mad libs

Our family went out for lunch at Applebees after church on Sunday.  We rarely go out to eat so it was a fun (and crazy) experience for us.  The kids get so excited about all the people they can entertain.  We always end up with half the restaurant watching us (or at least it feels that way!).  I suppose we can't complain about the endless compliments of how adorable our boys are! :)

In their children's menu they had a fill in the blank section like the old school mad libs.  We had fun filling one out for each kid.  I thought I'd share them with you -- I'll underline the word the boy picked and in parentheses I'll note what they were prompted for.

Isaiah

Once upon a star, there lived an astronaut named Isaiah (your name).  Isaiah (your name) had a blue (favorite color) space ship that could zoom through space at 10 (big number) miles per hour!  One day, Isaiah (your name) decided to visit the distant planet, Maze-atron (favorite game).  On the long trip, the great explorer ate tons of space McDonald's (favorite food) and guzzled space Chocolate milk (favorite drink).  By the time Isaiah (your name) got to the silly (adjective) planet, Isaiah (your name) had a tummy ache the size of the sky scraper (big object).  The end.


Levi

Once upon a star, there lived an astronaut named Levi (your name). Levi (your name) had a black and orange (favorite color) space ship that could zoom through space at 2 (big number) miles per hour! One day, Levi (your name) decided to visit the distant planet, wrestle-atron (favorite game). On the long trip, the great explorer ate tons of space Mac & Cheese (favorite food) and guzzled space orange juice (favorite drink). By the time Levi (your name) got to the crazy (adjective) planet, Levi (your name) had a tummy ache the size of the orange (big object). The end.

carnival.

Last week our friends Erin, Shiloh and Avdon invited us to a carnival at their church.  The boys were definitely excited to go!  They were rowdy getting ready to go and rowdy there!  It was fun.

The boys were the most excited about the two jumpy houses.  Things were a little crazy at these houses so we jumped for a little while and decided we needed to move on. 

Thankfully there were distractions from the houses - like hot dogs and cotton candy!  Isaiah loved his cotton candy and ate it all right up.

 Levi, on the other hand, ate just a little bit, but still seemed to enjoy it.

 They also had a face painting booth.  Both boys were excited about this too. 

 I tried to get them to stand together for a face painting picture, but it didn't really work out :)

 Isaiah picked a tiger.

 Levi picked a pig.  Immediately after they were done painting, before I could even get a picture, he smeared his face and most of it wiped off!

 Our last event of the night was the hula hoop game.  Isaiah was REALLY good, I was totally impressed.  Shiloh was being super cute and spinning herself around in the hoop while Erin held it up. 

 Levi was completely uninterested and could think about nothing other than getting his punch balloon blown up. 

It was such a fun night!  The 2 hours flew by.  I think we could have been there hours longer.  Thanks Erin, Shiloh and Avdon for a fun night!  (and Chris too!).

Florida Vacation 2011 | Day 11 | Heading Home

I'll admit, when we were looking to fly to Florida we wanted to find the cheapest tickets possible- 4 airplane tickets no matter what the price adds up!  We founded AMAZINGLY cheap one way tickets to Orlando, but we decided we wanted to fly home from the Miami area rather than make the 4 hour drive back down to Orlando.  I was able to find a pretty good price on a one way trip home from Fort Lauderdale (less than an hours drive from Miami) so we decided to go that route.  I still think it's strange that I was able to purchase one way tickets cheaper than doing a multi-city round trip.  

Our flight out of Fort Lauderdale left around 10 Tuesday morning so we were up and on the road by around 7:15.  It was a sad goodbye to great grandma.  

 We miss you already!!

And after a crazy drive to Fort Lauderdale - through some real life rush hour traffic (nothing compared to rush hour in Iowa!!) and an accidental drive by the Florida Marlins/Dolphins Sun Life Stadium - we had another sad goodbye to grandma at the airport.  We miss you too (see you in like 2.5 months!!).

The security through this airport was a whole lot easier than Des Moines and we made it to our gate in like 20 minutes -- which was great except that meant we had to wait around for our airplane.  Our gate had a little play table that actually kept the boys entertained for a little while.  

 Until an airplane landed near our gate - they decided to run back and forth between the play table and the window - for the most part the other people waiting were entertained. 

 Then we were off.  So long beautiful, sunny, HOT weather!!

 Hello freezing cold, icey, snowy Iowa.

Our first flight was about 3 hours and landed in Dallas.  Both boys did as good as can be expected considering they were warn out from our trip, excited to get home and tired of all the toys/books that we had taken with us (note to self - next time traveling, pack a few extra toys to not get out until the ride home!!).  

We were really hoping that Levi would take a nap during the first flight - and he did - he fell asleep as the pilot announced that we were descending and would be landing in 5 minutes.  Perfect timing Levi.  (and yes - he is wearing his pajama Superman shirt :)

Oh well, he got a very short snooze in and we landed in Dallas.  Mark dropped us and our carryon's off at our next gate and got us a quick lunch - Pizza Hut - yummy!  We had about an hour layover - the boys decided to crawl under the waiting room chairs - at this point, we really didn't care as long as they weren't hurting anything! 

