collecting Mt. Redoubt

Mt. Redoubt has erupted and we are finally smelling the evidence of its many eruptions. Unfortunately, it is dark so we can not see the large ash cloud above our house but we can smell the sulfur and see the ash falling.

After our 3 little ones were tucked in, I met Janelle at Chili's and we ordered a Molten Chocolate Lava Cake (m-mmmm!) We had no idea the ash cloud had arrived but it was ironic that we were enjoying our own yummy volcano inside!!! After every last bite was enjoyed, we noticed the ash all over our windshields! How exciting to think that this powerful volcano has blown time and time again and now we have remnants! I only wish it were day-time so the boys could see the falling ash (and smell it)! But, I did stick a white bowl out on our porch to catch some ash- our little science experiment!

Sea World

Here's to our last day in San Diego. We were gone a week and it's taken me a week to capture all of our memories on here! The boys and I have had fun sorting through all our pictures! Every time we look at our vacation pictures, Parker says "I sure miss San Diego!" Me too! Well, in hopes that I have not completely bored anyone with these lengthy posts- here's our last one- possibly our favorite day! I don't know- though- they were all a blast!The boys in smiles all day- how fun to see all these animals so close! These are the stingrays, in case you aren't familiar with a stingray shadow!

Even Savannah enjoyed the dolphin show- sitting like a big girl in the stands!

So, the dolphins were amazing but the sea lion show was hilarious. So fun, to listen to our boys laugh out loud! I couldn't believe what these trainers could get these animals to do- incredible! And, I don't know what this little animal is... but he was so cute. He's carrying a Pepsi can out to the captain!

Whew- this was a large sea lion but he knew how to wave.

Here's the impressive Shamu stadium! We got there early so we could get front row seats BEHIND the Soak Zone It was a cloudy day so we weren't about to get soaked by Shamu! And, I am glad we didn't sit in the Soak Zone, because one of the killer whales pooped in the water and a huge section of water immediately turned brown!

One of the many times people got soaked!

These trainers and whales are truly amazing- this guy rode on his nose for the length of the pool!

And, here's our last ride of the week- Oscar's Eel. Sea World has a nice Sesame Street playground and set of rides in the center. We let the boys run around in order to get them even more worn out for our plane ride home. It was an uneventful (thank goodness!) trip home and I was pumped to see snow at 2am!!! HA! ;) Well, that's all Folks!

Ohhhh.... Parker!

Parker means "keeper of the park", NOT "Oh, brave one!"

We love our Parker, he is; so intelligent, a self-learner, puzzle genious, true first-born, amazing memory, very mechanical, tough outdoorsy boy AND loves our Lord (almost every day he talks about his desire to go to Heaven). We are proud of Parker and we love all these things but I do wish he could have a teeny-bit more bravery when it comes to trying new things. Let me explain...

Our beautiful resort had a mild-gentle-simple-sweet 100-foot waterslide! We watched all the other children have an absolute blast going down the waterslide. Well, we knew Parker would not be crazy about venturing down the slide so we bribed him! We offered him a trip to the Lego aisle in Target so he could pick out a little Lego set. Nope! Parker was in no way interested with our bribe! So, for 2 full days we went to the pool but he continued to stay strong with determining NOT to go down that slide!!!

But, poor Parker, I have a strong will, too! I knew Parker would have a blast if he would just try it. So, on our last afternoon by the pool I hiked up the steps to warn the waterslide "guard" that I would soon be bringing up my 4 1/2 year old boy who would be kicking and screaming. But, I assured him that I AM a loving mom who was confident her boy would love the slide! The guard said I would not be the first mom to do this! Another good thing about Parker is he doesn't give up and he is very predictable!!! I carried my Parker up the stairs- kicking and screaming!!! ;( I even had to pry his fingers off the stair railing several times- what FUN! We finally made it to the top, where I sat down at the top of the slide with Parker. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to ride down with Parker so I had to push Parker off by himself- I felt horrible doing that to him and he cried for the next 100 feet! (Don't worry, Kep was there to hug him at the end!) And, as soon as the guard gave me permission to slide down... I quickly slid down to comfort Parker. It didn't take more than a 2-second hug for Parker to turn to me and say with a HUGE smile, "Mom, you stay right here! I'm going to slide all by MYSELF!" Huge roll of the eyes by Kep and I and sigh! What a silly guy! When, he came down the second time he said, "Hey mom, now we get to go to Target to pick out my Lego set!" My thought response was, "WHATEVER, I so deserve a trip to the Starbucks aisle for a Frapp!" But, yes, of course we let Parker get a Lego set! I keep reminding Parker of this story and how I would never make him do anything that would hurt him!
So, here is Parker's emotional backwards ride! See, it is a very gentle and easy slide!
And, this is how he rode for the next 20-some rides! Thanks for the memory, Parker!!! ;)

