flying frontier, because it has animals on the tail of the plane. At one point during our lay over we were watching a Buffalo plane that she was convinced she was going to fly on. So when it taxied away she started banging on the window and yelling, "Wait for me... Don't leave me!... Your forgetting me! Come BACK!" 

2.) This video is an example of when your kids won't believe you that they are going the wrong way and should get on the right escalator and turns out you can't do anything about it... pull out the camera. The legs at the end of the picture belong to the TSA guy who chewed us out afterwards.... So maybe my advice isn't fool proof. 

3.) We brought with us a small stroller to help with carrying things. Daphney loves to ride in it and help push with her feet and Demitri loves to push from behind. He has entered his independent stage and I am not allowed to help push at all. (It takes 300 times as long to get anywhere when you swerve and twirl into everyone's way.) 

Another time I was helping Daphney push the stroller and behind us Demitri fell so I let go to comfort him and the stroller that was packed with bags tipped backward and smashed my daughter. There she just laid pinned and looked up at me and said, "Crazy Driver!"

4.) Best Tip: More important than entertaining toys make sure to bring lots of napkins/wipes/Kleenexes you always need alot and who know if others will share. We ate at Panda Express where I asked them if I could have three water cups with no water, so that I could fill them at a fountain after I had the bags and kids situated. They said no I could only have one cup because I only ordered one meal and they filled it up with water, so I decided to let the kids eat right in front of the restaurant and make as big of a mess as they wanted with our one allotted fork and cup. You could have as many chop sticks as you wanted though! 
I think they may have hated us from the beginning, because Daphney kept arguing with me that we couldn't eat at panda because she wanted Chinese food. Darn American-Chinese Food...

Bathroom Stories... (I don't often share these but they make me smile this time.)

5.) After Chinese Food my daughter went and hid behind the trashcans. She has this thing of hiding whenever she is doing her diaper business because she is a lady. So picture for a good five minutes Daphney dear in the middle of the food court with her head stuck in a trashcan. (She can't see us then obviously no one can see her). You think a good mom would take her to a private place... well I tried. It wasn't until the janitorial guy came over to check on her and make sure she wasn't eating scraps that she finally gave into my coaxing and left her "hiding place." Yes this not so good mom made a photo opportunity out of it too. :D 

Next we went into the family bathroom to change Daphney and while we were doing that Demitri seized his opportunity for attention and loaded the toilet with some of the paper towels. 
Thank you automatic paper towels! 
I fished the towels out and made him sit on the changing table til it was his turn to be changed. Daphney thought it was hilarious and often tries to be like Demitri so I should have seen it coming but alas I did not. The toilet was once again full of paper towels. (ps. We used this bathroom again later and they were out of towels... weird?!) I explained to her while still changing Demitri that she would need to fish out the towels and throw them away like I had done for Demitri's. She responded unknowing what the big deal was, "No, I can just flush it." It was in that split second that I was yet again trying to rescue as many towels as I could before they were gone. At this point Germophobe me was a little on edge so I hurried to wash my hands in which time both my kids washed their hands in the toilet only difference is that Daphney used soap. 

6.) One time as boarding was about to start Daphney decided she needed to go to the bathroom. (Got to love potty training.) I dropped her off at the door and went back five feet to pick up Demitri. I went into the bathroom to see if Daphney needed any help and she wasn't in there. I began freaking out and nearly knocked over a woman with my stroller in my hurry to get out and find her. End of the story we found her in the men's bathroom and it had to be shut down and all the men sent into the stalls and told to stay there until I had gone in and helped Daphney and exited. That was an experience! - (Blessing- we did not miss our plane.)

The thing I learned most from this trip is to be proud of my and my kids best effort and not worry about the opinions of people who don't understand exactly how frazzled and exhausted both my kids and I are. Oh and not to cry when in trouble because trouble happens a lot with kids.... AND I DIDN'T...   ... so SUCCESSFUL DAY!!

