The beach

It was snowing in Utah when we were on the beach in California. Weird. Anyway, the ocean was a bit cold, but we still had a lot of fun.

Drewy-boy's first time on a beach.

Max was fascinated by the waves. They were pretty big at times -- we saw surfers.

Max and Benny got cold after a while. That's a bathrobe that Benny used to wear when he was smaller. It's very cozy. Just a little short now.

Andrew didn't really want to get his toes wet after that first time.

Then Andrew curled up on me and fell asleep. So I read a little Scarlet Pimpernel while he snoozed.

I'm wearing the same white UV Skinz jacket in all the pictures from our trip, and even have a big hat on at the beach even though it was cloudy. One sketchy mole is all it took to scare me silly about skin cancer.

Knott's Berry Farm

I do so love the chicken at Knott's Berry Farm. and the Wild West Stunt Show. Good times.

Max was so funny. Two years ago, when he was 4, he rode the Sidewinder 6 times. This time, he hesitated to do it even once. He seems to be worried about roller coasters now.

Can you see JB turning around to check on Max?

But then he rode this huge swingy-swirly thing and had a great time. That's JB next to him there practically upside down.

It's quite fun to drive a semi-truck around
.

Andrew is a driver, too.

Waiting for the train to start.

The swirly hats make me dizzy but I take it for the team.

See my face? That corner whips you around with quite a surprise. I was holding on to my little baby so he wouldn't get hurt.

We love these pictures of Benny. He did such a great job on the trip. NO meltdowns or tantrums, tons of patience. A gift from Heaven I believe.

Disneyland

There must have been a million people at Disneyland last Tuesday. It felt like it. I know, I know, spring break, our fault.

I found out today that one of Max's good friends was there with his family the same day -- it would have been nice for them to keep each other company in the long lines. And we randomly met people who used to live in our neighborhood while chatting on the Tram. Thank goodness for my free media passes (I get four a year if I request them) or I would have felt a little peeved to spend all that money to jostle through crowds just for a few rides.

But we had good fortune. We got there right when it opened, and hopped over to California Adventure right when it opened. We used Fast Passes when we could, and the rider switch for people who have strollers is VERY helpful. The boys were able to ride a few rides twice in a row, once with JB then once with me, thanks to the stroller switch. That was nice after waiting in line for so long.

I had quite a scare. While JB and the boys were on Soarin' Over California, this little runner-climber fell off a chair and smashed his nose. Blood was everywhere. It was awful. My sweet, sweet baby. But a really nice cast member helped me to first aid and he got cleaned up (did you know Hydrogen Pyroxide takes blood out of clothes? True story) and there was no sign of concussion or anything wrong. He already had a cut lip from falling at Legoland. He just is in that run-faster-than-those-little-legs-should-go stage.

Andrew waiting for the boys and me to finish Toy Story Midway Mania, and watching the big roller coaster nearby.

Max holding Flat Stanley for his class project.

Max took this picture of me and JB on Tom Sawyer's Island.

Look who was in JB's arms at the time -- a very sleepy 15-month-old little boy.

Benny liked Splash Mountain more than Max. Can you see JB holding Benny's arms up? They both loved Soarin' Over California and Star Tours and the teacups and Tom Sawyer's island and Pirates. Andrew liked Pirates because it was dark and cool in there.

Mama Cozza's Italian food after our long day. Guy Fieri recommended it.

For 24 hours we thought 200 pictures were gone. Our SD card was bad it turns out. But when we got back Friday night JB found a way online to get almost all of them back.

A few more posts to come -- Knott's Berry Farm, the beach, and hotel pool -- all with pictures we recovered.

California trip

We are back from our Spring Break trip to southern California. A few hundred thousand other people had the same idea. But no matter, we had a great time. Now it's time to vaccuum out the car and blog about the trip.