We got on our next flight - an itty bitty plane - for the 2 hour flight to Des Moines.  Thankfully we sat right in front of a couple from the last flight - a grandpa and grandma of an 18 month old grandson so they knew how bored little ones can be.  They were very helpful in entertaining Levi through the flight.  (I wish I knew their name and address, I would send them flowers!:) 

As soon as we landed, Mark called the hotel airport shuttle to let them know we'd need a ride back to our truck shortly.  We got off the plane and immediately felt the FREEZING cold outside and made it to the baggage claim.  Our luggage was the first two pieces off the plane!  Whew!  Mark went outside to look for the shuttle and it was already waiting!  Thank goodness!  We got loaded up and in 5 minutes we were back at our truck.  10 minutes later we were on the road.  By this time it was about 4:30pm (5:30 Orlando time).  

About 45 miles toward home, Levi says, "I want blankie."  He says this about 25 times a day, but the second he said this I knew there was going to be a problem.  Mark and I just looked at each other, I looked all over the back seat, Mark pulled over and looked in the front of our suitcases - THERE WAS NO BLANKIE! AHHHHH  so we called the hotel shuttle and asked if a blue blanket was in the shuttle and of course it was.  I knew we had no other choice but to turn around - so we did.  We went back 45 miles and got blankie and turned right back around (after stopping at McDonald's :)  Shortly after getting back on the highway we came to a COMPLETE STOP because of backed up traffic.  We waited for about 15 minutes and a tow-truck came up the shoulder of the rode.  We waited another 10 minutes and we began moving very slowly (like 15 mph) for another 20 minutes.  (We didn't see much of the accident so don't really know what happened) but we were finally on our way again.  Isaiah fell asleep in the truck about 1 and a half times through Toy Story 3 (around 7:30pm) and Levi somehow made it through Toy Story a third time without sleeping at all (but crying/whining I want to go home for about an hour).  At 9:30pm (10:30 Orlando time) we FINALLY pulled into our (nicely snow blown --thank you dad!!) driveway - 15 hours later we were home sweet home.

So there you have it - our Florida 2011 trip!  It was amazing - I can't wait for our next vacation!!  

Florida Vacation 2011 | Day 10 | The Beach

We couldn't be in Florida and not go to the ocean!  I love the ocean, who doesn't love the ocean?  So on Monday we headed out to find a beach.  We actually stopped at 3 different beaches looking for the perfect spot.  Unfortunately the wind was blowing just so that there were lots of jelly fish close to shore on the sand, but we didn't let that stop us!  I think that we all enjoyed it so much - the boys love playing in the sand and it was just SO relaxing.  If I lived near the ocean I would be relaxing on the beach on a regular basis - I just know it!! :)

After our time at the beach we headed back...

to hang out with bothgrandmas.

and play with the puppies!

I couldn't help but take a few pictures of the different trees and plants in their back yard.  Isaiah even took a palm leaf home with us to share with his preschool class.

The time had come to get ready for our very last night in Florida, bummer.

Florida Vacation 2011 | Day 9 | Superbowl Sunday

Mark and his mom are both big football fans!  It has been YEARS since they have been able to watch a Superbowl together so when we realized that we were going to be at her house for the Superbowl it was definitely exciting for them!  Michele is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan too so that just made it even more exciting! 

Mark's Aunt Colleen was throwing a Superbowl Party which was a perfect way to visit her and Mark's cousins while we were there too!  Sunday morning we went shopping for a few goodies to take to the party (and hot dogs for the boys)

Then we came back to relax with the grandmas before the party.  Levi got caught being naughty!!

Isaiah really, really wanted to go swimming again so Aunt Colleen said we could come over to her house early to go swimming.  Unfortunately the water was a bit chilly and no one really wanted to get in it!  (That first hotel really spoiled all of us!:)  Isaiah did eventually get in and enjoyed playing in the water for a little while.

Levi pretty much just ran around in his diaper.

Mark's cousins and a few friends got home and had a few games of football in the backyard.  Levi really wanted to play too!  I think we may have a future football player on our hands!

Then it was time for the game to start.  Mark's cousin Taylor was so sweet with the boys.  She played with them and showed them the guinnea pig they have.  She also got out a few toys for them.

Then Brandon so nicely played the game of Life with Isaiah.  It was so fun that our boys got to meet (Isaiah met them a few years ago when we were there, but Levi was still in my tummy at that time!) and play with Mark's cousins!!

They had a big drum that Levi was in love with.  I really think he might be a drummer too. 

Grandma Michele, Mark and Aunt Colleen the Steelers fans! 

Towards the end of the game, we were what was left of the party.  The boys did good just hanging out. 

It was a bummer of an ending of the game. 

We got home really late, but the boys were still in good spirits and had to help take the dogs out. 

It was another great day in Florida!!