Lawrence Welk Resort

Thank YOU Bapak and Nana for an amazing end to our vacation!
My parents own time shares and they gave us a week in Escondido, CA. Only, I messed up with our flight arrangements so we spent just the last 3 days at this gorgeous resort. It was the perfect ending to our trip because our first 4 days were a fun-BUSY and slightly-chilly by the ocean. But, this resort was located in the desert area, with less wind. So, we we spent 3 full days chilling by these pools during the day and dining/shopping in Escondido at night. We stayed in a 2-bedroom, 1400 square foot "villa" by the golf course with 6 different pools to choose from! It was fun pretending to live the luscious-relaxing life! The kid-friendly pools also had this "Splash Pad" with a sprinkler dragon, huge sprinkler guns and showering palm trees for our boys to run through! Thank goodness it was warmer there because our boys LOVED this!

Savannah played hard in the water and then crashed under the lawn chairs!

Noah, what a tease!

Our boys weren't interested in learning how to swim or sitting on the rafts but they were all about being whisked around in the pool.

The Kroons warming up in the hot tub!

San Diego Zoo

Another blue sky, yet chilly, day in San Diego. All the Californians knew we were not locals, because we were in flip-flops and shorts! But, it was considerably warmer than what our bodies were used to, except that Pacific Ocean breeze was a chilly one! So, here we are ready for another fun day... and we saw every animal since we were there from 10-5pm.

Yeah, for having Uncle Teag to help with all 3 of our munchkins. Teag was brave to come with us to another zoo because the last zoo we went to was the AK Zoo, in June. When Teag was giving Noah a shoulder-ride, Noah puked on Uncle Teag's head! But, this zoo experience was much better in every way possible. The animals were so entertaining to watch!

I love this picture of Savannah because this is how she was the whole time- just all smiles and giggles even though she was strolling along watching different "rears" pass by, instead of seeing all the animals!

Teag took this pic of Savannah and I, we had to get our pink girl next to the pink birds!

Parker is wearing his Kung-Fu shirt so here he is hanging with the bamboo like Po, the Kung-Fu Panda!

Life is good for our sissy! Noah taking a snooze- thank goodness for good little travelers!

I had no idea these turtles existed and that Parker is named after a turtle!!! It was really strange to see a turtle swim around with about an 8-inch long neck!

As I said earlier, the camels had such an impression on Parker. He loved the Lego camel and he was totally entertained by this camel. I know, a camel does not seem very impressive but this camel was humorous! He kept opening his gigantic slobbery mouth to yawn, which made Parker giggle every time. Then, the camel had an itch on his back, so he threw his body into this totally wierd contraption-motion which left all of us in amazement! We couldn't figure out where his humps went while he was itching. Our AK Zoo has camels but they are super mangy with sad-looking humps!

WOW- these rhinos were impressive. There skin looks like armor.

Noah loving the elephants. It was fun for him to see these because he loves the Pooh and Heffalump movie!

Kep's good friends, Keith and Sharon Olson with their two cuties- Hunter and Emily, drove down from LA to spend their first visit to the Zoo with us! It would not have been the same without them. So fun!

Coronado Island

Alrighty- I'm back!
On our third day in San Diego, we drove out to Coronado Island and it was a gorgeous day. I was determined to spend one day at the beach even though it was a little chilly. It was about 65 with totally blue skies, but it was windy so we wore our sweatshirts and kept out of the ocean.

The "California Kroons", our cousins, drove down from LA and we loved hanging out with them! After, we got done strolling the beach and touring the gorgeous Coronado Resort... we chowed down at Olive Garden! That is an essential restaurant-stop when I visit the lower-48! Thanks, guys, for coming down to hang out with us, "AK Kroons"!

This is what the "AK Kroons" do with sand, build a sand-snowman with a seashell face!

Sunbabe didn't love sitting in the sand, too much!

Noah loved watching the Kiteboarders and "sailcars" (they are "cars" that are powered by their sail- driving down the beach and we called them "sailcars")

Noah also loves to give you the "hang-loose" sign, only he uses thumb and pointer, instead of thumb and pinky!!!

The ocean was freezing so the boys loved playing in these little tide pools with Ella.

Uncle Teag was "the man" to be buried in the sand.

Those silly seagulls got into my beach bag and stole one of our PBJ's in a ziploc. So, here is Noah running after them trying to rescue his treasured PBJ!

