Family Portait

From the desk of Aukai:

Isaac made this beautiful family portrait for us . . .

and Luke Skywalker cutting off Darth Vader's hand on the left.

. . . I am the one on the left. Here is photographic evidence that, contrary to common opinion, I do NOT have a big head. :)

My family.

Just a quick photo my sis took while I was interviewing in SLC. Wonderful to see my family. Hard to leave. My sister posted a more dignified photo, but this one is so much more fun. :)

Happy Halloween

Isaac and Ashton posing by their pumpkins . . . except the pumpkins are switched here. Both of the boys wanted angry, scary pumpkin faces. We drew a mock-up on paper and then on the pumpkins before carving them. After finishing his own pumpkin Ashton became distraut because he realized Isaac's had more sharp teeth than his did; but when we put in the candles, he decided his was OK after all.



The boys decided they wanted to be Mario and Luigi for Halloween. Aukai found a simple pattern for the hats and I sewed them together . . . the whole project took about 2 hours and cost about $30, including the shirts. Good pic boys!! :)





Anybody who has lived at Whipple Park knows our delightfully sensitive fire alarms have made the fire truck regular celebrities with the kids. They have since made it a tradition to come and hand out candy to the kids at Halloween . . . I love it!

I'll take her.

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Thanks Heather

I found this blog courtesy of Heather Rigby, courtesy of Wendy Jones, courtesy of I haven't the foggiest whom. It made my day. If you are in the mood for some good old fashioned sarcasm and sacrilege, click here: www.myregisblog.blogspot.com If sacrilege really isn't your thing, I suggest www.lds.org.

NYC - Part III

The Natural History Museum:
More than anything, I was amazed at the sheer size of this museum, built in a beautiful classically-inspired building. Overall, the museum design was very traditional, which was a little bit of a let-down after the museum at Thanksgiving Point, but it is pretty hard to top a life-size blue whale hanging from the ceiling . . .

Central Park:

My friends kept telling me, "You need to take the kids to Central Park." My first impulse was, "We have parks in Rochester . . . why would I spend the money on a hotel to go to a park here?"

Once we got there I understood why.

People always talk about New Yorkers being cold. We didn't find this to be true. (It's 4:00 AM and I'm lost in NYC. Stop thanking me for choosing your hotel and just tell me where the dang parking garage is.) Adults were quick to start a conversation at the park or train, and the kids were even quicker. Half-way down this slide, I heard this girl yell to Isaac, "By the way, what's your name?"

Isaac and Ashton enjoying a street performance over lunch.

NYC - Part II

Ellis Island:
You can't go to the Statue of Liberty without going to Ellis Island (You already paid for the ferry ride). By this time in the trip, we were exhausted by long lines and huge crowds, but the kids were still fascinated by small models of old villages while Aukai and I gawked at 100 year-old portraits of immigrants.

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FAO Shwartz:

OK, so there are two awesome toy stores in New York, and while Toys

'R Us does tote a ferris wheel (yes, inside the store), you can't beat the charm of FAO Schwartz (now also owned by Toys 'R Us). It has some of that local toy store feel . . . wrapped into a 2-story, gigantic floor plan.

You know it is our kids because they are crossing the red tape to poke each other with the dragon's tale.

Our favorite part was this giant piano from the movie "Big."

When we got to Batman action figures, Ashton said "Mommy, this is Batman." Then pointing to the Joker he said, ". . . and this guy is Batman's mommy." I'm not sure how I feel about that.