Disneyland

Sunday we headed to Disneyland. It turned out to be a record day of heat for LA. 101. I tell you we just we can't get a perfect day no matter how hard we try. As you can see some of us adjusted better than other to the heat.

We were able to get in some good character time which always makes the Disney day more fun.

Then there are the rides. It is really hard to remember to take a picture on most of the rides but the Astro Orbiter is a big favorite of Addi's. It's a small world is huge compared to Disneyworld and Addi and Grandma Ann loved every minute of it.

The castle is very different than I remember as a kid. I think Sleeping Beauty got gypped for not getting her castle on a hill like Cinderella. We had a lot of fun all day long and into the night. Look for more pictures soon.

Family time

It was nice to see everyone at the anniversary party. It is funny how we all age from visit to visit and somehow all look the same. I loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa Ben. They are so cute together and looking at them it is hard to believe they have been married for 75 years. Actually it is hard to think of anyone being married that long. Addi fell in love with Grandma Stella. She would go up to her throughout the night and visit for about 5 minutes and then go on her way. I am not sure either one of them knows what the other was saying but it was cute to watch. Don't worry Lucas got his visiting time in also. He told Grandpa Ben all about 1st grade.

We were able to get some family pictures in.

Curt, Andrea, Samantha Craig, Aunt Judy and Sarah-Lynn Marie

5 generations

Of coarse at any Benezette function there is plenty of time to talk. Aunt Judy, with the help of some others, put together a movie of some old family moments that everyone loved watching. We also has scrapbook pages from every family there. That is what we lined the walls of the hall with. What a great idea to see how old we are all now!

We all had a wonderful time and it was so great to see everyone. Hopefully, it won't be so long until our next visit.

What! oh no.... hun?

As many of you know we left Saturday morning for a quick vacation to California. this centered around my great grandparents 75th anniversary. We started the day running a bit behind but quickly made up time after failing to set the alarm clock. After we picked up Grandma Ann we headed to the airport on a rainy cold morning. I noticed a missed call on my phone and decided to listed to my voicemail. It was a recording from Southwest that stated the flight for Ann Johnson was cancelled. WHAT?
How can this be, we are all on the same flight. Where are the rest of the cancelled calls. Oh Jeremy pull over I have to get our confirmation information. I pulled it out of the back talked to a Southwest rep at the given number and remembered that discount airfare also means discount customer service. I was told that Ann Johnson was on a different flight than everyone else confirmation numbers. WHAT?
Then the flash back to buying the tickets. I was in Iowa on an all too frequent business trip and Jeremy was at home. We were both on line and Jeremy was getting the tickets. It would not let him get five. We tried to outsmart the system so I logged in. He bought 2 tickets. I tried to get 3 but no luck. He got 2 more and I got one. I picked the wrong flight for my mom without ever knowing it until Southwest recorded message told me. Oh my gosh. I felt so bad the rest of the drive up there and had no clue how to fix it.
Thank goodness I married someone smart! Jeremy announced he would simply tell Southwest Ann Johnson was taking Jeremy Long's seat and he will take a later flight. Easy enough, and really a very awesome thing for him to do. Southwest had a different adjective for his plan and it was not awesome. The average Joe does not have the easy of flying that was there before 9/11. After much discussion and heart skipping moments Jeremy was able to get his plan to work. I tell you that smile wins 'em over every time! So there we are Jeremy on stand by. #7 on the list for an already overbooked flight. No luck getting him on the same flight. We left KCI not knowing when we would see him again.
I knew one thing, I was going to have to drive in LA. OH NO!
Traffic was not half as bad as I thought it would be which helped a lot. Now driving across 9 lanes on the highway is still something I would have rather done as passenger v. driver but no one honked so I take it as a victory.
We left for the anniversary party knowing Jeremy had made it to Las Vegas and was to catch a flight in 2 hours. Really, Las Vegas for Jeremy is about the best layover there is. He made it to the party, a little late but still there. Only down side, he could not hear a thing. He has a lot of scar tissue in his ears so it takes a long time for them to recoop from flying and that extra trip did him no good. Don't worry by Sunday he was back to his selective hearing. One night of hun? Did you say something followed by my answer and hun? I can't hear you is enough for me.

In the end Jeremy made it in time to visit with everyone at the party and everyone was so glad to see him and the rest of us. I was happy he was there so our vacation could really start. Don't worry we were all scheduled for the same flight on the way home and no troubles outside a bumpy landing!