Parker was amazed by the Hermit crab. We've seen them in PetZoo but it was much more amusing to watch one in it's natural habitat!

Here's Parker with a palm tree at the airport. From the minute we landed, Parker continually pointed out every palm tree he saw for the week!

wear GREEN!

A quick break from our vacation photos to remind you all that it is St. Patrick's Day tomorrow!!!OK, here's the elementary teacher-self in me! What are you doing to celebrate? We always eat green food-colored Swedish Pancakes in the morning. This year, I'm pulling out all the green crafty items- green finger paint, green PlayDoh, and green paper to make shamrocks! Parker is going to be loving it because his all-time favorite color is green! (Those of you with older kiddos, I know there's a cool history behind this Irish holiday!?!) Then, we'll finish the day off with green food-colored smashed potatoes. Have fun and don't forget to wear green!

* all*STAR uncle *

Our second day in San Diego started with a super early morning visit from Uncle Teag. We are calling him the the All-Star Uncle because he put forth a ton of effort to hang with his nephews/niece.

Teagen is attending Arizona State University's graduate program. So, we called him up in January to see if he could come see us and he was all over that offer! Teagen was hoping to fly for free because he has a buddy that offered him some free buddy/standby tickets. Only all the flights were over-booked and there was no hope of him getting on as a "standy-er"! So, instead of giving up... he jumped on a GREYHOUND bus and rode through the night for 8 hours! UGH! Then, we were surprised with a knock on our hotel door at 1 a.m.! Kep was all set to pick Teag up from the bus station at 5 a.m.. But, Teag's bus was four hours early and when a man pulled out a big knife from his suitcase... Teag called a cab and got out of that area of town! Then, our poor All-Star Uncle had to ride home on the bus 2 days later and cops came on the bus as guns were pulled out! Ahhh! I don't think I'll ever venture out on a Greyhound ride!!!

That first morning, Parker was rather shocked when he poked his head out over the top bunk ledge to see his Uncle Teag below him, instead of Noah! Teag referred the experience to be kind of like the movie, "BIG" with Tom Hanks!!! :)
Here's Teagen as the All-Star Uncle, again! Our day on the beach was rather chilly, but Teag offered to be buried in the sand- which all the kids thought was great fun! Then, I guess, the only way to get sand all the way off is to run into the frrrrreezing cold ocean. Crazy uncle!

Princess Savannah fell asleep in my arms on our beach stroll. But, my arms were falling asleep - so Teag got the pleasure of cuddling with Savannah!

Thanks Teag for the unforgettable memories! You are the All-Star and our kids ADORE you!

LegoLand

LegoLand was our first amusement park- and it was the perfect start to our vacation! The boys were amazed by the humongous Lego creations and loved all the rides. Our boys are not known for their bravery with rides (they will play outside in negative temps for hours on end jumping off huge snow hills but rides require a different type of bravery!) so I was a little frightened that LegoLand would be a waste of $ for our boys. NOPE-not the case, our boys really stepped up- they tried every single ride! Yay- I LOVE rollercoasters and I've always wanted our kids to at least try them! We opened and closed (10-5pm) LegoLand with no meltdowns BUT with huge smiles! The boys ran most of the day but this is how the 3 of them rolled by the end of the day!
Parker's never seen Star Wars but somehow he knew exactly who Darth Vader was! Isn't that amazing- Darth... all Legos!??
Amanda- this one's for you Lego Eiffel Tower! In the center of the park... is Miniland. We were amazed by all the details put into these Lego creations. Parker is now super inspired to make cooler things with his Legos.
I think Noah rode this plane at least 5 times. Bapak- you might have a pilot-wannabe!
Another cool Lego creation to climb on. For some reason camels had quite the effect on Parker in San Diego. We had the hardest time convincing him to move on to the next ride, he just wanted to keep climbing on this camel. I was totally jazzed that Parker rode the monster truck roller coaster with Kep. He had no idea it had this huge hill and there was no getting him back on it to ride with me- one time was enough!
Our little muscle-shirt-croc-boy kissing a fireman!

2 too-cute firemen!

Noah being eaten by the shark.

Sir Parker was totally soaked after the pirate ride, standing by his knight.

Noah totally lit up when he saw Bob!

Savannah the Strollin' princess! She was a trooper! It was so fun to watch her; flap her arms, smile from ear to ear and kick her feet in pure delight even though she spent the majority of the vacation in this stroller.

Nice shades boys!

So, if you're ever in San Diego with toddlers- go to LegoLand- it was awesome!