Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!

And, our month of excitement continues...

February 9, 2009

Happy 8th Birthday, Isaac! Happy Late 1st Birthday, Zane!

...cough, cough, cough!

Zane- February 6, 2008

Zane- February 9, 2009
Happy 1st Birthday, Zane! Now you can officially have sweets!

Isaac- February 9, 2009

"...I don't remember growing older, when did [he]?...
...When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when [he] was small?"

Isaac- September 28, 2001

"Sunrise, Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset... Swiftly flow the days; Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers, blossoming even as we gaze. Sunrise, Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset...Swiftly fly the years; One season following another, Laden with happiness and tears!"

Fiddler on The Roof, for those of you scoring at home! :)

February 10, 2009
Isn't that a very nice kong that Oquirrh dumped over Scott's shoulder?!

February 10, 2009

Looking for handouts!

February 15, 2009
Isaac wanted to have an ocean theme for his birthday party...

So...the kiddos made anemones when they came in, which we used during our "musical anemones" game...they were clownfish, so if they were on their anemones they were safe- otherwise, they were shark lunch.

A crab walk race between the King Crab team and the Blue Crab team was a big hit! The kids (krill) also liked slinking army-style through whales (boxes) as quickly as they could, in order to avoid being stuck in the baleen and playing hot potato with Ian's tiger shark from Sea World. Pin-the-tail on the killer whale ended the afternoon of fun.

Florida- Part 4

Friday, February 6

Such good friends...

Ian and Isaac wanted to take their Tiger shark and Orca for a swim. We were so glad that both boys had studied fish, oceans and sea mammals. They were able to share each other's excitement in a very unique way and are still discussing the things they saw and felt.

Wow! The Atlantic Ocean! Brisk...umm, refreshing!

Isaac didn't care if it was cold or not. Those waves were made for jumping!

Happy 1st birthday, Zane!

From this playground near the beach, you could see Cape Canaveral.

If you want to be a pirate, you have to say, "Aarrrgh"!

Three tired boys at the end of another fun-filled day!

Saturday morning, February 7

The last day was supposed to be absolutely beautiful...75 and sunny!

Unfortunately, we were only able to enjoy the early morning 60's at the pool. That wonderful hint of a warm sun finally beaming down on us was a bit bittersweet. We were glad to feel the sun, but disappointed that we were missing true Florida weather by about 3 hours!

Grandpa Balyo, Isaac and Ian

Colby and Zane just loved the gently inclined pool.

A little more of Zane's crabwalk.

Saturday afternoon, February 7

And, the plane ride home...

What a fun and special trip!

Florida- Part 3

Thursday, February 5

On a crazy cowinkydink (or rather another fun gesture of God's humor) my sister and her family were in Orlando, Florida the same week we were! They were staying only about 20 minutes away from us, at the Give Kids The World resort, which was part of Riley's Make-A-Wish trip.

Erika and Jeanne traveled 2,000 miles to see each other when they actually only live about 350 miles away from each other!

So, on Thursday morning, we were able to sneak in an hour or so before we went to Sea World and the Haufs headed out for their last day of Park hopping, to check out the unbelievable sweetness of the G.K.T.W. village. Jeanne told me that a former Holocaust survivor had started the resort in order to make a special place where kids could kind of escape into a wonderful fantasyland. And it WAS really, really neat. Everything in it is for the kids and is a free part of the experience... an all day ice-cream bar, arcade, humongous electric train set, remote controlled boats, perimeter train, swimming pools, carousel, etc. Check it out at http://www.gktw.org/aboutUs.asp?a=1

We only got to experience the tiniest bit, but were delighted to share even that portion of their special trip. We are so thankful that Jeanne and Don and Riley and Brenna were able to escape some of the day-to-day worries and drudgery of cancer and chemo and just enjoy themselves. And our boys have told us that seeing their cousins and the room-sized electric train was one of the best parts of the trip.

Brenna (6), Colby (3 1/2), Riley (7 3/4), Isaac (8 in 4 days),
Zane (1 in 1 day), Ian (5 3/4)

We arrived at Sea World just in time to take in the incredible dolphin show. I just can't say enough good things about Sea World! It was SO fun and the boys just absolutely LOVED it!

Sometimes I am completely overwhelmed at God's creativity. Wow! No wonder God sat back after creating the world and called things Good! If the this stuff is just "good", I can't wait to see what "supremely amazing" and "astonishing" will be!

The Dolphin Show was amazing! These acrobat/ swimmers/ trainers would fly around in the air at dizzying heights, pretending they were birds and doing crazy circus stunts. I simply can't imagine being hooked onto a tiny little cable and flung around in circles at excessively high speeds and heights!

Ian and Isaac both loved feeding the sting rays. Their mouths are actually on the underside of their bodies, so feeding them is a little nerve-racking because it feels almost like they are going to engulf your whole hand! In order to feed them you have to hold a fish "perpendicularly" in between your fingers, which are supposed to be flat on the water. One ray snuck up on Ian while he was watching another ray and grabbed the fish right out of his hand. The surprised look on his face was hilarious! Ian says "They have crazy mouths, right? They just BLOOP! take the food, right?"

Feeding dolphins their little fish snacks was so much fun! One of the dolphins even made some little clicks for us ( the lady standing beside me was jealous!). Also, a seagull came sweeping out of the air and stole one of the little fishes right out of Scott's mom's hand. Tricky little thief!

Sharks swimming above our heads. Ian picked a tiger shark for his take-home treasure, Isaac and Colby both picked a killer whale, and Zane picked a dolphin.

Zane's first sweets...a day early birthday present!

