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The Children's Museum

So I need to stop having all these grand plans to update you about ALL the things that have been happening in the past few months, and just try to keep current now. That's my new plan. Maybe I will throw in a few other tidbits along the way too.

We had a long weekend, that was nice since Ian has been gone for a month. Unfortunately Ian had Duty on Sunday, so it was divided a little. (Duty is a 24 hour shift that they have every 8 days and they cant leave the ship.) To make yesterday a little different we went to the Imagine Children's Museum. It was great, we ended up purchasing a year membership so we can now go there as much as we want. It is fairly close to our house, so it will be fun. There was so much to do, and everyone had a great time. Inside they have 3 floors of different rooms in themes such as a farm, bank, theater, airplane, tree house, restaurant and too many other to list. On the roof is a giant playground, a life size chess set, a dinosaur digging area and other things. We were lucky the weather was pretty nice yesterday and we were able to enjoy that part too. Everyone found something they loved.

But you know your kids are growing up when you get in the car and you ask them about their favorite part, and first you have to signal them to take the headphones out of their ears, and then the classic answer, "I don't know." So here's some pictures of our adventures...

A little bit of everything!

There is always so much happening, I just don't know where to even begin. We finished off November with Garrett turning 9 and having 5 friends over to spend the night. Unfortunately none of them gave him ear plugs, so it was long and loud. But oh so fun for him. It was the easiest party ever. We set up a few TV's with different game systems and they either played games or watched movies the whole night. They even got to decorate there own cup cakes. So much for my usual going over the top, the boys loved it.

Thanksgiving this year was celebrated on Friday. Ian had duty on Thursday so we all just put it off a day. But that made for a busy Friday. Of course we have to go shopping insanely early on Friday morning. Now I see why you do the shopping the day after Thanksgiving. But we ended up having a great meal with some good friends and that is what it is all about.

For Christmas this year we were finally able to make it back to Idaho. It was Ian's first time back since we moved from there over 2 years ago. We left Seattle in another 'record' snowstorm and had bad weather all the way to Boise. The rest of the way was nice. Once we got settled in, I think it snowed everyday we were there. It was SO cold. It wasn't much different here in Washington either. Just after midnight on the 2nd day we were there, I got a call from my neighbor, (we live in a Townhouse) She said that water was coming into her house from ours and it sounded like it was pouring in our house. It was. The pipe going to the outside faucet had burst behind our Kitchen wall. 2/3 of our main level had flooded before they could shut off the water. I guess we were lucky to not be home. A few of my good friends and the maintenance workers had to move everything off the carpet and tear the carpet up to dry out the floor. By the time we returned a week later, there were just a few remains that there had even been any problems while we were gone. Besides having to basically move back into our living room and dining room and unpack it all over again. It was probably the greatest way to get an early start to our 'spring cleaning' and the earliest our Christmas decorations have ever come down.

Christmas was fun. We had it in 2 rounds. Once at my parents and then again after returning home, since we didn't want to haul everything to Idaho. Our kids slept in, I think it is unheard of. It was after 8:00 before we even started opening presents. I don't expect that to happen much though. I know growing up we could hardly wait.

January has been busy. Ian's ship left the 2nd week for training down off the coast of San Diego. They were only supposed to be in port down there for a day and the ship broke down so they have been stuck there for almost 2 weeks. We found out today that it looks like it is still not fixed, they are suppose to leave Tuesday. We will see...this is the Navy and nothing is ever guaranteed. I think we all know this by now. We are managing great back home. Garrett is playing basketball, it is his 2nd year and he really has gotten a lot better. He is really good at defense. It is fun to watch. Aspen is still doing girl scouts this year, and they are just starting the cookie season. It is exhausting just thinking about it. But it all helps out the troop, so I understand the need. And they are just about the easiest thing to sell...who can resist them? Cute little girls selling cookies! I am going to be starting working very part time at the local scrapbook store. I am excited, it will be nice for me to get some adult time a little more. It looks like mainly I will be working during crops and just helping out in small ways. So it wont really demand me away from my family more than I can handle. I have a good friend who will be helping out with the kids at times when Ian isn't around too.

Well, that is a little update of most of the things over the last few months. I will start posting pictures soon. To be honest I just barely downloaded them from my camera to the computer earlier today. Everything since about a week before Christmas. That is sad. I am usually more on top of that. Hopefully I can get better again.