Woodstock Family California Vacation

Warning: Picture Overload

Before my mom died she asked my Dad to use part of her life insurance policy money to take the family on a vacation. So all of us on the Woodstock side were able to get together for a few days to take a trip to Southern California.

I don't know what Spencer was more excited about-spending a whole week with his cousins or flying on an airplane.

We rented two 15 passenger vans once we were in California so we could all stay together. 

Day #1: Six Flags - Magic Mountain

Waiting in line to get in, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck came by. Spencer was so excited to see all the characters the entire trip. I looked ahead to see what Characters would be at the parks and watched movies with them in it a couples months leading upto the vacation so Spencer would know who they were. I know I'm weird.

 Bugs Bunny Took Spencer's Hat (that's the only thing he remembers about Bugs)

It was so hot that day. Even at 9am in the shade- we were sweating with red faces. 

They had a whole Looney Tune land with rides for the little kids. Because it was the middle of the week and it was so hot- no one was there so Spencer got to walk onto all the rides. He loved every second it. And was kind of a dare devil. There were a few "roller coasters" I thought he would be scared on, but he wanted to go again and again.

 Bugs bunnies House above.

It was so hot that all the little kids and some of the adults decided to head back to the hotel about 2pm. We jumped in the cold pool, took a shower, relaxed, got a bite to eat. Then Kimball and I went back about 7pm until the park closed. We thought we'd only be able to hit a couple roller coasters but because it was the end of the night we got to walk onto everything and I got to ride about 8 of the big kids ride. It was a fun mini-girls night with my oldest niece. Dream come true-I've always loved roller coasters and always wanted to go to Six Flags. 

 Day #2: Channel Islands

 We took a boat ride out to the Anacapa Island- one the Channel Islands.

 Scott and Danielle took Spencer under their wing during the boat ride and stayed out with him on the deck, so we could stay inside with Rod since we forgot Rod's jacket and it was cold on the water.

 Jace took charge of Rod and they both promptly fell asleep.

 We spent the day picnicing, hiking and learning a lot about seagulls. Apparently Anacapa is some kind of Seagull preserve. There were thousands of them all over the island. 

The only total bummer of this trip happened towards the end. We were waiting at the dock for our boat to come in and take us back to shore. The boys were jumping and swimming in the water-having fun. A workers boat came in to pick up the volunteers and employees of the island. Unfortunately one of the volunteers slipped on the ladder and fell between the boat and the dock suffering a major head injury. Jace and another crew member jumped in to help him and get him onto the boat. The boat sped off while the crewman tried to treat the wound and administer CPR, but sadly he died about 15 minutes out to sea. It was a very shocking and crude reminder of the fragility of life. It made me appreciate and love my family even more. 

On the way home (as if to cheer us up) we had some dolphins that followed the boat for a while. I had never seen a dolphin before so I was pretty excited and amazed. They are beautiful creatures. 

Day #3: Universal Studios Hollywood

The weather this day was perfect! Overcast and about 70-80 degrees. 

The very first thing we saw when we entered the park was the House of Horrors. I had a park guide and it said something about seeing famous sets from movies etc. So I thought that would kind of cool to see a museum of all the different scary movies over the years. It had stairs so they wouldn't let Rod and his stroller go in. So Steve went in with Spencer while I waited outside. Spencer still has nightmares about this place. It was not a museum it was a haunted house with real actors dressed up as the iconic horror characters jumping out and scaring you. Oh man...we're great parents. 

Luckily Spencer shook it off and loved the rest of the park.

If you notice the badges we all have around our necks: My dad paid extra to get us 'front of the line passes'. With the pass we got to skip to the front of the line once for each ride. Which is about all we had time for anyway. It was amazing! While some people waited 2 hours to get on a ride- we waited about 5-10 minutes if not just walking on. I don't know how I'll ever go back to regular lines again. 

As you can see from all the other pictures with Rod- being a cute baby has it's perks. Everyone totally spoiled him the entire trip. Which was a nice break for mom and dad. 

The trip was over way too soon. But totally amazing!!! Thanks mom and dad! Love you.

Manly Man

Found these treasures in an old camera memory card. These were from a couple years ago. I love Steve with a beard. He thinks they're too itchy and hot. But once a year he'll indulge me during "No-shave November" When he shaves it off though he takes some time to have some fun first. One year he ended up with a Charlie Chaplin mustache and kept it all day, but he wouldn't let me take a picture. 

4th of July 2013

We went to the parade on Main Street to start out our Independce Day. Even at 9:30am it was still very hot. We went 30 minutes early but the side of the street in shade was already packed. So we saved a spot on the sunny side of the street and then sat in the shade of a tree against one of the stores until it started. 

