Birthday, getting wet, and more.

This last week started out hot and stayed hot for a few days. Monday Peter got to bring out his new water gun from Grandma and Grandpa Darrington. We had a water fight in the backyard. Peter was nice and soggy in the end, and the rest of us were very wet.

Peter woke up on his birthday to decorations around the house. He wanted to open presents right away. He got a Lego spaceship and a remote control car from us. He was elated to get both and has played with both a lot since. We had David, Becca, and Thomas over that morning. We walked over to the school for lunch and took the kites to fly. We ate cupcakes when we got home. Later we grabbed a bite of pizza and went to the movies to see Finding Dory. The kids really enjoyed the show. Aunt Vanessa treated us all to frozen yogurt after the movie. 

Wednesday after library story time we met up with Aria and her girls for school lunch and a play date at Dirkies. Casey got a bit of fishing in then joined us at the beach part of the lake. The kids had so much fun playing together and it was nice to catch up and enjoy time with friends. (Sorry no pictures : /
Thursday and Friday were pretty chill at home. The kids played inside with Legos and outside with neighbors and bikes.
Saturday we headed out to Filer to watch Keegan and Bryker's T-ball game. Keegan was cute as the catcher giving us thumbs up and waving. Both boys did great. Grady got to be our buddy on the stands. When the game ended the kids played at the park for a while.  After that we headed out to pick cherries at Northview Orchards. The kids ate their fill, and were covered in red juices by the end of it, but loved the whole thing.

Peter turns 4!

Happy Birthday Peter!

At age four Peter's loves are Lego's, cars, and riding his bike. Peter has more Duplo Lego's to create and make fun rockets, boats, planes, ships, etc.; however he's also really into his regular Lego's because Kendal has her own to play with him and they've set up a town with a fire and police stations, houses and stores to carry on adventures in. Since the warm weather has hit Peter is all about being outside on his bike. He loves the freedom of our closed off cul-de-sac and can be on his bike throughout the day everyday if he could. If he's not doing either Lego's or his bike he's usually got his cars out. He's got the best little imagination and can go off on stories with or without help. He still has an awesome sense of humor about him. The things he says or some of the things he does makes us smile.
Peter loves to eat. He asks all day long to eat or when the next meal is. He's generally a good eater, but sometimes snacks or just stubborn attitude interfere with finishing dinner. Peter is our night owl. If he's in the mood to put off sleep or if he's had a nap bedtime takes a while. He's also one to get up with the sun, so as the spring and summer days are getting brighter earlier he's joining in and tends to get up early (Which on really early days tend to mean it's a nap day. We've discovered less sleep means more stubborn attitudes.)
Peter is our Strong willed child. If he feels he's been wronged, hurt, or gotten into trouble he's no longer your friend. His defense when upset is to say he doesn't love us or we're not his friend anymore. He's navigating the path of actions and consequences right now; and more often than not he's finding out there are many negative consequences when a stubborn and grumpy attitude are present. Were working on communication and effective ways to let out frustrations. He's given us a run this year with his tyrannosaurs three's. We're hoping being four brings out a brighter side of life, if not we'll just keep working on happy. 
Funny enough Peter is great with other people. His primary teachers have nothing but praises and funny stories about Peter. He loves the library ladies, and other adults in his life. He does what they ask and is generally way better for them than he ever is for Mom and Dad at home.
Peter is very good at picking up things quickly. Learning to ride his bike, snap, swimming, throw or catch a ball, etc. just come naturally to him.  He has learned so much this past year with his alphabet, numbers, writing, and basics with Mommy and ABC mouse at home. His learning is on his terms though so when he's not in the mood to sit down and work on letter sounds with me he just plain wont. We've started doing sight words with him because he wants to be big like Kendal and read. He'll happily sit on my lap for stories any time and he and Kendal often look / read books at night.

Peter's favorites:
- Color: blue
- Toy(s): Lego's
- Food: "this food" (meaning waffles)
- Animal: Monkey
- Song: I am a child of God
- Holiday: Halloween
- Snack: Pizza
- Cartoon: Dinosaur Train, Daniel Tiger
- Book: Lightning McQueen
- When he grows up: A Doctor like Uncle Cody, and a Police-Helicopter man
Nicknames: Petey
Stats: 39' tall, and about 35 pounds.

Happy birthday Peter! We love you so very very much!

A camping we will go.

We got to have another great family trip this past weekend. We went camping with the Darrington's up Heglar Canyon. We went up Friday after lunch. We scored the same spot as last year and Casey's uncle let us use his camper (bathroom : ). Grandma made binoculars with the kids. The kids rode bikes down the hill, chased each other, and played all over camp. We ended the night with smores.

 Saturday we had a leisurely morning at camp. The kids made maracas. We headed over to sublet reservoir for some fishing and lunch. We had intentions to go out on the water, but the winds were bad so we didn't get wet or head out on the water. When we headed back the we played games (washers, baseball, catan, card games). The kids nature pictures, played games, and I did paintings on their arms (ex. dinosaurs, Yoda, butterfly, train, etc.)

