What I did on my summer vacation

We had a super fun summer vacation.

#1. Trip to AZ to see family.

#2.Trip to CA for fun at Legoland, Seaworld and the beach.

#3. Boys go camping.

#4. Cora turns 2!!

First up we went to see cousins in AZ and apparently the boys took my camera.

Please to enjoy:

Cora getting an airplane ride.

Silly cousins.

Scary cousins.

Shy cousins.

Sassy cousins.

That was all the pics we got from hanging with the cousins.

We went to see Joe's parents and we were too busy having fun to get the camera out.

We did get this awesome picture of Ez being Wolverine.

Next up Legoland!

The boys were brave and went on the rollercoaster with me.

Here are the boys and Joe on the beetle bounce.

Ez went on this ride for little kids and was embarrassed when I took his picture.

The boys were happy to see a place full of bioniceles.

This guys name is Tahu.

Cora was sooo excited to see a princess.

A good time was had by all!

Next stop: Sea World!
The obligatory picture holding the starfish.

The boys were disappointed that even though we were in the "splash zone" we didn't get wet. Weird I know, definitely not because I chose our seats in the last row of the splash zone.

The boys went camping with Joe.

It was their first time without any crying.

The place they went had an archery range, something Ezra has been wanting to do since cub scout day camp.

I've never seen an archery range. This one was kind of like a golf course except with bows and arrows.

The boys also fished but didn't catch a single thing.

My boys thought the best part about camping was the s'mores.

I'm serious.  When they got home that was all they could talk about.

Fun times in the tent:

#1

#2

#3

#4

This cute girl turned 2 years old!

She is a real sweetie. I love her!

We went to build-a-bear workshop to celebrate.

It was our first trip to build-a-bear.  It was the best! I loved it as much as the kids.

Cora picked out a pink bear.

Here is Joe and Coco warming up the heart to go inside.

Giving her new bear it's first bath.

She loves her new "Bear-bear".

I have to tell you about my little River.  He is so funny. A lot of the times he acts older than he is, but sometimes he does things that remind me that he is 6 and in first grade and my little sweetie.

He choose to build a puppy.

At the end of build-a-bear there is a birth certificate to fill out. When it came time to name the puppy I was surprised by the name that River chose. I was thinking it would be something like Spike, Ace or Bandit. You know what he named it? Cuddles. How cute is that?

With no influence from me Cora decided she had to go to Red Robin for her birthday lunch.

Ever tried to get a two year old to share their free birthday sundae?

She loved it and squawked every time anyone got within arms distance of her ice cream.

Later after a much needed nap we had cupcakes at home.

I love this picture of Riv and Coco.

Happy Birthday!

Cora is always saying things that make me laugh.

"Wait a minute, Mommy."

 -She usually says this as I'm leaving her room when she is laying down to take a nap.

"I have an idea."

 -She says this when she thinks of something she wants. I.E. "I have an idea. How about you get me some juice." OR" I have an idea, lets see if they have toys here."

Spring time rewind

So I know summer is practically over and I haven't posted anything in four months, but I thought we could talk about spring in Cheyenne. I'll start where I left off and blog about our summer in my next post. My xd card in my camera is full and I have a lot of pictures to blog about so I figured it was finally time to update the blog.

Springtime in Cheyenne does not mean the same thing as springtime in Mesa, AZ. In AZ I used to look at spring as the last glimpse of cool weather before it feels like you live next door to Hell. You try to go outside as much as possible. Have your doors and windows open in the morning

and at night. The trees and flowers start blooming. It's bittersweet, because you know the heat is on it's way and the nice temps won't last long. I used to consider spring months to be March and April.

Back in Cheyenne in March and April it still looks like this out our front door.

And like this out our back door.

So like I said springtime here is totally different. Springtime is a glimpse, but not a last glimpse of nice weather. It's a first glimpse of hope. Like maybe the snow and wind will cease and the leaves will start growing on the trees and birds will start chirping and cute little squirrels will frolic in the grass. Maybe it won't be dark and gray and cold forever and ever.

This was our seven day forecast back in May.

Temps in the 30's and 60's in the same week.

This is what it looked like outside on May 15th. Yeah good times.

Here is Ezra just a week later getting ready to make his volcano erupt.

This was the first time Ezra wore shorts to school on May 20th.

Pouring in the red stuff to make it foam.

Oh yeah, it's smoking!

A little bit of bubbling.

It was pretty awesome, especially if your are in 3rd grade and a boy.

You know what else happens during the spring time? Tornadoes and such.

Here is my little River. He doesn't like the windy wind in Cheynenne.

Sometimes he comes home crying; "Don't they care about kindergarteners? Why do they make us walk home in the wind?"

Once on a really windy day a big kid at the bus stop told him there was a tornado, so he better run home.

He was really crying when he came home that day.

So, I forgot about River's fear/hatred of the wind when we had a real tornado warning here.

I may have said things like;

"Hey what is that siren?

Let's see what they are saying on the news.

Oh hey boys, lets go down in the basement until the tornado warning is over."

River heard me say,

"Holy crap, I think we are about to die.

Run for your lives.

In a tornado is one of the worst ways to go."

The tornado came pretty close to base, but didn't do any damage. It was over pretty quickly.

Here is a pic of the touchdown. I'm not sure the tornado even made it in to Wyoming, it was a few miles from the border in Colorado.

Here are some pictures I took of Cora and her bestie when we were all stuck inside during the May snow.

Coco and E having lunch.

E pushing Cora around the hallway loop in our house.

Here are some pictures from early summer when we were outside ALL THE TIME.

The two best friends in the wagon

Two best friends snack time, frozen gogurts.

Just for the fun of it I threw in a picture in from when we went to a function at Joe's work. Ezra and Cora by the helicopter.

I'm betting you don't look this cool while you eat your lucky charms.