The three boys did so well in the car for the drive, even when it took extra time to get through all the Las Vegas to California end-of-the-weekend traffic. We had a friend's DVD player with a car mount, and I am never traveling that far without one again. I also printed out "travel tickets" I found through Pinterest. Every half hour they got another ticket to help them break up the time (12 hours there, 10-ish back to SLC). They traded in tickets for treats or prizes, though twice we had to keep asking Max to stop counting down the minutes until the next ticket. Andrew didn't holler as much as we thought he would either.

First up, Legoland!

This car, like so many buildings and figures and sculptures around the park, was made entirely out of Legos. It was a fascinating place for little boys. There were also many places in the park that sold Legos. I went to Target before the trip and bought the boys two new Lego figures to give them after Legoland. Saved me a ton of money and saved us some meltdowns.



Waiting for Bob the Builder 3D.

Driving their own cars, with a gas pedal and brake pedal.

Andrew spent a lot of time looking through the fences at the boys on their rides.

He also spent a fair amount of time sleeping in the stroller. Here he fell asleep mid-snack. When he woke up, he looked down, saw his granola bar, and kept eating.

This was after waiting in line for an hour for a ride. Man, oh manny but do I wish spring break was spread out for other people.

Next up, Disneyland, with even MORE people. But we had good fortune.

Buh-bye March

March had its very good moments, but I'm glad it's over.

Some members of our family went through some pretty rough things. Andrew got 6 new teeth at once and stopped sleeping so well with all the pain. I had two siblings go through deep personal challenges, and we are still worried about JB's little sister's heart.

Then, my nurse practitioner thought she felt a lump in my neck during my yearly checkup. I had to go through testing and 4 or 5 days of waiting for an answer.

During all of this, my left upper jaw started to hurt. A lot. The pain radiated up through my cheek and even to my eyeball sometimes. I knew it couldn't be a horrible cavity, because I had been to the dentist not long before. My older sister pinpointed it -- she suggested I may be clenching my jaw or grinding my teeth at night through all the stress. Sure enough, I was.

The test results came back fine. The doctor said there was nothing to worry about. Magically, my awful jaw pain went away, too.

Our siblings are still dealing with their challenges, but I know they will be happy and healthy some day. Hopefully soon.

On my mind, er, head

See that piece sticking out there to the side? Let me tell you about that.

I grow my hair long and wear glasses to avoid having to pay for hair cuts and contacts or go to the salon or eye doctor as often. This allows me to spend more time with my children. Or it just shows I'm lazy and cheap.

A few weeks ago we were at the $5 barber shop to give Andrew and JB another trim. I looked up on the wall, and saw they do ladies hair as well. Why not, I thought, these long locks are getting split-end-y. So I popped in a chair. She sprayed me down with water and started.

But my boys were getting restless, and I couldn't quite understand the barber-lady. I think it went like this:

Barber-lady: I cut your layers?

Me: Wha? Benny, don't go out the door.

Barber-lady: Ok. WHACK!

When I washed and styled it at home, I found a large chunk that is 3 inches or so shorter than the rest of my hair.

I couldn't go get it fixed back then -- that would take more time and money, and I felt foolish because I had just paid for a trim. JB says it looks fine, my sisters tell me it looks fine. I just keep using pins and clips to hide it.

But now I think it's time to go back to my sweet regular hair-cutter-salon-lady.

Spring!

We spend every afternoon outside now, either in our backyard or in someone else's backyard. We take our walk every day and the boys basically look to see if their friends are outside. If those friends have a trampoline, even better! They run up and start tackling, and I chat with the moms. Win, win.

(Pssst, if those moms are reading this, bring your children over to our backyard to make it fair.)

I put up the hammock in our backyard, and my boys love it.

I sing "Rock-a-bye-baby" to them as I gently swing them. They eat it up. But those lyrics are kind of disturbing. "When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall"?!

Anyway, Max also loves to do flips on our swing set. He had done about 30 by the time I took this video, so he's a little tired and his pants are slipping.

I'm just loving this weather. I think it also helps the boys' behavior. They get so much fresh air, exercise and sunshine that they are worn out when they come back inside!