Dining out

Eating out with two kids is not my favorite thing to do. First of all the restaurant selection is limited because I am not going to torture parents who have managed to ditch their kids for the night with having to sit behind my kids. Secondly, I always end up with food on my clothes. This is not food I have spilt on myself, it is food from a kid.
Neither Addi or Lucas have their picture plastered at a restaurant below the words, entry denied. Although there was that one dining episode with Addi last summer where I wanted to crawl under the table. Yeah, the one where she puked all over the table for no given reason. Instead I opted for running to the bathroom and then Jeremy opted for the car so I could box up my dinner. Other than that neither of them are so bad in my opinion that we should limit our experiences to establishments that have drive thu windows attached.
Tonight Grandma Jo and I took both kids to Longhorn Steakhouse. Lucas spent a good 15 minutes getting ready to go. He looked quite spiffy I must say. Addi spent that same 15 minutes yelling up the stairs that she was ssssturving (aka starving) I choose to remain silent as I was simply impressed he cared enough to wear something beside athletic shorts to dinner. Jeremy was still working his heart out in Topeka. One day vacation will be easy for him.
There are certain downfalls to eating with a 2 year old. One of those if the fact they fill up much faster than you ever could. That happened tonight. Addi was done and I had just begun to make a dent in my steak. She was able to entertain herself in the booth and then the waitress brought us a box for our food. The other issue is she has to dip everything. This means you must check your tables ketchup bottle to ensure you are not going to run empty during your meal. Man can that send a dip freak into outer space. There is the dreaded wait between your order time and food arrival time. Addi gets restless and Lucas thinks you are up to something with all your questions to prevent him from getting himself into trouble. He will talk his head off until you ask him a question at a restaurant then all you are going to get is one word answers. Then there are the trips to the bathroom. Addi knows that if she says she has to potty then we go, no questions asked. She has learned from her brother that no public restroom should go unexplored. I am very sympathetic to this as I can remember dining out with my grandparents and just having to see what their bathrooms looked like. It never entered my mind to actually use it until about my third trip in there. Addi has to make at least 2 trips and Lucas averages about 3. It pretty much seals the deal that one adult could not take them somewhere as the waiter would think you had skipped out on the bill.
A couple trips to the bathroom later Addi began to fill her box with every piece of remaining food. I wanted to stop her, after all we leave town tomorrow and really who wants left over fries. I decided to enjoy the continued "eating" time. Addi happily lifted her clean plate to the waitress. Lucas ate half his steak (it was so huge I should have ordered off the kids menu) we paid and left. Lucas holding the door for everyone.
I don't know if it is the Longhorn luck that we had such a wonderful meal or if it is a sign that the kids are getting older. Either way I am enjoying it 100%.

Cheers! Here's to your next dining experience being as wonderful as ours!

Spring

Remember it is important to stop and smell the flowers

Swept away

Addi is the best helper ever. She loves to clean, just loves it to her bones. It has it pluses and certainly there are down falls to a 2 year that loves to clean but mainly I like to focus on the pluses. She makes sure she picks up her toys before bed, her shoes are by the door and if there is a mess she runs in to help. A few months ago GG bought her a broom. Addi just knew she could sweep but doing so with the regular broom was causing a lot of banging with the handle.

It is cute and even talks. Now the talking would have made me nuts months ago. You walk by the hall closet and it talks to you, you get it out of the closet and it talks the entire time. Tonight was apparently the breaking point for Addi. She had the broom out for a few crumbs and was having a hard time reaching them under the table in the first place. The broom was busy talking to her, you missed a spot.... you missed a spot.... you missed a spot.... every time she moved it. That is all Mr. Broom knows how to say. There she was sweeping away and all of a sudden she starts shaking the broom and is yelling, stop it STOP IT. Boom, she throws the broom to the floor and walks away. It was all I could do not to roll around on the floor in laughter. The tears rolling down my face were so heavy Lucas thought I was crying. It was a great moment. I have put the broom away in the closet and as soon as I find that abnormally small screw driver I will silence Mr. Broom forever.

Really even a 2 year old does not want to hear that they missed a spot!

Vacation

We leave on Saturday for a short and I do mean short vacation. My great grandparents are celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary. Can you imagine? 75 years of wedding anniversaries. 75 years of trying to find the perfect card every year. 75 years of remembering you can't sneak in onions no matter how great it will make whatever it is you are cooking taste. 75 years of having dead ducks in your freezer. Oh wait, those are my 75 years. Man did I get ahead of myself there.

I am sure Grandpa Ben and Grandma Stella have had nothing but wonderful memories over the last 75 years and I can't wait to hear those stories. I am sure one of them is going to involve the motor home and most likely have something to do with not having breaks while going through the mountains of Colorado.

We will be L.A. for a long weekend and plan on hitting Disneyland. Addi Jo does need her Mickey fix. She has almost filled up her Mickey potty chart and we told her if she did she could see Mickey. I will try to snap a picture of her running away from Mickey when we get there. In July she loved him from a distance at Disneyworld and I don't see that changing. If we have all the stars aligned we are going to try to catch a Dodgers game but we will have to see on that one.

I must now turn my nightly energies from blogging away to packing for 4. Oh yeah, 75 years of packing for another person.......

I will make sure to post lots of pictures when we get back. Hey, I saw on the weather channel that it is to be 80 there all weekend. I can't even imagine at this point what 80 would feel like. I am going to try and lasso some of that sunlight and bring it back to KC with us though. I am sick of drizzle rain!!! I don't live in Seattle for a reason!