 Sunday morning we cleaned up camp. The kids gifted their Dad's and Grandpa Father's day gifts then sang a few primary songs before we headed out. We stopped for lunch at Kenny and Cheryl's. We ended up spending a portion of the afternoon at their house. When we got home we unpacked made a father's day dinner and cake for Casey!

Earlier last week -
We took it easy for a few days. Just recouping from our Disney vacation. The kids slept in everyday and we just made our days easy. Casey had open gym a few nights during the week. Thursday we went out to pick cherry's and fish. We fished for a bit with no luck, and made our way out to cherry pick only to find it closed. So it was a nice excursion out even if it didn't have awesome results.

Loosle's Go Disney

My parents gifted the family a trip to Disneyland! We've planned for months, researched everything, and finally got to go this past week. We drove down to Salt Lake Monday. We picked up Katherine, ate dinner, and met up with everyone for ice cream. We stayed the night near the airport because our flight left at 7:30 the next morning.
Tuesday:
We woke bright and early to fly out. The kids were so excited for their first plane ride. Kendal was all questions and Peter all smiles. When we arrived at Long Beach we picked up our rentals for the day and headed to the hotel to check in. After lunch we headed out to Newport Beach. Peter and Campbell spent most of their time digging in the sand, my dad observed from the beach, and the rest of us went into the water and hunted for cool shells. After the beach the kids were more than happy for more water time at the hotel so we ate some dinner there and swam.

Wednesday:
We hit up Disneyland Wednesday. We got to wear our family shirts Anica made. It made it nice to spot each other so easily, and we got many sweet comments on them. We started out in fantasy land. Our first ride was Peter Pan's flight. We hit up a few more around fantasy land then went up to Toon Town before lunch. The kids met Mickey and Minnie. Kendal was grinning ear to ear, and Peter was shy with them. The kids got to watch a storytelling of Rupunzel. Andy got Dad a dole whip which brought a huge smile to his face. After that the kids met some Princesses. We spent the rest of the day between Tomorrowland and Frontier land doing a variety of rides. Kendal got to ride her much anticipated Tea Cups, which she loved and made Mommy dizzy on! Elliot loved all of the rides! He just hated getting off the rides and sometimes wasn't loving the lines, but I don't think anybody likes the lines. We stayed later for the nighttime parade; however they cancelled fireworks that night.

Thursday:
We started our second day of Disneyland in Tomorrowland. The "big kids" hit the adult rides. We did some more time in frontier land and also Adventureland. Peter got to meet Woody which was a highlight that day. The kids loved the Buzz Lightyear ride. Since Peter's just a bit short for the big rides he got to explore the train, meet extra characters, and ride the spinning rockets. We got to see the Jedi Training show. (Unfortunately the kids didn't get to participate. We arrived early, but missed getting any spots out of the 150 available slots for kids each day : /  We spent the afternoon bouncing around to different areas and hitting up favorite rides. Kendal, Peter, and Elliot met Tinkerbell and Silvermist. The kids got to be sworn in as honorary pirates to end our night. Peter loved calling himself a pirate.

Friday:
We went over to California Adventures. We started out in Car's land. Sadly Peter was an inch shy of the awesome cars ride, but got to see Lightning, Mater, and go on a couple of smaller rides there. We went over to bugs land and the kids enjoyed rides there. We watched the 3D show "It's tough to be a bug". After lunch the kids hit the Nature area to do obstical courses. Elliot got to get down, play, and enjoy not being held! We got to go see the new Frozen (Broadway style) show. It was very well done and the special effects were amazing. Kendal was captivated and Peter enjoyed everything. After that we did some more rides in Hollywood land and a few in the other areas on our way to the pier. The kids loved the carousel again and we got to ride Toy Story Mania. Casey took the kids to meet Anna and Elsa (Hair styles and dreams were discussed : ). My parents and I held spots for the water show! It was very good, but the loud elements around us and fire scared the kids.

Saturday:
We got to sleep in and have a lazy morning. The kids went swimming with Daddy and their Aunt's and Uncle David (No one else swam because it was rainy). After a lunch of Pizza at the hotel we headed over to Downtown Disney for some souvenir shopping. We hit up the big Disney store with an insane amount of choices. We also stopped at the Lego store were the kids built their own mini figures and played around with legos. We had a late flight that got pushed later making our arrival in Salt Lake just after midnight. Peter got sick on the plane and both kids did not want to get up to go home, but we made it home finnaly at 4:30 this morning. We slept past ten and will need the week to help our tired and sore bodies recover.

This trip was beyond amazing. We had our moments but overall it was great. The kids' reactions were priceless and they had non stop enjoyment and delight. Thank you Mom and Dad for a wonderful vacation!!