Animals and Dinos

Whilst deciding where we might go for a grand adventure, we landed on a trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, though I was nervous there wouldn't be a whole lot for the boys to do. Boy, did I underestimate the excitement of seeing. The boys couldn't get enough of the animal dioramas. So many animals! So easy to see!

They'd run up to one of the scenes, observe for a while (all while grunting and performing animal noises), then...

...chase off towards something else. Got to see it all!

Truly, they were there a moment,

then off!

All traces of separation anxiety, gone. They just followed their fingers.

It was adorable and hilarious to witness them "oo oo oo"ing all around the room, Liam and Dash criss-crossing each other as they discovered the next amazing creature.

Though they did sometimes take a minute to let us help them notice all the small stuff.

Woah, is that a dragonfly, daddy?

Following the theme of observing animals that have, ahem, passed on... we visited the dinosaur bones. Big big big hit.

There was a whole lot of roaring going on.

They just loved seeing the big creatures all around the room. There was even an exhibit with animatronic dinosaurs (no pictures allowed) that got them all kinds of excited. And a little nervous. But still excited!

Dash and Liam of course took the time to read all about these prehistoric wonders, they like to learn.

But they also liked to just hang out and soak in the wonder!

What We Did in Colorado

We played with new toys.

We tried to quack like Pompa.

We played on the iPad.

We played on the iPhones.

We giggled and laughed.

We laughed and giggled.

Sean took flattering portraits of his parents. Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

We made lots of dinosaur roars.

We had perpetually static-y, messy hair.

We watched the Winnie the Pooh movie.

And I got in a picture!

Believe or not, more to come.

Back from CO

We've just returned from a semi-last minute trip to Colorado. A lovely and relaxing trip. Also known as The Trip in Which the Twins Slept Awesomely. Seriously. I'm trying to figure out how to recreate that dark, quiet room, because they had some good sleep in there.

It started with their flight in. They took their daily nap on the plane. Which was a decent nap but certainly not it's usual length or comfortable quality. Incidentally, Liam and Dash were really quite good on that flight. Did you know that we usually can't sit by each other on airplanes? There's only four emergency masks per row, so only one lap child is allowed (unless there's an empty seat). It's fun when someone who's been sitting by you realizes at the end of the flight that there's another one of them a few rows up. Not one but two cute toddlers!

Oh, I should mention, we weren't even supposed to be on that flight. We were supposed to be on one six hours earlier. We woke up 20 minutes after that one departed. Uh... whoops. We still haven't figured out what happened to that alarm. But luckily Frontier swiftly put us on the next flight (and luckily there were seats!). Props to them!

Anyway, back to the point- then the boys had lots of good food (twas Thanksgiving after all). And that night they slept 13 hours. THIRTEEN! I woke up at 7:30 and just stared at that monitor for half an hour, dumbfounded that it wasn't going off yet. Every night was good, every nap was good. It probably helped that Liam and Dash had so many people to play with them. So awesome.

This actually threw a wrench into our return flight. When we picked a time to fly home, 3pm, I thought, oh yeah, they'll be waking up even earlier on because of the time zone change so they'll have already taken a nap by the time we need to leave for the airport. Not so. They had to take their nap in the car, about half the length of a normal nap. This manifested itself on the plane. They weren't too bad, just very antsy and vocal. Then the decent really made their ears hurt. They're so rarely so complainy. I'm just glad that flight's done.

Stay tuned for some family fun!

Kiss Your Brother!

Hey Liam, hey Dash, can you kiss your brother?

Oo, almost!

Here, Dash, try kissing Daddy. Perfect!

Okay, Liam, you're turn to kiss Daddy. So sweet!

Now try to kiss your brother again. Almost there...

Ah, near miss!

Let's give you guys a kissing break.

Ok, ready, try again. Kiss you're brother!

Yay! What a sweet kiss!

Let's try once more!

Whoops! That's okay, still cute, still cute. I think that's enough kissing for one day, don't you?

This is what I'm grateful for

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Park with Daddy

These are the reasons why we like to go to the park with Daddy

1. He jumps right in the fun with us!

2. He makes sure we go down the slide feet first.

3. He lets us practice our boxing moves.

4. He gives us stickers!

5. He lets us kiss mommy. We know he likes to do that.

6. He lets us play in the sewer!

7. He leaves dirt in our hair.

8. He follows us around sneakily.

9. He makes us sing praises! Hallelujah!

10. We glow when we're with him.

11. He giggles just as much as we do!

Walking and Dancing

I mentioned a while ago that I was on a quest to record Liam's stomp walk (Dash has adopted the behavior as well!). Well, I didn't realize how difficult it would be. I'd have the video camera with me all the time but because the stomping only lasts a few seconds, I'd inevitably miss it. I need a video camera in my eyes, you know? Like Olhado in Speaker for the Dead. I eventually got a couple of examples that sort of give you an idea:

(Stomp Walk from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

Right at the beginning Liam does his stomping with his shoulders and elbows back, head jutted out.

(Slow Stomp Walk from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

And this is a slowed down version. Usually he's stomping like crazy. But you get the idea.

The boys are also wonderful dancers:

(Dancing from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

Looks like we're ought to throw Dash a Dance Party.

And just for giggles:

(Mirror Love from Katie Bradley on Vimeo.)

A little narcissism never hurt anyone. Right?...

Nursery

Yes, the boys are now 18+ months old, the magical age in Mormondom when little children get to go to nursery. Stake Conference was last week so yesterday was their initiatory attendance. I'd say, it was a hit!

As much as I was looking forward to this new stage (I can do all my church responsibilities without keeping 80% of my brain focused on my two curious children), I was really nervous too. I mean, who are these people, these nursery leaders? I've hardly let anyone watch these kids besides family, and suddenly I'm going to hand over my precious cargo for two hours?

I stayed the entire time, trying to hang back a little bit, helping out here and there. You can probably imagine how they enjoyed all the new toys and little kids with whom to play. I even left for a minute and they seemed all right when I returned, just a bit nervous. When a situation arose that I would have handled differently arose, I had to just let it go, not everyone thinks like I do. When Liam got pummeled over by a kid who had been repeatedly warned to not pummel, I had to just accept the fact that things like that happen (I mean, I think the kid was just really excitedly giving hugs).

They're definitely going to have to get used to sitting at a table for longer stretches, not eating crayons, and accepting that most kids are not awesome sharers. They only had a couple cries each- when someone kept them from playing with their desired toy and when the toys were put away (oh, and when Liam got hurt). That's pretty good for the first day, right?

And I brought my camera and everything and completely forgot to take a picture of this momentous occasion. I kick myself. So you'll have to settle for these goofy pictures from my 50 mm lens that no longer focuses properly (yes, I cried a little bit when that was discovered):

Dash channeling E.T.

Liam turning contemplative.

I think the boys are excited to go back. If for nothing else but the bubbles.