Museum of Curiosity

The Museum of Curiosity is a building with a lot of rooms set up for kids to explore and play in. It reminds me of the art theory behind Kaprow's- "Happenings" in which artist would create experiences unknowing what exactly would happen. For example covering a car in jelly and then waiting to see what the audience would do with it.  I love that the rooms have random blocks or toys and then the kids create and build anything they want. For example a water room where lots of pipes, hoses, and things are available for kids to think up a way to play with and transfer water. 

What a great way to teach our children!!

I love the baby table in the water room that allows the babies to play without getting wet. They also had little plastic aprons and rubber boots for the kids to wear. 

This is rubber pieces that you can dig or pile up and the color reflected down upon it changes based on the elevation like a map of the earth. 

Here the kids could build a house and then push the button that was supposed to simulate an earthquake at different levels.

ID Falls Temple

We live farther away from temples in our area, so one Sunday we decided to take the kids to see the ID Falls temple and the falls around the temple. The kids and I had been practicing the song I love to see the Temple, so it was fun to actually be able to bring my children there and sing it on temple grounds as we talked about the importance of temple work in a toddler vocabulary. 

Pine Cone Queen

Daphney sat in the hammock like a little queen and had Demitri collect pine cones for her. Maybe fixation with pine cones is in our genetics. :D

Did you ever see a happier slave?

Zoo Pics

This is Shane's Grandparents which calling them grandpa and grandma became confusing for Daphney. We now call them Grandpa Joe and Grandma Playdough (Polatis I guess is a mouthful when you are two.) We had a wonderful time with her and Grandpa Joe that included Subway, the Zoo, and a trip to the Dollar Store. My kids were crazy in the store and went a little/ a lot crazy being told they could pick out anything they wanted since it was all a dollar. 

This is Daphney's favorite goat, Arrow; notice the birthmark on nose.

Vacation with Grandpa

Grandpa fell asleep and woke up with a new accessory. Can't guess who put it there?! 

The Big 55

My sister in-law Holly warned me that my crazy answers to Daphney's questions (like the sky is sad and that is why it is raining) was going to cause more trouble, but I have not yet taken to answering questions as scientifically and accurately as Shane. 

This is when I learned my lesson....

Daphney is getting old enough that she is often asking me if she can NOT ride in her car seat. This particular time she asked me when exactly she would be able to ride without it, and I chose a fictional number that was so far into the future that I was sure I wouldn't have to worry about fallout from my answer. Surely by the time Daphney was five she would have forgotten and that seemed to fix the problem for now. However, the next day Daphney was again in the back row complaining that she was not going to sit in her seat. Her argument hinged on the fact that she was now five. I became exasperated with her logic and exasperatedly decided to play along and get to the bottom of this. 

Me- "Daphney, when did you turn five?!" Daph- "Yesterday I blew out five candles!!"

I laughed when I finally realized yes I could not deny the fact that Grandpa had allowed her to help blow out his candles to celebrate his 55th birthday yesterday and yes Grandma did use five candles instead of 55. Why did I have to say five?!!

At the Cabin

We got to go up and visit family in Idaho and Utah this month and the first week was spent in a Cabin enjoying the great outdoors. During this time my kids learned the art of snacking and ate very little of our planned meals. At one point I had told Daphney she couldn't have Oreos until she ate something healthier that was on the menu. After a long time of refusing she came over to me with a huge messy grin and fists full of her s'more. I mumbled, "Oh I am glad, you found a cookie to eat instead of the Oreo cookies," to which she quickly corrected, "No mom, this is a "sandwich."

Demitri's favorite part of this week was definitely riding the hogs. He loved them! Daphney and Shane are trying to combine their efforts and get a motorcycle.

I was so impressed watching Shane wake board. He never fails to amaze me!

That moose was so much closer in real life, so awesome and scary simultaneously! We saw many moose and even two baby and Momma moose.

Demitri loved the stuffed animal moose!