Spencer learned very quickly that is was survival of the fittest when it came to getting candy that was was thrown for the kids. 

After the parade they had games, food and entertainment in the park. What I love most about all this is that main street (where all the parades are) and the park (where all the city actvities and festivals are) are within walking distance of our apartment so we don't have to compete for parking. Spencer is "fishing" for prizes below. 

The weather was perfect all day and then around 6pm it started pouring and didn't stop till the next morning. So we had to do our poppers and sparklers on our stairs with the landing above us for shelter. Still way fun!

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day this year we went to St. George to help my sister move into her new house...BUT before that we stopped by the cemetery to visit my mom. A few days before I let Spencer pick out some flowers for her. He said he wanted the pink ones because "Grandma loves pink." I don't know if that is necessarily true but in his little kid mind she did. 

Spencer Said Part 2

4/9/13

Spencer likes to pretend like he’s a daddy lately. He does a very good impression of us. Today he wanted me to pretend to be asleep. I closed my eyes and he sang me a lullaby in a deep “daddy” voice. Then when I woke up he came up and said in his daddy voice, “Hi honey! You wake up? Did you sleep good?” (which is exactly what I say when he wakes up). Then he said “Ok come sit on the couch and you can watch one show-but that’s it! Just one show. You sit here and I’m going to go do the laundry.”

4/25/13:

I was making him oatmeal and Spencer was getting upset because he thought I was going to make it too hot. I said, "I promise I won't make it too hot. I'm your mother, don't you trust me?" Spencer: "But Rapunzel's mother said trust me and then she was mean to Rapunzel..."

6/7/13

There is a girl we go to church with that babysits Spencer when Steve and I go on dates etc. Her name is Emily Arnold and he loves her! She babysat last night while Steve and I went to the movies. He was in bed before we got home. I went to bed and a little after 1am I woke up to Spencer standing next to my bed. This is the conversation that followed:

Spencer: “Where’s Emily?”

Me: “She had to go home Bud.”

S: “But I miss her.”

M: “I know but we’ll see her again.”

S: “She has beautiful hair. And it’s very long.”

M: “Oh…”

S: “I know! Maybe I’ll play a song and she’ll hear it and she’ll come back!”

M: “I don’t think so Bud, she’s asleep now.”

S: (Very disappointed expression) “Ohhhh ok.”

I told him to go to the bathroom and then get back in bed. He was in the bathroom and I hear him calling me. So I went over and while he was sitting there he said.

S: “Mom, are you sure Emily is at her home and asleep? Maybe we can drive and pick her up and she can come back.”

M: “No, I’m sorry she has to stay at her house. But maybe we can see her again later.”

S: “Ok….”

6-12-13:

Spencer went to the bathroom. I told him to make sure he flushed the toilet.

Spencer: “Awww. But mom I flushed the toilet yesterday…”

6-13-13:

I asked Spencer to go pick up all the toys in his room and make his bed.

Spencer: “Why?”

Me: “Because your room’s dirty.”

Spencer: “Awww. Not again.”

6-13-13: I debated putting this in because it’s potty humor but it’s kind of cute and might embarrass him later in life. So here it is:

Spencer thinks that there is an individual store for everything. So if we have chicken he’ll say “Mom did you get this at the chicken store?” Or when I bought him some goggles for swimming he said, “Oh wow. Did you get these at the goggle store?” There’s a cookie store, a cup store, a marker store, a stroller store, etc.

Today Spencer had gas --- all day. I finally asked why he kept tooting.

Spencer: Cause I went to the poop store and bought poop.”

6-14-13:

Spencer was being weird and I told him so. He said, “No, you’re weird.”

Me: “No you are.”

Spencer: “No you.”

Me: “you”

Spencer :”you”

Etc etc.

Me: “You times infinite”

Spencer: “No you’re Woody and Buzz infinite”

8-27-13:

Spencer has been scared of the dark and being in rooms by himself for the last couple months (I blame the movie ParaNorman and the Haunted House we accidentally took him through at Universal Studios)

He needed to go into the office today and didn’t want to go by himself. I told him to turn on the light and he would be fine but he was still scared. So I told him to sing a church song. He took a deep breath and went in there singing, not a church song, but a song he was making up as he went along, “Sing a song about Jesus and I’ll feel better…” and then he ran back crying and said it didn’t work, that the monsters heard the song and it didn’t make them happy. I told him to sing again, because when he sings songs about church or Jesus then all bad things go away and he’d feel brave. He said ok and I heard him go in the other room singing again. “Jesus please help me not be scared. I won’t be scared. I’m singing a Jesus song. Help me not be scared. Etc etc.” Then he ran back and said “Mom it worked! I sang my song and I felt Jesus in my Heart!”

Yeah, my heart pretty much melted when I heard that.