Sea World also has THE most incredible rope-climbing kids' park complex that I have ever seen. Frankly, I was a little amazed that Isaac and Ian climbed all of the way across it, because it was several stories high! Colby was much happier taking laps on the fun slides.

Shamu, the killer whale showoff!

Ok, do you see the guy Shamu just flipped up in the air?!

Wow!

Long day...SOOOO worth it!

"I just can't stop thinking about those dolphins! They feel just like a wet rubber ball!"- Ian

To be continued...

Florida - Part 2

Thursday, February 4

Ian, 6:15 am

The boys had had so much chilly, outdoor fun down at Great Grandma Balyo's, that rousting them out of bed was a bit more of a chore than usual...

Colby and Isaac, 6:15 am

...until they remembered where we were going!

7:55 am

Again, it LOOKS warm here, but I'm pretty sure we'd all have been much more comfortable wearing parkas, mittens and ski masks!

8:31 am

Welcome to Floroming! Welcom to Wyorida! Welcome to Cheylando! Welcome to Orlaska!

Just about to go into our first ride...

This was Isaac, Ian and Colby's very favorite ride. They thought that Tigger popping up all over the place was hilarious and they were thrilled to actually be "part of the movie"!

What a treat to meet the real!!! Mickey and Minnie, Goofy and Donald Duck. They also SAW Winnie-The-Pooh (who waved to them!) and Tigger close up and Chip 'n Dale from afar (on a parade float)!

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was the very first roller-coaster that Isaac and Ian had ever been on! Isaac was not so sure he liked it, but all Ian could say was, "Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Oh, wow!" He was sold!

It was so nice to wait in such short lines (or not at all) for all of the rides. In fact, we were actually happy (in retrospect :), to trade extremely long lines for a little "brisk" weather!

Zane, taking an afternoon snack break.

This was one of the last rides that we did for the day and the boys LOVED it! Ian and Colby were pleased as punch that each of their cars had red paint...phew!

It got REALLY cold toward the end of the day when the sun started to go down, but we had gotten to do so many fun things it was extremely worth it!

And the results are in:

Colby's favorites: The Winnie-the-Pooh Ride and the Carousel of Progress and the raceway. Colby is also still talking about the funny Goofy movie they watched while standing in line to meet Mickey and Minnie, so that was a high point, too!

Ian's favorites: The Winnie-the-Pooh Ride, The Toy Story Ride, Big Thunder Mountain...and the Carousel of Progress (Ian and Colby are still singing snippets from its theme-song "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow..."). Oh, and the raceway.

Isaac's favorites: The Winnie the Pooh Ride, The Toy Story Ride, The Peter Pan Ride, It's a Small World, the Carousel of Progress, The raceway and the monorail.

Erika's favorites: Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain.

Scott's favorites: Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain.

5:17 pm

Goodnight, Mickey!

To be continued...

Florida- Part 1

It's so hard to know where to begin!

Guess I'll use a little nugget of Maria's wisdom from the Sound of Music..."Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start..."

Sunday, February 1

On Sunday, February 1st, we drove down to the Denver airport, took in a few moments of the Super Bowl and flew a late (but great) flight into Orlando (we arrived shortly before midnight and didn't cozy up in our beds until almost 2:00 am).

Darth Vader enjoyed his first plane ride, as did Lightning McQueen.

Yeah, I know...disgusting (if you double click on this picture, you'll get an even better view! )! After a perfectly healthy week, this is what we woke up to with Zane. Perfect for traveling! You know, we love the draining sieve/drool combination as much as the next guy, but when it comes to the massive goober sneezes as well...well, that's where we draw the line! Thankfully, it really was only a one day-ish event! I'm sure our fellow passengers were glad to be in such close quarters with us on the plane!

Monday, February 2

In the morning we were greeted with Cold (yes, I'm capitalizing it!), rain, and wind...much like what we had just left...in Wyoming (except technically speaking, Cheyenne was slightly warmer that day!)! In fact, an Orlando resident just told Scott the other day, that the week we were in Florida was the coldest week they've had in 10 years! 10 years, mind you!

However and irregardless, the boys, Scott's parents, Scott and even me (who is rarely ever NOT cold) said "bah" to the "November-in-Wyoming-like-weather" and rushed undaunted to the almost completely empty swimming pool!

Rule #1: It's Florida! No one is ever cold in Florida!

Rule #2: When you are in Florida, it is a rule that you are supposed to go swimming, wear tropical smelling sunscreen and don shorts!)

Tuesday, February 3

Wish we could have saved the expression on Ian's face when he woke up to find the television already tuned in to a favorite cartoon! No need to even move a muscle! What a glorious start to a glorious vacation!

In the morning, we drove a couple hours south to slightly warmer Fort Myers to spend the day with Grandma Balyo in her retirement community. We've always enjoyed our times here and this day was no exception!

Seeing alligators and nesting birds on the way to the pool. What fun!

Looks warm and was absolutely beautiful, but...

Scott's mom, Lynn with water bugs Zane and Isaac

...Sunny, windy and 65 is still sunny, windy and 65!

Great Grandma Balyo used to read stories to children when she worked in a school library and the boys are happy to continue the tradition!

Zane, on his way to walking, loved this rolling chair!

Off to feed the turtles and fish!

The boys have been looking forward to this turtle feeding event for several years! And they loved it! Unfortunately, it was much colder than it looked and I had not brought their jackets with us, so it was a pretty chilly walk back to the house.

In the middle of this picture is a fish jumping out of the water in order to steal the bread from the much slower turtles. It was hilarious!

What a fun day at Great Grandma Balyo's house!

To be continued...