Oh Peep

Some families have generation old traditions around each holiday. At Christmas they may open presents by number versus age or at Thanksgiving the know it all aunt may be in charge of trimming the turkey every year. We have our own Easter tradition. It is not generations old, in fact it is only as old as Jeremy and I have been married-9 years now.

It consists of blowing up peeps. You know those sugar coated marshmallows. I must always be a chick peep but the color does not matter. I have gotten a bit more particular in my old age and now request the blowing up be done on old plates.

I am happy to say I think this tradition may continue on for years to come. Lucas has really gotten into it the last couple of years.

Before

After

Happy Easter

Sunday we had Grandma Ann over for Easter. It was a nice day. I stood in line half of Friday for my Honeybaked Ham Company ham and roasted turkey breast. Yes, it was worth the wait! Well the weather was cold and rainy so the egg hunt moved indoors but the kids did not mind at all. They had Disney dollars in their designated eggs. Addi had Elmo and Lucas had baseball eggs. Then there was candy (m&m's and gummy worms along with crabby patties) in the other eggs. That should be enough candy to last us until Halloween.

Addi was very impressed with her bunny Dora. Lucas was all about the money. Can you believe the Easter bunny brought a $10 Disneydollar for everyone!

GG got Addi Jo a scooter for Easter. Lucas got a Star Wars gun. I think the only style missing from his growing collection.

Grandma Ann brought over her own Easter baskets. Addi got Marley and me. GG was trying to catch a moment of peace and quiet reading the paper (haha)

I will be the first to admit that an outdoor egg hunt has way more excitement to it. As you can see finding sneaky places to hide eggs is a bit hard inside. Even Addi spotted this one right away.

On your mark get set go.......

Yep, I found the egg!

The loot!

Addi fell in love with the Mickey money once she saw his picture on the front.

A funny Easter picture.

FARM FUN EASTER

Saturday was Easter at the farm. It was a great day for all. The weather was the best all weekend, actually the only day without rain!

We had our annual pre plotted by age and child egg hunt.

Where are those eggs?

13 eggs. I can only find 12. Where can it be?

After the egg hunt it is important to get your loot!!

What do you do after you have done your egg hunt? Play outside of course. Aunt Carrie got everyone a kite to play with. Some kites were easier than other to fly than others but everyone had a good time!

Hey do you really think your dad can catch Bailey?

Well I am not riddin if he does.

In the end the kids gave up before Uncle Nathan and Uncle Nathan before Bailey. This round goes to Bailey!

Here kitty kitty......

More farm fun!

Oh how they all love the farm and what a great day to be there!!

HAPPY EASTER!!

S-p-e-l-l w-h-a-t

The good days of spelling your way to the end of a conversation are over around our place. At least when it comes to topics concerning Lucas or things he would not need to be involved in.

It all came to a crashing halt tonight. At first I thought it was a fluke. I decided to test it the rest of the night, just spelling random words. Lucas go to the b-a-t-h-r-o-o-m. Mom, why did you spell bathroom? Easy word but long. Lucas get my p-h-o-n-e please. Can I play a game on your phone when I get it mom? Dang it. This is a problem.

It was bound to end at some point. I just did not think this cute little face would catch on so soon. At least I still have my most hidden talent still left, cursive writing. Man he hates it when I write the teacher a note he can't read.

Horseback riding

On Monday night we were finally able to go to one of Taralyn's horseback riding lessons. It was a great time for all. She is turning into quiet the rider. I was impressed at how well she listed to her instructor. It is very hard for Aunt Beth to imagine that she is old enough to control a horse around the ring when it seems like just yesterday I was trying to get her to eat her lunch so she could lay down for a nap. Man are those days behind her now.




Keep up the good work T!

While we were watching Addi and Hunter made friends with one of the many cats. This is One Eyed Jack. I opted to get him from behind as being a one eyed cat does not give him the most friendly look. I wish I would have gotten a couple of him with the kids. They came running at him and then to a screeching halt to pet him. He sat there for the longest time and let them run and attack, oh I mean pet. I think I owe him some cat treats!

Now to address your wonder as to why we went to a riding lesson on Monday and I did not put pictures up until Friday. Getting pictures off of ones phone is not nearly as easy as it is to get them off of ones camera. I was totally bummed I forgot my camera Monday but we were already running late so I did not go back. I opted for my camera phone. I have taken several pictures on the phone but that is where they have stayed since Christmas. On the phone. If someone wants to see a quick pick of the kids I whip out my phone. Now the time came to get them off the phone. Man oh man was that time consuming. I am no pro still but the pictures from my phone are safely stored on a flash drive. Now back to work.

My own movie

What do you do when you don't like what dad has selected as the TV channel??

That is correct you find the portable DVD player and get your GG to plug it in for you.

Oh no I have been caught.